Thursday - morning

I slept the best sleep last night that I have had in quite a while. 9 solid hours. I was soooo tired when I went to bed last night I was really hoping to get some good z's in.  This is what helps you get over sickness more than anything, good quality sleep. 

It was 8 am before I finally said enough, it's time to get out of bed, but perhaps I should have slept  longer? It's an hour and a half later and I still feel like I could go right back to sleep and stay that way a couple more hours.  I might just do that.  I'd rather get better than "go do things".

The kids last day of school is today and they are getting early release. Mom says they should be getting home by around 12:45.  About 3 hours earlier than normal. I'm really not ready to have kids around like that, it can get old quickly. They still aren't allowed to play their games and even if they were allowed, dad has them with him in his truck.  He's not supposed to be home until some time late next month. 

However, the kids will be going to church camp and after that, grandma is coming for them to stay with her and grandpa for a week. The fact of that matter is is that they would be going to grandma's sooner but the youngest has a doctor's appointment that can't be missed. Won't go into those details, but he's having problems and not of the illness/sickness variety.

That tractor is sitting there waiting for me to come get it. I simply haven't had the energy for it and before I got sick, I didn't have time. I would have to go get the trailer then drag extremely heavy ramps out of the back yard and hope they actually work for the trailer I have and then go to the outlet, do whatever they want me to do there, load it up, chain it down, take it back to the park and offload it.  

It isn't that much work, or is it?  I really don't know how I feel until I try to start moving  - but - I didn't wake up coughing and this yucky feeling in my lungs so there is definitive improvement    

Anyway, the vacation in July is paid for, basically. I paid my room plus a room in New Orleans when we're heading there - no clue, the ladies want to see stuff there before we get to Gulf Shores - and just gas and food money. 

Well, I'd write more but I have decided to get out into the real world for a bit and see how I feel.  It's Saturday I'm slated to go back to work, so I have all of today and tomorrow to get to feeling well enough for that level of activity.  

  Tuesday - morning

I'm sorry the company is having driver issues. People who do not want to work probably shouldn't be - working.  Go live off the government I guess.  Trucks breaking down is not my responsibility either. They have an old fleet, this is expected. Having a lot of trucks break down at the same time? What do they expect? And they are too cheap to rent tractors while the trucks are in the shop. So, they put the contracts in jeopardy of losing them by not getting product to its intended destination on time.

Late shows are a big thing when you are hauling liquids that will shut down an entire plant if they run out.  

And if I get sick once in a while? It's been quite a while since I was last sick, some time last year.  It is what it is.  I'm not going to work. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I truly am, but I feel like hell and have stayed in bed the entirety of yesterday excepting going to the bathroom and a couple visits to the kitchen and today I did until 8 am.  The 11 year is graduating elementary school. Yes, it's a thing nowadays to graduate elementary and middle school. Older generations will remember the only graduations were from high school.

Times have changed. So we went, the boy was given a certificate and a couple of awards and that was that. I am now back home and doing absolutely nothing.  How do you get better if you keep working or moving around too much? Well, it takes a lot longer.  You will likely, eventually get better but why drag it out? And feeling like this? No thank you. 

Oh I have plenty of things I could be doing, beyond work.  I kind of feel bad for the manager, this company puts him into impossible situations.  The driver quitting didn't help anything tho it certainly didn't bother me that that particular individual is now gone.  There is another driver who only does 2 runs per week, he could be doing 3 when times are demanding it?  I rarely ever  tell my manager no when he's asking for a favor - which is usually no small thing. A complete alteration to my plans, I don't like having to cut plans short because they want me to either drop what I am doing or continue to keep working when I was scheduled off.

I have nothing right now beyond this. Bed is calling my name. 

 Monday - morning late

Well when you get sick, you tend to sleep well enough anyway.  

Definitely not feeling well and have done nothing today besides lay in bed. 

