Oklahoma run, done in one day. Yesterday off.  Dispatcher calls me and demands to know "how the hell did you do that in one day?!!!"  

Didn't feel much inclined to answer her question with that tone of voice.  I don't even remember exactly what I said, her instant raised voice on the phone caught me off guard.  She usually isn't like that.  I didn't respond in kind, instead I said something to the effect that I made it within 7 miles......which is when she calmed right down and said, oh, I guess I don't really need to know!

I made it within 7 miles of the yard before running out of hours which is when I switched to something else, finished it off, got back to the yard - late and drove home.  

I guess she wanted to know if this could be duplicated.  On Sundays, with all construction sites shut down and workers sent home, no heavy traffic anywhere and getting through certain towns without hitting all the lights red.  There are other days of the week where I can hit it as well, but not very often. I don't do a one day trip often as it stands.  It's a 16 hour day, usually, trying to do it in one day and I am often good enough to simply stop at the casino truck-stop and go to bed there.

Today, I went to Baytown, Texas and dropped off an empty trailer at a repair shop. Annual inspection due, we have to take them down there or other places even further away (Amarillo, for one, which is 500 miles each way) to repair shops that specialize in cryogenic trailers.  You don't exactly find those on every corner.  

Tomorrow - off to Oklahoma again. She was going to give me a Brownsville, but we decided against that since my vacation starts 2 days after tomorrow and it is highly likely that I would get stuck in Brownsville.  With tomorrow's run, I'll have over 2k gross paycheck next week anyway, nothing to worry about.  

Yesterday, a lot of phone calls.  I got over to the property with Addler and saw the driveway had been torn up by a tanker truck that had gone in there in the last few days.  The ground had been wet - muddy actually - and it did a number on it.  The gravel has turned into fine powder what with their pickups driving in and out of there on a daily basis.  I called the manager of the gas company and informed him of the situation and that they needed to come out and fix it.  Namely, grade the damaged portions and then dump fresh rock over it. 

He actually agreed to send someone out there and do whatever they determine is "necessary" to fix the problem.  I said find, I thought differently of course, but I figured I'll let them do what they're going to do and then I'll decide whether it was good enough.  I then called Midcoast energy.  Whatever company comes out there to bush hog the easement skipped the trees.  The man went into a very lengthy discussion about the other 2 energy companies, how they were once just one company but split for tax purposes, then merged again, then split again.  Okay, but this was done on the easement maintained by your company, your company's name is on the warning signs. 

He then informed me that it couldn't have been his company, they haven't come out yet this year to do anything and that they only come out once every 2 years.

TWO years?!! I'd like to see what the contract says. He informed me that it isn't in any contract.  Well, you should be coming out at least every year. We have thousands of miles of pipeline, we can't be doing it that often. I was polite but had zero sympathy. We all know the energy sector in this nation makes a lot of money and right now, it's making a lot, lot, lot more money.  I obviously can't force them to clean it up any more often than they do, which puts the onus on me to keep a pathway clear through there. In 2 years, the trees start growing and will grow up to 10 feet in that amount of time.

Ditto with weeds, bushes, shrubs, whatever is growing out there. There is a LOT growing out there.  

Anyway, I also called the county yet again - after waiting 4 weeks for a reply I knew I'd never get and this time actually got to speak with someone. They claimed they would send someone out to look at it and deal with it if it's actually on portion that is their responsibility.

Oh and today.  I was driving to work, my gas gauge quit working like 6 months ago. I keep track of the miles, once it gets to about 300 after having had filled it up, I get more fuel.  It was at 293 today when - it ran out of fuel. The last time it ran out of fuel at 396 miles.  I was not happy, I "knew" I had enough to make it to work, it was quite surprising the thing ran out a hundred miles early.

Taylor saved me, brought some gas and I did the 416 mile round trip drive today.  But, if I can get Enterprise to get me a car (it's the only rental car company in town, I have little choice but to use them), I am taking it in and getting this thing fixed.  I don't plan on buying another vehicle any time soon - not in this inflated market. The price of pickups in this region is nothing short of outrageous. Just as an example, I saw a 2001 dodge dually going for almost 40k the other day.  New trucks are ridiculous, used trucks are ridiculous, I'm just not buying anything right now, so might as well spend the money on this SUV and keep it maintained.  

Load appointment time isn't until 1:30.  

Anyway, it's starting to get late, gonna watch some reruns of western shows and hit the hay.

 Another run done and in the books. Brownsville to be precise, the second driver going down got the detention pay, I had to take the only empty available.  Doesn't matter, I have an Oklahoma tomorrow and that will make me more money - if she also dumps something else on me immediately after Oklahoma.  

Unfortunately, it looks like the way it's going to work out for the days off is that I am going to run out of hours on the 11th and will have the 12th off as well (I have the 13th - 15th off, the 12th wasn't a wanted day off).   I don't want too much time off, it always takes too long to catch back up - plus - I have the 19th off for the doctor's appointment.  I'll have to use some vacation hours to make up for all of that.  

And sadly, my mom's glaucoma condition is worsening and she says she isn't driving anywhere excepting to the grocery store.  I feel like the eye doctors that somehow missed the fact that she had glaucoma - and could have been treated - should be held accountable.  Her deteriorating condition is what motivated me to go see the eye doctor and make sure there isn't any signs of it - tho they say it doesn't happen until later on in life. 

All well and fine, but my vision has been deteriorating for a couple of years now, I at least had to make sure it wasn't anything beyond old age stuff.  I'm waiting on a pair of prescription reading glasses, that's as far as they said it needs to be taken. 

I definitely dread going to the medical family doctor on the 19th.  I haven't had a full check up in many, many moons.  Just the DOT Medical card for driving.  They're not taking blood tests and doing full checkups.  

Low chances of rain all the way through next week.  I remain hopeful it will stay that way and they will come and get this dirt work done and over with.  I'll be pressing the dude this time, if the weather holds anyway.  You coming? What day?  Wherever I am on his priority list, I'm going to ratchet it up by continuing to contact him and get updates.  \

I did drive by the property on the way home. A lot of fresh tire tracks going down that driveway.  I wrote the gas company about their pitiful maintenance of the easement, with no reply. I found an old email from a representative of that company and emailed him directly. Being the weekend, I doubt I'll hear back before Monday.  I asked to see the contract - specifically about maintenance of the easement  and also informed him of the pathetic job that whatever company they are using to bush hog it did the last time they were here. 

This coming week I'm going to call the man that is senior management over the well head on my property and discuss with him what they are going to do to fix the driveway.  It's not going to be "will you fix it", it's going to be "when are you going to fix it?".  

I feel like I need to wait until it's almost time to open the park before taking out another loan.  I don't want to pay cash for a zero turn mower, I'd rather get that on payments and might as well tack that onto any personal loan I might want to get to cover the rest of expenses in getting the park opened up.  

_______________________

Sunday - morning

What things in life make me happy? Well, going to work isn't really one of them, not anymore anyway.  I like taking the dog for a walk on the property.  I like thinking about the Lord - a lot.  I like the idea of getting out of this ridiculous grind and getting into something that will make money and make me a much happier person in the process.  The idea of being home on a daily basis is quite appealing.  This seems like a pipe dream atm but I do hope it comes to pass - maybe not this year but at least get the thing up and running?

They do I say this today? Cause' it's Sunday and in my mind, it's a day of rest, a day to stay home or go to church and then hang out at home. Not a day to spend 14 hours screwing around at a chemical plant, driving up to a wax plant and then driving back either all the way or stopping somewhere and finishing it off in the morning.  

I'm going to start a much more aggressive savings program.  I've been paying off credit card debt, that's a good thing but I want to buy another house and rent it out.  That's apart and aside from the RV park, so I want funds from my work to pay for it, not the funds I have set aside to build the park.  I've got the vacation almost paid for well in advance, now it's time to start dumping X amount per week into a savings account until it's got at least 10k in it and get another form of income going (haven't determined the amount yet, but when I do it's going to be the same every week unless it is a small paycheck).    

Whether the predictions of another housing bubble are true or not (meaning a buyer's market for greatly reduced house-buying prices), people always need a place to live. The people with a good work ethic and some kind of financial understanding will pay for their place to live first before paying anything else.  Or it will definitely be in the top tier of priorities.  I get that sometimes, your hand is forced and you put off the mortgage payment for a month or even two, getting behind, screwing up your credit, but you had "something" come up and you were living paycheck to paycheck.  

That was me for a long, long time.  I get that, I don't really throw people out for getting behind a month - as long as they aren't doing stuff that obviously isn't needed, wasting money on "priorities" that aren't priorities at all. You know, eating out, entertainment, etc.  Or starting trouble with other tenants. Or stealing stuff from other tenants.  Or trashing the place.  There are limits to my patience lol.  I'd really love to approach the bank and ask for a construction loan and build on one of the properties - but they're going to want a substantial down payment and I can't afford that right now.  A brand new house, around 1,500 square feet. Well, one property isn't big enough for a house that size, it would be more in the 800-900 square footage realm.  I'd just sell that tho, not rent it out. 

Oh, the other thing - this 401k stuff is starting to look bad to me.  I want to switch that up, 5% goes to 401k because of the "free" money my employer matches it with, but the rest going into a life insurance account of which you can borrow money against.  I've been watching these money gurus for quite a while now, the best thing to do with money you are saving is dump it into a savings account.  The kind you can borrow against.  I don't understand yet how that all works, but I'm looking into it.

