I spoke with Samantha Miller today and she said this year the Stephensville Elementary School court, which is always so elaborate, will be held in the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium sometime in February, not in the school gym. I thought that was a wonderful plan. The program they put on for this court is really spectacular. Gorgeous decorations, complicated class performances and there’s so little room with the kids who aren’t participating at the moment sitting on the floor, people standing in the doorways, little ones dashing back and forth to the bathrooms. HINI vaccinations will be given at SES on Dec. 15 said Samantha. Rain, and more rain. The spillway and Belle River are both high, way up over the launch ramps. We didn’t get any snow on Friday, Dec. 4, but it was nasty out. Maybe some sleet. Now the temperature is up practically to 70 and it’s raining! A day later and we just had eight inches of rain. Honestly, I didn’t think the rain was all that bad but the lightning was horrible. At one point, the flash and bang were simultaneous and so loud the concussion snapped off a breaker in my electric box. I was already awake but when that breaker went clack! I really woke up. Somewhere back when I was teaching science I learned that when the flash of lightning and the bang of thunder were together, the strike was really close. Anyway, the water is now over my seawall and a number of people in the Belle River area and I’m sure in Stephensville and Four-Mile Bayou had flooding in their houses. It just came down too fast for pumps to keep up. Fortunately the rain forecast for a day after this deluge didn’t materialize, so people will have a chance to dry out. The north wind has been pretty brisk since the big rain, a blessing to be sure. This coming Saturday (this past Saturday as you read this) will be the Annual Christmas Boat Parade on Belle River. This is always a nice event. The lighted houseboats, party barges and skiffs look so pretty in the dark. The weather report doesn’t look promising, unfortunately. My family to the north tell me they have been getting moderately cold temps (28 degrees is moderate to them) but had their first light dusting of snow just last week. It’s interesting to know that while we here in the south generally bemoan cold winter temperatures, in the north it’s just the opposite. A certain amount of cold is essential for some natural processes, like fruit tree production. Apple trees, for example, don’t thrive here because we never have enough cold to properly set the fruit. Satsumas need some cold to ripen, but not too much or they freeze. It’s nice, isn’t it, that all the different climate zones are good for something. Linda Cooke The Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be contacted via e-mail at lcooke9417@bellsouth.net.