Friday, August 19, 2022

 Officially unemployed. 

For a post put on a YouTube channel - mine - which has no views on most of the videos I put up on there - my company somehow found it and said I had to "go home" after I showed up for work.  This was - Tuesday.  I already knew what was going to happen, regardless. The manager told me I wasn't being fired but that safety department had to do an "investigation".

The video said nothing about my company, had nothing to do with the company and showed nothing about the company.  As I have said repeatedly over the last several years, this company fires people for petty stuff and goes out of it's way to make people's lives miserable. 

The "termination of employment" was done over the phone.  This is how lame that company is.  Not enough balls, apparently, to do it to my face.  I laughed at them - there was more than one person on the phone.  

I may miss the income but I most certainly do not miss that company, whatsoever, not even a little bit.  And the only way they could have found that YouTube site is to be stalking employees over social media.  There is literally no other way they could have found it.  Well, there MIGHT be other ways, I dunno, but it's not like the video went viral.  

Anyway, I really don't care about that job or losing it, I had the thought from day one that I wouldn't last very long there, making it near 5 years was a pretty good run.  

Meanwhile, I am still in the driver's group.  It's not a company operated group.  They were b******* and complaining about the dispatcher for hours.  I said nothing, I am not sure they even know I no longer work there.  I was working on the bridge area on the property and watching these texts coming through.  I just shook my head.  A company that makes people miserable is not a company worth working for and I had seriously contemplated finding another job after the last pay cut.  

I got a paycheck today and I'll get one next week and that will be the end of it. 

I haven't started looking for another job.  

I've been spending every day out at the property working on the bridge and getting other things done, I have more time to get stuff done now than I did before and I am taking advantage of it.  If I go looking for a job and find something I like, they will want me to start immediately. That's the way trucking works and I would rather get these projects done first.  

And frankly, I am also contemplating a quick trip back to AZ to see mom. If I start a new job, I won't have any time off any time soon.  I have enough points on one of my rewards cards to fly to AZ and back out of the local airport and still have points left over, the trip would cost nothing to get there and back.  I would stay at mom's house and she would give me the use of one of her vehicles, the trip would cost next to nothing.  

I don't know, but it will be weeks at least before I start looking for a new job, that's what I can say about that. Not because I am sitting around the house doing nothing. I have too much to do over there and it's obviously going to take quite a bit of work to get everything ready for a soft opening.  

Now that I am unemployed, I want to get the thing up and running ASAP. 

The water is now on over there. After turning it on yesterday and having a 30 foot geyser coming out of a pipe, I shut it back off and contacted the contractor.  He sent a couple of guys over today to fix that and turn everything on, bleed the air out of the system and they sat there quite a while to make sure nothing else would happen.  

Before that, the power company engineer came out, I was not expecting him.  He called me - he didn't know I was at the back of the property clearing trees and brush to get started on that bridge project.  I told him I was there, at the property and would be up there in a few minutes.  

He laid out a proposal for a path for the power poles.  He wanted to be out further from the property line than I would have liked, but he wanted away from the huge trees. I didn't fuss with him, it's whatever to me at this point, let's get this rolling.  So, he told me about 4 weeks before they will be able to come out. I said thank you, have a great day and proceeded - to eat lunch actually lol.

When I showed up at the property, before everything else, today>?  There was a large crew of people in the back with numerous trucks sitting back there.  

I had no idea what they were doing until I got back there. They were surrounding the tanks and the well with cattle panels.  I was amused.  They had originally wanted me to put up fencing around their operation, apparently the idea of me driving around there with my vehicle, ATV and the fact that the park was obviously going to be a go, well, I guess they don't want people messing with their stuff.

I had no idea they were going to do that, nothing was ever mentioned.  I am definitely not opposed to them doing that - I am very happy I don't have to worry about that now and I don't have to pay for it.  It must have been the email I sent several days ago about a hiking trail going off to the left of the operation and a driveway to the right.  I have no access to the rear of my property except through their operation.  They have sucked untold millions of dollars worth of natural gas out of that property for almost 6 decades now, not like I'm feeling sorry that they have to spend a few bucks to upgrade it.

The back breaker tho, was all of the work it's taking just to even get to the bridge-building portion of that operation in the rear of the property.  I mean, I'm just now far enough along where I can dig out the post holes, put the 4x4's in and quick crete them into place. I am hoping to get that done tomorrow.  The rest of the project is drilling holes, cutting boards and putting in bolts.  In fact, the first part is the hardest - trying to make sure you have everything set right so it doesn't turn out funky.  

As I said on my Facebook page, I am very, very happy that I have a running 4 wheeler to get me around.  I can't do that much walking, it's far too much and would take too long. I just don't have that much energy and that thing is saving me right now. 

Definitely worth the money it cost to get it running.  

Oh, well reading my last entry, yes, I got the ATV back there with the trailer. Unloaded it and then? the ATV wouldn't back up.  I ended up having to get my SUV back in there the next day to pull the thing out of there.  Yes, the SUV made it back up the hill - this time I was going forward instead of trying to back up that thing.  The ATV pulled the empty trailer out of there as well.

I also went to Longview and got most of the materials needed to build the doggy park.  I haven't even started on that yet, the bridge needs to be done first.  

I have so much to do.  I mean, there is a lot.  The trails need cleaned up - there is a lot of twigs, branches and small logs that need to be picked up.  There are vines hanging down everywhere that need to be cut up as high as you can reach. They hang down from way up high on those trees.  

I still need to figure out a bush hog and the office building needs done.  

This is why I don't care that I'm not working right now. I AM working, just not at a paying job.  I'll be back out there again tomorrow - and every day - really, until I get some real progress and get some stuff done and over with.  

As for now? It's almost 10 pm and I'm going to bed.  

Editing: kids are sick. I can’t afford to get sick right now! 

 Monday - mid afternoon I have no idea what it is about Mondays.  Everything was going fine until I got to the loading plant.  The first thi...