Power company - no show. Even my contractor was in disbelief.  I contacted him asking him if it's ok to put down grass seed or should I wait until the gravel is spread? Please wait!  I kind of thought so.  I did put the seed down on the doggy park tho, the gravel operation won't affect that area.  Tomorrow marks the last day that the engineer said they would show up to install the poles/lines.  That's 3 weeks later than what they said they were going to do.  

I had the 25 year old back today - but he brought his younger brother (without letting me know) to work on the main driveway.  The gas company isn't adequately maintaining it and I think I'm going to send them a bill for half of the cost to get all of that brush out of there. Yeah, I doubt they will pay either, but it's worth a try.  If anything ever goes to court, there will be an email-trail of attempts to get them to do anything. 

Anyway, the younger was "helping" the older by standing around with a big pair of clippers - doing nothing. Clippers irrelevant and useless for that operation, the only thing that's needed is a chainsaw.  So, I called him over and informed him I needed him to pull weeds, showing him what I wanted done.  I got busy on the machine, even tho it rained heavily last night and the ground not in great shape for doing any dirt work, I had the thing and there were a couple of things I really needed to get done, mud or no. 

I get back to where they are working after completing those tasks and where is the younger brother? Back with his older brother.  Doing nothing, again.  Well, I had to leave with the machine to return it. When I got back, of course he's standing there.  So, I drove up to him and informed him that "I don't need you over here, I need you pulling those weeds over there" pointing at the back row.  Your brother can do all of this by himself, as he was doing so yesterday.

The boy made excuses and walked over to the weeds and started pulling them. I had to leave. Upon return after they left? Yeah, very little done - by either one.   Irritating.  I told them I didn't need them tomorrow.....probably won't "need" them again.  I got some work out of them, just not what I'm paying them worth'.  

I took that ridiculous sign out.  They can have it back.  The one that says no hunting, dogs, guns, fishing, alcohol, etc.  They aren't having such signs on my property, period.  I get to determine if there is hunting, dogs, guns, fishing, alcohol, etc.  It's laying there on the ground, they can recover it if they like. The sign wasn't even on their easement-meaning it was on my property that they have no control over. 

  I also cleared out 2 spots for the new sign up front.  I haven't decided where to put it and I don't want to be fooling with weeds if I decide one location is better than another - they are both good locations.  I think I need a second set of eyes to help determine which one is best.  

And because it poured rain over there last night, I got to see this morning if the drainage pipes are working. Yes, they are working but there's 3 more places where I am going to need to install drainage pipe, very much unfortunately.  At $125 per stick, that's an expensive proposition.  But it's clearly in need of it.  It'll just eat away at my driveway - gravel or not - the money spent is the money saved.  I was going to dig out the trenches for them at least while I had the machine - but it was far too muddy in there, no way was I going to destroy the driveway driving that machine over it.  I can probably do that stuff by hand, I guess, I don't really want to spend another near-$400 for a day's worth of that machine just for that.  

That's it, really. I did manage to start Keto yesterday and am on it again today. I think I can get back into it again, just limiting it to chicken, turkey and certain types of fish.  Lots of salad.  I'm at an unhealthy weight and it's time to get serious about shedding it.  

Well, here's to hoping that tomorrow? The power company will finally show up.

G'day. 

 Half decided to go back on the keto diet today. Half because I've been eating rice and potatoes for months now and they are so delicious.  Getting off of the "good" food again isn't going to be an easy task. The motivator is the fact that my belly has grown larger than it's ever been in my adult life.  

I think I'll start out Keto and start researching other kinds of diets. The Mediterranean diet seems to have great appeal to it's followers. 

Of course, no power company yesterday.  I have plenty to do, however and I will be getting about it today - if it doesn't rain.  Not a high chance of it, but it would be a waste of money to rent a machine and then have it start pouring.  You can't level overly wet land, it just doesn't work.  

I also identified yesterday on the fence line on the east side of the property a large swath of area about 100 feet long where I need to take out all the shrubbery and some small trees. This will enable people to park on the main driveway without blocking it. It will also eliminate any potential for scratching the sides of beautiful rigs.  THAT would get me some pretty bad reviews.

Amazing I hadn't seen that before yesterday.  But, my mind is full of stuff and there is still a lot left to go here, I'm working on it one thing at a time.  I'm going out there shortly to check to make sure the light rain yesterday didn't mess my plans for today up. If it did, I will simply get out the chain saw and start working on that driveway instead.  

I feel like I'm getting close, even tho the power isn't installed. IF they come this week - 3 days left in the business work week - then it's all downhill from there. That will be the key to unlocking get the rest of this done and getting it done quickly. It will also give me a fresh dose of motivation.

It's been a hot summer out there and I've really gotten tired of it. It's going to be 90 degrees today, allegedly, even tho it's currently overcast.  

I just really need to get the lots leveled so I can get that grass seed out there. It's going to rain this weekend - supposedly anyway - and that will get that seed growing and hopefully quickly have a nice ground cover of grass where there will be no gravel instead of dirt.

