This will be a short one.
I finally found my passport.
It was literally in front of my face.
A pile of papers I had placed into a cubby hole in a storage unit, right there in front of me.
I saw that USPS envelope sitting there and I thought, THIS is IT? RIGHT HERE?  I opened it up and sure enough, there it was.
Next time I am in Brownsville and have a detention opportunity I may very well cross the border.
Haven't done it in decades.  Feels kind of scary cause of the sites I've read about going into Matamoros. Stay in certain areas.

Well, when we used to go over there as missionaries, we didn't go alone.  There was always at least 2 people and often times 5 or 6 or more.  It was really just some of us that wanted to go over, find the needy people living in the cardboard shacks with dirt floors etc.  and give away food, blankets, warm clothing for the winter, whatever we had. 

And I am finally in ketosis.  I've been doing some work around the house and exerting energy, I skipped lunch, only had the muffin for breakfast and finnnnnnally it turned purple.  It's in the mediocre range of it, but it's FAR better than nothing.  All this time.  8 days of this diet and finally. 

Now to find my birth certificate.  I'm guessing it's in the same pile as the passport.  I got a bit excited finding my passport so I stopped searching lol.

So I did it.
I took out a 10k loan to pay off credit card debt.
Well how much debt do you have? Actually more than that, because I put 6 grand on the card that pays for the dental work.  I think I have around 14k worth of debt accumulated in credit card debt.
I've been wanting a loan that pays off this stuff in one fell swoop at lower interest rate instead of trying to pay down one card at a time.

Goldman Sachs helped me out with that.  I wasn't even looking for one when I stumbled across it, but after looking at it it's a really great deal.  No origination fees, no fees of any kind really to get the loan going.  The interest rate and the length of the loan are what attracted me.  I'll be paying 9 points less in average interest rate and I'll pay it off a year earlier than if I were to try to pay them off one at a time, which is what I have been doing but it's going at an abysmally slow rate.  I'm making a lot more money now, I don't rely on credit cards for anything excepting I used Care Credit to do the dental work. 

That needed to be done. It had been needing to be done.  My front teeth were gross. I had no idea how bad they looked until I saw the close up pics the dentist took of them before and after.  I mean, they were really bad.  What this loan enables me to do is pay off all of my credit card debt except the secure care, which I should be able to apply almost 2 grand of it towards. Note that the entire amount I'm getting is going to credit card debt, not toys or anything else. If I do anything else with it, it defeats the purpose and then I'm losing money on the deal.

So I'm kind of excited about that. I had to pay them off any way about it, this makes more sense.  It won't affect my net monthly output, it's literally the same.  Well no, it's less because I was making more than minimum payments on most of my cards.  And I can do the same on this loan without any prepayment penalties and anything over applied to interest. So I am going to try to pay $100 more every month. 

I don't have any temptations to use those cards, either.  I haven't been using them at all. I take that back, ATT has one card on file to make the monthly payment, but I always transfer that much over to that account every month to eliminate any interest.  I am much more disciplined on credit card use now simply by fact of making a lot more money, I don't need to use them.  But, some of these cards have rewards for purchases on them and I intend on doing some shopping on them on a monthly basis and then paying off balances before they accrue any interest.  Shopping as in stuff I would be doing anyway, such as fuel and groceries.  This what my mom has been doing forever and she gets pretty good rewards added up over time.  But then again, she is FAR better with money management than me. Perhaps because she worked in a bank in earlier times but probably the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Seems like people that went through that are much more frugal and expenditure conscious than the rest of us for the most part.  Of course, that and my mother is on a fixed income. Not that she's poor but she lives off of her monthly income and tries not to go over that at all.    I think my greatest learning experience with debt was going cash only for an entire year.  Actually I think it was a little longer than that.  That was the experiment I did with having no credit cards excepting a prepaid one to pay online bills.  I had to pay for everything by check or cash.  You learn a lot about yourself and your spending habits when you do something like that and you keep a daily tracker of what you are spending on everything.

Really changed my spending habits for life - except - that last job where I was going broke because of extremely low pow.  It was probably a God-send that they installed an arrogant, angry, egotistical manager to run the place that had frequent outbursts of rage over stupid stuff.  And took it out on everyone.  Literally bring a crowd of people together and ream everyone for one person's mistake versus taking that person aside and calmly discussing the situation with them. It was the prybar that finally unearthed my roots from that place and got me the hell out of there. I have no regrets.  I only miss the physical exertion of the job and home every day and no weekend work.  The physical exertion part I'm paying in terms of fat the home daily stuff I have learned to live with.

I don't like it, but I am tolerating it for the time being.  I will definitely be at 2-1/2 times the annual income by the end of this year if paychecks stay relatively the same as they currently are.  I'm already at more than double what I was making there for an entire year with 5 or 6 more paychecks to go this year. We're paid bi-weekly. 

Actually the truck is still in the shop and no word when it's going to be done, but I'm really hoping today. I need a good 3 day run to get on this next paycheck.  I get paid this week but I'm looking to the next paycheck after that.  Oops, I'm wrong. I'll be paying for this lack of work both this paycheck on Friiday and next paycheck 3 Friday from now unless she really gets m rolling.  Gonna have to suck it up and ask her to keep me busy to make up for 6 days off so far. 

My credit score is going to tank the first month and then hopefully go up beyond what it is now the month after after all the cards report that the principle amounts are paid off. Actually that may take a few months.  I'm fine with the tanking because I am confident it will actually go up. This is an installment loan, not revolving open credit.  And after I pay down these cards and keep them at zero balance, over time, they will increase my credit limit which will further help my credit score.  This move is not just to pay off cards, it's also an attempt to increase my credit score. 

I would love to be able to refinance my vehicle loan to a lower interest payment.  I have only made 2 or 3 payments on it so it wouldn't be a net loss versus if I had been paying for 3 or more years on it. The payment on it is pretty low tho, not really complaining about that but every little bit helps.  The gas bill is going to go way up here and my account is on that bill to pay it.  So I'm trying to bring other monthly expenses down to equalize it.  But, my monthly expenses in Phoenix are fixing to go way down.  Electric use will be cut in half - no cooling and water use goes way down - no watering plants.  That will help substantially in and of itself. 

Okay, onto the diet. Day 8. I got on the scale this morning and it showed 218 pounds.  I mean, how do you lose 6 pounds overnight?  A little googling and it's water weight.  I am drinking large quantities of water and some tea and of course my daily coffee.  My head was aching this morning when I woke up - 10 hours after going to sleep.  I was shocked to look at the clock this morning and see it at 10:00 am.  I mean, I woke up in the middle of the night for a trip to the bathroom but then I went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until the phone rang. No telling how much longer I would have slept if someone hadn't called.

But, getting up and moving around, dealing with dogs, getting a cuppa took care of that head aching.  I'd like to have hoped it would have gone away by now, but everything I've read is that this isn't abnormal.  Plow ahead.  Breakfast was almost nothing  - a biscuit made out of almond flour. Tasty but hardly filling.  Lunch will be a bit better.  This "new" diet we are doing is actually even less calories than what we were consuming.  I think down to around 1,000 calories per day.  That's not much for a 6 foot 2 tall person weighing in currently at 220 pounds.  But hey, if I'm not going to go into ketosis, at least I know my caloric intake is down which will hopefully have the same effect. 

Yesterday? I built the first fire of the cool season.  It was nice. I have some large logs I need to burn through that are starting to rot.  It took a while to get a hot fire going, but after I did get those nice hot coals I put a huge one on there and it's still smoldering out there this morning. Oops, it's not morning anymore. 

Well, I have things to get done.

Day 7 on diet.
Still not in ketosis.
I have been following the diet closely, rest assured I'm hardly eating any carbs at all.
They say it could take up to 7 days I think it was, to get into ketosis, well day 7 is here.
Haven't checked it yet tho.  There's a lot of cooking in this diet, way more than anything we
were doing here previously.  I've been doing most of the cooking since I've been home, but I'm ready to take a break from it.  I spent this morning making breakfast and lunch, it's their turn to
put out and make dinner and tomorrow's meals.  Or I'll help, lol, but doing it all gets old. 

That's a lot of what I've done today, I have other things to do such as tidying up my room and going through some boxes to see if I can find what on  earth I did with my passport and birth certificate.  I certainly do not want to go through all of that again, especially the ordeal of getting a birth certificate. They don't make it easy.  I suppose they shouldn't but it certainly motivates me to find it.  I can't believe I didn't just leave it in a place where I could easily find it when I was moving from one to another.  I assuredly put it in a "safe" space so it wouldn't get damaged, but that was too safe a space.  I am pretty sure I stuffed my birth certificate in an envelope with other important papers - but so far all of those envelopes have turned out no show. 

I'm sure I'll find both of them eventually and then I'm going to put it where I know I will find it and put it on a computer file names Passport, this is what you did with it! lol

But right now, I"m taking a break.  I certainly can't and won't claim that my energy levels are anything near pre-diet levels. Just get worn out quickly.  The only reason I'm glad the truck is in the shop and not earning a paycheck at the moment is for fact of this transition from carbs to fat/protein.