My life isn't about money, per se, ie: greed or wanting to become rich. It IS about wanting to get out of the corporate scheme and just be self-sufficient.  I really want to go discuss with the bank the prospect of business loans and see what they have. My current bank offers SBA loans, but who knows the qualifications needed to get into such a thing.  

Anyway, I've become much better about spending everything on a credit card and then paying it right back off asap.  That way, I show I pay my bills, am not racking up a bunch of debt and most importantly, racking up the points.  These points are wonderful, one of my cards currently has almost a grand worth - we are going to go to a local hotel soon enough and pay for it with points. We like swimming pools lol, nothing nefarious.  The dude that says don't ever use a debit card really has it right.  My whole thinking about credit and how to use it is changing the more reading I do.  Certain kinds of credit are not bad.  Racking up credit card debt isn't good, of course not, but using credit to buy houses and also cashing out is good. Especially the cashout - it's a loan so it's non-taxable.  This is a secret a lot of the rich people use that you won't know about unless you spend endless hours reading stuff.  If the income from the house is the same or more than your monthly mortgage payment, there is no reason to not buy an "extra" one, rent it out and eventually see the value of the house go up and - take that money out.  All you are doing is refinancing the house and taking the equity out of it while you are doing it.  The only drawback to it is the lender's fees associated with it, which can be substantial. 

Anyway, it's time to change gears and get my mind into work, cause' it's going to be an all day thing.

G'day

 Not so shockingly with all things pertaining to this proposed business, new information came out concerning the original/1st contractor.

That's because I texted him, informing him of the other contractor and his statement that he knows you and that you are backed up "months out".  

Miraculously, he texted back very quickly. Because I also stated my intentions of using him since he said the dirt was dry enough and also that you aren't really able to get to my project any time soon.

I said all of that to elicit a response, yes, intentionally, to find out if there is any truth to the 2cd contractor's statements.  I don't get a lot of input from number 1 and therefore, it was time to speak a bit more directly to the situation.  

Number 1 wrote back and asked who this other guy is?  I responded with his full name and the name of his company.  

He wrote back and said I don't know this guy, :I have never heard of him and I am not "several months out".  Well that's news to me, I thought, since I've repeatedly asked him when he was going to come out and continue on with the project.  

He stood his ground on the dry dirt.  "We know dirt, if it's wet, it makes a mess".  Number 2 may or may not know dirt, he does mulching but apparently also does dirt work.  Number 1 is pretty much all about dirt, so I would have to give his assessment some credence.  He is also highly respected in this area.  

He then stated he -number 1 - could come out the week after next.  This is what I'm talking about. I need dates, intended arrival and work times.  The 10 day forecast shows a small chance of rain on virtually every day between now and then with the notable exception of today. We are under a tornado watch and there is 100% chance of rain. Actually, it's already rained here today, as it was on the way into the yard.

I just got back from Oklahoma. After 4 days off - the first 2 were due to needing a 34 hour reset, Monday was the eye doctor and Tuesday the mechanics were still working on my truck - I got another Oklahoma run instead of something that actually pays anything.  If I say anything to her about it, she gets extremely offended.

But I had an Oklahoma the last run before the 4 days off.  So in 8 days, I've made a grand, lol.  What will she give me for tomorrow? If I even get a run tomorrow? I have no idea.  But it needs to be something better than another Oklahoma run.  I'm going to have to buy a zero-turn riding mower and I don't want to have to spend too much savings on that.  It's a necessity, yes, after whoever gets done with the walking trails.  They will have to be maintained regularly.  Letting them grow would mean having to have someone come out with a bush hog setup and paying them to do so.  

Anyway, Number 1 is allegedly coming out 2 Mondays from now. IF he shows up and IF they get the dirt work done, I'm going to push hard to get the rest of this done post haste.  They don't need perfectly dry ground to dig out trenches and holes and such for all the utilities. 

There are a couple of phone calls I need to make that I don't really want to, I've had enough of confrontation.  The first is to the gas company drawing the gas out of the ground - they need to fix the driveway. The second is to the other easement - to find out what the terms are for having them come out and bush hog all of it.  They didn't even take down the trees last time, they left a bunch of junk up that they should have plowed over. 

Well, Midcoast was easy, I just sent them an email concerning their lack of keeping the easement cut down and also the last time they had whoever out there, that did not mow down all of the trees.  
They are 6 to 8 feet tall and they are on the easement.  

The other phone call I'm going to have to write down my thoughts and collect myself in my demeanor - -keep it professional regardless of how off this man comes across, for I haven't had a phone call with him yet where he didn't start going off the rails.  

 Okay then.

I just met with a contractor out at the property in order to get him to quote me finishing the walking trails.  I made him walk all the way around the property, lol, so he could see what he's getting into.  He quoted me $2,500 - of which I thought quite reasonable considering the amount of work I was asking for, for I not only want walking trails but also a couple of campground sites cleared out.

Near the end of it, he asked me who was doing the dirt work up front?  Randy - and he finished off the last name and informed me he is months out right now.  Yes, I thought, I'm already months into this.  "well he said the dirt has to dry out quite a lot before they can do it".

By that point, we were over there at the intended RV portion of the land.  I kicked the dirt which was dry a couple inches down.  Uhh, no I could do that right now, this dirt is plenty dry enough.

That was disconcerting news.  "Randy is backed up for months, we are trying to see if we can take some of his work to get him caught up."  So I've been waiting all this time for nothing? I thought in my head.  

This guy's pricing is right in line with the contractor I am supposedly using to do the install.  It makes me wonder, if this other contractor does all the dirt work and install the driveways, how long am I going to have to wait for my current contractor to put in the septic system, the electrical system and the water lines?  

Well, he's going to call me back after he talks to my contractor - but in my mind it's a foregone conclusion I'm giving the work to this guy and Randy - who could have told me right off the bat that he is booked up  - can have the utility installation, IF he can get to it.  I've already got the quote and for the dirt work? It's actually cheaper than Randy quoted me.  

I'm going to get a bit more - assertive about this - now that I understand that the ground dries up within a couple of days, enough for them to do the work.  As in, when it comes time for the utilities, I want dates, the day you are coming.  As I said, and have said before, if he is was too busy, he could have just told me. It's not like I haven't asked this guy.  But now? I'm not waiting any longer. This project will move forward with or without this contractor.  

Ugh.  Facepalm.  Thank you Jesus, I'll just eat this and move on .  Not worth getting upset over. I'm just glad I moved on with the walking trails.  This guy said his trails are smooth enough at the end that you can ride a zero turn mower over it, you don't need a bush hog (a tractor that pulls a device that cuts down the brush behind it).  I can't afford a tractor right now, I don't really want to buy a zero turn, they are a lot cheaper but still up there in price, but it's going to have to be done. I'll need one for the RV lots anyway to mow the grass.  

Yes, I intend on doing some of the monthly work that needs to be done to save money.  I'm home often enough to cut the grass, it's only 14 sites. Of course, I'd rather pay someone to do it to start with and not have a lot of extra work beyond trucking, but if I'm going to have to buy one anyway, I will likely do the work myself or, if James wants some extra work, perhaps I could pay him.  I dunno, I'll figure all of that out as it comes to me to have to make the decisions to do it. I have already found a guy that does very good work at reasonable prices, having him come out twice a month probably wouldn't cost that much. 

I'm getting a bit fired back up now that I have some hope that something is actually going to get done.  I've been in limbo for quite a while and just put everything on hold.  I have no control over these people, but still, the idea that he couldn't just have been up front and told me he's too busy.....

 Oklahoma run just about cost me my 2-1/2 days off - to be sitting on the side of the road somewhere.  The truck would start cutting out - like total loss of power, especially going up hills and starting from stop/accelerating.

Well there's a lot of hills between the loading plant and the receiving plant.  It was further complication by my dispatcher asking if I would preload a trailer when I get back?  I had to choke down a "absolutely not" reply to "sure I can".  You're basically dumped with a "refusing a load" status and that can get you fired or certainly not looked upon favorably.  

I did make it back yesterday, got to the rack, no other trucks there.  I stopped the operator and told him I have no real appointment time and I didn't really want to be bumping someone else from their assigned time spot.  "Oh you're fine, I wasn't expecting you til' noon, but the next trucks aren't going to be here for a while"...something to that effect.  Sure enough, I was almost done getting loaded when the next truck showed up.  I actually did that operator a favor, if he had wanted to get home a bit earlier. 

Whatever the case, I met Taylor over in Longview, we had a bite to eat, got some books and over to the Petsmart for a few more fish.  Specifically wanted some more small Koi, a couple of fish for the boys and another angelfish. 

The angelfish is already dead but the rest of them seem to be doing okay.  The existing angelfish in the tank had a serious problem with another angelfish showing up and started poking at it.  I dunno if that was enough to kill the fish, but it was laying on the bottom of the tank, quite dead.

Today is a nothing day, I have nothing planned (Sunday) tho that doesn't mean I won't do anything, I just haven't planned anything. There will likely be a hike over at the property at some point and the rest? I am guessing much of it will spent home, right here where I'm at, at Command Central, lol. Maybe I'll clean out the SUV or mow the front yard. 

