Monday - mid morning

I have to admit I didn't go to bed until 1 am last night.  I was getting too absorbed in playing the season of Fortnite, I didn't have to work today and there was some serious weather going on outside. All perfect elements to just relax and chill.  And because of that, I didn't get up until almost 9:00 am, lol, just a little while ago.  

My plans to mow again today were dashed by the excessive rain last night.  The grass will be wet and it's just going to have to wait.  I probably can get some tractor time in on that mound I have been ignoring for a week since I last was slowly moving the dirt.  So I might get out there today and resume that operation for a few hours anyway.

But really, I'm fresh off of working 6 days in a row.  I did go to Applebee's yesterday - but late.  It was 5:30 pm by the time I got there, yesterday was a real mess.  Let's get into that.  2 days ago, I sent a message to this new driver asking him when he would be arriving at the plant in Gurdon. I asked because he had shown up at the trailer washout at just before 10 am 2 days ago when he should have been at the loading plant. 

I got a message from him at 7:57 am yesterday morning: I'm leaving at 8 and will be up there at 11.  Wut.  This dude is first load and not showing up until 11?  I became irritated quickly. Apparently, appointment times are mere suggestions to this individual. If I had known that the night before, I would have just gotten up at my first load time, been up there and gone before he even showed up.  That threw the entire day off. 

When I arrived up there at past 11 am, he was only half empty!  He came over and said he was trying to get out of my way, but he couldn't get the pressure up.  I got out of the truck, walked over and confirmed it was only at 21 PSI, far below what he needed to get that product out of there quickly.  I asked him several questions and then headed inside the plant, asking him to show me how he was turning on the air pressure, for I found the problem immediately: the air pressure handle was only partially open.  

He pointed at a blue handle and said that's how he was doing it, he didn't mess with anything else.  It turns out, no one trained him up there.  He didn't know how to operate the pressure and he didn't know how to turn on the water.  He claims that someone at the plant actually told him that they don't use water anymore and no one cleans out the line after they are done delivering. 

That is, of course, utterly and completely false.  If we don't clear out the lines, the glue is just going to sit in them and dry up.  Over time, it will close in to the point that delivering will take hours and at some point, nothing will go through them.  He didn't seem to understand this.  I made it exceedingly clear that the lines need to be flushed out every single time.  Anyway, I got the pressure up to 35 pounds and it took about 20 minutes to offload the rest of the glue.  

Yesterday was a bust.  By the time I got back, I just decided I was going to go to Applebee's anyway even if I didn't go to church.   I sat down in my usual spot, took a pic of the empty seat beside me and sent it to the 10 year old - I'm at Applebee's and sent him the pic.  He sent back a teary eyed emote and said he wished he was there.  He only wanted to stay at the grandparents for a week, we are at 2 weeks as of today I think.

He will be even more surprised to find out he isn't coming home at all after that.  They are going to take the kids to Texarcana where they are going to drop them with the parents and then they are going straight to Colorado.  Which reminds me....

Ok, just sent the vacation dates to the manager. I'm going July 1-8.  I now have to decide whether I am going to drive there or fly.  It's a hard decision for flying is obviously faster, but driving gives me a vehicle while I'm there and 8 days is an awfully long period of time not to have wheels available. Renting cars nowadays is an extremely expensive proposition.  I'm leaning towards driving even tho I absolutely hate driving. It would be better if I had a traveling companion to keep me company, that's just not going to happen.  

There will be no hotel expenses, I think. I have been offered a room in her dad's house.  They have stayed in my bedroom in the past, so I really don't think it's a bad tradeoff. When I was working for that other company and out on the road all the time, I would just allow guests visiting my friends to take my room.  If I narrow this trip down to just gas and eating, it's not going to cost much. However, there are the recreational things...I want to go to the mountains, I haven't been in ages and they are right there. At least one day trip.  I want to see if I can connect with old friends that live in Denver.  And then whatever else is to do in Aurora and Denver areas, I will be looking into that today.  

I'm actually excited about the prospect of having some time off and not having to drive that damn truck every day.  Yesterday got worse, tho.  I informed my manager that this driver hadn't been trained and he got quite testy with me.  I shoved it right back at him, I will not tolerate a manager talking to me like that with information that is vital to the operation.  This isn't petty or minor stuff, not flushing out the lines can cause serious problems..  After I got testy back at him, he called me and went into this thing about how he is getting too many calls - which is why I texted him, it helps, I know this for a fact with this business I'm running - to not get burnt out.

I suspect that's what he's experiencing: burnout.  He hasn't had a vacation in almost 2 years.  There is only one other person in the office to help run it and he says she can't handle the pressure of having to deal with drivers literally all night long. When you get super burned out, good luck getting rid of it.  Whatever it is that's burning you out, you need an extended time away from it  He said another person finally showed up from Oregon that can take over the office while he's gone.  I at least understand where he's coming from, he's just tired of getting phone calls literally all day AND night long.  I rarely bother him and when I do, it's always a text.  

I was discussing this with another driver who said he got testy with him a few days ago as well.  It's all signs that the man needs to get away from the  desk, turn off the ringer and get some serious time off.

Meanwhile, I still haven't heard from Swepco.  I am going to call them yet again today.  I have no idea what's going on with the permit and the engineer and all of that nonsense, I will be texting the owner of the company a few days from now and see what's up. He said last week that the dude that approves plans will be coming back Monday, which is today.

I figured there would be a process to this, I didn't figure on all of this garbage delaying everything.  

So that's it for now.  I'm just sitting here enjoying a nice hot cuppa, thinking about what I might get done today - if anything, I'm feeling pretty unmotivated right now - and think I will start looking at what's to do in the Denver area.