I will have tomorrow off, that's a given.  I'll get some of the other stuff I wanted to get done - done.  Well, I might have to go in and get a ride to get the truck, not really sure about that yet.

____________________

End of Sunday. I weighed myself a few minutes ago to get a grasp on my 7 days, but actually, we started on Monday now that I think of it.  Last Sunday we ate a bunch of junk because we knew we weren't going to be doing that again for quite a while if we manage to stay on this diet.  Down to 224 from 227.  I am not losing the higher amounts others have reported because I have not gone into ketosis. I am not cheating on the diet, it's very low carbs, so it's a bit perplexing.  But, there is always tomorrow. 

We also decided to venture off on our own.  Some of these recipes just don't taste that good. There are hundreds if not many  more recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the net.  It's simply a matter of finding the ones that have comparable calories and low carbs as what we're doing and that has been done. The menu for the entire upcoming week selected. Not cooked of course, but at least that much.  The misses here is missing bread, turns out there is a version of rolls made out of almond flour that you can make that is low carb. 

This diet may have more fat than I like - but that's how keto works if you ever get into ketosis - but it's still low calorie.  It's probably half the calories I have been consuming up until now. 

Anyway, off to bed. Hopefully work calls tomorrow saying the truck is finished so I can go back to work. 

Diet Day 6.
Saturday morning. 
I pretty much plan on keeping myself busy throughout the day both in and outside of the house.
Plenty to do around here, as we haven't raked the yard in a while and it's full of these things they
call gumballs - they all from the big trees.  I assume it's the tree's version of populating itself. They are nasty.  They have prongs that stick out in every direction and hurt the dog's feet.  They fill up the back yard.

The front yard is covered with acorns.  They have always wanted to take that tree down - the thing is scary frankly It's huge, 80 feet tall anyway, unknown amount of weight but in the tens of tons at least.  One branch broke off of it and did $11k worth of damage to their house.  These old trees don't live forever and poor choice for planting around a home.  But it will cost 3.5k to take it down, the exorbitant cost due to it being right next to power lines.  You'd have to bring a crane in here, literally, to cut that thing down.  one piece at a tame with cables to safely put it on the ground. 

They could recover a portion of the cost by cutting it up, splitting it and selling the wood.  I'm guessing there must be 8 cords of wood at least in there.  At $200 per cord - the going rate around here - that's half the cost of cutting it down.  Okay, they'd have to buy a chainsaw and rent a splitter.  Lots of work, too, but when you are financially strapped, you figure out ways to do things on the cheap and still have good results. Been doing it my entire life.  Tho looking back, I should have taken the steps I took last year much sooner and I would be in very healthy financial shape right now. 

But that's a different subject.

It's the diet I'm focused on right now.  It's not necessarily the easiest thing.  Sometimes I get cravings for sugar and it's hard to resist.  I have some water I got from Walmart that is sweetened with Aspartame that actually tastes like you are consuming a sugary substance. Drinking it sparingly, but it's a go to when the cravings hit.  I'm not a big sugar eater, but obviously the normal diet I have been eating has some sugars in it.  It's sort of like an addiction in itself.

Seems like the headaches I have been waking up to are tapering off. 

Anyway, I have several projects that I will be engaging myself with this weekend. They will kill 2 birds with one stone. First, just to keep my mind off of eating - this is a pretty low caloric intake diet - and 2 - get some exercise. Raking and picking up stuff and digging and such is definitely a good output of energy.  I'm trying to gear myself up for the eventual trip to the gym, a thing I need to start up and get into the habit of again. 

Dieting alone can reduce weight and fat. That's science.  But not near as effectively as with a cardio program and also a weight training program. 

I think it's best to do this in steps. The diet is a very good start and just getting into this habit will take some time.  My morning weight and evening weight are a bit odd.  4 to 5 pound difference I've noticed.  I'm not eating 5 pounds of food, tho I am drinking large quantities of water.  I can only assess it's the water for the weight gain and subsequent weight loss the next morning.  If I go by the morning weight, I'm down around 5 pounds. If I go by evening weight, I"m down a pound.  I'll take any down weight over a slowly increasing weight and fat gain. 

So that's it.  I have a closet to clean out that I was using while they were in Georgia.  Not that much in there but they are waiting on me to clean my stuff out of there to put the pool in there.  I'm not sure the reason it can't go into the storage shed.  She doesn't want bugs and stuff to get into it.  Okay.  Well that's interesting I guess. It's time to take it down, that's what I know for sure. 

I'm clearing out the space where I will put up the greenhouse.  And I'm going to do a lot of raking and cleaning up.  Might be a waste of time since it's fall and the leaves on some of the trees haven't even started falling yet, but again, this is to keep myself busy and distracted.  There are other things I could do to that end, but I am trying not to spend any money except on bills right now because I am having 5 days off, apparently, to get the truck fixed. 

THAT is an untenable situation.  If I had a new truck as they promised at the beginning, I wouldn't be having all of these problems. 

No sense in going into all of that, it is rather annoying. 

One thing I can't complain about with this job is the pay.  Yes I've had to fight for detention pay on several occasions now, but they pay up once they realize their mistakes.  I wasn't keeping track of it until I noticed on a pay stub that I was short something like 15 hours of detention and now? I keep track of all of it.

Anyway, I've made almost double this year already than what I made at Ferguson for an entire year.  There's still 5 paychecks left to go in this year so I'll likely be  close to double and half what I made there.  It's one thing I am considering in attempting to decide whether to stay or go with their new rules after the company was merged with another one and brought under a newly formed parent company.  I'm pretty sure most drivers won't be getting any safety bonuses now, which is bunk.  No accidents, no moving violations, no warnings or tickets for roadside checks? THAT is what it should be based on.

Not some nefarious data sent via Quaalcomm that shows you going 2 miles an hour over the company speed limit because you went down a hill "too fast" at 67mph.  That's just purely ridiculous and in my view, obviously a sign that they just want to cut costs by making up outrageous rules that mostly no-one is going to keep. I honestly don't care how fast the truck goes down the other side as long as it isn't going too far over the speed limit, it makes up for time lost going 45mph going UP that same hill. Sounds minuscule but when you are climbing up and down hills all day long, it adds up. 

So, without safety bonuses every quarter? I dunno, I need a summary of how many I got before this new rule and how much it adds up to.  Oh, it's right on my pay stub.  It wasn't that much anyway.  Kind of lame actually, I got much more in one lump sum at my previous employer than several of them here, but then again, my previous employer wasn't paying me jack squat so there is that little point to take into consideration.  I know companies that give out thousands of dollars a year in safety bonuses based on the real criteria I listed above. 

But I'm seeing all kinds of new job opportunities being posted locally now. As the driver shortage continues, the rate for drivers pay is going up with it, whether it's mileage pay, hourly pay, percentage of haul pay -etc., lots of ways they can formulate your pay.  I'm not joyfully happy with this current company but I'm not upset, mad and aggravated with it either, such as I was with previous one when they brought in that a-hole manager with the temper problem and dumped him on us, knowing he was going to be an issue from the outset.  His manager didn't care and I frankly hope that particular store goes under because of it.  The only criteria they looked at was his job performance, not whether he is true management material. 

No sense in going into all of that and bringing up bad memories. Anyway, there are irritations, I'll call them, with current company such as the trouble it is to get them to fix things.  The truck is in the shop and the freaking thing can stay in the shop until all of it is fixed.  That's my assessment, tho if it sits in there too long I"ll be dumped into a temp truck, a thing a very much dislike. I've got my truck set up the way I want it.  They could give us a bigger sleeper tho.  It's not like we need the room for the trailers. There is at least 5 feet between the back of the sleeper and the front of the trailer, a couple more feet of space would be very nice considering how much time is spent in them.  That's another thing, this company outruns a truck's usefulness, by hundreds of thousands of miles worth. Whereas many or even most major trucking companies get rid of trucks after 300k, 350k, 400k miles, this one seems to have no limits.  Mine is at 655k and it's doing the stuff that trucks with mega miles do. Things start failing.  That's why major trucking companies get rid of them. They can't afford a bunch of trucks with a lot of down time.  And this one can? No, they are promising to buy something like 1,500 new trucks in the next coming months. 

I won't hold my breath considering the promises they made when I came on board and the fact that a recent news report I read says that orders for trucks are up so high that manufacturers are having trouble filling the orders.  We're in a booming economy, dunno how long it will last, but we are in "high times" right now and one should take advantage of it if one can.  My friends I live with, wish they could find something better locally.  They just aren't getting paid that much money and they really struggle with bills and trying to make ends meet.  Not a slam on them, really if I were their age and had to do this all over I would definitely get into college - even if student loans, finding a career that is in high demand and pays well - or get into a trade school. 

As for my desire to try and get a business degree, I may just dump that notion.  It's just not worth that much money this late in life.  2 year degree, minimum puts me at almost 56 years old and then you start at the bottom if you go into management.  Tho that isn't my goal, my goal was get some real business knowledge and  education to learn how to run a business. 

