Transcriber: Erin Segura Unknown
Translator: Jackson Butterbaugh [Begin Tape 4903. Begin Session I.]
STUDENT: T’es paré?
RAYMOND COUVILLION: Ouais. Commence. STUDENT: [laughs] All right. Qui c’est ton nom ? COUVILLION: Mon nom, c’est Raymond Couvillion. STUDENT: Okay. Quel âge t’as ?
COUVILLION: Je [suis parti sur] 99 (quatre-vingt dix-neuf).
STUDENT: Okay. Et d’ayoù tu viens ?
COUVILLION: J’ai éné en Ville, dans la Nouvelle-Orléans.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: Mais, mes parents venaient de la Paroisse des Avoyelles dans le petit village de Plaucheville.
STUDENT: Okay. Et ayoù tu restes asteur ? COUVILLION: Je reste à Folsom, Louisiana. STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: La Louisiane. [laughs]
STUDENT: [laughs] All right. Tu parlais français louisianais toute ta vie ? COUVILLION: Oui. J’ai appris à parler en français quand j’étais un petit enfant. STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: [0:52] Dans la maison, mon père et ma mère parlaient pas en anglais. Ça fait, on parlait en français dans la maison, mais quand on sortait de la maison, on parlait en anglais.
STUDENT: Okay. Et --
COUVILLION: Équand j’ai commencé l’école, je parlais en français et j’avais une sœur qui s’appelait Sister Madeleine et elle ma dit un jour, elle dit, “Écoute. Ici, on parle juste en anglais. Il faut pas que tu parles en français.” Et elle, elle venait de la France. So -- STUDENT: Et c’était d’en Ville ?
COUVILLION: Oui. C’était à l’école à Sainte-Marie des Anges.
STUDENT: Okay. Et … mais, t’as étudié le français à l’école, aussi ? COUVILLION: Ouais. J’ai été à l’école à Holy Cross et j’ai pris quelques années de français.
STUDENT: Okay. Tu parles français souvent asteur ?
COUVILLION: Pas aussi … je vas dire la vérité. Proche tous mes parents sont morts et il y a juste … j’ai deux cousines qui parlent en français et c’est tout. C’est tout qui reste.
STUDENT: All right. Okay. Et tu te rappelles des histoires de notre famille de l’eau haute de ‘27 (vingt-sept) ?
COUVILLION: Ouais. Quand j’étais petit, ma mère et mon père m’ont dit que l’eau a commencé à lever et il y avait … je crois c’était une levée de la Rivière Atchafalaya qu’a cassé. Et l’eau est venue beaucoup fort à Plaucheville. Il fallait eux-autres, ils vont et ils ont pris sur la levée à Simmesport et ils ont mis des couvertures sur la levée et ils ont resté là jusqu’à l’eau a
[3:15] commencé à baisser. Et là, ils ont été dans leur maison et ils ont trouvé il y avait des serpents et des cocodris dans la maison.
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: Et la maison était pleine de boue. Ça fait, ils ont pris à laver et, you know, faire la maison propre encore pour eux-autres rester dedans.
STUDENT: Okay. Et dis-moi pour les Charivaris.
COUVILLION: [laughs] Well, il y avait … il y avait une femme et un homme qu’étaient mariés. Il y avait beaucoup des hommes et ils ont pris à … ils voulaient divorcer. Ça fait, ils sont separés and then … et encore … and then, ils sont retournés ensemble encore. Ça fait, on allait tous les soirs à leur maison et on criait “Charivari!” “Pour qui?” “Pour Joe Daigle et Lucille qui sont quittés et qui sont repris pour la troisième fois!” And on allait tous les soirs, jusqu’à ils nous invitaient dans la maison et nous donnaient quelque chose à manger ou boire.
STUDENT: All right. Okay. Et dis-moi pour les boucheries.