It was no shock to me that work called - I had the ringer off and on purpose - and left a message stating: "We had you working today".  Uh, no and no.  You did not have me working today, I checked the tablet several times.  There was nothing put in there for Monday on Friday, which is when they would normally put it in there and there was nothing put in it Saturday or yesterday. 

As it stands, I barely made it through yesterday work-wise. I was going to go get the tractor today but I'm doubtful. Someone stole my tie down chains - they are expensive now a days - and so I would have to go spend $200 on those and binders before even considering going to get the tractor.  It's not that far, maybe 4 or 5 miles, I just don't have any energy.

Anyway, I was in no mood to talk to them so I waited an hour or longer before calling them back.  The manager clarified after I flatly stated there is nothing in the tablet for work for today that he knew it hadn't been put in there but they were supposed to put it in there yesterday.

No, I thought, they are supposed to put it in there Friday.  Regardless, I wasn't going to work today I don't care what the threats or urgency is.  I doubt he would threaten me but other trucking companies would try and I would quit right then and there. I will not be treated like some sort of machine or slave that is forced to do a company's bidding when they are the ones that screwed it up in the first place. 

If you can't tell, I'm in a mood. That phone message put me in that mood I am trying to claw back out of it.  I can tell ya my immediate thoughts were quitting, just say fine, come get your truck.  I have knee jerk reactions sometimes to stuff like this when it comes to trucking simply because of the way I have been treated in the past.  I don't need their job as much as they need me to drive their truck.  Yes, I need a job but they are more needy. Especially this company with junky equipment and low pay - tho I got out of the low pay bracket pretty quickly. 

Whatever was going through my mind, however, is not what came out of my mouth. I don't really want to quit or be fired and it really wasn't going to go there at all, I'm just not feeling well and a bit grumpy. I stay away from people when I get sick because - I get cranky. I know I get cranky so I just figure it's best to lay low until I get better again.  Getting phone calls from your employer when you shouldn't be getting phone calls from your employer mixed with sickness is a toxic combination, at least for me. 

He had dumped it on another driver who, admittedly, has been working his @$$ off. He is also 30 years younger than me and has lots more energy than I do. I remember the days in my 50's saying I could outwork 20 year olds, that isn't likely true anymore and I don't care that it's not true, it's just a part of growing older that I have accepted and I keep the pace that I can keep and I'm fine with it.  

However...he did not dump the entire load on the other driver, he wanted me to do the other half of the run tomorrow.  I said that isn't going to happen if I don't start feeling better and quickly, I am pretty weak right now.  It is highly likely he's going to have to figure something else out. I hate to put him in a bind but this is a legitimate reason unlike almost all of the other drivers who regularly bow out of work via lame @$$ excuses.  He tolerates them because he doesn't have much of a choice. This company doesn't have people breaking down the doors trying to get in with it for employment....

.......and when they do find people, they either can't do the job correctly or they don't last. I KNEW that driver that kept skipping in front of me until I had to get really pissy about it and put my foot down wasn't going to last. I figured 6 months and I was right on the nose. He found a "better" job somewhere else.  There are a lot of "better" companies that simply won't tolerate the crap he was doing at this company, good luck with that. 

Enough ranting. I have no ambitions to do anything today. I just made myself some breakfast and that's the end of the line for me.  

G'day

 Sunday - afternoon

What I didn't want to do this morning, what I abhorred doing this morning? Getting up at 5:00 am.  There was nothing in me to force me out of bed but sheer willpower to get the day rolling and get it over with.  I was still incredibly fatigued from the previous night' lack of sleep. OH yes, I slept well this time but it wasn't enough.  At least, until now. I feel fine now.

Anyway, I get up to the plant in Gurdon, drive down the driveway that goes into the plant where the scales are and what do I find? The gates are closed and locked! 