Day 5 on diet.
About 1,200 calories on the menu today, all low carb/no carb stuff.  I finally saw a change in the keto strip tester to the first stage of ketosis.  I read that exercise helps and so I was digging up dirt and hauling it around front. That's pretty good exercise.  I checked after doing that and that's what set it off.  But it needs to go to the dark purple range to really have fat burning going on.  I wore myself out - really great lack of energy so far - but I'm going back out there in a few and doing some more of that.   

Day 4 of diet.
Woke up with worse headache than yesterday. 
Whatever is cleaning out of my system - I'm detoxing as well - it's not really all that fun. I'm glad I had yesterday off and today.  By virtue of a broke down truck. 
When it's going to be done, no clue.  It always depends on how long it takes for them to get to it and then to start attempting to figure out all the problems it's having.  I'm not really interested in driving it again until all of it is fixed, done and over with.

Then again, I can't be off too many days or my paychecks suffer, obviously. Still, right now, this diet is kicking my butt and I'm glad to be home doing much of nothing.

The upward spiral of weight gain has been stemmed, apparently.  I actually lost a pound since yesterday. I took my weight after eating and having my coffee so I wouldn't be deceiving myself lol.  There's some high fat stuff in this diet but it's not that much calories when adding them all up for a day. 

Okay.  Just "negotiated" the movie channels at the other house here.  I told them I was going to get rid of them because it's too expensive - it adds $54 per month to the bill.  Dunno how I got $63 last time but that's what it is.  So they had the option of either antying up for those movie channels or having them eliminated.  Well, 2 of them are there all the time. Rene and this other disabled dude who is on all kinds of medication.  He mostly sleeps from what I'm told. 

They want to keep the channels and are willing to pay the extra to keep them on.  That takes me below what the total rent receipts are for the house - which is a good thing because gas use is going to go up and electric use will go up slightly.  Taylor told me the electricity would go up, but I had to disagree. Donny was literally there, all the time, running a computer and large screen TV literally 24 hours a day.  This new disabled guy doesn't run it all the time and the other new guy is hardly ever there. 

The 3rd one is basically using it as a place where he can have his daughter over on his appointed time with her.  You know, divorced and all of that wonderfulness?  The great thing is currently I'm going to be paying nothing for that house, whereas I had been paying over $200 per month in exchange for Rene watching the dogs.  This deal just got a whole lot sweeter for me.  And so far it appears they are all getting along.  All of them have my text number so if there is an issue they can get a hold of me directly, of which I encouraged them to do if there happens to be a problem. 

Day 3 of diet.
Rather spartan breakfast considering 2 very tiny pancakes made out of well I dunno what they are made out of. They were good, but tiny and a couple pieces of bacon.  Oh and  a cup of coffee is allowed. Actually I couple probably drink as much coffee as I want, but I have been slowly scaling back on that in the last couple of months.  Not a diet thing, just trying to cut back to a moderate amount.  I get into this phase where I"m drinking 3 pots of coffee a day and that's just too much.  I'm down to 2 sometimes 3 cups a day which isn't even a pot of coffee.

Of course, i didn't say anything about quitting coffee altogether lol.

I weighed myself pre diet, I figure I'll weigh again after 7 days and see if there is any change.  Everyone that has done this diet say they have lost at least 5 pounds the first week.  I guess that's nice but to lose 35 pounds is going to take an extended period of time, it doesn't happen overnight and I don't have the mindset that it is going to happen quickly  We can talk about that in 6 months if we're still doing it.  I can foresee some "failings" at Thanksgiving and whenever I go back to Phoenix, I'm just going to put the diet on the shelf for those 2 things and not feel bad about it at all.

I have to say that I kind of threw Taylor for a loop when I started talking about the need to buy new clothing.  She's like, wait I didn't think about that!  Meh, she undoubtedly has clothing from the past when she was thinner.  I should have kept my mouth shut, lol, but I was thinking out loud.  I want to get back down to 32 waist as I had all of my adult life until this fat started piling on. I'm in 35's right now.

No smoked meats for a while.  Not even any point to cooking that much meat, this isn't really a protein diet, it's a mostly fat diet with some protein and almost no carbs.  Unfortunately, Taylor is having a problem staying away from the soda.  She had one the first night.  I didn't want to "lecture" her, but to get into ketosis carbs must be kept at a bare minimum. An entire soda probably will throw that off. Like 25 carbs in a can, that's too much.

________________________

Okay, trip to Walmart.  This house has no blender and several recipes are calling for a blender.  You can improvise without one, but why bother.  You can get a blender for $30.  Got ingredients to make smoothies - like very low carb versions of maybe around 3 to 5 carbs worth.  Do one of those here and there.  And some detox tea since I haven't really detoxed in a long time.

Oh and rye grass seed cause it is on sale and there are bald patches where grass should be growing.  It's the time of year to plant that kind of grass anyway.

Ok, this diet is a bit time consuming cooking these dishes.  Tomorrow won't be any better cooking for tomorrow's meal and likely making Friday dinner in advance.  Oh and Friday lunch.

Anyway, I went ahead and ordered a low priced greenhouse that had rave reviews.  It comes ready to put up and not needing a lot of set up time.  It will be a place to hang out for me anyway and enough room for dogs to be in there as well plus a lot of potted plants and of course the pond.  Minimal outlay for enjoyable relaxing.  I don't want to spend too much money on stuff here, but I will spend some for the things I like as along as it's agreeable with them, which they have no problem with it. The back yard is in a shambles.  It's way too time consuming to continuously rake it up.  Acorns, leaves, dead branches, gumballs (round things that have spikes in them), the junk falls year round, constantly.  The kicker is that none of those trees are on their property, it's all neighbors trees.

I suppose they could get a tree person to cut the limbs back that are hanging over their property but that would cost a fortune. These trees are 75 to 100 feet tall.  I love trees, not in love with these particular variety of trees.  I'd much rather have to deal with pine needles and pine cones than all of this nonsense.  Anyway I won't have to deal with all that junk falling into the pond for fall and winter, as I'm putting the thing up as soon as it comes in - and I have at least a day off to do it with.

Umm, started that last post and totally forgot about it, got busy with getting ready to leave for Brownsville.
We're on day 2 of the diet, well eating is over with for today.
It's really not a bad diet. It's certainly not starvation though it adds up to lower calories than what I've been normally eating at around 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day.
I don't eat much sugar to begin with so a sweet tooth isn't really my problem.
Just eating too much calories at meals, eating truckstop food, not getting enough exercise, but mostly needing to get my eating, what I'm eating to be specific, under control.

Fortunately, the other 2 here are full fledged into this even tho James has no need for dieting.  It's a good thing to be supportive of your wife in such endeavors.  There's absolutely no alcohol on this diet either, even tho some versions allow it.  No beer, no liquor,  no wine.

Anyway, day 2 wasn't bad and tomorrow doesn't look too bad either except spaghetti squash? Stuff looks weird.  Not sure if I'll like it or not, but I get to make the dinner tomorrow.

Oh, the trip. Well, the AC went out on the truck and I just put my foot down today.  Time to fix ALL of this, not just the AC.  They're sending it to the Peterbilt shop tomorrow to fix stuff that the mechanic can't - he doesn't have the software/computer system to do that kind of diagnosing.  So finally get this beeping noise turned down, get the cruise control working, get the blower on the fresh air going again and of course fix the AC. That truck has 655,000 miles on it but's only a 2016, lol.  No, I didn't have anything to do with putting all those miles on it in that short of a period of time. I've put almost 90,000 on it, the rest was a team that must have just done nothing but drive drive drive.

The thing about today was, I was asked to get that trailer back up here as fast as possible, they wanted to have it loaded today.  I was like, well, it's going to be at least 2:30 this afternoon before I get it back.  I wasn't wrong, got up at 3:45 am, left at 4:12 from the yard down in Browsnville and showed up at our yard at 2:41 this afternoon.  I find out that they had nixed the order, didn't need it back that fast, I got up early for nothing I definitely could have slept a couple more hours.  Oh well.

I ended sitting with another driver that's been working there for 20 years about all things truck and trucking, not sure how I got so carried away with the time spent, but it was an interesting conversation.  Coming home was to a rather small meal compared to the rest of them, just about a link of sausage, some broccoli and = oh and nothing, we ran out of lettuce hearts and so I had a boiled egg instead.

And looking online, I've found some recipes for smoothies. Like, different kind of smoother than one would think lol, but I"m going to experiment with almond milk, unsweetened yogurt, raspberries and various spices.  I mean, they had spinach version which for a smoothie sounds - not so great. I like spinach, don't get me wrong, but in a smoothie?

Ahh,  a little more looking into this keto diet stuff. It appears that not only do you not eat hardly any carbs at all, you also don't eat that much protein in comparison to fat.  That was what was throwing me off, why am I supposed to eat so much fat filled stuff?  Because, it appears, once you go into ketosis, that's what the body consumes.  Well, we're following the diet and the only straying I've done is a few very small tastes of turkey pepperoni and some cheese.

Diet was not going so great.
It's kind of hard to diet when everyone around you is eating whatever, whenever, however.  In other words, dinner is a lot of high calorie, fat laden greasy stuff that tastes wonderful but in no way, shape or form is anything even remotely associated with the term "losing weight".

