Saturday - evening

Finally made it to the finish line to get the rest of today off - well I worked today so I don't call it an off day, but  you get what I'm saying, and then tomorrow off. And then?  Right back at it on Monday. 

We are counting the days until vacation and I'm taking fully 8 days off of work. I reminded my manager about it yesterday when he was discussing all of this working going on - he said yes!  Ok, just wanted to be sure. I didn't tell him that I will be going on that vacation regardless. It was asked for, it was approved, get an OTR driver in to take my place while I'm gone, that is my suggestion and he understands he probably isn't going to get by with me gone and not having someone come in and take my place temporarily. 

Now. I have a huge vibration on that truck/trailer. A few days ago, I was looking at the tires, 2 of them side by side on the trailer tandems were dry rotted, to the point one of the caps appeared to be ready to come off. Trust me, I have examined this truck endlessly looking for the source of this problem.  

So, after unloading, I stopped at Southern Tire Mart in Hope, AR and they not only agreed with me but pointed out a large ballooned out portion on one of the tires I had identified as deficient. Dang, I didn't even see that!  So, both of those tires were replaced. I got out on the open highway and the vibration was gone!  

Until the next day, after loading and the vibration was right back. So, the tires helped but didn't fix the problem.  Sick of this nonsense and feeling like the truck is going to shake apart at any moment, I decided to get a cleanup mat used for spills at the plant and get on my knees and get under that truck and trailer and examine everything I could see. I am an ex-truck mechanic, I can figure out problems, I just don't feel like laying on my back in the dirt at my RV park.  At all.  In fact, I don't want to do any work on trucks anymore.  

But this situation? I spent half an hour looking all over everything while I had the resin (glue) flowing out of the trailer into their tank system and when I was ready to quit and give up?  The last thing I looked at?  A stabilizer arm on the trailer.  The rubber bushing had basically disintegrated. This must be it! I contacted my manager, sent him a pic. I sort of just said, well I don't know if this will cause the vibration (but pretty sure it was the culprit). He said "well you found the problem, that will absolutely cause the entire rig to shake like that".  

So, I was offered two unpalatable options, one far worse than the other.  I can go to the yard in El Dorado, pick up an empty there but there is a caveat.  The trailer needs and entry cleanout.  This is where a person gets in the tank and chips away at built up glue deposits. It's an at-least hours long ordeal.  You are talking the extra HOURS it takes just to get to El Dorado and then more HOURS spent at the washout.  

Option 2: Go to Haughton, drop the defunct trailer and pick up another one.  Although it does add hours to the trip, it is nothing like the first option, I immediately went with 2.  

But, situation went from bad to drastically worse. I went back to the delivery tube to check the air pressure.  Something caught the corner of my eye. Drops off fresh glue on the ground nowhere near the valve and outlet.  What? I got to examining it, it was dripping from the bottom of the trailer!  The damn trailer has a leak!  I contacted the manager with pics and he said ok, we're taking it to Brandon's to get it fixed. I have no idea who or where Brandon's is and I don't care, that headache will be off of me. 

The guys were out there removing the weeds next to the trench.  Then they laid out the pipe and then asked when I would have another day off. I thought about that for a while, this isn't working.  I replied that if they wanted to help do this project, it would just have to be after I get off of work and just go back to work - on the project.  They didn't care, sure!  Great. Next week I will see if I can get them out there in the 97 degree heat which almost always has a real feel of well into the 100's and get the sewer pipe laid, done and over with. Then find the water line, trench to the trench where the existing trench is and lay that in there. 

I figured this out. You CAN lay the sewer and water pipe in the same trench - but. You get the sewer line in there, test it and make sure it's leak free and it's flowing good. Once you ascertain that, you dump about 2 feet worth of dirt on top of it and then you lay your water pipe down.  Water pipe is under pressure, obviously, so you don't have to worry about fall.  After you get that whole system installed, then you dump more dirt on it and then lay your electrical. 

This enables you to use the same trench while separate sewer from water and electrical from both.  ]

But yes, I am hoping to start back on this next week and get at least 3 if not 4 lots going. I'm tired of turning people away - a thing that started up again recently.  