COUVILLION: Oh, cher! C’est drôle. Il faut que je commence à penser en français --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … and ça prend du temps des fois. Ça fait, pour des boucheries, tout le monde de la ville venait ensemble et on tuait des animaux et on coupait toute la viande et on divisait ça entre toutes les familles. Et c’est comme ça on faisait. Et ils prennaient du … de la peau et on faisait des gratons et on faisait du boudin et là, tout chacun prenait leur division -- STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: … des portions and … c’est ça on faisait.
STUDENT: Et --
COUVILLION: [5:48] Et jusqu’à ici, un temps en Ville, dans la Nouvelle-Orléans, moi et ma maman et ta grand-maman --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … on tuait des cochons dans notre garage.
STUDENT: Oh. Okay. Drôle.
COUVILLION: Ouais, c’est drôle. In fact, il fallait on prend des serviettes et on mettait autour du cou du petit cochon --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … et je prenais un casse-tête et je dis, “Il faut que tu sers dans la tête!” Et là, Maman a venu avec un couteau et une chaudière avec du sel là-dedans. Et on prenait ça et quand il commençait à saigner dans la chaudière --
STUDENT: Yeah.
COUVILLION: … il prenait le sang pour pas il … comment tu dis ça en français?
STUDENT: Pour le boudin?
COUVILLION: I’ll say it in English: so that the blood wouldn’t coagulate.
STUDENT: Yep.
COUVILLION: I knew how to say it in French, but j’ai oublié. It’s been so long. STUDENT: [laughs] C’est okay. Okay. Et dis-moi pour les orphelins qui ont venu sur le char et les Avoyelles.
COUVILLION: Okay. J’avais un oncle qu’était … je crois il avait juste sept ou huit ans et il venait de … Il avait né dans New York City. And il est venu sur le char and ils arrivaient à Simmesport. Et ils ont ouvert la porte du char et le monde est venu and ils ont venu. Ils mettaient
[7:51] tous les petits sur le plafond. Si tu en voulais un, tu pointais. Et j’avais un … mon grand-papa avait juste les filles dans sa famille. Il voulait un petit garçon. Ça fait, il a vu Arthur Taylor et il dit, “Je veux celui-là.” Et ils l’ont pris et ils l’ont élevé, pareil comme si c’était leur petit and il a travaillé dans les champs avec mon vieux grand-papa. Et c’est comme ça on a eu Arthur Taylor.
STUDENT: Yeah. Okay.
COUVILLION: Et Arthur a marié une de mes cousines.
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: Elle s’appelait Addis LeMoine and ils ont eu un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept … je crois sept ou huit petits.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: Et elle, Addis, ma cousine est morte à 104 (cent quatre) ans.
STUDENT: Yeah. Elle était vieille.
COUVILLION: Oh, c’était une vieille, une bonne vieille femme.
STUDENT: Yep. Okay. Et comment était la vie dans la campagne et différente que la Ville?
COUVILLION: [laughs] Totalement.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: [laughs] Quand on était dans la campagne à Plaucheville, premièrement, il n’y avait pas de l’eau dans la maison, pas de l’électricité et pas du plumbing. [laughs] Il faut que tu … on se baignait sur la galerie en arrière --
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: … dans un gros bassin.
STUDENT: [9:43] [agrees]
COUVILLION: And si tu … il fallait tu vas au bathroom, il fallait en dehors dans la petite cabane. And il y avait des volailles tout partout et c’était pas beaucoup joli.
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: Il n’y avait pas du papier de toilette. Il fallait tu uses --
STUDENT: T’as usé --
COUVILLION: T’as usé des cotons maïs --
STUDENT: [laughs] COUVILLION: … ou la mousse. STUDENT: [laughs] Okay.
COUVILLION: Moss, la mousse.
STUDENT: Yeah. Yeah.
COUVILLION: And that was … that was how you went to the bathroom.
STUDENT: C’est différent [laughs] qu’asteur. Et qui sont des expressions que ça use dans les Avoyelles?
COUVILLION: Oh, il y en avait tellement! Je me rappelle de plusieurs. Si quelque chose arriverait mal, tu disais “Oh, Bon Dieu, Seigneur!” And if somebody would die, they would say, “Oh, le pauvre bête! Il est mort!”