Oh, the 15 foot wide RV parking pads.  I've got all the dimensions of the sites written on paper and I've now got the sites numbered, at least on paper, not at the sites themselves yet.  No sense in doing that until the gravel is installed, I imagine a dozer running over signs I just paid for and that wouldn't set well.  

I asked in an RV owners group about those wider pads.  There wasn't a single negatory on it. They all said the wider the pads, the better. Note that I am not talking about the width of the entire sites, but the pads where they park.  Why, I asked?  Because people put out big rugs and their own tables and chairs and they like it all to be on the pad instead of half on the grass.  They just like it better.  

I've seen them doing this before - the main reasoning is that their awning gets put up and then they can sit in the shade. If they're sitting in the grassy area, unless there are trees, they aren't going to get shade at all.  Makes perfect sense, but I didn't know.  Some even said to go all gravel on your lots. 

No thanks. I've seen lots of pics of all gravel parks, they just look like giant parking lots, very unappealing.  At least to me.  Grass adds a touch of nature to the scenery that gravel certainly doesn't do.  Grass is an integral part of the plan regardless of the hassle of having to keep it cut.  I'll probably spend several days a month cutting grass.  It will be a chore, no doubt, but that's what my original plan was and in that sense, I am not deviating from it. 

I also read one person who said "they will absolutely LOVE it".  This person says their park has NO amenities but GREAT reviews on Google because their parking pads are so wide.  Yup, my amenities are going to be few in number at first.  So hey! That might work for me, because in the beginning? It's going to be a bit spartan beyond walking trails and a doggy park.  

I can adjust my pricing accordingly at first, just to try and get people in there and get some hopefully good reviews going.  I have so many ideas - but the money just isn't there yet and I'm not in the position to get a decent business loan - yet.  I keep telling myself, plug away at it, keep moving, keep on getting things done, you will eventually get there.

And on that note, I was in the local gathering group - just a place where people dump everything from restaurants to eat at to lost dogs to local business attempting to get some people heading their way.  I was scrolling down and a pic grabbed my attention. My  mind thought, that looks like my logo? Is  someone else putting up a business with the same design?

Silly me, lmao.  It IS my pic, they are painting it and it's looking really good! They are using it as an advertisement to attract more customers. That's how I found them in the first place, that group and a pic of a billboard style sign they had made over 20 years ago that was still in very good shape.  Go local! That's what I try to do.

Oh, and picnic tables? Do I really need them to start with? After that discussion about people putting their own tables out, I wondered if picnic tables at every lot makes good business sense on a dwindling money supply, or, perhaps, carve out an area maybe 30X30, put in a large fire pit and also put in some tables near it?  Just a gathering place people can go to socialize if they so desire and cooler weather is coming.  I could even start out with supplying a cord of wood for people to make the fires in it - to start now, not permanent.  

I've got to get creative on a limited budget.  Give as much as I can give for appeal without spending a fortune on it.  I even thought about building an outdoor shower.  I was looking at designs, pretty simple setups that don't need anything but a water supply and a water heater that doesn't need electricity.  Of course, it would need a propane tank to fuel it, but still.  Dunno, just thinking.  There is natural gas running down the street, but to run a line that far back would cost some big bucks, no thanks, not at the moment anyway.  

Well, anyway, off to the races!

G'day. 

 The Tractor Supply nightmare has finally ended.  Unsatisfied with the outcome - which was simply that I ended up going to my home town store and paying $6 more PER BAG for the rye grass seed, I decided to call them one more time.  This time, I spoke with a headquarters manager.

Word salad, excuses, etc was what I heard.  I'm very persistent, however, when it comes to things like this.  Going to a store to pick up an order that I had already paid for and having them tell me the order was thrown into the trash can, so sorry, nothing we can do for you, bye-bye?  

No.  That doesn't work in my world, especially for a company that proclaims it's "great customer service" value and ethic.  I spent half an hour on the phone with this lady who said I had received a gift card via email - which I was never told about nor did I see in my inbox because I was receiving a lot of emails from them on both orders.  I eventually found it going through all the emails - with her on the phone - it was for $50.  

Although that's nice, I didn't ask for neither did I want a gift card, I wanted a discount on the price of the seed since I had gone through quite the ordeal.  More word salad until she became exasperated with me and asked, well what is it that you want me to do?  I want a discount.  I didn't even get the price from the Longview store, they charged me $6 more per bag.

Well, let me call the store and find out if they can do anything.  Why does she have to call the store? This isn't something they empower their headquarters employees to do? Apparently not.  After another lengthy wait, she got back to me and told me the manager of the store in MY town, not the store where this fiasco originally started, said he would give me the seed for $40 per bag, which is over $15 per bag discount.  Now I got happy. Thank you!  I am getting $60 plus back on that purchase plus I have the $50 gift card.  I am rather soured by this experience, but I will spend the gift card money and I know exactly what I need: 2 ratcheting chain binders.  They have them there for $32 (I think? ) a piece.  This will bring that price down to a very  minimal amount and I can start using my trailer to haul the equipment from rental places instead of paying an extra $30 for the trailer rental as well. 

