Baja St. Martin

Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day! Isn’t that the way the nursery rhyme goes? I managed to get two and a half flower beds cleaned and ready for planting but have two more to go. Now it’s either raining or too wet to work in the beds. My rain gauge registered an inch and a half just today.
My sisters tell me it’s been in the 50s in Michigan. Let’s hope winter is over. I have flats of tomatoes growing in my greenhouse and will be ready to put them outside in a week or two. I saw where a fellow up the road toward Morgan City must have his tomato plants in the garden already , but he has those Wall O Water things around each plant. I’ll bet they really work but must be a bit expensive.
And the purple martins have still not come back. Please, someone, tell me why! The scouts came to check out the bird house situation several weeks ago and that’s the last I’ve seen of them. Do they secretly know that we will get more cold weather? There aren’t even any little wrens or sparrows at the birdhouses!
Mr. Paulma Johnson came to Baja twice and signed a bunch of people up for help with their electric bills. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for your help. And of course, Grover came with the commodities a few weeks ago. We always look forward to that event. By the way, I like that the food boxes contain whole wheat pasta now. Much healthier.
My sweet dog has a lymph node infection if we’re lucky. If not it could be something worse. Meanwhile, getting pills down her throat twice a day is becoming challenging. I used to smother a pill in peanut butter but she caught on to that pretty quick and now doesn’t like peanut butter at all. I’m resorting to all sorts of tricks to get her to take the pills and to eat. Let’s hope it all pays off favorably.
My cat is going on 17 but he is doing pretty good – minus a tooth or two but otherwise intact and remarkably energetic at times. I made a stuffed felt catnip mouse the other day and my aging pussycat nearly went into hysterics, throwing the toy about, snuffling the residue on my work table, then sneezing ferociously. What is it in catnip that makes cats go nuts?
I vote every day on the Courtesy Giveaway site and so far it is a contest between Stephensville Elementary and St. Martinville High. They are taking turns at first place. I, of course, am rooting for Stephensville. I don’t know if they need a vehicle, but I know they could use the money.
I noticed on the back of the March Stephensville calendar the softball and baseball schedules. I’ve actually missed all the baseball games for the month already, but on March 23 SES plays Patterson Junior High and on March 26 it’s Morgan City Junior High against SES. Both games at 5 p.m. I’m assuming the first name indicates the home team but you might want to call to make sure.
Parents, Ms. Sandra, the SES secretary, is asking you all to send in those Wednesday snacks. The money from the sales helps pay for a lot of stuff schools need and there are loads of things the districts, etc., don’t fund. So send those snacks when it’s your child’s room’s turn. Healthy snacks are preferred, of course.
By the way, I just voted on the Courtesy Giveaway and see that Stephensville is pulling ahead of St. Martinville High. Way to go, Baja folks! Let’s keep it up. Three more weeks in the contest.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lindacooke1939@gmail.com.