Baja St. Martin

Grover! Grover! Wherefore art thou, Grover? You keep well ’cause we’re looking forward to seeing you in a week with those Food for Senior boxes! And yes, I know I’m being silly, but it hits me some times.
Maybe being silly is sort of a reverse reaction to having just attended the funeral of Roy Gros of Four-mile Bayou. His wife, Sandra, has been the Stephensville Elementary School secretary for years and she tells me she will go back to work when life settles down, hopefully by choice. I am not privy to the secretarial details of our St. Martin schools and don’t want to be, but I know from experience in other parishes just how vital a good secretary is to the functioning of a school. I doubt if a school could operate at all with no secretary to handle the million and one issues that face him/her every day.
The water at the Belle River landing has sort of stalemated. Neither up nor down when I went yesterday. I have taken to backing down one drive so I can park just at the water’s edge at the bottom. Last time someone else did the same thing and he parked his truck and boat trailer next to me. He just launched his boat right there. You could use this drive to exit more normally but unless you’re willing to reach it in uncertain water depth, for practical purposes it’s not usable.
When I arrived at the landing there were only three trucks with empty boat trailers parked. They were in the water but as close to the levee as possible where the water was shallow. The pavilion is underwater, of course. The metal walkways to the floating dock are partially underwater. The bathroom as I’ve mentioned is closed and I was told it had been pumped out.
The cattle have been removed from the levee from Belle River to Stephensville, I assume because of flood precautions. I kind of miss seeing all the cows. When I’d put letters on the outdoor sign at the Belle River center, all the cows right across the road would stop and stare at me. I mooed once at them but I only startled a walking trail walker!
Bingo on Jan. 19 was good. We had maybe 25 people in attendance. One senior brought a big pot of hot chocolate. We had two January birthdays. Next bingo is Feb. 2 and the next Food for Seniors is Jan. 28 unless otherwise noted.
If you’re interested, a hearing will be held in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge on Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. Tulane Environmental Law Clinic will present their argument challenging the state Department of Natural Resources’ action of giving FAS a permit for their wastewater transfer facility on the Belle River levee. Judge Wilson Fields will preside. I don’t know any details of the presentation, but I am going to the hearing along with a number of us from Belle River. I’m assuming we can’t do anything while there but a packed courtroom would show support for our opposition to the transfer site. The courthouse is on the corner of North Boulevard and St. Louis in Baton Rouge, Suite 7101. Come if you can. I’ll let you know what happens.
The weather has been beautiful lately. I got outside yesterday and partially cleaned one flower bed which was full of branches and weeds. It felt good to be grubbing in the dirt. Going to do more today. The dog thinks it’s great fun and madly digs holes when I don’t stop her. Why do dogs do that? Do they smell something good under the dirt?
Time to put the purple martin birdhouses back up, too. And clean out my wood duck box. It feels like spring!

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