Thursday - night

A person called today, said he's on his way over to the park to take a look. Lol.  Uhh, I just left there 10 minutes ago and my park host is out of town for a couple of days, but you are welcome to take a look, it's lot 8 that is available at one of the ends. 

We talk awhile, he goes over, calls me back, says he wants it.  He had gone to my main competitor and they were asking him a million questions.  Now, I do ask some basic questions about felonies and type of dog/s, but I don't get carried away with it.  He was turned off by that but even more so by their high prices.    They apparently have greatly raised their lot rates, I haven't checked in a while.  I am not raising or lowering mine, not at the moment anyway.  

In fact, I've got 3 people in there on the $200 off deal.  Hey, it worked to get people in there and all of them are allegedly "very" long term.  That special is over, I'm not giving out any more of that. My goal at this point is to find "permanent" people.  That's never going to really be true, of course, but people who are retired or just live in the area and want a place to call home indefinitely.  This will reduce the amount of constant turnover and it's no less money.   

Anyway, he said he's moving in Saturday or Sunday. Of course, I have to see it to believe it, but I will hold it for him since that's only a few days away and I have no other prospects for it.  I didn't tell him that.  He didn't even consider that new player in town.  I'd like to take a drive over there and see how many people he's been able to move in to the new section he built adding on to the existing park he bought out.  

The ever changing forecast. Tuesday, it was supposed to snow. Now it's Thursday. We're all thinking, yeah, right, it's not going to snow at all.  The thing I'm not going to much care for is the 18 degree low temp on Tuesday and a high of 35.  Sunday and Monday will be super cold as well.  I have to deliver tomorrow, load Saturday, deliver Sunday and then Monday off.  Tuesday allegedly going to load, but we'll see about that.  The washout is already saying that if the power goes out - which apparently happens in that kind of weather for them - they will not be open. 

And then what? If the customer still wants their product, am I supposed to drive clear up to Crossett to get a washout?  I suspect the Gurdon plant will cancel loads tho.  No guarantees on that, but that's what they did this last time it got super cold.   

Regardless, the forecasters can't ever get the conditions right regarding rain, ice, snow, etc but they are usually pretty close if not spot on on the temperatures.    

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr day, everyone will be home. Schools shut down, the folks are also not working.  I'll be happy to not have to get out of bed early....

All of my expansion plans are on hold right now.   Trump will be sworn in soon but also, I think the Fed is meeting again very soon? I expect them to reduce the interest rate and subsequently, everything else should come down with it in terms of not only loans but also credit card interest rates.  

Amazingly, I'm on day 39 of the pushup challenge and I have only missed one day and that was not that long after I started doing it - and I made up for it the next day.  But now? I don't care how late it is, if I forget, so sad too bad, I'm getting down and doing the 100 pushups.  Not all in one set, I'm nowhere even remotely close to that.  But now, I'm trying to get at least half of it done when I get home instead of waiting until evening or night time.  Just easier that way.  I have seen no noticeable changes. But, that's not going to stop me from continuing on.  

I have nothing else for I am very tired. It's 9:30 and it's time to go to bed. 

 Thursday - early

6 hours of sleep, woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, got up early. 

I'm not sure about the owners of the dog doing the dumping in my dumpster.  I drove over there yesterday and there is a residential can next to their house.  Now, we use 3 cans here at our place for 5 people. 2 regular trash cans and one recycle. So I dunno if that's sufficient for a family and I'm not sure how many people are living there.  The saga may never end if I don't move the dumpster, I guess that's the end of that story. Just they want $200 to move it.  

The manager called me and said I need to "beg" you to do something. He isn't really begging, of course,.  He's in a hard spot created by a company that doesn't exactly treat it's drivers that well.  He has no control over that. He wanted me to work this coming weekend and I just said yes. I assumed he would be doing that anyway.  I told him I do not want to do another 3 week in a row stint of weekend work.  That's my issue with it.  He knows.

He has a driver out that does the Ennis run, so one of our drivers is over there doing that one and then there is another driver out.  He has to refill that Ennis position before he can bring that driver back.  They have good contracts, they just don't want to invest in decent equipment.  That's the biggest issue. That guy switching over temporarily to the Ennis run probably won't want to come back. Less money.

I'm back to having one lot empty and I have no prospects currently. I get calls but I don't count anything a done deal until people show up and really, none of the people I've talked to sounded like they were actually serious about showing up.  There's a lot of competition, I'm just not lowering my prices any more than where they're at now.  It's not worth it and I will have an empty park before I just start giving it all away. 

