Home Sweet Home.
Finally.
I couldn't resist talking to other drivers tho once I got to the yard.

An update was necessary.

Drivers sitting there for days now, doing nothing.

The plant shutdown ended up in catastrophe. They replaced a tank and then couldn't get the operation up and running again. Drivers sitting around doing nothing.

This is the reason I said I was glad that I had to sit around doing nothing and getting paid for it.  From what I"m seeing, I'll be off for days and days.  In fact, it would be a good time to fly somewhere. You know? I would love to go play some blackjack in Las Vegas. 

Or drive up to the mountains somewhere. 

Or go camping with the dogs (I have zero camping equipment but I could make do).

Something? 

Sit around the house?

I intend on smoking some meat tomorrow tho. I'm not going anywhere tomorrow, I just don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon and I am guessing it's a good time to take advantage of it. I've been through this with this company before and have wasted opportunities to travel because I didn't know. 

The dogs and I had a grand reunion.  Like meeting new doggies lol.  Except they know me and going crazy.  Addler is currently crashed out in my bed.  That is not HIS bed, haha.

I'm keeping this one short. I'm glad to be home.  I'll make a fire in the pit tomorrow, get some smoking wood from Walmart if they have any,  smoke some ribs,  do some cleaning outside. It's raining now and likely continue through the weekend as far as I can tell, but I can get some stuff done. 

Well whatever happens. I''m home. 

I've kind of numbed my mind to resolve that I am down here now, wait it out and I will go home when I  - can go home.  I've been in Lufkin for 7 days now.  It's a hefty chunk of change, I mean, at least for me, serious money.  Including the mileage for this trip, I'm well over 4 grand.  For some reason, I have confidence I"m finally getting out of here today, whereas yesterday I didn't really feel that and yes, that feeling was before I ever called the shop.  I'll be giving them a call in  a couple of hours, if they have the part, then definitely going home. It's only a few hours to finish the job once they get it. 

Honestly, if I had had transportation, I could have driven over to Shreveport and gotten a seal and been back down in much less time than this has all taken.  See, this is why I hated that trip up to PA last year during that blizzard.  I got homesick after about 6 days and thought mostly of going home. Tho that was exacerbated by very extreme, cold weather with a white out, a blizzard, hazardous driving conditions, an old pile of junk truck that wasn't working properly and a trailer that wasn't holding a vacuum seal, thus forcing me to have to dump vapors all the time.  If they wanted to send me up there again, it would be with the stipulation that I drive my truck up there.  This idea of driving junk equipment is for the birds.  I don't consider my truck that great - mileage and constant issues, but it's far better than that piece of shit they had waiting for me when I got up there.

Anyway, tonight/tomorrow is payday.  I would be dreading this one, but I know it's going to suck so I have already dealt with that in my mind.  That's the 12 days off paycheck, with 40 hours of vacation time added to it and one run.  It's not going to amount to much.  If it's a thousand dollars I'll be surprised.  They don't pay near as much for hourly wage for vacation hours as they do for either detention or breakdown pay.  That is perplexing. 

And, the weather has significantly changed here.  It was beautiful, clear skies with the sun shining almost the entire time I've been down here, now it's overcast with a 40% chance of rain today and 100% chance of rain tomorrow. My town I live in has similar forecast since it's less than 100 miles away - and - because all of this storm stuff always comes in through Houston and then head north northeast.  Right over Lufkin, right over our houses. 

Oh, I guess I haven't reported on the other house.  The lady that moved in last month already left.  She was offered a room in a house of a friend only a few miles from her work over there for $200 per months.  Let's less than half what she was paying at our place and a lot less driving.  I just shrugged my shoulders on that one. I always ask for a couple of weeks advance notice to move, I never get it.  Anyway, December is historically - from my experiences anyway - the worst month to try and rent out a room.  You are very lucky to get anyone that actually has a job and money to pay for the room to come along and take it.  And so is the situation now.  She's been out a week and it's been slim pickings. 

One lady replied to my ad yesterday something like "I don't have any money but I got a job, I'm struggling, can you work with me?". I would love to, but I have bills to pay. I've had these types of people before.  Nothing good ever comes from it.  And I do mean nothing. In fact, in some cases, it goes well over to the other side of, this-person-is-a-nightmare-tenant case that you have to move mountains to get them out of the house.  But another one contacted me yesterday and she has a job.  Another day sleeper with night job type of thing.  Which only works if that person is a heavy sleeper.  And of course the person must either like or be able to tolerate dogs.  The whole purpose of my involvement in that house is to have a place to take my doggies to a person that loves them as much as I do to watch after them.  I mean, how much would it have cost me to put them in a kennel for 8 days? I've been out on this trip since 3 am last thursday,  that's getting close to 8 full days. 

A small fortune, I can guarantee you that.  That's the reason I don't mind eating even a few hundred per month on that house, but right now? It's way too high. With only 2 renters, it only covers the house rent.  The rest of the bills are on me.  Rene has very hard time understanding financial things, she just can't comprehend why I will take anyone that comes along that seems reasonably normal to move in there even for a short period of time.  It's that or I"m shelling out over $400 per month to make up for the gap. After $200, I'm getting antsy.  I feel like I'm paying more than I need to. The option to leave them at home is there, but I would really hate to dump the responsibility for 2, large, attention loving dogs onto them considering they have kids that need mommy and daddy's attention. 

She loves animals tho.  And - today marks the 8th day that I haven't been on a scale and I feel lost lol.  I have no idea if I've gained, lost or stayed at the same weight.  I very much disagree with people that say you should only weigh yourself once a month or once a week. You really have NO idea about your weight and if what you are doing is working or not.

Well, it's 9:20 am, I'll be calling the repair shop in a couple of hours, a bit before I am forced to check out.  Hopefully the part has shown up by then and hopefully they are close to being done with it.