trailer park life

Trailer Park Living. “How do I hate thee? Let me count the days”.

~ Ron Walker ~ 18 Comments
Lottery winners.

Hello everyone, It has been a while since I pounded these keys. Most recent news? It looks as though it may take a little longer than I had planned, till we extricate ourselves from this encampment. Once we get out of here, I’ll sleep under a bridge, before I try another trailer park. This is a culture of its own. 

Since the last posts here, I have met some true crazies, crooks, and strange people. You just can’t make this stuff up.  I’m looking forward to getting back in here, and bringing things up to speed. YouTube boy is currently sharing Youtubes, with friends at the Juvenile Detention Center. I’m not quite sure, but maybe something is really bugging him. Most of the people with school age children have moved on. We’re not sure where Johnny Reb has ended up. There is one story that I am following, that is so convoluted it would take a team of psychiatrist to unravel, if they didn’t lose their own minds first.

So till I take a stroll today, and see if there’s any material for the blog, I’ll sign off from the Twilight Zone.

Comments always welcome,

Trailer Park Tuesday, YouTube Boy (crying for help), The Wheels are loose, I can hear it ticking.

~ Ron Walker ~ 36 Comments

It’s Tuesday, in the country, in a trailer park. I could end right there, those that have lived in, or near, a park, would just use their imagination and be entertained the rest of the day. However, for those that like to follow my posts of the Trailer Kingdom, I have a couple of things for this morning at least.

While pouring myself a cup of coffee, I looked out the window, and noticed someone at the mailboxes. He was going box to box, removing mail. There was a car parked there I didn’t recognize, not that I recognize half of them, since various parts fall off from day to day, causing them to change their appearance like a Chameleon. Then I realize it is our “official” USPS carrier, or one of them. He is barely as tall as his vehicle roof, regular clothes naturally, and has a 1-foot square Tupperware box, the type you buy from a Dollar General Store. As I watch, he is putting mail in the boxes from the box, and taking mail from some boxes, for his Tupperware organizer, yes, let’s call it that. Mystery solved, no mail theft. Darn! That means no excitement either. Sorry for the picture, I was in a hurry, the phone camera was set to low resolution, and I had to enlarge it. There, that should be enough excuses for a crappy picture.

Learning to drive?

For those of you that follow the tales of YouTube Boy, I have an update. I just heard a call go out for the county, about a white van driving recklessly on a county road near YouTube Boy’s location. You guessed it, a few moments later his name came across the radio. Reports were he had nearly hit a gas tank (propane), driving and acting crazy.  My first thought, his family doesn’t own a white van. Second thought, maybe we are finding out where that bug in his ear disappeared to. Soon,  a call for medics to YouTube Boy’s house, 83 year old man shaking, high blood pressure. That will be the grandfather. It’s getting so predictable, The county comes out, then reports that he is just learning to drive, and a little upset. I can almost call the action around here before it happens. He and grandfather (who is really his adoptive father) just had a dust-up last night, where he spit on the grandfather. The neighbor called the county Sheriffs. They came out, calmed him down, promised him the moon and left. As simple as it sounds, the spitting on the grandfather should have been classified as domestic violence, and would have given them power to get him some help.

Of course the county handles it the same way, every time. They come out, talk to him, calm him down, then report back that everything is okay, he was just upset. I went over there one night while he was having a melt down. On that night, the father would not let him go to visit a friend, so he had kicked the front door open, knocked holes in the wall with his fists, turned some items over in the living room. The county was called, they calmed him down, promised to talk to him more, gave him a card with their number, in case he got upset again.

Do these county law-enforcement persons not watch TV? The story of this boy reads just like the narrative of the guy that killed all the students recently. Only two differences, the Florida boy was obsessed with firearms, where YouTube Boy is obsessed with vehicles and driving fast, mildly interested in firearms. He only has a driver’s learner permit. The only other difference is YouTube Boy is 16, the Florida guy is 19.

But wait, the county has been called at least 2 times that we are aware of, over YouTube Boy stealing his father’s gun, and taking it around his park, to show his friends. The county caught him, talked to him, promised to help him get on the volunteer fire department, blah blah, returned him home. According to him, they offered to take him target practicing later. I guess they haven’t seen “American Sniper” either.