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: “Que le Bon Dieu met la main.”
STUDENT: [agrees] Et quoi d’autre? Qui d’autre? Peut-être “[gros pochard] et --”
COUVILLION: [11:08] Oh, ouais! Si quelqu’un était, avait de l’argent, tu disais “Oh, ça c’est un gros [gros pochard]!” C’est --
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: [laughs] Aussi, “Il avait une grosse auto.” C’est un [gros pochard] parce que, ça coûtait beaucoup d’argent pour acheter une grosse auto.
STUDENT: Et dis-moi pour “[crèpe] tonnerre.”
COUVILLION: [laughs]
STUDENT: [Quoi faire ils disaient ça?]
COUVILLION: Ouais. Si quelque chose arriverait qu’était manière méchant, tu disais, “Oh, [crèpe] tonnerre! Je peux pas croire ç’a arrivé!”
STUDENT: Merci.
COUVILLION: Pas de quoi.
STUDENT: Qui d’autres traditions sont différentes dans les Avoyelles? Comme Pâques, peut-être?
COUVILLION: Oh, ouais. Pour Pâques, on faisait … tu bouillais des œufs et tu les … tu mettais du teint. En anglais, du teint, c’est you colored them, okay? Ils avaient pas des, beaucoup des couleurs dans la campagne. Ça fait, tu prenais … tu bouillais des betteraves et ça, ça faisait de l’eau rouge et tu mettais des œufs dans ce teint et ça mettait des œufs rouge. Et là, après que tu les bouillais, tu prenais … toi, tu prenais un et moi, je prenais un et tu faisais “pâque!” Et tu étais [speaker makes noise with his voice] fait comme ça et cil-là qui cassait, il fallait que tu lui donnes à le bougre t’as pâquassé.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: [12:55] [laughs]
STUDENT: Merci. Et t’as ramassé du coton?
COUVILLION: Oh, ouais, j’ai ramassé du coton. Ils avaient une expression que le matin, quand tu te levais à quatre heures du matin, il te réveillait et il disait, “Allons! On va mâter le mouton!” Et ça, ça voulait dire que tu vas aller ramasser du coton.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: Et à casser du maïs, même chose.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: Tu te levais à quatres heures ou cinq heures du matin et il faisait ... ma cousine Addis, faisait quelque chose. Elle mettait … elle faisait du pain maïs ou du
couche-couche et on mettait ça dans des petites pâles --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … et t’allais dans le bois avec ça et c’est comme ça tu mangeais.
STUDENT: [agrees] Okay.
COUVILLION: Ou, tu coupais du bois le matin.
STUDENT: Okay. Et comment les Cadiens ou Créoles, vous-autres cuisait et mangeait? COUVILLION: [laughs] Il y avait … on faisait de la fricassée de volaille ou la fricassée de poule. Ils prenaient des vieilles poules parce que, ils pondaient p’us. Tu connais qui ça, ça veut dire?
STUDENT: [agrees] COUVILLION: Il pondait p’us. STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: [14:24] Okay. Et là, on tuait les vieilles poules et on les nettoyait et là, ils faisaient des fricassées avec ça.
STUDENT: Okay. Et dis-mois deux histoires en français de ta vie ou de notre famille … deux histoires.
