I'm sorry but I'm absolute toast.  I mowed, mowed some more, then the thing ran out of gas. Refilled it and then? It wouldn't run.  This is getting ridiculous.  I pulled the spark plug out, it was in bad condition. Ran up to Auto Zone, got a new one, put that thing in there, took a few tries but it eventually fired up and didn't have a problem with it again. 

Got a call from a hazmat tanker company.  We went through the normal stuff, told me it was OTR. I don't turn it down immediately, I like to hear them out.  But, apparently, a new screen showed up on her computer and said, OHHH! We have a home daily position! 

Wait, what? She offered that after I informed her I don't know the type of tanker work she is referring to, I'd have to be trained, I only did cryogenic hauling.  But I have to tell you before I go into this any further, it's only $1,000 to $1,200 per week.  It's a short run, you do it every day? I'm not sure if it's a 7 day a week gig, I was very hot at that point, standing in the direct sunlight, had to turn the mower off to hear her.  

I don't want to work 7 days a week regardless of how short the run is, unless it's a very short run. I'm going to fill out this particular, entire application.  This is something I would be very interested in and even would consider starting right now if they mandated it.  

I'm just sitting here trying to cool off. I pretty much over-did it.  But, I kept getting lots done and thought, just one more.  And then at the last lot, the entry way triangle. Well, I'll just do that too.  It is the first thing you see when you get up to the RV park portion and I like to keep it looking decent.  

And then, after that, the area besides the last rv on the other side - chock full of weeds.  There were no weeds there before the winter grass died.  I got a good portion of that done and then it hit me.  Yup, it's time to stop right now, go get a cold drink, sit in the ac in the shed.  And that's exactly what I did. But after sitting there a while, I decided I'm done for the day.  

I'll think about going over and starting on the RV tomorrow morning.  Now that the park doesn't look like an overridden weed haven....but there's still the dog park to do and I want that done as well. 

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Just decided to go ahead and fill out that application. So much personal information the feds require any given company to ask of any potential employee, it's a bit much.  I want to see if my accident is going to hinder me from getting a decent job.  But if it's possible, I don't want to pass up the opportunity for something that gets me home when I want to - daily is good. 

The house smelled soooo good when I came in this afternoon. I have that roast in the crock pot and it smells delicious. Couple more hours before I can eat that.  I dropped 4 pounds being out in that sun. Water weight, I'm sure but more interesting is that I am now in full fledged ketosis.  I don't know what I've been eating that has been keeping me out of it. 

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They called back already and basically offered me a job. It would entail flying to Oregon and staying there up to 3 weeks with orientation and then learning how to do the particular tanker work I would be doing. I was informed the plant loads but I have to unload.  I don't care about unloading as long as I have sufficient training to understand what I am doing.  You want to know everything about whatever product you are hauling when it comes to hazmat.  

This would not be cryo stuff, but I don't care about that either. They apparently didn't care about my traffic accident and said I had amply discussed my departure from previous company that that didn't phase them either.  The only drawback? They don't have the opening until September.  I don't know if I have enough finances to last that long.  I can definitely get into August, but September?  Well, I tentatively accepted the offer and will have to grind through my finances and see if I can make it. 

It's a no brainer if I could fill the park up with long term or get it to at least 12 spots worth of them.   I can't really do anything more than I've already done, I don't think anyway, in order to get more people in there besides dropping prices even more.  Yeah, no.  Well, I take that back. I'll see with my next electric bill. It should be well down with less people in there and 5 days of the power being shut off due to that wicked storm. 

If I could get some people in there at maybe another $25 per month deduction I might see if I can go that route.  It's not impossible that the park could fill up.  It's such a fickle market and I just don't have crystal balls to see into the near future.  People move here all the time for various reasons.  There was a nurse that said she'd be coming in the next month or 2 if she gets the gig. There was another lady wanting to move a tiny house in, but it was still under construction and she said months before it would be ready. There's been all kinds of things, I just haven't seen a lot of it actually coming in. 

Well, I'm not dead set on that job. I may need to find something sooner. Perhaps there is something even better out there, who knows. But I have my foot in the door for something if nothing else comes my way that has the same appeal as getting home every day.  And probably not very long days, either.  I have ample space to park a truck at my property and no concern about thieves or vandals getting into it.  My Hipcamp area is turning into an overflow parking area as it stands. 

