Ozark Woody

December 1, 2010

Standing on her hind legs, nose to the sky, she could smell the aroma of the wheat bread. It was just too tempting for her to resist. Slinking on her belly towards her delicious lunch and away from her hole, she was committed.

For months, Woody and I had been feeding this small gopher wheat bread, and occasionally peanut butter, every Monday thru Friday at 1 pm. For a few days, Woody and I never saw her. We knew she was there. She had dug around two dozen holes on the recreation field, and managed to stealthily snatch her lunch from where we left it. In time she became more and more comfortable near us. We would sit next to her hole and she'd come out, get her food, and go back in her hole.

November 12, 2010, 10:30 am: My buddy was released. After several grueling of waiting for Woody's ADOC transport to come from the main complex, Woody was taken.

Since August 17, 2010, when my best friend Tony went home, I've seen two others to the exit. October 19, 2010, my friend Dizzy went home. -Sorry, Dizz, "Partner Dizzy" LOL. Then on November 12th, my Dawg Woody went home. That last walk to the gate doesn't get any easier. One day it'll be me making that walk, going home!

A couple of hours after Woody left, I was sitting on the recreation field next to one of the gopher holes. Without warning, out popped the little gopher less than a foot away. Moving away from her hole, she gave me just enough time to hatch a plan.

Tossing my sweatshirt over her, I wrapped her up in it and took her to my cell. Gently laying the bundle on the floor, I unwrapped it and stood back. A minute or two later, she timidly crawled out of the shirt. Climbing the side of one of my boxes, she got inside. She stayed in the box for a couple of days, until one night she chewed a gopher size hole in the bottom corner of it so she could come and go.

It has been a few weeks since she moved in. I named her "Ozark Woody". You see, she only has 3 front teeth. One on top and two on bottom. She is standing in for Woody who went home, thus Ozark Woody.

She has made herself at home. She has free roam of the room. She sleeps in a nest she made in a big plastic apple juice jar, which must be on my bed (or she won't go to sleep). She eats rice crispy cereal, bread, peanuts, celery and nacho chips and hides it all in her juice bottle. She crawls into my armpit if she gets cold at night. She likes to clog the entrance of her juice bottle with my socks. She gets mad when I pull my socks out of her bottle. She makes a loud clicking sound with her mouth when she's mad.

Ozark Woody, AKA "OH", has moved in.