Well....

The tiller worked, not great but good enough to spin the blades.  I went to work with it. Quickly found out the ground is much too dry to be tilling it.  I spent an inordinate amount of time with it and got maybe 30 feet in 45 minutes? I can't even imagine how many weeks it would take to till the rest of it at that pace.  I stopped.  When I realized the futility of it, it was time out.  It wasn't going anything near this slow pace when I was tilling right after rains. 

There isn't any real chance of rain around here for a while.  I don't even know what I'm going to do about grass now.  I think when you get to a point like this, you put on the brakes and you don't do anything until a clear picture/answer unfolds.  I'm going to keep looking around for a tractor for rent with a tiller attachment or a plow - disc assembly.  But I'm not going to waste as much money as that sod is going to cost until I have this right. That ground is hard and that is not ideal or even mediocre conditions for planting grass.  It's dried out, I would have to spend a lot of time and money in water just getting the ground moistened up enough to even think about doing that.

So I'm just putting it on hold.  I don't care if it stays on hold until it's time to plant rye grass. 

These people staying for a week showed up today.  It was pretty interesting the thing they were driving. A very old coach painted deep purple.  They paid the $150 and then I listened to their life story. They are poor, basically broke tho she gets disability.  He's going to look for a job,, they want to stay and asked if I could work with them on paying lot rent a couple of days late.  

Don't be confused here, I did collect what they owed me for the next week, but they are talking about staying long term.  Yes, I can wait a couple of days for the lot rent, I replied and they were happy about that.  

The guy that called several times last week wanting to come? Is coming tomorrow.  That helps.  Things might be starting to look up a bit.  A couple more and I'd be sitting in a much better place.

I easily found the water leak on the RV.  Just went inside, went to the approximate location where it was coming outside, found a panel, opened up and walaah. There is a water line going to the shower that came off of the fitting completely. I'm not saying it is going to be an easy fix, but it shouldn't be impossible. Just a very tight space to work with.  

Over to the sign shop, showed up there right as they were leaving? It was 12:30.  Weird. I did, of course, completely forget the stop at Walmart I need to make, oh well. 

Home - let the dogs in, quite hot outside then over to the property, deal with some things and then back home. 

I'm disappointed with the grass situation but I feel like it's out of my hands.  Realistically, I could water all of the remaining lots and get the soil loosened up. Just not interested in the water bill that will come the next month . 

Well. And now received payment from the tent people for 8 days past due and the next 7 days.  See? These people worked out.  I gave them a chance, they flew with it, she found a job and now I think I am comfortable in selling the RV to them.  She's lasted long enough at the new job to determine that they must like her work well enough to keep her around.  She has a really good attitude as well.  I'm very happy for them and I certainly hope the good things happening in their lives continues.  It is probably very much nicer in that air conditioned shed all day long than this ridiculous heat as well.  More reason for her to be motivated to succeed. 

I'm going to bed early. If I'm to stay up half the night, I might as well get whatever sleep I can before then. 

 I've watched series on serial killers and what motivates them, but it's still a foreign phenomenon to me . What would possess a man to just go out an indiscriminately kill strangers they don't even know?  This Gilgo situation is fascinating in that respect.  They expanded the investigation to South Carolina and put up on a map a series of murders that are unsolved that they apparently believe was his doings.  

Trump-DeSantis.  That's all it is in the Republican primary.  The rest of them in the pool have little to no chance of winning the primary.  I don't really care what people think about my views on this in terms of coming out and bashing Trump supporters, calling them a threat to democracy, domestic terrorists, a cult and all the rest of it: I'm voting Trump in the primary.  DeSantis isn't the man for the job right now, IMO. 

And I find it suspicious that the mainstream/legacy media is pushing for DeSantis. These are people that are far left progressives that have no say in what goes on in the Republican party. If they are pushing for a certain candidate, there must be some reason - and not likely a good one - that they want this.  Trump has been through everything, they are pushing to throw him in jail, if you want to solidify a base of supporters, just take the actions that the DOJ and other "government entities" have taken against Trump and continue on with new charges as you go along. 

What I like about Trump is his stance on the world stage. He is not for new wars and he isn't a pushover.  I like his stance with the EPA and other governmental agencies.  I loved when he forced any new bills to remove 2 existing laws before they could implement a new one.  His take on spending - not so great.  But with everything else he did, I'm fine with him.  Maybe Desantis is the man for another election, I'd like to find out why the left is pushing for him so hard before I want to step onto his side.  

