At .07 cents per square foot, I figure around $700 to spray the grass mulch in.  I don't know what kind of prep work needs to be done, but I have a man coming out tomorrow to take a look and give me an exact quote.  This is by far the cheapest grass alternative, tho the price could be higher depending on what kind of seed he recommends.  Still, even at a grand it would be far cheaper. 

The cons - well, the biggest one is that I'll be spending my days for 2 weeks watering grass every single day.  I'll have to install water Y spigots at every lot. That isn't a lot of money but it's still work and an ordeal. I'll have to buy a lot more water hoses and sprinklers. This is why I was balking at the price of sod or grass seed. It's not just the cost of the seed or sod, it's the cost of it plus the cost of everything else.  

If I don't do it, I'll have bare bones dirt lots and that is unappealing, ugly and nothing I want to have at my park.  So, I'll update when I get the man's actual quote and what needs to be done, if anything, to prepare the soil.  I doubt too much, that spray comes with all the stuff mixed in with it that it needs to make it grow. 

The older couple is leaving on the 8th.  The scare with the man's heart and falling was too much for them, they are moving close to their family somewhere near Waco. That is a serious blow to me, not only finances but some of the eyes in the park.  I've already got 4 lots open right now. Plus another guy's work is running out next month, he'll be gone.  And so on and so forth, 

So I get this call. It goes on for a while. The more they talk, the less interested I am in having them move into the park.  About the time he started talking about building a porch out of pallets? No thank you. But they were trying to get me down to $375 per month. $400 is my rock bottom minimum.  It's just too much money in electricity coming up to think about taking anything less, $400 is too low but I've got to try to get people in there somehow.  They wouldn't budge from their $375 and I just said no thank you, $400 is the lowest I'll go.  

Another trailer I had "in the bag", another one where opportunists sold it from underneath me. This time, I had already enlisted the help of a 5th wheel rv mover and had them ready to go. It's a long story, irritating because of what these people did and I just don't want to go into it. Maybe another day. I'll say that it was promised to me, I had my act together and getting it done in the time frame they wanted and they still just decided to have multiple people coming at the same time to "look at it".  No one was going to look at it, they were going to buy it.  

I can only say that if someone is selling a bumper pull that I want, I can go get it with the SUV.  And so far, the bumper pulls I have seen in the price range I am in are complete garbage.  There is a motor coach I saw come up today that looks very good for a great price, I am - going to see it - tomorrow.  I say it that way because they said fine, we'll see you then, even sending the address. But after these last experiences, I certainly am not driving out there without verifying that they still have it and they don't have anyone else coming out to look at it.  If they're doing that, the other person can have it.  I'll just keep looking.  I look numerous times per day, new rv's come online frequently and some of them I think I want and I try to be the first respondent. This motor coach is older but it only has 52,000 miles on it.  Again, so they say.  I doubt it has 1,052,000 on it, People don't drive RV's that much even in 25 years.  Mostly anyways.  

It's a gamble at 62 miles away, the pics look good, they say the bathroom floor needs replaced.  I can either do it myself or find someone to do it - like the dude at the park looking for extra work.  

Forget that one. someone else is going to look at it.  I am not driving out there for nothing, too far and waste of time.  I did, however, find someone that had a motorcoach for sale that I did, indeed, lowball.  Just because it's all I can afford.  They came back at me with a different motor coach that is older but in excellent condition.  After discussing it with him on the phone, I decided I really want the thing. 

The problem? It's 166 miles away.  I have looked at Amtrak, Greyhound and ride shares. No Greyhound service and rideshare starting price is over $400 to get me there.  I can rent a car - over in longview, there are none available here, but I would have to drop the car off in a town 16 miles away from the town the motorcoach is located in. So, unless they have Uber, how would I get from one city to the next? The thing is in excellent running condition, even has a working generator on it. It's old, but it has been taken care of.  IF the site is correct, there IS Lyft service in Midlothian, which is 16 miles away from the town.  So, I could get there for a little over $100.  

I dunno.  I'm just pondering a lot of things right now.  

G'day

 Wednesday, mid-morning. 

