I just want you to know that. I think we have a few hillbillies on here, and they will claim to be part of the Southern tradition, but it isn't true. Don't make me explain the Civil War and shit and why there are two Virginias. Not that Virginia misses West Viginia, mind you.
I just wanted to preface this clip from The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. Just caught it on Netflix and almost pissed my pants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dVdcQIg...re=related
My ex is from one county over (Raleigh). I didn't meet his family before we got married. If I had, I would have fucking run off before the wedding rather than after.
Their houses DO look like that inside: Jesus and fake flowers everywhere and furniture from the 50's and cheap frames. They DO talk like that. They DO love their pills. They DO smoke pot often and in public and drink moonshine. (only thing I actually miss is the moonshine and WV drag races, fucking hoot) WV is the only place I have ever seen people not use two sheets. (WTF? Who only uses a sheet on the bottom?) They ARE all related. They DO still live in scary trailers. (Why are there old tires on the roof of trailers? I never figured that out. It won't save you from a tornado people.)
Any Mockers from the holler?
I'm from Pike County Kentucky! I posted a pic once here....it is beautiful and I loved it as a child from hiding out in the mountains to swimming in the creeks...now, it's a sad place to me! You are correct about the drugs - that is the one thing that scares the crap out of me when I go visit. My aunt works for the court system down there and said smoking weed is "almost" allowed down there. In other words - as far as drug test go for employement, they sometimes turn the other cheek. Perscription pills will be the death of them.
It is beautiful, the people are very friendly (probably because they are all stoned), and no matter how bad it gets - a very small piece will always be home to me.
And by the way - I still use only one sheet, and when I go visit, I get very confused with all my "relatives".....When my grandmother was alive, she pointed to at least every other house to tell me they were my cousins in one way or another. They still take pictures of the deceased in the casket & of course, there is still moonshine
It seems like I once knew the answer to the tires on trailers, but can't seem to remember for the life of me....I'll think on that one.
(06-15-2011, 06:55 AM)sdtay Wrote: [ -> ]I'm from Pike County Kentucky! I posted a pic once here....it is beautiful and I loved it as a child from hiding out in the mountains to swimming in the creeks...now, it's a sad place to me! You are correct about the drugs - that is the one thing that scares the crap out of me when I go visit. My aunt works for the court system down there and said smoking weed is "almost" allowed down there. In other words - as far as drug test go for employement, they sometimes turn the other cheek. Perscription pills will be the death of them.
It is beautiful, the people are very friendly (probably because they are all stoned), and no matter how bad it gets - a very small piece will always be home to me.
And by the way - I still use only one sheet, and when I go visit, I get very confused with all my "relatives".....When my grandmother was alive, she pointed to at least every other house to tell me they were my cousins in one way or another. They still take pictures of the deceased in the casket & of course, there is still moonshine
It seems like I once knew the answer to the tires on trailers, but can't seem to remember for the life of me....I'll think on that one.
Enjoyed your post.
I have a few things to admit before I go on about those folks: I now want to learn to buck dance. I have always wanted to play the banjo, love me some bluegrass. I know a few folks who live in mobile homes on their own land. (they just aren't like those trailers) Please do tell me about the tires. I really have this need to know.
My ex used to be a coal miner before I met him. That didn't bother me because I come from a mining family. (placer gold, not coal, and independent claims) What I didn't understand, and totally understand now, is abject generation poverty. Along with the drugs and the kinda strange religious thing (Jesus everywhere but people still fight and whore around and do drugs), people from abject poverty have greater incidence of mental illness and somatized conditions because they want Social Security Disability. It is the West Virginia Lottery. People think I'm kidding, but I'm not. They don't feel a bit bad about it and don't ever want to be rich, they just want to hang out and drink beer and watch some TV. Maybe get enough to get that 80s Trans Am they had their eye on. They don't understand about saving money or generation building or getting the fuck out of there to make their lives better. All roads lead to WV, I guess.
I just couldn't live with the level of dysfunction. It was scary to me and very creepy.
The movie was a total trip, but I felt bad for them. I just know you can't save folks like that. They don't want to be saved.
Cracker - my mind would just not be still until I googled the answer:
"Many of the tires that you see on the roof..are placed over the gas furnance-hot water vents..The tire helps to prevent the wind blowing across, from drawing the pilot lites out. Also as others have said..it does put a additional weight on some of the metal roofs..making them quieter..Metal roofs on any buildings expand & contract with changes in temperature..Trailer roofs are especially vunerable..because of their shape & insulation that is in very close proximity of the roof itself."
One more odd fact - all southern women have the name "Sissy"...I believe that to be a fact!
And you hit the nail on the head about trying to "save them"..My dear, crazy as hell, aunt passed away about a year ago. She was, at one time, the most beautiful woman I had ever met, but let drugs beat her. I often tried to get her to move North, thinking they have to get out of there! I've tried with a few of my cousins (the real ones I know) also to no avail. I don't know if they actually think there is nothing better? It is heart-breaking to visit, because you wonder what their lives could have been like if only....But what the hell - I guess they are happy, or at least as happy as they think they can be. Sometimes I long for the slow paced, dont give a damn life, but reality smacks me in the face.