Life goes on, the holidays are over, kids are back in school...and Trump is fixing to be sworn in as the next President.  Meanwhile, Biden is tripping on giveaways and all kinds of actions being taken that he thinks will be "impossible" for Trump to undo.  Obama said the same thing on his way out.  Hundreds of millions of acres of federal lands - taxpayer lands in reality - tied up for no drilling for oil.  And more student loan forgiveness.  Etc etc etc, ad infinitum.

Trump has 100 executive orders he wants to put out in the first days of his Presidency.  And don't be deceived by the media or the current White House, Biden had very little to do with this deal being made between Israel and Hamas.  Biden desperately wants a legacy beyond HIGH inflation and a botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.  And other notable things that will go down in history as him likely being one of the worst presidents that ever occupied the Oval Office.  

And they all hate Hegseth because 1. He's a Republican but 2. because he was a Fox News host.  The left hates Fox News.  Whatever, it wasn't Fox News that was perpetuating the Russian Hoax bs or covering up the Hunter laptop fiasco....I'm not the biggest fan of Fox News anymore, they are managed by leftists and they have been creeping in leftists commentators and "news" reporters for a while now.

Anyway, I have first load today and I am - at least for now - working the next 6 days including today.  I need the money so I hope it sticks. He also gave me first load on all of them.  Something I don't tell other drivers.  In fact, I only really talk to one other driver and the rest? are "as*ho**s" according to the lead mechanic.  He will get my stuff done because we see things alike.  Including old school trucking.  There usually isn't any good side to getting nasty with the people that are trying to help you, but stupid truckers do it all the time. You mess with the mechanics, good luck.  There's only 2 of them up there and they don't take kindly to being treated like dog s***.

I don't know what day I'm on in the pushup challenge. 30's at least, maybe 40's now.  I've been doing 100 pushups per day, every day. Some days, that's a real challenge, other days not so much. I forget to do them sometimes until it's approaching bedtime and then it's, dang, I've got to get them done!  Besides larger triceps, I haven't seen any noticeable change beyond a bit of flatting in my chest area, others are saying differently. 

It isn't likely that I'll stop doing pushups after the 100 days is up unless there is some physical reason why I can't.  

Well, my time is up here. I have to think about getting my stuff ready so I can leave here.  Starting Sunday, we've got 3 days in a row of extremely cold weather, down into the low 20's.  Tuesday, snow is predicted. We saw what happened to their last prediction. 

G'day. 

 Monday - mid morning

New people moved in 2 days ago, late.  Just now getting caught up on things here.  I think they are staying a while - quite a while. You never know tho, they might find some place they like better or buy a house or whatever.

The house should have closed so the lot 8 folks should be leaving today.  

The teacher is also leaving at the end of the month. He says he found a better gig in Beaumont.

You get people in you get people leaving. It's constant, just the nature of the business.  I don't have any leads on replacing them but then again I'm not running any ads atm.  Facebook ads will be placed as soon as the people buying the house leave.  Lot 1 is still occupied until next week.  That's the transient lot, at least for now. If I find someone willing to pay enough for it, it could be a long term lot as well

I had the weekend off.  I was thinking about that yesterday, I am not going to be this manager's weekend slave.  I'm getting every other weekend off as agreed to. If he is going to break that agreement, I am going to force the issue even if it means having to leave.  It's what employers do. They push it and push it and see what they can get away with.  You have to push back and I did.  I'm not saying having another 3 days off is great, but at the same time, he was setting it up so I would have to work weekends in order to get any runs into the system.  

I know how he works, he thinks he's sly but he really isn't. These other guys need to be rotated into the full weekend system, that's all. The manager claimed it was broken down trucks and people out sick. But, a pattern was set that i was watching and I just had had enough of it.  

The 10 year old birthday celebration sort of went on all day long Saturday.  First it was a birth day party, then people showing up late - he forgot to put the time on the flyer he handed out.  So they were hanging out. Then we had the group over and they gave him presents and then we played cards until almost 1:00 am.  

Sunday was church, followed by Applebee's, then home.  That's all I did yesterday. I'm doing very well in the "not eating out department" besides the after-church visit. Yesterday it was only the oldest kid with me, the other left church with friends to go to Shreveport.  He changed his mind, lol, after he found out what they're doing - shopping. I'm sure they were going to eat as well, but he wanted to go home.  It was a pretty lazy day yesterday, just the way my Sundays are perfect.  

I do have work tomorrow, but the truck is now fixed. I don't have to worry about getting an inspection. Tires, lights, all kinds of stuff were fixed/replaced and that makes for more enjoyable driving not having to worry about that stuff. 

