Monday, May 22, 2023

 With everything I bought to install the drain,  I am short 1 screw collar for the final connection : ( 

I was just at Lowe's a few hours ago! I'm also wondering how they expect yo to screw on a fitting onto the water connection to the faucet in such a tight space? This is worse than auto mechanics!

On a better note, an older couple are moving into one of the pull through lots for a month or two while they have a house built on some land they bought nearby.  I'll take a month or 2 stay over nothing.  He showed up, we talked, he left saying he would discuss it with his wife and then 5 minutes later he came back: we'll take lot 3, thank you.  So I ecppect (hopefully) them to show up tomorrow.  I need one more long term to shore up my finances for this month.  

I just can't believe I have to go to Lowe's one more time just to finish this junk up.  It's a bit aggravating, I thought there would be enough collars in all the kits I bought to cover all of it.  One a nicer not, that isthe last fitting on the drain and it should be good to go. 

I am not hooking up the water supply until that drain is completely finished. I can just see someone coming in, using the sink and having water going all over the place.  

So what am I doing now? Waiting for solvent to dry on a couple of fittings to make sure I have a good connection that is nicely sealed.  Turns out the glue I have for my insulation? Will work find on the counter top to secure it to the cabinet.  I also put up a curtain over the window and then realized it does not block the view.  I'm going to cut the curtain in half, it's much longer than I need it to be and then double it.  Can't have peeping Toms having access to looking through a bathroom window to see people doing whatever they are doing in there.  

Not that there are any peeping Toms around here. I currently have a piece of insulation in it to block the view.  

The AC is barely keeping up with the heat. It's too small and I will have no choice but to replace it with a much bigger unit with twice the output.  I don't want the compressor running literally all day long for it to try and keep it cool in here.  Yes, I am at the shed, taking a break since I have to leave and go get that part.  If I can figure out how to use the pex clamper, it shouldn't take more than half an hour to install the water pipe.

I say should.  Who knows how long it will actually take..

I suppose while I"m at Lowe's I might as well mosey on over to Walmart and do the dreaded jeans shopping.  Oh. I have a 9 foot tall piece of pipe to install outside for the drain but I'm not putting that in until I have the drain and the water running.  I want to be sure it's leak free.  Then I can pile dirt under that pipe and where the T is where the pipe will go. It's a pretty good piece of pipe. Just don't want that putting that much weight on a line that has no support underneath it. I suspect a couple more hours after I get the part and I hopefully will have the vanity completed. 

What's next after that? Well I need the grass. It's all dying now that the heat came back. But there is no way I'm ordering that much grass to be delivered with only 2 days before I'm leaving for AZ. It will have to wait until I return.  I want as much time as I need to install it. If it sits on pallets for over a week, I suspect it will all just die and I will have wasted a lot of money.  I am also going to at least try to get someone out here to help me install it.  It's probably a futile waste of time - people mostly don't like to work-

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I watch the travel trailers for sale on Marketplace frequently. When I saw one for sale at $500 and the exterior in excellent condition, even tho it says it has water damage - I immediately replied that I'll take it today, I have cash.  She didn't respond tho she saw my message, so I guess I lost that one.  There is another one that is decent but much more money of course.  The lady with the $500 one said her father had passed and she's just trying to get rid of it.  

Hours later. I actually was the first reply to the ad.  The roof has a leak, I suspected the interior would need work, but the exterior is in excellent condition.  In fact, there is cabinet work that will have to be done and I am hoping this carpenter in the park will do some side work for me. He did offer.  He does great work as well.  I take it back on the exterior. The pics that are shown show it in excellent condition, there is an entire side that isn't in the pics.

However, she took a video of the inside and it doesn't appear that the inside of the side not showing in the pics is damaged.  It's the thing about RV's. Any RV. You have to maintain them, especially the roof.  If you don't fix leaks right away, it can cause a lot of damage.  The video shows a lot of stuff laying around, a portion of the floor that will need replaced and roof work over one area.  Now, if I go over there and it's totally trashed, more than what meets the eye on the video, I will just leave without it.  But if it can be fixed even if spending a few thousand dollars. that thing will be worth much more than I paid for it and I can test drive this theory of selling an RV with a down payment and making monthly payments on it. \

I don't know, but every trailer I've looked at excepting the more expensive ones need some kind of work done on it. I know I said I don't need another project, but at this price and if it's in good enough condition, that's hard to pass up. And if this guy was serious about side work, I can have a person with the gift of woodworking do the job for me.