All 3 kids are here - or have been here anyway since last weekend. I'm referring to the oldest who was brought down to visit with us last weekend. The grandparents brought him and now they arrived a little while ago to take him back tomorrow.  It's not been too bad this time around, they are mostly behaving which is nice.  

With the park? I do have a plan here. Get at least 10 lots in - might take a while but I'll get it done - and then show proof the I am taking in X amount of money and try for that government back loan.  I need decent income to prove that I can pay whatever a 400k loan will cost me in monthly payments. I want the other 25 lots installed by the contractor and the rest for a pool and the rest after the pool for a building of some sort. I'd love to put in a fancy log cabin - but that isn't in the cards. Not now, maybe never.  Or just a nice building.  I'll probably have to opt for a metal building, much cheaper. I need 2 full sized bathrooms with showers for men and women. 

I need an office.  I need a gathering place and I want at least a C store to sell RV staples and whatever snacks and food I want to carry.  A deli would be nice but highly optional.  These are goals. I must get to work on the next goal - the 16 lot expansion - before I can think about the rest of that stuff.  I'm going to need a temporary bathroom and I'm thinking I can get those two to do that work in the old coach I have to transform it into a bathroom and another small laundry.  

That's a plan. It's not the final plan, it's just a plan that I have stuck in my head so I have a clear way forward and hopefully, out of trucking.  I do not want to rely on social security for retirement, the amount I would be getting is absurdly small compared to my monthly income right now.  I couldn't live off of that, or if I wanted to force it, I would be very poor.  Obviously I could sell off my assetts and not be poor, but in my mind, a thriving RV park netting 8k per month would be wonderful. 

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11:00 pm and time to go to bed.  Went out to eat with the grandparents and 2 out of 3 grandchildren.  The 3rd was engrossed in games - they haven't had access to them much in the last couple of days. Grandparents and I are somehow not only getting along now, but actually dining and chatting.  Amazing.  

 Tuesday - early

Woke up half an hour early - fasting will do that.  I got on the scale and the miracle of getting down into the teens occurred.  219 with it flickering to 218.  That's the only motivation I need to make it through today fasting and into tomorrow. Or not, lol.  I'm not hungry now but it'll hit sooner or later and then it's a battle to fight through it. Some chemical or whatever it is is released into your system to tell you you are hungry, I think the name of it is Ghehlin?  Yup, that's the name, had to look it up.  

Your system produces a lot more of it telling you you are hungry and it's impossible to ignore. The upside is that it doesn't go on forever, sooner or later it stops and then the hunger goes away - temporarily anyway. 

I'm not going to get long winded here, not a lot of time.  I just wanted to pause for a minute, do a little reflection and then get moving - I am half an hour early so no big deal.  But, now that I think of it, the earlier I'm out there, the better the traffic situation is.  

Anyway, the fat is disappearing. I didn't say I'm not fat, no, just that it's become quite noticeable.  Losing 22 pounds should be noticeable? If I make it to 30 pounds at whatever point, I am going to take a pic and compare the two. I have a pic at the peak of 241.  I was really shocked when I got on that scale and saw that, I hadn't weighed myself in a long, long time.  It's a large part of what got me moving back onto whatever diet works.

The only one that has worked for me is keto.  I don't take diet pills and I won't.  I don't think they are healthy for you and I'm sure at some point they'll find that it has some sort of serious potential side effects - you know, heart attacks, strokes, death? Those types of thing that keep me away from such things.  You can lose weight without taking pills. I get that some people SHOULD take those pill. If you're 400 pounds you are already a ticking time bomb for some or many serious medical issues and/or episodes, I'd be taking whatever available to dump the weight. 

I have an old friend that's doing that. I think he's dumped 150 plus pounds? He looks completely different than he used to.  He's also gotten active, something I am doing myself.  Pushups, bike riding when I remember to and if the weather permits.  The ladies trying to get me to go to the gym but I"m not there yet.  I was going to, I just have a stigma about gyms and I"m not even sure why. I went to them for decades before - divorce is what really changed things.

Anyway, I need to get offa here and get moving.

G'day

 Monday - night

Day 1 of the 3 day fast is over.  It's been over 24 hours since I last ate. Ketosis coming back in much stronger now, one of the reasons to fast again.  But also to maybe dump some more weight and get it down into the 215-219 area.  I'm just following the doc's plan online.  Low carb, stay in ketosis, do a 3 day fast after the 5 day version every 9 days.  If I don't make it the full 3 days, I'm not concerned.  Keto strips are showing ketones so that's good enough. 