We've still got cold overnight temps going and notable, this coming Sunday and Monday are going to drop down to 20.  I don't know about you, but that's cold in my book.  I have everything insulated so I'm not worried about it.  I  am kind of getting irritated with people setting the heater in the shed to 75 degrees and have decided to see about a heater with an app where you can monitor it remotely and just change it back to 65 - 69.  I don't want that thing heated up like that all night long, it's a complete waste of my money on electricity. 

I'm still at the 100 day pushup challenge.  My arms started getting bigger but it has sort of stalled.  I'm just going to continue on with it and see what happens. If nothing else, the exercise is good.  

That's really it for now, I have things I need to get done today and sitting here isn't going to accomplish that.  Hope everyone had a good New Year and going to have a blessed 2025.  

Oh, wait - the Biden era is almost over!  They sentenced Trump - to nothing.  This completely proves, at least to me, that it was a politically motivated attempt to tarnish Trump's name so he wouldn't be elected.  I knew that all along, but if you have 34 felonies and literally NOTHING is done with sentencing, not even community service? It will be appealed and I suggest it will be overturned by a competent court once you get out of New York. 

Trump has stated that he is working towards issuing 100 Executive orders in the first days of his second term.  Probably a lot of stuff undoing Biden's outrageous nonsense, especially the border and drilling.  

Honestly, I didn't watch any news this weekend but I did read some online.  I just have had my share of it for now.

G'day

 Friday - night

It's actually Monday morning and completely forgot to post this, didn't finish but there it is anyway. 

Well, it was forecast 5 hours of snow for this morning. So I didn't know whether I was going up to Arkansas to get the truck fixed or not.  This morning, it was apparent that the "storm" turned out to be a dud. Sure there was rain and there was a half hour of "snow", small flakes melting before they reached the ground so it didn't stick.  

So, I ended up heading up to the yard rather late in the morning  by my standards and getting up there in time for them to - go to lunch.  They have their ways and they don't bend those ways for anyone or anything. I'm not saying they aren't nice people, they just are unyielding in their routine.  I knew I'd have to wait so it was whatever to me.  

I gotta say they got those problems resolved far faster than I expected.  It wasn't even 3 pm and they were done with almost everything, the only few items they couldn't fix were things that have to be ordered. Things I don't need for a safe truck and have been living without anyway.  

So, I started heading back.  They had to put the dog down today, she was pretty down.  They decided to go to a bigger town and have some lunch and use their Christmas gift cards.  But, I found out, they went to Texas Roadhouse for the late birthday dinner for the older kid.  That really brought me down quite a bit, that they would do that without me.  That kid hangs around me alot, I let her know that I wanted to be there for that. 

At least she apologized and said the kid was unhappy because they didn't him a birthday dessert as many restaurants will.  Do we need to do another one? I thought about that. It isn't about me, I just wanted to be a part of it.  But, we are allegedly doing another one at the place he decided to go to after he originally said Texas Roadhouse: Applebee's  I take those kids there after church and some weekends when we can't make it to church but have time when I get back from a run.

Speaking of that, the manager was asking me to work yet another weekend. There has been a lot of days off lately either with holidays or cancelled loads.  Meaning small paychecks, but at the same time, I've worked every weekend for quite a while now, I haven't been to church in a month.  I asked him if he could find other drivers to take that junk instead of it always being me.  He agreed, fortunately, because I was ready to force the issue, come what may.  I'm not going to be his weekend warrior slave.  Everyone else is getting weekend time off to do what? Go to church in most cases.  Why should I have to eat this nonsense all the time?  Well, he said, because trucks were broken down or people were sick.  

Every weekend? 

Anyway, I have the weekend off and the plant cancelled loads again anyway, I don't work again until Tuesday.  Which sucks, actually, I wanted to work Monday.  

Ok, it's been awful cold here and it's still down in the low 30's. It's 35 degrees - just looked it up - feels like 28.  Low of 24 degrees overnight with a high of 46, it's not terrible I guess.  

The new people from up north didn't make it today, they said their trailer was snowed in and they had to dig it out. They are sick of those types of winters. It doesn't snow here much, at least, but it does get cold here.  I think the guy found a job somewhere around here.  I fixed the 30 amp set up on the porch people before I left for AR this morning thinking these new people were coming in. It takes about 3 minutes to get into the panel, pull off the breaker, unscrew the line and switch it out. Ok, maybe 5, at most.  They make it really easy and those breakers, even tho the cost of them has gone up, they are only $8.  