I just couldn't let that thing go, not without trying one more time.  

No power company. Yup, my normal update, lol.

Dozer rental place doesn't do it anymore, told me to try another place. The other place is still under construction and they aren't open for business yet. 

Another place rents them but the cost is a bit high - like really high. $450 per day plus $350 for delivery and pickup. Gag, that's a lot.  I think I'm just going to rent that mini-ex again and just get the area around the pads finished and get a good 50 feet area cleared around them on either side if possible and save the rest of that for some other date.  

But it's getting late in the day for renting one, just wait until tomorrow morning.  I have not been having those boys out there to do anything, I'm good with the trails for now, it's the front area I need to focus on.  

Now, I knew something was off.  I couldn't figure out what it was.  I had all of the lots meticulously measured and marked with stakes.  I didn't mark the pads because the contractor said he would do that after we were discussing it.  

So I was sitting there looking at the pads this morning.  Just something said no, this isn't right in my brain.  I drove the 4 wheeler to the back of the property, got my 300 foot tape measure and also my level - I wanted to see how much of a grade there is on the lots - went back to the pads and start measuring the lots and the pads on the back-in/west side.  The lots are/were 40 feet wide.  Now? 37 feet wide here, 45 feet wide there - measuring from water spigot to water spigot. The pads? that was what was really eating at me.

The contractor said 12 feet wide.  No.  Most of them are wider, some of them are much wider.  Now I understand why there is less room - psychological effect anyway - between the pads.  What anyone needs with a 15 foot wide pad is unknown.  It's just a lot more gravel and waste of usable "grassy" space.  I don't know if I can alter that stuff with a mini-ex.  I am going to contact the contractor and ask him about why they are so wide?  I could maybe see 12 feet wide, I cannot see 15 and wider.  

I'm going to ask in a couple of groups if anyone has wider pads and what the advantage of it is?  I do remember seeing one park owner saying if he had to do it all over again, he would have made the pads 14 feet wide, but his only explanation was that "the campers will appreciate it".  

It's just a little bit interesting that they didn't meet my design specs by clearly set stakes that were easily visible from the inside of a dozer or trackhoe - the two pieces of machinery that were being used for that operation.  I'm not real happy about that and yes, I will ask the contractor directly.  Need to back out there today and measure all of the lots all the way around and the pads and write it all down on paper. I need to number the lots as well so I can reference any lot to the size it is.  

Anyway, that's my day.

Happy Monday!

 Sunday.

A lengthy ordeal 2 days ago with Tractor Supply that I am not going to bother going into great detail here, just to say the experience was ridiculous.  In a nutshell, I ordered 4, 50-pound bags of rye grass seed from the store 30 miles away. We were going there anyway and the price was $5 per bag cheaper than in my town, so why not.  I got to the store after receiving an email saying it was ready to be picked up - and found out they didn't have any of the grass seed, had thrown the printed order in the trash and left it like that, while hitting my account for over $200.  

Yeah, as I said, it was a lengthy ordeal and the charge is still showing on my PayPal account.  I ended up getting the seed in my town, probably at the higher price, I don't know, I didn't check, I was disgusted by the time I got to that point.

This is definitely a nothing day.  I will take the seed over to the property, put it in the locked shed, perhaps go for a walk with the dog and that's about it for today.  Tomorrow, I will be over there early enough looking to see if the power company is there yet - I do this every day now - and then I will make a decision about which machine to rent.  Basically, I will call the place renting a dozer and see if they will even rent to me. If they won't, I'll get the small machine at the local rental place and do what I can with it.  

The dozer will be more expensive but it will get so much more done, with a better result.  As I said, I will just have to make a decision tomorrow.  

My $1,500 property tax bill isn't going to be officially late until February of next year, that one is going to sit there a while.  Bracing myself for whatever the power company is going to want for a deposit, I'm imagining thousands of dollars but hoping for something smaller.  I'll have no choice, whatever they tell me.  

The shed is going to wait to be transformed into a vending machine/laundry/shower.  It's just not in the cards right now for the money situation.  I want to get everything done that I have to plus the doggy park. The materials for that are paid for, I just need a machine to do a bit more leveling before I run the fencing around it and get some grass seed down.

There is a medium chance of rain coming this week on Wednesday and Thursday. The chances of rain go up and down every time I check.  But, I got the grass seed in case I get these lots leveled and ready to plant - and - if it's going to rain.  The seed will sit in there if it isn't going to rain until there is rain definitely coming.  

The week after this, rain is forecast with varying percentages most every day.  This will not only water the grass seed, but if it rains enough, I can see if my drainage pipes are going to work.  Adjustments can be made. Not without a lot of work, of course, but if necessary, I can pull one or more out, do some more digging and hope for the best.  Really shouldn't be an issue, I think I got it right, but who knows until we get a nice, heavy downpour?  