I will try to make it through tomorrow tho.  I'm not a real big fan of fasting, probably not too many people are, but I am a fan of the benefits and the results of it.  But when they are cooking dinner and you haven't eaten all day, the smell is almost tormenting lol. 

Today was another bs day in the trucking world.  Upon arrival at the washout, there was another of our trucks there getting cleaned out. I was listed as first load. I waste no time anymore, I text the main dispatch number and the manager calls me right back. 

Goes through and entire spiel about how he's just coming back to work today and found out at 6:30 am all the nonsense going on. Apologizes profusely - we are apparently behind 3 truckloads right now and the plant is getting upset.  So, this other driver ahead of me actually showed up there yesterday afternoon to get the entry style cleanout. It's where they physically go into the tank and chip the stuff off the walls of the trailer.  

The problem is we constantly have new drivers, they are not trained on our specific run and they do things wrong. Such as not putting some water back into the tank after they are finished emptying it.  If you don't, the glue can get set up in the valve at the bottom and you are screwed. Good luck with that.  So, I had to move out of this driver's way when they were done and wanted to do a final washout at the normal station and then I had to wait for him to load at the plant. About 1 hour and 45 minutes.  

And, the plant is short handed - as always so one of the control room operators was out there loading me.  They had no choice, 3 of our trucks coming in plus a slew of other trucks hauling other materials, all hands were on deck. 

Now? I have a tire problem on one of the tires on the trailer and I'm going to have to try go get it replaced tomorrow above and beyond delivering the product.  That will likely cost me hours of time sitting at a tire shop. Mind you, this is my "new" trailer, they took the other one away for testing but once it was put back into service? No longer mine.  It was the only trailer in this portion of the fleet that has air ride suspension on it.  Air bags in other words.

Oh well. I'm tired and going to bed. 

Happy Father's Day!

 Sunday - morning

Almost time to go to church, just published a post I made several days ago that I didn't finish.  

I've been lax about posting - I start writing a blog entry and then I get distracted with things and I forget about. A lot of unfinished drafts in there! 

Anyway, I am finally seeing results from keto dieting. It's taken a while. I'm also finally starting to lose the weight again. After I lost the initial 20 pounds, I went back up 6 pounds. This was expected for some of that weight loss would have been water weight. But I didn't let that stop me or get me dismayed about not seeing the results, not at all.  It's the way keto works and you just have to keep going on it.

So this morning, back down to 222, which is 19 pounds down from where I started this thing.  And tomorrow, I am "supposed" to go on another 3 day fast. All I can say is that I'm going to try, but if I don't make it all 3 days, I'm good. It will get me down a few more pounds and hopefully in the teens somewhere.  My goal is to try and get near 200 before vacation, I doubt that's going to happen but I at least am going to try.

I have avoided sometimes intense cravings for sugar anything. I am not even eating the "keto friendly" treats for me-thinks that those treats are not as keto friendly as they say they are.  It's just a hindrance to any gains and could throw me out of ketosis to be frank about it.  

You know, I was at Super 1 - a regional grocery chain which is owned by Brookshires - I think that's also regional - and I was going to get a baked chicken for dinner. You know, those already-cooked ones on a heated display case? You think, how much carbs can be in that? THIS IS WHERE I FAILED LAST TIME BUT DIDN'T KNOW IT!

I picked one up to put it in my basket, thinking nothing of the carbs, but I looked anyway. Why would there be carbs in a baked chicken?  I was absolutely shocked when I saw the label saying 78 grams of carbs!  Wow!  WHAT?!!!  I looked at the ingredient label: SUGAR added.  

I was kind of upset about that. Why add sugar to a whole baked chicken? I looked it up: They do that so it stays moist and tender longer while under the heat lamps waiting for someone to take it home with them.  This is why I failed keto last time! Hidden carbs!  I decided I would no longer buy anything like that or anything at all at this point without checking every label unless it's something I bought previously and already know the carb count. 

