Yeah, forget getting any digging done.  The washing machine wouldn't come on so it wouldn't release the lock for the lid.  Lol.  

But before that, half the stuff wasn't working in the shed anyway.  This meant a trip to Longview for a new breaker.  Well, it turns out, a new breaker is as expensive as the entire panel kit that comes with the breaker and several 20 and 30 amp breakers as well.  Yup, got the entire panel.  Throw the panel out, use the breaker and have spares.

Well, that got the dryer going again, at least and everything else excepting on one circuit. That was a head scratcher as I checked breakers, the buss bar, and then decided it must be the outlet in the shed.  Pulled that out of there and sure enough, the thing was burnt.  I had the washing machine and the AC unit pulling off of that, live and learn.  I went to Lowe's and got a new outlet, put the AC on a different circuit and walaah.

But, that took all...lllll...llllllllllll day long.  That stuff wears me out. You're sitting there trying to figure out what's wrong and go from there.  I still have the amperage issue but it's not 105 degrees out.  It is 90 today, which is still hot, yet I'm hoping not so much as to over heat that breaker and starting tomorrow, if the forecast is right (which it hasn't been), it will be a high of 79 degrees. It is also supposed to rain. But now that I have lost a day, I want to get that digging started regardless. Unless it's really pouring rain, I'm going to get that going.  

But, the nice thing is, AC units will be off more than they are on. Which means far less draw on the panel and hopefully a lot less heat being generated.  I dunno, but I checked the main breaker when I left, it was warm but not boiling hot, it should be ok until I can get this project completed.  

___________________________

So the fun goes on.  First off, I'm out front with the kids playing soccer.  It starts raining. I'm thinking, it's just going to be another dud.  Nope!  It started pouring rain and the kids were like - let's play in the rain!  So I let them considering how long it's been since any substantial rainfall.  They got soaking wet.  They were having a blast.

However.  At some point, there was this loud cracking noise, followed by a lot more loud noises followed by a very loud crashing noise. The kids saw what happened, I was sitting on the porch. A giant branch on a 80-90 foot tall oak tree came crashing down on the street.  

The neighbor goes up there, we go up there and just looking at the aftermath.  Amazingly, no damage to anything besides maybe a few scratches on an older pickup.  The city came out pretty quick and got it all cut up and out of the way at least. 

After that, I hadn't hung out with the neighbor in forever, he invted me over to visit, which ended up in an hours long visit since we hand't talked in so long. 

Well, anyway, the trucking company called. Said they were sending me a link to release my DAC record to them - it's a trucking history type of thing.  I think I have a few inspection warnings on there from previous job, other than that there is nothing bad on there.  Pretty much every driver has some sort of DAC record, they're looking for tickets for unsafe driving or DUI's and such.  

Well, she didn't send me the link. She said they won't book a flight until I give them the auth, well, you have to send the link to sign first!  It's driver's appreciation week and apparently they are busy at the yard in Oregon with drivers coming in and them taking care of them. I get that, but you get too close to  a date you need to be on an airplane and you are asking for potential booked flights and no available seats.  

She told me she heard they have a Peterbilt picked out for me.  "That's just what I heard, don't quote me on that". Well if it's a long nose, I'd love that.  I don't know, but she said she'd have me coming on Saturday or Sunday.  Umm, I can see going out on Sunday, what on earth would I want to go over there on Saturday for? To sit around the entire weekend waiting for everything to start on Monday?

She also warned me about the physical I'll have to go through..  You have to life up 70 pounds "several times" and that drivers have informed her that it isn't all that easy.  Well, I just lifted a 95 pound Great Dane off the floor the other day, I wouldn't say it was easy but it was doable.  I don't know what weighs that much? A filler hose maybe?  No, I've lifted plenty of those.  No idea really.  You have to be able to walk across some sort of beam without falling off, keeping your balance in other words.  Climbing, etc.  I'm pretty sure I have all of this covered.  Easy or not, I'm sure I can do it. Not like I sit around doing nothing all the time, this RV park is a pretty active lifestyle.  

