Well, my calculations were off - like wayyyyy off - for my next run. I figured I shouldn't be going out before Monday morning at the earliest, instead, I'm the first load tomorrow morning - Sunday.  Although working to my favor, it further proves my manager's methodology is wayyy off in how she does it.  There is literally no way I should be the first load tomorrow morning going by her stated method of handing out runs.

I both love and hate working on Sundays.  I love it because you can make very good time and get on down the road without a lot of traffic. I hate it - because it is Sundays and I just have this built in thing that Sundays should be a day of rest.  And come around noon to 3 pm ? Some internal thing kicks in and I have to pull the truck over and go to sleep for at least 30 minutes, if no longer.  Don't know why, but I guess because most of my life Sundays have been a day of rest and only this job did I start working on them with any frequency. I figured the last job I had that had occasional Sunday work might have been 30 years ago. And I emphasize occasional - this job, I'm working a lot of Sundays. 

Whatever, I got busy first thing this morning getting stuff ready to go - laundry and attempting to decide what to take with me.  I also fired up the new smoker and the turkey is already in it.  I don't figure it will be done until 6pm at the earliest.  It's a big turkey and it's going to take something like 25 to 30 minutes per pound to cook.  Guess 30 minutes, that's 9 hours minimum.  But, 6 pm works, I won't have to go to bed until around 8:30.  Time enough for it to rest, eat, cool off, cut it up, put it away and get some packed for the road.  Well, get a lot packed for the road, you don't have a fresh cooked turkey every day.  Or even every month. 

Of course, that is..if...it turns out right.  They talk about bacteria growing on it for the length of time it has to cook, I'll keep the temp higher than they recommend so we don't all get sick and die lol. 

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No clue about the turkey.  It's cooking, lol, in the smoker, what it will turn out like is unknown. It's currently at 145 degrees internal temperature, so a couple more hours to go at the rate it's been cooking.  Which would be great.  Some of the skin is black.  Oh well, peel off the skin, good as gold.  It will still have the nice, smoke flavor. This smoker isn't good for a piece of meat that large.  I would need a much larger smoker to effectively cook the turkey without having it burn up.  Smoking is a learn-as-you-go type of thing. A hobby in itself and an art, acquired competency over time and experience. 

But, my laundry is done, a few minutes left to pack the bag, get it into the vehicle and - not have to deal with that at 4:00 am.  Or, like I like to say it, 4 o'clock in the morning.  Hopefully turkey turns out edible, otherwise I have fresh chicken wings ready and waiting to cook if necessary. 30 minutes or so cook time.  I have to admit when i first start trying to smoke something different that I have never tried before, I don't necessarily call it dinner.  It may turn out to be acceptable for dog food.  It may not be the best dish on earth, or by chance, it could turn out incredibly good.  I've had results on both ends of the spectrum and in the middle.

I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for a Sunday drive of around 600 miles.  I could say I hope for detention - which has happened numerous times, but it's nothing to count on. One driver went up there a few weeks ago and was stuck up there for 7 days.  I would absolutely love that from a pay point of view. 

There were 5 of our trailers down there when I got down to Brownsville last night.  No detention going on there lol.  In the year and a half I've been going down there, the most trailers I've seen is 3 and that is quite rare.  Whatever, the run is better than nothing and far better than a lot of other runs.

So the snake.  The one I have seen now several times in the back yard. The one that has been shedding its skin in the back yard.  That snake. Fearless of us.  Doesn't even coil up. Just sits there and stares at us.  I won't lie the impulse to kill it has hit me every time I see it. I dislike snakes greatly, probably from being from Arizona and running into rattlesnakes in various adventures into the desert - and killing them when they posed a threat.  You can eat those, tho. You wouldn't be eating one of these things.

It's fat and quite healthy, too, eating well.  It may have done something to the copperhead snakes. I haven't seen one of them around in quite awhile.  At least this sucker isn't venomous.

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That was last night.  Friday - late morning.  Got out and got a Butterball turkey - it's a bug that Taylor planted in my brain: smoke one.  It's huge tho.  I think when I get to smoking it that I'll smoke it 3 hours and then do the rest in the oven at low temp.  It's frozen so I'm not sure when I'll be able to cook it.  I doubt it will thaw before tomorrow.  I've never tried to smoke a turkey so it should be a bit of a challenge.

A branch fell off the large Oak tree out front the other day. I consider it a dangerous tree as branches have fallen from it frequently - the biggest branch was the size of a tree and did 11k damage to the roof of the house.  If the entire tree fell on the house - God help any of us that are in it's path. I don't know how many tons that thing weight, but if a branch of it can do that much damage, think how much damage the entire tree could do.  We'd get it cut down but it's going to cost thousands of dollars because it's right next to a telephone pole and power lines both on the street and coming from the pole to both our house and the house next door.  That will require a large crane to take down a large branch at a time.  I think it was quoted 4k, but I just put out a feeler for bids from several companies to come and give a quote on it.  I don't want to pay for it, but I'd loan them the money to do it - the thing is just rotting and you can see the rot in the branches that fall.

The closest bedroom to that tree is the boy's room..........right there.

I'd love to see all the Oak trees surrounding the back of the property come down as well.  They're nuisance trees, trust when I say never plant Oaks. They will torment you with constantly falling s*** all over the place.  Year round.  Not just fall, not just winter, year freaking round.  It's ridiculous.

I'm losing weight again.  I was on the up for a bit after doing that outrageous diet cheat day lmao.  I really went way overboard with it.  I figured my weight would go up and it did - 4 pounds before starting back down again.  So, this morning, I'm back down 3 pounds and close to my lowest weight I've been since starting this diet.

But next month? I'll be cheating for 3 days.  I know, sounds terrible.  But you only live once.  We're going to the beach in Galveston and I have no intention of doing any diet stuff while I'm there.  I want potatoes and pasta and rice and beans and milk and real bread and cookies, cake, ice cream and a Dairy Queen large chocolote with choco chunks in it Blizzard.  And whatever else comes to mind. I intend on fully blowing the diet for those 3 days and then, going on a 60 hour fast and then back on the diet afterward.  I'll probably gain 5 pounds at least during those days and I don't care.  I don't regret the last cheat - tho it took longer to get back on track than I thought it would - I won't care about this either.  You aren't going to get obese in 3 days, I can guarantee you that.

Motivation not quite there for much of anything today.  I'm thinking I have 3 days off after seeing how many trucks were in the yard yesterday and how little work is available.  I'll find out later - it's Friday and she sounds out Saturday through Monday work on Friday afternoon.