First off, I have newer seen those gates being used before regardless of the day of the week it is. Second, there is no way to flip a Uey there. Third? Well I called them.  What is with the locked gates?  Well the plant is under lockdown, you'll have to go around to the main gate (there are 4 gates).  

Umm, I can't turn around here, I'm going to have to back down this driveway (about 800 feet) and then back into the highway. There isn't much visibility for that. Umm I can't help you with that! WTH

I backed down that driveway - not a big deal - but backing blindly into a 2 lane highway with lots of traffic? Yes, a big deal.  I did it without running into anyone and went all the way around to the other side of that gate where the scales are. 

So what's the big deal here? The security guard said that someone had been fired and had called in death threats and threatening to shoot up the place.  Gee, that's just what I want to be in the middle of on a Sunday morning....

And what is with people going into rages like that?  Let's just kill people because - excuses?  Like, your life must truly suck to be threatening to act out like that.  Get help. Better yet, get Jesus!  Or repent and ask Him for forgiveness more like it. 

I forced myself to drive all the way back without stopping. I wanted to stop and take a nap, NOOO. Do that at home! Get this junk over with now!  So I did. Got home, went to Applebee's - the kids were insisting and I didn't mind that much since I don't have anything else pressing today - and now safely home and sitting at my bedroom desk.  

Although a little late, I intend on taking my Sunday afternoon nap after writing this, in fact, I can finish this later...

______________________

Yeah - no. Not feeling it at all. My voice is down an octave, my lungs are congested and I have a slight sore throat.  Headache, flu symptoms, crud.  Going to bed.  

 Saturday - evening

I am so tired.  I drove around 2,000 miles in the last 4 days including today.  I don't normally have to drive that much and it's wearing on me.  Long days that I don't want, give that to someone else that needs the money more than I do.  Oh, well, a driver quit so there is that.  I hate working weekends but at least - I think anyway - I have Monday off.  They haven't exactly put anything in the tablet for after this run that I am finishing up tomorrow.  

The back yard is for all intents and purposes, clean.  An entire dumpster worth of junk hauled out of here plus 2 trailers full of metal to the recycle place and I gave those people that old ATV that hasn't worked in years. They wanted it, I gave it to them.  I am not spending the money or time it would take to get it running.  Not worth it to me.  I still have the other ATV over at the park and it ran the last time anyone tried to use it, but that was a while back. I don't want to ride that thing at the present time either.  

I have also burned a lot of wood. There is still some minor cleanup to do, but the majority of it is done and over with, the money spent and well worth it, the place is clean and it feels amazing.  Just happy to have that hell hole looking place turned back into something that people can actually enjoy.  We are considering an above ground pool.  

The guy that helped me is so good I have had him doing some work over at the park.  Mowing and weed eating.  I won't have him do too much, he's a bit on the pricier side, but there was stuff I haven't gotten to and wanted to get it cleaned up nicely. I'm trying to get 3 lots filled up and the nicer it looks, the better. 

The neighbors over there put up that gaudy looking fence the entire stretch of the property and after I wrote to the owners that they can either put that fence ON the property line or face a lawsuit, they fixed it. Mostly.  Good enough now. I found it amazingly humorous that they then went and mowed the grass but, of course, left the grass on what is now "my" side unmowed.  He used to mow it, but then again, he thought that property was his.

He also ran the fence line right over the top of their propane tank, lol.  I knew that thing was on my property but as I said before, I never said anything to them about that or anything else for that matter.  They forced this issue by ripping down my driveway at ridiculous speeds on that 4 wheeler and tearing it up while they're doing it. I have to draw the line somewhere. 

___________

Many hours later, I'm too tired to write any more of anything. It's pretty early as far as bedtime goes but I think I'm going to crawl into the sack and call it a day.  

 Friday - night

No time for a lengthy post, time to go to bed.  3 straight days of driving hard that I will just have to get into next post, probably tomorrow.  A few things going on, most notably finally finding a person who will actually work for the money he is paid. I need help with the expansion and I'm 90% sure this is the person that will help me get it done. 