Well enough.  The grumpy people are complaining that the newcomers next to them are speeding through the park. Well, if that's true, I will take the grumpy people's side on that one.  People don't need to be flying in and out of the park.

I will also have to bite the bullet and get a much larger ac unit for the shed. And when I come back, I'll have to get that sod.  This stuff isn't free, folks, it's really eating me up in expenses.  Grass sod is a one time deal. It thrives in the summer, dies in the winter, but comes back in the spring.  Winter grass does no such thing, but I only put that down to get some greenery going.  The shed AC would also be a one time thing and at least, the ac I put in there was free.  It was worth a try.  A bigger unit will keep it cool in there and it won't have to have the compressor on constantly trying to keep it cool. Plus, I can have remote access to it via wifi, which is important now that I see people fooling with the controls.  They turn it to a cooler setting? I'll wait til they leave and put it back to whatever, probably around 75 degrees.  

I dunno.  I just keep hoping the start-up expenses would go away.  That's not quite what's been happening....














 Monday - morning. Off and on sleep.  Trying to wake up so I can get over there and try to finish this vanity situation, or at least get it working.  If I want to put a mirror up, I will have to install the drywall there above the vanity so I can glue one to it.  I haven't decided that yet, not a huge priority.  I did discuss with a new arrival about doing the drywall - he's a carpenter that says he has done it in the past - but he isn't any better at it than me, or so he says.  Whatever, I'm not going to pay thousands of dollars to have drywall installed.  If I can find a handyman to do it for a fair price, I will go that route.  

Basically, I need to get that vanity done so I can get my stuff out of there and at least have the bathroom emptied of my tools. They are not in the way of anything but it's not a good look.  The other thing I want to install in there that I forgot about is a small sitting bench for people to be able to remove and put back on their clothing if they take a shower.  

Whatever the case, someone is doing laundry over there right now, I can finish the drain installation pretty quick, the water will have to wait until I can shut it off to the shed.  I don't know how much laundry they need to do and I am not going to interfere with it.  It's the older couple and we have expressed our mutual feelings for each other recently in text messaging.  They are really nice people.  They are getting a really good rate and they have one of the nicest spots in the park.  As long as they are there, I won't be changing that, they have their own yard. They have wind chimes out there, bird feeders, all the stuff you would do to make it your own space.  It looks nice. 

Anyway, I decided a couple new pair of jeans for the trip- they're going to have to be 35's for now.  I have a couple pair of 34's that fit okay, the rest don't fit at all.  But, I am likely going to be cheating on the diet the entire time I'm there.  I'll have to "pay" for that when I get back, I'm prepared to do some fasting and just cut calories to the extreme when I return. 

I still do not "feel" like traveling. I like home, I like being home.  I've done enough traveling in my lifetime for 100 people if putting it into the context of trucking. I've seen all of America besides Hawaii and Alaska. All of it.  From Washington (state) to Miami, to Maine to - everywhere.  We also did a lot of traveling when I was a child going to national state parks and tent camping all over the place.  I've probably been through every mountain range, all of the plains, etc etc etc.  I just don't have the traveling bug in me anymore and I don't know if it will ever return.

However. The state of Texas sent me a notice that my medical card needs renewed by the middle of July. I will be renewing it.  If you don't, they cancel your CDL and you have to take the tests all over again to get it back.  So, a $100 medical exam or a real PITA trying to get a CDL back - that seems to be a no brainer. I have far from written off trucking altogether, only out of the thought of potential necessity, not out of any feeling of desire to go back.  My hazmat endorsed license is good until my birthday in 2026.  I have the feeling I will be forced back into trucking.  

 I owe $689.86 on the SUV and it's done. I'm thinking to pay it off and get it over with.  Removes $350 per month payment which will be quite helpful right about now.  I am keeping close track of expenses at the moment.  The grass situation is really annoying me, actually, just because it's such a huge expense that I will either have to make - or not and have dirt lots.  Anyway, if I get the last payment taken out - which is soon, then I will owe the final payment and I won't want to wait anyway. 

