Bugs, snakes and gators

My daughter Kim lives in Louisiana. She likes it there, just a ew miles from Denham Springs and on the banks of the Amite River.

Two main reasons she likes it there are that most of the storms you hear about go around where she lives, and her neighbors are such caring people.

The other morning, the humidity there was over 90%.

This allows you to breaststroke from the bed to the kitchen in the morning.

After a few minutes, she can go out on the deck and have a bug the size of a half dollar land on her arm, and then looking down, you can see a snake curled up nearby. Looking out, you might see a six-foot-long gator stroll across the lawn.

You don’t see that in the coulee.

The Amite River is an offshoot of the Mississippi River. It pours through two lakes and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

It can rain 9 or 10 inches in a given day, causing the river to rise a bit.

Only once has their place been flooded. Water was up some 3 or 4 feet inside the house. She and her husband Bruce had to literally tear the insides out and start over, and this included the furniture. They had good insurance, and the agent was there within a few days.

That was several years ago. Since then, the river has come up, but it didn’t flood the house.

On occasion, Kim sees a gator swimming in the river.

She and the neighbors had a pet alligator in a pond nearby, and when shopping for groceries they would get something for the gator, then stop and feed the animal.

Welcome to Louisiana.

After several years, the gator just up and left the area. 

It rains often and probably more in one 24-hour period than we get in an entire year.

She lives only a couple of blocks from the swamp, which for our purposes we will call Mississippi.

There you can see wild hogs, small deer, snakes (all kinds), and, of course, alligators.

Doesn’t it make you want to live in Louisiana?

Denham Springs is about 60 miles north of New Orleans.

When tornados hit, they usually hit just north of where Kim lives. The same with hurricanes.

They still sometimes get some of the wind.

She has three dogs, three cats and a lizard. When neighbors leave for something, Kim is the official dog watcher.

A typical social event might include a tub of crawdads, fixed like only people from down there can do.

When they get heavy rains, the swamp floods and the water covers the road, making it impassable for a day or two.

Kind of makes you want to sit on the edge of your chair, doesn’t it.

It makes our dozen or so 100-degree days seem trivial in comparison.

Often the temperatures there are in the high 90s, and the humidity close behind.

I think on those days I would stay inside and play with the dogs.

Welcome to Louisiana!