Disappointments, Delays, Deviations, and Deadlines
Well, my dear folks, it’s way past time for a blog post, and I’ve been silent for far too long, but certainly not by choice. I’d like nothing better than to have the time to write several creative posts per week for you; alas, neither time nor life has been so kind.
DISAPPOINTMENTS and DELAYS
Where do I start? I’ve received calls from several folks wanting to know what’s up with “Swamp People” introducing all these new characters? One doesn’t like the Texans. Another doesn’t like the rednecks. And none of them are Bayou Fabio? Where the heck is Bayou Fabio? Huh?
Well, one disappointing delay is that they had to come back down this week and get more footage of him and hopefully some interpretation of his lingo. Seems Bayou Fabio is so hard to understand that the writers are having difficulty with the subtitles. I offered to interpret, but I think they handled it without me.
The second disappointment is that I talked to one of the writers today, and he said that they have also gotten some negative feedback from people about introducing so many new characters all at once; well, one new pair for each new episode. Anyway, because the network thinks that Bayou Fabio is so fabulous, they are saving his episodes for the proverbial icing on the cake.
So, I hate to be the one to tell you that if you continue to watch, and you don’t like the other new characters, you’re going to have to muddle through each week until I get you a clear date of his first episode. It has been pushed back to possibly some time in April.
DEVIATIONS
Since everybody likes to “know” somebody and since I like to share stories with you that show what a small world it is down here, I’ll take the liberty of telling you a little story about the newest and youngest of the “Swamp People” characters. They call him ZZ, and Termite and I met him about seven years ago. I hope this background story will cheer you up a bit.
It was 2006, and I was working on the “Swamp Tour Project” for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP). My job was to find every swamp tour within the estuary system that was back in operation post-Hurricane Katrina. Afterward, I put together a profile for each one and designed the page for the website, which you can see here.
One of the tours we took was Zam’s Swamp Tour in Kramer, LA, which is owned by ZZ’s family. Termite and I enjoyed the tour, and while I visited with the Mrs., the boys played around on the dock. Later, they introduced us to a huge alligator they had in their side yard. There may have been more than one gator, I don’t recall at the moment. But that thing was huge, and they said it was very, very old. As you will see, ZZ comes from a line of adventurous people . . . and I imagine you will meet this gator on the show.
Some of you might recall a TV show that aired around 2005 called “Wife Swap” or “Trading Spouses”. And then while the brain is searching your RAM to see if you did indeed save that information, you might also recall an episode where one of the families that was on the show was this very family. ZZ’s mom swapped places with a woman in Los Angeles. Is this sounding familiar? She gave those vegan ladies little alligator heads as party gifts!
ZZ was a cute, rotund, active little blond-headed fellow who became famous for the saying, “alligators don’t sweat”! The saying caught on, and fans of the show could be seen wearing T-shirts touting his slogan. Somehow, he evaded my camera the day of our visit, so I’ll share some other photos with you to prove we were really there!
Termite and I had a nice time on their tour, but somehow, and I’m still not sure how, ZZ avoided my camera lens.
ZZ’s dad was really cool and even let Termite run the boat. That really made his day!
Fast forward to the summer of 2012, and I’m sitting at Big Al’s in Houma, LA, watching the goings on of the casting call for the next season of “Swamp People”, and who walks in, but ZZ, all grown up-ish. I greeted him, and we chatted for a while, and he told me that he was going to give the King of the Swamp a run for his money!
Well, his episode aired last night, and for some aggravating reason, History Channel went on the fritz, and I could barely make out the images on the screen and the audio was all chopped up. Evidently the casting crew liked his get-up so much that they insisted he wear the same thing on the show–I DID see that much last night.
