I completely exhausted myself this morning digging out the last pole holes for the bridge.  It's a lot more work than what it appears, digging almost 3 feet down, wide hole and tons of roots to cut through.  Then going and getting the bags of quickcrete from the middle of the property, hauling those back, dumping 2 bags in a hole and the making sure my measurements are right and that it's level.  

I was hoping to get more done today - and I very well may after going home, taking a shower and getting wet-with-sweat clothes off of me.  I am clearly still not 100% and I still have this metallic, nasty taste in my mouth.  Covid? Probably, that's definitely one of the symptoms.  I've had a lot of symptoms including being up half the night coughing my lungs out.  Only after I got up and moved around at 2:00 am and then sat down, but upright, did it stop.  I was thankful that after that, the coughing stopped for most of the night. 

But, that doesn't help  my energy levels and lack thereof, being awake half the night. It's a pretty nasty mixture of sleeplessness and sickness and I am just hoping these symptoms will pass soon.  It's been a while.  

Anyway, I am happy that the poles are in and I can finally progress to the "rest" of the project.  I'll have to lug the generator out there for power tools. Some of them are battery operated, but my circular saw and another saw are both ac electric and also my battery tools need to be recharged as I go along. There is going to be a lot of holes that need to be drilled and a lot of star screws going in to hold the decking in place.  

I don't think I'll get back to that for a few days, I want the quickcrete to be able to dry out and solidfy.  The ground is damp I don't expect an real drying to occur before a couple of days.

No matter, I have the doggy park to install and that is going to be a lot more energy needed to do that work than the bridge.  Well, maybe they're equally as draining.  

Oh, I was complaining about the size of the bags of ice at a store where I go locally to get ice for my cooler. I will not go out there in this heat without ample, ice cold water and gatorades to keep  me hydrated.  Well, I went in there again today to buy 2 bags of ice. Remember, these bags shrunk from 8 pounds to 7 pounds.  The guy rang them up - or tried to anyway - and got an odd look on his face. He ran into the back and then came back saying "apparently the price went up for bagged ice since yesterday".  Oh?  

These 2 bags? $8.64!!!! TWO 7-pound bags of ice for almost 9 dollars?  I looked him funny back. Are you serious?!! I walked out without the ice, went to another gas station half a mile away. They had 10 pound bags of ice - refreshing to see they even had them - for $2.15 per bag!  I guarantee you that  if everyone raises their prices up that high for ice, I will buy my own ice machine and be done with it.  

I asked the contractor yesterday to order enough pipe to do the drainage situation at the property.  I just said that if he doesn't have time to install it, I will do it myself but could you please order the pipe and I will repay you.  I then went on about getting electricity run to the new shed/office.  And a few other things.  He finally replied that he would see about getting his guy out there for the electric, he has been running him around all over the place.  He did not even respond to the request for pipe, which means - nothing in his world.

It could mean he is ordering it or it could mean he is not ordering it.  I have no issues driving two cities over to get it myself if it comes down to that and I don't want to be waiting forever.  This needs to be done, it is not a wish list or some pie in the sky thing.  You can't have campers occupying a space that is half under water!   Trust me, I'm counting my pennies right now since I'm unemployed. I'm nowhere near being broke but foolish spending could cause that to happen quickly. 

It's why I haven't yet bought a trailer or some sort of weed destroying machine.  I'm trying to wait until after the gravel is installed and I see what I have left.  The sign is being made now and I have need of getting that doggy park built - I already have the stuff to build it with sans the two gates you need at the entrance.

Had to think about that one for a minute.  Why do they all have 2 gates?  Simple, I think anyway.  You enter from the outside, close that gate and then open the other one.  This eliminates anyone else's dogs that happen to be near the inside gate from getting in there and then running free.  It's also a good area to leash up your dog on the way out.  And if I feel so inclined, a doggy watering spout.  I can at least put in a regular spigot and run a drainage pipe away from the park so people can water up their dogs. Maybe.  That is a future thing that doesn't need to happen right away, the gates I will have to install once I get the rest of the fencing up.  

