It's been a day

I went over to the Park to collect some rents.  

Well, I went to buy heaters first. Ollie's had some decent ones and I had a 15% off coupon for "one entire purchase", which they honored.  While I was there, a man that had stayed at the park previously called. Do you have a lot available? Why  yes, yes I do!  When do you plan on coming? Oh, I'll be there in about 10 minutes, lol. 

Ok! I'll be there in half an hour.  Well, I get there, fire up the computer and ... of course it wants to do an update. It always wants to do an update.  I knew that was going to take a while, one of the tenants was offering her card and I'm like, well, I can't take it yet, I have to get my laptop working. That was only the beginning of the woes with trying to get signed into the card connect to accept credit cards.

Oh, well I forgot: there was a check in the mailbox for the 3 workers.  That was good news for me.  

Anyway, the guy calls me from his new lot and says he thinks there's something wrong with my power.  I thought, this is the new pedestal I put in, but there's been numerous trailers using it, I have a hard time believing this is on my end.  

That went on for literally hours.  It was definitively determined - by me  - that it isn't my 50 amp outlet.  There is something wrong on your end.  After a lot of investigative work, calling the RV repair guy,  him calling the company that sold the trailer to him, etc., it was determined that it is likely the GFCI outlet in his bathroom. Half the trailer was working and the other half was not. 

This was confirmed by both my repair guy and the 800 call center he called for help.  Replace that and see what happens. Which reminds me, I need to take a battery charger back over there, gag.  

_________

I promised the man I would bring a battery charger over, so I stopped this post, took it over there and then made dinner.  

He paid after I also spent hours trying to get the credit card software to log in, with repeated "resent password reset" links from their end.  I was on the phone with them quite a while, while going through the first and second layers of people that don't know anything beyond what a computer screen is telling them and giving you the run around. You have to go through their bs before you finally get to anyone who actually knows anything. 

Long story short: the third layer got the thing working, which is when I collected 2 credit card payments and talking with a guest and just a lot of stuff before I left for the bank.  Deposited the 3 worker's check, the laundromat rolled quarters and felt a little better after that. I was going to get a sandwich at the sandwich shop but remembered they close at 2:00.  Well past 2, I just ended up going home to get a bite to eat, start this blog and run back with the battery charger, also trying to collect cash from another renter who has multiple people living in this rather small trailer.

They all go to the Baptist University in town.  I don't have a problem with that as long as they behave. However, I did have a problem with a pickup truck being parked in the lot next to their door.  Please move that thing to the overflow parking.  I told that to the girl in there, the guy was gone but was supposed to be there...along with another guy that was in there earlier.  

There should be a paycheck showing up tonight. If that doesn't happen, well, there will be as many phone calls as necessary to find out what's happening, cause' I've turned in all of my work.  And other money coming in as well, which should leave my accounts looking much happier.  

OH, the 6 year old.  Face planted himself on a concrete driveway last night running from one house going to another. Smashed his nose and lips nicely, blood all over his face.  Cleaned that up. Then today? I get a text from Taylor: He did it again at school today!  So in the period of 5 days, he's been mauled be a large dog and face planted the ground twice. If 3 time's the charm, we will be happy if nothing more happens to him after today, any time soon. 

So for well over a week, probably a few weeks now, I have been looking at lot 3 and wondering who the frontiersman is staying there.  I kept drawing a blank.  I couldn't for the life of me remember who is in that lot.  

But when the guy took lot 7 today, I finally remembered.  He moved to lot 3!  It just suddenly hit me, I had no record of his move, I forgot to write it down and it totally slipped my  mind.  He's due to pay up in a few days if he's staying, if I recall correctly he won't be around too long.  I have 5 lots that have stayed far longer than they initially said they were. Not that I'm complaining, but when they leave, I don't know how long it will take to fill them back up.  

The dude coming in today out of the blue was a bonus.  

I dunno, but I am hoping no more "stuff" that I need to spend money on beyond more grass seed anytime soon so I can start getting some money saved up in the business checking account.  Get me 7 grand in there and I'll start preparing to build out more lots.  7 grand for another septic system, have to start there.  I can't add anything else to the existing system, it's already pretty much being overused as it stands. The good thing about that is, you just have it pumped out if it fills up.  The bad news is it's $450 to have it pumped out, gag.  

It's that or I can build my glamping dream - for around 7 grand maybe less - and see if I can rent it out for $50 per night, hype it up nice, have it very nicely decorated inside (I'll have to get the ladies in there to do that for me, they are much better at that than I) replete with a king sized bed, AC/heat, a small kitchen area with a microwave, popcorn maker, toaster, small refrigerator, etc.  You don't have running water in those setups and you don't have a bathroom in it. The bathroom will be in the shed.  Which means I'll have to build that setup pretty close to the shed.  I do have an area in mind, right next to the doggy park.  

