Once again, my park is full. Temporarily of course.  The 3rd person in 3 days came in and took lot 7 just now.  I know because he called me, I can't for the life of my get that camera to start taking short videos of moving events and sending me the notifications. The other one does it, that one refuses to.  I was going to reset it today and totally forgot about it.

The stuff with replacing that pedestal and picking up cigarette butts and dog poop all over the place sort of moved that out of mind.  It's back in my mind now and when I go over there to collect rent I am going to see if I can execute a reset through some sort of method it says to stand in front of it and - whatever.  I can't find a 'reset to default' option anywhere.  

People were complaining about a portion of the dog park where those people that left dogs' were pooping and she wasn't cleaning it up. It was rather disgusting, there was a lot of poop over there.  I used a flat shovel with a bucket with a trash can liner in it and walked around the entire park looking for piles of dog dung and any cigarette butts. 

I don't get people throwing their cigarettes on the ground when they're done, either.  Why, just why?  That drunkard that was fired had 50 of them on the ground, I picked every last one of them up.  But they were everywhere, not just his lot.  Whatever, I guess the joys of owning an RV park, people who don't give a s*** and you just have to deal with it. Except, when I see someone doing it. Then it's, excuse me? They give you that sheepish look when they realize they just did that in front of the owner of the park.  Do I need to provide cigarette butt disposal canisters all over the place?  

No, that won't change their shi*** behavior and it will just be a waste of money. I don't have a trash can in the dog park, I'll fix that in case it helps anyone decide to pick up their dog's waste.  A cigarette disposal won't be of any use in there, I never find cigarette butts in there, thankfully.  The dog dung is cleaned up - every last pile that I could find.  100 plus cigarette butts, picked up. Any trash I could find, gone.  

I just eat my pride, I'd rather have a clean park than a big ego.  Like, I ain't picking up people's dogs' s***.  Well, do that and you have a sh**** park, literally.  Bad image. Same with cigarette butts. I find an inordinate amount of them around the shed, so maybe I'll put a cigarette receptacle over there and at least give it a try.

I have no idea what those things cost. About a 3 foot high thing that has a tube going almost the entire verticle length of it with a basin at the bottom.  People put their cigs in there, it consumes them, all gone.  

Some sort of trash can with a foot pedal to open it - trying to make this as painless as possible for people - at least give it a try and see what happens. It does make sense that I should have a dog dung trash can in the park. It's just that I have a large trash can at the shed right next to the park so I just figured people could through the stuff in there. And some do.  Well, I found an outdoor cigarette receptacle cheap.  Found an outdoor trash can with foot pedal and removable bucket inside of it for cheap as well.  

Now then, when my 2, 3-day stays leave Monday morning, I'll have 2 lots available... but....there is allegedly yet another long term coming in Monday as well.  That'll leave one lot open for overnighters - for now.  I'll rent that sucker out to long term if someone comes along as well and forget about overnighters.  And anyway, I have 2 more people leaving sometime this month, they were only here for a month and then leaving.  Doing all the wiring for the new Quick Trip that's being built a few miles away.  I pretty much figure after their month is up, they're moving on, that's how they were discussing it, that's what they do. Go from one new Quick Trip to another installing all the camera wiring and cash register wiring, technical stuff. 

My whole focus is long term. I don't get enough short term to make it worth even leaving one lot open.  Well, a few months there have been a couple of lots breaking even with long term paying lots.  The only advantage right now is putting less of a draw on the power system.  The lots stay empty long enough to have a couple of less units constantly working the circuits.  Now, these circuits have proven so far that they can handle the constant load of 16 units.  The shed has been the only compromised issue where if everything is all running at once, it overheats the 125 amp breaker and it eventually shuts off. 

That would be the next big project, running another line over there.  

These people that just arrived called and said they need to go home and get more of their stuff, do we wait around for you? No.  I'll catch up with you later or tomorrow.  I'm not feeling so great right now, it can wait. People aren't parking their rigs to do what? Take off?  Run over a pedestal I guess. But, they came in the correct way and it's daylight so I'm pretty confident that won't happen - during daylight hours anyway.  

Yes, I'm still waking up coughing and snot running out my nose. This has been going on for a while now.  Like, how much longer am I going to have to deal with this? Probably doesn't help going out there and working.  Yet, when I'm outside, in the sun, working and sweating? I feel much better.  It's afterward and I'm toast.  

Anyway, no dog today.  Everything just took too much time. I don't know if that dog is going to slip out of my hands or not, I'll have to text the lady and find out.

 Okayyyyy.......

I get there and this old curmudgeon - that's about a fitting as it gets for his demeanor - is standing there waiting on me.  He's the kind that likes to me crude jokes and lots of cussing.  He's joking, but it kinda gets old.  Still, he helped me hold the pedestal up and such while I was installing it. 