Another lady contacted me today: we need to move in today. Ok, I have an alternate lot available.  Yada yada yada later in Facebook DM and she disappears after I told her the price. It was quite reasonable, lower then my regular lots.  I waited about 10 minutes and then bid her good luck in her search since she stopped responding and wrote that person off. I don't know what they think they are going to find for cheaper than that and I wondered why they had to "move today".  Lack of funds would be my guess and I'm just not taking people in if they don't have the first month's rent up front, all of it.  

IF that couple shows up tomorrow, the park will temporarily be full, at least the regular lots with 1 alternate open.  But, I will have 2 regular lots coming available soon.  Back in lot 8 should be vacated on the 12th or 13th and lot 1 added to their stay by a week.  So, there will be 2 lots available and tho I like to keep lot 1 open for overnights, I will rent it out if it comes down to it.  But, I will try to get the back in lot rented first.  I won't be advertising that until those people actually leave, they are allegedly closing on their loan for their house on the 12th, but we all know how that can end up being delayed.  

  Tuesday - early afternoon

Oh the luxuriousness of having the house all to myself. No kids on "holiday" (read: Christmas) break whining, screaming, fighting with each other, tattle taling, etc ad infinitum, ad nauseum.  That doesn't happen all day long, in fact, it's mostly just one of them that causes all of the problems.  It was beyond time for them to go back to school. A week off is sufficient, I think 2 weeks plus is too much. They get ample time off during the summer time, they really get distracted and out of focus with that much time off.  Today is their first day back.  

I did get out today.  My hair was looking incredibly bad - thanks to that last haircut and my Keurig is throwing fits and has been for a couple of weeks.  It's stopped working altogether a couple of times and today it stopped pumping the air through the needle to force all the water out of the k cup. That thing ;lasted 5 years and I've had probably thousands of cups of coffee out of it so I'm not going to complain.  I went to Walmart, they have a combo unit that not only does k cups but also brews a pot of coffee.  There are times I want a fresh brewed pot, not a k cup.  

Day off today due to cancellation. I pickup up a load of glue yesterday but not delivering it until tomorrow morning.  I'm hoping I can get done early enough to get over to the shop and get some of this stuff wrong with the truck repaired.  If not, I'll have to take Thursday off driving and go up there and spend the day up there.  That's the thing, if I don't get over there early enough tomorrow - or should I say if I can't - there is no point in going.  I have a long list and I want all of it fixed.  It's minor stuff but it's a lot of minor stuff.

I'm pretty content to sit in my bedroom today until the kids get home and then, well, it's back to normal.  I have 3 more hours : )

There is nothing pressing at the park, at least not that I know of. It's cold, 33 degrees right now and it's afternoon time,  I'm sure they're over there running up the electric bill using electric heat and oh well. Electricity is the biggest down side to that park in terms of costs. If I didn't have that, I"d be making some pretty decent money.  I"m just stuck with it. Install meters and people leave.  

___________

Like 8 hours later, lol.  Made dinner, only left the house today to get a haircut and a new coffee maker. Some people called, came to the park, checked it out and decided it wasn't for them. Whatever, I know I can't please everyone and I don't even try.  I just do what I can and if people don't like it, there are greener pastures from their viewpoint elsewhere.

And with that, time to go to bed. Oh! 20 more pushups and I'm done for the day : )

Monday - night

Still quite cold and it's going to stay that way through Friday - when there is currently showing a 71% chance of snow.  It's not going to be much warmer the days after that, just nothing like what we are experiencing now.  

Today marks the final day of Christmas/New Year's break for the kids from school. It is about time, frankly.  The youngest has been sick the entire time, only starting to break out of it a little yesterday and today.  I will be glad to see them going back to school and having that particular structure back in their lives.  The youngest hates school and clearly defined that yet again to me today.  The oldest likes it well enough. 

Today. I was on my way to the trailer washout in Nacogdoches when my manager called me.  No idea what he wanted, I answered and he told me: your load has canceled. Looks like you're halfway to the washout, might as well go and get it washed out? Yes.  At the washout, he called me again.

2 more loads cancelled, but then they changed their minds and put one back on the board for tomorrow. Can you do it?  Of course, I had planned on working.  But the discussion immediately went to - can I load it today even if it's not supposed to deliver until Wednesday? I'm already down here....let me email the rep.  By that point in time, they had finished the washout.  

I waited, hoping it would be allowed for why come all the way back down here for something I can get done today?  It would also allow me a full day off tomorrow.  The answer was yes after yet another phone call, but I paid for it. For whatever reason, the first load driver was still at the washout when I arrived.  He was already late for his loading appointment time, I wondered why he was there and my manager didn't know either.  He didn't ask, apparently.