Disability/Social Security IS the answer for all for all of them, no matter their age. Somehow, they will get hurt and be "on the draw". I have had three back surgeries and am often questioned as to why I'm still working 50+ hours a week. I should be sitting in my lawn chair, taking drugs, smoking pot and living the "Southern Dream". - ahhh - the life
(06-15-2011, 02:29 AM)Cracker Wrote: [ -> ]Their houses DO look like that inside: Jesus and fake flowers everywhere and furniture from the 50's and cheap frames. They DO talk like that. They DO love their pills. They DO smoke pot often and in public and drink moonshine. (only thing I actually miss is the moonshine and WV drag races, fucking hoot) WV is the only place I have ever seen people not use two sheets. (WTF? Who only uses a sheet on the bottom?) They ARE all related. They DO still live in scary trailers. (Why are there old tires on the roof of trailers? I never figured that out. It won't save you from a tornado people.)
Any Mockers from the holler?
One of the guys who worked for us was from WV and that pretty much describes him. My husband had to tell him to stop talking to the customers.
I have a rental home that I rented to him and his wife for 4 years and I didn't realize what a mess they made untill they moved out and went back to WV. They left all their 50's furniture, some Jesus knickknackery, ten thousand nails in the walls and all stained yellow from the cigarette smoke.
His wife didn't work so instead of cleaning during the day she'd pop pills, go to garage sales and do crazy shit like painting God awful murals on the walls. She also made a lovely "oasis" out in the front yard and destroyed all the grass. And she loved to say God bless you, which to me is a sign of mild retardation.
Unfortunately that describes a lot of people from Fl. too. Some of it must have rubbed off on me because I only use the fitted sheets too. I always find the flat ones rolled up in a ball at the foot of the bed so what's the sense of putting them on.
I wanna reach through the screen and slap those bitches!
The voice . . . what music to my ears! She drives a red car, too.
Wait a minute . . . didn't someone on this site just purchase a red car?
I wonder if the voice is standard or an option with a red car?
(06-15-2011, 10:20 AM)Lady Cop Wrote: [ -> ]i'm changing all the member names...for example:
Cracker- bob.
Tiki- bob.
Maggot- bob.
Sally- bob.
waiting for Dickie-bob.
y'all get the pitcher.
Hey! I wuz warshed in the blood of the lamb! It's Tiki-Sue-Bob, missy!
I don't need to be included in the bobfest.
I am a little grouchy today, I know it's not normal for me but even I can have a bad day sometimes.
(06-15-2011, 09:08 AM)sdtay Wrote: [ -> ]Cracker - my mind would just not be still until I googled the answer:
"Many of the tires that you see on the roof..are placed over the gas furnance-hot water vents..The tire helps to prevent the wind blowing across, from drawing the pilot lites out. Also as others have said..it does put a additional weight on some of the metal roofs..making them quieter..Metal roofs on any buildings expand & contract with changes in temperature..Trailer roofs are especially vunerable..because of their shape & insulation that is in very close proximity of the roof itself."
One more odd fact - all southern women have the name "Sissy"...I believe that to be a fact!
And you hit the nail on the head about trying to "save them"..My dear, crazy as hell, aunt passed away about a year ago. She was, at one time, the most beautiful woman I had ever met, but let drugs beat her. I often tried to get her to move North, thinking they have to get out of there! I've tried with a few of my cousins (the real ones I know) also to no avail. I don't know if they actually think there is nothing better? It is heart-breaking to visit, because you wonder what their lives could have been like if only....But what the hell - I guess they are happy, or at least as happy as they think they can be. Sometimes I long for the slow paced, dont give a damn life, but reality smacks me in the face.
THANK YOU! That makes sense to me. If I ever have a trailer, I will put tires on the roof.
There is a lot of sadness in the hills. You either have to keep to yourself, go all churchy, or join the crazy living. That kind of life will defeat you. They have so many kids they have to lose at least one or two young. The rest will eventually get in some kind of trouble with the law or die of lung disease or heart disease. There is nothing to look forward to there but more of the same.
I used to drive through Kentucky all the time to go to Camp Atterbury. Louisville is nice, but the smaller towns reminded me of West Virginia. Y'all are country cousins. There are some folks like that in extreme northern Georgia, too. Hill people. The Smokies and Appalachians are indeed Mountain Mama.
A "high class" man in that movie explained the coal regions by saying they were like African countries that had been pillaged for their resources by rich European countries then abandoned. That struck me as true. The rich old families owned the coal companies back in the day and did exploit the workers. (I have been on all the historical tours of mines and mining towns and company stores) Nowadays, though, miners make decent money. You wouldn't know that half those wild hillbillies are making over $30 an hour. Money doesn't fix what they have.
(06-15-2011, 02:41 PM)Duchess Wrote: [ -> ]
I'm twenty minutes into The Wild & Wonderful Whites. Is this for real? 
Hahaha! Yup.
The guy that made that movie also made the Dancing Outlaw. I'm trying to find that online. Lurve the buck dancing.
I always wondered who bought all that Native American fake wolf sculpture crap until I watched that movie. Wolves, the End of the Trail paintings, and Jesus. Yeehaw!
I've only been to WV once. I never saw tires on the roofs of trailers, but I did see a lot of trailers jacked up against a hillside, most all windows were gone and every fucking place we saw, house or trailer, they ALL had one of those big huge satellite dishes. I figured it was some sign of wealth.
Oh yeah...1 sheet on my bed.
