Didn't finish last post, but decided to post it anyway and just start a fresh one. It's now Tuesday.  I left the plant yesterday morning, drove down here without incident - Brownsville Texas that is - and now am waiting for an empty to show up.  There is a driver ahead of me also waiting, but they usually show up with 2 empties on any given day they're bringing them here, I"ll just end up having to leave later than whoever it is that is in the other truck waiting.

Some of the other drivers are not friendly and do not talk to anyone.  It's the nature of trucking, it fits perfectly with people who are loners, don't like to be around other people and are = not necessarily pleasant folks to be around. Some truckers virtually live in their trucks, meaning they don't have a place called home beyond it. No house, no apartment, nothing.  That is an unfathomable idea to me, I couldn't deal with that.  I only say that because the other driver isn't getting out of his truck, didn't wave at me when doing the same and was highly annoyed when a driver from the company whose yard we are in gave a light honk on the horn asking him to move so the driver could access a trailer he was parked in front of. 

That shouldn't happen, but I'm not a tattle tale so I'll just let that person live in their misery alone.  I need no part of it.  

Meanwhile, I have 2 brownsville trips with about $1,400 in detention pay the company owes me, plus they didn't give any of us that worked on Christmas our Holiday pay. You work on a national holiday, you get an extra $140.  It used to be $170, but I guess the company that took over decided that was too much.  So they owe me over $1,500 in back pay and I had to ask my manager again to look into it.  He had, indeed, sent an email to whoever in payroll, the person in payroll - did nothing about it.  If I don't get the pay this week, I will simply bring it up to my manager again.  Note that my trip shits have huge lettered words I inscribe on them: "DETENTION PAY" with arrows points at the dates and times.

I also write it at the bottom of the sheet - with the words they want us to use: "No empty trailers available when I arrived".  Our manager basically told the company in Alta MIra that if there isn't an empty when we arrive, it's automatic 14 hours of detention pay, since we arrive at night and we shouldn't be expected to have to look out the door/windshield all night long seeing if any empty has arrived.  

I did a quick sweep of available properties, nothing has changed, no new properties added to any lists and now it's easy to find where the new ones are added instead of having to go through the entire lists.  It may very well be that I can only find a decent property on one that has been left to rot with unpaid property taxes.  I mean, there are some good properties that I have watched fall out of my hands as people with a lot more money than me bid it up and up. The most desireable ones  are also the ones that they are also interested in.  Actually, one dude bids on all the properties worth bidding on.  I watched him last time, I figured he wouldn't bid on those Deerwood Estate properties - too much risk - and I was right. And other properties I had researched - he also didn't bid on. Such as ones condemned by the city or have existing - falling apart structures.  

The one by the railroad tracks he didn't bid on, which was a curiosity to me.  Perfect place for a small house or a mobile home - I'm hoping to put a mobile on it but the 6 months hasn't elapsed and I'm not going to waste my time for now until the 6 months passes.  The hunting property is a different deal.  It's something I can use now, even if to just take the dogs for unfettered running around without having to have leashes on them. They get to enjoy nature and I get to dream of having my own property someday that has no - other owners - involved with it.  I was informed that you can only hunt deer during Texas prescribed hunting season and you have to have a permit, even on your own property.  

I thought that strange - in Arizona they sort of have the same laws but forest officials won't do anything about you hunting them on  your own property as long as you live/spend a lot of time up there.  It may be true here as well, but it isn't worth taking chances on.  I found an animal trail going into the property, it's heavily wooded and there is a stream going through it.  Perfect for deer. I need to find what I did with my motion activated camera and set it up out there and see what's roaming it during the day and night.  

Deer season ended earlier this month and no more until November.  Pigs I think you can kill whenever, they are considered a nuisance. They destroy farmland and are generally giant rat type creatures that serve very little useful purpose to wildlife.  I saw no indication of pigs on the property, but again, a camera would reveal what's going through there.  