When I arrived at the plant, he was still in the bay, I expected that tho.  What I didn't expect but probably should have considering the loader that was working today is that I had to sit there almost 2 hours before his was loaded and I could even get in there to start loading.  By that time, the first loader had gone home and the dude who kicks @$$ showed up, got me loaded quickly and then I was in the control room with him getting paperwork. 

I asked him how things are going? It was going good until I got here and all of  this bs was going on.  I guessed out loud it was the fact that there was a bunch of work left to do that that other guy didn't get done.  YES! He replied quite loudly and went off on that dude.  You 2 have been here for hours, what's the problem? It's 30 minutes and it's done.  I suggested he's the slowest loader there and not very motivated.  He went off on him again, lol.  It's like the guy tries to go as slow as he can.  

Anyway, I finally got out of there and didn't get back until around 4:30.  Still, even with 3 hours at the plant, it was worth it to get tomorrow off.  I would go up and get the truck fixed tomorrow, the thing is, the trailer is loaded and it just adds a lot of time, fuel and just slower progress getting up there and back fully loaded.  It would be like, well, I am up here, I might as well just stay up here and deliver early in the morning.  

I don't want to do that, especially in this icy cold weather.  If that truck breaks down while attempting to sleep in it somewhere, I'm going to be one very cold individual.  So it's likely I will take it up Thursday, hopefully work Friday and Saturday and then basically demand Sunday off. It will have been a month since I went to church and I just am not going to continue to have to work entire weekends all the time.  I'll do them, but not so many in a row.  If that throws them off, tough, that's on them.  I'm not their weekend warrior.  I'll risk getting "moved" to "routes you don't want" to get my church in if it comes down to that.  

I wasn't particularly happy when these people finally showed up - after dealing with them on the phone and text incessantly and then finding out they didn't like it, thought it was too small. The lot is 60X40, it's not as big as other lots I have but it's still quite large plus ample room behind the trailer for another 50 feet to do whatever.  Not to mention that wasn't going to be their permanent lot, which is much bigger. 

But whatever.  It happens I just thought I had spent far too much time dealing with these people to have it turn into a dud.  As far as I know, the lady from - Minnesota? - is coming on the 10th.  

100 pushups done for  the day. A bit late getting them done admittedly, but taking another look, my man boobs are actually slowly starting to straighten out.  I think I'm a but too critical of myself in this drama of trying to lose the gut and the boobs and actually look like some semblance of a man again. Ok, that's probably a bit much, lol, I'm just saying.  I was lean and trim from the age of around 12 to near the 50's and then the fat started piling on.  Then I got a job that was mostly driving 11 hours a day and really getting no exercise whatsoever, which really set this over the top.  

It was just that tipping point, I guess, 33 days ago? where I said enough. This is getting bad and it's not good for you to be that fat.  That's scientific study that will back that up all day long on hundreds if not thousands of articles online.  

Oh, the oldest got me started on the game Fortnite. It's a battle game where you basically just go around killing everyone - 100 people in any given match - until everyone is dead, the last person standing is the winner, Victory Royal!  I find the royal word strange. It is pronounced as royale and royale is the correct word?  Why don't they have an e on the end of it?  I dunno, but you can play alone or with teams of 2, 3 or 4.  

The only thing is, if you want to talk on there with your team mates, you find out that most of them don't have microphones and the ones that do are kids.  Acting like kids. Yeah, no. I've only encountered a few adults actually speaking. I had to look this up: LOTS of adults play the game but I guess they either just do the solo version or they just don't speak on the microphones.  I can see how people get addicted to gaming with stuff like that, you have to develop a skill set that you definitely do not have if you don't play video games.  Which I don't.  Or didn't. I only play that one and I just limit myself, but it is adventurous and entertaining.    Honestly, I am bringing the Switch with me on these runs in case I get stuck somewhere as I did today.   

Enough. It's 10:00 pm and I'm going to get into bed, watch a movie and drift off into sleep. No kids to make a bunch of noise in the morning - well they will when they are leaving for school but I hope that I can get back to sleep....

 

 9:00 pm and it has dropped down to 31 degrees.  I was wearing a T shirt this morning when I went to get into the truck. I always love Texas weather doing stuff like that. 

Today was interesting as it stood. 3rd Sunday in a row I've had to work, first off.  In Gurdon? Thunderstorms, rain, tornado watch which eventually turned into a tornado warning.  I didn't hit any tornado warnings but people were driving like mad Max.  

I have second load tomorrow and I'm actually fairly happy about that.  I don't much care for getting done with the day late but I also don't much care for ice I can't see on the road because it's too dark.  Just makes for some white knuckle driving at times.  