I've been looking at glamping tents, I can get one that's large and nice looking for around $750 or so. It's the deck that I plan on building that's going to cost.  I can build a fancy outhouse and outdoor shower that would be right next to the setup instead of having to go to the shed.  Not sure about that one.  I am seriously looking into it since it wouldn't cost another septic system to do it, I would have to run power from the other side of the park which I planned on doing anyway.  

The costly stuff? yeah, that wood deck is going to be expensive right now unless I can find another person selling off a pile of wood cheap, I see that on Facebook Marketplace from time to time.  Cooling/heating wont' be cheap and neither will a good bed.  Hence the 7 grand amount and that is probably not realistic. But I don't know, it might be doing it myself.  I won't pay someone to do that unless it's James helping build out the 30 foot diameter deck.  I do want it off the ground.  They get a 23 foot wide tent and a porch with chairs/outdoor couch or something like that.  You can also get those tents with a hole for a wood burning stove. 

Yes, that sounds crazy in a tent, but they do it, I've seen enough people talking about such a thing and also pics of it.  

I'm not sure which I would do, add more lots or a glamping venture, I'm no where near that right now, I have time to consider it.  I'd probably do about 5 lots after getting a septic system in there initially.  I have a guy that can to the dozer work and I have 2 places that will rent and deliver a dozer.  

"It takes money to make money". Yup.  Give me a hundred grand right now and I can get the park doubled in size.  

As I said, I have plenty of time to consider.  If the winter works out as I hope it does - which who knows - but I could get some money saved up by summer time, enough to get something done either way.  

However.  I want to save money for the summer months for electric bills.  Even if out.  Right now? Well, I still have to find a new insurance company before December 1st and pay property taxes no later than February.  

Well, enough.  I just feel better that I collected and deposited that money today. 

Wednesday - mid morning

I just decided not to get up early today. Haven't done that in a while. I almost feel like just going back to bed for a few hours.  Why not? No one is home, even Taylor is gone, she appears to be at the new parents house. They  have been begging her to come over repeatedly to feed the baby and help it go to sleep - so they can get some sleep.

They were informed many times over by several different people that sleep would become a thing of the past in these first months of the baby's life.  One of them even has 3 months off for maternity leave.  But no matter, they are not used to having to be awake basically all night long.  I get it, it sucks. Having the baby is great but dealing with the baby an entirely different story. Perhaps they can get a taste of what Taylor has been through for all of this time.  

I have understood that there are many professors in colleges around the country today that are basically brainwashing their students into this progressive type of thinking that basically tells them to hate America as it currently is and that it needs transformed into some Socialist/Communist type of hellish nightmare where the government dictates the lives of every citizen. I'm sure they don't put it that way, but I could make it even worse considering the history.  

What I didn't know until this Israeli war is the hatred they have been teaching to include anti-Semitism.  Really, that took me by surprise, that giant gatherings of students around the country at these elite universities are chanting against Israel and also anyone here, in the U.S., that stands up for them and against the terrorist group known as Hamas.  If this was happening in my town, I would be there. To do what? Talk to these people. Find out what is driving their hatred.  How do you hate people you don't know and have mostly if nothing but peaceful intentions? Do you see Israel trying to take over the world?  

Yet, nations and people have hated the Jews since before the time of Christ.  I don't understand it, but I can say, at least in my world view and what I have learned from the bible which I firmly believe IS the Word of God, that you are taking sides against the Creator God in taking a stance against Israel and the Jewish people.  I know many of these people are atheists. That is the other thing that is bewildering. That we have colleges full of students that are mostly atheist, taught to believe there is no God and even mock anyone that has such beliefs.  This is where the breeding grounds for totalitarianism and dictatorships start, with young people who have no clue what they are talking about believing things that only people in power or wanting to be in power would proffer to them as absolute truth.  

Are we on the brink of a world war?  Only God knows that, perhaps the evil behind the people running these evil nations such as Russia and China, North Korea, anyone with nukes or raw hatred enough to drive them into action will know that.  Is this nation ready for war?  I don't know, if you take the analysis of "experts", we are not recruiting enough people and our war chests are emptying out, handing it over to the Ukraine and apparently now we are going to ship munitions to Israel.  I can agree with giving it to Israel, the Ukraine? Not so much.

The peace that passes all understanding comes from God and God alone.  You can get filled with fear about world events or you can have that inner peace God gives you.  I do take certain steps to make sure our mouths are fed regardless of what happens, I don't subscribe that to fear but to preparedness.  Why take chances with your food supply? It isn't just wars that can deplete grocery store shelves in just a few hours. Look at what happened with Covid.  A bad weather event can knock out the power for days or weeks or bad weather can stop trucks from being able to deliver to the stores. 