Oh, actually I do want to start on that SBA loan now that my credit score is in the territory it needs to be to actually have them even consider it.  No idea what the loan atmosphere is right now with a devalued dollar and high inflation.  The worst they can say is no - tho that is a lot of work to go through to get a no answer.  This is much more complicated and information specific than either of the last two loans I went through.  The last loan, especially, left a very bad taste in my mouth for lenders not being up front and asking for FAR more information than they initially let on. 

I will attempt to fill out the information and then I will have to decide whether I want to go through all of that again or not.  

I finally looked at my 401k account after not for quite a while for obvious reasons.  I was a bit shocked to see it down $8,000 and personalized rate of return at -13.68%.  It is well down from what it was even 6 months ago.  Like I'm throwing money away into a bon fire, it just disappears.  I'm seriously contemplating lowering the contribution rate to the 5% to get the employer matching contribution and then starting up another savings account and start dumping the rest into it for saving towards a rental property.  I could have 20% down for a property in about a year and a half.  

Real estate experts are indicating signs of another potential 2008 looming in the near or mid future.  Inflation is a big problem right now and the cost of - literally everything - is well up.  People in my parts complaining about spending hundreds of dollars for groceries and having half a cart worth when they leave the store.  

Meanwhile, Biden was joking about Trump being the "plague" - yet this dude is doing literally nothing about the runaway inflation and only recently, finally made a feeble  attempt  at bringing gas prices down. Remember, we were energy-independent.  Now we have a President running all over the world begging other nations to ramp up their oil production. I am all for green energy, but we aren't there yet!  It can't currently replace fossil fuels and probably won't be at the stage for a long time to come.  And now they're talking about student loan debt forgiveness - with even more experts predicting if they do it, inflation is going to go up even higher!

Trump might have had a salty style of speech and contempt for certain people, I'll grant that his demeanor had rather large areas that needed improvement, but we saw results.  I can list a huge chunk of them off the top of my head.  What has Biden done? They asked his supporters and many of them couldn't come up with anything.  They apparently don't care about the price of gas and the cost of groceries, let's get those police defunded!  And look at the results of that.  Murder rates up in big cities - where all of these defund the police people live - including cops being killed at record highs. 

And cops are leaving those big PD's and moving elsewhere.  In the name of social justice and wokeness, this nation is going to hell.

It was going to hell anywhere, for some very specific reasons - the main one IMO being abortion - anyways, these people are just pressing the gas pedal a bit further down to make sure we get there quickly.  

Here's one thing I am gathering from RVer groups - not the rv owners but the people actually traveling around the country.  They are still out there.  They have the same concerns as anyone else about the economy but they mostly aren't making plans to stop traveling, there are a LOT of full-timers out there, people who got rid of their homes and now live in their RV's.  A lot of them are saying they have changed their plans about how much traveling they will do, but the idea that they are just going away and not doing it anymore? No.

Their biggest complaints are about campgrounds, as always.  Dogs incessant barking, dog poop the owners don't clean up and dogs not on leashes.  Those are the biggies that I have been taking away with campgrounds that don't enforce their rules and dog owners not giving a damn about those rules or just common civility with other campers.  Beyond that is the same things I have been discussing for a while - small lots with hardly enough room for the slideouts to not be touching the slideouts of the camper next door.  Parks without amenities get some hits, but not near as much as these and other issues.

It emboldens me to really consider the "soft opening" where you just advertise that this is full hookups, yes, but there is nothing beyond that, well I'd get wifi in there just because it's available, they can get that done fairly quickly and it's sort of the definition of "full hookups".  

Anyway, I'm looking for someone to get out on the back 15 and finish up the trails.  I want it done - not just for future reference but for now so I don't have to go wading through thick thorn vines and such to make my way around back there.  I'd also like to get some of the dense stuff where I can't even walk through cleared out as well. I think I found someone, they have to come out and take a look to give me a quote.  Makes sense.

Anyway, enough of this.  

G'day. 

 Finally.

My credit score took a huge dive a few months ago.

I thought I had a pretty good understanding of credit scores, considering all I've been through getting it up to the excellent range, but of course they threw a curve ball at me that I didn't know about.  

  I paid a bunch of stuff well down in the last several weeks and the main one that tanked it - Bank of America credit card - brought it back up 52 points.  I'm hoping after everything hits - however long that's going to take - it will get back into the excellent range. At least it's out of the fair range.  I lost 15 points just paying off a loan.

I just don't understand a credit score that says, hey! You paid off a loan! We're going to hit you for it, not give you any credit for it!  I know why they do it, but it makes no sense. You  "eliminated" a credit account, a big no-no for credit scores, but if you take out loans, you will sooner or later pay them off? Why would they hit you for that? But it's happened several times now.  

Credit score is important to me because I know I'm going to have to take out a loan to finish off this park.  Fair score isn't going to cut it.  Good score might. Excellent score will definitely do it.  

I dunno, but now I know this "new" "stuff" about credit scores, I will be keeping an eye on each card that I use at appropriate times of the month.  \

Back from Brownsville, going right back out to Oklahoma tomorrow.  I'm a wee bit tired.  5 days in a row - all day driving all 5 days and tomorrow will be no different.  What changes is getting back on Saturday, I will be off for the rest of Saturday and then Sunday and Monday as well.  

I have 20 hours left on my 70 hour clock.  Meaning, according to that thing, I have worked 50 hours in the last 5 days.  But, that's far from reality.  It's just what I logged while driving, it doesn't show a lot of other stuff I have to do that I can put the thing on off-duty status while I'm doing it.  It's legal, yes, but it's more like 70 hours.  

I've pretty much stopped researching RV parks for the moment.  It's just a bit frustrating that literally nothing is getting done on the construction of it and nothing can be done with it. More rain forecast for the next 10 days.  Monday for sure it's going to rain, the rest of the days - all of them - are in the 20 percent range.  

And finally, I haven't decided yet to fly back to AZ for the 40 year reunion.  I have never been to one but spending that much money, just don't know if it's going to be worth it for less than 3 days worth.  So many people I want to see well beyond the scope of the reunion. My son, my mother, several friends, one specifically whose wife died late last year and he is hurting.  They were married a long time.  I'd really like to spend a day with him, just talking about her and the things that were so wonderful about her.  She was a really great person.

Anyway, time for bed. Another early load appointment time.  

 Not posting much while there isn't much going on. Hence the last post being 4 days ago. The Morris trip was uneventful. I got up to the plant, they were ready for me this time, it still took them 4 hours to get it done. You just come to expect that it's minimum 3 hours and probably more.  I stayed at my favorite place going up and coming back.  Going up because the loading plant wouldn't let anyone in the gate for an hour and 15 minutes while they dealt with a power outage - at the guard shack only. The rest of the plant was operational.

They made everyone wait that long before - probably someone much higher up - told them to let people in, the plant needs it's workers to run the damn place! lol Before we got to that, however, a bright, cheery lady came up to my truck and told me, you can go in now! Hurry! We have a sliver of power!  I got to the card scanner and baam - nothing lmao.

And then, this other lady came out of the guard shack shaking her head at me, obviously in a very  bad mood, talking down to me like I was a kindergartner in trouble.  Uhh, ma'am - she - pointing to the bubbly, spirited lady that was definitely not in a bad mood - told me to come in here.  She did?  Yes, she did. 

You don't win arguments with security personnel at these plants. They will just as soon throw you out of there as deal with you.  They actually made me back out of the entrance.  I can tell ya, the entrance ain't pretty and isn't fun to try and back around that corner.  But whatever, I'm not getting thrown out of there because of any attitudes from me, I just smiled and said sure!

My job is still intact, which is surprising to me because I don't really drive they way they think I should drive. It's worked for me for 38 years in the trucking industry.

But now, I'm in Brownsville.  I drove 300 miles, stopped for a break and then was going to stop at the 400 mile mark, where there is a Love's travel center and then drive on in the rest of the way.  But, I saw that I had enough fuel to make it all the way down, so I just kept driving past it. 

About an hour out from the Brownsville yard, I received a message that the person that runs the operation in Mexico said there will be a certain trailer there "shortly".  I know this guy and his predictions, they are almost always off - wayyyyyyy off.  The last time he said that, which was the last time I was down here, it was 5 hours after he made such a statement and a trailer actually showed up.

So I drove on through, trying to beat them bringing a trailer to the yard.  I can legitimately call it 14 hours of detention if I get here and there aren't any empties, whether they show up after I get here or not.  This is the manager's deal with them, I'm all for it.  But, alas, I got here and it had arrived, the other driver before me had just pulled out of the yard as well.  No detention, but no problem.

The property? LOL.  What's to report? More rain in the forecast.  When I say that, I'm ignoring the low percentage days and focusing on the high percentage days.  Saturday, there is a 71% chance of rain. That will ruin the several days of drying that have occurred before it and will blow this thing off another - who knows how long.  I'm almost desperate at this point to just get the thing going, please.  

But I don't have that kind of power, to stop the elements. God does, but it's the "April showers bring May flowers" time of the year.  

I'm considering whether I want to go to AZ for the class reunion or not. Airfare isn't exactly cheap right now.  To fly from the town where I work out of, it's around $700 round trip.  Lol, for a 3 day trip.  "But you make good money". I won't deny that, but that doesn't mean I want to just start throwing wads of $20's in the air and dance around like the village idiot exclaiming how wonderful it is to pay almost double what it cost last year!  You know, this inflation stuff? And pilot shortages? And pilot sick call ins - planned stuff where thousands of flights are cancelled in a single day?  Yea, that stuff.  