Why do you need a doggy park with walking trails?  Because people like to be able to let their dogs run free without having to worry about them running off. Not everyone has their dog voice-trained like I have Addler. Once I learned how to train dogs to obey voice commands without leashes, every dog since then I have trained to do so.  The dog could be full-tilt charging after a cat, another dog or even a human and you need only yell their name and they stop, turn around and come back to you.  

I have yet to decide when I'm going to tackle the shed project.  I don't think it prudent right now to spend thousands of dollars doing what it will need. Not in my financial situation.  RV's have their own bathrooms and I am content, on a soft opening anyway, to give them the full-hook up which includes the sewer connection and they can use their own bathroom. It will be on the website that there is no bathroom yet, please consider accordingly.  I do want electricity to it tho, that will cost around a grand I am guessing, with a meter, running the underground line and a circuit breaker panel.  Sounds expensive? Yes, it is.  But I do want the option to have power in there at least.  

I can run the electrical lines inside the unit myself if it comes down to it.  Also any plumbing.  I'm just not a "build a bathroom" person, that takes a few skill sets I don't claim to have and would rather pay someone to do.  Installing a shower, the tile or whatever that goes in it, the plumbing on the floor, a toilet setup? Yeah I don't do that stuff, find a handyman and have at it.  

Really would like a washer dryer set up in there tho, regardless of showering facilities.  People want stuff like that so they don't have to go sit at a laundromat somewhere. And a soda machine at least.  

Well, these are things I will be pondering for a bit.  I have other stuff to get done and it's not mandatory to have such amenities.  There is a laundromat - a big one - about 2 miles away.  I have no money tree and I have to watch my expenditures now.  

On another note, my business shows up in a Google search.  It also shows up on the first page now.  And it shows almost 1,800 hits since it started, which wasn't all that long ago.  What?  I was a bit surprised to see it had had that many views!  I've looked a few dozen times, yes, but it doesn't show a hit when I get on there for I am listed as the business owner and I watch the counter.  

I've still got this weed problem/headache I need to figure out. Gag.  I want a field full of grass.  But no way I'm spending that kind of money on grass seed when we're heading out of summer and getting close to fall. That means rye grass - which grows ohhhh so much easier and quicker!  Just have to have enough rainfall.  

And finally, the oil and gas company reneged on it's offer to pay for half the gravel. Why? I have no clue.  But I was pretty aggravated after reading from this dude that the company said they weren't going to pay for it - after the company said it was going to pay for it.  

I just said fine, there are going to be changes.  First off, your vehicles are entering and exiting my property with no insignia on the sides of the vehicles.  I have no idea who they are and I am not going to continue to tolerate it. The other companies DO have their company name on the side of their pickups, it's pretty much standard practice especially when contemplating entering private land.  Please deal with it because if you don't, I will, and basically telling him that I will be calling the county sheriff from now on if I find a vehicle on my property that I don't know who it is.

Second, your vehicles are speeding up and down the driveway well beyond the posted speed limit.  It's 15, I think.  THEIR company imposed speed limit. MY speed limit is 10.  Why? Because tearing up and down that driveway only serves to erode and destroy it.  I'll likely have to pay to have some gravely dumped on the main driveway to ensure hassle free access to my new driveway.  It shouldn't need more than 2 inches since it's a well established driveway to start with.  

I"m going to have to go out there and measure the distance from the street to the end of my new driveway and then calculate how much gravel I will need.  I'm going to want my contractor to spread it.  Or I guess I could spread it myself if I can get a piece of equipment out there to do it with.  Actually, if the dump truck driver is good, he can crack the rear dump door open a few inches and drive down the driveway while it falls out, spreading it without any machinery.  I've seen this done on numerous occasions and would save having to rent machinery or having to have someone with machinery doing the spreading for me.  

The new driveway? No.  You have to have it dumped on there and then they spread it with whatever machine of choice they use to do it with. A grader, a dozer, whatever.  

Okay, well, I feel better now that I've had a nice cool break at home. My hair has run wild and I need to get a hair cut and get something to make for dinner. Taylor started a new job today and we are back to doing dinner with whoever is available to make it.  That would be me today and I told her I would just make basic din-din, in this case?  Hamburger Helper, the Stroganoff stuff. 

TTYL