So, we discussed going on some sort of diet weeks ago. Maybe months actually.  You see, I'm just getting fatter and fatter and I am literally disgusted with myself.  I haven't ever been this fat, ever.  I'm a good 35 pounds over weight, but if you go by my most-of-my-life-adult-weight, it's more like 40.

I never thought I'd even have an issue with weight considering my entire life up until just a few years ago I was in pretty good shape weight wise and fat wise.
The thing is, at least for me, the Feds have this fat program, I call it that anyway, they call it body mass index, for truck drivers. Go over a certain amount and you are disqualified. Or you have to jump through hoops to stay qualified temporarily, I think, while you deal with it.

Trucking is mostly a very sedentary lifestyle.  Unless you are doing flatbeds or some sort of version of it that gets you out of the truck and doing physical work, you are likely going to get fat unless you really adopt a disciplined lifestyle, something I have struggled with in recent times.  I mean, you are on duty for 14 hours and driving for 11 of those, getting out of the truck and doing much of anything after a day that long isn't really the first thought. The first thought is get something to eat, brush your teeth and go to sleep if it's late, which many times it is.

The last trip was a prime example of that.  Late load - 12:30 pm at the plant, always means a late night end. In that case, it was 2:00 am, or just a few minutes before, before I got done with the "day".  I didn't eat tho, I just went to sleep.  The next night I was done at 11:00 and didn't get home until after midnight.  Again, I didn't eat, but still, it's just an example of the hours.  Tomorrow morning will be reversed, get up at 3:00 am but means I can't work later than 6:30 pm.  It's actually optimal the first load, it's just that I feel like crap all day long because I never get enough sleep that night. Going to bed at 7:00pm just doesn't work for me.  9:00 at the earliest and then, I always have difficulty sleeping on this early rise nights - I don't know why, I can't explain it, it just happens that way almost every time.

Anyway, there was a point not all that long ago where the fat accumulation seemed to multiply at an exponential rate. No increased eating of junk or sweets, no change in eating habit at all. That was mystifying, but it's not like I was trying to do anything about it, either.

Anyway, I pushed the issue for starting this weekend.  Money issues and such came up, no thanks, I'll buy all of it, I don't care about spending a few dollars on getting myself to a healthy weight again and I certainly like the idea of doing it with other people for accountability.  She needs to lose at least 50 pounds according to her, he doesn't really need to go on this diet at all - he has a very physically demanding job - but she basically pushed him into it.  I mean, what were we going to do, make 2 different meals at dinner time?  Nahh bro, we can't do that.  Not like the food we are going to be eating is nasty, just a lot of prep time and advance thinking for what you are going to eat for dinners and lunches.

Tomorrow? We haven't got that far yet.  But they have frozen meals made for this kind of diet.  My truck has a small freezer and I can get a small microwave. The truck has a 3,000 watt inverter, easy enough to plug it in, heat up my food and be done with it.  But I'm going to have to have some sort of nibbling food.  I mostly don't eat that much while driving, but here and there I feel hunger pangs, having something - anything really - in hand's reach is what I need that works with this diet.

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We're full fledged going into this now.  I went with Taylor to Kroger's and we spent 2 hours in there. Taylor is an extremely organized person that looks stuff up and prints stuff out in advance.  The entire week's worth of dinners are going to be made - today.  It was a chunk of change spotted to get this started, but if it works, it's money well spent It's a version of the Adkinson diet - a keto diet - where you're eating almost no carbs/sugars.  I'm not trying to get into eating a bunch of fat either tho.  Anyway, we spent over 2 hours walking up and down the grocery aisle looking for everything that we need.

Of course, once we got home, we found out we don't have everything we need. So, put the boys to bed, I said I'm not going anywhere, they left to Walmart to get other stuff we don't have.  I also need a small microwave for the truck that they are going to pick up. I'll have 2 days worth of eating in advance, put it in the truck refrigerator and have the microwave to heat the stuff up, avoid truckstop food altogether and get this thing rolling. I"m all in on this.  ALL in.  I'm tired of this incredible fat gain and willing to do just about anything to get this nonsense reversed.

It's just wonderful that there are 2 other people living in the same household doing it as well.  We can crank on each other if there are "failing" moments.  I guess I could get away with whatever on the road, but I'm really committed to doing this and getting this done.

So this is consuming the entire day. First cleaning up yesterday's mess -- I don't like that kind of stuff but I tolerate it cause' this ain't my house and I want to stay at peace with everyone - but I cleaned all of it up when we got back from the grocer's, got the dishwasher cranking and then got started on putting everything up.  I didn't do the putting stuff up alone tho and she is definitely putting out to get this going too. She has her own weight loss issues that have crept up on her over time.

My God I'm up to 225 pounds.  I just weighed myself a few weeks ago at 222.  This is insanity. Like someone said hey, let's dump a bunch of fat on this dude and just let it accelerate at a ridiculous rate! Note again: I haven't changed any of my eating habits, but the weight accumulation has accelerated exponentially in just a month's time? What the heck.  That just motivates me even more.

NO.

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We spent the entire day with the beginning of this project.  The beginning meaning a rather large spot of money on food, cooking, bagging/prepping/putting into containers, cleaning dishes - we're on our 3rd trash bag full and second load of dishes not to mention those that are cleaned by hand - and getting this ready to roll. I'm set for the two days out on the road.  If I have to go a 3rd day, I have enough snacks allowed by the diet to keep me eating.  This isn't a starvation diet. You eat, you just don't eat carbs/sugars.  It cuts out a lot of different types of food but it also cuts caloric intake per day significantly.

If anything experts agree on - consume less calories than you are expending.  I will up my workouts and force myself to do a minimal amount of exercise even if I have driven all day and don't feel like it. This isn't an instant thing. I don't expect that. I do expect to see some kind of results after the first week, but I know I'm not going to lose the amount of weight I want to in a few weeks. Try 6 months.  Maybe more.

Saturday.  I didn't go to bed last night until 3:00 am, so for me to be feeling as good as I do right now is actually quite amazing - to me anyway.
I only got 5-1/2 hours of sleep.

Ok, I didn't get back from Brownsville and to the yard until around 11:30 and then didn't get home until around 12:30 am.  I don't just go to sleep when I get home, usually, I sit down and relax and get on the computer and just check things out.  I mean, I didn't even realize it was that late until I looked up at the clock lol.

So, anyway, got up and went to the Fireant Festival. Some thing they have yearly.  Their 2 kids were in it, and the nursery had borrowed my trailer to use for the parade.  I figured I might as well go take a look.  Pretty amazing actually. A lot of people out there, a lot of stands with all kinds of different things being proffered.   I couldn't find James and I knew Taylor and the boys were on the float, so I just wandered around looking at everything.  Signed up for 2 different raffles for guns.  They weren't free, but what the heck, see if my luck is any good.

The parade started at 10:00 am and was pretty amazing actually. It's a small town and everyone is happy to be a part of this parade. I almost felt like I should have brought my Great Dane, he would have been a show pleaser lol.  The float with Taylor and the daycare came along, it was pretty cool. They had made the word "HEROES" out of pics of servicemen and women both alive and passed on.

It won the best float award later on.  Never did find any of them after that, wandered around a while longer and decided to come home.  Having had not received any marching orders for the weekend, I was about to text my manager when she texted me.  She's changed her modus operandi as of lates. Instead of giving out assignments for the weekend on Friday, she just does it whenever.  So I found out my next load is the first load, Monday morning. Not at all excited about getting up at 3 am, but at least I won't be out until past midnight trying to get down there.  Seems it's one or the other lately.  But, when I start on the clock at 4:30 am, I can't be on that clock later than 6:30 pm.  The day ends early, if there's no trailer I can get a bit of detention pay.

That, however, is dwindling down for the Brownsville run.  They mostly have a trailer down there now, it's getting pretty rare that there isn't one.  The organization down there came under new management and new management wants costs down.  Understandable, it was a nice gravy train while it lasted. It still happens here and there but not near as often as it used to.  It's still a good run anyway, good miles so I'm not going to complain.  I just like free vacations lol.

Well anyway we were going to go back up there but - I didn't feel like it. 2 hours was enough for me.  I mean, okay, I was thinking about going back up but it's pouring rain now, which is a bummer for them.  It's a big production and it's supposed to go on well into the night.  But it's raining cats and dogs and I can't imagine families staying out there in this mess.

Ahh, well now we have tornado watches.  Lol.

A rather nice, relaxing day off.  Got a haircut, went over to Lowe's to see their end of season sales on plants, to Chili's for a bite to eat and then Walmart to get some dog food and yes, some more fish. Small Goldfish and Koi.  They don't have large fish there and I don't like buying large fish.  I'd rather get them really small and watch them grow over time.  I have that pond loaded with fish now.  Probably won't get any more unless I see Koi that I really like, I far prefer Koi over goldfish but a mix of both in a pond is nice.  I'm going to buy a cheap greenhouse and cover the pond this winter and not have to worry about excessive cold freezing up the pond. Koi and goldfish can actually tolerate very cold temps, but I want my plants to live as well and the greenhouse effect keeps it warm enough in there to keep them from freezing over during a frost event.  It's frost that kills them.  Small investment.

