Baja St. Martin

I sympathize with the St. Martinville officials who are questioning having a Mardi Gras parade in their town. There is none in Belle River nor in neighboring Pierre Part, but there is a Christmas parade which is almost the same thing except for the colors. The parade leaves a huge mess on the main street (the only street) but I think mostly the property owners on the road clean up in front of their place. I know I usually watch the Xmas parade from the yard of a friend’s house and once the parade has passed we all rush out with brooms and trash bags and clean up the street and ditches.
The past few years we’ve put a big sheet of plastic all along the property line so the throws don’t get in the wet ditch and the stuff is easier to pick up. And I’m pretty sure most of the businesses along the parade route close for the day but that’s a Sunday so it’s not a problem for most.
The Belle River landing is still under water. Fishermen are launching by backing down the drives or in some cases turning around at the bottom of the levee but the latter means maneuvering in fairly deep water. I’m judging by the debris stranded on the levee that the water level is going down just a little. There isn’t much activity anyway. A few people are putting out crawfish traps but I haven’t heard of anyone catching enough to make the work worthwhile. You can still buy boiled crawfish at Landry’s Seafood restaurant and I think now at Paizano’s by the Belle River bridge – $4.50 a pound.
It’s getting ready to rain as I write and I hope it isn’t much. The ground is saturated now. The weather remains a bit strange, as you know. Cold one day, warm the next. I walked in just a T-shirt yesterday and was comfortable. Today I’m bundled with fleece jacket, ear muffs and mittens.
Last weekend I attended an Assumption 4-H Livestock Show in Napoleonville. My first! It was freezing cold but the show was wonderful. It was such a treat to watch these kids – some of them really small – groom their sheep, and goats and pigs – spraying horns with something to make them shiny, combing them, and then muscling them into the arena where the judge gave his comments and chose a winner in each division. Honestly, I could not understand a single word he said about stance, shape, behavior, etc, but the entrants seemed to know.
I watched the dairy cow show with Elsie the Cow look-alikes. Huge, brown eyes and sweet, sweet faces. One tiny girl was dragged around the ring by her cow until the judge helped her out. It seems cows don’t like to have their tails bent upward! Off in a corner of the barn a huge black bull was snorting and making horrible noises, yanking its human up off the ground and flinging him about. All of us observers were sort of looking for places to shelter if necessary.
Just learned today that there will be a rabies clinic in the Belle River Community Center on Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. until noon. Dr. Cole Delhomme will be here as she was last year with her associates providing shots for your pets. I believe the cost was $5 but don’t hold me to that as yet. This will be in the local papers plus on the outside sign at the Belle River site. Hopefully the weather will be a bit more amenable than last year, but if you recall, Dr. Delhomme works fast and very efficiently. Also, I’m pretty sure this will be for rabies only. I’ll keep you informed.

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