\"Christmas
This was taken yesterday afternoon for work. I have had assignments that range from crack houses to mini-mansions, but this one takes the cake in terms of weirdness or interest.

It\’s April, mind you, and that house still has a Christmas tree in the window. All the windows are blocked off with different coverings on the inside, and the bottom floor has the heaviest and strongest security bars available to consumers. Not to mention the fact that the red plastic Christmas lamps are just hanging outside the front door, not plugged in, not tied down, not secured in any way, and yet, they remain. Nearly four months after Christmas, in a rough neighborhood where no one would dare leave anything outside due to the local crime rates, those Christmas decorations still arm the house.

My theory is that the resident is a total wackjob. His little hovel is decorated like a palace, complete with elegant entrance. He has tightly secured the property in the vein of a well secured fortress. He has something to protect, other than his visions of grandeur, which would explain why the lamps have not been stolen. He has managed to somehow intimidate his neighbors — young and old — into respecting his weird ass shit. Possible situations include: drug dealer, high ranking gang member, solitary psychopath, doddering and eccentric older person who helped raise the neighborhood and is now respected and left alone, or perhaps some combination thereof.

Whoever the person is, it\’s incredibly odd that they have the combination of the stronghold and that their Christmas lights have not been stolen. \”Normal\” explanations simply do not make sense. The resident is a neighborhood character, regardless of their intentions. Kind of neat. I wonder how I can get our neighbors upstairs to respect us like that. Somehow, I don\’t think it\’s going to happen.