COUVILLION: Okay. Je vas dire une chose que, avec ta vieille grand-maman, Velma. Un jour, elle m’a appelé. Elle dit, “Écoute, mon petit. Je t’ai besoin.” Je dis, “Pour qui?” Elle dit, “Viens donc à la maison parce que j’ai … il faut je fais quelque chose dans la chambre à coucher. Je veux ôter le gros tapis et je veux mettre un autre.” Elle dit, “[Mais, ce boutaille est] beaucoup gros et beaucoup lourd,” elle a dit. “Et je peux pas lever ça moi-même.” Ça fait, j’ai dit, “Okay. Je vas aller à après-midi.” Et j’ai arrivé là. Elle dit, “Écoute. Allons faire vite, parce que les petites filles vont venir tout à l’heure. Je veux avoir la chambre parée pour eux-autres quand ils vont venir.” Ça fait, on a été dans la chambre. Elle dit, “Écoute. [Ce boutaille] est beaucoup, beaucoup lourd. Et je connais pas comment je vas faire, ôter ce gros tapis.” Elle dit, “Well, allons se mettre sur notres [genoux] et on va se metter sous le lit. Equand moi, je vas dire ‘Spur, old cat!,’ il faut que tu lèves avec ton dos et ça va lever le lit et on va arracher le tapis.” Ça fait, on a fait ça. Elle a crié, “Spur, old cat!” [laughs]
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: Et on a pris à rire. Et on a arraché le gros tapis et on a fait ça on a … vouloir faire.
STUDENT: Et t’as une autre histoire aussi, ou …
COUVILLION: Oh, il y a tellement. Ça va me prendre longtemps temps à penser à ça.
STUDENT: Peut-être pour le serpent?
COUVILLION: [16:58] Ouais, on avait … on avait un bayou droite devant la maison à Plaucheville. C’était le Bayou Choupique et on allait là et on se baignait dans le bayou. Et un jour, on était après se baigner et après jouer dans le bayou. Et à tout moment, quelqu’un a crié, “Bon Dieu! Faites beaucoup attention! Il y a un serpent!” Ils appelaient ça un “congo.” Et boy, on a pris à courir! On a sorti du bayou et sûrement, c’était un gros congo. Un congo en anglais, c’est un water moccasin. Et puis, ç’en a été un gros. Cher, ça nous a fait peur! [laughs] STUDENT: Mais, merci pour ça et on est fini.
COUVILLION: Ouais. Oh, okay.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: Ben.
[18:12]
[End Tape 4903. End Session 1.] [Total session time - 18:12]
Interviewee: Raymond Couvillion Tape 4903 Interviewer: Unknown Session 1
Transcriber: Erin Segura Unknown
Translator: Jackson Butterbaugh [Begin Tape 4903. Begin Session I.]
STUDENT: Are you ready ?
RAYMOND COUVILLION: Yeah. Start.
STUDENT: [laughs] All right. What is your name ? COUVILLION: My name is Raymond Couvillion. STUDENT: Okay. How old are you ?
COUVILLION: I’m about to be 99. STUDENT: Okay. And where are you from ? COUVILLION: I was born in New Orleans. STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: But my parents are from Plaucheville, a little town in Avoyelles Parish.
STUDENT: Okay. And where do you live now ? COUVILLION: I live in Folsom, dans la Louisiane. STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: Louisiana. [laughs]
STUDENT: [laughs] All right. Have you spoken Louisiana French all your life?
COUVILLION: Yes. I learned French when I was a little kid.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: [0:52] At home, my father and my mother didn’t speak English. So, we spoke French at home, but outside of the home, we spoke English.
STUDENT: Okay. And --
COUVILLION: When I started school, I spoke French and I had a nun named Sister Madeleine and she told me one day, “Listen. Here, we only speak English. You must not speak French.” And she was from France, So --
STUDENT: And was that in New Orleans ?
COUVILLION: Yes. It was at Sainte-Marie des Anges.
STUDENT: Okay. And… but, did you study French at school, too ?
COUVILLION: Yeah. I went to school at Holy Cross and I took a few years of French.
STUDENT: Okay. Do you speak French often these days ?
COUVILLION: Not as much… I’ll tell the truth. Almost all of my family has passed away and there are just… I have two cousins who speak French and that’s it. That’s all that’s left.
STUDENT: All right. Okay. And do you remember any stories of our family about the flood of 1927 ?
COUVILLION: Yeah. When I was little, my mother and my father told me that the water started rising and there was… I think it was an Atchafalaya River levee that broke. And the water hit Plaucheville hard. They had to go up on the levee in Simmesport and cover it and stay there until the water [3:15] started going down. And then, they went home and found out there were snakes and alligators in the house.
