dancin’ with gators
Sorry I haven’t been around the past few days, I haven’t felt well at all, but I think I’ll be ok (a post at the new blog explains). I thought it would be fun to rerun one of my favorite old posts, while I try to catch up on blog template back orders… Enjoy!
Take six cajuns (male/female) a fast boat, some waterskis and a rope and douse liberally with beer and booze and what have you got? A buncha crazeez that will do almost anything! One of our favorite pastimes was cruisin’ out in a boat and finding an area where there were several alligators laying in the water near the bank. They were not hard to find at all, as they are quite plentiful. I lived in a small town named Theriot on Bayou du’Large, and I had a small house right on the waterway with about 100ft of waterfront. It had a really great view of the Intracoastal Inland Waterway and was basically slap in the middle of the swamps.
The way we played dancin’ with gators was to try to hit a gator in the head with your ski or skis without falling. Yes, it does take quite a bit of nerve to purposely antagonize alligators, and be right there in the water with said gator, thats where the alcohol comes in. Actually hitting one was quite difficult because they can move or submerge a lot faster than you might think and they were really just as afraid of you as people are afraid of them. The big exception is during the time when female gators are guarding a nest of eggs, then you better be prepared to be chased or attacked. And you definitely did not want to step on one in the middle of a moonless night while out in the swamp, frog hunting, but that’s a whole nother story.
The trick was to have someone in the boat spot ahead for a target and point it out to you while you were being towed. The driver of the boat would then swing around in a u-turn so you could swing way out at very high speed and come around fast enough that the gator was taken totally by surprise. As I said this was very difficult because they are quite wary of human presence but not so much afraid of boats because they pass constantly. What they are not used to however, is a crazee cajun with sticks on his feet, swinging in for a kill at 50+ mph! Doing this was some of the best fun I have ever had. I never hit one myself although I tried many, many
times. I can only recall one good hit and that was by a buddy named Badeaux (bad-o) who crashed so hard in to the head of one that it made him flip over because his ski came to a dead stop and he kept going! He was now in the water with one VERY angry gator and he scrambled up on to the bank and ran like a mad dog. The gator meanwhile was actually scared as hell and took off up the bank and disappeared in to the swamp.
What a day that was, we nicknamed Badeaux “gator bait” and everyone called him that for years and probably still do. I also had a pet gator for a while. He would swim by the house almost everday and beg for handouts, and we would usually toss him a hotdog or anything else we might throwout of the fridge. We named him “Jaws” of course but he was fairly small and still quite young maybe 4 ft long or so. I have lived in some really cool places and Theriot brings back some really fun memories that I will have to tell you about in the future. It’s only about 1 month away till Mardi Gras here in N.O. and I will be doing a lot of stuff on that topic including some live stuff from the scene! Stay Tuned!
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Hey, Seven, I’ve seen your comments on other people’s sites and figured I would stop by.
This has to be the funniest post I’ve read in a while. I don’t think I’d get up the nerve to dance with the gators until I had enough alcohol in me to pass out. And that would be a whole other kind of bad idea - passing out Julie with gators…
SEVEN!
oh my good god dam - what were you thinking? don’t ever do that again! do you hear me
That is freaking sweet! I’d be all over some action like that. It sounds like a blast!
All we got in Illinois is pissing off big mean bulls and seeing who could stay on the roof of a sheetmetal shed the longest during an electrical storm… hmm, both stories I may have to tell.
Boy…that takes balls! I’ve been gator hunting with my husband…there is no way I’d try to tap those badboys in the head with a water ski…drunk or not! (Although I would probably enjoy watching OTHERS try and do it…:)
LOL and I thought I did stupid shit.
Crikey… between you baitin’ gators and Trash wrasslin’ bears, I think I’ve heard all the stoopid I can for one day! (Can’t wait to get off work, go have several beers then… um, then… well, we have a lot of ICE here right now. Maybe I’ll ride my bike down a steep hill. Without a helmet. Yeah. That’s what I’ll do.)