Well let's see.  3 more days before I leave. Up at 3:30 am to be over to the GGG airport which is something like 40 miles away.  Just a few things needed to purchase for clothing and I'm good to go. My new piece of luggage showed up a few weeks ago, it looks pretty nice. I could have gotten away with a carry on  now looking at it, but I won't have to fool with getting stuff out of the overhead storage on the airplane.  If I"m there by 4:30 am, that is 1 and a half hours to get through security so it should be enough. It's a very small airport and we are talking a small Embraer jet - well small by commercial standards anyway - not that many people can fit onto the thing and  every time I've gone through there in the past the check in was easy.

It's big airports where I've had trouble. For some reason, they want to search me every single time,, even after going through their scanning machine. They want to feel your crotch and butt, which annoys me because they really feel you there. Like going over it several times?!!  What, did you think I was going to grow a pistol in between gropes?  I've made my distaste to them known on a few occasions, which is where they try to exert their pathetic authority - which is where I let them know in no uncertain terms the uselessness of their operation and how many times the government has done tests to see if weapons can get through the screening - which they do. 

I don't know how those people can do those jobs feeling people like that all day long.  But then again, I don't know how surgeons can stand to take a scalpel and start cutting into human flesh without it making them feel very uneasy.  Or several other jobs/vocations I can think of where I would be repulsed, disgusted or otherwise made to feel very uncomfortable in performing the required tasks.  

My ads are running, if anyone needs a long term spot, it's showing on Google and Facebook.  I can only hope/pray that some new people will need a space to stay for an extended period.  Or, short terms keep coming in. The repeat customer that was here for 4 days?  Just did 2 more reservations for the next 7 days.  It helps. It isn't enough, but it helps.  My current long term rate is $450 and I don't know that I want to lower it any. What I need to do is go through all the surrounding park's sites again, those that have online access anyway, and see what they are currently charging.  It's pretty competitive around here, I need to keep apprised of others' rates and I haven't done that in a while. 

Well, time to get out of here. I have to go to lowe's to get whatever it is you use to hold a counter top in place and go to the property and get all of that done.

G'day. 







 The only thing I know - or hope anyway - is that I'm going to church today. Whether these kids go or not is entirely up to them. I'm not going to sweat it either way.  I know you can't force God down people's throats with any kind of great results beyond negativity, resentment and loathing.  I was single digit age and was carried out to the car several times because I didn't want to go to church. I hated it.  I thought Jesus was a cartoon character that kids used crayons to color on paper - I really didn't know He was a real Person.  

I knew there was a God and I was terrified of Him, but I had no concept of the connection between God the Father and God the Son.  This is why I'm not even pushing this on these kids at all. It's entirely up to them - well their parents have to ok it of course but that hasn't been an issue - whether they go or not.  

As for me, I am now in the habit of going to church and I mostly like it tho I don't agree with some of the preaching, well, some of the omission of the preaching that goes on that doesn't include any reference to repentance when coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are many references to repentance throughout the Bible, it's not a made up conception.  

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Well that changed. We went to church, the boys loved it, we got out, no fussing, found out Taylor wasn't having the 8 year old go along with her today anyway. Applebee's, home, relax.  

And looking at trailers.  One of them is a beast.  It's huge and has 3 axles on it. It's 2001 model, it appears from pics it's been parked under a canopy and one of the slideouts had everything torn out of it. All of that would have to be replaced.  Carpet and a couch.  Or a table, or whatever was in there.  But it's 3 grand and tho it looks great except a few things, I don't think I can afford to dole out 3 grand right now plus replacing carpeting and furniture.  Well, take that back, I could, but it would take all that was given to me to do it.  

And then, tho I've had numerous calls and I know there's a shortage of housing, will someone rent it?  Well, buy it, really, with the method I was looking at online.  Good down payment and get another 8 out of it plus lot rent.  

My overnighters left and I'm back to 4 open lots.  2 of them need filled pretty filled, soon. I have one person very interested, that's it. There was a person driving a late model Corvette through the park a few days ago, dunno about them. Maybe another person wanting to buy RV parks.  If you can afford a car like that, I don't know why you'd want to be living in an RV.  I need some people by the end of the month, that's all I know.  

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