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: And the house was full of mud. So, they started cleaning and, you know, fixed the house up again so they could live in it.
STUDENT: Okay. And tell me about charivaris.
COUVILLION: [laughs] Well, there were… there was a woman and a man who were married. There were a lot of men who started to… they wanted to get divorced. So, they separated and then… and again… and then, they got back together again. So, people would go to their house every night and shout “Charivari!” “Pour qui?” “Pour Joe Daigle et Lucille qui sont quittés et qui sont repris pour la troisième fois !” And they would go every night until they invited the people in and gave them something to eat or drink.
STUDENT: All right. Okay. And tell me about boucheries.
COUVILLION: Oh, dear ! It’s strange … I have to start thinking in French --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … and sometimes that takes time. So, for boucheries, everyone in town got together and killed animals and cut up all the meat and divided it up between all the families. And that’s how they used to do it. And they took some… skin and they made cracklins and they made boudin and then, everyone took their share --
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: … their portion, and… that’s what we did.
STUDENT: And --
COUVILLION: [5:48] And until now … one time in New Orleans, me and my mother and your grandma --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … we killed pigs in our garage.
STUDENT: Oh. Okay. Weird.
COUVILLION: Yeah, it’s weird. In fact, we had to grab towels and put them around the little pig’s neck --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … and I would take a hatchet and I said, “You have to hit him in the head
!” And then, Mom came in with a knife and a pot with salt in it. And we took all that and when we started draining the blood into the pot --
STUDENT: Yeah.
COUVILLION: … they took the blood to not… how do you say that in French ?
STUDENT: For boudin ?
COUVILLION: I’ll say it in English: so that the blood wouldn’t coagulate.
STUDENT: Yep.
COUVILLION: I knew how to say it in French, but I’ve forgotten. It’s been so long. STUDENT: [laughs] That’s okay. Okay. And tell me about the orphans train in Avoyelles. COUVILLION: Okay. I had an uncle who was… I think he was just seven or eight years old and he was from… he was born in New York City. And he arrived on the train and when it came to Simmesport. And they opened the door of the train and people came to the station. They put [7:51] all the kids on top of the train. If you wanted one, you pointed. And I had a… my grandpa only had daughters in his family. He wanted a little boy. So, he saw Arthur Taylor and he said, “I want that one.” And they took him and they raised him as if he was their own kid and he worked in the fields with my old grandpa. And that’s how we got Arthur Taylor.
STUDENT: Yeah. Okay.
COUVILLION: And Arthur married one of my cousins.
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: Her name was Addis LeMoine and they had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven… I think seven or eight kids.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: And she, my cousin Addis, died at 104 years old.
STUDENT: Yeah. She was old.
COUVILLION: Oh, she was an old lady, a good old lady.
STUDENT: Yep. Okay. And how was life in the countryside different from life in New Orleans ?
COUVILLION: [laughs] Completely.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: [laughs] When we were in the countryside in Plaucheville, at first, there was no water in the house, no electricity and no plumbing. [laughs] You have to… we used to bathe on the back porch --
STUDENT: [laughs] COUVILLION: … in a big tub. STUDENT: [9:43] [agrees]
COUVILLION: And if you… had to go to the bathroom, you had to do it outside in the little outhouse. And there were chickens all over and it wasn’t very pretty.
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: There was no toilet paper. You had to use --
STUDENT: You used -- COUVILLION: You used corn cobs -- STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: … or moss. STUDENT: [laughs] Okay. COUVILLION: Moss, la mousse. STUDENT: Yeah. Yeah.
COUVILLION: And that was… that was how you went to the bathroom.
STUDENT: That’s different [laughs] from nowadays. And what are some expressions they use in Avoyelles ?
COUVILLION: Oh, there were so many! I remember a few. If something bad happened, you would say “Oh, Bon Dieu, Seigneur!” And if somebody would die, they would say, “Oh, le pauvre bête! Il est mort!”
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: “Que le Bon Dieu met la main.”
