For those of you who may not know or figured it out already, I live in a (gasp!) Trailer Park. It was supposed to be a temporary situation until Gon finished college but I've have become accustomed and quite fond of my little neighborhood nestled between two gargantuan antebellum Southern Mansions with a sunset-on-the-river-view.
The diversity of the peeps living here is incredible. We have the typical trailer park stereotypical citizens, a few Senior citizens, the Meth Lab Trailer and the whole works. I love the fact that I can do just about anything to my house and yard and not a soul complains about it. Well, there is the exception of our billionaire neighbors on either side who've erected a 12' foot high stockade fence in hopes to hide us from their beautiful river-side-views.
Not so long ago if I was told that I had to live here, you would have had to drag me kicking and screaming. I had a bigoted misunderstanding about such places. A fear of high crime rate, living next door to immigrants, ex-cons and many low-income individuals. I couldn't have been any more wrong! Although the nastiest cat fight can ensue between two "Desperate TrailerPark Housewifes" and those nights when Bubba and BillyBob get drunk and go out in the street to have a shootout now and again. Everyone who lives here has each other's back. Not to mention everyone here is also armed to the hilt. The addition of the billionaires stockade fences have made this the perfect tucked away fortress. In coastal Georgia it comes complete with moat and alligators! Man, I'm loving it.
Christmas time has got to be the most interesting time here in this humble little trailer park. The creativity and imagination of our lo-income neighbors never ceases to surprise me. In fact they challenge me! Take for instance my beautiful brick colored garden edging up there in the photo up top. Any guess to what it is made out of? Painted 2-liter soda bottles planted upside down. Trust me, it's classy compared to my neighbor's display of old bathroom fixtures filled with potting soil and bursting with colorful pansies.
Then there is the Westin's who hit up the Walmart each year for the latest and greatest Christmas lawn decorations. It seems this year the big craze is all of these inflated ornaments that stand 20 foot tall. I'd grant you, last week it looked really nice when I looked out of my side window and spyed all those huge Macy Thanksgiving Parade Sized inflatables hiding their nasty looking trailer from my view. Yesterday afternoon, however, every one of them is laying deflated, popped and flat. Seems Bubba was hallucinating on drugs Wednesday evening and filled each balloon with buckshot.
I, not being one with any desire to freak out Bubba anymore went on a quest through every store in Savannah to find me a typical Trailer park Ho-Ho. You know, one of those plastic cheap shits that stand about 4' foot tall and light up with a simple light bulb. I almost gave up hope when I looked up in prayer asking God to please help me find one. When there he was, in all of his 4' foot wonder standing jolly and tall on the very top shelf in the Kmart Lawn & Garden Center. The hour and a half wait for a stockboy to come get him down for me was worth the while. For now my Town & Country Trailer Home has finally been Christened for the Christmas season. By a big fat glowing Trailer Park Ho-Ho!
As you can see Katie-bug is just as thrilled as I am over the find! As long as I don't show her this video or she'll demand we bring Santa inside for safe keeping.
(Figures the punks are from NJ! I think I know these guys.)
The guys in the video are complete idiots, ha,ha.. I can't believe how tough those Santas are.. Did you know if you turn them around they look like they are peeing, ha,ha..
Hi Margaret. Thanks for cutting through the stereotypes to paint a vivid picture of community. It sounds like the kind of neighborhood that simply doesn't exist elsewhere anymore. Good on you for realizing this - and for sharing it with us.
I'm so glad I stumbled upon your blog. I'll be back to read more.
Margaret, I am sad indeed to hear that you live in a trailer park. I very much regret that I can no longer visit you.
Ha! Just kidding! This was a great post, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. We just moved out of a $300,000 house that was the low-income housing for that neighborhood. The average price of the houses there were $400-$500K. And I often thought to myself (and out loud a few times) that I would feel more comfortable living in a trailer park than in that neighborhood. We're now in a much more average-priced neighborhood and I just feel much better here. I love that this neighborhood has more diversity (as in black people and white people... hmmm, not sure about Hispanics). When we are ready to sell this house, I'm going to seriously consider buying a trailer! At the rate we're going, when we retire, that may be our only option anyway.
P.S. Love the soda bottle border. I wish I had thought to do that a few years ago in our old neighborhood.
Some of my fondest childhood memories of a brief stay in a trailer park and of my ol' Auntie Marg's trailer (complete with frogs and other fun kid critters).
The trailer parks here in Texas are shit for the most part, but other states seeom to have some really nice ones.
Katie bug is a darling little thing. She'll have fond memories too I'm sure.
Hey...no wonder we get along! I'm "trailer white trash" too!! We have your typical neighborhood...the missing teeth redneck...drinks beer every night on his porch, gets into middle of the night scuffles with teens that speed through our street, goes to work every day, and loves to play football with all the kids. We have the...oh crap, what I am I doing? I have a blog of my own to talk on. LOL
Trailer Park Ho-Ho...might have to take the idea..steal it.
ROFLMBO! And the video is funny too!
(i'm bettin' the neighbors blow-ups pop back to life when they get home from work this evening!) LOL!