Although I do want another run tomorrow, I do not want to do it in someone else's truck.  I reported mine yesterday when I got back with a broken off quarter panel. It's a plastic cover that goes over the tires, the bracket broke off and the panel was just dragging on the tires.  No idea how long it was doing that, it wasn't making any noise and impossible to see from the rear view mirrors.  It had small holes rubbed through it so it was doing it for awhile.  However, that is an easy fix.  

When my dispatcher told me to take Dusty's truck, I asked what was wrong with mine?  That panel isn't even a DOT warning or ticket, it isn't legally required on there. The only thing I have to have on there is a mud flap at the rear of the tires on the rear axle.  "Ryan said the sensor needed to be replaced and and it is on backorder". What sensor, I thought.  I have been reporting an engine light on on the truck for -  2 months now. Apparently they found that after writing up the panel.  

I actually don't really care about reporting things anymore, but I do it because it is mandatory. What I don't do is keep giving the reports to the mechanics, over and over, for them to ignore. I just give it to them once in their mailbox as required and that's that. The report gets sent into the headquarters via email when I send my trip paperwork in and that's it after I give it to the mechanics once.  I find it annoying and aggravating to continuously give them the same problem to have them do nothing about it.  I said something to my manager and that mechanic about it once. Why do you want us to write up things wrong with the trucks and you don't fix it? Or you don't even read the reports, you just trash them or file them?  

No answer.  

Anyway, I asked if this driver knows that someone else is taking his truck? Why isn't that driver driving?  It is a big time no no to be driving other people's trucks, at least among drivers, in the trucking industry.  I don't want anyone else driving my truck and I know - especially those that keep their trucks clean - they don't want anyone else driving theirs either.  She replied she didn't know, it was Brandon's (manager) call and that Dusty is out of surgery recovering.  Surgery?!!  She didn't elaborate on what it was, I didn't ask, not my business.  He keeps his truck immaculate, I can say that.  

So I said to her I don't like driving other driver's trucks, especially Dusty, he's particular about his truck.  She replied that she didn't have any choice, she's down 5 drivers otherwise she wouldn't have asked.  Well fortunately, it's a 9:00 am load, I'm going to need to get there early to get stuff out of my truck to put in there. Paper towels, my laptop, charging wires, bedding, water, etc.  That's the other thing about switching trucks, all the stuff you want with you on a trip? You'll have to take out of one truck and put it into the other. I won't be using any of his stuff in there, it's drive down to Brownsville and hopefully come right back up the next morning and get that over with and hope that my truck is finished for the next run.  

And if there are no empties down there, I will be getting myself a hotel room and just do that instead of staying in someone else's truck.  I dunno if that truck has a refrigerator so I won't be taking any food. Fortunately the Brownsville run has several options going down to find decent food to eat along the way.  

As for today, the boys played in that pool for hours.  Phoenix didn't even want to get out until mama said time to get out. Us old folks had had enough - it's really hot outside.  5 foot pool that's less than 2 feet tall, only little kids are getting in there. Those of us on the porch - sweating and just nasty. The pool was a good idea, but it's welcome had worn out lol. 

The gentleman that brought the other boy was asking why I wanted to build an RV park?  Umm, just a dream of mine that I've had for a long time.  Yea but there's several parks in the area. Yup and they're full or mostly full.  True. Cooks road? Yes.  He named the former sheriff.  that lives there and another RV park.  Yes, there is another RV park but it's private, membership only thing. You can't just get online and book it.  It's no competition at all.  I knew the Sheriff lived on that street, I didn't know where.  Apparently a few hundred feet from where my intended property lies.  Oh, that's interesting.  

He lives up the hill on the other side, my traffic won't be coming by him, fortunately, I don't need people starting trouble.  RV parks are generally quiet, an exception might be families with noisy kids or drunks making loud noise and blaring music.  The latter will not be welcome.  Drink if you please, but if you get drunk and start trouble with people, you are going to be thrown right out of there. It will be clearly written in my park rules.  Quiet hours will be from 10 pm til 8 am, the general rule of thumb I have found for parks, tho some say 7 am.  

I dunno, I have thought about conflicts, I have addressed several of them, I can't foresee everything.  I'm not going door to door asking people's opinions, there is a reason people move to the county - get away from city restrictions and more importantly, do whatever you please.  There are no HOA's, no associations, that was determined right from the get go.  All the things I have found that could be impediments to progress I have addressed. There may be other things that I don't know about, c'est la vie.  