Day 31 of the 100 pushups per day for 100 day challenge and I"m still at it. 80 done today, only 20 left to go.  My arms are noticeably bigger.  My chest? Not so much.  I wasn't looking for miracles, I figure it would take all 100 days and then some to get rid of man boobs.  Plus eating right.  I'm getting the eating aspect into post-holiday stuff that means eating smaller portions and more good stuff with low calories and low cholesterol/fat content.   

As for work, I have 2 days to go and then up to the shop for probably most of a day.  That is because there are many things on that truck and trailer that need repaired.  A small oil leak on the power steering pump, the lights that are shorting out, the fuel gauge, heated mirrors, a spot mirror that just flops in the breeze, a trailer tire that is beginning to show steel cords (funny wear for the trailer), a bad u-bolt, several air line  gaskets that need to be replaced and whatever else I'm not remembering.  They'll probably do an oil change while I'm there as well.  

When I let them know in advance, like a couple of days anyway, they drop whatever they are doing and focus their attention on the truck.  They work on it until it's completely done, tho nothing will stop them from taking an hour long lunch break lol.  That's kind of a tall ticket of things to get done in one day.  If they don't all get done, I'm ok with that but they need to get the priority stuff fixed and that would start with those lights.  I have looked all over for a short and I can't find one.  It may very well be in the fuse box or the switch itself.  

I'm going to take my laptop up there and my Switch with me, that will keep me entertained for however long it takes them.  

The people showed up to move in their very large trailer.  Looked like a cross between a mini-house and a park model.   A park model is more like a mobile home but they call it sort of an RV. it was pretty big and it was new.  They didn't stay. They thought the lot was too small.   That was a back in lot about 60 feet long and 40 feet wide.  I don't know where they went, but I doubt they found anywhere with lots that big excepting a couple trailer trash parks. Maybe they don't care, I dunno.  

The bummer part about it was they said "we were going to be there a very long time and need more room".  I do have that giant lot but it's not available.  It's 2 more weeks before those people leave, they just contacted me today and asked for another week.  I typically don't force people out.  

The lady is still coming in - allegedly - on the 10th.  That will fill that lot but then another back in lot is opening up on the 12th.  It's a constant shuffle.  

The old man is probably leaving.  He is obstinate and won't put his dog on a leash and throws his cigarette butts everywhere.  I'm at my wits end with him, I've had a couple of discussions with him about it. He just walks off grumbling and then....lets the dog run everywhere. I doubt he's picked up a single piece of that dog's poop since he came in there.  "He goes out in the woods". Oh? I wonder because I see dog poop lying around and it's a larger dog doing it.  

I hate to see him go, he's a nice guy otherwise but this nonsense has to stop.  His dog has actually run up into other people's trailers who had their doors open. It will just run up to everyone and anyone. He's a totally tame dog but not everyone wants dogs running up on them and I have rules.  It's just that it means having to have yet another lot empty and who knows how long before I can get someone in there? I dunno, maybe not that long. 

I feel like my business ethic is better followed than pandering to a person who doesn't want to follow basic rules. Most people understand their dog needs to be on a leash, not just in my park but in society in general.  There are many exceptions of course, like on your own property or out in the woods hiking. The RV industry is full of RV'ers who expect rules to be followed by everyone and they get upset if they aren't enforced, that is one of my biggest issues with this dude and his dog AND his damn cigarette butts. I'm really tired of it.  And most people but definitely not all understand that if your dog poops - well when, not if - you need to clean it up immediately, which means carrying the bags around with you.  

If only the 3 welders were still around.  Guaranteed income.  

Well enough of this. I'm going to do my last 20 pushups for the day, watch some tv and then go to sleep.  

  A long night of below freezing temps coming up starting tomorrow night.  But, we seem to have everything covered. The people living there? Well I hope so.  I wasn't feeling so spunky when I got back so my visit was short and sweet.  I dunno but that shed will definitely have both heaters going. On low, but going in case one can't keep up with it. Saving my pipes/seals/gaskets from damage is the point.  

I won't have to drive night time hours in the icy road conditions. Tomorrow morning is regular nice weather - well a bit cool but nothing like what's coming.  Monday I have late load.  I guess thank the good Lord for a late load considering it's a bit dicey driving in the dark and not being able to see the road surface knowing it's 24 degrees and black ice/ice/frozen bridges might be ripe for serious problems.  

Today went relatively well. The guy that takes forever to washout trailers has apparently been given the revelation that most people don't want to wait an hour and a half to 2 hours for the same results as the other guys doing it in 25 minutes.  The loading plant was crazy.  One of the plant's drivers took the wrong product to a similar place as what I deliver to - and same product I deliver. He  got under the wrong trailer, went down there, unloaded and of course all hell broke loose.