I'm trying to get caught back up on my sleep.  It's working at least today.  8 hours of precious, beautiful sleep and feeling a little better. 

I have an agenda today and I intend on trying to get it done. The 4 wheeler is ready to go and try to see if it's going to work.  I am admittedly dragging my @$$ today because of the lack of sleep for 6 previous nights, save one where I did sleep fairly well.  

Loading up the 4 wheeler with the new attachment, I am asked if I want to go to lunch? Lol, I feel like I just got out of bed. BTW, summertime is upon us.  The boys are out of school for 2 months.  There are things they will be doing this summer, including a 2 week vacation to Florida (I'm not going, this is Taylor going to see an old friend).  There are other things of which escape my mind atm, but they will probably be spending a lot of time with me out in the heat.  If they don't like the heat, they can go sit in the shed.  Either way, I have stuff to do and tho they can come with me, I'm not going to be constantly watching them.

Right now,  or in the next short period of time, I really need to decide what to do about grass. Besides cost, the other thing that crossed my mind is watering it.  If a lot has a trailer on it, they are using the water hookup.  Does this mean I need to install dual water outlets at every lot?  And if I do that, I will be installing a shut off valve at ground level on all of them. One thing always leads to another in this situation.

One blow after another. The older couple are also leaving on the 8th.  The recent fall the man had and having to have a pacemaker installed left the wife needing to move somewhere where they can have family help them.  This will be a blow in a couple of ways. First, of course, another long-term leaving. Second, these people helped me watch out for the park.  I do have the camera out there, of course.

I'm going to have too many lots open and I will likely have to resort to cut throat rates again to get anyone in there.  They were only paying $400 per month anyway, but still.  I don't know what else to do besides going ahead and posting it in the local gossip venues.  I have avoided them because of some of the caustic people in those groups that find fault with everything and make snarky replies all the time.  But, one of those is the main local venue and for that, I need to at least try it once.  

The only reason I'm saying that is that a church campground that specializes in having churches come in with lots of folks is also renting out rv lots on a limited basis and advertised in there.  The fact of the matter is, I will just have to eat it and say ok, I"ll have to go with lower rates and hope there is still decent profit after the electric bills.  The only thing that really got people in there was lower rates.  When faced with $1,100 electric bills, that doesn't really sound too appealing but having 6 lots empty after they leave? That isn't going to work either. At least there is  profit to be made at a lower rate.  I think I'll list it as $400 for single AC units and $425 for 2.  

If that doesn't get people in there, pretty much nothing will beyond expensive amenities that I don't have the money to pay for right now, which namely would be a swimming pool.  A clubhouse with activites, etc.  Just not enough money. A swimming pool would get half the town over there, not just rv'ers.  Of course my insurance wouldn't allow me to do that, just saying that pools are very popular around here.  No clue.  Get my medical card renewed and go back to work, list everything at such low rates that it would be ridiculous to overlook the place and move on.  Or, do what some other parks are doing in buying these small mobile-home looking things. Or, just buy the trailers like I have been wanting to.  People will rent them, I get enough calls about it.  

I'm waiting on these people to tell me when the pasture is going to dry enough to get in there.  I have a person lined up to move the thing if this happens. If not, I'll keep looking but I'd like to find one pretty soon. 

Whatever the case, I have a driveway to try and plow.

Editing: they contacted me just now about that trailer I want to buy.  I'm going to drive the 115 miles to look at it and probably buy the thing.  

G'day

 Tuesday - late morning, everyone gone (thankfully).  House is quiet.  I got home last night around 12:45 am, opened the door to my room and turned the light on --- it took Addler totally by surprise. He was sound asleep, woke up, raised his head, looked at me dazed and confused, eyes half open, lmao.  Once he recognized who I was he jumped up to greet me.  I turned the AC in my room down to "ice cold" setting after burning up for 5 days.  I love my mother dearly, but I doubt I will be doing any visits there unless it's winter time and the temps are much cooler.  That way, the AC doesn't have to be on in her house.  She would be completely offended if I decided to stay at a hotel, so I just have to figure out something else and that something else is just be there when the house is naturally cooled down.  