DEADLINES
If you’ve been wondering why I’ve been so busy and haven’t as many new posts lately, it’s because I have a new part-time job that has been eating my lunch. I am working as Executive Director for a local non-profit that needed a little help reorganizing and revitalizing; and in order to do that, I’ve been working like a maniac on a fantastic grant opportunity that will put a feather in their caps and increase their presence and credibility. (I’ve also had to put out a few fires and throw water on some embers along the way.) The deadline for the grant is March 15th, so I’ve been burning the candle at both ends to get this done before . . . .
I get to do something new–speak to a group of 40 of “volun-tourists” from across the country about Last Island and the Hurricane of 1856 to help lay some groundwork for them before they go out to Raccoon Island (the western most island in the Last Island chain) and plant black mangroves for the nesting pelicans and other wading birds. That’s on March 14th.
Then on the 15th, I have to study for radio show on Saturday morning, the 16th, which is also the day of the 7th annual Bayou Dularge Trash Bash. That night, I am attending a dinner with the “volun-tourists” over in Cocodrie.
Then, Sunday, the 17th will find me out on Raccoon Island planting black mangroves and making the brown pelicans and roseate spoonbills happy, happy, happy! (And later a post about that trip and all the players that I hope will make you happy, too!)
And then, on Monday the 18th, I will take a big deep breath, sit down with my morning coffee, upload all the photos from my adventures to my external hard drive. Choose the ones I want to share with you and decide whether to tell you about the Trash Bash first or the Island Planting. Either way, I’ll do my best to bring you some good photos.
Meanwhile, it’s Friday night and the end of one heck-of-a-day playing Ex. Director. It’s time to go cut the red velvet cake and sing happy birthday to Termite, who turned 17 today! (oh, and I forgot to tell y’all that sandwiched between all of this are his baseball games I’ve been attending in the evenings!).
But tomorrow is Saturday, and I am actually, really, and truly taking a day off and going to enjoy a sleep-over at a girlfriend’s house. We are going shopping for patio furniture. Doesn’t that sound fun? I think I’m going to put my cell phone on silent to make sure I take the day off.
By the way, it’s crawfish season, and we had our family boil this week, and the next day I made crawfish stew. Come on, tell us what you’ve been doing/cooking!!!
See ya later alligators!
BW
That wouldn’t be the CRCL,would it? I’m on their mailing list and almost signed up to help with planting black mangrove down around Pass A Loutre. I can’t remember what the date was. I got all messed up when I got a jury summons for the 25th, and now I’m trying to finish up a couple of jobs at work in case I get caught on a case that takes a week.
Whaddup with folks not likin’ the Texans? Of course, I’ve not seen the show, so it’s possible they cast some truly jerky Texans, in which case people would be justified in not liking them. 😉
I do sympathize with the over-commitment crunch. Well, or the commitment crunch. I just closed down my blog at Weather Underground. As the old saying goes, you can do it all – you just can’t do it all at the same time!
Keep that cell phone off!
No ma’am, the next CRCL planting was mangroves at Fourchon. It’s a partnership among four or five groups, NGO’s and government agencies. Oh, well, they are kind of encroaching on Troy’s hunting territory, so they were sort of the “bad guys” from the outset. But don’t you agree that Texas alligator hunters need to just stay in Texas and hunt the gators there????? I mean, Louisiana gators are Louisiana gators, LOL! (Oh, and I can’t turn the cell phone off in case “home” needs to reach me, but I did take a few hours off and am back home and ready to tackle a new week. PS. I don’t like daylight savings time because now it’s dark when I get up. I enjoy those few weeks where the sun rises before the boys have to get on the bus!)
Well, yeh, but… think about all those Texas dollars that are getting spent in Louisiana restaurants, bars, gas stations, bait shops, gambling establishments, emergency rooms…. 🙂
I don’t like daylight savings time either. It doesn’t mean a thing except I have to work later in the day.I’ve got to figure out a way not to be eating dinner at 8 o’clock this year!
Well, it’s just two Texans, and the way Troy sees it, they’re taking his gators!!!
You know I’m just teasing, right? I imagine Troy feels like some of our fishermen feel when the Floridians show up at their tournaments and win all the prizes!
