Carla Bates when she was a meter reader, at left, and today, above. She became a Bluebonnet employee in 1999 and recalled a few encounters with wasps, bees and spiders, including one black widow spider that gave her a nasty bite. Now she works to design the location of power lines, poles, equipment and meters for members receiving new service.

By Mary Ann Roser and Melissa Segrest

Do you remember the friendly person dressed in a tan shirt who walked up your drive to your house every month? He or she peered at your electric meter, decoding its dials, numbers and circling arrows. The person quickly typed numbers into a curious black device and then left, only to return the next month.

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All about meters

From left are a 1933 photo of Mary Dach with her children (Goose Creek Daily Sun photo, courtesy Sterling Municipal Library, via The Portal to Texas History); the June 1935 issue of ‘Famous Detective Cases’ magazine, which featured Dach (courtesy Fayette Heritage Museum & Archives); a 1933 photo of Dach (Acme Newspictures photo, courtesy Fayette Heritage Museum & Archives); and Cathy Chaloupka, former tourism director for La Grange’s Chamber of Commerce, in front of the old Fayette County Jail in La Grange

By Denise Gamino

Nearly 90 years ago, a widowed mother chose to starve to death in a Fayette County jail cell rather than die in the electric chair for the killing of a farmhand. She lost 150 fatal pounds. Before she died, Mary Dach wished aloud to someday be free, and to get a job in the jail that confined her. Perhaps she did.

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The tale of Mary Dach

Bluebonnet crews traveled to Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative near the Louisiana border to help restore power to about 25,000 of its members after being hit by Hurricane Laura in late August. Above, from left, just before heading to East Texas, are Daniel Fritsche, Troy Moore, Eric Cobb, Chris Rivera, Michael Guajardo, John Horton, Nick Baker, Heath Walden, Joshua Gonzales and Derek Morgan. Below, from left: Bluebonnet crews use two bucket trucks and a digger truck to make repairs; Troy Moore, left, and

When Hurricane Laura made landfall in the early hours of Aug. 27, 2020, its devastating winds, rain and storm surge left hundreds of thousands of people without power across Louisiana and East Texas. Central Texans dodged damage from this storm, which enabled Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative to help out hard-hit utilities.

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Helping after Hurricane Laura

The sun rises over the Pecore Farm conservation easement in Fayette County, which includes 24 acres of never-plowed blackland prairie. (Leigh Ann Moran photo)

Story by Ed Crowell

When Melanie Pavlas can get away from paperwork at her small upstairs office on Main Street in Bastrop, she heads for the green part of her job amid rolling hills, prairies and riverfront trails.

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Preserving pieces of Texas

Bluebonnet opens new field operations facility near San Marcos

To better serve members in the fast-growing western portion of its service area, Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative has opened a new service center for field operations personnel in Caldwell County.

Employees began working out of the facility located between San Marcos and Lockhart in Maxwell this summer. The facility will give line workers and other field employees access to needed material, tools, equipment and fuel, and ultimately reduce outage response times in Hays, Caldwell, Gonzales, Guadalupe and surrounding counties.

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Bluebonnet opens new field operations facility near San Marcos

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The waterways in the Bluebonnet region are ideal for both beginners and seasoned veterans.
Pam LeBlanc and Jimmy Harvey paddle their boats on the Colorado River at Fisherman’s Park in Bastrop. (Sarah Beal photo)

GET GOING - With Pam Leblanc 

One in a series of stories on fitness, recreation and outdoor adventure in the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative region.

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A passion for paddling

Women gather at an appliance showcase in the Bluebonnet region in the mid-1940s. Appliance shows like this, put on by the federal Rural Electrification Administration, drew large crowds across the country. Join us at our Annual Meeting on May 14 in Giddings to see a lineup of vintage appliances, our large appliance timeline and other nods to our 80th anniversary. The event is open to all Bluebonnet members.

BY ED CROWELL

When Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative powered the first light bulbs in rural Central Texas in 1939, the World’s Fair in New York was unveiling an all-electric home with a dazzling kitchen, complete with a refrigerator, electric range, dishwasher, coffee maker, garbage disposal, food mixer and an automatic toaster.

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A brief history of electric appliances

A vintage photo of one of The Luling Foundation’s early champion bulls

BY CLAYTON STROMBERGER

At the Luling Foundation, refining the production of the very best Angus cattle is done by combining detailed research and science’s latest tools. Here are a few interesting facts about the work:

Title
Building a better beef cow

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Printing a better building at Camp Swift
The largest 3D-printed building in North America is a 3,800-square-foot barracks that can house 72 military personnel at Bastrop County’s Camp Swift. The computer-guided machine that built the barracks was developed by Austin-based company ICON. (Laura Skelding photo)

Story by Ed Crowell

Military troops learn to live and sleep in unusual spots — from inside a desert foxhole to wedged between a rock and a hard place.

Now, some Texas soldiers will have an opportunity to rest, comfortably, in a revolutionary new barracks in Bastrop County.

At Camp Swift — the National Guard’s main training facility in Texas — some troops will sleep in the largest structure in North America built by a giant robotic 3D printer.

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3D barracks houses troops at Camp Swift
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