For strict keto? .... you're trying to stay under 20 carbs per day.  This keeps you in ketosis. I am doing good about not eating too much fat intake as well. A little, yes, but nothing like I was doing with previous keto attempts.  Really just trying to get my mind out of the sugars, potatoes, pastas and not even try to replace them.  Just eat what is pure keto and forget about the rest. There IS as case to be made for net carbs, tho and that's backed by scientific research so I do do that fairly often. 

Now that I know why I failed keto last time it makes me feel better about doing it now. To me it's unthinkable to be adding sugar like that, they should at least put on a  label. This isn't canned, it's not in the freezer or cooler aisles, it's a baked chicken. You just don't think: Oh yes, they add sugar to this!

Okay. Well, off to church and I'm going to publish one now even tho I'm not finished, for I know today is going to be crazy.  Our 2-1/2 week vacation from the kids is over. They are heading back with the grandparents today, they probably already on the road.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

 Thursday..? I think lol evening

Not a lot going on.  Same old endless trucking routine, a man really wanting to help me out with the expansion - for pay of course but he's worth it over the trash people I've had who will sit around looking at their damn phones every time I turn my head away from them. Much more if I leave, come back and see them just sitting there, head in phone, unaware that I"m sitting there watching their stupid @$$es and - you can leave now.  

It's why I haven't "hired" anyone in a long time save a few to help mow.  

The plan is to get him and his helper out there to get all of the giant weeds off the sides of the ditch. I can't get them with the machine, I got everything else. I'm going to get some more paint and repaint the lines for where the sewer, water and pedestal goes and we're going to get with it.  At least get the sewer stuff done on round one. Then move on  to water, round 2.  Round 3 is installing pedestals and round 4 is getting the wiring from the meter to the lots.  

After that it's really my show.  I'll have to blade a new driveway and lots and get the gravel delivered, spread out and ready for people. 

I am now turning people away and I don't like that feeling, not at all. Certainly not when I'm ..........umm. maybe 1/3rd of the way through getting lots installed.  A new, unused septic system, the power company approval, trenching dug, a portion of the sewer pipe installed and most of the pipe I need to finish it.  

 Saturday - mid afternoon

A little more than halfway done with my 3 days off. Feels good to get out of bed when i want to and have nothing on my plate.  It also feels good to be eating again lol.  9 days from yesterday, I will be doing another 3 day fast. One of  the most respected fasting experts in the industry - I don't know his name it's Indian or Pakistan (but speaks perfect English) - says that he has his clients (for weight loss purposes) do 16/8 intermittent fasting and 3 day fasts every 9 days. Sounds about right.

It guarantees you staying in ketosis and that 3 days you are going to dump even more pounds.  I ate a nice keto pork plate for lunch - we have a lot of pork - consisting of spicy ground pork, cabbage, ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce and I added a few of my owns spiced plus a small tube of goat cheese. It was going to go bad (the recipe didn't call for it) and I paid like 7 for it, so yeah.  

It was soooo delicious.  I mean,, really good.  The goat cheese made all the difference and I added that comment on the web page I got the recipe off of. I've had to cut back on cheeses but I still have some here and there. That's kind of what makes keto so hard if you are cutting out cheese.  It's a big part of the diet in most groups and recipes.  But, who cares, I'm looking for recipes without the cheese or make recipes that have the cheese in it - but leave the cheese out if it looks like it will be tasty without it.

AI has been a big time friend in finding recipes. I never knew how much AI can dig into just about any subject. You have to fact check some of it, sometimes it gets it wrong but it used to be it mostly always got everything wrong.  

I was going to go do the bush hogging today, cancel. I don't feel like doing anything. I have done laundry, folded socks and put clothes away, made myself lunch but other than that? Nothing.  Well, ok, I also ordered a new mic for my pc, the current one was messing up and people were telling me they can't understand what I'm saying with one person saying I sound like an alien.  Okkkkkaaaaayyyy.  I already have the mic via walmart delivery,, free delivery btw.  Well, you have to tip the driver but no big deal.  

I didn't want to go to walmart or anywhere else for that matter for today? I have the runs.  It's so wonderful! NOT.  I'm close to the bathroom and have made several visits.  Oh well, some things happen when you fast, sometimes this is the aftermath when you start eating again. I don't feel particularly bad, just when you gotta go? It's right now. 

