Baja St. Martin

Sorry about this folks, but I was wrong! The purple martins have not yet returned to my birdhouses! The birds I saw are those pesky house wrens which have been poking in the Martin house nesting holes every day now. I go out and shout at them but they come back. I hope they will leave when the martins do arrive.
I don’t think the current cold will last long and even if it does, I got carried away when it was in the 70s and have planted tomatoes and arugula seeds in flats in my greenhouse. Somehow I’ve lost my heating cable so the roasting pans I use for flats are simply covered with white trash bags to retain moisture and maybe a bit of warmth.
The husband of a dear friend of mine, Lucille Husband, passed away rather unexpectedly this past Thursday. Robert “Bob” Husband had gone into the hospital for a relatively routine procedure I’m told and died shortly thereafter. He had suffered a heart attack a few years ago but was seemingly fully recovered.
Lucy Husband, you might remember, was the principal of Stephensville Elementary School quite a few years ago. I don’t know exactly which years but I do remember that it was Lucy who managed to acquire a grant for nice little greenhouse at the school. I don’t think it is still there but for awhile the older kids made use of it.
Mr. Palma Johnson will be coming to the Stephensville fire station on Feb. 24 to offer help with electricity bills and will return on Feb. 26 to the Belle River meeting room to do the same for the Belle Riverites. He usually sets up in each place about 9 a.m., so if you are interested in taking advantage of his help, just bring proof of identity, highest electricity bill in the past year and maybe Social Security info. Check with a friend about the documents needed. It doesn’t take long to be signed up for assistance.
I was driving in a pretty heavy rain last week when the “Maintenance Req” (required) icon on my dash panel came on. Right in the middle of heavy traffic and my heart jolted thinking, “Oh, no, now I have car trouble!” Of course it simply meant time to have my oil and filter changed.
These dash-panel warnings are nice but still a bit unnerving. For so many years of my life I drove clunkers. Old cars whose mufflers fell off. I hate to count the number of times when a car became overheated and my two kids and I sat in sweltering heat (no A/C) until the thing cooled off enough to start! Bad batteries! Bad fuel pumps! I had an old truck once whose driver’s side door didn’t latch properly. The school parking lot was to be shelled and the assistant principal borrowed my keys to move my truck. He returned looking a bit ruffled and said, “You didn’t tell me the door won’t stay shut!” I felt kind of bad about that. Oh, we’ve had the works!
Stephensville Elementary will have a Mardi Gras parade on Friday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. The public is invited. From the newsletter, congratulations to French teacher Candice Grivet for getting a grant from the Richard Guidry Cajun and Creole Language Fund. Ms. Grivet is the same one who took a bunch of people to Paris last year.
The SES court will be held on Feb. 20, I believe in the Morgan City auditorium, but you’d best check on that location. The students celebrated 100 days of school recently. I was not able to be there but it appears the theme had something to do with age because the girls are dressed in granny dresses, spectacles, using canes, the boys with mustaches, ties, suspenders and powdered hair.

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