It's not a money issue, she just prefers to being warm all the time.  I don't get it, but I don't have to, just have to work around it.  

I was thinking of another visit later on this year.  If it's possible, anyway.  

I found a couple of trailers I am interested in. One I probably would have already bought but the person selling it is - who knows what this person is doing. She said her boyfriend was thrown in jail and she needs the money. It's $600 and I pounced on it.  Decent shape, you can't find something in that condition for $600.  It wasn't a "scammish" type of thing. She said she was trying to get gas money so she could show it to me.  

But, 30 minutes later, she removed the listing from Marketplace, saw my questions but didn't respond. So I don't know if that means she sold it, or thinks she has it sold to me, or if she still wants to keep it? No clue.  The other one is a 5th wheel at $1,500.  This one is in really good shape, the ad says the only thing wrong with it is the refrigerator doesn't work. Great, throw the thing out and get a new one. A new regular fridge, I should add, not an RV version.  RV versions are very expensive. These are small refrigerators and they don't cost a fortune. 

I take that back, the last time I priced them they didn't cost a fortune.  That has probably changed by now.  lt is possible the fridge in it could be fixed.  Whatever the case, it rained heavily last night and the dude said he wanted it to dry out first. Not the trailer, but where he has the trailer parked. From the pics, there are no roof leaks on it at all.  I could probably rent the thing for $600 per month, utilities/lot rent included.  I figure sooner or later, I'm going to snag something decent and get the thing making me some money.  

Well cancel the trailer that the person disappeared. She wrote back - "someone" took the ac off of it and left the roof open.  In other words, there is substantial water damage to the thing.  No thank you.   A trailer like that isn't worth anything at all. Not only that, but there are no tires on it, lol.  AND it has to be moved by "noon today".  Sketchy, at best. This other trailer, however, looks really good on the inside. $1,500 is at the threshold of what I want to pay but if I advertise it on the local gossip groups I should be able to rent it quickly.  

I've never quite understood people who just let leaks go in their trailers. They must know that any rain is going to cause damage.  Any time I had a leak, I would get up there and address the problem.  There's another trailer which looked ok from the outside, but the pics inside? Lmao.  It was totally gutted. The interior had been stripped out of it and there were wires hanging down from the ceiling with trash laying everywhere.  That is just garbage, why do people even try to sell such trash? 

Anyway, the other trailer which is definitely in decent condition is being held for me.  So they say. It's parked in a field and they are saying it's too wet, ie: get stuck trying to drive out to it.  I said I want it- it's not sight unseen, there are a LOT of pics inside and out of this thing. You can tell there are no leaks, you can see the interior furnishings are in decent shape. You just have to take the person's word for it that appliances work, excepting the fridge.  I dunno, but I'm going to ask the older couple at the park if they can get it for me.  It's a 5th wheel and I have no way of moving one. If they can't, there are people in the area that will do it, just for much more money.  This is just an initial plan, of course, they have to actually sell it to me first before I can get the thing lol.  

Ok enough talk about trailers. They at least confirmed that I can take the thing in writing, in reality who knows.  As for the park. I am so out of it today.  I just didn't sleep that much during the trip and then getting home so late last night.  I slept for 5 hours and then the sun came up and woke me up.  I need to go over there and check things out for sure.  James built that attachment for the 4 wheeler and made a new hitch plate to hook the thing up to it.  There is no way I am going to even try to do any of that today.  In fact, I just need to collect some money and then I'm probably going to go straight back home.

Oh, well the outside camera also needs to be recharged.  And there is something "orange" on the side of the driveway that appeared out of nowhere.  It's hard to tell what it is, but it is a curiosity that I want to go check out.  

Oh, well the attachment is a mini plow of sorts. I has rippers on it - tines with sharp edges - that tear down into the ground and till it up.  It has a box on the top so you can put weight into it for better plowing ability.  I'll see about getting to that tomorrow. Which means getting the trailer, loading the SUV and the attachment up, taking it over there, unloading it, etc.  I want to see if I can line up getting that trailer towed over here.  If I can get it cleaned up nicely, I'll just put it in a regular RV lot. It looks like it just needs a really good cleaning on the outside of it. 

There's always plenty to do.