Ok.  Well, I dug down - a lot of digging down.  I got the water pipe and the sewer pipe exposed.  It is not pointing the direction I thought it would be and these people did not locate these utilities in a good spot.  For a smooth install for the sewer - not too many turns/bends, I need to go straight towards the shed.  To do that here? I'll have to dig out gravel on pad 14.  

Just really lame setup.  If something happens, they'll be digging up site pads, ridiculous.  The other side is not set up like that, if something happens, they'll be tearing up the driveway but they won't be needing people to move their trailers.  I wasn't there when the did this west side trench, I had no idea this is what they were doing, if I did, I would have told them this is unacceptable.  I don't have much of a choice. If I try to go around the pad, I'll end up with 3 elbows, 2 of them 90's.  Don't really want 90's if at all possible, certainly don't want 2 of them close to each other.  

Well anyway, it took about an hour and a half to dig that all out.  I'm ready for the mini-ex.  I would have gotten it today - but.....it's going to rain tomorrow. I get the mini-ex for 24 hours, meaning if I were to have rented it today, I wouldn't have been able to use it tomorrow.  I am not wasting my money, I have a slate of things I want to do with that machine and I will wait until I have 2 days in a row to use the machine.  It was rather deflating.

After that, I went to Longview to get the rest of the flooring. This is new-in flooring, they just brought it into their stock. They had sold the entire rest of the pallet to one man and then they said they can't get anymore.  Wut.  It was cheap, I should have bought it all at the same time, silly me.  I will be taking the other stuff back, I'm not going to eat it.  I would be happy to wait for them to bring in some more, but they said they can't even order it. 

Heading back from Longview and failing at that mission, I decided to stop by the park. I just never know what's going to be happening over there, new people show up but they don't tell me they are showing up.  I wasn't expecting anyone, no one has said they are coming. 

Well, when I drove in there, there was this dude attempting to level a trailer.  His trailer was blocking the view of other trailers next to it, I thought it was the dude that had shown up on Friday. He said he would be back Monday.  So I pulled up and said something about trying to level the trailer.  But I'm looking at this guy - this isn't the dude that showed up on Friday. OH, are you helping him get set up?  He looks at me funny. We're both confused. Hi, remember talking to me - whenever?  

No. I don't.  I walked to the back of the trailer to see around it and 2 lots over, there was the Friday dude's trailer.  Now I'm thinking, gee, these people just show up and take a spot without even asking? This guy wasn't telling the truth, but I let it slide. It turns out he is the father of one of the 2-some that showed up a few weeks ago and the son was at his trailer doing something.  He came over and explained it all. This is the other guy that was coming, my father.  He just showed up a few weeks later.  

Ok, I remember him saying he was going to show up 2 others, but when he only showed up with 1, I just figured the other dude wasn't coming or found some other place he liked better?  I dunno.  The lack of communication with some of these people......Anyway, they are all 3 being paid by some company that deals with big companies that are in the fracking business (and probably other businesses as well) that takes care of housing issues.  I will be getting a check for the first 2 at the beginning of the month, she hasn't yet called me about this guy. 

This is how much the oil and gas business is worth. They pay their workers per diem and they pay for their housing. All 3 of them are welders. I will be texting the lady from that company shortly.  

I am now at 9 long term. It's happening faster now, it seems.  The Facebook ads are paying off.  I have had more luck with them than the far more expensive google ads, which I shut down.  Not worth it.  

If I could only start filling the rest of the lots of with overnighters. This is what the rush to get the shed done is all about.  Get a steady flow of overnighters in for the rest? I don't have to go back to trucking. 

__________

Rain may hold up any progress with trenching for a week or more.  It's going to be spaced out just enough to make it impossible - or highly difficult anyway - to do any trenching.  I am moving on with the inside of the shed and I will get to the trenching when the weather stops this stuff and I can get on with it.  

To that end, I will buy whatever flooring I can find tomorrow and install it.  Which means I need a small shed for all of my gear.  I can't keep it in there if I"m going to have it filled up with amenities.  Just what I need, yet another expense.  We definitely don't have room for all of that stuff at the house and I don't want to have to be running back and forth to the house to get a tool or something every time I need it.  I dunno, I just see no end in sight to these endless expenses.  

Thank you for reminding me. The cheapest shed I could find now ordered, should arrive later this week. Nothing huge, nothing fancy, but has a door and lockable.  All of my gear should be able to fit in there, tho I will have to get some shelving to install as well.  And a floor, tho I think we have a piece of plywood laying around here that will work.  

I'm trying to be minimalistic as possible...but I have things I just have to have.  

After the flooring, I can start installing outlets in the shed and run the wiring. You aren't really supposed to do that without the main ground wiring first, but who cares.  I need to get the stuff done and I'm not going to sit around endlessly waiting for the weather to get better to to the trenching.  I can keep myself occupied with other things that must be done in order to make it work.  

And I can - well I dunno but maybe I can run the 2 inch drain line for the washer to the outside at least and get it ready. That should keep me occupied for quite a while.  

Did I say I received an email today indicating that the washer and dryer will be brought to the property on the 15th? I didn't? Well now I did lmao.  Oh dang, well excuse me for a second, I need to order something else.  Well darn, I don't know how wide it is.  I'll have to measure it tomorrow. I need an outdoor enclosure for the water heater.  

