Sunday, December 17, 2023

 Sunday - late

The last offload took - 3-1/2 hours? I think - today it took an hour and a half.  The trailers have internal thermometers on them and I think this is what's causing the problem, cold resin that flows slower and slower the colder it gets. 2 days ago, it was 45 degrees and got colder as I continued to pump out the product. Today, it started at 50 degrees and ended up at 62 degrees.  Big temperature difference.  I had never been there on a Sunday, finding someone to go into the scale house and print out the scale ticket was not a short ordeal.  

However, the real problem started driving back.  It started cutting out when taking off from a start and taking forever to get up to speed, much longer than normal. The situation deteriorated all the way back to the point I was wondering if was even going to make it back.  But it did. I didn't want to call dispatch about this beforehand, I know what they're going to say, take it somewhere and have it looked at.  I'm 90% certain the problem is a clogged fuel filter and tho I could probably fix it, I have done anything like that in decades.  I'd hate to try and replace it and not get it right. Then they have to send out a mobile mechanic. 

This isn't like changing a fuel filter on a gasoline engine.  

I contacted dispatch who told me to contact the mechanic department,  of whom I tried 4 times to get a hold of and then gave up on it. Don't care really, it is Sunday and driving up, unloading and driving back was enough for me.  I'll have an ordeal, I'm sure, trying to get this dealt with tomorrow.  Oh well. There are several places in town that do truck repair.  It's going to be a long day, that's all I know. They originally gave me work for this weekend, then Friday and Saturday of this coming week, then Tuesday and Wednesday of the week after.

I had no idea they were going to dump even more work on me for this week.  

I got a call earlier from this couple that was sitting at the local Walmart, do you have a spot available? yes.  We'll be there in 10 minutes. They claimed they showed up, said nope, we don't like it and left. However, they never came back to the park, so I assume they saw the driveway or perhaps the weeds and just didn't care for that part of it.  I dunno, but I need to somehow find a way to fix that driveway.  

If the gravel wasn't so expensive.  $750 per truckload and that was the quote last time I checked which was quite some time ago.  Inflation, I'm told. Rocks? Inflation?  

I won't go into those sentiments again, not worth it.  I'm definitely going to try renting the tractor - next chance I get.  Perhaps I'll get Wednesday and Thursday off, perhaps not, but I need a full day off to do that.  I want a full day's rental to get the most time out of the thing.  It's a long driveway and it's not a particularly large tractor.  I have to try something, this is the only thing I can afford right now.

Keto - it finally showed a slight trace of purple again. After many days of not showing it. I've been following the diet closely this time around and it's still elusive on getting anything to show on the strips.  But, I am losing weight.  Just the fat is being rather stubborn, especially around my belly.  I haven't been doing the diet long enough this time around to really get impatient, it's been what, a couple of weeks? You don't lose a gut in 2 weeks.  Or even 2 months, but you can certainly get it to shrink quite a bit in 2 months time.  We'll see. I'm going to keep with it cause' it's the only thing I know that works.  It's just that you have to stay on it- eternally I guess - to keep the weight off.  I might do a cheat day on Christmas Day, but I'm thinking not.  I don't want to find excuses to eat whatever I want.  

I finally started getting approved for larger loans - I want to pay down credit card debt to get my credit score back up and lump it all into one payment at a lower amount per month.  The problem? Interest rates are ridiculously high right now.  I'd only be saving $150 per month.  And it's a 60 month loan.  Here's the thing, tho.  If I take on a loan like that, pay down all that debt and then if interest rates do, indeed come down sometime in the next - year or so say - I could refinance it.  It's an interesting proposition.  I wish I could take on more debt load to be honest, I'd just take the loan and build out the park.  

But I can't afford $832 per month on top of everything else. The whole thing of paying down credit card debt is just that, you pay off the credit cards so you no longer have those payments, those monthly payments just get transferred to the loan.  What I'd really like to do is take the loan, pay down credit card debt and get another septic system off of it. Just the septic system. Once I get that in, I've got a ticket to more lots installed. But you see, after the septic system, you have to install electric, water lines and sewer lines, plus a driveway, or the beginning of one anyway, etc.  So, getting a septic installed is the beginning of being able to get something going, but there is still more money needed to get there even if just talking 5 lots or so.  

I dunno what I'm going to do, nothing right now.  Sit on it, think about it, make a decision whenever I feel comfortable with it - or do nothing.  

Well, it's getting late. I'm going to get up at my normal time, even tho I have no idea where they are going to want this truck or when I'm going to be directed to move it there, there being wherever there is. 










 Friday late-morning Typical morning when there is no work.  It was, I should say, until the new guy called.  "There's nothing wron...