Tuesday.

Another day off - thankfully tbh.

Threw away the swimming pool - they let it deteriorate and eventually took it down, cut it into pieces but never put it in the trash.  I spent a good deal of time yesterday cleaning up out there, that had to go.  So I stuffed it all into a trash can and today, by coincidence, is trash day so it's already gone.  

Went up to the courthouse, time to ask about these Sheriff's deeds.  They said nothing showed up, meaning they hadn't processed them yet.  After all this time.....

Also renewed registration on a trailer.

Went up to the driver's license office - one of those wild hair things, better get this done, COVID excusees abound, they may have restrictions there as well. Yup.  You can't even go in there without an appointment, even to ask questions.  That was disconcerting and numerous attempts online on my phone to find how to set up an appointment ended in failure.

Stopped at Chili's on the way home.  Keto burger with asparagus.  Not bad, actually.  Over to Walmart to get several items and then home.  

First thing I did after putting my stuff away? Yup.  Get on the computer and start looking up the appointment process. After finally finding it, I was aghast at the next available appointment dates.  MAY of this year in 4 different locations of various distance. The one in town was on the 13th of May and the rest were the same.  I ended up finding an appointment in Linden, TX for March.  

Yes, my CDL expires in February. But, thankfully, the state has an expired license extension, so it's still valid until April  I had NO idea they were dragging out license renewals like this. No one at the shop said anything about it, the company has never mentioned it in any emails or communications. I made assumptions I should not have made.  I thought about my license months ago, but really didn't think anything about availability, I have never experienced anything like this before.  

I would have had to search locations all over Texas for a date that works if nothing local was available.  The Linden location is something like 40 miles away.  

I then decided to see about my TWIC card.  They aren't having any such issues with appointments, you can make one but according to the website you can still walk in and do it without an appointment.  

At least my passport - which I've never used - doesn't expire til' 2026.  

It was just a bit disconcerting to see Texas having this system backed up so far.  They really need to do something about that.  If nothing else, a campaign to tell citizens that if your license is set to expire anytime in the next 6 months, you probably need to set an appointment now to be sure you can get it done in time.  Literally, Texas sent me a notice last week  about my DL, not 3 months ago.  

So this has consumed my day.  Whether I go back out back and resume on the yard, I dunno, but probably not.  I think I've had enough for one day and I have to go out to Brownsville tomorrow. Tho, it's an easier run - no loading. We are short on empy trailers, of course because 4 of us came back without them, per the company telling us to do so.  So I can just go to work, log in and start driving.  it also means I should be able to get down there and start heading back up a little.  At least make it 50 miles?  I know a place I can stop for the night right at the edge of no man's land once you start heading north of Raymondville.  

I dunno, I'll figure that out tomorrow.  No detention pay this trip, obviously, but it's still better than getting another Oklahoma trip.  

Oh, and a twist? The deeds were in the mailbox when I came home.  How those county officials couldn't find it in their system is unknown.  I have half a mind to drive out to that wooded property and see what's up.  But only half.

I did some reading on these sheriff's deeds.  I'm not sure that starting a business on a property with one of those deeds is such a great idea.  Certainly you don't do anything with the property for 6 months, but there are homestead exemptions where the original owner can come back up to 2 years and redeem the property. Anything you've done on the property to upgrade it? Tough luck.  

So now, I'm fairly well confined to having to find property that fits the bill that I'll either have to take out a loan for the property - or - get a business loan which includes the cost of the property in the loan plus expenses to develop the property. But what is sounding more likely? A loan for the property, cash out the 401k and use that money to build the RV park.  It should be enough.  

On another, rather humorous note (at least to me), the 3 year was seen eating a piece of chocolate this morning by mommy. She asks him where he got that from? On the counter, he replies.  She realized that he had somehow gotten into a box of chocolates out of his reach and out of his view. Note that last night - and just about every  night - he refused to eat his dinner.  He was made to sit there until bedtime.  He didn't care, he wasn't going to eat it.  Okay, for context, he wouldn't eat hardly any of it.  Like, just a few bites. And we're talking a good meal of ham, potatoes and veggies.  The odd part is that he used to eat just about anything, now he's become quite picky.  

But even feeding him stuff he likes? He'll still sit there and eat a few bites and then shove the plate away.  I just sit amused watching this go on quite regularly.  They were locking the doors to the kitchen at night - I suggested they probably need to start that up again. He could easily be sneaking out, getting sweets and going back to bed without them knowing anything about it.  

Well, I've enjoyed my 2-1/2 days off. A trip to Brownsville won't end my world.  I'll probably call the realtors tomorrow, just don't want to today.  Still thinking about my options.  It just dawned on me that I will have to put 10 to 20 percent down on a land only loan.  I think I have enough to deal with that in my savings account tho it would drain it down to zero.  I really am not sure what to do at this point, so I'm just going to sit on it - not forever - a few days, a few weeks? Just trying to understand what is the best route to take.  

And finally - watching the results coming in on the senate run off race in Georgia. It's literally a dead heat for both contests.  Within a percentage point and it fluctuates.  I'm not staying up late for that.  It's highly likely that whoever loses, they are going to contest the outcome and demand a recount.  This could go on for quite a while.  I can say this: if dems win tonight? I'm probably not going to be paying a whole lot of attention to politics until the midterms.  I might read some of it online, but I certainly won't be watching it on the tv.  I am not going to watch the inauguration.  I won't be listening to Biden or Harris.  

Anyway, it's time to get offa here.