STUDENT: [agrees] And what else ? Maybe “[gros pochard] et --”
COUVILLION: [11:08] Oh, yeah! If someone was, had money, you would say, “Oh, ça c’est un gros [gros pochard]!” That’s --
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: [laughs] Also, “Il avait une grosse auto.” “He’s got deep pockets,” because it cost a lot of money to buy a big car.
STUDENT: And tell me about “crèpe tonnerre.”
COUVILLION: [laughs]
STUDENT: Why did they say that ?
COUVILLION: Yeah. If something kind of bad happened, you would say, “Oh, [crèpe]
tonnerre! Je peux pas croire ç’a arrivé !”
STUDENT: Thank you.
COUVILLION: No problem.
STUDENT: What other traditions are different in Avoyelles? Like Easter, maybe ? COUVILLION: Oh, yeah. For Easter, we would make… you would boil eggs and… you would dye them. In English, du teint, that’s “you colored them,” okay ? There weren’t a lot of colors in the countryside. So, you would take… you would boil beets and that made the water red and you put the eggs in this dye and that made the eggs red. And then, after you boiled them, you took… you took one and I took one and you did “pâque !” And you would [speaker makes noise with his voice] do like that and the one that broke, you had to give it to the guy who broke yours.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: [12:55] [laughs]
STUDENT: Thank you. And did you pick cotton ?
COUVILLION: Oh, yeah, I picked cotton. They had an expression that in the morning, when you got up at 4 in the morning, they woke you up and they would say, “Allons! On va mâter le mouton!” And that meant you had to go pick cotton.
STUDENT: Okay.
COUVILLION: And harvesting corn, same thing.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: You would get up at four or five in the morning and they made… my cousin Addis used to make something. She would put… she would make cornbread or couche-couche and we put it in little pails --
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: … and you went out in the woods with it and that’s how you ate.
STUDENT: [agrees] Okay.
COUVILLION: Or, you would chop wood in the morning.
STUDENT: Okay. And how did Cajuns or Creoles cook and eat ?
COUVILLION: [laughs] There was… we made chicken stew. They used to take old chickens because they weren’t laying eggs anymore. Ils pondait p’us -- do you know what that means ?
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: They weren’t laying eggs anymore.
STUDENT: [agrees]
COUVILLION: [14:24] Okay. And then, they killed old chickens and they cleaned them and then they made fricassées with them.
STUDENT: Okay. And tell me a couple stories in French about your life or our family. COUVILLION: Okay. I’ll tell you one with your old grandma, Velma. One day, she called me. She said, “Listen, my little one. I need you.” I say, “For what ?” She says, “Come home because I have… I have to do something in the bedroom. I want to remove the big carpet and
replace it with a different one.” She says, “[But it’s] really big and heavy,” she said. “And I can’t lift it on my own.” So, I said, “Okay. I’ll come by in the afternoon.” And I got there. She says, “Listen. Let’s do this quickly because the littles girls are coming over later. I want to have the room ready for them when they get here.” So, we went into the room. She says, “Listen. This end is really, really heavy. And I don’t know how I’m going to get this big carpet out of here.” She says, “Well, let’s get on our knees and we’ll get under the bed. When I say, ‘Spur, old cat !,’ you have to lift with your back and that’ll raise the bed and we’ll take the carpet out.” So, we did that. She shouted, “Spur, old cat !” [laughs]
STUDENT: [laughs]
COUVILLION: And we laughed and laughed. And we took the big carpet out and we did what we… wanted to do.
STUDENT: And do you have another story, or …
COUVILLION: Oh, there are so many. It’ll take me a while to think about it.
STUDENT: Maybe about snakes ?
COUVILLION: [16:58] Yeah, we had… we had a bayou right in front of the house in Plaucheville. It was Bayou Choupique and we used to go there and bathe in the bayou. And one day, we were bathing and playing in the bayou. And at some point, someone shouted, “Good God ! Watch out ! There’s a snake !” They used to call it a “congo.” And boy, we got to running ! We got out of the bayou and sure enough, it was a big water moccasin. Man, that scared us ! [laughs]