Oh, and is it just me or is Mardi Gras early this year? I’m confused…
DH… do tell, LOL. Please?
Seven…. I’d have to be far beyond drunk to do that… something about being eaten by a gator just isn’t appealing.
blog looks nice, bro. like the new look
Hey there. Stopping by from BE. Enjoying reading your site… I really like the way you write.
Julie= Hi and thanks for the comment! i stopped by your blog and it is very very nice!
Bitchcakes= hi hi honeybunches and i will try to refrain hehe umm ok ya…
Defiant= now i am not accustomed to being around cattle much less bulls, they would scare the hell outta me!
Stacy= hi and thanks for the comment!
Trash= hell we all do some time or another, i still laugh about the BRB story!
Ang= i check your blog often and can’t wait for more, you takin a break for a bit?
Angel= all in the name of fun!
Jay= thanks man, i am keeping up on the adventures of Jay and Jasmine, good story
Kimmie= thanks for the sweet compliment and the comment!
Hey, I saw you had me blogmarked and checked you out and wow.. another Cajun! Lol, but it’s safe to say you’re way more Cajun than me. While I may eat the crawdads and catch the Mardi Gras beads, I wouldn’t have the guts to *try* and kick some gator @$$. I do waterski tho, and going 50mph is scary enough. I was trying to barefoot and my dad went about 50 and I freaked out..
Anyway, it was really fun to read that and I’ll definitely be checking back. Lucky you, get to have Mardi Gras in NO when I’m stuck here in Lafayette =P
man, you are a crazy dude if you really did that
Seven:
Don’t alarm Bitchcakes. She’s very sensitive about people being eaten by gators. I have to say I’d never have thought of such as sport as this. But then, I can’t swim, so I’d stand no chance against the gators anyway.
Heh heh!
Your question: Take six cajuns (male/female) a fast boat, some waterskis and a rope and douse liberally with beer and booze and what have you got?
My guess: “A drunk six-some who were too swervy and spicy for an alligator to eat!”
I thought I’d try to find some pictures of alligators dancing, but instead I found this CD:
http://illusion.customer.netspace.net.au/dwa.html
And here I thought cow tipping was dangerous!
“Gator Bait” reminds me of what we would call the vanload of teenage girls I hauled to Baton Rouge for a competition one year. We kept telling them if they didn’t knock off (insert annoying behavior here) we were going to use them to troll for gators.
Holy Shit! What kind of hooch were you guys drinking to make you do that? Gators scare the shit out of me…something to do with those giant jaws. I’ve done some skiing in my time, and can imagine what it would be like to try to hit one. Jeebus!
We all do some stoopid stuff, that’s for sure. Reminds me of some cow-tipping stories and jumping off of barns into snow drifts.
Oh my God, that was hilarious. Did you ever try that sober?
Larper= hehe you are too much, that post you made about the “15 things to to in a public bathroom” was hilarious! i still laugh out loud when i think of it. it can be found here folks!
Senior= thanks and yes we really did that, among other stuff, maybe crazier!
Mary= is there some special fear she has for gators?
Jeanette= thats right!
Catt= i just remembered that we kept Badeaux running by yelling at him that the gator was still chasing him, man he really thought it was chasing him down and we laughed SO hard. he was scared shitless!
Celti= i don’t know who’s bright idea it was to do that, just some drunk that thought he was tuffer than a gator lol and it was a lot of fun.
Jethro= nope, getting in a boat always seemed to mean beer on board
I had a similar experience. I’m going to have to blog about it. Thanks for the idea, mind if I steal it?
Kristin= np, just send a truckload of money over! hehe
of course silly !
i’m slowly making my way through your archives and sidebar stuff. read your prologue today. that’s some good stuff to know. so are you allowed to drink anymore or do you have to avoid it to protect the new liver?
Jay= hey! no drinking no mo’! but it don’t bother me none hehe
i just like to joke about it, i haven’t had a drop in 2yrs. quitting smokin was a bitch tho hehe
that was some cool shit with those doctored pics, too cool
hope ya win the BoB it’s pretty close but i think you will get it.