In other news, some troll got onto my Facebook page and started saying stuff that was unbelievable.  I had some public posts up  - where anyone can see them and comment on them.  Yea, if you aren't a friend on Facebook now?  You aren't commenting on anything and you aren't seeing any of it.  My friends list is now only viewable by me.  I can't believe some of the things people do on the internet to try and inflict harm and grief to others in the name of what? Fun?  Screwing with people?  I had friends only seeing my posts and then decided to go public for a while to see what would happen.  Goodness gracious!  That was a dumb move! 

Dang tho. I really need to see about 3 people in the Phoenix area.  I'm likely going to press the button, buy the tickets and swallow the bill.  I really need to get back for a weeklong visit, that wasn't in the cards.  My dispatcher was already complaining about me wanting any time off - a bit ridiculous to have vacation hours and only be able to use them when they tell you you can? Life doesn't happen that way, miss, things happen and sometimes and the most inopportune moments.  I didn't make the date for the reunion, I just wanted to go after missing the other 2.  They didn't have a 30 year reunion, but they had the 10 and 20 version of it.  I don't expect that that many of us will still be around for a 50 year reunion, if such a thing even exists.  

I'm just flip-flopping around in my thoughts.  There was something I really wanted to discuss - that is totally eluding me right now. I got caught up with attempting to get down here and beat the empty to the yard and everything just vanished out of my mind lol.  When I get back tomorrow afternoon, I will have enough hours for a Oklahoma trip and that's it.  I won't be shocked if I get sent out on that trip, either.  But,it would give me most of Saturday and all of Sunday off. That wouldn't be such a bad thing?  I really don't know how the dispatcher will handle it.  It's either what I said above or I'll get a 34 starting after I get back tomorrow and will have to go back to work on Saturday, late load.  I prefer to take the Oklahoma run, thanks, get a weekend mostly off.

Well, fatigue is hitting and it's getting my version of late. Early rise, must needs hit the sack.

G'nite.

 So, most of yesterday and all of today off.

Tomorrow off to Morris, Illinois, yet again. I had to open my big mouth and tell my dispatcher a while back that I like that run.

And yes, I do like that run, but I don't like it more than going to Brownsville while the detention pay is running.  I can make as much in a two day trip going down there as I do on a 3 day trip to Morris.

Of course, the flip side is detention won't last forever and then I'll be getting these runs while everyone else - won't be getting these runs.  Or I would assume since she keeps giving them to me. I'm hoping to make it back up to Farmersville tomorrow - the sports bar won't be open for dinner by the time I get there but it's still a nice place to stop for the night and it's as far as you can get on the best day up towards the plant.  

Tomorrow is Sunday, so the prospects of making it there are at least good.

Today? I took both boys to the salon and got them haircuts.  They were both well overdue, then Kroger's, then the bank, then the gas station, then Super 1 and home.  We got back and the older boy wanted to go hiking.  Great idea! The younger one said he wanted to go, but it gets old listening to him screaming, crying, carrying on while we're just trying to enjoy nature.  He's going to have to get a bit older before he can enjoy it as well.

The problem is that the trails aren't exactly 5 year old friendly.  There are all kinds of obstacles and tho I help him over and around them, he still fusses and cries the entire time.  He doesn't really want to go on a hike, what he really wants is for me to take him Waffle House afterwards. 

Hence, he wants to cut the hike short and just leave.  No thank you.  If I can't build the park on the property, I'm sure going to enjoy it as a nice place to get away from everything.  The 7 year old loved the hike and didn't mention any restaurants on the way home - which made it even nicer that he didn't have ulterior motives.  So I suggested it cause' I wanted to go to Applebee's and have lunch.  

After that, home and started making road food.  I rather enjoy just having a fridge in the truck full of tasty food and not having to stop anywhere to buy food.  My intended stops will have me nowhere near any real food - excepting of course the bar and grill, but I know they will be closed by the time I get there, if I even make it that far.  

I think - completely changing the subject - that Biden truly believes he is a great man.  It is now being stated that the Biden economy is even worse than the Carter economy, which is not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination.  He's backtracked on so many things. Anyway, not going to go into that too much, I tire of the news and seeing the constant barrage of Biden this and that - mostly failures.  I just watched him saying that he's going to turn the military "completely green" and was proudly boasting that he's going to spend billions of dollars doing it.  Inflation at records high.  The absolute chaos at the southern border - etc etc etc - I'm sure most readers are well versed on what is going on in this nation. 

Anyway, the family went to someone's house with the boys for them to get with some other kids to play.  I stayed home to prep food.  Keto lasagna - it's cheese noodles - and they are really good lol.  I mean, you eat this lasagna and you don't know you're eating a keto version if you aren't told in advance, it's that good.  Some wings for the road and just get everything ready for tomorrow morning, it's going to be an early day.  7:00 am start time isn't much better than 6:00 am. It gets the day done faster, yes but that's about all it does.  

My whole strategy at the loading plant has changed. The loading times have changed and if you get there early, you are likely going to be sitting there a while. It's happened that way several times now, I'm showing up maybe 10 minutes early and that's it.  I don't want to waste my 14 hour clock needlessly, getting there early for no good reason.  It used to be you get there early and normally you'd get loaded quickly.  

That's it.  I'm still debating Arizona trip. It's ridiculously high airfare, I've tried numerous different sites and there isn't much difference.  I looked a month ago and it was ridiculous then as well.  Inflation, fuel prices, whatever, I don't know, but it's a lot of money for a 2-1/2 day stint.  

Oh, the Shepherd.  I finally had to part ways with that dog.  I have had her for several years.  I always pride myself in being able to train dogs this that and the other thing. In her case? I totally failed.  It's not for lack of effort, or lack of spending the money and time.  

Unfortunately, the problems have increased over time, not decreased.  Jumping the fence, going to the neighbor's yard, digging through their trash.  We started caging her as the neighbors were getting pretty mad about it. She can jump over a 4 foot tall fence without touching it at all.  

Incessant barking. I don't know how many of those vibration collars I bought to deter her from doing that. It's not a pain collar, it's apparently just a vibration that dogs don't like. Well, this dog doesn't care about it and will bark anyway.  That stuff went on for years, actually, as much as I tried to deal with it, I was never successful. She also taught the other shepherd to jump the fence, so now that dog is also spending time in kennels.  That one isn't my dog.  

Those two things were huge irritants to not only me, but everyone else in the house. Taylor gets the text messages about the dogs.  But, I wasn't willing to get rid of her, I really don't "believe" in that, but I guess anyone's beliefs can change in such things.  

Then we had the last few weeks. The dog jumping the fence and taking off. Not just going over to the neighbor's house.  Barking at people while in my bedroom at other people in the house. Chewing things up.  All kinds of things and attempting to destroy the carpeting in my room.  Digging at it likes it's dirt outside.  And the final straw for me: she started peeing in the house.  I think I'm an accomplished dog owner, but again, in this case, I failed miserably and I will own up to it. I put up with this behavior for years, trying to find ways to change it to no avail.  I've never had such a disobedient dog that would just do whatever she wanted to do regardless.

I can't have everyone in the house dealing with this dog peeing all over the place.  It's not like she's not given plenty of potty breaks outdoors.  

 However. Admitting that I have failed, having her gone? I don't miss her at all.  I don't miss feeding a dog that caused everyone in the house so much misery and irritation.  She will make an excellent outdoors dog - I would have done that if I were living on property somewhere right now, but I'm not.  I'm in a city and cities have dog ordinances and this dog wasn't just breaking several of those, she was also being a nuisance inside the home. It wasn't just me, I think is the point here, that her foul actions were affecting.  

Remember, I am not here all the time and I have to rely on my extended family - that's what I call them, I really feel like family here - to take care of my dogs when I'm gone. When I keep getting text messages about this, that and the other thing this dog is doing or just did, you can feel the anxiety and irritation that person is experiencing.  

I'm pretty sure the problem with her was the deal with her pancreas not producing some enzyme that helps digest food. Yes, I spent the money on the vet to find out the problem and I have months supply of the tablets I have to give her.  I doubled the dosage after seeing she was still not gaining much weight.   She was hungry all the time - yes she had all the food she wanted to eat.  As I said, I tried and i tried for YEARS. Not days, weeks or months, years.  

I hope to never have to do this again. Definitely not doing it with Addler - he has his quirks but he's a good doggy.  His whole demeanor has changed since the Shepherd has been gone and I must say, for the better.  The poor dog has obvious discomfort when running after that surgery which cut part of his butt hole out. Well I don't know if it's discomfort or just a new "arrangement" for dealing with it while running.  He still gallops through the forest like a stampeding elephant lol.  He's so dumb sometimes.  Today, we were going through the forest, he had gotten away from us, but I could still see him. I started calling him, he was looking around as if totally lost!  He finally figured it out lmao.  I'm not demeaning my giant doggy, he's all love and hugs. 

If you feel differently about me after reading that, that's your choice.  I will receive no condemnation about it.  I tried...and tried....and tried.  It was negatively affecting many people's lives.  

So beit. 

 Morris run - well they kept me there long enough that I wasn't able to get near as far back towards Longview as I had wanted, but it was sufficient that the next day I was home early afternoon.  An Easter feast that was amazing, thanks to Taylor and her excellent cooking skills.  