He's a very hard worker, he earns his money.  If he says he's going to do something, he does it.  It started at our house, the queen of the house found him somewhere, probably on a Facebook ad - we have almost completely cleaned out the backyard. I got a wild hair and decided to rent a large dumpster, she found this dude a while back to cut lawns and the rest is history.  Out back yard is actually pretty nice now. 

More to be done but it's nothing like the jungle it was. 

I can tell ya that after I got done delivering yesterday and asked the manager about getting my trailer back from the place in Haughton to restart my normal runs?  Yea, that didn't happen.

"I have a big favor to ask of you".  I know when he says that that whatever it is, I'm not going to like it nor will I want to do it.  The driver that kept walking all over me was fired.  He needed me to drive clear to the loading plant in Arkansas to load that day - yesterday - after already driving to Dallas and planning on going and getting my trailer in Haughton and getting life back to normal. 

Yeah, no.  I ended up driving the 5-1/2 hours up there and back to El Dorado where I spent the night in a Hampton hotel - I refused to sleep in the truck for the AC doesn't work and frankly, it's a pile of junk.  I don't want to sleep in it.

I woke up this morning and left there at 6 am to drive the 5 plus hours back to Ennis, offload and then back to my Park.  

There is a lot more, but I'm exhausted after 3 days of OTR style driving mega miles. You know I don't like driving anymore and this has been a real stretch for me.  Totally nothing I wanted to do.

 Tuesday - afternoon

It's 156 miles to Medieval Times in Dallas.  Parents/guardians/whoever have to drive themselves if they want to be with their kids for there isn't room on the buses and they don't allow it anyway unless you are going to be a chaperone - which I definitely don't want to be.  I arrived there before everyone, literally. The parking lot was empty, the only thing there was a Sheriff deputy hanging out in the rear apparently taking a break, or who knows what.

I backed into the most convenient spot for exiting, since I knew it would be a mad house of people all trying to leave at once and then pulled out my game.  I played that for a while and then a tour bus pulled in. And another school bus, and another, and another - you get the picture. I got out once, realized they weren't letting anyone in yet, so I hopped back into my vehicle.

It was almost an hour waiting there before the doors opened and students started filing into the place.  I found the child in question and went into the building.  I had to go to the bathroom, by the time I got back, they were all beyond the people standing there taking tickets, I assumed they had given mine since they had them and just bypassed it. 

I assumed wrong.  I was confronted by one of the teachers who asked if I had a ticket? No, thought you had them.  No and you aren't on our list.  She showed me a spread sheet with student name's and then a box next to each with how many parents are coming,, meaning they had purchased tickets for them. My kid didn't have any numbers in it.  Well, you'll have to go back to the front and buy a ticket and then I don't know where they're going to put you.

Huh.  I started texting the mom.  What is going on here? I was standing in a small line by then and listening to the manager telling a couple that there were no seats left for them. But, she did some checking and found one seat for them.  I just drove 156 miles for nothing? I thought and told the mom.  She said she didn't know what was going on but that there wasn't any form for parents that had been given and she never saw anything that said to indicate how many adults were going.  I believe her, of course, I would suspect the child didn't bring home one of the forms.

I am finally next in line, explain the situation. She said, well, we have a seat you can buy.  So, I shelled out the $36 and then found out the seat is in the green section, not the red section where these kids would be sitting.  The green section is on the other side of the arena.  I am not sitting there alone, next to a bunch of kids I don't know and aren't from the same school district much less the same school, that would have been uncomfortable.  At best.  

The teachers had nothing to say to me after that.  When they finally opened the doors to the arena, I just waited until everyone - and I means hundreds of people - filed in and found their seats.  Then I went in and saw the red section, completely filled up excepting 5 or 6 seats that were empty, but those were for a school that hadn't showed up yet. Stragglers. 

