Baja St. Martin

My purple martins have all left but the two bird houses on the dock are still occupied by those little brown birds. Wrens? Sparrows? They co-habited with the martins all season but apparently they prefer to make it their permanent home. I will take the houses down as always in the summer to make sure storms don’t smash them.
Speaking of storms. A week or so ago, we had a really nasty storm, short-lived but heavy rain and just after dark a huge BOOM! and the power went out. Our generator came on so we had power, but it wasn’t until 11 p.m. that the power company did whatever they needed to do and the main power came back on.
At 1 a.m., I was awakened by another huge BOOM! and the power went off again. Since I was wide awake I called the power company to report an outage and was told there were seven customers involved and it would be the next day before things were fixed. Which turned out to be the case. A truck arrived mid-morning the next day, did something to the transformer on the pole next to my house and all has been well since.
Nothing in my house seemed to be damaged but since then I have found that my invisible dog fence transmitter no longer works. I called the manufacturer and they said lightning could well have struck the line and/or the transmitter. So I’m in the process of buying another device. I want to get a dog before long and don’t want to take a chance of it getting in the road, especially with the possible promise of heavy tank truck traffic.
The trucks, by the way, have begun passing after a period of time when they didn’t. I have no idea why they stopped going this way for a short while, but whatever it was it’s over.
The tankers are not that numerous – about the same they’ve always been, although they seem to be going a bit faster. To my knowledge, there’s been no building activity on the levee and I don’t know what is going on with the parish/FAS situation. I have heard that the Tulane Law clinic and the Atchafalaya Basin Keepers plus others are still opposing the levee building/rezoning, but I don’t know what they’re doing right now.
We had a great meeting for seniors at the Belle River Community center on Wednesday, July 8. In addition to seniors from the Baja communities, the Council on Aging director, Shanise Lewis, attended with case managers Cora Deroussel and Delores Hebert.
The seniors suggested activities they would be interested in having take place at the Belle River center such as bingo, crafts, Cajun French, line dancing, computer lessons and others. The dates of these activities will be announced soon. We’re getting things going. It just takes time. I have to tell you that I have some absolutely wonderful people over here who are so willing to volunteer their time to help with activities. I couldn’t manage without them.
The St. Martin Sheriff’s Office is sponsoring their annual summer luncheon for the seniors of lower St. Martin Parish on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Stephensville Elementary School gym. Lunch will be provided along with door prizes and bingo. This is for all local seniors, not just those who receive Food for Seniors. Please no children. Thanks to Ms. Roxy, the lunch will be outstanding as always.
Food for Seniors will be Thursday, July 23, at the usual times and places – Stephensville Fire Station and the Belle River community center. It will be posted on the Belle River outdoor sign.

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