Off to Brownsville the next day, which was Monday - 2 days ago - early load.  6am early.  

Getting to Brownsville, I had already been advised that the driver before me was going to get the only empty trailer available and then another was coming the next morning.

However.  That first driver was playing his games again. I know this guy, I know how he operates and I wasn't falling for it.  His attempt was to get me to take the empty trailer by disappearing.  He wasn't at the truck stop and he wasn't in the yard.  He does that alot.  This new dispatcher, however, gets all upset if you don't do as she instructs you - in this case, my taking an empty trailer that she had instructed someone else to take.

I wasn't taking it anyway, that detention pay was going to be mine.  So I left the yard and parked down the street a ways, out of sight.  Spent the night there and walked back to the yard the next morning - the empty trailer was still there.  Now I was thinking maybe the other driver didn't make it down here last night?  So, I contacted the dispatcher, who said he should have been there and gone with that trailer by now. 

As I thought. So he was playing games. However, it was 10 minutes and he appeared out of nowhere after that text to the dispatcher and was dragging the trailer out of the yard.  With that run and the Morris run, I will have an excellent paycheck next week and I don't really need anything else this week.  Of course, that may not happen that way, but it would be nice to have tomorrow off as well as today, foregone conclusion another weekend working.  

I dunno, but I drove until 1 am last night because they needed the trailer for today.  That was the only drawback of getting the detention pay yesterday. Long night.    I stayed in the truck in the yard versus coming home last night. 1, because I was too tired to drive home and 2, because the 5 year old would invariably come into my room while I'm sleeping and wake me up.  It was a good choice.  Coming home, I found that the 5 year old had come into my room while I was away, got into my bag of Skittles and also destroyed the wifi adapter that plugs into my computer for wifi - which is right next to where the Skittles are.  I think my room needs to be locked up at night. 

I bent the plugin part of the adapter back into place hoping it would work at least temporarily, and it did.  But, I either need to drive around town or even drive clear back to Longview to buy another one, or buy one online and hope this one works until it arrives in the mail.

Today? I don't feel like doing anything, but I desperately need a haircut and of course would like to see if I can track down an adapter and probably stop somewhere for food  just because I want to.  Other than that? Likely nothing for I am simply going to rest and prepare myself in case another run is unloaded on me tomorrow.  Which would be a late load because I'm sure they want me to get a 34 hour reset.  However, if it's not late, she can send me out early to Oklahoma, the only run I can do with the available hours on the 70 hour clock that are remaining and then, I can come back the next day and have a weekend day off.  That would be nice.

One can dream : )

I drove by the property on the way home from work a little while ago. I didn't expect to see any equipment out there, it's been raining and raining again off and on today.  But, I do think my newest change is appropriate in moving the first spaces well back from the front.  I was surprised to see a bunch of horses, donkeys, mules and cows on the next door neighbor's property.  It's a small piece of property, the ranch next to him must be using it.  They probably have an agreement.  Those cattle will eat all of that grass down just like it was freshly mowed.  

But it was the first time I saw any livestock on that property. I don't see that as problem.  Sometimes the cows start howling when the owner comes with a trailer full of hay, other than that it's pretty quiet.

I don't have anything else, much of anything else anyway, right now. We are looking into fireworks sales.  What it will take to get the appropriate permits and license to be able to sell them.  Why? Because they obviously make a lot of money for the short period of time they are open during the year.  I want to get business going. If I can't get the RV park going for another year or however long, I will find something else that doesn't have to have the earth work done.  I can have a fireworks stand on the front of my property - it is in the county and there are no restrictions against it. You have to be properly licensed, of course, by the state, but they don't try to tell you what you can and cannot do with your property.  The city forbids the sales or use of fireworks.  

G'day  

 At the plant near Morris, Illinois, 73 miles from Chicago.  No, this is not a suburb of Chicago, thankfully, it's a farming community with very small population that also just happens to have this plant built out in the middle of it.  I always wonder why they build these plants out in the middle of nowhere.  

Anyway, I pushed it yesterday and made it 662 miles, a personal record for this run. I'm normally out of hours by the time I make it just south of St Louis and I go to an "unknown" truck stop. Well, it's known to the locals that live there, but the general trucking public never goes in to it.  It really doesn't look inviting when you get off the Interstate and look at the turn you have to make and then the little road that loops around to another highway with the truck stop right there.  Well, I had plenty of time left by the time I got to that exit and I figured I'd just wing it and find a place to stop.

Farmersville, IL is where I ended up at a Jack Flash truck stop.  It was a decent place to stop and to top it off, there is a sports bar with decent food 2 blocks away.  It was obviously a town favorite as it was full of families, versus a "bar crowd" which was fine by me.  I was looking forward to having some wings - and they were out.  I then decided on the Walleye special - they were out of that as well lol.  

Anyway, I made it up here, the plant, much earlier than I have ever arrived here - only to find a rail car sitting at the unloading rack. That pretty much did me in right then and there. The last time that happened up here, I was sitting here for 18 hours.  I was hoping to make it home tomorrow for Easter dinner.  Went up to the intercom at the gate and informed them I was here and the guy on the phone said it'll be "40 minutes" before we can come get you.  A ray of hope, only 40 minutes?  

It turned into 2 hours unfortunately.  2 hours beyond the amount of time it takes them to unload, which is usually 3 to 4 hours.  They insist on bringing the pressure in the trailer down to zero - which is neither necessary or even warranted.  Often times, when they bring the pressure all the way back down, air gets back into the trailer and then, when you go to the plant to load it, they have to get the air back out of it, which can take hours.  There is reason to keep some pressure in the tank and that's it.  Since this product is volatile and highly flammable, the possibility of explosion is high if there is anything more than a trace amount of oxygen in it.  

But, this place insists on it and that is why it takes so long to get out of here, beyond the wait to even get the trailer TO the loading rack.  I can always tell when they're done unloading because they then turn on the giant flare - which makes a LOT of noise.  I've been here 2 hours since I finally got the trailer in there and no flaring yet.  I need a minimum of 4 hours on duty time left on the clock to at least be able to make it back to St Louis so I can make it back to the yard tomorrow.  I've got 2 more hours I can sit here before I can kiss Easter at home goodbye.

Well take that back, I can use a 16 hour exception which adds 2 more hours to the 14 hour clock.  

But you see, even if I can make it back to St Louis - the longer I sit here, the later in the day tomorrow I will get back. I was "hoping" I would just have to be here 3 to 4 hours and be back no later than 3:00 pm tomorrow afternoon. 

I'm not really feeling sorry for myself, lol, I just like being home especially on holidays.  The other contention is that there are storms I will encounter on the way back that will invariably slow progress down. 

I guess I should also just shut up about the weather that continuously keeps moving over my town and dumping rain on the property. It's shrug shoulders time.  April showers bring May flowers. It's April, there's showers, property will sit with zero further progress until mother nature decides to relent from the constant onslaught of raining all over everything and give me a break and opportunity to move forward.  To think that I could have all of that done now and be working on everything else.  You know, once the utilities, sites and driveways are complete, I can do a "soft open". I don't have to have anything else out there to get the operation up and going.  Just give a reduced rate, clearly state it's just lots and full hook ups only, the rest of the park is still being built and start getting some income from the thing.  

Why not? As long as it is clearly stated - there are no bathrooms, no wifi, nothing else here but the lots - all of the rest of it is being worked on, but feel free to come and stay if you need a place to park.  The only thing I will need to be able to do a soft opening beyond all of above stated stuff are the picnic tables and fire rings.  Well, get the grass growing as well. Kind of need that going fairly well before I want to have people there - they won't like dirt lots.  Oh and the reservation system will need to be up and running, but I trust the dude that started the website will be able to do that in short order.  Ooops and will need park insurance - lol all the things this operation will need even to have a soft opening.  I'm told you need to start 3 months in advance to contact the insurance companies that actually do RV park coverage.  They are very busy right now.  RV parks are a "thing" and people are buying them up and more people are building them.  

But, even a soft opening seems like an eternity away.

Oh well.  Facing today's waiting time is enough for me.  Plenty to read about in the news - tho much of what the news is full of right now is bleak, evil and wretched.  The economy, inflation, the chaos at the border, the slaughtering of innocents in this Russian war - etc ad-infinitum.  

Maybe I should just take a nap, lol.  The world's evils will never cease until Christ returns. 

Oh  and pay. Yes, I finally got the unpaid pay deposited, it was for 2 runs.  But the other day, I also noticed that they had included one of them in this week's regular pay.  Like, they did that after I said something about it and instead of paying me immediately, they were just going to dump it into a regular paycheck.  So now, I have been paid twice for that particular run, which was $1,700 - times two.  Yup, I said something, not trying to get away with anything, but they still paid it anyway in my regular check.  I made the effort to inform them of it, that's on them if they don't come looking for it back. Which would entail deducting it out of future paychecks.  They won't be able to come back and ask my why I hadn't said anything if they don't catch it - I never erase text messages from work related stuff.

NEVER.  It's proof of many things that have been stated.  

Yes, a nap sounds good.

G'day. 

 There is a 12% to 58% chance and everything in between - of rain for the next 15 days.

There is no chance of work being done at the property with all of that going on.  The contractor did say he wants to meet out there again - I changed my plan of which he immediately agreed was a better idea. (So why he didn't just suggest it in the first place I have no idea, I asked him that if he saw a better way, please let me know). 

