I don't know what happened to that last entry, I thought I had finished and posted it.  Oh well, it was almost finished and I posted it anyway.

I didn't get out of the plant until 3:30 yesterday afternoon. An empty didn't show up until noon and then when I got to the plant, there were 2 trucks ahead of me. 

Motoring up there, drop and hooking, around 9:30 pm, I left the receiving plant and decided I would at least get to Okmulgee to get fuel at the Love's.  But when I got there, I became a bit irritated with the lack of schedule and just "take it when it gets there" garbage, so I decided I was going to at least try and drive the route out.  I knew it would be minimum 3:30 am before I got back, but what the heck.

I got within 50 miles and was too tired to continue driving, so I stopped at a truck stop in Pittsburg, TX, took a 15 minute nap and that was all I needed. I didn't get to bed until almost 5:00 am.  I am at home. I would still be sitting on a 10 hour break right now and I wouldn't be getting back to the yard until around 2 - 2:30, add 45 minutes to unhook tractor, do paperwork and drive home.  

I just feel better about getting home even if tired. I have nothing pressing that must be done so I can just lounge around all day if I seriously want to.  The 5 year old messed with my sleep and started knocking on the door, hence I am up much earlier than I wanted to be.  I forgot to look at the 70 hour clock last night - well this morning - it is probably around the low 20 hour range, meaning they could send me out on another trip tomorrow.  I would prefer going out on Wednesday, buffering the next pay period and have a couple days off.  

A week later and the contractor finally messaged me back: I just now seen your text, my phone has been messing up.

Well, sir, your phone appears to have been messing up for a long, long time now, perhaps you should think about fixing it or getting a new one.  I didn't actually say that to him, but he's been saying this for a while now. He owns his own company, he has a large number of employees, it's obvious he's raking in the dough, buy a phone - or stop making excuses, I'm not sure which.  

The forecast is a slight chance of rain today, possible thunderstorms tomorrow and definitely heavy rain with tornado warnings, hail and damaging winds.  Various chances of rain all the way through the 25th, as far as the forecast goes.  Yeah, this project is going to progress any time soon.  

The extended forecast is not helpful.  Enough days have to pass for the ground to dry up and then you have to have 3 days in a row after that drying period to do the dirt work.  Or so I am told.  

Anyway, I will have to find things to do to get my mind off of that.  I don't know what, but it's obvious nothing is going to happen over there for a while to come. Frustrating, absolutely.  I really need another business venture to get involved with that isn't dependent on good weather.  Rentals are my go to.  Subrenting doesn't sound like a good idea, I'd have to actually buy a house here to rent out rooms or rent the whole thing.  At 20% down, that would eat up a good chunk of finances. It wouldn't necessarily put the project in jeopardy, but it would likely mean borrowing a substantial amount more of money to make it happen.

I'm a bit cranky - 5 hours of sleep wasn't enough but once you have been awakened twice out of sleep and it's daytime and daylight, the sleep hours are gone, there is no getting back to sleep. I feel like going on a nice walk out on the property even if tired, just to get some anxiety out and enjoy nature.

It's a pretty good idea, actually. 

G'day

 Lol.

I won't mention the name of the plant for I don't want to cause any trouble.

But last night? I've never seen anything like it.  I haven't been to this particular plant in a couple of years.  The product we bring to them, they just recirculate it and regenerate it, the only reason they need more, over time, I was informed last night, is because there are leaks here and there and the product seeps out and eventually we need a truckload to replace it.

Ok. They knew what they were doing, but only on their side.  On the trailer side, I showed them everything the needed to know and stood around for quite a while, monitoring their activity. Expert me? No, but I do know what I'm doing with this stuff. Do you need anything else from me? No, I think we've got it. Okay, well if you need anything, I'll be in my truck eating dinner. 

Eat dinner I did and then I went to sleep.  I didn't actually sleep to well 2 nights ago, I wanted to rest.  It was already a long day as it was, going to the loading plant, loading, driving 600 miles and then unloading.  

A few hours later, the man came to my truck and knocked.  "How low do you want the pressure?" 20-25 is fine with me.  At some point, I got my gear back on and got out of the truck.  The pressure was down to 22, plenty fine, not dangerous at all, let's unhook.  

Well, they apparently don't know how to clear the line of the liquid before unhooking, because as soon as they cracked the giant fitting, liquid started coming out.  I just backed up. That stuff can give you serious burns just like fire, only it comes from the other end of the spectrum. I mentioned the bleeder valve - he went to open it and I'm like, uhhh, yeah you have liquid coming out, I wouldn't open it up too much or you'll have that stuff raining all over us.  I backed up plenty far.  This spectacle wasn't going to make me a victim.  Sure enough, it came shooting out the tube at the top of the cabinet and it started raining.  He immediately turned the valve to the point it slowed down.

But, we stood there and watched liquid coming out for at least 5 minutes.  Most plants would have a literal cow about doing that. Now, this stuff isn't harmful in that being exposed to the chemical will kill you, it's just very cold and highly flammable.  I think plants worry about EPA or OSHA violations more than anything. But, this stuff evaporates immediately and it's gone.  As I said, I'm not naming the plant, I actually thought it humorous that these people thought that that stuff raining down like that was somehow normal.

__________________________

I'm back at home, Sunday morning.  I was originally given a load to take out Monday, but unfortunately, instead of getting Sunday off, another driver had "issues" - some people make stuff up to get out of work - so my dispatcher called yesterday and declared I was needed for a run to Oklahoma today.  I asked why they other driver couldn't take it.  "He can't take it".  Well I prefer he would, I replied, and I get a Sunday off.  I most assuredly do not like working on Sundays. I never have, I never will.  But, she insisted and I can't say no.  I mean, I could make up a story and lie, not something I want to do so I just agreed to it.  

The problem is, the mechanic took one of the trailers out of service. This trailer is for the Oklahoma run only.  Take even one of the trailers out of service and everything is screwed up.  So now, I am waiting for a trailer to be brought back.  At home waiting, that is, I was just informed by the driver that he won't be back to the yard with it until noon.  What does that mean? It means that it's going to be an incredibly late night for working today.  And I won't be back until afternoon tomorrow.  Unless I get a wild hair and say screw it, just drive all the way back and sleep in late tomorrow morning.  

Something tells me I won't feel like doing that, but it was a nice thought anyway, lol.