2 jobs ago, I was taking pipe and product down there to build that plant.  At the very beginning when they were working on storm drainage and such.  And really, throughout the project we took down  truckload after truckload of stuff. Those types of plants use a lot of water.  I don't know the outcome, I assume they would have had to shut that plant down, drain everything out, clean everything out and refill before firing up again.  I am guessing the plant is going to have a big bill coming their way.  

Well, there is no possibility of that for us. The only product coming out of the hose that fills our trailers is the glue for various plants - mostly GP plants - making plywood.  This driver had the right paperwork but the wrong trailer, that was the issue.  

That's my world currently.  It's just dealing with people and their stuff. Like, whoever is blowing up the toilet. No way to figure out who is doing it, but it really sucks to walk into a bathroom and see dried liquified poop all over the bowl  

The truck still has the issue with the bank of lights not working. I'm not going into the fuse panel to try and figure it out, not my job. I do minor stuff, sometimes mid-level stuff but that's more than I'm getting myself into.  Our mechanics will have to figure it out and I will end up wasting many hours on whatever day that's going to happen. Soon, I can say that, I can't be driving it like that forever. It's not a safety issue, it's just a lot of extra lights for looks, not for law.  But, if they're on there? Troopers want them to all work.  I would guess there is a raw wire touching the frame somewhere the way it instantly blows the fuse.  But it really could be a lot of things.  Not my job, as the old saying goes and in this case, quite the truth. 

That's about it.  A few birthdays going on around here, one a few days ago and another coming up in 4 days.  

As for me? Time for bed. 

 Saturday - early

In trying to keep a park full, you try to keep track on people and when they think they are leaving.  If there is a long term wanting to go, I want to know about it. Not to try to talk them into staying, they are free to leave whenever, but to understand that that lot is going to be empty and I want it full. 

So, this lady is moving - from Minnesota? =- I think she said.  She's coming on the 10th.  I have one open lot right now, btw.  Even the overnight lot has someone staying in it for another week or so.  I had a family come in late last night - "we just want a place to park overnight and then leave" - yes, you mean you like my rates and don't care about the extra trouble it's going to be to get that thing parked in there.

In there- meaning one of the behind-the-shed spots.  It was all that was available at the time.  And they did, I am dumping a lot of stuff on Trey now, he's going to do his job or he's going to leave.  I gave him some money at Christmas as well. No great amount, and nothing that's going to be repeated over and over, but I've finally gotten it into his mind that he has a job to do and sitting around his house doing nothing isn't a part of that equation.  

Anyway, this other person called last week and told me he wants to bring his family even if that means he has to move once to make it work.  Unfortunately, it actually means he's going to have to move twice after I found out the people staying for a month at the end lot are staying until the 12th.  That's 12 more days than expected for them, but I wasn't going to make them leave because I have someone else wanting to come in.  Then there's the people at the huge lot, they are there until the - 12th I think.  It means a completely full park and no where to put him excepting in the spot I am holding for the lady moving here from Minnesota. 

So, he wants to move in to that lot, then over to the behind-the-shed lot for 2 days and then to his "permanent" spot.  He's actually a worker but apparently it's going to be an extended stay.  For what, I have no idea, we didn't get that far with it. He had contacted me via text message yesterday asking me if I could take him in or not?  I found out all of the info and informed him the only way I could make it work is if he moves into spot 11 until the 10th, then over to lot 15 - behind the shed - for 2 maybe 3 days - and then to his spot he can stay at for however long.  I told him that and 4 hours later he agreed to it and said he's coming - today actually. 

Yes, he's coming in late tonight.  2 reasons I won't put him behind the shed right now versus 6 days from now.  1, because he's coming in late.  It really needs to be daylight to park back there and 2, because I don't have 50 amp setup back there - yet.  I don't really want 50 amp back there for it's a huge draw on that power system.  The fact of the matter is, however, is that it's winter and AC units aren't running all day long, it's heating units that will turn on and off.  At this time of the year, the power system running over there can handle it, it's during the summer it definitely cannot, at least not with the current setup. I can fix that problem but not without a lot of work and some money spent.  

I have projects I need to do and it's the money situation that has kept me from doing it. It's a business expense and I'm not spending personal finances on that stuff anymore. If the business can't afford it, it is going to be put off until it can.  With most lots full, I can get back to getting some real money in the account.. 

However...property taxes. Let's not go into that, I have a month before it's not going to be late and tho I have the finances in there for that, it would drain it down pretty good.  Get 15 or so lots bringing in money and that will change.  I have to pay property taxes before I do any of these projects.  