The plan is simply to move much further back the location of where the first RV sites will go.  That way, it will be much more level. The front portion can eventually be leveled out either by hauling in a lot more dirt or scraping it down from the high side over to the low side with a two tiered park, the lower tier at the front and the higher tier at the back.  

This will allow for me to install "premium" sites at the front and simply charge twice as much.  A premium site being a site twice as large as the regular site, something like 80X80 with more amenities (such as a built in dog run where people can just put them out in it and not have to have them on a leash all the time) - perhaps natural gas run BBQ grill, larger fire pit, picnic table with a permanent canopy and charge a lot more for them.  

Give me 10 of those sites at $65 per night X 30 nights - do the math.  The rear of the park having smaller sites - but definitely not small by industry standards.  Up the number of total sites to 70, be done with it, live happily ever after, or so the fairy tale goes lol.

The plan for this park has evolved since it's inception where I'm buying property and wondering about all kinds of things. I have more confidence now that I have done ample research and even if I continue to change the plan, it isn't a daunting task that leaves me wondering if I'm making the right decision. In wanting level lots to start with and not having to spend a fortune to get them level, there is definitely nothing wrong with that and a prudent business decision, IMO.  

The idea of having it opened for the summer has gone out the window.  I'm thinking it will be summer before they can even do the dirt work.  It's going to sit there like that until then and there's nothing I can do about it, excepting I might contact a new start up business I saw on the Interstate that rents out heavy equipment. I would love to just get the lot graded smooth.  Nothing about the dirt work they want to do, just make it level and have a better idea about level lots.  

But it's probably a waste of money and I should probably just bide my time.  Heavy equipment rentals are extremely expensive and every place I contacted either don't have bulldozers or won't rent to an inexperienced operator.  

See, my mind hasn't completely departed from this project, but, I can't really dwell on it now that it's completely stalled with no start up date in sight. Mother Nature is in control of that. What I can say is that when I see a swath of enough days for drying and after that at least 3 days they can work the dirt with no rain, I'm going to be blowing up this dude's phone.  When are you coming? Have you seen the weather forecast?  Please bring your equipment, let's get moving with this.  I will want a firm commitment that he's coming for if he doesn't, I will immediately contact another company whose phone number I already have and whose owner I have already spoken with.

As for my pay? It finally showed up.  The payroll department insists they sent out a check on Monday.  Well that's funny because it's Thursday and it isn't anywhere in sight.  The second one they sent out yesterday and it arrived last night.  That's the way it always works and I don't believe they actually sent out the first one.  I think they made a mistake and are just trying to cover their @$$ by lying about it.  

I can tell ya that yesterday, I was discussing with the dispatcher about quitting. Not a threat against her, per se, but this stuff went on entirely too long and there was entirely too much pay at stake, the whole ordeal with 3 runs, all 3 of them longer runs, over $4,000 worth in total.  My manager wasn't particularly happy with me as my attitude degraded with time and nothing getting done, ie: my money actually showing up in my bank account.  I didn't care, either, I was ready to quit and frankly still thinking about it.  

It wouldn't be near as devastating to me as they think it would be if I showed up to work, they handed me walking papers and I had to clean out my truck and go home without a job.  I'm not going to sit here and say I would be happy about it, losing a job isn't normally a happy thing - tho the Ferguson ordeal and getting out of that, tough as it was to quit, I was extremely happy after I got away from it and confirmed how much abusive treatment that manager was doling out.  This one I wouldn't be quite so happy for the sole fact of the amount of money I am making at this job.  The caveat is, of course, that actually have to get paid the money and it actually has to land in your bank account for it to do you any good.  Fighting constantly over detention and breakdown pay gets very, very old. 

I just put in for next month off a couple of days to go to the High School Reunion.  I should have done it sooner, but it slipped my mind. Not a big deal if I can't go.  We are definitely set to go to Galveston Beach in July, I have the dates marked as off for working.  5 days, I'm taking more than just the vacation off. I always forget to add an extra day after vacation is over and we are home for recuperation and getting my mind into work frame of thinking - which is becoming and increasingly hard thing to do.

This is day two off. Well yesterday was half day off and all of today - the 70 hour clock was down to 8 hours and 3 minutes.  There is absolutely nothing you can do with that small amount of hours excepting to go load a trailer or even two.  This dispatcher rarely has anyone doing that anymore.  It is a good tool, tho, if you are short drivers but you need the loads to show that they have been taken on the board with both the chemical plant and the plant it's going to.  It can sit in the yard a day until a driver becomes available to take it.  

I am home with the 5 year old, who is being a bit cranky. Mommy went to an Ambassador function - it's a thing she does with the city and goes to events to help host them.  Volunteer type work.  She's been doing it for a couple of years now?  

I dunno, but this boy is going to get out of here and outdoors if he keeps it up.  The dogs need walked and I don't care if this kid is afraid of Siren Head, Cartoon Cat and Bendy.  Those are all scary, fictional cartoon type characters of which he believes are real and he also believes they live on my property and are roaming about it, looking to eat humans.  If I take my small 9mm pistol and show it to him, I can tell him I will kill Siren Head (again, this is a fictional cartoon character that does not exist in real life, no need reporting this blog lmao) if I see  him and I will keep  him (the boy) safe.  

I did that once before and it actually worked.  he feels if I have my "shoot gun", he will be safe.  I feel like my dogs could take down Siren Head lol.  

Both of these kids treat me like a parent, even tho I have repeatedly told them I am not mom or dad and I certainly had nothing to do with their inception LOL.  Doesn't matter to them, I have been here all of their lives, l am a part of their family regardless of how I see it.  I do feel like I'm a part of the family, I'm just not a "parental unit" and don't want to be.  I don't mind watching them, at all, when the real parents have other things to do, but in the end, those boys are their responsibility and they do take that responsibility quite seriously.  It's just funny to me these kids think I am a part of that equation.  I do get on their cases whenever they are disobeying or showing their age reflection of rebellion and disobedience. 

Well, winding this one down. It's Thursday, highly likely I will be sent out tomorrow.  My wish? Get sent out on a 3 day run and get home in time on Sunday to enjoy Easter dinner.  The reality? I have no idea.  Well, my real wish is that I would somehow get Easter day off and enjoy it with the family and help cook a feast - I have 4 prime rib roasts in the freezer and one of them is coming out of it for the dinner whether I'm here or not.  If not, I can always enjoy leftovers when I get home.  I far-more-often-than-not get dumped with working on holidays, I don't usually ask for them off, I just hope that it works out that I get at least a few off.  I got lucky both Thanksgiving and Christmas in that department.  

The boy is getting dressed.  He wants to go to Waffle House.  I will not take him unless agrees to and actually engages in a walk in the woods.  IF he does that, I will post a live video of it once we get back in there.  He will start talking about Siren Head  - you'll just have to look it up if you don't know what it is, but basically it's a walking tornado type siren monster.  It has a bone structure that is very tall, as tall as trees and it has sirens for a head. The sirens have mouths inside of them and they bite off the heads of humans, discarding the body and apparently swallowing the human head.  Yup, I figure someone high and on drugs thought up of that one.  Hallucinogens may have had a part of dreaming that thing up. And then it morphed into all kinds of other "heads", such as light head which is also a tall, pole like creature that has street lights as a head instead of sirens.  

Weight loss has been slow this time around.  I've been faithful to the diet, I just let it go too long and had too much fat to get rid of.  I don't intend on cheating until vacation - or the High School reunion if I go.  That will entail flying out the day of the reunion, going that evening, staying over night, going the next evening, it's a two day event, and then flying home the next day, hopefully finding time to visit some folks while I'm there.  If not, I won't be cheating on the diet again until July.  Yes, I can make it that far, I have been doing this diet for 2-1/2 years now.  It's really just a way of life at this point.  

With that, I'm going to find out what this boy wants to do. If hiking, we are leaving. If not, I'm making breakfast!

G'day

 My company said they were going to deposit my "lost" pay either Friday or today - Monday - for sure.  So yea, there aren't any deposits in my account. When they deposit it, it sits there as "pending".  No pending nothing.  

My dispatcher sent me another Oklahoma run for tomorrow.  "I'm waiting for my pay to actually be paid".  

Long story from the dispatcher - she tried, I'll give her that and my issue wasn't with her. I told her that in no uncertain terms.  Thank you for trying, I know our payroll department is incompetent, etc, stuff that makes her understand I wasn't blaming her for my not getting paid.  

She sent me more texts.  I simply stated: "This company can pay my ass before I do any more work".  

That started a firestorm of activity that basically had a threat from my manager - but only in the terms of the company forcing him to do that - and I continued on. I have never, in my 37 years of driving, had this kind of ridiculous, outrageous, unbelievable treatment from a payroll department. They literally don't give a damn.  

He eventually called me and I informed him that I have had several companies begging me to come work for them for years.  I am not concerned about turning down a load with this company - and I put that nicely, because other words came to my mind.  Like f*** this company.  Eventually, we got to him admitting they had screwed him out of 30% of his pay - a yearly bonus they promised him  if his performance met X requirements - which his performance went WELL beyond that and they told him 

_____________________________________

That was yesterday.  The "conversation" wasn't a nice one.  Pay me or I will sit home. That was my stance.  I am not going to have almost $2,500 worth of pay just sitting there in limbo, not getting it to me because...why?

