Watts Inside:

For Our Members

Fruit of the Gods Changes Lifestyle

“Over a bottle of wine, we decided to grow grapes.”................. PAGE 4

Nan Smith, Stone Cliff Winery

Electricity TheftPage 2

What’s That Smell?Page 2

Should Your Meter be Disconnected?Page 3

Test Your Smoke Detector and Change Their Batteries TooPage 3

Fruit of the Gods Changes LifestylePage 4

November is Still a Great Month to be Physically ActivePage 6

Member Complaint ProcedurePage 7

Watts the AnswerPage 7

November 2006

We’re Almost There!

Everyone at Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative would like to thank the members that have taken the “ENERGY STAR® Change a Light Pledge” as part of a national campaign to Change a Light, Change the World. So far, over 280 MVEC members have taken this pledge! We still need your help to reach our goal of 500 pledges.

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

Please help MVEC reach our goal of 500 pledges, just take the pledge by going to our website at www.mvec.coop and click on Change a Light Pledge! or you can complete the form below and return with your bill payment.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are available in different sizes and shapes to fit in

almost any fixture, for indoors and outdoors.

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Electricity TheftTheft involving electricity and related materials is a problem all electric utilities face and it’s one customers of the utility share. Since Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative is member-owned, electricity theft could end up costing you money, too. Compensating for electricity theft drives up prices for everyone involved, everyone except the culprit.

Theft of electricity also puts your personal safety at risk. Tampering with an electric meter can make it unsafe and unstable. When someone steals electricity, they put themselves, their neighbors, family and pets all at risk for electric shocks, power surges, spark and fire from exposed voltage. Stealing electrical related materials can also pose a significant risk to the culprit, resulting in injury or even death from exposure to live electricity.

Electricity theft isn’t isolated to rural areas or to big cities. It’s a problem utilities encounter from agricultural operations to housing complexes to business offices from coast to coast. Although electricity can be easily acquired through a utility, some people are still willing to risk physical damage

or loss of life just for the sake of some free kilowatt-hours. Others may not realize the serious legal and potential health implications. Stealing electricity is illegal under Iowa law and violates electrical codes.

Keeping power safe and affordable is a priority for Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative. That is why we routinely inspect cooperative meters and equipment to ensure we’re doing our best to protect you from the risks of electricty theft. We take a proactive approach to this serious problem, eliminating theft and reducing related costs.

You can also play a role in this process by immediately notifying us if you suspect someone is gaining access to our power supply without paying his or her fair share of the costs or tampering with equipment. If you have information related to electricity theft, please call us at 319-462-3542 or 800-927-6068. Rest assured, we’ll keep your name anonymous. Because you share in the ownership of Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative, when some-one steals from the cooperative, they’re stealing from you too!

Check the electricity. That foul smell coming from the laundry room might not be your child’s dirty gym clothes. Unpleasant odors could be a warning sign that your home’s electrical wiring needs attention.

Shoddy home wiring contributes to 35,000 fires and 300 deaths every year, estimates the National Fire Protection Association, especially in older houses. Decades-old circuit breakers, switches, receptacles, outlets, cords, plugs and light fixtures might not be equipped to operate today’s appliances.

Further, the American Society of Home Inspectors says improper wiring is the second most common problem in home inspections. Inspectors blame inadequate overload protection and amateur installed wiring. If you smell burning metal or plastic, it could be time to replace your electrical system. Other symptoms of a sick system are: •Shocks. Good, modern systems are grounded so that you will be protected from shocks and injuries. •Flickering or dimming lights, often caused by connections that are coming loose. •Wobbly plugs. The prongs on today’s appliances slip out of outdated outlets. Replace the outlets. •Hot or discolored receptacles, switch plates cords or plugs. If they’re too hot to touch for more than five seconds, they’re probably overloaded or malfunctioning. •TV or computer screens waiver when you turn on a large appliance. This either means your house needs more electrical capacity or one circuit is overloaded.

What’s That Smell?

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Should Your Meter be Disconnected?It’s that time of year, harvest, yard work, winterizing our homes and closing cabins. If you are closing your cabin and will not be using any electricity at that sight for 3 months or more, you should consider having the service disconnected. If a problem arose in your wiring system, such as a short or ground, the kilowatt-hours could build up excessively before the problem is detected. If the service is temporarily disconnected you’re NOT required to send in monthly payments or meter readings. All members, not just cabin owners, that have an active meter that continues to show no kilowatt hours used, should consider this option.

There is no charge to have a meter disconnected but there is a reconnection fee. The Basic Service Charge of $17.00 (plus tax) is assessed monthly for all active single-phase meters. If there are no kilowatts being used on this meter for 3 months or more, you will save money by having the service disconnected and paying the $50.00 reconnect fee when or if you have the service reconnected.

Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative strives to provide the best service possible. Because meters that show zero usage can signal a problem, our crews are regularly dispatched to check on these meters. The disconnect-ing of these meters saves money for the Cooperative, which again saves you money. As an owner of the Coop-erative, money saved by the Cooperative is money saved by you as well. If you would like your service tempo-rarily disconnected or have any questions please call us at 800-927-6068.

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Hopefully by now you remembered to set your clock back for Day Light Saving Time. Did you also remember to check your smoke detectors and replace the batteries?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises you to test each of your home’s smoke detectors once a month and to replace the batteries in them once a year. In addition to pushing the test button to make sure the alarm is working, you can light a match or candle, blow out the flame and wave it under the detector so the smoke floats into the unit. (Don’t use a flame to test the smoke detector, because it could damage the device.)

You also can use an aerosol smoke product, avail-able at hardware stores and home centers, to test your smoke detectors. However, alarm manufacturer, First Alert, cautions you to use aerosol smoke only if it’s

listed with Underwriters Laboratories; the UL listing will appear on the smoke product’s label.

Finally, following the smoke detector manfacturer’s instructions, use your vacuum cleaner’s furniture brush to gently remove dust from the air slots on the devices.

Test Your Smoke Detectors and Change Their Batteries Too.

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Grace Zimmerman, Anamosa, Iowa

Grapevines

Fruit of the Gods Changes LifestyleWhen I enacted my bit of humor as “Lena” at Czipar’s Apple Or-chard Open House on Highway 52, I was amazed at the gathering of people of all ages. What really surprised me was the little ‘ole ladies (of which I am one, I admit) that congregated around a person-able young man, a top PR person, Shane Smith. Guess what? He was sponsoring a wine tasting. The people had a choice of about six different blends of wines. After tasting the sweet wines, it was not unusual to see many carry off a bottle of “Stone Cliff” Wine. After all, we’ve all heard and read about the health benefits of wine! (By the way, Shane, is Bob’s son, a chip off the old block).

Naturally, my next stop was to find out about Stone Cliff Winery. This meant a lovely drive on Highway 52, locating the winery between Durango and Rickardsville at 17716 Highway 52 N. As I entered the property, there were grape vines covering the hillside, to the front of me, to the right of me and to the left of me, about 8 to 10 acres.

Driving down the one mile, curvy, hilly road, along side of boulders, bordered by trees, the first thing

that struck me, was the difficult and challenging project of construct-ing the road to the Smith home and winery. (My background of living at the end of a long clay-laden curvy lane where I grew up when we had to navigate such a lane was not any fun for me). Thus in visiting with Nan Smith, who with her husband, Robert, purchased this 300-acre farm in 1993, my first query was about the lane. Her reply, “Did Bob tell you that the lane saved my marriage? We had to use chains to get in and out in bad weather in 1996 when we were first alternating living 3 weeks in Denver, then 3 weeks here. Blacktopping that road saved our marriage. Now we fight over who gets to clear the land with the Land Rover when it snows. It’s so beautiful all around with the new fallen snow.”

Bob tells me, “One of the first things we built was a swimming pool to get the daughters to enjoy coming back to what they referred to as a pig farm. Meanwhile, we lived in a trailer house here. We also built a pond.”

What made the decision to leave Denver rather surprised me. Bob relates, “The two daughters were young and we were concerned about the violence in Denver. We wanted to go where it was safer. Thus, we spent lots of time looking at different locations. Since Nan had grown up in Dubuque with family back here, the decision was

made. There were no structures on the farm but we did think of farming.”

Nan adds, “The kids missed friends but enjoyed the beauty of their new location.” You, the reader, have already ascertained my next question. The answer will surprise you. What made you decide to grow grapes and make wine was my query, with the answer: “Over a bottle of wine, we decided to grow grapes.”

“We went to classes, read a lot, attended seminars and in 1997-98, we had our first vineyard. Imagine me, sitting under the grape vines, with a book in my hands and saying to myself, ‘If this is a first year growth, then this is where I cut’. We started out small, the two of us doing all the work ourselves,” was Nan’s answer. Which, to me, is an example of the couple’s perseverance, ambition, and goal oriented task at hand.

“We have six wines that we’re chiefly working on. The cabernet red, white chardonnay, and white zinfandel, a fruity blush wine, for the real wine drinkers. For fun wines we have a sweet cherry, sweet cranberry and sweet concord,” Nan proudly states.

In the back entrance of their home, we enter the crushing room, where a machine separates the stems and seeds from the juice. Here, I was

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Crushing Room

Barrells & Bottles on Display

surprised to see the use of a bulk tank, with one having blueberry “cooking”. Next, it was to the bottling line where wine was piped from one of the tanks as bottles were filled automatically. The next two steps involved a labeling machine where an attractive Stone Cliff label was attached. This pro-moted a little history of the winery, information about the owners and stating that the wine was vented and bottled by Stone Cliff Winery, Durango, Iowa. 52039, phone, 563-552-1200 (with the required gov-ernment warning). The “corker” machine, really cute, made certain that the cork was there to stay.

