Welcome

I want to live in the country. I haunt blogs like Patrice's.  I know that it is hard work and can be very frustrating. The way I see it though, what could be more satisfying than that lifestyle? Knowing where your food comes from, knowing that the animals you are eating were cared for humanely and knowing that the food you eat doesn't have some weird chemicals that you can't pronounce.

However, I live in a trailer park. I know, I know. Most people don't think that living in a trailer park is the "American Dream". I know it was not what I dreamed about as a child. No rolling hills with cattle roaming. No horses running through the fields. Not even any chickens in the backyard. However, my little slice of the trailer park is my dream for now. My husband and I are making it everything that we can. Trying to care for ourselves and help our neighbors when we can. Sharing the bounty of our garden... When it grows! because everyone knows that growing a garden is simple, right? We also want to be ready for as many of the things that life throws at us as we can. But you live in a trailer park! I hear the comments now.

Most folks also don't think that you can prepare for anything in a trailer park. But why can't you? No one says that you have to prepare for The End Of The World As We Know It. Why can't you just prepare for the everyday-life-happens sort of stuff? Why can't you grow your own little garden so you can at least know where some of your veggies come from? Why can't you store some water for those unknown events that might occur?

I am not talking about major catastrophe's. I am talking about the things that you didn't see coming and now you aren't sure what to do. Or maybe you do know what to do, but you weren't ready for it.

Let me give you a couple of examples:

I am out of work. I have now been out of work for a couple of months. I did look for a job and had a few interviews. Unfortunately, I apparently have not been what those companies are looking for. I won't give up, although my husband has suggested that I wait until after the holidays. I am ok with that. It gives me a chance to learn some things while I am home. Which has been more than I thought it could be.

Also, we had a water leak a couple of weeks ago. I was digging through the bottom of the closet trying to get our BOB straps out of the way so I could vacuum. It was wet. Oh no, a bottle must have started leaking, that was my first thought. Then I realized the floor was wet. Crap, did all the bottles leak? Until I realized that is not the bag with the water. All dry stuff. BIG OH NO at this point. The carpet was wet, the other bag on the floor was wet. Everything in the bottom of the closet was wet. Then I realized the walls were wet. Holy Cow! how long as this leak been there? I called my husband, turned the water off and cut the power to the house as I didn't know which breaker was the water heater. (I have since remedied that.) Long story short, we did not have to replace the water heater as it was a joint in the pipes feeding the water heater. However, we had to rip up carpet, flooring, subflooring, rip out the walls and the wet insulation. It was a mess. And we fixed it all ourselves.

This is the point of preppin' in a trailer park. We are not preparing for TEOTWAWKI. We are preparing for our own personal SHTF. Everyone has them. We do, our neighbors do, you do. Sooooo, why not plan for them? If I hadn't known how to shut the water off, it would have just continued to leak until my husband got home. If I hadn't known where the panel box was at and how to shut the power off, we would have just had water leaking all over the place and power still running to all the wires nearby. Granted, nothing had happened previously even though the water had been leaking apparently for ages, but I do live in a trailer and I wasn't about to take any chances.

Fortunately, we had gallon jugs of water and a couple of cases of bottles. I also filled up every bucket I could find, all sinks and the tub so we could flush the toilet. We were just fine.

And if you are wondering why we had so much water? Well a couple of months ago, not too far from our house, a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and caught on fire. My husband and I didn't even know it had happened until we were on our way to work. I drove back home as my son was home to see what the heck we needed to do. I made phone call after phone call (no answer-please leave a message and we will get back to you- soooo very helpful). When I finally started packing to evacuate ( I know I am apparently a little slow on the uptake!) my boss called and demanded that I return to work. No concern about my son and what the heck I was supposed to do with him, and no I was not allowed to take him to work with me (Now do you see why I no longer work there?) So in the interest of keeping my job, I left my son at home and went to work. And felt like crap about it all day long. What the heck was wrong with me putting my job before my son? So when we came home from work, there were roadblocks we had to get through. They were advising us to gather our son and any pets and evacuate. OH, and maybe don't drink the water. We think it's ok but maybe go get a gallon or two.

So that is why we now have water on hand and BOB's. If I had had those to begin with, I wouldn't have had to waste time packing and could have had my son and pets out of the area before I ever had to worry when my boss called and demanded me to come back to work. All of these things have happened in the last few months. I know I am not the only one that seems to have things that just keep happening. It's different things for everyone, but we all have them.

So, let's be ready for them, shall we?