There are some things companies can get away with in toying with their employees.  There is at least one sacred thing any company should never mess with if they want employee retention: their paychecks. A man - or woman - puts in X amount of hours of work, then turns it in, then expects to get paid for it the next pay period after turning it in. That's it. It's very simple.  

I have bills to pay, that was another statement I said several times over.  I don't drive for free. etc etc etc. all the things you would expect someone who is getting pissed off to say when their pay didn't show up, went through the proper channels to get it to show up - it still doesn't show up anyway and then that's it.  I was willing to quit or be fired over it yesterday, i didn't care at that point and I made it exceedingly clear.  

And what does my manager care? He is quitting - over pay - as well!  He doesn't, actually, care he just has to act like he does until he's out of there.  I don't know if he's given a notice or not, but if I were him, I would be extremely upset over 30% of my pay being denied.  Witnesses said he was letting out all kinds of f bombs and other such niceties when the company informed him they weren't giving him the bonus they promised him.

THAT after they told him his division made   a lot of money.  

The writing is on the wall. My days at that company are numbered.  I will not tolerate abusive treatment from a company - not paying a person and then demanding that person prove that the work even exists and that I actually did it? No thanks.  It's the best paying job I ever had but I will gladly walk away from it for reasons such as this.  

Well, after a long conversation, I was "guaranteed" that it will be put in my account tomorrow, which is today.  It's barely after 8:00 am so I will not be checking it until later.  He - my manager - kept saying "you're not doing yourself any favors" by refusing a load.  I was at the "I literally don't give a shit about this job at this point" stage, threats were not going to work against me.  I eventually agreed to take today's Oklahoma load under the condition that my pay is going to be in there TODAY. 

He assured me it would be. 

That's it.  IT's time to head out to the yard and - wait on a trailer. That's the other thing. There is no trailer available. Gag.

G'day

 I don't know what happened to that last entry, I thought I had finished and posted it.  Oh well, it was almost finished and I posted it anyway.

I didn't get out of the plant until 3:30 yesterday afternoon. An empty didn't show up until noon and then when I got to the plant, there were 2 trucks ahead of me. 

Motoring up there, drop and hooking, around 9:30 pm, I left the receiving plant and decided I would at least get to Okmulgee to get fuel at the Love's.  But when I got there, I became a bit irritated with the lack of schedule and just "take it when it gets there" garbage, so I decided I was going to at least try and drive the route out.  I knew it would be minimum 3:30 am before I got back, but what the heck.

I got within 50 miles and was too tired to continue driving, so I stopped at a truck stop in Pittsburg, TX, took a 15 minute nap and that was all I needed. I didn't get to bed until almost 5:00 am.  I am at home. I would still be sitting on a 10 hour break right now and I wouldn't be getting back to the yard until around 2 - 2:30, add 45 minutes to unhook tractor, do paperwork and drive home.  

I just feel better about getting home even if tired. I have nothing pressing that must be done so I can just lounge around all day if I seriously want to.  The 5 year old messed with my sleep and started knocking on the door, hence I am up much earlier than I wanted to be.  I forgot to look at the 70 hour clock last night - well this morning - it is probably around the low 20 hour range, meaning they could send me out on another trip tomorrow.  I would prefer going out on Wednesday, buffering the next pay period and have a couple days off.  

A week later and the contractor finally messaged me back: I just now seen your text, my phone has been messing up.

Well, sir, your phone appears to have been messing up for a long, long time now, perhaps you should think about fixing it or getting a new one.  I didn't actually say that to him, but he's been saying this for a while now. He owns his own company, he has a large number of employees, it's obvious he's raking in the dough, buy a phone - or stop making excuses, I'm not sure which.  

The forecast is a slight chance of rain today, possible thunderstorms tomorrow and definitely heavy rain with tornado warnings, hail and damaging winds.  Various chances of rain all the way through the 25th, as far as the forecast goes.  Yeah, this project is going to progress any time soon.  

The extended forecast is not helpful.  Enough days have to pass for the ground to dry up and then you have to have 3 days in a row after that drying period to do the dirt work.  Or so I am told.  

Anyway, I will have to find things to do to get my mind off of that.  I don't know what, but it's obvious nothing is going to happen over there for a while to come. Frustrating, absolutely.  I really need another business venture to get involved with that isn't dependent on good weather.  Rentals are my go to.  Subrenting doesn't sound like a good idea, I'd have to actually buy a house here to rent out rooms or rent the whole thing.  At 20% down, that would eat up a good chunk of finances. It wouldn't necessarily put the project in jeopardy, but it would likely mean borrowing a substantial amount more of money to make it happen.

I'm a bit cranky - 5 hours of sleep wasn't enough but once you have been awakened twice out of sleep and it's daytime and daylight, the sleep hours are gone, there is no getting back to sleep. I feel like going on a nice walk out on the property even if tired, just to get some anxiety out and enjoy nature.

It's a pretty good idea, actually. 

G'day

 Lol.

I won't mention the name of the plant for I don't want to cause any trouble.

But last night? I've never seen anything like it.  I haven't been to this particular plant in a couple of years.  The product we bring to them, they just recirculate it and regenerate it, the only reason they need more, over time, I was informed last night, is because there are leaks here and there and the product seeps out and eventually we need a truckload to replace it.

Ok. They knew what they were doing, but only on their side.  On the trailer side, I showed them everything the needed to know and stood around for quite a while, monitoring their activity. Expert me? No, but I do know what I'm doing with this stuff. Do you need anything else from me? No, I think we've got it. Okay, well if you need anything, I'll be in my truck eating dinner. 

Eat dinner I did and then I went to sleep.  I didn't actually sleep to well 2 nights ago, I wanted to rest.  It was already a long day as it was, going to the loading plant, loading, driving 600 miles and then unloading.  

A few hours later, the man came to my truck and knocked.  "How low do you want the pressure?" 20-25 is fine with me.  At some point, I got my gear back on and got out of the truck.  The pressure was down to 22, plenty fine, not dangerous at all, let's unhook.  

Well, they apparently don't know how to clear the line of the liquid before unhooking, because as soon as they cracked the giant fitting, liquid started coming out.  I just backed up. That stuff can give you serious burns just like fire, only it comes from the other end of the spectrum. I mentioned the bleeder valve - he went to open it and I'm like, uhhh, yeah you have liquid coming out, I wouldn't open it up too much or you'll have that stuff raining all over us.  I backed up plenty far.  This spectacle wasn't going to make me a victim.  Sure enough, it came shooting out the tube at the top of the cabinet and it started raining.  He immediately turned the valve to the point it slowed down.

But, we stood there and watched liquid coming out for at least 5 minutes.  Most plants would have a literal cow about doing that. Now, this stuff isn't harmful in that being exposed to the chemical will kill you, it's just very cold and highly flammable.  I think plants worry about EPA or OSHA violations more than anything. But, this stuff evaporates immediately and it's gone.  As I said, I'm not naming the plant, I actually thought it humorous that these people thought that that stuff raining down like that was somehow normal.

__________________________

I'm back at home, Sunday morning.  I was originally given a load to take out Monday, but unfortunately, instead of getting Sunday off, another driver had "issues" - some people make stuff up to get out of work - so my dispatcher called yesterday and declared I was needed for a run to Oklahoma today.  I asked why they other driver couldn't take it.  "He can't take it".  Well I prefer he would, I replied, and I get a Sunday off.  I most assuredly do not like working on Sundays. I never have, I never will.  But, she insisted and I can't say no.  I mean, I could make up a story and lie, not something I want to do so I just agreed to it.  

The problem is, the mechanic took one of the trailers out of service. This trailer is for the Oklahoma run only.  Take even one of the trailers out of service and everything is screwed up.  So now, I am waiting for a trailer to be brought back.  At home waiting, that is, I was just informed by the driver that he won't be back to the yard with it until noon.  What does that mean? It means that it's going to be an incredibly late night for working today.  And I won't be back until afternoon tomorrow.  Unless I get a wild hair and say screw it, just drive all the way back and sleep in late tomorrow morning.  

Something tells me I won't feel like doing that, but it was a nice thought anyway, lol.

 Oklahoma trip yesterday and this morning, the rest of today off. 2 days in between runs.  Probably by design, some sort of retribution for saying something about the dispatcher, I don't care.  At least I'm off again tomorrow, over to Alabama, which is usually a 2 day trip, sometimes 3.  It's a little more than the equivalent of a Brownsville trip. More miles but easier drive.  I-20 all the way over to Birmingham and then up to Decatur and walaah. 

There are 2 plants up there, this is the one that is open 24 hours and they will unload - whenever you get there. However, this is also the plant with people that have no clue what they are doing and I have spent up to 18 hours waiting to unload.  I haven't been to this plant in over 2 years, I kind of hope they might have gotten their act together.  

Anyway, I went to the property again today. The weather has cleared up temporarily, gotta take advantage of it. Went to the back 15 and just listened to the wind blowing through the trees.  The wind is howling here today, so much so that they have put out an advisory that making fires is not a good idea, the wind can blow it into a massive forest fire quickly. 10-4, I really didn't need the National Weather Service to tell me that lmao and I wasn't planning on building any fires.

I just find it relaxing to go out and enjoy my own chunk of land in a forest.  The dogs rather like it as well. 

I have revised my plan once again, tho.  The beginning of the park is going to start much further back from the front of the property.  In fact, I have considered moving all of the amenities to the front of the property and having all of the rv sites in the rear. The ground is much more level back there and guests will be much happier. 

