Sunday, February 17, 2008

Life in an Abandoned Trailer Park

Or at least it seems abandoned.
Mind you, the park managers (who moved into #8 when we bought #9 from their landlord and are thus our closest neighbors, with intimate knowledge of our home, or at least what it was like before we ripped it up and rebuild it) are very nice.
And Old Man Joe as we like to call him is in pad #7 (which isn't really a full pad because he lives in a little camping trailer and doesn't need much room) and we see him outside very regularly. He checks the mailbox compulsively but it may be just to get out of his trailer that I think is probably colder than the outdoors, with less room to stretch.
But there are a bunch more trailers... and no more people. We never see them. It's eerie.
We had been taking whatever household garbage we had with us to the dump in our regular loads of gross carpet, wood paneling and etched glass tiles, etc. But apparently we can leave our garbage in the designated area, tagged, and someone will pick it up (the city doesn't do it because we live 5 min out of town). So Ryan inquired about buying some tags from the managers. They said to come back the next day. When he went back, they said that they didn't have any tags to sell at that time but we could just put our garbage in the shed-thing and they'll let us know when they get tags. The designated area used to be a chicken coop. Recently. But there was a sign that said "garbage" with an arrow so we left it there. A few weeks later, Ryan took a couple of bags over and the only thing in there was our garbage - from last time.
What does everyone else do with their garbage? Or, rather- because they are the only others here - what do the managers and Old Man Joe do?
Another thing: last week I went in the ditch (the road was treacherous, and, in my defense - the tow truck that pulled me out got stuck just around the corner immediately after) and I was waiting for Ryan to get there with the tow truck. The park managers (#8) pulled up alongside me and asked if I was okay and if I needed them to get Ryan and I assured them that everything was fine. They said, "Well, we just wanted to make sure you were okay," which was sweet, but then they turned around right there and went back home. So... apparently they came because they heard that I went in the ditch (simultaneously with my actual going into the ditch) and made a special trip to check on me. How is that possible? It was really nice of them but... what?
One good thing about having very few neighbors is that it's super quiet here. And, here, sitting on the couch, looking out the front and side windows, there isn't a single trailer in sight. Just some trees, a mountain and a whole lot of snow.