Hipcamp fizzled out, I don't know how you get those kinds of people in to a place.  It may be that it's a seasonal thing and right now, east Texas is not a good season for much of anything considering the heat.  Haven't really thought about Hipcamp until just now. It's up and running on there, I get very few calls about it and even fewer people showing up from it.  I dunno if a kitchen is a necessity to get people in for that.  I am not thinking about putting that kitchen in there right now, no, it's just the thought.  I did the right thing by installing a shower, bathroom and laundry. People want access to that stuff.  I've had several trailers in there with non-working water and people being forced to take showers in my facility.  

Anyway, I'm worn out.  Went to the store for horseradish for the beautiful roast, it was quite delicious.  But now I'm just laid out doing much of nothing. Taylor posted pics of their outing with the kids to the zoo up there today.  I'm missing the fun, but I wouldn't have wanted to go. Just personal issues with the people they went to see which I have already gone into.

Well, I think I will keep looking at jobs.  Just focusing on local stuff right now.  

 Friday morning - early

Decided to get the roast in the crock pot early. Small roast, I picked it up many days ago, yes it's still good lol, I smelled it and it still looks great.  Glad I bought a small one now that the folks are gone, I'll have dinners for the next several days.  Not really looking to do a lot of cooking but also not looking to spend money at restaurants.  In fact, I've been doing quite well staying away from any restaurants at all.  

Sleep fairly typical. Wake up in the middle of the night, lay there awake for however long, finally get back to sleep.  Need that to change, but I don't have any idea how to change it.  

The amenities shed is getting fairly constant use now.  The toilet, the shower stall and the laundry. When I say constant, I'm talking day time hours and some night hours, tho last night it went late.  I had to mute the phone for the endless notifications coming through.  These people that came in yesterday for an overnight stay went immediately to the shed and started doing laundry. She was in there this morning continuing on with it.  Their water lines are leaking on their trailer, they are also doing all of their bathroom breaks in there.

But even without them, there is a steady stream of people doing laundry and using the facilities.  I say this because I went to a lot of work and expense to get that thing up and running.  Long time readers already know this but I thought I'd revisit the issue momentarily to thank God that that project is almost done.  Some of the people that are long term in the park would have never come if that facility wasn't there. Just trying to justify to myself the rather large amount of money that was dumped into the thing. 

As it stands, if the bathroom facility keeps getting that kind of use, it may warrant installing another, much smaller toilet room. Not a shower, nothing in it really, just a toilet.  I've got a place for it and I've got the sewer T'ed off the main line right there.  I'm not saying it would be an "easy" project, but it is doable. However, at this point? I am done with that thing for now.  I need a long break from working on that shed.  Well, take that back, I have some painting left to do but not very much.  

Today's agenda hasn't changed from what I declared it to be last night.  Mow, mow, mow.  Possibly get started on the carpet in the RV, depending on how long I have to mow or, more likely, how long I last mowing before the heat gets to me.  We have another of an endless chain of heat advisories, saying that heat indexes will go up as high as 109 today. It was very hot yesterday, I don't doubt it will be very hot today.

I am giving up on Maria.  She never showed, she isn't saying anything, I'll just find someone else or get a bucket of water and cleaners and do it myself.  Just something I don't want to do. There are cleaning companies around and just people doing side work that I can get to do it for me.  I have - hopefully - a minimum amount more of money left getting things done in there before I can rent it out.  Holding my breath about hooking a water line up to it and pressuring it up...

Well, excepting, of course, having the title switched into my name.  That window will run out next week, I am forced to pay it.  Hate the idea, but what choice do I have, especially if I am going to want to sell it on payments?  No choice in the matter.  I am hemming and hawing back and forth about renting or selling it.  Selling it takes the pressure off of me to fix whatever may go bad.  Renting it leaves it open into perpetuity.  I think, really, selling it is the best idea. If I could get someone to make a decent down payment plus make the monthly payments, it would be a boon to my bank account over just renting it. 

I'll make that decision when I get to it, which hopefully won't be too much longer.  It needs to be useable before I either try selling it or definitely renting it.  Ill get it occupied one way or another, I'm pretty confident of that.  There are far too many people looking for housing that is affordable in my area.  With utilities and wifi included, it is a no brainer, at least to me.  I hope I don't find out differently! lol

Ok, it's time to get off my @$$ and get over there.  My coffee break time is over.  My dinner is in the crockpot, probably come home for lunch and whoa. Forgot, I need to get over to the sign place before I go to the property.  I tried to go the other day but didn't know they close at 4:00. Anyway, I intend on getting a large portion of grass/weeds cut down today.

G'day