Baja St. Martin

As I write this morning the outside temperature is in the high 60s, and a nice north wind is blowing. It’s wonderful! If we could just get rid of the mosquitoes life would be perfect. I’m wondering if the parish has not renewed the sprayer’s contract or something like that because he has not been coming by and it really makes a difference. It’s possible I’m just missing the guy when he passes but I don’t think so.
Bingo at the Belle River center takes place on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and 20, 10 a.m. until noon. The announcement is on the roadside sign. Come, join us. Not a way to get rich but it’s fun.
Stephensville Elementary School Principal Bryan Staton tells me his school will be the first in the parish to have Tele Med, a link with Lafayette General Hospital. Once it’s set up, SES will have a nurse onsite 20 hours a week. Along those lines, the school/parish is looking for a Human Resources person, so if you’re interested give the school a call at (985) 385-1366. It’s possible this job has been filled since I received the newsletter, but it can’t hurt to call and find out.
More SES events: The 4-H club has elected officers for the 2015-16 year. They are Ethan Vickery, president; Grant Torgrimson, vice president; secretary Tallulah Grivet; treasurer, Olivia Baio; reporter, Theo Rodrigue: and OCD (whatever that is), Kailey Landry.
The Social Studies Fair will take place the last week of October and the Science Fair sometime in November. Also in November, the Festival of Words will take place. This is a competition for grades 6-8 with prizes for entries in poetry, fiction, non-fiction and creative writing. Deadline for entry is Oct. l6. First-, second- and third-place winners will receive certificates and gifts. The winning entries will be read at the Festival of Words event on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Also, prayers to Mr. Roy Gros, husband of the faithful and long time SES secretary Sandra Gros. Mr. Roy has been having various illnesses, surgeries, etc. We hope he’s all well again.
I have not been to the Belle River landing in weeks, but the maintenance person, Toby Ponville, tells me the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District has been bulldozing the trash which piled up when the water was high. They push the debris toward the river which may destroy my walking trail, but I can always make or get a new one. My new puppy is now 9 weeks old and I think I’ll put her on a leash and we’ll take our first walk on the levee this weekend.
I have yet to find out what is going on north of Belle River that is causing the passage of so many tugs and barges. Many, for us, is several a week, but that’s quite a few on our quiet river.
Speaking of river, a local contractor who puts in seawalls, docks, decks, etc., was nice enough to use his barged Bobcat to drag out all the vegetation which has been packing under my house. My rope barrier obviously wasn’t working and the operator, who was actually putting some dirt on the neighbor’s seawall, swung his bucket around and in just a few minutes had almost all the grass pulled out into the current.
Today the wind is from the north which means all my grass is heading to the bridge. I will now just keep my fingers crossed that a south wind doesn’t blow it all back!
I’m told that I should now get some 4-inch PVC pipe in pieces, caps for both ends and string the stuff back where my old line was to keep more grass out. I’ll put that down on my project list at about No. 20!

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