 Well, that was a decent trip, 3 days and even home relatively early.  That run usually doesn't go like that lol.  

So, one of the properties I bought at auction that I put up for sale has already had 2 offers on it.  They are lowball but I'd still make money on the second offer.  Maybe $750.  I don't really consider that bad for spending an hour at an auction and  the time spent researching those properties.  I figured if I put it up low it would sell, versus a bunch of other properties that are of the same approximate size that have been listed and for sale for a long, long time.  

I hope they don't believe they are going to put a mobile home on that property, because I know the city isn't going to allow it. But whatever, they didn't ask and it's up to them to find those things out in advance.  I didn't do my due diligence on that particular part of it, but then again, I bought those properties so cheap I figured I could resell them for a profit if nothing else.  

This is a test run.  If this property can sell, another one will go up.  If that will sell, the third one may or may not go up - I like the one by the railroad tracks and I still want to do something with it.  Totally out of the question right now, all of my finances will be tied up in this RV deal if the land goes through. I know, I say if because it's - if.  No chickens are counted before they are hatched in this particular situation.

Even the realtor proclaimed "I have learned A LOT working with you! Lol".  

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Tax sale auction property apparently going under contract.  I'll make around a grand on it.  I'm good with that.  At the end of the year, they'll sell all the properties that didn't sell during the year, if I can sell a couple of these, I'll buy more.  The bidding starts out at $30.  Obviously I have to check all of them out - which is a pain I normally don't check out small lots in town - but it's the only way to ensure there isn't an old house or structure on it that is either condemned or otherwise would need to come down if you are trying to sell it.  

Small lots mostly don't sell, or they might get bid up a little bit, but the people bidding are the rich folks that want to buy the land that sells way higher than it's worth.  I mean, I really don't understand these people bidding up properties like that at a tax lien auction where you are hunting for bargains.  They will sit on those properties forever, no one wants to pay that much, or, if they do, the don't have the cash and banks will not finance properties that won't pass muster with an appraisal. 

Regardless, it's a day off and I'm doing much of nothing.  I have plants for the pond that need potted and put in there, which means a trip to Ollies to buy some more pots.  Other than that, I have no intentions of doing much of anything. Wait and see what kind of run I may get tomorrow.  I'm guessing an Oklahoma run if anything.  I've had 3 good runs in a row, which is miraculous in itself, unlikely I will get another good paying run after all of that.  

There is nothing to report on the 25 acres.  There won't be anything to report until Tuesday of next week - unless - they push it out yet again.  There doesn't appear to be any reason to do that, but the title company seems to be good at finding ways to make things not happen.  I've got that day off now and canceled Friday off is all I can say about that.  

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Wednesday.  Didn't get up early, lol, I had 3 days of getting up early and being rather fatigued to catch up on sleep worth.  But I did manage to get some stuff done today.  It's still early I just ran out of desire to be outside in the stifling heat.  A day of rest isn't a bad thing, I worked all day Sunday, the traditional day of rest.  I just brought the dogs in too. Call it spoiling them, but Addler was huffing and puffing pretty heavy.  We let all the dogs in when it's getting too hot outside.  I'm sure they can survive it, but I just don't feel good about leaving them outside when I'm literally chillin' inside. 

Anyway, a friend of Phoenix's (the 6 year old) was coming over today so Taylor went out looking for a slippery slide for them to play on. They were originally going to go to a water park, but it turns out that park is closed on Wednesdays.  Seems a rather odd day to close a water park.  She went to unknown amount of stores looking for one and after hitting them all up, came back with water balloons.  She tried.

After she got back and my babysitting stint was over, I went to Ollies to get some flower pots - on sale and far cheaper than Lowe's or anywhere else for that matter. Like half priced.  After that, I thought, why not check the Dollar General? They might have some water play stuff.  Sure enough, they had one kiddie pool left, the kind you blow up with air versus those hard plastic ones. Yes!  Something for them to actually do, Water balloons are fun but they only last so long.  I was amazed there was anything left, especially at the dollar store.  