Speaking of heat, it's going to get down to 24 degrees tomorrow night and it's going to keep doing that for 4 nights in a row.  That's hard freeze territory and I've been warning people that they need to do something about their hoses and such.  If they don't, they may end up with a costly mess on their hands.  I am definitely not responsible for anything after the spigot.  That's all on them.  What I have to do is cover up all my exposed plumbing. 

I instructed Trey to do that yesterday and he claims he did. Most of it is still covered from last year, not that much to do, but I will be inspecting all of it today after work.  

Yes, I have to work again for the 3rd weekend in a row.  Someone is off sick. I actually was asked to do a full turn yesterday and today, but that went away after the second person off got his act together.  He forgot to get his medical card updated and sent in to the state.  I wonder about this company and not keeping up with that and sending notices to drivers about it. I dunno, but I fully expect this company to pay for mine coming up later this year.  The driver - who has been destroying equipment as well - got his card updated in their system and I didn't end up having to do all of that.  I agreed to it just to make him happy - him being the manager.  otherwise, you get into his unfavorable district in his mind and he can just shuffle you off to OTR stuff.  In other words, you will quit and he doesn't even have to fire you. 

I would definitely quit if I was placed into the OTR system.  They have runs going into Canada and they were begging me to take one of those routes when I first signed up for this place. No thank you. But you have a passport! Yes - no thank you.  

Well, I got up half an hour early.  Not on purpose, I just woke up, decided I wouldn't get back to sleep and got with it, hence the time to write this morning. I didn't get up early to leave early, I just got up to start the day. 

The FOMC meets again on the 28th of this month.  Wondering if the interest rate will be lowered and by how much.  And then, ensuing interest rate reductions on loans.....

Enough. I'm leaving a little early.  I'm out of coffee pods for my Keurig - totally spaced that yesterday - so I need to stop somewhere and get a cuppa this morning before getting to the truck.

G'day. 

 Wednesday - night

What a hoot New Years Eve was!  I took one of the boys to the Piney Park place - the other one is still sick and didn't want to do anything.  He's still coughing his lungs out and we're finding out this can last months. It's a good thing he doesn't have to go to school until next week, but what if this thing goes into next week? We're talking a good 2 plus weeks of this already!  I just hope and pray he gets better before then, because right now? He doesn't nothing but sleep all day long, won't eat much, coughing all the time, etc. 

In other sad news, their dog has torn an ACL, it costs 5k plus to fix it and they're going to have to put her down.

And even more unbelievably sad news, a former pastor's wife from AZ that was a really sweet, loving and kind person passed away.  I didn't know anything about it until today, actually. Well, she apparently passed away today.  I wasn't keeping up with them so I don't know if this was out of the blue or some illness or disease type of thing.  The pastor and her such wonderful people.  She will be missed by a lot of people. 

2 people moved in today.  Behind the shed. I wouldn't have them in the regular part of the park.  Their pictures made the thing look better than it is. But, the door is good, the windows aren't broken, it's just old.  I gave them a list of thing to do to make me happy with the place.  She wasn't particularly pleased with my decrees, shrugs shoulders.  It may be out of sight for the most part, but I want it looking as good as it possibly can be.  Which means painting some things and just tidying it up.  

I don't really have much time here. 25 more pushups to go today, that doesn't take long but we stayed up until 2 am last night, I slept in this morning but I'm still tired.  Really didn't do much of anything today.  ]

I couldn't figure out what's wrong with the bank of lights that went out and the fuse box keeps blowing fuses.  I had Trey look at it, he said he couldn't really pin it down but thinks there is a short in or behind the fuse box itself.  That's too much.  I completely forgot about that until today.  I wish I would have thought of it sooner, I could have taken it to a shop, perhaps.  I'm afraid they'll want me to bring it to the yard and that's going to be a sucky day, I haven't even told them about it yet.  It isn't actually illegal, it's just a bunch of running lights for looks, not for legality.  But, if they're on there, most cops are going to say they have to work.  

It isn't going to fix itself.  I won't even bother telling them until tomorrow after I get back to the yard.  Then they can tell me what they want to do. Tomorrow will be the first day back at work after 3 days off, sitting at a shop for hours isn't on my list of things I will want to do. It won't even be visible excepting in the dark and that is only for maybe 40 minutes tomorrow morning.  After the sun comes up, I can turn the lights off and I won't attract attention.  I don't figure I'm "due" for another Trooper inspection for a while, only meaning that I just had one done recently, hopefully that means I won't get pulled in again any time soon.

Yeah, I have to get off of here. 

It's 9:15 pm and it's almost time to go to bed.