But I Can Explain...

Dear 'Yankee' family and friends, "Ohhhhh, ya better watch out; ya better not cry; ya better not pout; I'm tellin' you why....'Springy'-time is already HERE...(practically....in South Louisiana)." It got up to around 80 degrees yesterday and today. Azure blue skies. Just glorious.
Yesterday, I had to take a few things to Cappy, so we got to sit by this bayou, where his boat was parked, along with a myriad of others with their barges, waiting to unload their crude oil. I was only allowed to stay for about ten minutes, then had to head back home. While we were visiting, we noticed across the water, about a dozen turtles, sunning themselves, "bumper-to-bumper", as Cappy said. I watched as he walked across the road to take this picture. As he started across the road, he had, had all his 'ducks' lined up in a row, but most of them spotted him coming, and "umpt in de otty". (That's not Cajun French.)
It reminded me of a little poem my Grandma used to say to me, which her Grandma used to say to her. I, in turn taught it to my kids, and am trying (...laughing here), to teach it to Cappy. It goes:

"Once dere was a witto fwog, sit-tin' on a widdo wog
Eatin' his bwed-ee boe-dee
He cwied tee-oo his tee-oo's wund outa his ee-ooz
Den he umpt in de otty."

This, in turn, reminds me of a saying from Yorkshire, England, which a student from there taught me, which is:

" 'ear all, see all, say nough'. "

What the first little poem is supposed to be read as, and how it's pronounced are two different things. I should have written it thus:

"Once there was a little frog, sitting on a little log,
Eating his bread and butter.
He cried 'til his tears, ran out of his ears,
Then he jumped in the water."

I like hearing it the way my Gramma told it.
The Yorkshire England saying comes back to me often, as good advice. Translated, it is written, "Hear all, See all, Say naught (nothing)".
Gramma used to say that, too, but she'd explain it to her kids, "Keep your ears and eyes open, and your big trap shut".