Got that, went home and found everyone elated about that little pool.  They have been playing in it for well over an hour now, as long as it lasts a day, I'm good with it.  Tomorrow, school starts.  BTW, did I say it's Texas and they aren't mandating little kids to be forced to be wearing masks all day long?  You do realize that masks do not prevent the virus from coming through the pores in the mask?  They are not all that useful and the science isn't there for forcing kids like that to have to wear such inhibiting things all day long.  I'm grateful the governor is taking a stand against Fauci and Biden.  Biden is busy attempting to subvert state's right and force masks on kids anyway.

I think the only thing he could possibly do is threaten the state with holding back federal funding for schools.  I don't know if that's possible, but that's the only thing I can think of, federal funding being withheld in some way, shape or form.  You know, that thing about state's rights, as the Constitution was written? The federal government being limited in scope, size and nature?  We are headed towards totalitarianism.  We are headed towards civil war as far as I'm concerned, this defund the police crap, cancel culture, CRT and every white person is a racist garbage got old long ago.  What a thing it would be, if Biden made that threat and Texas said, fine, we'll just not send our money to the feds.  

Now what?  It can go both ways.  These threats should not be bowed to, the President doesn't have the authority he thinks he has, we only give it to him/feds/white house if we succumb to it.  I didn't say it was a good idea, but neither is the president attempting to threaten 2 states with some form of retaliation if they don't comply.  Florida is the other state, in case you haven't been watching the news and Governor DeSantis is a rock star as far as I'm concerned, snubbing the white house and taking an equal stand to the biden administration bullying.  Basically giving them a middle finger.  

Cuomo, the nursing home murderer, is about to be a goner.  Newsome, the California governor being recalled - may actually be put out according to new polls, it's much closer than anyone had predicted.  These are people - and others like them such as Whitmer of Michigan and Lightfoot of Chicago - that need to go. They take their powers and go well beyond those powers with these emergency powers or just sheer stupidity.  Minneapolis and Portland the same with this defund the police nonsense and now seeing murder rates higher than they have ever been. That was an easy prediction when they first started talking about defunding police, an insane, barbaric idea that has no place in modern society. An THEN, you find out these big name politicians have spent uber amounts of money to hire their own security!  

The hypocrisy and blood lust for power is astounding.  And now, Mnuchin is standing in the way of the 3.5 TRILLION dollar budget democrats want to force through. Thank God for any semblance of a real mind in that party, this guy understands this kind of rampant spending will destroy the American economy as we know it and introduce hyper-inflation into a scenario that is already seeing inflation at exorbitant rates.  I predicted inflation as soon as they started talking about all of these stimulus bills last year and here we are.  It's not just Biden's fault, Trump can take some blame in this as well. No amount of money appears to be too much for these people.  I'm ranting but I'm pissed off about the state of affairs in this nation. College students proclaiming they are ashamed to be citizens of this nation? Then GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE if you don't like it! 

Patriotism will never die in a large portion of the population, thankfully.  God, flag and country.  Freedoms that most other nations can only dream of.  People come here from communist nations and warn us about all of these power hungry politicians and what their intended legislation will lead to.  We already knew this, we studied history, they didn't have to tell us, they are trying to inform the masses that are being lied to by mass media, lunatic politicians, hollywood elites and whoever else can get a platform that will garner attention.

Seriously, all of you that love communism or socialism please go spend a year living in Communist China and then get back to me.  Or go live in a nation that is mostly citizens living in abstract poverty. You don't have to go far, Mexico is full of poverty-stricken people that don't know what it's like to have running water or electricity.  Try India or Bangladesh.  Head down to Venezuela or over to Cuba.  You think it's so great, yet you haven't done anything to find out for yourself about how these people are  currently living under communist and totalitarian regimes.  We have it far too good in this nation to allow it to be destroyed by people like you that think that government in control of everything is somehow a good idea. 

I'm done.  For now.

I have some plants to go pot and then put in the pond.  I also have a cover for the pond - the water is heating up, got to get that hot, beating sun off of it and infuse some cold water from the hose into it. I wasn't concerned about it until I put the fish in there.  Those goldfish can withstand some pretty serious extremes, but warm water? I don't know about that.  The dogs are lazily enjoying my cool room.  Addler is content to pass out on his bed on the floor, Aspyn is on the couch sitting there staring at me lol.

I'm waiting on work assignment for tomorrow, if one is coming. I dunno about that, hopefully tho.  The yard had about 7 trucks sitting in it yesterday when I got in and several of those are now on the road.  As much as I hate driving trucks, I need to earn some serious money. I'll take whatever I get and run with it.\

With that, I'm outta here.

G'day.