Meanwhile, I was looking into business degrees online.  The prices are not cheap.  I mean, much more than I expected.  "Cheap" being 11 grand and expensive being almost 100k.  I guess I figured I could find something at a reasonable price in the "thousands" range, not the tens of thousands of range.  I don't want to go into debt to go to school, especially at my age.

I'm not really sure what to do about that, just keep searching I guess.  I can't do a regular classroom setting since I have no regular off time.  Maybe it's a pipe dream to go back to school. I just have to keep looking, perhaps something will turn up.  I could do classes out on the road, just get myself a new laptop with a larger screen.  And switch to unlimited internet.

Anyway, after all that came back home, put the fish in the pond -they are all doing nicely and none of them died off - got dinner made early, sat back and ignored the news lol.  Just insanity, pure, utter insanity.  Eric Holder proclaiming to "kick 'em" referring to all of the right.  The left is asking it's base to engage in hostilities - if they think that is going to work, wait until they pick on the wrong person or group of people.  It's going to get ugly, quickly.

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Thursday morning. Mixed feelings about late loads. Nice to not have to get up rushed and fly out the door, sit and sip coffee for a few hours, watch some news - adjusting that - the hurricane news is unbelievable.  I mean, there was some serious damage done by that storm. 

Ugh. So Rene shows up right before I'm leaving - like the hour before I leave I have a lot to do, messing around with lawn mowers and Taylor loaning out tv's isn't on my list of things to have to do.  Then I found the pond pump quit which got me going, but turns out the dogs probably just ran by the cord and unplugged it. I just dumped a bunch of new fish in there plus the ones that were already there, I can't leave for 2 days without having fresh water being pumped to oxygenate the water. 

Anyways, all taken care of, a few precious moments remaining. It's going to be a long day trying to make it to Brownsville after I get loaded at the plant. it's 10-1/2 hours and I won't be out of the plant until at the earliest probably around 3:00 pm, I dunno if I'll even make it down there today.  I'd prefer to but that means being up until 1:00 am or even later.  Guess I'll figure that out when I get south of Houston and whether it took too long to get through there.  Hmm, better call my manager and see if the loading is going smoothly.

Well, off to the races.

Congratulations to Brett Kavanaugh!

He stood up to left democrats, just the same as Clarence Thomas did, endured the hell of being accused of unthinkable acts and now is already sworn in.  Dems pipe dream of impeaching him? Maybe if they actually do win enough seats to take control, I have serious doubts that's going to happen and I am relatively comfortable with the idea that by the time the next election after this one occurs, they won't care anymore. Hirono and all the rest of them are still wanting "justice" and impeachment! lolol

So enough of that.

Monday morning.
I have a run to go on but they are replacing the windshield in my truck this morning so she gave me a really late load time - not really in love with those but it is what it is.  Would rather have the second or third load.  But, this particular plant has changed everything, having us just drop and hook and leave immediately after getting there, basically.  It's still a 2 day trip, there's just too much traffic and slow areas you have to go through to get it done in one.  Well, I dunno, I could probably get very close.  That last trip I caught up with another driver so that really added minutes to the drop and hook time.

How do you catch up to a driver that is going the same speed and left 2 hours earlier than you?  Lol.  It's about 680 miles round trip.  I have made 677 miles in a day's driving with this company and that was not on a day where I had to load the truck.  That was a wake up, start driving and get as much as you can get done day.  In this trip, even tho it "technically" would be doable, you've got 2-1/2 hours at the loading plant and at least 30 minutes at the receiving plant.  Plus a forced 30 minute break and 20 minutes to fuel. There's almost 4 hours, which eats into the 11 driving hours, which makes a one day trip - impossible.  Okay, the plus side is it's more miles than Cheniere which is almost always a 2 day trip so in that regard I guess it's better. 

New tenant is allegedly moving in today.  He has said that twice now but then said he had to do "other" things.  The only reason I"ve let it go this long is because he put down a deposit to hold the room.  But, if he does not move in today, I will let him know that if he doesn't drop the rest of the rent off by tomorrow, he will forfeit his deposit and I will find someone else.  Several people have expressed high interest in the room. That's the point of a deposit, you are guaranteeing you are going to move in and if you don't, you understand you will lose that deposit.  I'd rather not have to go that route but there is a maximum amount of days that deposit covers for monthly expenses and after that, I run short.  Meaning pay out of my pocket and no thanks. 

My mind got all tangled up again in the thought of having a larger rental property with either mobile homes or small apartment complex.  I'd really love to get out of trucking eventually and just have rentals bringing in the dough.  Or perhaps a scaled back trucking version to supplement my income.  I suppose I'd have to be an owner operator to be able to do that tho.  It would be cool to work that out with current company, stay here long enough to get into that position, but I doubt they'd allow a "part time" driver.  And all the rules they have implemented - and a lot of stuff.  Lol.  I think next month marks a year, I will be taking my paid time off and will spend that time travelling and also thinking about my next move, if there is one.  I won't have enough money saved up to do anything about getting into a larger rental property for at least a couple of years.  And, I'm still trying to get my credit score up - I have no idea how long that is going to take. 

It's been quite a while already and still in the fair range.  It just went up 6 points, but that isn't enough to really do anything.  I really need to be in the good range to be able to qualify for some sort of loan for a venture such as that plus a significant down payment and I may need to take some business courses. 

Online, thanks.  I can't do mortar based college with this driving job - or any other driving job for that matter.  Just doesn't work.  It would be far better for me to be in a classroom, if I do decide to do that I'll have to find the motivation from within to stick to it and get it done. 

Yes this little venture is still very much in my mind, I have to find a way to get it done.  Save save save to start with, I have already upped that significantly starting last night.  I've just reduced my expenses and I expect to reduce them even more with getting rid of all of those movie channels over there.  That is around $60 per month and that money is going to be needed to cover the increased gas bill come this winter.  Going to have to discuss the temp everyone can handle having it at over there and definitely asking that no one uses space heaters.  It would be cheaper to just heat the entire house up to a higher temp with natural gas than sucking up huge amounts of electricity in those heaters. 

I think what I'm going to do is attempt to schedule a BBQ over there on some weekend and we can all discuss ways to save money while still being comfortable.  I've found that if you don't have that discussion, the people who aren't paying the electric and gas bill pretty much don't care how much excess they use, cause they aren't responsible for the bill.  Heaters, window ac units, leaving computers one, running hot water and not using it, stuff like that. 

Life goes on.  I wish I owned the property I'm living at so I could do some major improvements to this place. But, I'm not dumping money into a place I don't own. The only exception has been my bedroom and especially the bathroom that had an old toilet that was leaking, the sink was disgusting and the shower valves were leaking. All of that replaced/fixed at my own expense.  I just couldn't live like that.  They aren't making enough money to do upgrades and repairs such as that and I've been here a while, so I figure I"m getting my money's worth out of it.  I''m still paying all the bills over here besides the mortgage, which sounds excessive but it really isn't that bad now that we negotiated the Direct TV bill down to $94 per month - it was at $215.  My cost is around $450 per month but it will go up in the winter with increased gas use to heat the place.  I do hope they will consider pitching in for that, after $500 per month I kind of think the price tag is a bit excessive.

The flip side is living with friends and we all get along, we never fight, we take little snips at each other but all in good fun.  Still, I think $500 is a good ceiling to place my "rent" at, which is having all the bills coming out of my account automatically.  James took a huge pay cut in moving back here and finding a new job. Steady employment, some weeks he gets a lot of OT, but on those weeks he doesn't it's pretty slim pickings.  But they're both employed so at least they're making it.

Well I still have a couple of hours before I have to leave lol. I'm burnt out on news - its the same stuff day in and day out. Kavanaugh this and Kavanaugh that. Dems are looking for "revenge".  No surprise there.  And of course all things Trump, which Kavanaugh is a by-product of.  It's just getting boring and I have started tuning alot of it out now that the hearings are over and done with.  Perhaps the next new outrage the democrats invent and dump on it's constituents I'll take a look at - it seems this crap happens on a weekly basis. 

With that, I'ma end this one and make some breakfast. 

G'day. 

Ok, quite the interesting trip.
First was Wednesday morning. I get to the plant and they come in and tell me after attempting to start loading the trailer that it has a broken internal cable. Internal valves are there for emergencies - if something goes haywire, you pull a lever and walaah, the product stops flowing.  I had no way of knowing that that cable was busted and it came back from Mexico, it likely occurred there and they didn't bother to say anything to anyone about it.

It cost me hours - I knew right away I wouldn't be making it down there that day and that it would drag this out to a 3 day deal.

Well this is outrageous. I was scrutinizing the Settlement Sheet for my Washington trip, they paid me ZERO for the entire time I sat up there babysitting that trailer and spending countless hours blowing off pressure to keep it from automatically doing so - and causing a helluva lot of problems.  With it heating up that much, those safety valves would have just kept open and there would be hell to pay.  I immediately texted my manager.  I have no problem asking her to give me phone numbers for these idiots that run this show above her and speaking to them directly. I have been asking around about other cryogenic companies - one of which pays 75k per year with NO weekend work. But if you DO do weekend work, it's paid at a rate of $56 per hour.

