We have lots of birds that hang around here but not the kind you’d see in a Mary Poppins movie- think Alfred Hitchcock instead! These aren’t afraid of people at all- in fact, they’re so bold they come to grab food right out of our hand! If that doesn’t sound a little scary it gets worse. Many of these unfortunate critters are…deformed! The women come outside to comb their hair and the birds hopping around, scavenging for food end up with long strands of hair wrapped around their feet or neck or wings. With no way to get it off. Or they land on the razor wire on the top of the walls and fences and slice off toes or entire feet. Incredibly grotesque and frankly disturbing!
Then there are the bugs. I’m not sure if there are an unusual number of them or whether I’m just a magnet for such things, but I’ve been stung by two scorpions, bitten by red ants and stung by a bee. We have pincer bugs that come out of the sinks and black beetle water bugs everywhere (not the scientific name for them I realize) that also bite.
But it could be worse. The other day, some poor girl was preparing to take a shower (which by the way is outside). She shut the door, and got undressed and then suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream and ran stark naked out of the shower in front of the entire yard. Turns out there was an enormous flying cockroach about the size of a bird, in the shower with her! So, I’m counting my blessings- whew!
Luckily there are other more appealing critters that hang around also. For instance, there’s one bizarre looking little furry thing, called a pocket gopher, (so fat that we call him ‘Meatball’) that the women have kind of adopted. And prairie dogs are everywhere even baby ones, tame enough to eat out of your hand. On the outside, these might be considered pesky rodents but in prison, they are the next closest thing to a pet anyone has and provide a bit of needed ‘creature comfort’.