We went through a week of no power and spent almost $500 on fuel to keep generators running.  Was it worth it? In my mind, yes. It was summer time and it was HOT.  We used some of the power to run window AC units and the rest to run freezers, refrigerator, lights, power electronics, etc.  Could we sustain that for months? No.  I don't have the wherewithal to be buying that much fuel for that long. The other folks here also pitched in and bought fuel during that time. It was expensive but it would have cost that much or more to stay at a hotel, unless you are talking one of these dumpy hotels. But, they didn't have power either.  Holiday Inn, Marriott, all of the big name brands were down as well. 

Generac? Good idea, but expensive, not in my budget.  Runs on natural gas which keeps pumping regardless.  They do have compression stations for natural gas, I've seen one on the way to Gurdon.  I don't know if that's necessary everywhere or what.  I do know it's under plenty of pressure just coming out of the ground. I have one of those operations on my property.  I'm only saying this because of course, a compression station uses power, the one I saw had giant backup generators.  

Just my musings today as I watch this Israeli offensive take place and wondering if Iran is going to intervene beyond their use of proxies, such as Hamas, and bring in the IRGC or somehow escalate this to the entire region.  

I will head to Ollie's soon and see if they have a deal on space heaters.  They have them listed online. Otherwise I'll just have to go to Walmart.  

And the dreaded act of collecting money. It's just a chore.  People may or may not want to pay, but I have to go chase them down.  I have at least 3, I think 4 actually, payments due.  Well, that and if the welders stayed - they were there yesterday - there should be a check in the mailbox for them today.  That payment alone would almost pay for the electric bill due on the 10th.  

I didn't get paid last night so I "assume" I will get a direct deposit tonight.  If I don't, well, there will be a phone call being made tomorrow.  They haven't screwed me over yet on pay, just hope that trend continues.  

And we will continue to check on the rye grass seed. There is grass popping up all over the place, but that was happening before I spread the seed out.  The ideal time to plant, at least one website says, it between mid August and the end of September. Great, I got it down before the end of September, let's get with it now.  But, it says 7 - 10 days to germinate, they all say that, so I have a bit of waiting to go.  

There are plenty of things I need to get done over there.  Nothing urgent.  My 4 wheeler won't start - it doesn't like to in the cold weather since that guy "fixed" it, I suspect a small shot of ether will get it going. I didn't have time the other day when it was raining and I was dragging a heavy board from 200 feet away to drop the trailer.  I suspect I will hear about that from the manager considering the desk clerk's reaction when I told her I didn't bring the trailer with me.  She wanted me to take it to a washout up there.  Very glad I didn't have to - it's 45 minutes each way, the wrong way.  I don't know why they'd care one way or the other where I leave a trailer where I've been leaving it.  It is their property, of course, but it's under my care.  They know where it's parked, the truck shows up on their GPS.  They know about my RV park, they know everything, I told them up front. 

Oh, well the 4 wheeler would simply be used to trim back some brush along the driveway and go back into the trails and cut that rotten tree into pieces.  I have potholes forming on the driveway as well.  That will be a chore because I'll have to hook up the trailer, shovel dirt onto it and then take it to the areas needing dirt and shovel it in.  It really needs gravel mixed in with it.  I don't really have the money to be buying a $750 truckload of gravel right now.  I wonder if they'd just sell me a bit of it dumped onto my trailer?  It would still cost.  

I guess in terms of priority, those potholes take the cake.  Physical labor of which I definitively do not feel like engaging in today.  I have this mind right now of just sitting here and doing nothing.  Of course, that doesn't pay the bills or keep guests happy.....

So, get dressed, get moving, get stuff done. It's like this pretty much every day, whether a full plate the entire day or just half a day, I am busy most days now with this job.  I apparently will get a reprieve this week beyond the truck swap and the trailer drop, I dunno.  If I collect what I think I will be collecting from tenants, no worries.  I have to get trained at Ennis anyway, they were talking about me going there 2 days ago, the manager wasn't in. 

I informed them that the manager declared I needed training at that particular plant and I agreed with that.  Plants have different rules, you need to understand the nuances of what they want before you go in there.  If we are slow, the man can come on his way to Ennis to pick me up, take me there, show me the ropes, bring me back home.  Ennis is 2-1/2 hours, you'd expect a 7 hour give or take day out of it.  If the GPS says 2-1/2 hours, I give it 3.  Make that an 8 hour day, for offloading can take any varying amount of time.  They say this stuff is less dense and offloads faster, if that is true, you can drain an entire tanker load in 45 minutes.  But you still have to weigh in and out, which takes time and whatever else they make you do there.  

Whatever, I'm ready to get the training over with.  If they want to do it this week, great, give me the assignment and lets go.  

Well, I guess I'll get my @$$ in gear and get out of here.

G'day