We went to a local parade yesterday and then there was a carnival and a bunch of food and trinket tents set up.  Spent 5 hours there, lol.  The 7 year old went on his first ferris wheel ride. Except, this wasn't a normal, relaxing ferris wheel.  This one, you get into a cage and not only does the entire apparatus spin around (like normal), the cages also spin separately - whether you want them to or not. The poor child was screaming, crying and carrying on the entire time! 

I got a video of it, lol, sent it to the parents.  Sorry, but there was no death or injury, we all got a laugh out of it.  The boy laughed this morning at a pic I took of him after he had gotten off the ride - you'd think he'd just gone through a war zone! He got over it after that and went on far less - exciting rides. 

Well, I'm going to continue my "tax research" today.  I know, I need to see an accountant but it's just more money to spend.  Money is a factor here.  Getting down to the nitty gritty.  

 Today.

It is a beautiful day.  The sun is shining, the birds are chirping - the dog is looking at me funny lol.  Probably wants to go for a walk.  I was reading an entire meltdown in a Facebook group from members of a ministry I  was involved with in the 80's. 

People were bashing the founder of that ministry, who is also in that group and tho I suppose on an earthly level, he may deserve it, how long do people have to hold onto their grievances against other people before they just decide to let it go?  The man has apologized repeatedly for his words and actions.  

But, I started thinking of the times I had in that ministry, learning how to drive trucks and hauling food, medical supplies and clothing to the border and taking it across.  Going into Juarez so often with pickup truck loads of stuff to give out to the people living in cardboard shacks that I actually learned that city!  Take a look at Juarez on a map, it's like someone took a large handful of spaghetti noodles, threw it on a big piece of paper and then said "There! That's how to build a city and it's roads!". 

Those were marvelous times, much simpler, much less complicated. Yes, there were extreme hardships, but I wouldn't trade the experiences I had for anything.  We saw God move and do things that only the Lord can do!  I could go into a long list, but I don't really feel like it. Was just musing that particular portion of my past.  

At least I learned a valuable skill that I used for a good portion of my adult life after leaving that ministry. That particular skill I feel I must get back to, it's hard to hold out for this power company to get out there and get this stuff done. I already have the contractor saying he can come next week if I so desire to have the gravel brought over and spread.  

That may be old news, but it's holding me up.  Once I get that gravel in, I want things to move very quickly and get the operation up and running regardless of what stage of completion the project is in. The trails need a bit more attention, but they are good to go. I only really need to dig around some small tree trunk stumps that are jutting up out of the ground and cut them out with a chain saw.  This so people aren't tripping and falling.   The hand rail for the steps - tho that can wait.  This is something that is dependent on James getting done and that is entirely up to him whether he wants to do it or not.  

If not, I can just put in 4x4 wood posts and put 2x4's on top for a hand rail. Not ideal but it will work.  One thing is for certain: I am not working on that today. I have had more than enough of it, the thing has taken up so much time.  I've got a good tan going from being out in the sun working on all of that back there.  I guess I need to have some signs made up - small ones - to direct people which way to go.  I only want them on the main trail, the rest of the trails are off limits.   Well, I don't really care if they go off on the other trails, but if they get lost, that's on them lol.  The area is not that big back there, but it's forested so you can't just see your way out of there.  

No, I'm going over there this morning to take off the electrical panels and see what it will take to run power line to the office building. 

You know what I do every morning I go over there? Hope in high expectation to come down the hill and see the power company trucks out there - probably will be 3 of them - and I am disappointed, every morning.  I have to laugh, I know they probably won't be there, if it's like the last time, they may not be there for another 3 weeks!  Can I afford to be off work that long? Yes.  I can last a few more months, actually, if I just keep my spending tight and just paying normal bills and such.  Actually, even longer than that.

But why press it so close to getting close to nothing in the bank? I can tell ya, that the cost of this project went FAR beyond anything I imagined. Inflation made this project costs go way up.  That SB2 gravel should be around $25 per ton, not $37.  It's close to a nine thousand dollar difference in the end price for all the gravel I need. Electricity, pipe, everything!  

I could sit here and second-guess myself, should I have just waited for a year or longer to see if prices would come back down? No, I tell myself, I shouldn't have. Maybe prices won't come back down, maybe they will. Who knows? Why wait?  The sooner I get this thing up and running, try to get it filled up and keep it that way, the sooner I can show in my books that I am operating at a decent net profit and please, Mr. Banker, loan me more!  

Half million dollar loan, that is the eventual goal.  Pavillion, 30-50 more sites (with all the utility installation that also entails), swimming pool and other things.  Glamping is the future of the industry and I fully intend on getting into that aspect of it at some point, Lord willing of course.  