Yes, I knew you were!!! Just clarifying for others!
well there you are and there you go. blu got a new furnace so I am learning to sleep in undisturbed silence in winter. I needed that like in 2001 when I moved in. I did a bit of nuke lake fishing after a couple ice fishing. 3-16, 3-17 finds me at hunter safety class. Going to try to fish for some big stripers on fly rod very soon, today was washed out by bad salmon. Cooked in coconut oil butter and capers it was dee-lish but rumbling started after….
OD on Popeye’s no cooking today.
Oh did crank out a beef tongue again . These capers got me thinking they might be tongue enhancing. So other than a couple emails to a spice co-op on project that be me.
Might fire up a google blog as restful sleep sinks in. Got a couple working names in mind.
Peace.
Hmmm, I’ll take your word on the beef tongue and capers!
Oh, How I miss “Big Al’s” in Houma, LA
I’ll think of you next time I go, Raoul!
You better slow down or that candle you are burning at both ends is going to reach the middle real soon.
I will have to remark my calendar when you find out the new date for Rickys appearance. I was really looking forward to that episode. And, I do remember the episode of Wife Swap you mentioned. In fact, it was one of my favorites and I laughed during it until I hurt. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rerun of it. I loved the “parting gifts” of alligator skulls.:)
We are in the process of planning our annual crawfish boil too. It is scheduled for later this month in fact. You enjoy that sleep over and shopping. You deserve it.
You amaze me. Can’t wait for your photos of the planting – how wonderful!
Yes, I’ve been thinking of our trip out to the island. We are planting on that eastern end where some new sand has formed and is just bare and needs to be planted. The birds are over crowded because the biologists suspect that some of the pelicans from Cat Island have moved to Raccoon island, causing some over crowding. I will be so knee deep in mud that I’m not sure how much photography I will get to do. My first priority is the planting, so I just hope I get to take some pics. I’m not going as a journalist, but rather a volunteer planter!
Well, maybe I’ve exaggerated. i do have some down time, and by 9:00 I’m pretty much dead to the world! Oh yes, that’s the part about Wife Swap that I remember, too. Those California women were repulsed by those gator heads, and all of them were Vegan, too!
You are really something, BW! What a schedule. I need to catch my breath! All mostly good things, though. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed on the grant.
Thank you, Granny Sue, for the good luck wishes with the grant! Do you ever watch Swamp People?
Oh man! I wanted to see BF!! but hey, good things come to those who wait! Gal, you better slow down or you’re gonna meet yourself going and coming! The crawfish looked terrific!!! Wish I had some. We have crawfish boils at our house, but by the time I get outta the kitchen and into the backyard, my husband and his son have practically eaten them all!!! Later gator!!!
Sharon, I’m going to send you a private message about our schedule for that weekend now that things have changed.
I think you have a superwoman syndrome just like me. Try to pace yourself.I have recently changed heart specialists and undergone a heart cath,found out I have 50% blockage but did not have to have a stent. What I am saying is you better pace ypurself. take care. I have been missing your blog and i knew you probably busyi
Yes ma’am, but I have to keep moving or everything gets rusty, LOL!
I really liked this blog entry. I snarfed my coffee when I read that they couldn’t understand BF’s bayou vernacular. I grew up here and there are still times I have to ask someone to repeat themselves,
occasionally, especially when I get too close to the coast. My first year in college my girlfriend was from Sunset, when I went to her parents home once for a party they all spoke French, and nothing but French. Her brother laughed for months at me. Big difference between speaking a langage and understanding it after a few beers! The oilfield sure has sure changed towns into cities, and we forget where we came from. It is why your blog is sooo good and important.
You know, it always seems like no one else can do things besides you, especially as well as you. I will not tell you the number of stents I have, it’s nothing to brag ‘bout. It may not be your way, but oddly it all still gets done. Nothing but family, is that important.