I was also informed that a taxi would be waiting for me and that I will need to stop at a grocery store on the way to the house to get some food.  Oh?  It has a full kitchen with all cooking utensils but you'll have to get the food to cook.  Ok?  I don't mind I guess, not exactly what I had in mind on a trip like that, I will be handing them the receipts for food and they can reimburse me.  Apparently another new hire will be in the house, but in a bedroom at the other end of the house. Good, cause' I will not be sharing a room with anyone, no way, no thanks, I wouldn't even go there to deal with that.  I'm almost 60 years old.  Cooking my own food? I cook meals here allllll the time. I've made dinner several nights in a row.  Casseroles and all kinds of dishes.  Take some recipes with me, get the stuff for them and have plenty in the fridge for leftovers.  

The dog.  Well, I had him out front when the kids were playing in the rain. When the tree crashed, I put him inside, but just in the house, not in my room. Completely forgot about him.  2 hours later, sitting on the neighbor's porch, James comes over and tells me he got into my cake.  I made a German Chocolate cake the other day with coconut frosting. I was done with it anyway, I don't like too much sweets, but I decided I wanted some cake. Well, the dog got into it.

I thought from the way James was talking that he had eating the whole thing.  I envisioned a dog getting diarrhea, possibly vomiting, who knows what.  Well, I came back a while later. He had just eating some of the frosting off the top of it and mostly left the cake alone.  Well, I don't really think he's going to get sick from that, he isn't showing any signs of it yet.  But I'm watching him lol. Any signs of puking or pooping and he's going out back!  Chucked the cake but didn't really miss it. I had had 3 small pieces of it but was really eating the topping off of it, so the topping was already half gone and he really only ate a little of that. 

Well, I've got stuff to get done for this trip and stuff to get done at the park. It's going to - allegedly anyway - start raining around 3:00 am and go through mid morning.  The forecast has, amazingly, stayed the same for quite a while.  So maybe it will happen, which isn't very helpful.  I really want to get that shed electric system solved, completed, done and over with.  
With an 80 degree high tomorrow, AC's with compressors running continuously isn't going to be an issue, the load will be decreased on that shed power box.  Well, the main breaker to be precise.  The load lowered and the ambient temperature well down, I'm at least  a bit confident the setup will last if the weather is going to continue to play games with me.

I also need some new jeans.  I've been wearing old stuff to do work in for a while, with limited amount of "decent" stuff.  Yup, I just get Walmart jeans, cheap stuff, don't much care about fashion and certainly don't much care about what anyone thinks what I look like. I keep myself presentable, just not in designer jeans, shoes and shirts.  Need a haircut badly, my hair grows really fast.  Not too much I need to buy, just need to get it done.  If I'm leaving on Sunday - or Saturday - I want to have all of this stuff ready to go by Friday.  And I want to leave out of GGG - Longview airport. NOT Dallas, NOT DFW. American will fly me to either of those airports in smaller aircraft. 

They have plenty of flights still available for Sunday, amazingly, at least on one of the sites I use to find flights.  Various leave times, fly direct to Portland from DFW.  

Anyway, I'm getting tired and I want to get to bed in time to get up early - ish.  Like, up at 7:00 am at the latest.  They're telling me I have to be at the building by 8:00 am Monday morning. Great, means I can get up at 7, get some coffee, get the day started and ready to go.  

 Tuesday - early

Now that I'm finally starting to feel better and as I promised myself, I am starting to get up early. I don't what their start time for orientation is in Oregon, but the thought did cross my mind that they are probably 2 hours behind us. Yup, just checked, 2 hour time difference. Something actually just flat woke me up - it wasn't the dog, in fact it wasn't anything external.  More like something in my brain said: GET UP!

I am still coughing and a bit of fatigue even after sleeping, oh well, life moves on, get used to it.  

