Baja St. Martin

No news on the FAS/St. Martin Parish/levee issue. We’re still waiting for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to notify us of the hearing which they promised to hold before giving their verdict on the FAS application.
Actually, I don’t know if the hearing will come before the DNR decision or after, but I certainly hope before. It would be reassuring to believe that we, the residents of Hwy. 997 and the parish, could still have some influence on the decision.
It has been interesting to find that the state Department of Transportation and Development and Jeanerette Lumber and Shingle Company did not know that the FAS request for rezoning of the levee has been denied by the parish. They do now. It is so hard to understand that organizations will do something which can affect so many without having any real understanding of the consequences. Maybe it’s that they don’t want to know or don’t care?
I’m reading in a local paper where Texas Brine is claiming that the Bayou Corne sinkhole is not going to get any bigger while the parish authorities are saying just the opposite. The hole, the local authorities say, is getting deeper and will likely grow in surface area.
Meanwhile, I’ve heard that the few people who still live in Bayou Corne will not be receiving their weekly payment from Texas Brine much longer. Again, I don’t know this for a fact and, if it is true, I don’t know if it’s because some people have not taken a buy-out or because of other reasons. Nor do I know for a fact that there are less than a dozen residents still living in the Bayou Corne community.
The local paper did say that the PBS NOVA series will feature a one hour documentary on sinkholes in 2015, including but not only the Bayou Corne sinkhole. Most sinkholes are caused when underground limestone caverns cave in, like many of those in Florida. The causes of the Bayou Corne sinkhole are somewhat unique since they are the result of human actions.
School will be starting in just a few weeks. I will be tutoring privately this year, but not a lot. Two or three students is plenty. The Pierre Part Middle School 7th and 8th grade math teacher quit sort of unexpectedly last year, so I’m curious to find out who will take her place. And who will be teaching math to the upper graders now that Mr. Traver has retired from Stephensville Elementary.
My older sister in Michigan told me in our last phone call that she was sitting in her house with a blanket around her and the house heat on. Can you imagine? In the 50s I think she said. Our weather here has been a little cooler than normal, but not by much.
The spillway water level is going down again. I can not yet walk on the “beach” but it won’t be long. Right now the dog and I are fighting our way through the bushes and vines, making our future path. She is discovering all sorts of bones and shells and mummified fish remains and I’m discovering lots of spider webs!
My printer sort of gave up on me when I was printing a large number of pages. The readout said to consult the User Guide, which I could not find. But I did manage to learn that the User Guide was automatically downloaded into my computer when I installed the device. So I went to it and have now tried everything it suggested doing with no positive results.
This afternoon I will buy two new print cartridges, install them and if that doesn’t work, I’m heading to Walmart to buy a new printer.
UPDATE: I did not buy two cartridges. I bought just one and that did the trick. So the old printer keeps going!
It is thundering out now and getting quite dark. We could use a little rain.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lcooke9417@bellsouth.net.