You have to say Lord willing because the Bible teaches you that.  You have no idea if you'll even be alive the rest of this day, much less tomorrow or the next year or 5 years to come.  Life is grand, make the most of it while you have life in your bones!  I have big goals for this operation and I intend on fulfilling all of them if my health stays good and the Lord allows it and puts His blessing on it!  If there's something I need above all else, it's God's blessings upon this operation.  

Anyway, off to the races! 

G'day

 I installed 12 sets of steps and I am done with that stuff for now.  There is cleanup to do, which I also started on today, but I'm just done with it. Give me a few days off from it.  I can go back refreshed, finish it up  and smile that I did a decent job.  The main walking trail is almost completely cleaned up and ready to go. I would love to sprinkle some grass seed back on some of the more dusty parts, or even put down a thin layer of gravel to just have something to walk over besides the dust.  Or both, actually.  

I could put in a few more sets of steps, but I think it's good to go.  The steep part is covered and that was the situation of concern.  I cut down a lot of junk around it and started piling it up this morning. But, I eventually ended up going to where the boys were working to supervise.  I get that they won't work as hard if someone isn't watching them. Their contribution, however, has been worth the money I spent on having them help me out.  

The rest back there is just trying to get access to campgrounds.  There is more that needs to be done in that arena and that isn't anything those boys can accomplish. It's mostly dozer work and yes, I"d have to have the mulcher man back for half a day.  Or, cut down trees with the chain saw and try to cut out the stumps below ground surface.  I might do that.  I have identified at least 20 trees that need to come down.  

_______________

That was earlier today.  I'm going over there tomorrow and see about running my own electrical wiring to the office building.  There is no power hooked up to that setup so I don't have to risk getting electrocuted, lol.  I got too caught up working on the trails and getting things cleaned up, the front should really be the focus.  I just wanted to have those prized walking trails done or at least done enough that people could walk through them and enjoy the beauty of nature and have that available. 

But I'd like to at least get wiring run to the thing and just put the twist line connectors on the ends and have it available.  I don't see any good reason to pay someone a thousand dollars to do that.  That's easily what they will charge, if not more.  Probably more, the wire has to run a fairly good distance from that meter pedestal.  I'll take the panels off that setup tomorrow and see if it's something I am comfortable with hooking up.  

I haven't done anything with that office because I just don't think I have the money right now to dump into it.  However, if I could put some flooring down in it and just get the basics in, I could at least have a washer/dryer setup going.  Yes I'll have to run sewer and water lines, but that's not really all that hard and the nearest place to hook up to those lines are only like 40 feet away.  I dunno, but beyond electricity, that project is definitely on hold.  Let's get the park up and going, get some revenues in and then we can discuss spending that kind of money on that thing? 

I could also turn that thing in to a mini-house and rent it out for $600 per month, utilities included.  A shower stall, a toilet, a mini-kitchen and a bedroom living room combo.  I could do that for 3 grand worth of materials and get even more income going.  

The contractor didn't waste any time today after texting him informing me that he could be out there next week to do the gravel. I told him I wanted him to come after the power install and that is either this week or next. So I was more thinking the week after next week.  Let's get this thing going, get whatever I can get started and get some income coming in!  Screw all of this uncertainty about taxes and everything else, I'll get it figured out!  I want to get the thing up and running, come what may.

And I figure 2 grand with of gravel will put a fresh coat over the existing driveway all the way up to the entrance to the RV park. The rest of the driveway leading to the back? Yeah, don't care about that, not my problem.  Just 2 inches should do it. It's an existing driveway, it doesn't need a 6 inch coat, 2 inches will suffice.  That's using SB2.  I don't know what iron ore costs, I didn't get a quote on that per ton.  

Well enough. I am just really chomping at the bit to get this power situation finished so I can move on. 

G'day 

 After texting the Swepco Engineer once again today, he finally responded.  As I had guessed, they have sent crews to Florida to help with repairing and reconstructing the power grid in Florida. They still have a construction crew left here, but they would have already had gotten to me if Hurricane Ian hadn't come into play.  

He said they would be here this week or next week at the latest.  

I've got to get the lets leveled, weed free and plant grass seed, rain or no rain. It'll mean spend a lot of time over there watering the lots.  Probably go buy several hoses and at least do several lots at a time versus attempting to do it with one hose and 14 lots.  So, I am going to call the dozer rental place and see if they'll rent me one.

If they won't, I'll get the mini-ex which really did a good job of clearing and leveling with just the blade it has attached to it and use that instead, but I'm going to get it done one way or the other.  Yes, I'll be planting before the rock install. I will ask the contractor to try and mitigate going into the actual lots themselves to keep the ground level and the grass from being destroyed.  

A little bit of it won't bother me, but if they were to just gut everything? Yea that wouldn't go over too well.

I need to find out Taylor's schedule and try to get a machine on a day when she isn't working and doesn't need the boys picked up from the bus stop.  But see the dozer costs only a little more than the mini-ex - tho I don't know how much they will charge for delivery and pickup. It's about 25 miles away, so I'd expect  a few hundred dollars.  It's just that a dozer will make quick work of the entire front portion of the property.  It will level the ground better than the mini-ex - tho I really have no great complaints about the mini.

