So now, Rene saying she is leaving at the end of March to go live in Michigan leaves this whole house rental thing up in the air.  The lady that just recently moved in there is really nice and has a very good attitude about most things that I have seen thus far.  She also has nowhere to go.  The fact that she has 2 dogs makes it difficult to find a rental unit that will take her. 

We've had the discussion about her staying and running the place and then I will still have a place to take the dogs - she was more than agreeable to that.  But the thing for me is, I don't really want to sign another 1 year long contract in April. This whole setup was to help "friends" that have totally turned their backs on me.  Donny turned out to be a drug addict and tho we gave him numerous chances to clean up his act and encouraging him to get help - of which he could have gotten for free - he refused and kept smoking crack.

Rene - has terrible temper problems. She is not a well adjusted person.  She doesn't get along with other people well.  She's the type of person that needs to have animals and live alone.  That's the end of that story.  And when she gets drunk, it gets really bad. This texting nonsense started out of the thin blue air. When I started reading them, I instantly knew she was drinking.  And as it played out, her calling me all kinds of names and cussing me out etc etc etc, I just came to the conclusion it was time to wash my hands of her. Let her go to Michigan, put up no fuss, c'ya later, have a good time, don't come back - type of deal.

Now, whether I want to continue this with this other lady will depend on whether the owner of the house wants to allow this situation to continue and whether I have to sign another year lease.  I could see signing a 3 month lease and just doing it that way, that limits my exposure to loss.  But an entire year? I just won't do that.  I have a little time to think this through - if - Rene keeps her word and actually stays til' April.  But I'm not putting any merit to anything she says at this point and she can leave at any time.  I have another person coming to look at the room today - but - I will not have Rene handling it.  Maria will deal with it and hopefully get that room rented before the beginning of the month. 

There is one thing tho about all of this pertaining to that particular house: that place was for sale for a long, long time.  They couldn't get a buyer.  It had been for rent for 3 months, I believe, before we came along and said we'll take it.  We have paid the rent on time, every time, every month.  I write a check at the beginning of the month, they give me cash when their government benefits come in.  At least that has worked out if nothing else.  One month - December - I ended up eating all the rest of it tho.  The utilities, the wifi and the satellite.  Just because of that, tho, I'm leaning towards exiting this deal.  The only other thing that might make me look at it a bit differently is if they would bring the rent down. It's way too high for the size of a house it is, considering the market. At $800, I can get a much larger house with better insulation and less utility bills. 

Ok, just collecting my thoughts here. I'm still at this hotel, it's Sunday morning and I have no desire to leave here yet.  Checkout time is noon, I have plenty of time to sit here in the quiet, listen to nothing and just think.  I'm also 67 miles from home and don't particularly feel like driving. 

Between this situation with Rene and work, I'm just a bit overloaded right now.  Work actually is getting to me more than any of this house nonsense.  My paychecks need to start looking normal again and very soon.  This next one coming up should be up there in that range.  I am writing down the details of every single trip now and logging it into a note thing on my phone for reference when I get paid.  I'm pretty sure I've been shafted on some pay, but for some reason I'm having to jump through hoops now to get the driver settlement sheets that they used to automatically send.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go to work tomorrow and sit down in the manager's office and have a discussion about all of this.  She apparently is getting mad at people telling her that these loaner drivers need to go back to their division, work or no work, they don't belong in ours.  But this idea of hiring another driver when we are slow? And 2 good drivers left because of it? It makes absolutely no sense at all.  I'm not going to just sit around and "take it" forever like I did at Ferguson.  I'm seriously considering applying at our new competitor since I'm hearing nothing but good about the person that owns the place and another person that runs the place.  Just the sticking point that I want to stay with Ethylene because that gets me home after every trip. No OTR junk. They may not have a position for Ethylene right now, but if I put in an app and request consideration for if they ever do have a position, at least it will be in there. 

I haven't heard back from UTP.  I dunno what their process is but it's been a bit of a while.  It would be nice if they would at least say yes or no.  I can take rejection, just be nice if that's their final conclusion. 

Annnd the weather here. Temps are going to drop tonight into the 20's - which is cold for us - and rain tomorrow.  In fact, looks like rain for the next 8 days.  Meanwhile, the entire world of the United States is still erupting about this wall of Trump's.  And the "fact" that he "caved".  I wasn't happy with his decision to reopen the government for 3 weeks - but - that's  what it is.  It appears that if dems don't fund the wall after 3 weeks, he's going to declare a national emergency and fund the wall that way.  And then? Lawsuits holding it up forever in the courts.  He has built a compelling case of the last few months with all the border experts showing with facts and numbers that absolute need to put up a physical barrier - they are now calling it - to stop the flow of illegal aliens from pouring across our borders.  And now, it is reported a caravan of 10,000 of them are heading this way. So, we are to do nothing, dems say, because - in reality - it's hate Trump.  And that's all it is, lmao.

I was going to go to a Waffle House and get keto breakfast.  But they don't have one here, which is odd considering I'm right next to I-30 and this is a big enough town to be able to warrant one here.  There's no Denny's here either, which isn't so odd cause' Denny's isn't everywhere. There is an IHOP . Not the biggest fan but when you're ordering bacon, sausage, a slice of ham and eggs, it's pretty hard to screw that up.  Yes I'm still on the diet, I've only been seeing minimal gains but gains are gains.  My weight just seems to fluctuate up and down from 201 to 207.  I started working out with weights but abandoned that idea - temporarily anyway - until they get their puppy under control. It craps on the porch, all around the weight bench. The porch gets loaded with dog crap and I ain't subjecting myself to that.  I'm going to suggest we move the weight bunch to underneath the carport in the back. The dog isn't crapping there.  I want to work out, 3 times per week, 2 would be enough tho. 

