trailer park life

The logic escapes me. Trailerhood Tales

~ Ron Walker ~ 11 Comments

Sometimes, when you find yourself talking to someone and the conversation suddenly goes from normal, to off the rails, you have to stop and look around. Maybe do a visual hand check to make sure you don’t suddenly have six fingers, and this isn’t some new dimension you have slipped into, and what your hearing is normal.

Please, I just came for my mail

A simple trip to the mailbox turns into a stomach churning information overload. Please, I just came for my mail. A woman who sounded normal when the conversation started at the boxes, asked for my help in looking out for her ex-husband. Seems he is a permanent guest at the state Iron Bar Hotel. Having received 2 life sentences for numerous violent felonies. Of course here in our state, nothing is permanent. I guess they don’t want to have to feed inmates for two lifetimes, so they shorten it. She has to appear at parole hearings every few years to tell them that he has written and called her, promising to kill her when he gets out. Then, it all goes sideways

 drains are not designed for that

She says the reason she is telling me this, was he was very abusive and cruel to her for years. He would throw plates of food at her if the mood struck him, or the food was not right. He would also knock her around after a few drinks. When she got to the part where he showered, and defecated in the shower, and forced her to clean it up and  having to call a plumber, as tub drains are not designed for that. I stood there like a shell listening, mentally ticking off a list of things to do, like get a Cat Scan, count my fingers again, stare really hard to make sure she’s really there. While inside my stomach was doing a pre-check list for liftoff of its contents. I really don’t remember the rest of the conversation honestly.

I find out later, that she is trying to collect money from her ex-husband. She has been told by some lawyer, that she should sue her ex-husband for unpaid child support for their son, who is in his late twenties. One, little, catch. If he’s incarcerated, he can’t work. He has to be gainfully employed to be forced to pay past child support. She decides receiving a check from him is the way to go, so does not contest his release at the next hearing. I’ve heard nothing else about it, no homicide has occurred. So, was it all made up? Maybe he is a thug, Apparently he has enough smarts to high-tail it away once free. 

This, is Trailerhood Logic.

I think I’ll go now, and count my fingers. Comments always welcome,

Finally Friday! Recap of the Week.

~ Ron Walker ~ 10 Comments

After Tuesday night’s adventure with the spiders, I just wanted a quiet day Wednesday.

That was not to be. First thing Wednesday morning, an alert revealed the 500GB secondary hard drive was dying. I had been expecting the failure for a while. You don’t trust a drive with important data that is 6+ years old, it was used mostly for temporary files while working on videos. It had just started having some minor issues. So, a cursory check with the smart-drive software revealed the main 1 TB drive, that came with the computer 6 years ago, was showing “pre-fail” for three statistics. It too is beyond safe life limit. So I need to give up, and replace the two drives. Actually, I just need to plug up a whole new computer to the monitor. 

screaming noises

Sitting there pondering crawling under the desk and removing the drive, the office light decided to turn on by itself. I looked at the switch, and it was in the off position. After about 10 seconds, the light went back off. This occurred twice while I watched it. Wonderful! That indicates a short, which could cause an arc, which could cause a fire, you get the picture. I hate working on house wiring, I always get shocked somehow. I can work on most things, but I have a mental block for house wiring. So I spent the morning checking YouTube videos. Had it been a simple switch circuit no problem. But no, it wasn’t. When I cut the power to the room, the small UPS, which was purchase about 8 years ago, but tested fine a week ago when I moved the office around, decided to start making screaming noises, and beeps. The “replace battery” light was on. The buzzer/beeper sounded like someone had it by the throat. Still, not bad for a UPS with an 8-year-old battery, to have passed the battery self-test a week ago. I silence the alarms on both UPS units.

The light switch in the wall was shot, it was a shallow mobile home one piece unit. There were 4 spare new switches in my parts box, not a single wall box to mount the switch in. So, a trip to Walmart was in order.It’s starting to get quite hot in the office.double chirp starts on the large UPS… Getting back home, the new switch box was too big, so I enlarged the hole with the jigsaw. Once I tried to install it, there was a 2X4 wall stud behind it liking only another 1/8 inch to fit flush.

So I started a new area to mount it in (at least I was working with thin paneling). Halfway into cutting out the new hole, the jigsaw decided this was its final day, I finished the hole with a pocket knife. While attaching the wires, firmly I might add, the screw driver slipped, and I stabbed a nice star (Phillips head) shape in my left hand. Michelle patched me up.

double chirp starts on the large UPS…

Time to restore power to the office. The smaller UPS resumes its weird gurgled scream when I turned it on, then silence. No power on the UPS side (battery) so I transfer the plugs to the always-on side. The larger UPS comes on fine. All three computers and other items for the internet come on okay. I’m 20 minutes into working on a program, and a double chirp starts on the large UPS… Early warning that the battery probably has 2 weeks of life left. At least it’s Friday!

Comments welcome,

DIY at-home cardio stress test.

~ Ron Walker ~ 15 Comments

It’s just before sundown Tuesday evening. I need to mow the lawn here in the Trailerhood. Takes under 30 minutes.

