Well....I think I have a completely different take on the whole "trailer trash" idea. My DH and I lived in a trailer park when we were first married and then moved the trailer to a private lot and lived there for 7 more years. It always stung a little when people referred to "trailer trash" because we didn't perceive ourselves as that at all. We lived in what we could afford and we loved our trailer and took very good care of it. There have been many times that I've wished we still had it. So, I guess what I'm saying is that no matter how good your intentions might be, it may still hurt someone's feelings. But, on the other hand, it is your yard and if you choose to have a certain theme in it, then you are entitled to do so. And, knowing you, I'm sure it would be very tasteful. I just wanted to pass along how I used to feel.

As for the frog, most, if not all of us, have had to crawl through ground glass at some point in our lives. I find the memory of that time in my life more than enough, without having a permanent visual reminder....... I'm afraid you have missed the point. The tattoo is not a reminder of "crawling through glass" at all. It is a reminder that she is strong and as long as one "keeps flapping" (as she calls it) they can overcome the worst odds of whatever faces them. She sees the frog as a symbol of strength and perseverance. It's a positive thing and makes her smile. Reminds her to believe in herself. As to the poster that said why not just do temporary tattoos.......well because they are not personal. A tattoo is much more than an embellishment to many of us. It becomes a part of us. It is our history. Those who can't get past the idea that it's just permanent art are missing the point that several of us have tried to make. I rarely see my tat. Forget it's even there. But when I do think of it it puts a big huge smile on my face. It took a long time for me to decide to do it. It's a symbol of freedom, of survival, of loving who I am. The tat itself is just a cute little character. No one seeing it would ever put any meaning into it. But for me it means everything. Similar to my friend's frog. It is a part of me. Reminds me of who I am. I like who I am. The one I want on my foot will not have the same intensity of meaning. But it has been well thought out. It will reflect another lighter side of me. It is something I love. It will be unique due to the artist I've chosen. I don't like young people getting tats much either. I asked my own kids not to do anything to their bodies that couldn't be reversed until they were sure. Neither has a tat and they are in their 30s. The idea of getting one creeps out DH. But he cringes when I put my earrings in. He has issues with skin being broken. Can't look at the needle when he get a shot or gives blood.

I've lived next to a tournament bass fisherman. They live to get from fishing hole to fishing hole as fast as possible. They have competitions on their personal boats for getting oomph into the engines. The loud noise and smoke on Sundays while they tuned their engines is one reason why I used to live next to a tournament bass fisherman. Sorry, but those kind of serious fishermen would consider a nice quiet lake like that to be completely out of the question. That's a leisure lake, for the retired sit in the sun on the dock kinda fisherman. Market to them! But those kinda folks want easy access to emergency services, doctors, and hospital access. Chart those 15 minute routes and use that as a selling point. Make a list of local doctors and their specialties. And they want to go grocery shopping close, without having to worry about ending up some place "unsavory". That's where it's going to all fall apart for anyone out of the area considering the home. People use Google Maps second nature these days. They'll check out the whole location without ever leaving their armchairs. Are there any plans by the community to address this unsavory area? Downtown redevelopment? New industries coming to town? Who is taking on that challenge? Without some plan by the community to try to address the reputation of the town, out of towners only have that existing reputation to judge the place by. You're not going to be able to hide it, so find a way to address the problem head on.

I agree Mona, good photos is Elmer says above. I keep forgetting to bring the cloth multi use bags to the grocery store. I like paper and recycling, but sometimes we end up with a lot of the plastic shoppers. We recycle the plastic shoppers and all clean plastic film (clean plastic wrap, shipping plastic film, washed plastic film) regularly at the boxes outside the grocery stores. I don't know how they recycle the plastic film at shoppers but maybe I will look into it sometime. I sometimes use one or two for very gunky waste that I don't want to stink up my trash toter for the garbage people. We wash and dry all glass and plastic containers for food or beverage, and we recycle these appropriately. It is important that people keep anything that goes into the plastic recycling clean because apparently just a bit of unwashed plastic material can contaminate a whole lot of recycling goods, making them on usable or fouling up the works. We throw very little away – that is into the garbage toter. We can compost some material, and bones skin etc. can be given to select critters. We always wash our produce, and I even wash off the outside of a plastic milk jug and similar items because I don't know where they've been and I don't want bacteria add it to my refrigerator. EDit. I suppose there will always be slobs and thoughtless people, but I am glad to see a lot of people paying more attention to what they buy and discard, and how. we also recycle alkaline batteries.