Anyway, the boys are over there - the boys that have been over there - today sans the mom.  I told them what I want done, not what she wants done and they got to it.  They have raked up most of the main walking trail and it's looking very nice.  I am going to end having them out there after today, I might have them back in the future if they want to work again, but I can't afford to keep having them over.

Whatever's left I'll have to do myself.  I did get the stone pavers today and went through the pain of getting them to the bridge (it's quite the ordeal to get anything back there that needs a trailer with the 4-wheeler in the shop). I didn't do any work on steps today, once I figure out when I'm doing the dozer or mini, I can work on that and try to get that finished.  James is going to go out and measure for installing hand rails.  

I don't know what that will cost, the pavers only cost $57, enough for 15, 2-foot wide steps.  I'm not making them huge, just enough for one person at a time right now.  I want to get that stuff over with, it's really taken up quite a lot more time than I ever expected.  If I decide I want to widen them in the future, so be it. 

This is where we're at.  I need to finish up the doggy park - I am waiting until I get another machine and do a bit more leveling work there.  That's 2 days of work at most, I figure 2 days of work at most on the stairs, I already spent half a day working on them and then a day for the dozer.  

In other words, I should easily have all of that done before the power gets hooked up.  I'm going to try to coordinate with the contractor about the gravel install. I want to get this stuff done pretty soon, I need to get back to work - unfortunately. I need to take out a loan and pay all of my credit cards down to zero, get my score back up and ready for yet another loan application.  

I'm going to try, at least, to get a large loan not terribly long after I get this park up and running.  Add 30 or so more spaces and more amenities.  

Oh, I also have more trees to cut down in the rear along the driveway that was built. I hate to do it but they are in the way, I'm afraid people will run into them if/when I get the tent camping spots going.  z

There's lots to do!  I've been warned by numerous professionals to not get Quickbooks. They will fee you up the rear end and you aren't getting that much in return. I'm glad I'm in those groups,  I glean a lot of info from those people - they have parks running and many of them have been in the business for decades.  I asked what they suggest to use - but I forgot about that and need to go back and take a look and see what kinds of replies they have given.  

I don't know what this last sickness I had did to me, but I still have this funny taste in my mouth and my head doesn't always feel - right.  I've been affected by that illness since long after I "recovered" from it, but full recovery? Never really happened.  I've read that Covid can have life-long after effects.  

Whatever.  I have stuff to do, I just do it at whatever pace my body will allow for.  The boys left at noon, I am informed, I left the property earlier to get other stuff done.  I'm going to head back over and see what they finished and what's left to do.  For now, I just want the walking trails cleared and one campground cleaned up.  I don't know if campgrounds will be popular and I don't want to spend a lot of time and money on them until I find out what the demand for it is.  If they take off, I have 6 more spots that need - not too much more work really - and they can also be rented for camping.  I'm informed the going rate is $25 per night, that's what I'm going to ask.  Put in a fire pit, a picnic table and see what happens.  

Ugh. Picnic tables!  That's another $1,500 worth I need, gag.  But it's necessary, almost all RV parks provide them at every RV and camp site.  I can't skimp on the things that are vital to the appeal for people to come to my place.  The only caveat is if I get long term renters, a lot of amenities won't necessarily be needed.  A doggy park is more for overnighters.  Walking trails are for anyone, really.

The pull-through spots will be reserved for overnighters and short stays, that's what they are designed for. 

Actually, those picnic tables are probably much more expensive now.  Everything has gone through the roof in price.  A bottle of Cholula hot sauce today at Kroger's?  $7.49!  A large bottle of ranch dressing? Over $10!!! Unbelievable!  I'm almost afraid to see how much those picnic tables cost now, lol.

G'day

 Sunday, morning.

Got up a few minutes ago and amazingly, everyone is still asleep.  It's after 9:00 am lol. They did go and watch a movie with their crowd of friends they normally play cards with last night, tho.  I was invited but I didn't feel like doing anything but staying home, watch a movie and go to bed.  

My fatness has grown to the point where I can no longer stand  it. I will be starting some version of Keto up again this week.  221 pounds needs to go down by at least 30 pounds.  I've been doing intermittent fasting but it's not enough by itself. 

I'm also getting a bit antsy about getting back to work. Meaning, I feel like I need to get a job and get some money flowing back in.  It may be a bit irrational fear considering I still have plenty of money in the bank, but with the prospect of 28 grand worth of gravel, that money will be more than cut in half.  

I'd like to stay in the tanker business since it's relatively easy work and usually pays a lot more.  But, I'll take whatever pays well, at least 70k per year.  I won't go below that, you're really cheating yourself if you're not holding out for the best paying jobs.  I'd start looking now, but if I find something? They always want you to start immediately. Or, they put you down for an orientation and that is usually within 2 to 3 weeks (at most).  

