Black and White

I was intrigued by a photo of a black penguin that came to my attention recently. We associate animals with their colors, and when the colors deviate from the norm, it really gets our attention. This one certainly got mine.

Also, anyone going to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans knows that Spots, the white alligator is a must see. Another must see are the distinctively white tigers, Rex and Zulu. This is a great time of year to visit the zoo in New Orleans, before it starts getting uncomfortably warm for both us and the animals.

Kayaking during alligator mating season

This evening, while kayaking on the "lake" in our neighborhood, a kid that was fishing told me that he saw a pretty good sized alligator in the lake...the first one he had seen this spring. About this same time last year, while kayaking in nearly the exact same location, I saw an alligator staring me down and not swimming away from me, and I started feeling rather vulnerable. At that time, one of the neighborhood kids said something like, "Mister, you're pretty brave paddlin' around in that little kayak during alligator matin' season." I swear that before I got to shore, I got bumped no less than three times by something. At the time, I was dead sure it was that alligator, but I admit my imagination was running pretty wild by the time I got to shore. I don't think I've ever got out of a kayak faster than I did that day. It was a good two months before I even thought about going out again. This year, I will simply hang up the boat during alligator mating season which is basically the April - June timeframe. I'm doing this even though I know that if precautions are taken, I have a very low probability of experiencing a confrontation, based on everything I have read online. I don't mind gliding by alligators, enjoying their presence after the mating season is over, but until then, well...I'll just enjoy them from the shore, keeping my paddlin' drumstick-looking arms well out of from their domain.

During mating season, the male alligators can get pretty aggressive, and they put on an unusual ritual to intice a mate.

Sugarcane research station works toward relocation

Wow, we were the lead story of the Houma Courier today with the header, "Sugar cane research station works slowly toward relocation." Our new facility seems to be an elusive dream, but the announcement of $3.2 million in federal money last week by U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., being secured during the Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, is good news. The Bill is expected to head to a Senate vote later this year. I recommend that anyone interested in the future of sugarcane as both a sugar and energy crop read the entire article AND the related links.

Another compelling story in the Houma Courier had to do with an 11-year old boy who survived a vicious alligator attack on the North Shore in the Slidell area. It's well worth the read (along with the related link), just for the human interest side of this story, but more because it highlights how dangerous alligators can be in this area, especially when we start taking them for granted. The commonly used term, North Shore (which means something entirely different to surfers from Hawaii), refers to the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.

Enjoy a Cajun Swamp Tour

If you enter the words 'swamp tour' in Google, you are going to see the strong connection between swamp tour and southern Louisiana. There are many swamp tours, such as Attakapas Adventures Swamp Tours (see above photos from their website). Swamp tours are quite distinct from one another, but they do have a few things in common. A few that you can generally count on are alligators (often by name), a wide array of birds, and enchanting cypress trees. When Lori (our daughter) and her husband James were here, we went on the Cajun Man's Swamp Cruise, with Black Guidry and his singing dog named Gator Bait. That was quite an experience. James knew French as a result of the time he had spent in western Africa. We had a group on board who were from France. Since Black Guidry knew Cajun French, he spoke to them in French. James was the only one among us who knew what he was saying to the French group. We later asked a bilingual member of the group if they could understand what Black Guidry was saying to them during the tour. This person said that as long as Guidry stuck to the script, they were ok, but when they were asking him questions, and he was responding spontaneously, they were having problems following him. We loved the tour, and couldn't believe all the beautiful birds we saw. A member of our Church in this area, Bill Munson, runs the Munson swamp tour. Judy and I have been on that one. It's a little more intimate, not as much out in the wide open spaces, but the swamp creatures are real up and close.

You can treat yourself to your own mini-swamp tour with a little mellow Cajun background music. First, click on some Cajun background music (Click on 'CLICK HERE'), then click on a self-advancing slide show of a tour, and Voila! Kick back and enjoy!