Even tho the weight loss isn't too much, the fat loss still continues on.  I can only surmise that the working out I did do built muscle, adding weight but losing fat weight at the same time.  I want to really pump up my arms and chest, I just think I look dreadful at the moment with a flabby chest and small arms - tho I will say that the workouts I did do did, indeed, pump my arms up. But they won't stay that way if I don't continue on with the workouts, hence I will suggest today we move the weight bench. 

And with that, I am offa here. Have another cup of coffee and think about driving home. 

Woke up this morning - in Brownsville of course - got hooked up to the trailer and took off. Developed a headache.  Nothing brain killing but it went on throughout the day. I slept well last night, but I didn't get enough sleep - that because of the night before and getting 3 hours of sleep. That's the kind of thing that can mess with me for days. 

Well, this thing nagging at me, I forced myself to drive to the yard, get the truck unhooked from the trailer, do my paperwork and email it through the scanner in the office and then? I went into the still running truck and went to sleep for a while . No, I did not head home, I had to get a nap, it was getting bad. 

But....I was in the office with another driver and he was griping endlessly about the work situation. He's been there a long long time.  He was complaining about our manager - and yes, there are legitimate complaints. But he clued me in on some of the stuff she does that is ridiculous.  It's way too much for me to type in tonight, maybe some other time, just that she is really absent minded. I have noticed this for a while now.  You say something to her, she forgets and does something different than what you asked.  She has a really bad memory.  Even the people at the loading plant have issues with her memory issues.  

But the thing that really got me going? This driver told me she was interviewing a person to become another driver! What the hills full of dog crap sand is this? We don't need any more drivers! AT ALL!!!!  We literally do NOT need a single driver, we need to get rid of some drivers.  "Well, he's only going to do the Baker run". Who cares? The Baker run isn't a gold mine but it's good enough if there is nothing else going on. Far better than Cheneire and the casino - when the impulse hits me - is on the way back.  Note I didn't say on the way up. It is on the way up, but that run you go up to Baker, drop and hook, and the make it back to the casino that night.  

I'm just leaving my options open at the moment.  I want to see if she will keep me busy after having a conversation with her about it, but I suspect this has nothing to do with her and everything to do with switching over to a new company.  If I'm not on track to making a minimum of 75k this year, I will be finding greener pastures.  

Two days off - starting tomorrow.  I don't want 2 days off. At most, right now, with my financial situation, one day at most.  I'm really ready to go back out tomorrow morning. That isn't going to happen but that's where I'm at. I will text my manager on Monday morning - when am I going out again? I will probably escalate this tho. Why are we all sitting around for days at a time and you are allegedly hiring more drivers?  Fear of an employer has never been a problem, tho I respect her as a person she is a very nice lady.  But nice doesn't pay the bills....

So what am I going to do for 2 days? I have no idea.  There's plenty of housework to do.  I really need to get my 4 wheeler fixed and take it out down at the Sabine river and do some riding.  

But.....the situation with Rene? UNBELIEVABLE.  She started texting me last night about how evil I am that I let Jeff "stay" because "all you care about is getting the rent paid". Notwithstanding the fact that she agreed to let Jeff stay, without any input from me about it, saying they had worked it out and hence, all would be fine, over two freaking months ago. She was drunk and called me a "jackazz" at least a dozen times. I maintained my composure excepting to tell her she is drunk - several times actually. Because she was totally pissing me off.  I've bent over backwards helping this person, seriously and literally have done everything in my ability to help her out - and this is the thanks I get? Screw that.  I blocked her on my phone eventually, she wasn't going to shut up and I wasn't going to have anything to do with it. 

It got bad enough that I asked James to go over there and get my dogs.  And that he did.  He went straight over there, got them and brought them home.  Yes, they would watch my dogs while I"m gone, no, I really don't want to do that to them, they have enough on their plates.  Tho, James absolutely loves Addler.  He rough houses with Addler all the time.  Gets Addler into a headlock and eventually gets Addler on the ground lol.  No, there is no pain or animal abuse, thanks.  It's playing, but Addler is a tough dog, that boy can handle some stuff.  Not that James is hurting him in any way.  Just to say that they are in very good hands. 

And, Rene declared she was leaving for Michigan.  Okay, Bon Voyage!! Hasta luego, taco baby!  Don't let the get shove your ass the rest of the way out when you leave! No, I didn't say any of that, but it came to mind sitting there reading endless texts condemning me as the devil himself. 

No good deed goes unpunished. Try to help people in life? Sometimes you see positive results, other times, definitely not so much.  But per the former, Mark and Lynnette are a good example of helping people and them? Helping themselves after getting their lives back in order. 

Whatever. I've had enough of her.  

And...it's late. I went off to a hotel to sit and think about things. Away from driving endlessly on the road and away from a noisy house where such meditation may not be impossible, but not exactly likely when the kids are going off.  It wasn't the most affordable thing to do in light of current situation at work, but it was definitely the right thing for me. Time to go to sleep.