Mother's Day, Hot, and a bit of sad news

I woke up today feeling a little bit irritated. Perhaps it was the heat, it was 105 degrees in the tent, 111.6 in the top bunks. And I was a little irritated at the "inmates" at the Hanoi Hilton. It looked like something out of ancient Egypt as there were all these guys walking around with pink towels that had been soaked with water on their heads. Maybe the Egyptians did the same thing, I don't know. But there are 2 big blue water containers that the inmates use to fill up their water bottles and they were using the water to soak their towels down and fill up their water bottles. The interesting thing is, today was supposedly cooler than the last couple of days, so I don't know why they seem to think it was hotter. It might have to do with the fact that on the weekends there are more people in the tents due to their work schedule. Also, last night a whole new bunch of newbies joined the 'family'. New guys, obviously, don't know the routine in the Hanoi Hilton, so they are always doing something to tick off the 'Tackleberry's' as the D.O.'s have come to be called. That from the old "Police Academy" movie.

I also had a strange dream about stealing a car, which I never have done, and after thinking about it later, I think I was hearing in my sleep one of the guys in my tent that had done it. I woke up and watched the beehive of activity around the yard and watched all the newbies wandering around like turkeys. They called lockdown at noon today, partly because due to the heat, many of the guys were either not wearing a shirt or muscle shirts and they are constantly telling the inmates to cover up in either case. So, when they saw guys walking around barechested or with a muscle shirt exposed, they got on the PA and threatened and did lock down the yard for 10 minutes at a time until people covered themselves up. Many of the seasoned guys were constantly yelling at them to stay in their tents during lockdown as the new guys kept trying to wander up to fill their bottles or soak their towels or go to the canteen. What one person does wrong, the tackleberry's punish everyone. Some of the newbies copped an attitude at the warnings and ended up causing a lockdown and the older guys got upset.

My friend Lee could tell when he picked me up that I was a little bit irritated today for getting out late and the tackleberry's locking down the yard, I didn't get out until almost 2:15 pm when I am supposed to get out at 1:30. The tackleberry's don't care if you are late for work always falling on the old standby, "well, it's jail and you shouldn't have done what you did to get here." Nice people. I also heard a sheriff's sergeant was upset as he came over and saw all the inmates that weren't wearing a shirt in the yard and I guess nailed his subordinates for it, so naturally, they took it out on the inmates. It doesn't surprise me when there is trouble in there as the combination of the BS and the heat does not make a conducive environment and getting a bunch of new guys who don't know the routine doesn't help either. God bless Lee, he had brought a great cup of coffee for me and he has become the Maceo to my James Brown, LOL. He has jokingly started calling himself my "Personal Assistant" which we both find amusing. He is also helping a mutal friend of ours and I think there is a budding romance in the works with her. That would be good for both of them as she is just a wonderful woman herself, he a really good man. Now, I just got to find myself a good woman, LOL. NOT! kind of like the old Todd Rundgren song, "We got to get you a woman". The closing line; "and when we're through with you, we're gonna get me one too." LOL

Then to make matters worse, a bunch of the new guys in one of the newly framed tents, near the building, started cat-calling the female inmates who get certain periods of the day to go to the canteen and get some of the stuff in there. Usually the guys have already demolished the machines for 'food' and soft drinks and I feel bad for the women. But the new guys, being new guys started whistling at the women and yelling at them and that made the tackleberry's upset and they locked down the yard once again announcing on the PA to stop it or the yard would stay locked down. I mean really, how desperate can you be when you are looking for a woman in a damned jail facility, go figure. The last place I would ever look to find a woman would be a jail, god, what losers.

I can tell you there were quite a few guys a bit upset over both the newbies actions and the tackleberry's stuff too. I am just glad that I am probably 2 days out from going wheels up from the Hanoi Hilton. I listen to any number of conversations in there at any given time and I am surprised at how dumb and uninformed some of those guys are. Many are convinced that they don't deserve to be there or that their sentence is unjust. Yeah, right.

As time goes by, I just get more antsy, that might be why I was a bit irritated also, about wanting to just get it over with and get out. I just find the men's room disgusting. Several of the urinals aren't functioning and some have overflowed from constant use. They really need to take a couple of bottles of bleach and rinse that floor out. The stench from human excrement in there is overpowering and disgusting. I also get tired of watching the mice scurry around the yard and the tents and watching inmates cleaning mice feces out of their 'private' belongings. Most bunks have 2 metal drawers to store their things in, but the mice get in there when they store snacks and stuff and once you open a drawer, don't be surprised to see a mouse come flying out. The laundry room is also part of the men's room, divided by a concrete wall, and inmates constantly leave old towels and discarded clothing there and the mice hide in those. There is nothing worse when you first wake up and have to use the restroom to have your nose assaulted by the smell of human excretment from overflowing urinals and toilets. I have managed not to eat anything in the Hanoi Hilton that would require me to use the toilet, so I wait until I am at work or at home as I can't stand even taking a leak in there. It would be interesting to see health inspectors and OSHA do a tour in there to see what the living conditions are really like. And I have heard the women's side is even worse. God, what I wouldn't give to be able to take a video camera in there and shoot what it's like. I bet if people saw what it was really like in there, they would be screaming to close down the "Hanoi Hilton." I would be willing to be that Club Gitmo inmates, terrorist suspects, Taliban & Al Qaeda, have it better there than US citizens at the "Hanoi Hilton." Sheriff Joe says that "our boys in Iraq & Afghanistan have to live in the same conditions, so why shouldn't inmates." Sheriff Joe tends to dramatize things and I seriously doubt he has spent more than an hour inside that facility to see what it's really like. But then again, why would he? He's good ole' Sheriff Joe. The toughest sheriff in the country.


Then I called my mom for mother's day to wish her a happy mother's day and got the news. I found out that the little siamese kitten in the last post had already been spoken for and that my sister didn't know about it. I was a bit crushed by that news also. I think after the day I had had already, that didn't sit well with me as I was so looking forward to seeing the little guy and when both him and Chamois (Shammy) were weaned, looking forward to watching the 2 of them playing when they were finally brought over. Oh well, at least my mom had a good mother's day and we still will get Chamois. I guess I will have to keep looking for another siamese kitty and my mom said that the little siamese kitten didn't have the long tail that most siamese have. I think that their tails grow as they do, but hey, I wasn't going to debate that with my mom. It's too bad since he is such a good looking little guy. I hope I can find one as cute as him.


But, I am getting short now, maybe 2 days out or I am hoping that I will be out Tuesday morning or afternoon at the latest. I have had quite the experience in there and I have yet to post some of the things I have held back until I go wheels up. But yeah, I am just waiting until I can get out and get on to my next phase where I will be on house arrest for 47 days. That should be a breeze since I never really go anywhere except to work or meetings and helping my mom out. I am glad that I have one more day to get out and hope that Monday night when I go back at 1:30 am that the tackleberrys will call me for "kick out" as they call it and I can finally leave the Hanoi Hilton behind like a bad biker bar in my rear view mirror. Till the next time.