Oh, and for the fun of it I did look up dozer rental. It's the piece of equipment they use to clear land.  I've watched contractors doing it for years - I used to deliver to construction sites all the time - they take down trees and clear brush with them.  Stack it up in a big pile and burn it.  Not big trees tho, lol, small ones. The big ones you don't fool with or if you want to take it down you need to get a chainsaw and cut it.  Anyway it's $700 per day for one of them things, that's a bit pricey.  Not alot of options tho and hiring someone to do it is much more expensive.  

The property by the railroad would need cleared as well. I'd say half a day or less to clear that one out and built a driveway into it. Well not build one, just make one with the dozer.  No, I don't know how to operate a dozer but it can't be any harder than a scraper, I've operated all kinds of heavy

I've operated all kinds of heavy equipment, just not a dozer, but it looks to be one of the easier pieces of equipment to run.  

Okay, well, allegedly people coming to rip up the floors and replace them today.  But allegedly only, looking at the security camera, there is no crew there. In fact, there is no one home at all.  The delivery of the flooring materials must have been delayed.  The entire house is getting new flooring including my room. They decided to go ahead and do that as well, tho it wasn't part of the damage done by the central AC unit.  That thing needs replaced badly - but that isn't my house. The thing is, it could easily get backed up again and start leaking again and destroy the new flooring - again.  It's old, it's full of crud and that crud comes out with the condensation and clogs up the pipe that drains it out.  

And the kitchen sink drain is clogging up again.  Old house = problems.  I paid for the plumber to come out last time, last year.  It'll be their turn this time.  But, it was a pleasant surprise when they announced they would be having my room done as well.  I will have to clear everything out of there which means a forced project: going through old papers and throwing out as much as I can.  I tend to keep receipts, contracts and the like around for a while.  

So Ill start plugging away at that until it's ready.  Otherwise I'd have to dump it all into boxes, I'd rather deal with it and trim down the amount of papers that I have instead of attempting to move it around.  

Okay, my best guess:not going to be out of here until late afternoon or even night time.  It's almost noon and they haven't hooked up to the full trailers, so I am going to be prepared to - not get home today.  And that's fine. Get paid for 3 days work but drive only 2 days.  

Oh and the group where the bossy admin threw me out of admin position? Lol, members not happy.  They are already missing me.  Which is interesting, but now that I've been out for a bit I don't know that I want to go back in there.  I didn't realize how much time it was consuming. It's a facebook group and there is no good reason to be spending that kind of time dealing with people on the internet.  Not to mention the cusswords she was leveling at me - of which I did not respond in kind.  But, she'll spite the group to "get at me" and that's her choice.  It was all about control - of everyone.  She's power hungry and I really want no part of it.  Now that I know what kind of person she is - I knew that before but she hadn't done any of it to me - I would throw her right back out of the group just as she has done to me if I were in an admin position there now. It is not her group, the founder left and she was the only admin at the time.  She literally had nothing to do with the group for over 2 years and baam, comes back out of nowhere, take-over mode.  

Okay enough of that.  I am actively keeping my mind off of that group - albeit old habits have been hard to break, such as clicking on the link to go in there. I let myself out of the group so all I go to is a join group tab.  I was looking at my old 401k - it's going up and up.  I am at the - reluctant point - of wanting to cash it out.  But  will the stock market crash?  And if it does, will it come back up? And if so, how long will it take?  Lots of questions.  Even more so, if I did cash it out, get a business going - would I be able to replace that money in a relatively short period of time?  

No answers.  So I'll probably just wait until the next tax lien auction and see what's available.  The list will come out sometime next month and I can start doing the research and see if there's anything that will work.  

Ohhh myy. I just found 2 properties being sold for one price, owner financing.  Right outside of town, definitely would have water and electric, maybe even sewer.  That would work depending on down payment money.  I put in a request to the realtor for more information - specifically: zoning. I can't tell whether that's in town or outside.  This would really work out well considering the location.