Hi there Seven!
Finally I make it over to your blog, and boy am I glad i did!
You have to be the fluffiest, cutest blogger on the web, so cute in fact I may have to dedicate an upcoming post to you and list you in next weeks top 5 blogs:)
I have never seen your blog before, so I am so glad you left a comment.
Of course you earn a fabulous free link button from me also, which I’ll get busy making this weekend - I thisnk I have an idea for your already!
Well woof-woof Seven.
See you again soon:)
Flirt
Forget fluffy-seven, I’ll R-Rate you too;)
Flirt
Flirt= hi hi and welcome to the hideout! the button idea you started is pretty cool! and thanks so much for the kind compliments! i will be checking you out daily
Great story, Seven. I think I’ll stick with my plan to die in a more conventional manner, though. You know, tucked safely into my blankie in the nursing home with bits of food dribbling down my chin. YOU know, the way God intended all us chickens to die. LOL Be safe, will you? Now, every day when I wake up I’m going to have to worry about whether or not Seven is going to do something crazy.
Karen
Karen= lol, that kind of crazee stuff is behind me now, luckily i lived to tell the story!
Seven:
Did you see on Bitchcakes’ blog that she was complaining about her “Cajun Boyfriend” flirting with too many women?
;)
Dar ain’t nuttin’ more can be said ya crazy Cajun!!!
as long as he still loves me best - or at least says that he does .. i’m good….and remember my boobs are HUGE
Mary= yes i did, and i left a comment about it
Inanna= it never occured to us to be really afraid of alligators, probably because we saw so many of them growing up, snakes however were a totally different story!
Bitchcakes! ya know i luv ya best!
*smooch*
*taking a screenshot of your reply to me saying “You’re right.”*
You must be one in a million of men to have said that!
so funny…
and nice update on the page layout as well.
I cannot wait until the Mardi Gras updates! My great aunts and grandmother went almost every year while they could. I just can’t picture 5 little old ladies ambulating through those streets and collecting beads. I will have to come down for the parade some time.
That is the best!
W. Se7en Dangerfield strikes again. Does that qualify you as a terrorist? Gatorist? Foolish boy?
I remember that story. I laughed for days after reading that one.
Awesome post! I thought I had “lost” your blog, that’s why I haven’t been over in awhile. I’m glad I “found” it.
Of course they just as afraid of you as you are of them… you’re trying to hit them with your skis!!! Meanie!
If you happen to kill one, send me a hunk of tail will you? I loves me some gator tail!
you are NUTS! gator dancing…
I wish i could be there for mardi gras….I haven’t experienced that yet, but it’s on my ‘to-do’ list.
Holy shit there’s not enough alcohol on this earth for me to tango with a gator :op
New blog? I’m out of da loop, where?
I always thought gators were vicious and would attack if you went any where near them. What a game, dancin with gators. Smooshes bebe:)
You definitely got some crazee in you boy. Didn’t you ever notice dem gators got no friends? They eatz em. Hope you get to feelin better.
I thought some of the people I knew did some really stupid shit when we were younger, but you…..
Just stole your flag. Cool Blog. You’ve probably stepped over me on one of my many visits to New Orleans. http://patsydarling.blogspot.com/
My Uncle and I were out fishing on Tuesday and happened upon a big gator cruising along, we gave chase in the pontoon boat, but we only had a small crawler morot so we were only slowly gaining on him. about 3/4 of the way across the lake we had almost pulled level when he finaly got pissed of and thrashed his tail went under and left us for dust. he was about 7 or 8 feet long, not sure I would want to be chasing one on a couple of planks of wood.
CAn you email me with the other site address… I had it, but i lost it… my bad!
That’s hilarious.
I hope you’re feeling better today. Have a good weekend.
Louie and Chuck would have a good old time with those gators! (Not a chance!!!) Do you still see these guys? - your friends I mean..