Although I don't really want to do it, flatbed work is the best for staying fit and in shape.  I've been wearing heavy work boots at the property to get used to having them on all day long in case I end up getting a job where that is required.  Whatever the case, my goal will be to find local work, home every day/night and not spend endless time out on the road.  That is what was getting old about the last job. 

The trucking industry in general was really irritating me tho, not just the job I had.  I'm not missing it, at all.  

I'm not sure about how I feel today. Feel as in work. I'd like to go to Lowe's get the pavers and get them - somehow - to the back of the property where they're needed and then continue on with that work.  It's because I don't have the 4 wheeler.  I could possibly get them on the big trailer, transfer them to the small trailer and attempt to try to back it in a few hundred feet to where the bridge is.  No way can I drive straight in, I'll just get stuck with no way out back there.  Well, there would be a way out by unloading the trailer, unhooking it from the SUV turning it around by hand, etc, no thanks.  I've got about 8 steps left to cut out and then get them nice and level, pack them in and put gravel around them.  Fortunately, I have plenty of gravel back there! lol

Who knows, but this is the end of this one. 

G'day

 Well I didn't get much done today.  Went to Lowe's got the signs and string to put the signs up and looked at stone pavers for the steps.  Those pavers are still cheap, actually, compared to everything else on the planet anyway. I wasn't going to go that route because I assumed the prices of those things would have gone up astronomically just like everything else.

For example, a 25-pound bag of rye (winter) grass for $40?  Goodness gracious!  If the price is like that everywhere, that'll grind my ambitions of planting grass on all of that acreage to a complete and total halt.  Spread it very thing and hope it takes?  I can do it for the lots, that's all I can say. The rest of it? I doubt it. Rye grass isn't permanent, it's just winter grass that burns out and disappears after the heat of summer starts settling in. 

Then your summer grass comes back to life. Well, there is no summer grass. I take that back, there are pockets of area where there is natural grass growing.  Oh how I wish that grass could cover the entire land!  I doubt this setback will stop me from doing the dozer work. It will rid ground of weeds and more importantly, level the ground. At least it will be able to be bush-hogged if nothing else.  

These are things I have no answers for.  Bush hogging? How, with what money?  Thousands of dollars worth of grass seed?  Yeah, I guess, but I'd only spend that on SUMMER grass; not on temporary winter grass. I can see buying maybe 10 bags of it for the lots and the doggy park. The rest - will have nothing I guess and it is what it is.  Or maybe, just covered the entire area from east to west side where the lots are and maybe 20-30 feet beyond it and call it good.  I ain't doing 7 acres for that much money, no thanks. 

Anything to do with the office is completely on hold as well.  If there are funds available when everything is else done, then great.  I will have to have electricity run to it, but that's it.  I may see about running it myself before they hook up power to those meters.  The septic company hooked a small, underground wire up to it for the septic system, doesn't seem to be any reason why I couldn't run a line to the office as well.  I'm just looking for power to run wifi equipment and that's it for now.  

I had totally forgotten about that until I started thinking about this post and what is on hold and what is priority.  Even doing it myself, it will costs thousands of dollars to put in flooring, drywall, plumbing, etc in that office.  I just can't justify that at the moment.  It can be a storage building for now.  I'd really like to put in a washer and dryer.  A grand or more for a set and then have to run sewer and water to the setup plus 220 volt. RV's don't run on 220 volt so I don't even know if that's available out of those meters? I haven't opened up the panels and taken a look at it yet.  

Far greater priorities, beyond the gravel and electricity? The books!  Accounting, legaleze, setting up online registration. I've selected a host for that, the website guru can add it to the website.  

Well whatever.  I don't call this day a total wash, I got some stuff done I just was out of it. There are nights where I don't sleep well and I feel it the next day.  If I was still driving, I'd just go and drive through it. Now? I force myself out of bed and get out and do stuff and then, come home and take a nap.  

Enough.

 I basically fired the lady yesterday.  Not a decision I would make lightly, but I'm tired of people taking advantage of other people.  First off, they broke one of the chainsaws. I showed them how to tighten the chain before they ever used it and also to keep the bar oil reservoir full - meaning check it rather frequently.

On most chainsaws, to tighten the chain, you loosen 2 large nuts and then you turn a small screw which moved the bar forward or backward, depending on what you are doing (you'll move it backward in order to put a new chain on it).  

Well, they ignored that tutorial and tried to adjust the chain without loosening the screws, which in turn stripped the adjustment screw. That chainsaw is out of commission . I have 2 others, fortunately and they are both running.  Had to put a new bar and chain on one of them, but I already had that from a previous purchase.

Anyway, the second thing they did was sit around a fire I had made and burning wood.  I didn't ask them to do that and more importantly, I didn't want them to do that. A huge waste of time, I can burn the wood myself over time and get rid of it.  When I saw what they were doing, I asked them to please stop doing that and start cleaning the debris off of the trails.  