The power bill depleted my business checking account to the lowest point it has been in quite a while.  I've got a check out in the vehicle that needs deposited and there are payments coming up soon, as long as the people don't leave of course.

The Quiktrip workers are still gone.  The one is 6 days past due and the other is approaching his due date.  The letter is still sitting on the steps and I am just going to have to wait until they show up.  But, if they think they are just going to leave when they get there, they best hope I'm not around because the instant I see them, I'm going to approach them.  Nobody stays for free.  Not even the NJ people, I say on their @$$ about paying.  

They were arguing with each other yesterday so loudly, I could hear them from 100 feet away. They were inside their trailer with the door shut and the window AC unit right there to drown out the noise and I could still hear them.  I asked the Tent lady if she could hear them inside her unit. "Every day".  I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense.  They can take their arguing away from everyone or they can leave.  I intend on dealing with this today, I will be over there digging out that pedestal. 

The power issue has come to a head.  The machines are starting to not work properly and that is the straw that broke the camel's back.  Time to get with it. I'll get that pedestal all dug out and hand-dug trenched away from it so that I can pick up with the machine where I leave off with a shovel.  This whole thing is probably going to be spread out over several days - fortunately I have several days to get it done.  

The lady from the trucking company is supposed to call this morning and discuss the details of the upcoming trip.  I dunno, but she best be thinking about getting the ticket, they fill planes up anymore and they sell them out.  In fact, they intentionally try to overbook them. I think it's a ridiculous business model to sell more tickets than a plane can hold and then, if everyone shows up, force people out of line to get on the plane and tell them they will have to wait for another flight - but they get away with it. Excepting that now, if it's over 2 hour wait?  They have to pay - but - you have to know your rights and force them to pay right then and there.

That is something they are forced by regulation to do, not something they want to do.  If you are forced to stay overnight, they don't, apparently, have to also pay for a hotel but many of them will.  I can only imagine how much net revenue a full 737 makes.  It must be a pretty good sum to be giving away thousands of dollars in cash and hotel stays.  

I'm not really looking forward to this trip, btw, even tho I do like Oregon.  The trip represents going back to work for a big company and all that that entails.  Living on their schedule.  Letting them dictate what days I work and don't work.  Starting from the bottom at a new company.  Not that there is any place to "work up" to, you're still the last man down on the totem pole.  You have no seniority and who knows how they work vacation when multiple people from the same division ask for time off.  I only know that right off the bat? I'm asking for Memorial Day weekend off and I am getting it whether they want to give it to me or not.

It has already been planned to go with the group of people we play cards with to Las Vegas for a marriage for 2 of them.  If this company says no, I will simply take the truck back to their yard before that weekend, drop it off, take a bus home and bid them adieu.  

I also want to take a short trip back to AZ at the end of this year.  That isn't set in stone and the days I visit aren't necessarily important.  I think I want to visit AZ I should say.  

Yesterday was mom's birthday and I visited on the phone with her for quite a while.  She is insisting I get a living trust will and that she will pay for it.  My brothers already took advantage of her offer. I was going to do this a while back and just got busy and put it out of my mind.  She says that if I leave this world with a "regular" will, you end up having to get attorneys involved for every little thing that happens and it ends up draining the trust considerably and needlessly.

I believe her, I've seen it, I just need to make time for it.  Of course, it doesn't help I'm going back to work. I have no idea, yet, what my work hours will be and I guess I sort of need to get that nailed down pretty quick? Lol.  I know that I can work 5 days a week and have 2 off, but I can work the other 2 if I want to.  I didn't agree, I will take the 2 days off if its' really the way they have it set up and be able to deal with park issues.   That's the whole reason of getting a lower paying job, the exchange is that I can run my business. Otherwise, I might as well go chugging down the road and make the 6 figure income. 

But yeah, no.  No thank you.  Nada. Zip. Zilch.  Bye-bye to those days.  I will tell you right now, I have no qualms telling them directly what we agreed upon before I ever went to orientation for work hours, home time and the fact that I specifically stated I am not going to do OTR or Regional, period.  I only agreed to "occasional" runs to Florida and/or Georgia.  Neither of those 2 states are that far away and I used to make a run that took me through Atlanta once in a while.

