Wednesday, September 28, 2022

 Didn't sleep worth a nickle last night, but had to get up early to finish out the job this morning. 

Yesterday, the entire day was spent moving dirt from the pile up front to the various places the dirt was needed out back.  Specifically: the bridge, the drop-off and another drop-off right where I park my vehicle whenever I'm over there and working in the back.  

The 2 drop-offs are the intended driveway to the rear of the property. The drop-off that I have been referring to for a while now? Took a lot of dirt and then a lot of gravel to get it to where I could trust it to drive my SUV over it.  If I can do that, certainly any pickup can make it over it as well.

No, I haven't tried yet.  I want to drive over it with the 4 wheeler for a while and get it compacted in there nicely.  I can't be driving in there and find out I can't make it back out.

Anyway, about 7 hours into it and I was done for the day.  I still had the drainage pipe at the front to deal with.  ON that, specifically, filling it back in with top soil and compacting it back in.  That took longer than I expected it would.  I was pushing the time limit for 24 hours by the time I finally got the machine loaded back on the trailer, went to the fueling station and filled it back up with diesel and then got it back to their yard.

I was fretting taking it back. There is a pretty good dent on the rear door that I hadn't noticed before I left their yard with it.  The fretting is having to pay a solid amount of money to replace that door.  I had backed into a tree, but not very hard. That door is solid, thick metal.  It was a curiosity to me, but I just came to the conclusion that I would have to face whatever music they would give and pay for it.

However, when I got there and told them about the door, the yard dude said: "Well, it's not that bad, it's ok but I'll has him". Him being the guy that manages the place.  He came out, looked at it, thought for a minute and said: "I don't think you did that" in a deep, Texas drawl, lol.  Oh? Yeah, I have a door on an old machine I am already going to replace it with.  

Sighs great relief and saying to myself: "Self, you best be checking out the whole machine next time you rent one and note any damage, take pics for that matter".  It's probably not the biggest deal ever, the machine is old and has dents and damage all over it.  Works perfectly fine, but definitely has been through the wringer.  

I have a crew of people out there clearing the trails right now.  I'm not supervising them at the moment because I am extremely tired and decided to go home and try to take a nap for a while and then go out and watch them - probably help as well.  The outside temps have come way down and even yesterday afternoon, I wasn't burning up in that machine.  It was a bit warm, but not hellish hot.  Makes a big difference.

No power company out there, yet.  If they don't show up this week, I'm calling the engineer and asking for an update on when they are arriving.  

I still have lots of cleanup work to do on the lots and I really want a dozer for that.  I'm not sure about the affordability of getting one, but I would have all that done in a day plus clearing weeds and leveling the ground plus, hopefully, doing some work in the back on the trails.  There is still a driveway I need to plow and a dozer would be the perfect machine for it.  It may be that I'll have to rent one for two days.  

But that's not now.  Now, I need to get a bit of rest and get out there and see what these people are accomplishing.  They just called and asked where to put branches for the burn pile? The burn pile is apparently large now.  I said just put them off to the side, I'll be out "soon" and light that pile on fire and start burning it up.

Note that it is an ex military lady and her 2 sons.  The sons are black kids - very muscular and obviously in very good shape.  I don't know what their work ethic is, but with mama there, it shouldn't be a problem keeping them working.  I noted to her yesterday that "some kids like to play on their phones" instead of working.  Yeah, she said, hence my boys phones do not have cell service, they can only use them with wifi.

There's a tough mama! lol.  I'm not racist, btw, noting their race, just  noting that they were quite muscular - 17 and 25 year old.  Not fact, gooey kids that you wouldn't expect to get much out of.  They were also very respectful.  I like that, I encounter lots of kids nowadays that have no respect for adults or authority.  

Anyway.  The sign is finally being made.  They found a "different supplier" for the shade of green they wanted to use. These people are self-described very picky about the materials they use.  As I said in a past post here, they claim that some of their signs have lasted over 20 years.  Yeah, I don't want a half-@$$ed job, number 1 and number 2, I don't want to have to be replacing a sign 2 years down the road.  So I'm hopeful that they will produce the quality they claim they will.  

I never heard back from the internet engineer. Not a priority atm.  Getting that done would mean incurring another monthly bill which I don't need right now.  I'll get back with them when I have a clearer idea when the park is actually going to open.

People are calling, btw, about the park.  Do you have a space available?  Twice yesterday and once the day before.  Google search puts my park in the map listing you see when you are looking for something and it shows all the available places in that town or area you are looking at.  I haven't checked where it is in the page rankings lately.  

My price is going to be $400 per month plus a flat fee for electricity.  It will be listed as $525 per month includes all utilities/electric (yes, I know electricity is a utility but some people don't, lol).  That sound high? Well, I'm in this for a profit.  My park will be unique in that it's over 450 feet from the nearest road.  It's in a beautiful area and it has those lovely walking trails.  I'm more about overnighters but have come to the conclusion that there is more of a demand for long term.  

The long term stays will be in the back in pads only.  I will attempt to reserve the pull throughs for short stays only. That's what they're for. Pull in, stay a night or however many  nights and pull straight back out. Especially appealing to those pulling cars or trucks, they don't have to unhook them to pull in.  There was no extra cost to making pull throughs, btw, excepting I made the pads 5 feet longer to accommodate longer rigs pulling either cars or even 20 foot utility trailers. I've seen them all over the place in my travels. 

Well, the day isn't getting any younger and I really need my nap.

G'day

 Friday late-morning Typical morning when there is no work.  It was, I should say, until the new guy called.  "There's nothing wron...