Laying belly down in the dirt? Not so much fun but at least it wasn't boiling hot out there.  I went around to whoever was home and and let them know the power is going to be out for 30 minutes to an hour and got busy. Took the panels off the new pedestal, unscrewed the lugs, went and turned the power off. 

Checked the power to make sure it was off with a multimeter. There isn't any way in the town of Hades that I am going to touch electrical wires that thick without being absolutely certain the power is off.  It wasn't hard work, per se, just a PITA.  Especially laying belly down in the dirt digging out more of the dirt. This pedestal is a different brand and the thing goes lower into the ground.  

Once the power was off, unscrewed all the lugs, pulled out the lines, pulled out the damaged pedestal, put in the new one, hooked it all up, walaah.  The test wasn't nerve-wracking, ie: turning the power back on.  I knew I had those lines in there correctly and tho it was a different brand, the setup was exactly the same.  

Power on, ac units back on, no one complaining about power issues, done.

Done, at least, until just now.  Some over nighters are saying their plug has issues.  Yup, they're on the other side of the park, the side I wasn't messing with.  They're screwed.  It's just a plug, the one that plugs into the pedestal. They go bad.  If you're drawing a lot of juice through them constantly, they get hot and eventually they start coming apart.  The prongs start loosening up and the next thing you know?  No power.  They asked if there was an rv mechanic and I said yes, but he doesn't work weekends and since this is a holiday weekend, I'm positive he isn't working.

I then offered that it isn't that hard to put a new plug on there. It really isn't, lol.  Cut the old one off, splice the cable cover back a few inches, strip the ends, feed it through the insert, hook it up to the new one. tighten down the collar, you're done.  I didn't offer to do the work, exactly, I just said it's not that difficult.  But they alluded to the idea of me doing it for them.  So I told them to find a new plug, Lowe's has them.

No plug at Lowe's, out of stock.  Ok, try longview Lowes, Home Depot and there's a RV dealer with a parts room at it.  So, they are heading over there now and I just said, well, if you need help, contact me when you get back. 

__________

Well that problem took care of itself.  I mean, I did tell them it's an easy fix. And when you get a new plug, it's pretty self-explanatory.  The only thing you have to make sure of is that you get the right wire on the right connecter.  If you can do that, you have it mastered.  So when they got back with it, they figured it out all by themselves.  I don't have to go over and fool with it, but if I had had to, I would have charged them $20 for my time.  That's a far cry cheaper than the RV mobile mechanic they wanted to come out.  And now they have their AC working again - it's pretty warm out there right now.  

I think if you're going to live in an RV, you should learn basic maintenance and repairs.  Even if you have lots of money, there isn't always a tech available.  If you need a new AC, yup, get a pro.  If you need a new plug, sewer line, adapter, whatever - it's a simple fix, the hardest part is just going to get the part.  

Anyway, I have a new tenant coming soon here, I'm probably going to head back over there and make sure they get settled in. And pay, lol.  And hit another family up for their pay.  I went over and knocked this morning, it's hard to tell if they're home or not since they have 2 vehicles. One of them was there, their main ride was gone.  

I'm looking at the weather app. We are still well above average high temps. We've got 2, 100 degree days coming up but before and after mid 90's.  We should be in the high 80's this time of year going by the average temps they have listed.  And we are in a drought.  It is amazing how much rain we get much of the year but come 2 / 3 months of summer and it the rain just disappears.  

Well, I'm going to rest a bit - still coughing at night and losing sleep - and then go over there and see if they're around. Also, the 3 people that I have been commenting on whether they are staying or going. Well they're obviously staying but their company hasn't sent the monthly check yet.  Check the mail box and see if it's in there, ask one of the 3 night stays permission to run the credit card for the amount owing, clean the toilet and the shower stall and call it a day.  

 Saturday - early

I had no choice but to wait until this morning to do the pedestal install.  Just the convenience factor for guests, who will undoubtedly be inconvenienced anyway, but at least not in the heat of the day.  I will be heading over there soon to get with it.  Knock on doors, give a second warning, go shut the power off and install that thing.

As of right now, except for lot 7, the park is full plus 2 behind the shed equaling 15 lots occupied. Lot 7 is slated for a long term coming in today.  My checkin time isn't until 2 pm, thankfully, if they show up earlier than that, they'll just have to wait if I don't have it done already.  

Which I better.  This job, as I have stated in previous posts, should be relatively easy.  I'm sure getting the bent up pedestal out of there will be a pain because it will have to slide up the lines. You can't bend those lines to get them out of there, they are far to thick.  They have a little leeway, but definitely not that much.  

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time here, I want to get out there before it starts getting hot.  It was baking hot yesterday being out in the direct sunlight in the afternoon and I don't want to repeat that today.  

I'm safe until it hits around 11:00 am and then it starts heating up.  

So, with that, and getting my second cuppa, I'm out of here.