Nobody hears the ticking of this thing?

No charges for minor in possession of a firearm, or that the gun had the serial number filed off. On a side note, that gun has come up missing I hear. That scares me. I think the wheels are really loose on his wagon, and one may come off at any time. He’s on about 6 medications a day for mental/emotional problems. May still have the bug in his ear, Mom is scared of him, reluctant to have him picked up.

This kid has been placed in Detention for weeks at the time, as many as three times in the last 2.5 years. Nobody hears the ticking of this thing?

Comments always welcome

How much weirdness, can one weekend hold. (Trailer Park Life)

~ Ron Walker ~ 23 Comments

We started this weekend on Friday. Call it, a three-day weekend. After things being so quiet for nearly a month, everything seemed to arrive, or happen, in the last three days. Sorry it’s long, I even left some out, to reduce the reading.

I felt sorry for the young lady

Friday mid-morning, I see a medium-sized dog out near the fence, it is one of those “cattle dogs” I call them, very pretty, with a multi-colored long hair coat, two different color eyes. It was dragging its lease behind it. I asked our good neighbor if she knew the owner. She directed me to a trailer 3 doors down. When I arrived there, another neighbor let the dog inside the dog owners trailer. As I was leaving, a decent looking, newer model car pulled up, there was a nice truck parked there as well. A female of about age 22 exited from the drivers side, and a good sized country boy came rushing out of the passenger side, with his belt in his hand, screaming he’ll kill that F*ing dog. Apparently, he is an unhappy individual.

Neither one of them look like they belong here, probably just starting out in life with this rental. The girl is running behind him telling him to stop. As he rushed past me, intent on beating his dog, my first thought was to say something. Then I reminded myself, I am 65 years old, and the young man may injure himself while beating me to a squishy pulp. Only option I would have to stop the beating, would be to shoot him, to survive, and that would be really noisy. I did stand around on the roadway listening. Had he started beating the dog, I would’ve called the county, and had him put in jail for the weekend. I felt sorry for the young lady. He probably knocks her around too.

The Roofer? Seems the local law knows him.

I spoke of the moonlighting roofer we hired, to repair the roof. He had not shown up by late Saturday morning(his third day), and when I checked by calling his number, he had gotten two tickets the night before while leaving here, no tag light, no insurance. Then his tire blew out, so he was trying to locate a used tire.  I wondered why he would be stopped for just a tag light in these parts. Seems the local law knows him, 2 time prison inmate, (rape and theft). Plus the fact that the vehicle he is driving, is some type of older Ford Bronco. I can’t really tell, as there are not enough parts on it, to make a good guess. I had not noticed it parked on the street till this day. You feel as if you need a Tetanus shot to stand close to it. True, he didn’t have any tag-light, he also didn’t have much front end, the moon-roof was totally missing, and parts here and there were gone. Two tires had wire visibly protruding from the tire, I was afraid if I stared too hard, one of them might pop. I wanted to get a picture of it, but not be rude. Only in Alabama, can you drive a vehicle that drops parts, as it goes.

Bet you won’t do that again…

We had company over, and wound up parking our vehicle out further in the yard. When everyone left, I was too lazy to move the car. Apparently, before daylight, someone decided to take a shortcut through the yard this morning, and ran over the huge railroad tie that I border the yard with. I think it probably was the lady that comes by at 6am to meet the school bus, and fusses because we stopped her from cutting through the yard. It had to be a shock, driving over something that size in the dark.

 

 

A haunted riding mower?

David, who most of you know as the handy man for the park, came by, just in time for his faithful transport, to die out in the yard. So you finally get to see a picture of the mower with no real muffler, and not many parts either. After taking the picture, I had to laugh to myself. There in the picture, next to the rear wheel, is what many call an “orb”, maybe it was the mowers spirit leaving it. He named it “The Boss” which he has on the side of the hood.  I politely declined his offer to re-do the patching he applied to the roof. He was complaining that the law was threatening to jail him, if he continued to ride on the highway to the store.