Operative words being "once in a while".  Not, every week.  Trust me, I have the cajones to tell them directly about themselves if it comes down to that, but lets hope it doesn't.  I dont' want to have to get in their face, the older I get, the less appealing that kind of confrontation becomes.  It isn't appealing at all, actually, I just know I can go there when backed into the corner that forces me to.  

A man working for the DA's office gave me a subpoena yesterday.  This is for the dude that punched me in the face after the traffic accident.  I said, well when is the court date?  The 18th.  Of what month? This month, of course.  Who gives a subpoena for a court date only a week in advance?  I politely informed the man that I will be out of town, going for job training in Oregon, I can't be there on the 18th.  Ok, well we don't even know if it's going to court yet, the man may yet take a plea deal.

Well that's all nice, fine and dandy but I can't be there if this goes to trial. I didn't bother to say "thanks for giving me advance notice, all of one week!".  So, they are going to have to move the trial date, but I'll just hope this dude takes a plea agreement and not have to show up in court  at all. Not that I'm afraid to go to court and tell my story - this dude punched me out of road rage and that's that.  I don't want him to go to jail, I want him to learn how to control that kind of anger.  Personal counseling is one good way to try to approach that subject.  

But, who knows. The girl got out of the truck after he punched me - which would have been out of her view - and immediately began saying "no he didn't, not heeee didn't" like a child taunting another schoolyard boy after the subject of insurance came up and I said, well he just punched me in the face.

I then called the cops and never did get their information.  The cops got it, of course and that was that.  I didn't really need it since I was the person that caused the accident.  The point of all of this is to wonder whether these people are willing to lie in court as well? He claimed to the cops that I had spit in his face.  Uh, no and the cops didn't believe him either. He was off in front of his pickup with 2 of them almost yelling about how I intentionally ran into him. It's easy to tell from the damage that I was trying to avoid the collision what with only the front right portion of the vehicle hitting his truck versus the whole front end of my vehicle slamming into the rear of his.

Apparently Mother Nature is going to change my plans today. It is raining and in a few hours, it's really going to rain, at least to the forecast and the radar.  If I dig out that pedestal and we get a downpour, that thing will just fill up with water.  This sucks, actually. We desperately need the rain, we just didn't need it today.  There was a small chance of rain tomorrow, not today.  Today showed 4% chance last night.  The forecasters, I'm telling ya. I'm sure it's probably not their fault, but they don't even get it remotely right.  Whatever predictors they are using? Suck.  

I need to get this situation at the shed fixed before I leave. 

Dang. The entie forecast has changed for the week. Chance of rain every day through Saturday, Friday having 56% chance.  

The dog.  He is busy gnawing on a rawhide bone.  He is eating like a man who hasn't eaten in 3 days.  He just consumes as much food as you give him.  I forgot to latch the dog food container yesterday and he was in it, eating directly out of it.  Uhh, no.  He's had 4 cups this morning and probably another 6 cups later on today. 

Well that's enough.  Yup, still following some of the news.  Biden is a walking disaster zone.  Even Democrats are waking up to that reality.  It is becoming clear that many of them don't want him to run for a second term.  It's just going to be voting for Harris by default.  Again, this may actually be an intentional hope, that Biden gets re-elected and then Harris becomes the first female president in US history.  It wouldn't bother me to have a female president, just not her. She takes nothing seriously, she has no real knowledge of anything pertinent to her role as VP, she doesn't really do much of anything besides sitting on TV shows and laughing like a clown at a circus attempting to entertain a crowd.  

Except that the is not entertaining, even in the slightest bit. She is, as far as I"m concerned, worse than Biden.  We don't need either one of them in the WH after next election and I'd take a moderate Democrat over either of the any day. Not that I want a moderate in there, but it would be far better than what we have going on now.