Mowing chore is done, daylight fading, but you can still see without needing a flashlight. While taking the mower back to the large storage building which sits at an angle to the trailer, there is an area about 6 feet across to pass through. I’m exhausted at this point after swimming through the humidity mowing the lawn.

In that nano second

Passing through the area going to the storage, pushing the mower that is not negotiating the loose dirt well, I am caught in a few stands of web. In that nano second, the brain registers that it is now getting dusk, all the spiders are setting up webs for the night. That thought precipitated me nearly breaking my neck trying to run over the mower which is bogging in the loose dirt, pushing it and flailing my arms in horror. I have a really powerful dislike of Spiders.

The one I killed. Quarter in bottom of picture  for reference.

It’s a horror show! Turning around there are 3 large spiders at varying levels of height, first one starting about 6 feet up.  Apparently I walked through the angled lower anchor strand, that ran from the house to the storage building of this hideous spider. Luckily I happened into the web as he was ending a trip to the edge of the house, at about 3 feet off the ground. Look at it! Are those muscles? I thought I would have to change an article of clothing.

They drowned, or I bored them to death

I knew if I walked back that way, one of them might decide to drop on me, precipitating the coronary that I had just miraculously avoided moments ago.  After securing the mower in the storage, and arming myself with a stick, and made a dash through the same spot. Returning with some insecticide that was about 4+ years old. I sprayed the remaining 4 large spiders, using a spray bottle with a stream for distance. It killed two of the four, but not sure if they drowned, or I bored them to death.

Here are the others, I had to look them up for pictures since they were too high for the phone to get a good detailed picture. Yea, spiders are my Kryptonite.

  • It’s a bad boy when it can zig-zag double stitch.
  • Just damn ugly…
  • Watermelon with legs?

On the plus side, the scheduled stress test copay of $45 can be saved. 30 minutes of mowing grass with a non-self-propelled mower, in humidity you could cut with a knife, and getting the life scared out of me didn’t trip the circuit breaker of my ticker, it shouldn’t while walking on a treadmill. Sorry, Doc.

Comments welcome,

(softly please I’m still a tad jumpy.)

Trailer Park Life. Take what you can. Professional Government Moochers (PGM) award winners.

~ Ron Walker ~ 9 Comments

It’s not fair to put this squarely on trailer park life, it happens everywhere, but I would put the majority of the practice in housing projects or trailer parks. Since this example is here where I am, I thought I would share it. In this environment, Michelle and I each have a skill. I read people, every opportunity would find me in material and classes on body language, speech nuances etc.

Michelle at Halloween

I spent 8 years in the mental health field (law-enforcement arm) and taught classes at 3 police academies on the mentally/emotionally disturbed. Michelle is a people person. She can have you telling family secrets, in under 2 hours. She’s amazing. It’s not done intentionally, her personality just seems to relax people.

While we keep to ourselves, we don’t purposely shun anyone. Some of them don’t like us, because we are allegedly Satan Worshipers.  Open the ears and eyes, keep your verbal contributions minimal, and you’ll be surprised at what is under the onion layers. We have met a couple of what we call normal people (2 out of the 20 units?). Some are funny, some are crafty and illegal. Some are pitiful. 

 

PGM award winner:                           
They live together, both are in their early 20s, have a baby. She doesn’t work. He works “under the table” $500 a week, no taxes taken out. That is so the welfare system won’t cut the food stamps they receive, or his unemployment check. They also get supplemental money and supplies for the baby. The girl and baby are on Medicaid. They often move, living with family, friends, and rentals in parks.

No job, no baby daddy = Benefits.

Here in Alabama, if you have 3 trailers in proximity, we call it a park LOL. They reveal the benefits are the reason they are not married. They just live together, and report she lives alone, and he has abandoned her. No job, no baby daddy = Benefits. No medical bills to speak of, no food bills, but they still waste to the point of not having enough for the month. Parties, and trips to the creek with friends etc. Oh, to supplement their income, they sell some food allowance to others. I can think of about 6 charges off the top of my head, without digging deeper, most of them felonies. These folks are nomad like, never in one place for very long, using someone else’s address (usually a family or friends) as if it was their official address, for the benefits.

Do you report it? Been there done that! I used to try even when I was a cop. The state workers themselves, would tell me there was no money or resources to go after the ones I reported. One suspect lived within 12 miles of the courthouse, and he could be seen standing around out in the county with sheriff deputies chatting, while having outstanding warrants or court orders on him regarding the reports. He was out of my jurisdiction, so I could not execute the warrants. These people come up with all sorts of ways to make money, most of it illegal, the easy money is generally always an illegal method, mostly for beer, or drugs, some just to squeak by.

Friends? Nope. As the line in the hilarious movie “Money Pit” goes, “Let’s not go there again”.
Now, to lighten the mood, a clip from that movie.

Do you have people in your area as devious?
Comments welcome,

For those not familiar with the movie, Walter and his wife are pouring money into an old mansion to fix it (I can relate). Nothing is going right. He has gone to the kitchen to check on the turkey in the oven, and get some warm water for their bath. At one point in the scene he says “Let’s not go there again”. I hope you have time to watch the 3-minute segment, it may brighten your day.