Welp, that worked, at least temporarily.
They put $250 on the card reader for the electricity this month - I checked. I will  be checking from now on.  Putting the money on there or not will direct how I proceed with them from now on.  You don't just give yourself a cut on the rent because - I dunno - without even discussing it with the home owner?  I'm telling you, I've had thoughts of selling the place and washing my hands of it.  But for now, I'll keep the situation as it currently stands.  There is no way for me to find anyone else to run the house - I'm not there to find such a person or couple. Regardless, I was happy to see the full amount on there.  I told them flat out that there will be no electricity payment taken out of the rent this month. Meaning, they aren't withholding money from the other renters to pay for it. THEY will be paying for it, period.  There's enough on there now to last 52 days, according to the forecast on the SRP site.

Of course, because we're going into winter.  The AC doesn't have to be on at all at the moment, it's very nice in Phoenix, AZ.  Currently 57 degrees according to The Weather Channel, I guess they may be turning on the heat, but that won't consume near as much electricity as the AC does during the summer. 

I'm planning a visit back, just not sure when. Likely not Thanksgiving or Christmas, somewhere in between. I would very much like to spend Christmas with my adopted family where I live this year. I don't want to be out on the road such as last year, sitting in well below freezing temperatures in a town that was virtually shut down besides the hotels. 

I'm currently sitting at a truck stop in Houston Texas.  I was given this gem yesterday, which I didn't mind since I have 2 Brownsville runs going on the pay period that this run will coincide with.  It's a 2 day run that used to be 1 day.  They "split" it, meaning you load one day and deliver the next, even tho we could load the same day, drive down, offload and drive back the same day. I don't understand why the customer changed it, I don't care.  Just do it and get it over with. At least on split trips, you get 200 miles driving for free on the day you load the truck. Yup, you get paid for driving you don't do. 

I was originally supposed to load at 9:00 am.  Then, my manager texted saying it had been changed to 2:30 pm.  Why? Because the plant had determined that 3 truckloads of Ethylene loaded the previous day were non-compliant for quality and had to be offloaded and reloaded.  Lol.  That doesn't happen often, thankfully ,but it completely changed my plans. I had originally planned to load the truck and go home and get stuff done. With the change, I decided to just drive down here today after loading, there is literally no sense in going home and then having to get up at the wee hours of the morning to drive down here.  My home time is important to me, but this getting up at 2 am nonsense is for the birds. 

Instead, I woke up out of deep sleep this morning at 7:40 am - I went to bed at 10:00 pm the previous night, got up instantly and determined that I would go get the boat, get a haircut (my hair, since turning grey and partially white, is course, stiff and completely unmanageable after it grows out even a week after getting it cut - go to the store and get some chicken wings and whatever else I needed to do.  The boat is, allegedly, lake-worthy.  I dunno. I dumped it in the front yard, put the hitch lock on it - LOTS of thieves come through our neighborhood - and left.  I have stuff to do, the boat can wait.  They don't care if I dump it in the front yard temporarily - Taylor wants to get on that thing and ride it on the lake.  I do too, but it looks like that might not be in the next several days.

I was at the yard, getting the truck ready this afternoon, when my manager asked me if  I was going to be back by 1:30 tomorrow?  I had to think about it.  There are too many variables to give any kind of guaranteed arrival time.  I knew what she was getting at before she said it, cause' she only asks that if there is a load she needs me to take.  I go through the thought process and then add an hour to it.  Probably 2:30 to 3:00 pm tomorrow afternoon.  Well I have a 1:30 load appointment for a Brownsville run.  I'd love to take it, I thought, but I can't tell her I'm going to be back there in time? No. I got here at 9:19, I have to take a 10 hour break (bs, HOS rules need to be changed), so I can leave here - this pay to stay truck stop (I rarely pay to park anywhere, but I'm unfamiliar with this area and I wanted to be close to the plant), at 7:30, be there at 7:45, 2 hours to offload - that's "about" how long it takes, it could take longer or be shorter period of time - 4 hours back up - again, approximating, if there is a traffic delay, a tire blowout, etc, ad infintum - who knows? - plus fueling, gets me around 2:15 to 2:30 arrival time. 

I'll take the run! Yes, but you might want to find another driver - already knowing she's asking me because - she doesn't have another driver available - maybe a driver will show up in time?  Not my problem.  And, I won't have time to go very far if I do get the run, after 2 hours offloading, 4 plus hours going back up and then 2 to 3 hours at the plant - leaves me 5 to 6 hours driving time. That would work for me, tho, get through Houston when there's no traffic jams. 

She eventually said, in that conversation on the phone - that she would keep me "in mind" if nothing else works out. I'm preparing myself mentally that nothing else will  work out because when she makes these types of calls, she has a run that needs to be covered and there isn't anyone else available. 

Onto other things.  The "boy" has the full rent for next month now. Apparently mama is helping him once again - but that would likely have not happened if fully 3 of us hadn't gotten all over his case about not already not only finding a job, but getting a state issued ID and a food handler's card.  His parents have no bearing on his mindset, we the people that have to put up with his shit - do.  We aren't his parents, we aren't related and we aren't going to just, what, give him a pass? Hey, you can sit on the 2 grand computer that your parents gave you that you play with  alll day and night, eat our food and not pay rent? He's had a dose of reality delivered to him in no uncertain terms from fully 3 of us: me, Maria and James who went over there and told him what fun it is to dumpster dive for food and the rest of what homelessness and poverty is like.

I just prodded the boy 3 times in text messaging about his alleged job at McDonald's.  I'm not letting this shit go, if he wants to live there, his ass is  going to work.  Period.  Or get OUT.  Yes it's 11 pm and yes, he stays up half the night playing those damned games.  This boy claims that McDonald's - the place where he was allegedly given a job providing he gets the required documentation - they didn't answer the phone after calling twice? LMAO, Ima call him out on that bs.

Whatever.  It is what it is, I'll deal with this "kid" and he'll get his act together or not. Ima send yet another person over there who expressed interest in talking to him, an ex Marine. He'll hate his parents, I guess, for finding this wonderful place to live?  Maybe. Now anyway. Later on in life, perhaps a different perspective. There's bills to pay, they don't stop because you don't want to work, sorry, thanks, have a nice life. 

There's a lot more, actually, but it's getting late and I want to get a good night's sleep. 7 hours worth anyway.  Might be a long day tomorrow if I get assigned to load tomorrow after getting back. 

But! I can say I am now very happy I can tether my phone to the computer - what I'm doing now - unlimited and not have to worry about it!  Yeehaw! 

G'nite.