I love the picture of the crawfish boil. I was laughing this week at the ingenuity of our local grocery. 5 lb. bag of red potatoes was .79, while a 3 lb. bag of small “boiling potatoes” was 4.00. LOL….. Ya know, since wings have become so outrageous with the hot wing craze, I get the drumsticks when on sale instead. Call ‘em Texas hot wings! That’s supper tonight. Texas Hot Wings! Although…… The crawfish stew sounds mostest excellent, and now I am athinkin maybe a crawfish pie tomorrow. It sure goes down good with a cold longneck.
Tell Mr. Termite happy belated, I always called my Mom on my birthday and thanked her, I’ve always thought we have who gets the party backwards.
Ya know I get really tired sometimes of this silly computer correcting what I am trying to say! Silly technology, when I was in school and needed it, always needed a smart girl friend to proof my work, now when I don’t care, it corrects me without askin! A day late and a dollar short.
I totally agree with your idea of the children giving the parents a gift on their birthday! And since my kids weren’t around when I was born, they’re not obligated to give me a gift for mine!
Good post. No time to make a proper comment right now. Need to help unload the truck. We just got in from Ms.
What did you do? Read it on your smart phone on the way home from MS?
My dotter would really get a kick from your response. We “up graded” our phones about 6 months ago…her comment to Hubby was “welcome to the ’90’s Dad”. Smart phone LOL!!!!!!!!
I also have a hard time understanding Bayou Fabio! BTW, will he be called that in the show? I had a chance while in Minnesota to watch Swamp People but now that I’m home I’m back to no cable. I did check online and saw that I could buy an episode for $3 so when the time comes, I will purchase the show so i can see BF on the screen.
I don’t know if they will use the nickname, although they asked me if they could. I told them yes. We shall see.
I have to be careful what I say about the show, but if y’all don’t like what you’re seeing, and you don’t want to say it here, then go to their Facebook fan page and let them know. Many others have done the same, and the consensus is that most folks don’t care for the newcomers on the show. I’m not sure you’ll make a difference this season, but maybe next season–if there is one!
The Krud has come to visit. Not happy. 4 days to get better before hunter safety training. Not happy at all. nope.
Fluids zinc fluids etc.
Sooooo, you’re taking up hunting? Gotta get a Hunter Safety Card before you can use that new rifle?
No grandfather code in Illinois so if I come down to shoot rabbits in your yard I need a number I can only get this way. I hear some other states go by birthdates but not yours.
BTW. this is pretty cool.
http://ihea-usa.org/
I can trap and hunt with the best of them just that farms are pretty void of upland game here now. I will probably trap next winter if still here.
Any hunter born here after some date in 1985 has to take Hunter Education course. I took it with Termite just because.
Thanks for the update on the airing of Bayou Fabio. I don’t have time to watch Swamp People every week, but I did set my DVR for next Thursday thinking that would be the day he would debut. Imagaine how disappointed I would have been when I sat down to watch only to find he wasn’t there. Being a Bayou Dularge girl, I am especially looking forward to seeing his debut. I have caught a glimpse of him on the bayouside a couple of times and recognized him from your previous posts.
We are also enjoying crawfish here in Dallas. On my last 2 trips back from Dularge I made a pit-stop in Alexandria and picked up crawfish to share with our friends and neighbors. I must admit most of them are quite wary of our “mudbugs” so 75 pounds went a L-O-O-O-N-Nnnngggg way!!! Most did enjoy though and are asking when I wil be bringing more!!
Paulette, if he appears on the 21st, it will be a surprise to me because of what I’ve been told. But to be honest with you, I’m not sure they know when he will appear. I’m getting the impression things change at the network on a whim, depending on viewer polls, so who knows? It could happen, so don’t UNSET that DVR just yet!!!!! Mud bugs to some people really just that: mud bugs with no culinary value at all, other than bait to a fish!
Perfect score on my test.
Oh btw the pelicans are back in my hood, try and get pix soon.