It was simply too hot to walk on the levee the other day so I went to the Belle River boat landing, wearing some old tennis shoes and waded in the shallow water to the concrete bench under the pavilion and sat for awhile. I’m sure I looked pretty silly sitting in the water but it was actually pretty comfy. The water is very slowly going down and was only maybe two inches deep where I sat. My dog stayed on dry ground.
A four-wheeler friend stopped to chat and he said people were still crawfishing and the price to the fisherman was $1.25 a pound, but I wouldn’t take that to the bank. A friend in the buying business did tell me later he was getting a lot of crawfish right now and he suggested it would get greater as the water fell. I’d believe him but don’t know.
I have two of the blue rolling trash carts but the smallest one had a wheel that fell off. I reported it to the main office place and was mighty impressed that just a few days later, on a holiday would you believe, someone had come and replaced the wheel and I assume it will stay on now and whomever they were even pushed the cart back from the road to my fence. I had pessimistically assumed I’d have to wait for weeks to get the cart fixed, so kudos to the company.
I received a flyer about the Sheriff’s senior luncheon on June 12 in the Stephensville Elementary School gym. That’s always a nice event. Bingo for Seniors was June 3. I missed the last one. May is a busy month.
It seems like everyone is having a meeting or luncheon. All the school closing programs. Business group meetings. Retired worker luncheons. Water board. Recreation board. Friends of the Library board. School board. And in between all that there is a DDS appt., doctor appt. and eye doctor. Of course, if I didn’t get involved in so many things my life would be much less hectic but then what would I do all day?
Did I tell you that I just read In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides about the USS Jeannette voyage to find a passage to the north pole? In the l700s people believed if a ship could get through the polar ice pack it would come to an open body of warm water surrounding the north pole. The maps they used were truly primitive — some drawn by explorers who had never gone near the pole, some by Russians, some British—all different, all terribly inaccurate, most just guesswork.
The really incredible thing is, these mariners sailed around for several years , most of their ships crushed by ice, yet they still searched.
Well, now I’ve turned to something more real. I’m rereading one of James Herriott’s books, All things Wise and Wonderful about his days as a vet in rural England.
I went back to the Belle River boat landing where the water had fallen a bit more but still covered part of the landing. The levee boar (or someone) had scraped the landing and there was a huge pile of logs and lilies at one end. All exits and entrances are now usable. Only one launch ramp is easily used although the others could be accessed if your aim is decent. Practically all vehicles when I was there were parked at the farthest launch where the parking lot is relatively clear and clean and you can see where to back up. It will change by the day.
Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lindacooke1939@ gmail.com.