 Friday - noonish

I didn't sleep well last night, something about this fasting keeping me awake.  I didn't get out of bed until being IN bed for 10 hours, but some of that was due to the fact that I had to get up early every single day for 8 days in a row.  I wanted a sleep in day and I got one, tomorrow will be the same as will Sunday.

I did eventually get over to the park and get the mowing all done.  Amazing how much ground that Bad Boy mower can do in a short period of time. It looks so nice when it's nicely mowed and I really need to get to doing that on a more frequent basis.  

I got a reprieve from the weather as well.  Overcast and the temp in the low 80's, far better than the 106 real feel it's been previous days.  

As far as fasting goes, I did not quit this morning as I thought I would have to.  I was way too hungry last night and I just thought tomorrow morning would be the end of it.  Well, I've made it 15-1/2 hours into the 5th day and I can't say I'm bright and energetic1 but I can manage.  

I'm not going to go into 6 days so I will probably drink some of the bone broth around 3 - 6 hours short of 5 full days - and then eat something an hour later.  Eggs and avocados. So just 2-1/2 more hours and I will quit.  I wanted to get as much of the cell restructuring as possible and some of that stem cell release upon refeeding.  Ideally, I would keep fasting another 5-7 days, I just can't do it and work at the same time.  

Unless it rains tomorrow, I'm going to go back over and finish everything else up with the tractor and the bush hog attachment and then probably will go ahead and hook up the blade and do some work on the driveway. The driveway is a never ending issue, it will be unless I ever get asphalt laid. At 20k, that isn't going to happen anytime soon, but I might have the entrance fixed with an asphalt entrance, it keeps getting messed up and I'd like to get it squared away.   

Yup, hunger is starting to creep back in, pretty much solid on the 3 pm thing. 4 and 3/4 days is enough.  

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I stopped at 4 and 2/3rd's days into it.  I couldn't deal with it anymore, drank a few cups of bone broth.  Maybe an hour and half later, had some egg white mix mixed with spinach and a couple eggs cooked into it.

After that, it was salmon, broccoli and salad.  

I figured out the total tab for that: 15 net carbs and less than 900 calories.  Well, I give AI credit for figuring out the calories.  My weight will go back up after eating, to be expected, but I"m fully in ketosis and intend on staying that way for a while. Or quite a while.  I want to lose this gut and badly.  It is unsightly and that much fat isn't good for anyone.  

But...my but shrank and my waistline as well. I can fit into my pants again and no longer worried about going to buy the next size up .... unnnnless......keto doesn't work? I can't imagine it not working, I am going to be keeping track of both carbs and calories every day.  A good day in my mind is less than 1,000 calores.

And with that? It's actually quite late, I'm going to bed. 

 Thursday - evening

Today didn't start out badly, I had something going on in my gut area, not sure what that was all about but otherwise I wasn't hungry or too fatigued. Got up to Gurdon and unloaded that truck in 45 minutes, which is great.  Got back and got hit hard with extreme hunger. Like an unreal amount of hunger.  Crazy stuff. It slowly went away, but the fatigue that came after that was also amazing.  

I'm not sure what possessed me to take the quarters to the bank and then go get a haircut, but it wasn't the greatest idea, especially sitting in the barber shop chair.  Just felt so hungry and tired.  Ok, this is almost over. I am pretty sure I won't make it until 9:00 pm tomorrow night, I'm just trying to make it til tomorrow morning. Get up, drink some of that wonderful bone broth, wait an hour and have some eggs and avocadoes.  

Or whatever.  

I just ordered a bunch of keto stuff to be delivered from walmart. No way am I going to that store feeling like this, I am pretty much stuck here the rest of the night.  It's that or eat.  I want the 12 or more hours of fasting before I break it. I'll be in day 5 and right now, that's good enough for me.  

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Ugh. 4 full days completed.  Almost 10 pm, I think I'm gonna call it quits for the day, go to bed and then in the morning, very likely get up and drink a few cups of wonderful bone broth. I don't see myself going the full 5 days, but I can probably make it 4-1/2. The thing is, I don't want to be out there too late in the morning trying to cut grass in the heat that has his this region.  

I'd have to wait until 9:00 am to get to 4-1/2 days. I kind of want to get at least that far for the cellular fixing that goes on inside.  5 full days is better, but whatever.