_________________________________

I kinda of got into a back and forth with my manager, tho not in a heated type of thing, sharing info on my 36 hours or so of tending to a trailer.  Ridiculous that this company isn't going to pay for that.  I wrote all that stuff down, she says she is going to get into it on Monday. 

Meanwhile, I'm headed to Oklahoma today.  I don't really like that run because it's not that much miles for 2 days but the same is true of Cheniere which is even less miles.  BUT, CHeniere apparently is realizing that no drivers like that run - everyone says it  to them - and is attempting to get drivers in and out of there quickly.  If they continue on with that I wouldn't mind it quite so much.  I do like the Oklahoma run for the stop in Bartlettsville - if I do indeed decide to take that route.  The best route tho is to take the trailer to the plant yard, drop it in the yard and then wait in the parking lot outside of the facility.  Ohyes that's why I don't like that place.  You either stay in their parking lot all night long and get the trailer unloaded earlier or you don't and have some fun in Bartlettsville eating fine Mexican food and bowling and then show up at 8:00 am and hope another trailer isn't ahead of you to make you wait for hours. 

They can only unload one trailer at a time.  I guess I'l make that decision when I get to Tulsa and decide whether to head to Bartlettsville or go straight to the plant in Barnsdall.  There's a Quick Trip right at the exit to go to Barnsdall - it's just a gas station convenience store but Quick Trip does have some pretty decent, fresh sandwiches.  I actually parked there one night when I first started going up there and didn't know where I could park. 

Well I'll be.  I'm glad I have texting to 10 other drivers.  We no longer have to wait, apparently they changed the whole set up up there, we drop a trailer and pick up an empty. Didn't used to be that way.  No more Bartlettsville, just drive straight there, drop the full trailer, pick up an empty and head back as far as I can get with whatever drive hours I have left.  Nice.  If the plant loads me normal tim frame this morning, I should be able to get at least a couple hundred miles back towards the yard. 

Anyway, my weekend is not a weekend at all, just another couple of days.  But I'll be back at a decent hour on Sunday if all goes as I'm thinking it will - it's not possible to do the entire trip turnaround in a single day but I'm pretty sure you can get within a hundred miles of the yard at the end of it.  Meaning I'll have a lot of Sunday to kick back - do laundry - and then back at it Monday afternoon and back up there again.  2 trips back to back up there.  Cheniere cancelled all of their loads - plant must be having issues again.

Meanwhile, I'm just going to start looking at jobs that are completely out of the trucking realm.  I don't qualify for much of anything but that isn't going to stop me from trying.  I would really like a much more normal schedule back.  And really, now that I know I can rent out rooms here without that much problem - so far anyway, the third dude is moving in today - I am feeling a bit more comfortable about doing a small mobile home park or possibly a small apartment complex.  One that already exists tho.  I"m saving money, it's going into a savings account, I'm going to try to double what's going in there.  I also upped the amount being taken out for my 401k. 

Anyway, close to time to leave. Judge Brett Kavanaugh circus almost over. At 4:54 pm today, they are expected to take the vote and he is expected to be voted in.  Get this over with and then watch the sparks fly!!!

In the last 5 days, I've worked 1 of them.  I don't mind a down time here and there, but I would like to know about it so I can - travel.  I could have flown to Phoenix, taken a trip locally, whatever.  Something, anything, out of here.  I've got a nice ride to drive off somewhere or plenty of funds to fly off somewhere. Money is no longer the huge issue it used to be.

Anyway, Ive gotten some things done some days and nothing done on others.  Count this an almost nothing day.  Didn't feel like it. Got up late, went out to eat with Taylor at lunch, came home and went back to sleep.  Well, I have done some laundry and I have had modules online from work open all day long.  Those are assigned by the company and you are allowed to spend up to 3 hours on each module and get paid 3 hours worth.  I've been going 2 plus hours on each. It takes 60 seconds to read each one tho. 

But I have to supplement my paycheck somehow, this was the only thing that came to mind this morning.  I don't have to babysit it, either. Well sorty of, I have to stay active every 50 minutes or so.  Anyway, I intend on 10 hours of that today, it's the same pay as detention pay. 

Meanwhile, both rooms are tentatively rented.  One person is moving in tomorrow.  I don't have to put furnishings in the rooms, that's a big plus.  Didn't really want to have to go buy beds and dressers and such.  The room being filled tomorrow is also disable  He doesn't work, same as Rene, monthly check from the government.  Plus and minus there. Plus is that guaranteed income to pay the rent. Minus, sometimes those people are "needy" and trying to borrow money off of others.  I already asked Rene to please not ask other people in the house for loans, it doesn't sit well that a stranger should be approached for money they probably don't have.

I mean, if you're renting out a room in someone else's house, highly likely it's because you aren't financially stable enough to afford your own place.  At the same time, I am renting out a room in another person's house and I can easily afford to get my own place.  But, I don't want my own place, I'd rather live with other people, just my preference.  I wouldn't be too happy living alone, I don't think. 

Anyway, I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to work out and work out much faster than I thought. I kinda thought I would end up eating a lot of this month's money towards that house in trying to get people in there.  Instead, it happened within a week of posting ads and 2 payments coming tomorrow - one from Rene and the other from 1st new tenant. The 3rd cannot move in until Donny is out.  Donny is living there free, on my dime.  6 days worth it will be by the time he gets out of there.  I didn't give him permission to do that, I am just staying away from him because his mouth is crass and I am not really feeling in the mood to listen to all of that.  In other words, I'm just protecting myself from getting into an altercation that could get ugly. 

I'm heading back down to Brownsville again tomorrow.  I think I'm going to try and dig out my passport just in case I get stuck down there and  in case I get a wild hair and decide to venture across the border.  Apparently going into Mexico isn't an issue, it's coming back into the states where they want you to have a passport.  I have to admit I'm a bit uneasy about venturing off over there, but at the same time, that's what makes it a challenge.  Ok, I really need to get stuck down there for a day or more even if I don't go across the border, too much down time, I need the finances. 

Oh, and my 401k! Has taken off yet again.  Thank you President Trump! Yup, I'll give him credit, especially after democrats poo-poohed it a while back saying it "flattened out" and predicting doom and gloom for the economy.  Hey, the economy could experience a hiccup or a collapse, who knows, but times are good right now.  Unemployment is so low that companies are having a hard time finding enough employees to fill slots.  That's a good and bad thing. 

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We went to a law enforcement event at the main square in town.  Yup, this is a small town.  Big, OLD, courthouse right in the middle of the square.  I think it's a museum now, the court is now in a high rise building across the street.  Funny how we need courts everywhere, and big expansive ones, even in small towns?  What the heck is wrong with the human race that you have to have this kind of junk all over the place?  It was interesting and there were free hotdogs and chips and water so what the heck. 

James was still at work, we took the kids - it is only a mile away, checked everything out, ate the food and left.  The 3 year old had fun in the bounce house. 

I'm not really looking forward to getting up at 5:30 am.  That's 8 hours from now.  Going to sleep in half an hour.  Just trying to ensure that I will sleep mostly through the night, that happens if I stay up later than I should. A bit less sleep but more of it overall.  The only good thing about the early loads are you don't have to drive late at night. If I go on duty at 6:30 am - which is when I wlll, I can only be on duty until 8:30 pm.  I will be there around 7:30 pm if nothing goes wrong.  Haven't had a break down in a while. 

The news. It's nothing but Kavanaugh. ENDLESS Kavanaugh, endless new false narratives by the left, endless accusations.  This nation is in a bad way right now.  Politics is tearing this nation apart,  The left have collectively lost their minds.  There is no excusing this outrageous behavior.  I'm on the Convention of States channel, will be until all of this is fixed - and it won't be fixed until the states come together, engage in a convention of states and force the feds back into their place. Washington politicians have this nation handled by the throat, they dictate to us what's going to happen next and I am quite done with it. 

Well enough.  I'm still trying to figure out the world of stock investments.  I have no problem with 401k, but doing it with cash is a completely different story. 
















                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

16 hours from the time I left this morning and - actually made it back tonight.
The loading plant was fine, the drive down there not so wonderful.
I had only had 4 hours of sleep and when I went to fuel with the new fuel card, it didn't work either.

I texted my manager about the fuel card, but I left the fueling station I was at. It would have taken too much time, I was having hopes that I might make it home today.

Just bypassing a lot of stuff, my manager finally texted me back 2 hours later.  Oh, well you have to use another digit on your social security number now.  Great, they changed the password without bothering to tell me.  Was I supposed to intrinsically know that information?  I ended up at a Petro in or near Beaumont, not sure really, used that password and walaah, fuel!

Down at Cheniere.  I was shocked. I got into the plant and they came up to get me within 5 minutes. Even after all the time I lost with that fuel card crap, I thought I might still have a chance to make it home today.

I pumped that trailer up to 95 pounds - 10 pounds below the point where the safeties release product automatically into the atmosphere - and we got busy offloading it.  I got out of there with 4 hours and 45 minutes left on the clock.

