Weird things you tolerate where you live?

[BlackCurtains]

There are a few "crazy cars" in my town. One has got stickers and signs all over it about Jesus. One is all Illuminati and New World Order. One is covered in Trump stuff. In fact, the Trump car was here in my apartment complex a few weeks ago. I think the person(s) must have been lost or visiting because I had never seen it here before or after. I mostly see them when I'm out with someone (my dad or niece). I've seen all three in the Walmart parking lot through the years.

There is also a cool red car that has a black dragon painted on the hood

[Beth3346]

i saw a motor home with Kraken (as in the lawyer who tried to overturn the presidential election) and other conspiracy nonsense stickers a while back. it's one of the stranger "crazy cars"

i haven't really seen any trump signs or flags since the election was called. the neighborhood guy who flies "don't tread on me" and come and take it type flags took the trump flags down after the election was called. i did see a couple of signs last time we drove to Houston. they were on the fences of some ranches.

[goddessofpeep]

There’s a few weird things where I live now, but nothing compares to some of the stuff that went down in my childhood neighborhood.  My parents still live  there, and it’s still nuts. 

I used to live in one of the most notorious cities in this country, and everybody has some stories. 

1) A house exploded one day a couple blocks from me.  It was during summer break, so I was home that day. I felt it more than saw it, but I saw the immediate aftermath.  A gas line blew, and the house disintegrated.  All that was left was a smoking crater, and scorch marks on all the surrounding buildings and cars.  The owner was away in the hospital, so nobody got directly hurt, but the residents of the old folks home across the street got a big scare.

2) The house across the street from me was a crack house. It would regularly get busted. The first time I saw it was my 16th birthday.  It happened regularly after that. The street would be filled with the flashing lights of the cop cars, and it became just another thing.  Honestly, the people who lived their kept to themselves the rest of the time.

3) The local bowling alley closed down, and the building sat empty for years.  It became another drug dealer meeting place.  Someone bought it  and turned it into a supermarket.  This upset the local dealers, and that supermarket was burned down.  Twice.  The third attempt at business survived. Apparently the dealers liked dollar stores more than supermarkets.

4) There was a small building next to the convenience store at the end of my street.  It wasn’t very big, and it was completely unmarked. It was just this small, unmarked grey building with a tiny parking lot attached. It was some kind of mental institution.  Nobody knew too much about what went on in there, but there were a few patients kept in residence, and probably some outpatient visits.  The whole neighborhood knew about that aspect because every Saturday morning they’d get a few hours of freedom to roam the neighborhood.  Every Saturday I’d get woken up by someone running up and down the street, screaming conspiracy theories and other gibberish for a couple of hours.  They’d be rounded up again by 10am or so, and there wouldn’t be a peep from the building until next week.

[kestral_kitsune]

the fact in the summer the entire town will sometime reek of dog poop. only its not dog poop you're smelling. its the feed yard and the fermenting feed and the fermenting silage and milo. and the smell can get rather ripe as we have feed yards on three sides of the town =not right next to but when the wind hits right bleeeeech we also have a sale barn in town and that doesn't help the smell.
if you hear a mooing noise at night? its a 50/50 toss on either a dirt bike or an actual cow

one i'm still trying to get used to? how everyone here says taste instead of smell when describing a scent

[Artemesia's Garden]

one i'm still trying to get used to? how everyone here says taste instead of smell when describing a scent

Maybe you're not in Kansas anymore?! Sorry, bad joke.

[BlackCurtains]

1) A house exploded one day a couple blocks from me.  It was during summer break, so I was home that day. I felt it more than saw it, but I saw the immediate aftermath.  A gas line blew, and the house disintegrated.  All that was left was a smoking crater, and scorch marks on all the surrounding buildings and cars.  The owner was away in the hospital, so nobody got directly hurt, but the residents of the old folks home across the street got a big scare.

The same thing happened in the town I grew up in! I was about 5 years old and was playing on the floor when it rolled underneath me. I don't remember hearing anything, but I sure remember that feeling. The neighbors were walking toward one end of the block and my mom took me and we went with them. It was the house at the T intersection behind us. I clearly remember standing with my mom's hands on my shoulders and I was staring at a janitors' sink in the middle of the road. There was a fireball in the sky and a huge crater where the house was. Just like in your story, no one was home when it happened so no one was hurt.

I asked my mom what had happened and she told me the stove exploded. That started an extreme phobia of stoves and other appliances for me that exists to this day.

[Harmonie]

Sudden, drastic weather changes during the winter.

I will never forget in January of 2008 there was a day that got up into the 80s. The next morning I woke up to snow on the ground.

In the western part of the state, this is more common. One time they were in the 90s and under an Ice Storm Warning for the next day.

[LadyAmalthea]

1) A house exploded one day a couple blocks from me.  It was during summer break, so I was home that day. I felt it more than saw it, but I saw the immediate aftermath.  A gas line blew, and the house disintegrated.  All that was left was a smoking crater, and scorch marks on all the surrounding buildings and cars.  The owner was away in the hospital, so nobody got directly hurt, but the residents of the old folks home across the street got a big scare.

