Harmony......Not Really

Last night was bad enough. After leaving a whimsical sign on the door of the store to alert the weary travelers of my lack of vacancies I closed up and escaped to camp site 1, where good food and fellowship awaited me. My sign said "So Sorry.........So Full......No Vacancies". My attempt to lighten my own mood was not met well by those looking for a place to park for the night. I am able to see everything from where I sit eating and watch as one small RV parks, then the occupant reads my note and then SPEEDS out of my park...........making me long for a weapon.

When darkness fell I crept home to try to hide in my bed from the world. The steroids I am taking are making sleep near impossible and I did try and failed, so I watched TV until the love of my life arrived home to complain about his night. We see so little of each other you would think that we would want to spend that time in pleasurable conversation. Instead we seem to use each other as sounding boards for our frustrations. I feel that I should listen to him, since I tend to spell it all out here.........

Today brought a plethora of problems to further aggravate me. I sometimes will try to visit campsites after closing because I genuinely like most of my regulars and wish that I had done so last night. That way no-one would have had to enlighten me this morning about the heady aroma of marijuana that was engulfing parts of my park. It was said to be quite strong.....enough for a contact buzz. Come to think of it, that may have been good for me given the level of frustration I am approaching.

I posted a list of rules, nicely disguised as requests to ensure a pleasant stay here at NO YOU CANNOT DO THAT campground. With this many people living in fairly close quarters, certain habits have come to my attention that had to be addressed. My first rule was the speed limit. I pointed out that 10 mph was generous, since most parks require you to observe a 5 mph rule---this is basically idling through the park. My speed limit is violated daily and I find myself constantly reminding people that I have already expelled one camper and that my sweet demeanor is about to take a turn that they will not be apt to want to see. It is getting better, but we are putting speed bumps everywhere....

Request number two addresses pet related issues. Common courtesy, if you will. You know, keep your dog on a lead outside, clean up their poop.......... I was asked if a small enclosure could be put on site for pets. I try to be reasonable. These folks are living in close quarters and I have pets myself and know that mine like to be outside. This being said, I did not think that people would be so (there is no diplomatic way to put this) stupid as to put their pets, that they profess to love, in a fence that can't possibly be that secure and LEAVE. A storm comes through and the dogs do what all animals do when faced with rain and wind---they got loose to seek shelter. My husband and I then spent way too much time trying to catch the dogs in order to put them in a safe place. We called the owners to alert them to the situation they had placed their pets in. And yet it continues to happen that the dogs are outside while the owners are inside or not even there!
The dogs bark constantly and I can hear them all the way to the office. I can only imagine how lucky the neighbors must feel.

I remembered to include the all important observation of a QUIET TIME. This occurs between the hours of 10 pm and 8 am. Reasonable and pretty standard.

The next issue I address is the dumpster. The dumpster is huge, having six lids on it. Everybody wants to put their trash in the very first two, then continue piling it higher and higher until it starts to fall to the ground. And I end up opening the remaining lids to grab their trash and deposit it in the empty dumpster. I asked that big boxes and large pieces of cardboard be put next to the dumpster. I will break it down and fit it in myself. I don't delude myself that they will do this, but I don't mind that nearly so much as having to deal with the nasty bags of garbage. I don't dare let them know that I compost, I can only imagine what I would then have to deal with.
Try to keep it simple.... that is my mantra. And yet I see the piles of bags this morning and open a brand new lid to see several large EMPTY boxes with raw garbage on them taking up the allotted space that would hold all this. My follow up letter to all my new residents will be about the cost added to their rent for an additional pick-up each week.

You would think that one would assume that they should not park their vehicle dead center in an empty site thus preventing the use of said site. Not so much. The follow up letter will address the $25 fine for preventing my intake of revenue.

Pool rules. Common sense should prevail given the number of public pool deaths you hear about involving children and pure stupidity. These must also be spelled out in my little lists of requests. Signs abound in the pool area about not diving, not running, no glass......and the most misinterpreted one of all. Children under 14 MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT. Self explanatory you think. No, not really. So in my little letter I have to make it clear that an adult is some one over the age of 21 who is willing to be responsible for that child. AND (and this is very important) this does not mean that a 14 year old can supervise their siblings and/or friends. Follow up letter will have to be stated in a more simple fashion so that the person reading it will be able to comprehend the meaning.

Last, but not least I have put in the letter the hours of my store and the phone number to be used for emergencies.

And I thought I was being thorough. I now have to add to my growing list of rules that throwing rocks is not acceptable (as witnessed and addressed by my husband). Picking the fruit off my trees is FORBIDDEN. Also known as stealing. Why would you think it would be okay to drive up onto the grass (yep, gotta add that) and get out of you car and begin stripping the tree of fruit that isn't even ripe. When my soft spoken husband approaches her she says, "Oh we can't pick the apples?"

I was looking forward to a full park, of a sense of community. I was delusional. Isolation is sounding wonderful. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony............. There are possibilities and there are impossibilities.....this would be the latter.