The manager was a real sweet person and I wasn't starting trouble with her, but I did ask for my money back.   I came to be with the kid, not to sit alone in some seats with a bunch of strangers.  I said yea, I drove 160 miles to get here but it's obvious there isn't anything available could I please get my money back?  She gasped at having to drive so far and find this out. She asked for the last 4 digits of the card, not many people had to buy seats and so she just needed that to locate the payment later on and refund it.  

I gave her the number, she apologized but I said no, it's not your fault, you had nothing to do with this.  I bid the kid a goodbye who couldn't understand why I was leaving even tho I explained it to him multiple times in different ways. I was walking out the door when the manager came running  up to me and pointed out some seats in what I would call the nose bleed section, there are 4 seats up there we can put you and the kid in if you like.  Really?  I asked the kid, he said yes!  

Turns out those were great seats.  We were directly next to the podium/porch where the King and Queen come out throughout the show and make appearances and say a bunch of stuff, the queen kept looking over at us.  We had perfect view of the arena,  the food was good and the boy was really into what was going on with the horses on the arena floor.  

So, a near disaster made good, I thanked the manager profusely and will be leaving a good review with all of that above in there.  She deserves a glowing report for going out of her way to find a spot for us. 

You know, Dallas is a bit of a drive but at 80 mph it isn't really that bad. Dallas itself? Was as horrible driving through as I remembered. 35 minutes to drive 7 miles lol.  I don't miss big cities, at all, but they are nice to visit once in a while for things they have there that you won't find out in the boonies.  However, it cost me an entire tank of gas to drive there and back today and at current gas prices, that wasn't cheap.

I'm not hurting for money by any stretch of the imagination but that doesn't mean I want to waste it either.   If I were making frequent trips over there i would definitely be thinking about  trading the SUV in for an economy car.  My personal vehicle travels aren't more than 10 miles per day lol.  The semi a different story.

And tomorrow, is going to be a very long day as it marks the end of the 5 days off and back to the grind. It's another Ennis run.  It's also the second load. I don't have to get up super early but I won't be back early at all. Thursday, I have to be in Ennis by 8 am so that won't be a late day albeit I'm not saying it will be a short one.  Just starting a lot earlier.  

The tractor is basically mine, I just need to go pick it up. I told them I'd probably be getting it Friday, tho if I feel good enough after work on Thursday I'll get it then.  I definitely didn't want to today and no time tomorrow.  

I don't know what else.  Thinking about mom.  I wonder if it's going to be too late to visit her for Thanksgiving.  I doubt she was exaggerating about her "health is going down", she doesn't say stuff like that, not that pointed anyway. Thanksgiving is 6 months off, I am likely going to plan a second trip this summer. I have a vacation set with the group for july but I feel like I need to at least go spend a few days with her?  Can it wait?  I dunno, I don't have a crystal ball.                                      

Daily and numerous flights going to AZ out of DFW.  If it comes to that, I can get there pretty fast. 

Must be why she wrote out a new will.  I haven't even read it yet.  I'm of the mindset that I would rather not have to have the use of it any time soon. Beyond that, she is totally fair in giving equally to all 3 of us siblings, my oldest brother is the executor of estate and I believe he will go about doing it as mom wants it to be done. My middle brother? I wouldn't trust him at all.

Life is short and precious.  I was reading a news story a 29 year old Grizzlies basketball player today who passed away.  People are dying all over the place at all ages, not just old people.  They wrote a glowing report about that guy but then I found that they are investigating it as a possible OD.  Drugs seem to jack with sports players a lot who somehow find themselves in a bad situation getting addicted to heavy duty drugs that will kill you if you take too much of it.  

I dunno.  Well, whatever. The youngest is back from the Medeival Times - they don't allow them to go home with parents for whatever reason.  I could have just brought him straight home, but, mom just got a text saying he's at the school and ready to be picked up.  

I think I'll end this one here.