Where eagles soar. Or sit

Easter was a great day to just lollygag around. After church the Old Cajunette and I (don't let her know I called her that or I'll be in big trouble) took a little trip in the pirogue, oh for maybe two miles.
And what a trip it was.
We got into one of those little canals that branches off from the bayou, and let me tell you the alligators are already out looking for food. You'll be looking at a tree trunk laying there in the water that fell during the winter and there that gator is, just looking and watching. When we passed a few they splashed down in the water, figuring it wouldn't be good to hang around.
So there we are traveling through the canal and not a sign of any people, and then the Old Cajunette she points up and says "Look, right up there at the top of the tree."
Sure enough it was a bald eagle, just sitting on the treetop, not bothered by anything, like he owned everything that was here. And if I was an eagle I'd probably feel the same way.
That eagle was so still, he looked like a statue. I wanted to climb up and pinch him to make sure he wasn't.
We figured we'd leave him along and we paddled on back to the house. A few of the neighbors were making an Easter party and cooking a big jambalaya in the iron pot outside.
We were going to make a ham, but that jambalaya was just too tempting.
I told T-Boy from next door about the eagle, and then about how there didn't used to be any because of the poison, but now Louisiana swamps are like eagle central.
T-Boy shrugged.
"How's it taste?" he said.
I gave him a dirty look but figured I'd come back on the joke with him.
"Eh," I said. "Been a long time since I ate one but it's a little bit like spotted owl."

Tragedy averted

Took a drive to the Dock'n'Shop this morning for a little gossip but all the sac-au-lait fishermen and catfish fishermen were already gone because the sun was already peeking over the bayou. The nearest mall to here is in Houma, and I don't do malls anyhow. But catching up on the news at the Dock'n'Shop is an important mission. If they don't sell it at the Dock'n'Shop you don't need it on this bayou.
You can gas up your boat from the water, gas up your car from the land, buy bait including grass shrimp and worms, beer, soda-pop, Hubig's Pies -- they're fried and they're from New Orleans and are they ever good -- and even a raincoat and some long johns if you need 'em.
Millicent Dufrene was behind the counter like she always is in the morning and I got me a cup of Community Coffee.
"Hey old Cajun," she says.
I said "What?"
She says "Did you hear about Boudreaux and Thibodeaux talking about when they die?"
And I says no, I never heard of that.
I didn't feel like hearing a Boudreaux joke this morning but she tells me one anyway and says Boudreaux and Thibodeaux were talking about dying and Boudreaux says "Hey, Thibodeaux, when you die what you gonna do?"
And Thibodeaux says he figures he'll end up at the American Legion hall, or maybe the fire house, and all the people are going to come and mourn and talk about what a great guy he is. And Boudreaux says, "Hey, Thibodeaux, what do you want all them people to say?"
Boudreaux scratches his head and says he wants them to say "Look! He's movin'!"
So on that note I left and got back in the truck and go driving down the road and I see something up ahead of me like road kill, you know, like a dead bird maybe that's kind of big and the wind is blowing it around, cause I can see like it's moving.
I try not to drive over road kill, so I slow down and as I turn the truck to the left I see this is not road kill.
It was a mama duck with about a dozen baby ducks and she's trying to get them across the road, and they just about made it when I got there.
Well was I ever happy I turned my wheel, because damn, I could have wiped out a whole family.
But they made it safe and sound.
And I guess the best thing about it is whenever the mama duck gets all those babies to where she's taking them some other duck will say "Look, they're moving."
It's a lot better than getting squashed on the road.
So I am going to go check the boat now but I got to be careful. There's a gator about four-foot long been hanging around where I got the boat docked just across from the house.
I'll let you know if I make it back and if I'm moving. 

First Old Cajun post

Well ... it's about 6:20 p.m. here on Bayou Cauchon, a twisty-turny body of water half-salt and half-fresh, where the men are men and the alligators are nervous. Especially during gator hunting season. A lot of you might have visited New Orleans and aske the waiter or the buggy driver "Where do the Cajuns live?" And they probably told you there's not too many in New Orleans.
That's because they're all down here in Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, Vermillion, and all those other parishes that touch the water and can take youto the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of the people still talk French or something close to French.
T-Boy from next door is bouncing his basketball on the road outside right now, and it's like a drum that beats for all the singing of the birds -- a few of them are already out -- and it's too early in the spring for mosquitoes so it's a good night to sit outside.
I think I might do just that. Grab my pipe and go sit. Maybe if T-Boy lets me I'll bounce the basketball a little too. He's got a hoop set up outside his paw-paw's car porch.
The posts on here will be a little slow at first. But we'll be adding features as we go on to tell you more about the Cajuns and the Cajun country. And who knows? Maybe you'll come and visit some time soon.