Then, down to the basement, under

the home, to a barrel room where large casks of wine, all labeled were sitting. Another tempera-ture controlled room held cases of bottled Stone Cliff wine ready for distribution.

Then, Nan informed me, “We’re moving down to “THE BREW-ERY”, where we are the first tenants in what was the old Dubuque Star Brewery at the port of Dubuque in Ice Harbor.” She points out the large vats with wine contained herein will all be moved to The Brewery, which sounded like a lot of work to me.”

As I get ready to depart, Nan points out the front yard locations where they’ve held “Wine Festivals”, twice a year, where visitors park in the fields, carry lawn chairs to be entertained by Bob Dorr Blues Band or a Swing Orchestra. There are food concessions, and beverag-es, of course, including Stone Cliff Wine. Sounds like fun to me!

Whether you’re a connoisseur of fine wines or your palate desires sweet wines, Stone Cliff Wines can fulfill your ardor for a tasty “fruit of the gods”. What would make a better Christmas gift for that person of discerning taste, than Stone Cliff wines! They’re available at grocery, liquor and convenience stores in the Dubuqueland area and the Hy-Vee in Davenport and many outlets between Dubuque and Davenport. In the near future, after the moving task is finished, you’ll find Stone Cliff Wines at “THE BREWERY” at the Ice Harbor of Dubuque and you can savor the taste of top-notch wine. I’ll make the assumption that there’ll be a grand opening!

ReminderThere will not be a December issue of Watt’s Current.

Look for your new 2-year magnetic calendar!

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Susan Uthoff, ISU Extension Nutrition & Health Specialist

November is Still a Great Month to be Physically Active

It is a time where you can enjoy a brisk outside walk, enjoying area bike paths, or even spending time hunting. Getting in good physical condition prior to physical activity can help your entire experience be more enjoyable. Fitness can help you to cover more ground comfortably. If you are physically fit you will avoid exhaustion which can make you clumsy and take away from the overall enjoyment of being outside. For hunters, being physically fit can help you get your game out of the woods more easily. Being in shape can help you be a better shot. Taking a shot while out of breath reduces accuracy.

To get started aim for 30 minutes of moderate inten-sity physical activity, such as brisk walking, five or more times a week. Select an activity that brings you enjoyment. If you don’t like running, don’t do it! Try walking or biking instead. You are much more likely to stick with activity you enjoy. Find an activity partner. It is much easier to stay active each day if you are accountable to a partner. Start slowly and build upon your fitness level. Put on a backpack and hike in the hills. If you are a hunter you can use this as a scouting opportunity and enhance your hunting fitness at the same time.

Nothing will slow you down faster than a poor diet. Be sure to get at least five fruits and vegetables each day, drink lots of water and avoid too much added sugar and fat. The following recipe uses yogurt instead of sour cream to decrease fat. Also, if you want to decrease sodium, use low sodium soup.

Turkey in the Straw

Makes 8 servings

8 oz. dry noodles1/2 c. chopped onion1T corn oil3 1/2 c. cooked and cubed turkey1/4 tsp pepper1 - 10oz. can cream of chicken soup8 oz. plain fat-free yogurtWater

Follow package directions to prepare noodles. Try to have noodles and sauce ready at the same time.

To prepare sauce, sauté onion in oil using a large, heavy saucepan. Stir in turkey, pepper and cream of chicken soup. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently so the mixture doesn’t stick or burn. Stir in noodles and heat thoroughly.

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Watts The Answer?

1. Compensating for electricity theft drives up prices for everyone involved, everyone except the _______________.

2. If there are no kilowatts being used on a meter for ____ months or more, you will save money by having the service disconnected.

3. Nothing will slow you down faster than a poor __________.

Mail you answers in with yourenergy bill or email them to dreyhons@mvec.com.

Two winners will each receive a $10.00 credit on their energy bills.

Name:

__________________________Address:

__________________________

__________________________

October winners:

Cletus Thielen, Zwingle

John & Marilyn Lawler, Zwingle

Member Complaint ProcedureThe Iowa Utilities Board issued an order adopting a rule requiring electric cooperatives to inform members of an address and telephone number where a cooperative representative, qualified to assist in resolving a complaint, can be reached. If you have a complaint, you can reach a representative by writing to:

Member AdvocateMaquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative109 North Huber StreetPO Box 370Anamosa, Iowa 52205-0370

Phone: 800-927-6068

If your complaint is related to Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative ser-vice rather that its rates and Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative does not resolve your complaint, you may request assistance from the Iowa Utilities Board, 350 Maple Street, DesMoines, IA 50319-0069, 515-281-5979.

Our office will be closed

Thursday, November 23and

Friday, November 24

Happy Thanksgiving!