_______________

Enough politics, but I am watching it more now since we are basically in the Presidential election cycle.  A lot of things can happen between now and November of next year, I like to follow along with it and watch the developments.  I'd like to see Biden gone. Even if a democrat wins, it's an "anything but Biden" election cycle much like the left treated Trump in the last election. I continue to watch him muddling through press conferences, getting angry, definitely not all there...anyone that would dump their bias and just watch all the times he goes off in these tangents where he is mumbling stuff that is unintelligible should be able to come to grips with the point: there is no way this man can last another 4 years after this coming year is up.  And frankly, he can subject himself to mental acuity testing or whatever they call it just like they demanded with Trump....oh, he probably already has been subjected to that, they just aren't telling us the results.

Now then. I slept like - not so good last night.  I think some of this is stressing over finances.  That job offer may be too far out.  I just had a couple call me and tell me they need to stay for a week. Yes! They're coming in today.  Plus the other people coming in for 9 days 2 Sundays from now, it all adds up.  It helps me last longer before I have to throw in the towel and take whatever I can find for a trucking job.  

The tiller. I got that thing last night.  Like I posted, the man didn't even show up until 8:30, which apparently are the beginning of his prime hours for working. It's very warm inside his building, that may have something to do with it. No AC, just fans and what looks to be a swamp cooler.  It's a big building, keeping that place cool would cost a fortune in electricity.  

Anyway, I brought it home - I wasn't going to drive over to the property with it, no sense in it.  Fired it up, put it on the run setting that he had marked on it, ran on low idle. I was instantly a bit nervous.  Uhh, this isn't going to work. Moved the lever over to the middle and it instantly went into high idle mode - the only mode that thing will work in.  If it stays running like that, it will finish the job.  

Yes, I'm going to get out there in this wicked heat and do at least a couple hours of it.  Iced down Gatorades and water, keep hydrated, work until I can't take it.  The humidity is something I have never really gotten used to.  You can just stand there and start sweating profusely without having to do anything.  Wish me luck, lol.

I have no idea when the folks are coming home.  I will brace myself for cranky kids who just spent 8, 9 or 10 days (depending on when they get home but it is probably going to be Saturday which is 10 days) having a blast doing whatever they wanted and now coming back to reality and the "boring" home life.  In fact, I don't know that I want to even be here for that.  I didn't get to go on a vacation and I don't really feel like I want to hear people complaining about stuff simply because party time is over and they want to crank on people. Whether that's kids or adults.....I'm not saying the adults will be that way, but they will tire quickly of the kid' crankiness, that is guaranteed.  

Wherever the snakes went - I look for them frequently - I have no idea. They're back there somewhere, I just haven't been able to find them.  I don't like snakes, but if they're the kind that eats rodents AND they are non-venomous AND they aren't water snakes that will eat my fish, then I'll leave them alone. But I must see these creatures for myself and have them identified before I can say, oh, they're perfect!  I would love it King snakes would move in, they not only eat rodents, they also eat other snakes. Yup, just swallow them whole. Get rid of the Copperhead population.  

I can now fairly confidently identify cottonmouth, copperhead, king, rat, plain belly watersnakes, some garter snakes and a few other species after having been in a snake ID group for quite some time.  Any snake I don't know what it is, I can take a pic, put it in that group and usually within a few minutes, get a positive ID on it. I don't want copperheads in our back yard, I will kill them and think nothing of it, cottonmouths as well but I've only seen them over at the property.  

Keto.  I think the test strips just don't work that well with me anymore because I must be in a condition they call "fat adapted", which means there isn't a lot of free flowing ketones now because my body/system understands what's going on and uses the ketones more efficiently.  Whatever the case, I'm dropping weight again and fat.  Anytime I feel tempted to go off on a cheating binge, I just think about this last time I did that and how long it has taken to even start getting back to where I was before the cheating started.

This probably isn't the greatest day to be out in the heat. There is an "excessive heat warning" with heat index values up to 115 degrees.  If that's dry heat, I can deal with it. When you're talking the humidity which is what makes it feel much hotter than it is? I won't last long out there.  Shrugs shoulders, get done what I can.

With that, I bid you a good day.