Hi, y’all … please don’t think I’m still Trippin’ but I would like to ask y’all to do me a favor, and pray. Now I’m a Christian, but I personally would never push my religious beliefs on anyone. I believe that everyone should have the right to believe or not believe in whatever they want. I can remember as a boy, this one religious group would come ‘round knockin’ on doors in our neighborhood on Sunday afternoons … about the time that our family would get home from church. My daddy had already changed into his robe, shorts and house-shoes and was camped-out in front of the TV set watchin’ football. The doorbell rang, and I heard a bunch of folks congregated in the foyer at our front door. As daddy answered the door, they started talkin’ … but daddy interrupted them, held-up his hand and said, “Hey, y’all … I really appreciate what you’re doin’ … but we just got home from church. Now I believe what I believe, and you believe what you believe; but I believe y’all are interruptin’ my football game.” then he promptly closed the door! This is a true story.
Now, some of y’all may be greatly offended by this and are fixin’ to hit your “Back” button or delete me from your “Favorites” … but I’m not tryin’ to get y’all into a religious debate. The two topics that’ll fire-up a heated debate amongst most folks are Politics and Religion. I take both very seriously … and this entry to my blog will touch on both. If you don’t think that you can stomach this, please move on and God bless. But what I am askin’ for is for some good-old fashioned prayin’ for what’s been goin’ down at Caddo Lake and the little town of Uncertain, Texas. They are facin’ a problem of biblical proportions; and for lack of government funds, the future of Uncertain is, well … uncertain. Short of a miracle, I don’t know what anyone can do to save ‘em. But I am sure that your prayers will help!
There are three things that can kill this plant: the first one is the herbicide fluridon, which can be sprayed topically … but any sudden influx of rain will dilute it and render the treatment ineffective. Well, Hell (and speakin’ of) we’ve been under a severe drought for the last couple of years, so what’s the dang problem? It seems that it all boils down to one thing … money.
Again, due to the current state of our government (and/or the lack-thereof) or the misappropriation of our tax-payer’s dollars (not) at work … the sprayin’ of giant salvinia doesn’t seem to be on a lot of folks priority list! So are we just goin’ to let Caddo Lake and Uncertain, Texas choke to death? I tell you who I’d like to choke are some of them greedy-ass do-nothin’ and spend everything politicians who are smotherin’ this country! Now, that might not be a very Christian thing to say … but I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em! And I ain’t sayin’ that all of our elected officials are to blame, but who do we need to call to get these folks some help? I read that the spray budget for 2012 was only $75,000. Really? I’ve seen that kinda money cruisin’ around most boat ramps … in the form of a pick-up truck pullin’ a bass-boat! But if y’all have seen Caddo over the past couple of years, a measly $75,000.00 is pretty-dang insufficient, as far as fundin’ goes!
The sad thing was that only $27,500 of that budget went towards the actual herbicide … the rest went for labor, maintenance, fuel and supervision. Okay, I can understand that you cain’t get somethin’ for nothin’; the labor, fuel and maintenance I can understand. But if only a third of the budget goes for the chemical, and it takes the other two-thirds to spread it, can our powers that be not see that they need more funds? Am I missin’ somethin’? Is someone insinuatin’ that us country-folk are remedial? Hell, I’d bet the farm that Jed Clampett, Granny and Ellie-Mae could’ve figured-out that somethin’ ain’t quite ain’t right! They'd prob'ly make Jethro redo his dang “goesintas” when it came to askin' Mr. Drysdale for a more money to purchase them chemicals to clean the cement pond!
From what I've witnessed around that lake and from what-all I’ve been readin’ in the Marshall News Messenger lately, them folks are fightin’ a losin’ battle. Businesses are shuttin’-down or have been relocated, and the locals cain’t go nowhere by boat unless they live off of larger bodies of water such as Big Cypress. The marinas had already been hurtin’ due to the drought, and the low water-levels combined with the overabundance of vegetation limits the launchin’ sites drastically. I’m sure the fishin’ guides are feelin’ it, as well as the bed & breakfasts and lodgin’ surroundin’ the lake. Combine that with an already crappy economy and things are lookin’ mighty bleak. But, wait … have no fear … ‘cause weevils are near! Weevils? Yep, yep … that’s what I said … weevils! Brilliant! But read on, ‘cause it looks like things might be goin’ from bad to worse. This ought to bug the sh¡t outta y’all (pun intended)!
The second thing that can control this invasive weed is Cyrtobagous salviniae, a weevil! Did I spell that correctly? ‘Cause I dang-sure cain’t pronounce it … “Cyr-to bogus” … hmmm, sounds about right! I hope the Hell I’m wrong … but somebody done decided that it’d be a good idea to put our tax-payer’s dollars into raisin’ friggin’ weevils! Holy, sh¡t! Let’s look at the logistics of this: weevils that you gotta spend money on to raise … then you gotta spend more money on to disburse. Them weevils better do a whole buncha eatin’ and plenty of dang breedin’ to rid that lake of them weeds; hence the fraise, friggin’ weevils! Brilliant? I think not, ‘cause there’s one factor that will wipe-out this whole weevil idea …
The third thing that will kill the giant salvinia is a freeze. The main reason that the weed got so outta control is that Caddo Lake hasn’t had a hard freeze lately. But guess what else won’t survive the freeze? Weevils! Brilliant! And … as an added bonus … accordin’ to the Farmer’s Almanac, we’re s’posed to have a hard winter this year. Oh, my God! Now do you see why I was askin’ y’all to pray? Have any of y’all ever read the book or seen the movie Catch 22? Hmmm … I remember somethin’ about “ … a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.” Really? Is any of this soundin’ familiar to y’all? Yep, yep ... I’d say these folks need some serious prayers!
I hope I’m severely wrong about them weevils, and all of that money and hard work from our elected officials and government employees pays off. But from what I’ve read, most of the release sites had dried-up and them weevils done died! That really bugs the sh¡t outta me (pun intended)! Now I’m sure that my mini-man rant is just exacerbatin’ the situation … but just maybe it will help get the word out. Caddo Lake is one of our national treasures, and if there is anything that I can do, I’d love to help! I’d volunteer my time or help with some fundraisin’ if someone would just gimme a shout. I made some calls after my spring trip to Caddo, but no one ever got back with me. First I called Austin … and they referred me to the Caddo Lake Institute, who referred me to someone in the district who never returned my friggin’ call! Sounds like a Catch 22 to me! Maybe someone will read this and forward it to Don Henley, who has both the money and the influence to rock somebody’s friggin’ boat! Until then, I’m goin’ to ask y’all to pray …
I pray that in time, my grandkids can see the kinds of things that I’ve seen out there in them woods and waterways around Caddo Lake. I don’t want ‘em seein’ pictures about what the lake used to look like … I want ‘em to see and feel and smell and experience all that one of our national treasures has to offer. And I’d like ‘em to meet the friends and acquaintances that I’ve made out there durin’ the past few years. These are good, hard-workin’ genuine folks … and it’s sad to see their home and livelihoods get choked-out by some damn invasive! God forbid, if that does happen … I pray that the wildlife can either adapt or move on. So again, I’m askin’ y’all to do me a favor … and pray. Pray for a freeze … or pray for our government to put a freeze on needless spendin’. Pray that they’ll appropriate more funds to the Cypress Valley Navigation District and that it’s not too late to save Caddo Lake. Thanks, take care and God bless!
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