The same thing happened in the town I grew up in! I was about 5 years old and was playing on the floor when it rolled underneath me. I don't remember hearing anything, but I sure remember that feeling. The neighbors were walking toward one end of the block and my mom took me and we went with them. It was the house at the T intersection behind us. I clearly remember standing with my mom's hands on my shoulders and I was staring at a janitors' sink in the middle of the road. There was a fireball in the sky and a huge crater where the house was. Just like in your story, no one was home when it happened so no one was hurt.

I asked my mom what had happened and she told me the stove exploded. That started an extreme phobia of stoves and other appliances for me that exists to this day.

8 or 9 years ago when I was living out west, a house exploded a couple blocks away from my work. I guess some bored college kids were sitting around smoking weed and trying to light their dog's farts. No joke. I guess there was a gas leak in the house or something. They were blown out of the upper duplex they were in, but not seriously injured, somehow.

[Strawberry Swirl]

Wow, those house exploding stories are horrifying. I'm glad nobody got hurt but DANG imagine the owners coming home to that! I can't imagine the devastation they would feel; I sure hope they were able to find somewhere to stay after that. Now I've got another thing to worry about happening to my new place, where I finally get to display all my ponies and stuff.... >.>

one i'm still trying to get used to? how everyone here says taste instead of smell when describing a scent

My mom calls scents "flavours" sometimes, I don't think it's a regional thing though, she's just weird like that.
No judgement obviously because I'm equally weird, just in different ways! hahahahaha

[Leave a Whisper]

Those house explosion stories are something else. 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

E-scooters weaving wildly through traffic! 
vs really loud performance cars and trucks with modifications to make them even really louder! (yes I said it that way on purpose )

a 10-day long party involving Western Expansionism stuff - cowboys, country music, agriculture,and the rodeo.  YMMV when it comes to enjoying a "state fair" or a carnival. This year's special food is .... Kraft macaroni and cheese soft serve.  YES.  the mac & cheese sauce packet cold, mixed up in dairy dessert.  Where is my barfing emoji

[Artemesia's Garden]

E-scooters weaving wildly through traffic! 
vs really loud performance cars and trucks with modifications to make them even really louder! (yes I said it that way on purpose )

a 10-day long party involving Western Expansionism stuff - cowboys, country music, agriculture,and the rodeo.  YMMV when it comes to enjoying a "state fair" or a carnival. This year's special food is .... Kraft macaroni and cheese soft serve.  YES.  the mac & cheese sauce packet cold, mixed up in dairy dessert.  Where is my barfing emoji

Wow. I just had to read that 3 x to make sure I understood it correctly. I still don't understand it. I understand cheese in a dessert, that is very Italian. But the words 'packet' and 'soft serve' really stood out.

[BlackCurtains]

I thought of another thing. Turtles and tortoise on the road.

It's common and expected to stop traffic to help a turtle or tortoise across the road. You always take them in the direction they were heading. They sometimes need to cross streets to get to a new water source, or in the case of tortoise, they're just traveling. Turtles are way more common. There are some streets that have turtle crossing signs. There is also duck crossings and Sandhill crane crossings. Sandhills are illegal to kill, even in an accident and I think almost every turtle is protected too. Not sure about the ducks.

[LadyAmalthea]

I thought of another thing. Turtles and tortoise on the road.

It's common and expected to stop traffic to help a turtle or tortoise across the road. You always take them in the direction they were heading. They sometimes need to cross streets to get to a new water source, or in the case of tortoise, they're just traveling. Turtles are way more common. There are some streets that have turtle crossing signs. There is also duck crossings and Sandhill crane crossings. Sandhills are illegal to kill, even in an accident and I think almost every turtle is protected too. Not sure about the ducks.

I'm glad people help them. I actually cry when I see turtles smashed in the road. You don't see it super often here, only a couple of times a year, but it makes me so upset that people around here won't stop to move them off the road.

[Strawberry Swirl]

I thought of another thing. Turtles and tortoise on the road.

It's common and expected to stop traffic to help a turtle or tortoise across the road. You always take them in the direction they were heading. They sometimes need to cross streets to get to a new water source, or in the case of tortoise, they're just traveling. Turtles are way more common. There are some streets that have turtle crossing signs. There is also duck crossings and Sandhill crane crossings. Sandhills are illegal to kill, even in an accident and I think almost every turtle is protected too. Not sure about the ducks.

Seconded here. I've seen my fair share of shelled friends on the road both alive and dead, I would hope that any of them that do get hit are accidental casualities but I just don't trust people. I remember one time at my old place a turtle was chilling on the road in front of our house and we saw some jerk speed right over him! He must not have been hurt that bad though, because when we looked again 10 min later he was gone. I like to think the hit just stunned him a little and he booked it after he realized what happened.


Red eared sliders are probably the most common turtle in my part of the world, but i've seen my fair share of snappers too. I still regret not taking pictures of the huge one I saw vacationing down south; I swear that thing was the size of a beagle.