Oh, well they have "white glove service" for the washer and dryer.  Just means they will bring it in the shed, put it wherever I want and then I have to sign off it's in perfect condition.  We'll see what condition they are in. They were trucked from New Jersey to Dallas in a UPS truck, that spells trouble right off the bat. 

OH, well the generator should fit into that shed and then everything else is relatively small besides shovels. I have a lot of different kinds of shovels.  Don't forget that pickaxe, I thing I would have never bought unless the 8 year old prodded me to do so. He wanted it as a toy, I have used it several times over for various dirt digging projects including today, trying to get down to the underground wiring and pipes.  Which I did and I give partial thanks to that pickaxe.  The site - pedestal included - is now covered with a large tarp and surrounded by caution tape.

Anyway, enough.  Time to wind down.  

 Monday - morning

Yesterday was church then the property.  New couple moved in - they're there until June, they say. There is no telling, really, how long any of these energy workers will be around. They say long term - some of them say a long time.  I don't really need any of them to be leaving right now, thanks.

I need some more long term in there, hence I placed another pay-FB ad.  This is more than marketplace, it shows up when people are looking for certain things, in this case: RV park in my area. 

I have 2 tenants on T-Mobile right now with no complaints so far.  I'm going to send a message to the rest of them to please switch over and we will see what happens.  It won't bother me to get a second T-Mobile router - at that price I can afford to up the ante and also have that price locked in "forever", so they say.  That's unlimited data that can handle up to 66 devices on it at one time.  This is their claim, we will find out soon enough if it's true.

The garbage pile across the street continues to grow.  The man that lives there picked up some of the trash scattered all over the yard the other day - I saw him out there - but not all of it and just took it to his ever-growing pile of trash and dumped it on there. In other words, it's going to end up all over the yard again.  I don't know what happened to the letter I tried to print to the lady that owns the home - it didn't print - but I will try again this morning.  

Today's task is to at least try to dig down to the underground pipes and expose all of it to see what I need in terms of fitting.  I assume a 4X4X4 wye-T for sewer and a 2X2X1 T for the water.  But who knows, I need to get down there and find out.  I'm motivated, I just don't know about having to dig through layers of roots again.  I'm going to try, that's what I can say about that.  

I feel pressured to get all of this done, before those machines arrive.  Get the thing up and running and hope people use it and also hope it draws in more people. It will have to have that small bathroom in there for the latter tho.  I expect a shower will get used - frequently.  It will add another layer of "things to do" on a daily basis in cleaning it, but if it brings in revenues, I'm fine with that.  

And I've sold myself on a couple of electrical outlets near the back of the shed and a water spigot.  With a bathroom, I can get the people in there that don't have bathroom facilities in their rigs.  This is lost revenue that is easily fixed after I finally get the utilities to that shed.  I really think the reason I am not getting more people in is the lack of a shower with a big water heater that a person can take a longer shower in.  However, I have heard that some of these newer RV's are coming equipped with those inline heaters that heat the water as it passes through.  There is a reason all of those new ones have to have a 50 amp outlet and I doubt 2 AC units on the roof are the only reason. 

Why am I sitting here writing instead of at the property? It's early, it's cold outside and I'm enjoying my morning coffee.  Feeling pressured doesn't mean I have  to get up and run over there right now.  It means I have a goal for today and I hope to accomplish that goal and then move to part 2.  However, there is a 97% chance of rain tomorrow, which will further delay everything.  

All I can say is, I need 4 more long term tenants.  Leave myself 2 overnight setups and call it a day.  Or just fill the whole place up with long term - still pretty wishy washy on that and I really won't have a pulse on what the potential is for overnighters until I get that shed completed.  I suppose tomorrow if it's raining I could install the floor tile I bought - the cheapest stuff they had, just don't like the idea of bare particle board floors.  I didn't even buy enough to cover the whole thing, I guess I best go back and get the rest of what I need before they sell that stuff out.  Another trip to Longview.  

I'm still thinking I best put a door code locking handle on that shed for when I open it up to guests.  The code can be given to them at time of arrival or over the phone.  This way I can at least know that only guests have access.  There will be stuff that can be stolen from in there.  I'm not overly concerned about theft, but you know that thieves are everywhere.  I don't care how big or small the town is, there are thieves there.  

The older couple sent me a message yesterday: We're really glad you are filling up the park!  They were wishing me success.  The park is no longer underwater so it's not insolvent. It may not be making a huge amount of money - yet - but it's definitely taking care of itself now in terms of meeting financial obligations and not draining my personal accounts dry.  

Alright, so now I have a guy coming sooner or later to bush hog the weeds.  It won't happen this week if it rains.  I need those weeds out of there, it's just an eyesore.  Not as bad as the trash across the street, but certainly up there in "ugliness" category.  

I have increased the amount of work I will want to get done with the excavator. Besides trenching from spot 14 to the shed and trenching along side the driveway for water runoff, I also want to clear out enough space behind the shed for at least 2 small rigs to be able to easily park in there.  This is not a new gravel setup - not now anyway. It will be listed as dirt with access to electricity, bathroom and kitchen. There will be no surprises.  

Well, I'm offa here. Coffee is almost downed and I do want to get a start on the day.

G'day