I basically fired the lady yesterday. Not a decision I would make lightly, but I'm tired of people taking advantage of other people. First off, they broke one of the chainsaws. I showed them how to tighten the chain before they ever used it and also to keep the bar oil reservoir full - meaning check it rather frequently.
On most chainsaws, to tighten the chain, you loosen 2 large nuts and then you turn a small screw which moved the bar forward or backward, depending on what you are doing (you'll move it backward in order to put a new chain on it).
Well, they ignored that tutorial and tried to adjust the chain without loosening the screws, which in turn stripped the adjustment screw. That chainsaw is out of commission . I have 2 others, fortunately and they are both running. Had to put a new bar and chain on one of them, but I already had that from a previous purchase.
Anyway, the second thing they did was sit around a fire I had made and burning wood. I didn't ask them to do that and more importantly, I didn't want them to do that. A huge waste of time, I can burn the wood myself over time and get rid of it. When I saw what they were doing, I asked them to please stop doing that and start cleaning the debris off of the trails.
4 hours later, they were still in that area. It's one of the areas I have designated as a campground, but it isn't any kind of priority at all. Getting the walking trails cleared IS. So I asked again, please pick up the sticks and just throw them off the side of the trail. These are small twigs but they need to be moved and any large branches and also the vines. In fact, the only one that actually followed my directions was the 17 year old, who spent the entire time until he had to leave for homeschooling at noon.
The biggest issue I had with her, however, was the fact that I came up on her around 7 times spread out throughout the day, sitting on her @$$ doing nothing. Other times, I came up on her just standing there watching the boys working while she was doing - nothing.
The final straw was when she asked for 8 hours of pay for each person - when they had left the property and taken the 17 year old home and were gone quite a while. They didn't know I did this because I hid my vehicle in the woods on the other side to see if they were going to be honest or not? No, is the answer. So, I texted her, you can stop now at 4 pm. That's all I said in that text, then she apologized for not doing what I had asked them to do, which is when I sent a text outlining all of the facts I wrote above. I won't be needing you back, thank you.
Yup, she showed up at my house wanting full pay for all hours and I was disgusted, but I said nothing to her, just paid her and said bye bye. She pleaded with me to still have the boys work over there on Monday. I thought about it and said, ok. SHE was the problem, the boys were actually working and getting stuff done. But, I'm not paying someone to stand around and supervise and she knew this fact quite clearly. I'll try Monday to get these boys on MY page, not HERS. The 17 year old listened to me yesterday anyway, he was doing exactly what I wanted done, which was clearing out the tree debris from the sides of the trails and hauling them to a burn pile.
The other one, was spending more time with her mother - tho, he was working at least, but he was cutting stuff up to put on the fire. Again, I just need a large pile made, I can burn the stuff over time, this is not something I want to pay for.
If I can get them to finish the main trails on Monday, I'll be done with them and I can possibly have them back at a future date when I'll want more stuff done that really can only be done by hand.
But, I got so disgusted yesterday at the property watching this lady doing nothing that I just threw my hands up in the air and determined I would end up having to do all of that work by myself. Hiring people off of Faceboook and Nextdoor and such is basically a waste of time, people don't want to work anymore as most of us know watching the news. It's just very hard work and after several hours of it, I'm done. I have to take a break from it - a long break - and get my energy back.
I never said it was easy work.
Regardless, I started cutting out ledges to install stairs at the bridge yesterday. I got 6 of those done before quitting. I'll need about 8 or 9 more of them. It's painstaking work because the ground is full of roots both large and small. Some roots are so large that only a chainsaw can cut them out of there. But, using a chainsaw in the dirt ruins the cutting edges on the chain rather quickly. I'm going back today, it's kind of late in the morning but I was sitting here watching videos of various different materials being used to build stairs. I was going to use the left over wood from the bridge, but it really doesn't sit in place very well.
I guess I could drill holes in them and put 12 inch stake nails through them to hold them in place. I dunno, I'm going to look at pricing on stones and pavers and see what the cost is. I would just use rocks from the property - but there are very few rocks in the region. You dig into the ground, you aren't digging into rock. It's regular soil and then clay. I just didn't want to spend any more money on this stuff, it's getting expensive and I have other things I need to be doing.
I contacted the power engineer again yesterday asking for an update. He finally texted back and said he would ask the construction crew department. He never texted after that. We're at the 4 week mark he said it would take to get them out there. I know, the last time it was closer to 2 months before they came out. I'm just going by his assessment when he first came out to propose a route for the power lines and inform me that that will necessarily give them a 30 foot wide easement. Yes, I knew that, I don't have the money to pay for underground wiring from the pole to 450 back, that would cost a small fortune and I"m counting my pennies.
I'm trying to hold out on going back to work as long as I can so I can get this stuff done and over with - AND - get the park up and running. I want to be free to address any beginning issues that may arise. I'm sure there will be some, I just don't know at the moment what kind of issues I might face. I do believe I should get some fittings to replace broken water lines. This is a problem other park owners say they run into with people running them over or otherwise breaking them and that it's wise to have such parts available at the property.\
I don't know who or why, but a tractor trailer rig drove right over the new driveway yesterday. I didn't see the truck, but the tracks it left behind are unmistakably a large truck. They drove it right over the top of my new pipes, part of each are sitting level with the top of the ground. It was necessary because otherwise, going too deep, the water would just sit in the pipes and stagnate. There will be a 6 inch deep layer of gravel over the top so I'm not worried about damage. But whoever this person was? I would have loved to catch them because I would have trespassed them from the property. I really need video surveillance out there. No power - no surveillance.
Kind of pissed me off, but it doesn't appear the pipes were damaged. I hope not, that was 2 grand worth of pipe. I'm getting cones today to sort of barricade the entrance off on both ends. Just 2 cones and signs - no entry, authorized personnel only. Or whatever the store has. I can't be having people driving heavy equipment over that driveway, end of story. Sooner or later, enough times of heavy trucks and it will break that pipe.
Well, off to the races. Put in inquiries on dozer rental and waiting to hear back. Nothing local, they don't rent them to people who aren't contractors around here. It will cost a small fortune for the delivery since the nearest places are 30 miles away. I have little choice, I need one if I can get one, I really don't want to have to use a bobcat to do all of that work. I dozer will do the work 4 times faster and with better results.
G'day.