____________________________________

Monday.  Things are coming together. I'm kind of surprised it happened this fast to be honest.
But I have 2 tenants to take the available rooms in the house.  Here's the problem that could have occurred: I signed onto this lease as well as the other 2. Now, my friends told me that might come back to bite me later on, but I always had confidence that if something did go down between these two characters, one would leave and then I would rent out the departed tenant's room.

That is exactly what is happening here. But it's actually going to work out to my advantage now.  For I have rented out all 3 rooms - Rene is in one but the other 2 are also being filled.  In looking at the finances - what will come in and what will go out, I might have to pay at most $50 per month, versus the over $200 I'm paying now with Donny and Rene in there.  I did that to help those people, that was my only motivation, I have always tried to help people in my lifetime, that aspect of me hasn't changed and likely never will.

Okay, sometimes even to my own harm.  That's a trait I have been working on.  I really had to find a place where I need to look out for myself as well and really count the costs of helping any particular person in whatever endeavor that may end up being.  In this case, I did count the costs and I figured that if worse came to worst, I would be able to re rent the rooms and nothing would change.  So, Donny is going to live with his uncle. His uncle apparently has no idea that he is a crack addict and a drunk.  I don't know his uncle, I feel no particular interest in telling him.  He'll figure this out on his own. 

I don't hate Donny, I really wish he would get help. 

Anyway, I thought I might get some pushback from Rene about renting both rooms out. The biggest inconvenience is going to be sharing a shower with 3 people. Not at the same time lol, you know what I mean, 3 people using the same bathroom. But one of the rooms has it's own personal bathroom, just no shower in it. So that at least alleviates the main bathroom of 3 people constantly using it.  Rene can take a shower whenever the other 2 aren't there. That alleviates at least her portion of it. From what I'm seeing, one of them has a totally wild schedule, so he'll not be taking a shower at regularly scheduled times, I do believe this is going to work out. 

But belief is based on the hope of people being civil, respectful of each other and being able to give and take. Some people do that naturally, others aren't so inclined.  I have been renting out rooms for a long, long time, I know how this works.  It can go either way.  I'm forced now to learn Texas renting rules and how to get rid of tenants. Actually it's not my house so I would have to dump that onto the owners, or, they could make me a landlord and then I could legally take care of it.  Whatever the case, I certainly wasn't going to just eat $800 per month. That's not happening.

Anyway, if it works out, I'll be getting $1,200 per month and the bills are - a little over that.  I'm fine with that, I will still have a place to take my dogs for almost free.  Actually, winter is coming so the gas bill will go up, but nothing I can't deal with.  Even if it went up $100, I'd still be fine with it.  There aren't any places where you can take 2 dogs and have them babysat for days at a time - at least 15 days out of the month - for $100, $200 or even $300.  But $200 was my threshold. After that, I wouldn't be so inclined to do this and think about asking Taylor if she would take care of them while I'm gone and I'll pay her the money instead.

Just means the dogs would be outside,  alone all day long.  I thought the situation with Rene was better. She truly loves those dogs, she treats them like they are her own, she really does. And she offered to have them to stay in her room now.  I figured a couple of doggy beds in the living room and put up a gate, but she insisted she would have them in her room.  Again, if all goes as it's heading right now, I will have a much sweeter set up than what it was with Donny there. 

Whatever, and not counting my chickens before they hatch, they have to pay the rent and then move in - but if that occurs I'm in a decent position with that house.  Funny that even in a small town such things can occur.  Perhaps my desires for fun items such as a 4 wheeler or a boat should stay on the track towards property.  I haven't done anything about buying any toys yet. 

____________________

A bit disconcerting that I didn't hear from my manager today.  I had 2 days off, then worked Sunday, then today off, fully expected to be sent out tomorrow. Well, maybe not "fully" since so many trucks were sitting in the yard yesterday. 

Uhh, well, looking at my paycheck today, I've made almost double now, at this point in time, than what I made at Ferguson for a full year. Guess I need to sit back and rethink all of that. Still, a LOT of negatives in this company beyond pay  I guess what irks me is if I had known about this much time off in advance, I'd have just take off out of here.  Like, road trip or back to Phoenix, but out of here. 

This is a do-nothing day for me.  I've spent the last 5 days out on the road, I will take a day for myself.  I just found out I have tomorrow off as well, so I will plan on getting things done tomorrow. Otherwise I would be doing the bare minimum to just get myself ready for the next run. The only problem with the last 5 days is that 3 of them were wasted with that new Cheniere run and it certainly isn't going to pay anything near what I need/want a 3 day run to pay off.  I've made West Virginia once a 3 day run and that was 2,000 miles. This new Chenire is only 810 miles round trip, huge difference when it comes to mileage pay. I estimate maybe $200 in detention pay, simply not enough to make up for the time spent.  Yes, I said something about it, I shouldn't have to spend that much time doing one run on such a short trip and not make decent money doing it.  Whether that saying something pays off, I will find out next paycheck.

The next run is Cheniere near Port Arthur. This is the place that takes far too long to deliver and makes it go over a day run, which it really should be, a one day run.  But, I will have a partial Monday off but then I will need to be sent out on a minimum 3 day run to get some funds going on my next paycheck.  This Cheniere is a waste of my time, it does little for my paycheck, I hate the place, but it's whatever.  They had a plant shut down, hence we haven't been going there in a while. The new cheniere is over-filled. They haven't fired that up yet and so I don't expect to go back there in a while.  I would definitely take another Brownsville run, tho.

I need to find my passport, I'm pretty much thinking I'd like to take a day trip across the border to Matamoros. From what I'm reading, getting into Mexico is easy, getting back into the states requires a passport.  I have also read that it isn't safe for Americans over there and honestly? I haven't been to Mexico in decades. I've spent a LOT of time traveling over there, but that was before the drug cartels started killing people.  That wouldn't stop me from taking a trip to the areas they say are safe as along as you are in and out during the daytime.  You can't take your firearm over there - that will send you to prison indefinitely - so I'd probably just follow their advice and guidelines.

What do I expect to find? A different culture of course. I've spent years in those border towns and I was in Matamoros in the mid 80's.  I don't actually expect it to have changed that much - Mexico is a poor nation.  But some good eating, perhaps some good buys, just a sight seeing adventure really.  With that in mind, I'm going to dig through my boxes until I find that passport.  I may need it next year anyway.  Taylor still wants to go - she is depending on income tax returns to fund it.  I have money being diverted to a savings account in case that happens. I want airfare and hotel plus ample spending money to tour if that happens.

Why not have an adventure?  I really love Mexico, mexicans are very giving people in reality.  I think they have fallen for the hate-Trump campaign that the American left leaders have been purporting for a while, but they aren't bad people.  I don't care for them coming over here illegally, tho I can understand why they would want to do it.  In fact, I'm quite opposed to them just walking over there and now? Demanding asylum?  Please spare me.  Go through the proper channels or just stay home.

Anyway, I'm trying to find that passport - it got lost in the move from the move of one bedroom in this house to the one I'm in.  I'm very happy for the move, this is a much larger bedroom,, has a walkin closet and a personal bathroom.

Ribs in the smoker.  Half rack in the oven.  Some people here don't like smoked meats.  Trying new rub for the meat - a sweeter version that will appeal to the crowd that wants a sweeter taste than the normal rubs will give.  I like both so no biggies to me.

These days are going to go down in history.  They will be reflected by historical scholars and pundits and - everyone - for a long time to come. I'm referring to this outrageous circus we call a Senate Judiciary Committee, specifically Senators on the left, the unbelievable accusations without corroboration, the stunning callous, unequivocal departure from the long held protocol of "presumption of innocence" to presuming a person is guilty, please feel free to prove your innocence bs.  This Kavanaugh hearing has brought out exactly what the left is all about. The scope of it is far worse than even the Clarence Thomas hearings, it's just astounding to watch the litany of unsubstantiated accusations being given any kind of weight by anyone in the committee.

I'm truly amazed at the lows that this nation is going to.  This is all about Trump, not Kavanaugh, and people that are obsessed with hatred of all things Trump, including any nominee, according to Schumer, that Trump puts forth.  Kavanaugh needs to be voted in, that's all there is to this.

Kavanaugh saved his own ass today with his extended, accurate, scorching, opening  statement that left no stone un-turned, even pressing against individual members of the Committee who have made outrageous statements against Kavanaugh in the news media.   

______________________________

I was listening to the hearings on and off all day long.  It was only off because I was in lack of cellphone signal strong enough to stream video.  I'm glad to be home for at least a day so I can not have to use cell phone data to see the reporting on this.  

Okay, well today.  There was a trailer in the yard in Brownsville when I arrived at midnight, so I spent the night sleeping there and then got up, hooked up the trailer and took off.  5 hours later, my manager calls me.  You left the yard already?  Yea, hours ago.  Oh, I needed a trailer from the Mexican company, not one of ours. 

