Roommates, Guests, and Loiterers

“But Rowan, I thought you lived alone!” Oh yes, much to the befuddlement of my town, who very kindly tried to make me have some kids sleep at my house my first week or so at site, in case I got lonely. But living alone doesn’t take into account the many kinds of animal life in and around my house, some of it welcome, and some of it definitely not.

Geckos--my favorite roommates. They chortle to each other at night and eat the ants, though unfortunately not enough of them.

Ants--I hate ants. Yesterday morning I went to grab some Vache Qui Rit from my shelves--it’s a processed soft cheese that doesn’t need refrigeration. It comes in sealed aluminum packets, and the ants had not only gotten into the plastic bag I kept the packets in, but had eaten a hole into the metal wrapping and had carried away half the cheese. Overnight. Before you get any ideas about my cleanliness, I should mention that I keep everything in plastic and wipe the tables down with bleach water. They still invade.

Cockroaches--I’m happy to say that there are fewer of these than when I first moved in, and the ones I find are smaller--I guess I killed or evicted the parents? I don’t know what it is about cockroaches that humans hate so much--how fast they move? Their evil little antennae?--but they are nasty.

Mosquitoes--I’ve been planting citronelle and tomatoes around my house, as the scent is supposed to discourage mosquitoes. The citronelle also make a yummy tea when you boil it.

Spiders--The daddy-longlegs type I gently evict with a broom, but the big nasty ones I smash. Last week I spent about 10 minutes chasing a granddaddy around with my hiking boot, and was eventually successful in Operation: Arachnid Death. Now you know how I spend my time.

Scorpions--Small and nocturnal, so happily our paths don’t cross much.

Centipedes--There’s only been one so far, which stung me on the foot while I was walking across my kitchen floor. Not to be confused with millipedes, which are much larger and which I REALLY don’t want crawling across my floor. Happily, none so far.

The Mouse--I had a small and incredibly stupid mouse move in for about a week awhile ago, then abruptly move out. While it was living with me, it managed to eat nothing and ran into walls whenever it saw me.

The Rat--is now dead, I think. I hope. It's given me a lot of sewing practice, though, as it gnawed small holes in about 6 pieces of clothing.

Dogs--I’ve already mentioned Malagasies’ attitude toward dogs. I think my compost pile may be the neighborhood dogs’ main source of nutrition. Like dogs everywhere, they enjoy barking at noises, chasing chickens, and getting into fights at four in the morning.

Cows--People in the neighborhood had stopped posting their cows in my yard for awhile--they’re not supposed to--but I returned home the other day to a bull in my yard. I don’t mind much--they’re pretty quiet--but they get tangled up in the bushes sometimes and I have to drag them out by their nose ropes to stop them from bellowing.

Chickens--I am God’s gift to chickens. Not only do I have a fabulous compost pile, but I unintentionally spill a generous amount when I throw rice (to get rid

of the hulls), AND I don’t throw sticks at them to keep them away from said rice. They stalk across my grass like velociraptors, reflexes honed by years of flying sticks, and make me paranoid because I think the grass is being rustled by kids trying to sneak up to my window. I do occasionally surprise one of them when I toss dishwater out my window, mostly by accident--I’ve been entertained several times by shrieking wet flying bundles of feathers scooting away. Roosters here say cocorico, rather than cock-a-doodle-doo.

Ducks--It is, I have decided, absolutely impossible to look at a duck and be glum. Try it sometime. Really, one of the most ridiculous animals. According to Gasies, they say “draka draka”--rather than quack quack.

Pigs--My neighbors now have two enormous pigs that spend their days rooting in the grass ten feet from my door.

Too good for my yard:
Geese--the Gasies rather creatively call them “big ducks”--gana be.
Turkeys--there’s a flock (herd?) of them at the other end of town. The Gasy name for them is kolokoloko (say that out loud for full onomatopoeic effect--Os are pronounced ooh in Malagasy).