Up early - 4:00 AM - got out of Brownsville and headed up.  Day kind of dragged on, I wanted to see if they had actually gotten out there and what they had gotten done.  When I arrived at the yard, I figured my manager would have some "words" for me about my driving.  It's impossible ot drive a tractor trailer rig, going 68 mph on highways that are posted at 70 and 75 to not have cars and trucks cutting you off all day long and having this artificial intelligence garbage "tattle-taling" on me.  I can't control other drivers. 

I'm "supposed" to slow down when they cut me off like that, but for what purpose? They are going way faster than me, they may leave little space between vehicles but it doesn't last and they are down the highway.  I did have one guy in Houston who apparently didn't like the lane I was in come zipping around me and brake checking me.  I am pretty sure most people know nothing about these "dash cams" that are more like robotic drivers. I may not like them, but they aren't real good for people playing games in traffic, either.  

After brake-checking me, he put his arm out the window, pointed to me to pull over and then flipped me off.  He then brake-checked me again and then I simply started pointing at the camera.  Note there was very little traffic on the Beltway, like hardly any at all. I wasn't holding up any traffic, at all.  I don't bow to the will of other drivers.  They can call my company and complain if they like, I don't care.  I do care about safety and do not  like going back and forth in lanes on busy freeways with the type of material I'm hauling. Well I don't like doing it whatever I'm hauling.  

Anyway, my manager said nothing about my driving, instead he started talking about his upcoming vacation - starting tomorrow- and how drunk he was going to get. He is going with friends to some destination and he is buying himself a bottle of some high end whiskey that I had never heard of before and the name now escapes me.  Have fun! 

Off and out of the yard - after dropping the trailer and hooking up to another one that I will be taking up to Oklahoma tomorrow - I boogied over to the property.  It was a pleasant view to see a swath of trees that had been uprooted and laying over.  I looked far down there - the giant trackhoe was piling trees up onto a giant pile.  I mean, this pile is 20 feet tall and at least 15 feet wide if not 20.  I marveled at the site of it.  I was glad I had left up some trees along the driveway, now seeing how it actually looks.  They may be Sweetgum trees - people laugh around these parts I can tell ya, the guy operating the trackhoe thought it was funny as well - but this is old growth. I can plant pines and wait until - after I'm passed on - for them to be big enough to actually provide shade and beauty.  

I guess one could pay to have larger trees planted - at quite the premium.  I got back in the SUV and drove down the driveway looking at the progress.  I kind of kicked myself for not leaving some trees at the back in the middle.  There are trees around the perimeter but I didn't know how I was going to set everything up so I just had them take out everything.  It's okay tho, there are plenty of trees around. 

The back portion was almost done.  He didn't do the very rear where I had changed my mind, I think I had originally told the company owner I didn't want that stuff taken down, so this guy - didn't. Kudos for following instructions, but my desires have changed and I want that stuff down. It's not that much and the underbrush stuff I wanted to use as a natural barrier to blocking the view of the gas well stuff - is quite ugly.  There are some trees that can stay up but most of it needs to come on down, please.  

I have pics posted on Facebook.  He said he thinks he can finish on Monday.  Well good, I thought, I am doing Oklahoma tomorrow, back early Saturday I can go out there and check what's been done and see if there's anything I missed that I would rather have down before he is done and the opportunity -and the money along with it - vanishes.  Oh, he isn't working the weekend.  

The only thing I really wasn't happy about is he had nicked some of the trees I want up, including a couple of mature pines.  I'm going to have to look up online and see if I can fix them somehow or if they are eventually doomed.  I'm not going to get mad at them, all of the trees I want up are surrounded by trees I want - down.  It appears there are methods to save the tree, I will check into that soon enough. Tho I did see one method where you simply put the bark back on and duct tape it.  I don't think it was a troll post, lol.  

Anyway, this old guy was going on about these trees.  I asked him about removing the roots, if they don't come out, can these trees grow back? Yes, he replied and then compared them to giant weeds.  Anything left in the ground can regrow. I thought that after seeing new growth on a tree that I had stripped down to the ground. There were several new branches growing out of it.  Yup, just like a weed.  He gave me instructions on how to get the Sweetgums I am leaving up to branch out and have a fuller look to them. Yes, well these trees were all densely packed together and had nothing but the tops - canopies - able to get any of the precious sunlight or even room to grow branches.  This was a thick, dense forest of mostly small trees.  

But the roots are what led me to the conclusion that I had to pay someone to go out there and do the job, versus trying to use that little Bobcat. It had a heck of a time trying to get the roots out.  That giant trackhoe has no problem pulling the entire mess out of the ground.  

This project on this contractor's end is probably going to drag out for a while. They are busier than I even knew and they have crews - but there are spread out and working all over the place.  The best I can do is just keep texting the dude. This guy said he can't even call the owner, he doesn't answer even for his own employees.  I get it, the dude is busy. He is out looking for new work as well as overseeing current projects. I don't know if he's spreading himself too thin. I just know I will have to keep after him to keep things moving along.  

I don't expect this project to be finished by summer. When I say that, I mean everything in place, not just utilities and the things this company is going to do.  But I can see that getting the septic installed and the electric is going to take a while. I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself on water tap installation and electric - but  hey - it's done and it's there.  They aren't charging me anything extra for that power pole installation, it's just there.  I told them what I intend on doing, I guess they expect to make a good profit off of it, win-win.  

I can remain hopeful of a summer opening, of course.  But I'm not going to have a meltdown if it doesn't happen.  I've watched parks being built taking a few years to go up.  And I want things done right, I don't want half-@$$ed anything that is permanent in nature.  But, I can have shed style laundry room, I  no longer see a problem with that since it is temporary, serves the purpose and if someone doesn't like it, oh well. Bathhouse the same. Cabin shed setup at best.  A permanent shower setup will be a cabin appearance, as well as a laundry room. I have lots of plans for the property. Plans are more than goals in my view. They are things that will be done at some point or another.  Not, might be done if I can.  

The money is out there. I just don't want any substantial loans right now.  Let's just get done what I can with what I have - or if I have to get a small personal loan to finish things off, that's fine as well.  But I won't be in a debt-hole to start off with.  Land payment, sure, already paying that. A little more for my house payment in Phoenix, okay.  Anything more than that? Sparingly, like, exactly what I need and no more and make sacrifices if necessary.  

Oh, I spent the entire day at the yard in Brownsville yesterday.  They only brought in one empty at around 11:00 am and the other driver got that one.  I thought another was coming right after - but it didn't show up until around 8:00 pm last night. I did get my LLC application started and paid for.  These are all the steps along the way.  It might take a minute for all of that to get done.  I'm not having power or water turned on until I'm informed they need it to do the install. Cause', after that, there are monthly fees regardless of whether you are using the utility or not.  

I also got approval for a vacation from dispatch for the end of this month. We want to go to the Riverwalk in San Antonio.  I have tens of thousands of points on my credit cards and after consideration, found one property that we want because it has an indoor pool, is close to the river walk and has a separate bedroom and living room.  I just can't sleep in the same room with other people if those other people snore.  It's not a judgment, lol, it just keeps me awake.  I snore, everyone in this house snores. Even the 7 year old snores - not very loud but it's there.    It is what it is, but my sleeping environment has to be "perfect" or sleep just doesn't happen.  Having a separate room should eliminate that problem.  

If I have to be honest about this, my own snoring has awakened me.  Lol.  

Well, it's a quarter of 9, not terribly late and I have a 9:00 am load appointment, but I think this old man is going to crawl into bed, watch a bit of tv and go to sleep.