I'm thinking, what?  If she wanted that, why didn't she tell me that?  I dunno. I guess she could have had me turn around and drive 300 miles back, but there wasn't another trailer there and there was another tractor from our company waiting on a trailer.  She knew that, of course, but said she needed another one.  I guess she'll remember to let me know in the future that she needs a specific type of trailer?  Certainly not my fault, I would have gladly waited and get detention pay.  As it stands, I didn't get any detention pay from down there on this trip.  I had thoughts of doing some things down there, hoping to have to wait.  

Anyway, somewhere around Lufkin, I saw a tractor heading south. Lol.  She sent a driver down there without a loaded trailer to wait and get a mexican trailer.  

Well that wasn't a fun trip.
I got there Sunday evening - to have to wait until the next morning to get unloaded. They were supposed to have this a 24 hour unloading operation, not yet!  Next morning, walk over to Subway and yay! They had a Keurig machine in there!  Got me a couple of cups and talked to the other driver that had beaten me down there. He was going in to unload first and then I would leave the Walmart we were parked at about an hour and a half later.

But, about an hour later I called the plant manager. Well, he says, that guy didn't have steel toed boots so you can come now.  Okay.  I got there, got directed to a holding lot near the entrance and waited.  And waited. And waited.  Well wait, I had called the guy again when I got there and he said he was sending someone to come get me.

Well, I finally called him an hour later after waiting and he said that my manager had told him that they could unload an Airgas truck first.  I didn't say it, but I thought what a crock of shit.  This dude is lame. I got off the phone with him and immediately called my manager.  I didn't tell that guy shit, she says, let me make some phone calls.  I ended waiting in that holding lot for almost 5 hours.  When they finally came and got me and I got to the loading rack, the real story came out.

They didn't take an Airgas truck first, they had unloaded the other dude from our company, he apparently beat me back there, and then the valves for their giant holding tanks went crazy.  These people haven't got a clue what they're doing. As this scenario was unfolding before me for - hours - and baking in the hot sun and 90% humidity with fireproof jump suit on, just burning up - it became evident that their system is almost full and that's why they are having trouble.

Well, we get the truck half empty and then the crap started. Their valve automatically shut off the flow to the tanks. Why? Because all 3 tanks were full.  Don't these people understand when their system is giving them obvious signs of what's happening?  I'm not going into specific details of what occurred next cause I dunno - well I'm just zipping my mouth on all of that stuff.  I can say it took another 4 hours before I finally got out of there.  I was burning up.  These lame people went after water bottles and didn't bother to ask me or offer me one when they came back.  This is company supplied water, not anything they bought them selves.  I had forgotten to buy a case at the walmart and had run out.

I told them when the conversation came up that I was out of water.  My head was throbbing when I finally got out of there.  I drive for 2-1/2 hours and then shut down for the night.  Way too out of it to even think about driving through Houston - tho I would have if I wasn't so out of it.  I paid for that this morning, driving through Houston rush hour traffic and heavy rain.  2 hours getting through there.

I'm finally home, but 3 days wasted on a trip that isn't worth over 2 days at most in terms of pay.  Even with detention this trip isn't even close to being worth 3 days out.

______________________

That location will not be taking any more ethylene until they fire that plant up, which I'm told is going to be a while.  Meanwhile, I got my marching orders for tomorrow: Brownsville.  I still haven't been able to nail down the "new" detention pay rules, I was going to sit with the manager today and get this clarified but - they were out to lunch when I got there and I didn't want to wait. I knew  - well I guessed - that I was going to get sent out tomorrow and that means get the heck out of there, get my dogs, get home and just relax.  I usually don't do much on days when I get home and I know I'm going out the next day. 

_____________________________________

Meanwhile, motivation piling up to get back into exercise.  I was doing dumbell bicep pulls - every day actually - while on the road.  Just took the dogs for a walk and amazed at how bad I have let myself get in terms of physical conditioning.  It's a simple walk.  Maybe a mile, brisk pace, huffing and puffing.  I'm taking small steps, not diving into it.  I've found in older age diving into things leads to failure.  Condition myself slowly, get used to it - slowly.  I'm out of shape, that's just the plain facts of it. I"m overweight, more facts.  I'm a bit sluggish because of it.  I've had to buy larger sized clothing.  I'm tired of it, it needs to stop.  I'm trying, but it's just take a step and take another step until I have all the steps in order and the weight gain stops.  You get into ruts and habits and they just don't go away overnight.  You have to fight the feelings the thoughts. But, I still rarely eat ice cream, sweets, candy.  But I have been eating heaving calorie, grease laden food.  I've had little exercise since starting this job.  I've done it here and there, but not a daily thing where I'm doing it out of enjoyment, I have to force myself now.

That's not a good thing, since I used to enjoy exercise and going to the gym was an adventure. 

I'm going to take the dogs to the lake the next full day I get and can spend a couple hours out there.  I wouldn't mind seeing if they will get into water. I think Aspyn will, I don't know if Addler will, lol.  He likes water - under controlled conditions haha. 

Well, I don't have an early load but enough for this post. 

The political climate is getting more and more aggressive from the democrat side.  That's my view of it, anyway, as they are talking tough about investigations even if Kavanaugh is voted in as the next SCOTUS judge.  I've been reading all over the internet the right declaring a civil uprising. You know, I just don't think a Supreme Court justice' being impeached would cause the kind of motivation it would take to take up arms.  I do believe if Trump was impeached, it might motivate enough people. 

It's an interesting time we're living in regardless.  

Whatever the case, there is an entire family of 4 visiting here this weekend.  2 kids and 2 adults.  So the house is full.  Like 9 people full at the moment and apparently they aren't leaving until tomorrow.  It's raining here and has been raining all night long, kind of takes out the motivation to do much of anything, excepting I am cleaning leaves out of the pond regularly to try and keep that thing clear and not get to the way it was before I pulled it out of the ground not long ago and clean the thing out.  

It's fun now to look at the pond because I have it loaded up with small fish.  Like about 25 to 30 of them. Mostly goldfish but I've put in 5 Koi to see if they will survive.  I don't have much vegetation in there, but it's getting late in the year.  I'm going to look into seeing if I can buy a hard plastic bubble to fit over the entire pond for the winter, that way the plants would survive for they wouldn't get frostbite during the coldest nights.  

Interesting. Found a do it yourself setup using electric conduit that you simply bend over the pond and attach to the ground with stakes and then cover with either heavy duty tarps of 6 mil plastic.  I'd love to find clear plastic so you can still see in the pond.  My pond isn't that big, maybe 5-1/2 feet by 4-1/2 feet.  Just a small thing, wouldn't take but 3 or 4 stretches of the conduit.  If I fill the pond up with plants now, that will motivate me to go ahead and build the thing when the weather starts getting cold.  

Wow, also found a cover you just put over the pond to keep leaves out but can still see into the pond and still allowing sunlight in.  It's actually not that difficult to keep up with the leaves tho.  Those floating on the surface easy enough to just pick out, the stuff that makes it to the bottom is drawn to the pump.  I have a much larger capacity pump than necessary for the pond.  Around 750 gallons per hour for a pond less than 200 gallons. It keeps the pond well aerated, keeps the water nice and clean and as I said above, helps draw leaves to it for easy removal.  

I kind of have a renewed interest in this pond after I got all that crud cleaned out of it.  If I keep up with it, I can keep it clean.  If not, well, can always remove it again and spray it out.  Takes much less time to do than I figured it would.  

Well, the rain is coming down heavy now. I had no idea we were going to have a rainy weekend, I'm glad I didn't have to go out and spend quality time in the rain again.  I very much love rainy days - if I'm home.  Out on the road not so much unless I'm stopped for the night and don't have to deal with it.  

Wow, looking at radar. There is a huge storm system starting out in the Gulf near Houston and connected all the way up to Ohio! Anyway only 10% chance of rain in Corpus Christi tomorrow, which is where I'm going, it will be nice not to have a repeat of my first trip down there.  Heavy rain, soaking wet for a couple of hours, at least it was warm out so I didn't get sick.  I have a late start - I probably won't be able to deliver until Monday morning and then drive home.  Which is fine, this is a definitive 2 day run, there is no way to drive 820 miles in one day in trucks set at 65 mph.  Even if you could, it's 2-1/2 hours at the loading plant and at least 2 hours at the unloading plant, just not enough hours in the day for that.

____________________________

Sunday morning.
Now I'm cranking up the ads to try and find someone to rent that room. Not sure the market for roommates round here, but there are plenty of colleges in this small town.   Donny is definitely leaving - and I actually wish him the best, but that situation was untenable. I've had one reply so far, an 18 year old girl, allegedly employed and has a dog.  Dunno about that.  I suppose if push comes to shove I'll take anyone in there that has any cords of sanity and a normal person.

I don't have to be to the plant until 11:00 am, I got up a bit early so I could enjoy some coffee out of my new Keurig machine.  I absolutely love this coffee.  It's very good and it's very fast.

The family that's been visiting all weekend long is leaving today as well.  I spent a good part of yesterday in my room for the sounds of kids screeching at the top of their lungs in a very high pitched sound escaping from their throats that was driving me insane.  I had to get away from it.  Things will return to normal when they leave. Really nice people tho. 

And with that, off to the races!