Whatever the case, I stopped this post, went to dinner, received a run for tomorrow -  6am load time going to Alabama - and it's already time to go to bed. You know, getting up at 3:45 am stuff? Yea, that jar of wonderfulness.

G'nite

 I've actually hugged a few trees before.  Why? Because people used to call people "tree huggers" and defame and condescend to them.  I like trees.  God likes trees: "The trees of the field will clap their hands".... and references to trees all throughout scripture.  I don't mind them being cut down tho.  I mean, paper, furniture, etc, and it's totally renewable. In the region I live in, tree forests are harvested all over the place and saps are planted in their place.  I've seen a large number of them in various growth stages all over the place.  See, I think we should get rid of as much plastic as we can and go back to the paper days.  Paper is biodegradable and doesn't take forever to decompose.

It also isn't found among the floating piles of plastic in the oceans - the last one I saw on a documentary said the flotilla (yes, I know it's boats but whatever) of plastic all stuck together was the size of Texas.  The size of Texas.  

Just my thoughts on trees. They are probably my most favorite part of God's creation above the rest of anything else. Flowers come a close second.  Dogs are in contention with flowers, but they aren't really in the same category lol.

Home today, Monday. Worked all weekend taking a loaded trailer to Brownsville and empty back up to the yard.  Wasn't really into it too much yesterday.  Traffic was full of lunatics driving like they were rushing to the hospital because they are dying. Just ridiculous, getting cut off all day long.  To that end, I printed out the SBA loan application and will begin working on it.  I need the contractor to give me a price on doing the entire 60 plus lots I want, a pool contractor to give me a price on that and a builder to give me quotes on a couple of buildings and a giant canopy. 

Yes, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The loan originators will probably want the property on it too, so add another $65,000 on top of that.  I figure I'll need ballpark 400k to do the entire park in one fell swoop.  Yea I said I was going to wait, but wait for what?  Just keep driving trucks up and down the road endlessly? No thank you.  The worst they can do is decline the loan and I'll have to figure something else out.  If I could just come up with enough cash to put in 30 spaces, I could quit my job.  

And with the manager quitting in the next few months (so he says, the company doesn't treat him very well) I have to wonder what the next manager will bring. This guy is laid back, he lets drivers get away with as much as he can let them without his @$$ being held to a burner.  If the next manager is the assistant manager he just hired, things are going to be a bit rough. She doesn't talk to anyone that I can see. She hides behind a partition in what used to be the driver's break room and literally says nothing to anyone.  Or if she does, I have yet to see it.

I'd be perfectly happy with a short, Oklahoma run tomorrow.  But, I'll have full hours available, they could send me to any of our accounts and not, I really don't feel like trekking a thousand miles each way to some of our contracts.  Other drivers love those runs, they can have them. 

I'm gong to the septic place today to drop off a check for the pedestals. If the owner is there, I'm going to ask him to work up the numbers to do the entire job.  The loan asks for quotes, specific numbers, not ballpark stuff. I understand they want that stuff, it's just very tedious in these parts to get anyone to actually do the numbers on paper and give an actual quote.   

Anyway, I was reading today a story stating the Elon Musk - Space X/Tesla - has bought a 10% stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder in the company.  Musk said last week that free speech is fundamental to a functioning democracy and criticized Twitter for silencing opinions from people that the company doesn't agree with.  I despise Twitter, I have never liked it, but I will be enthusiastically watching what, if anything, Musk does with his presence in the company.  A shareholder who owns a majority stake basically owns the company.......yes, this should get very interesting. 

Perhaps Musk is a rare billionaire that will actually do some good with all the money he has?  I know he isn't a godly man, but that doesn't  mean he can't do good things with his life.  And perhaps the Lord will find a way to speak to Musk in ways that only God can do without actually showing Himself to anyone.  

Regardless, I'm out the door. Take the check over, get a haircut, renew the trailer license and probably the boat as well now that I think of it, go to the bank, take the dogs to the property and give them a good long walk. It's been a while, the rain has stopped everything, including walks and construction.  Other construction sites in the area are also dead, no dirt work being done and after tonight, that will probably keep any work from being done for at least another work.

It's a bit frustrating, yes.  Oh, and we're likely going to Lowe's today.  I fixed the giant planter out front of the house a few days ago and it's ready for planting. Lowe's has a very nice selection of beautiful flowers.  Yes I'm still doing Keto, weight sort of fluctuates, but as long as the fluctuations keep going in a downward pattern, it's fine by me. Slow progress right now, that's what I can attest to.  

If you're out and about today, take the time to look at nature.  Get the world out of your mind for a bit.  That's one of the reasons I like taking the doggies for walks on the property.  Clear my mind, enjoy God's green earth and stress over nothing. It's good for the body, soul and mind.  

G'day.  

 Since it's rainy season here, it could be weeks or even a month or longer before the ground is sufficiently dry for the contractor to engage in the dirt work needed to move along with the project.  

It makes me just want to go out, buy another house and start renting it out instead.  Plenty of houses around here where I could put less than 20k down and easily rent it out, this area is short on rental housing.  

Am I seriously considering this? Well, the thought has definitely crossed my mind, I'll put it that way.  The cost of housing here isn't particularly high.  People always seem to want to rent over buying.  Or, they don't have the down payment to be able to buy.  This is why I think a rent-to-own option in these parts would work very nicely.  

Whatever the case, the dream is on hold indefinitely, as there is rain in the forecast well into the future.  Take a good week of drying out before any dirt work could be done.  I mean, I don't know what else I can do, sit here and wait.  Make decisions on other things that can't be acted on until the dirt work is done.  Engage in other undertakings.  Start up the SBA loan stuff.  

I think it's SBA loan "stuff".  It looks daunting, the paperwork and the projections and such.  And getting bids. Like pulling teeth, getting contractors out there to give bids is extremely difficult - they are all busy and they don't have a lot of extra time on their hands.  After reading a large quantity of material from other RV park owners who went through the process, I at least have an idea.  

_____________

That was days ago lol. I've written a couple of entries and just left them in limbo.  I do that a lot.  There isn't much to report.  I just got back from a trip to Oklahoma.  I have no idea what my next work assignment is, but since it's Friday, I decided on the way home to prepare myself with Keto food to take with me.  She will send me something (dispatcher) for either tomorrow, Sunday or Monday.  If I could get  a weekend off, I would love it.  

Not sure I really want to be home all weekend tho. The kids are suspended from video games and watching any videos - they ignored mom and dad and decided to come to me to ask to watch a certain movie.  I turned it on, not knowing mom had told them after dinner.  It's obviously not good for kids thinking they can just go around asking everyone until they get permission.  The older boy is highly likely going to be pouty and I don't like being around pouty kids - at all.  

Anyway, there is a huge plant sale - I think it's a yearly thing at a certain location where they put out thousands of various kinds of plants - going on tomorrow morning.  I hope I am here because the prices are supposed going to be very good with a huge selection if you get there early.  We cleaned out all the plant pots. I also fixed the giant planter that fell apart awhile ago - the screws had sheered in half, combination rust and lots of weight with all the dirt in that planter - plus the fact those tiny little screws weren't near big enough to hold the kind of weight that thing was built for.  

There's not much else. My son says he is considering moving to Tennessee.  It's fairly inevitable that anyone that grew up in the Phoenix area and lived there long enough will get sick of big city living and want to move out.  It wasn't anything like it is now when we first moved there in the early 70's.  Much of it was cotton fields and giant tumble weeds.  When it rained, the streets would flood and we would literally go tubing down the street.  The mountain camping areas weren't over run with people that are getting drunk, throwing trash everywhere and being a nuisance.  Grand Canyon wasn't shut down to auto traffic. I drove up there several times with friends and our family made trips up there as well. 

The pollution is horrible. Ozone alerts all the time, with warnings to "stay inside" - yeah right, I had an outdoor job and there wasn't any staying inside nonsense.  And a lot of other stuff that comes with big cities, especially the left politics - bigger government is always better in their view of things.  

I don't know if he's actually going to do it, but it sounds like his mother actually came up with the idea to do it and he is going to follow her out there.  He's been living with her ever since the divorce and saving up money to buy another place.  I still have a really bad taste in my mouth after buying them a brand new, $1,600 refrigerator as a new-house warming gift and then they split up a month later and she has that refrigerator.  Trust me, I wouldn't have given them an expensive gift like that if I had any idea that that was going to happen.  Them being his ex-wife and my son.  

Pretty much will never do that again.  I've given him cash gifts instead towards his savings towards a house.  Tennessee is a beautiful state and property is much cheaper there along with the cost of living. It's a good choice, I think, especially for those with more conservative thinking.  

I have no plans on going anywhere. Unless this situation with my friends I am living with ever change, I will probably stay here.  The only thing I really don't like about this area is no mountains and I really always wanted to retire in the mountains somewhere.  Nearest mountains are something like 300 miles away, not like it's a hop, skip and a jump to go on a mountain retreat over the weekend type of thing. 

Well that's enough for this one.  I would like to go get some plants tomorrow, get them home and then go for a good, long hike with the dogs.  It's been raining and we haven't been going, but the rain has stopped until Monday, when there's a 50 plus percent chance of rain - again.  Putting off the property dirt work - again.  I just have to settle in and wait until the rainy season is over, I guess, that's a couple of months from now.  

g'day