You’ll have to speak up. I can’t hear you over the chewing.

The daughter, of the gentleman we are buying the trailer from, dropped by to see if Michelle could check her son’s ear that was hurting him. Now this is the 16-year-old kid that loves YouTube. Nice kid, a little challenged, but polite. I guess since Michelle helps people with their animals when they need something simple, or advice, they thought she could maybe see something. After all, not many people keep an Otoscope handy.

Michelle starts looking in his left ear, remarking about how clogged up it was, with wax. As she moves around to the right  ear, she is suggesting his mother take him to a doctor and get them cleaned right. About that time, Michelle squeals and utters a couple choice words. She has discovered something black, actually moving, inside beyond a wax encrusted area. Michelle says there are also little holes that appear to have been eaten out of the canal wall, like insects do wood.

The boy is calm, as if someone had remarked about a dirty spot on his face.  He comes over to where I am sitting on the couch, to show me the millionth YouTube video. The only thing going through my mind, was a scene from a Star Trek movie, where they put some big slug looking worm in Kirk’s ear. Meanwhile, Michelle ls telling the mother, that they might want to get him to the ER, or to a doctor as soon as possible, to avoid damage to the ear drum by whatever it is.

The mother says she will take him maybe tomorrow. Now this occurred Friday night, it is now Monday morning. I ask him if it hurts real bad, he says it’s mostly the tickling that bothers him, besides the hurting. Did I mention challenged ? Make that a challenged duo. I’d be freaking out. So being the sarcastic fun guy I am, I look at her and say, “Run him buy the car-wash up the road, stick that spray wand in his ear, squeeze the handle, that ought to rid him of the creature. Only $1.25 vs $75 for the ER”. Michelle gave me a dirty look.

There was a little more, but this is long enough. I hate to bore readers.

Comments always welcome,

 

Fixing the roof, One shingle at the time? Just give me a darn raincoat.

~ Ron Walker ~ 19 Comments

“I’ll patch those leaks”

Hello to everyone, from the High Priest of the trailer park. I am happy to announce, that we are starting to plug some holes in the homestead. That’s a good thing, only downside is I will now have to take the plants out to the deck, if I want the rain to water them.

Of course, I did have a moment of weak judgment. I asked David, the handyman of the park, if he could look at the major roof leak and see what it would take to fix it. After looking over the roof, he decided he could fix us up with some roofing cement (tar filler). When I asked how much? $25 was his reply, “I’ll patch those leaks”. If it doesn’t work, I’ll come back and fix it. I jump started his mower with our car, and he was off down the road, for another adventure. It struck me then, how everyone out here seems to ride mowers, instead of walking. Must be a park thing.

I know, I know, I got $25 worth. To be honest it did slow down the major leak in the washroom that would fill a two gallon bucket in an hour. Now it takes about 3 hours to fill. The bedroom has started leaking, causing spots on the ceiling. I’m not sure if he plugged the leaks or installed new ones.

 

Time to call someone that does it for a living. I can’t afford $4500 for a complete new roof, but a friend of Michelle’s  hubby does it. He needs side-jobs. Yea, this never ends well either.  He is going to replace roofing that needs it, new shingles in those spots. His estimate, $600 labor and I buy the materials estimated at $200. Just to patch 4 areas! Nope, I’ll give you $200 for labor. He needs the work so takes it.

Materials needed 3 sheets of plywood, 4 2X4s, 10lbs of Nails, vents, felt paper and some roof tin. 3 bundles of shingles, Oh yea, more of that roof cement for the vents. This has the curse of a government job. Once he got started, he had me come inspect the roof. It was in bad shape. Removing shingles revealed a lot of the wood rotted away. Now materials I have purchased, total $480. I felt so bad for all the work ahead, that I told him I could do another $200. Actually the Mother-in-law is paying, it was her that pushed us into buying this place. That’s another story in itself. Besides, now I have to carry the plants outside, to water them. Now I have shingles and rotten wood in the yard. Next time, I’ll just buy some cheap umbrellas and  stick them in the holes!

Comments always welcome,