4 hours later, they were still in that area. It's one of the areas I have designated as a campground, but it isn't any kind of priority at all. Getting the walking trails cleared IS.  So I asked again, please pick up the sticks and just throw them off the side of the trail. These are small twigs but they need to be moved and any large branches and also the vines.  In fact, the only one that actually followed my directions was the 17 year old, who spent the entire time until he had to leave for homeschooling at noon.

The biggest issue I had with her, however, was the fact that I came up on her around 7 times spread out throughout the day, sitting on her @$$ doing nothing.  Other times, I came up on her just standing there watching the boys working while she was doing - nothing.  

The final straw was when she asked for 8 hours of pay for each person - when they had left the property and taken the 17 year old home and were gone quite a while. They didn't know I did this because I hid my vehicle in the woods on the other side to see if they were going to be honest or not? No, is the answer.  So, I texted her, you can stop now at 4 pm.  That's all I said in that text, then she apologized for not doing what I had asked them to do, which is when I sent a text outlining all of the facts I wrote above.  I won't be needing you back, thank you.

Yup, she showed up at my house wanting full pay for all hours and I was disgusted, but I said nothing to her, just paid her and said bye bye.  She pleaded with me to still have the boys work over there on Monday.  I thought about it and said, ok.  SHE was the problem, the boys were actually working and getting stuff done.  But, I'm not paying someone to stand around and supervise and she knew this fact quite clearly.  I'll try Monday to get these boys on MY page, not HERS.  The 17 year old listened to me yesterday anyway, he was doing exactly what I wanted done, which was clearing out the tree debris from the sides of the trails and hauling them to a burn pile.  

The other one, was spending more time with her mother - tho, he was working at least, but he was cutting stuff up to put on the fire.  Again, I just need a large pile made, I can burn the stuff over time, this is not something I want to pay for. 

If I can get them to finish the main trails on Monday, I'll be done with them and I can possibly have them back at a future date when I'll want more stuff done that really can only be done by hand.

But, I got so disgusted yesterday at the property watching this lady doing nothing that I just threw my hands up in the air and determined I would end up having to do all of that work by myself.  Hiring people off of Faceboook and Nextdoor and such is basically a waste of time, people don't want to work anymore as most of us know watching the news. It's just very hard work and after several hours of it, I'm done. I have to take a break from it - a long break - and get my energy back.  

I never said it was easy work.

Regardless, I started cutting out ledges to install stairs at the bridge yesterday. I got 6 of those done before quitting. I'll need about 8 or 9 more of them. It's painstaking work because the ground is full of roots both large and small.  Some roots are so large that only a chainsaw can cut them out of there. But, using a chainsaw in the dirt ruins the cutting edges on the chain rather quickly.  I'm going back today, it's kind of late in the morning but I was sitting here watching videos of various different materials being used to build stairs.  I was going to use the left over wood from the bridge, but it really doesn't sit in place very well. 

I guess I could drill holes in them and put 12 inch stake nails through them to hold them in place.  I dunno, I'm going to look at pricing on stones and pavers and see what the cost is.  I would just use rocks from the property - but there are very few rocks in the region. You dig into the ground, you aren't digging into rock. It's regular soil and then clay. I just didn't want to spend any more money on this stuff, it's getting expensive and I have other things I need to be doing.  

I contacted the power engineer again yesterday asking for an update.  He finally texted back and said he would ask the construction crew department. He never texted after that.  We're at the 4 week mark he said it would take to get them out there. I know, the last time it was closer to 2 months before they came out. I'm just going by his assessment when he first came out to propose a route for the power lines and inform me that that will necessarily give them a 30 foot wide easement.  Yes, I knew that, I don't have the money to pay for underground wiring from the pole to 450 back, that would cost a small fortune and I"m counting my pennies. 

I'm trying to hold out on going back to work as long as I can so I can get this stuff done and over with - AND - get the park up and running. I want to be free to address any beginning issues that may arise.  I'm sure there will be some, I just don't know at the moment what kind of issues I might face.  I do believe I should get some fittings to replace broken water lines.  This is a problem other park owners say they run into with people running them over or otherwise breaking them and that it's wise to have such parts available at the property.\

I don't know who or why, but a tractor trailer rig drove right over the new driveway yesterday. I didn't see the truck, but the tracks it left behind are unmistakably a large truck.  They drove it right over the top of my new pipes, part of each are sitting level with the top of the ground.  It was necessary because otherwise, going too deep, the water would just sit in the pipes and stagnate.  There will be a 6 inch deep layer of gravel over the top so I'm not worried about damage. But whoever this person was?  I would have loved to catch them because I would have trespassed them from the property.  I really need video surveillance out there.  No power - no surveillance.  

Kind of pissed me off, but it doesn't appear the pipes were damaged.  I hope not, that was 2 grand worth of pipe. I'm getting cones today to sort of barricade the entrance off on both ends.  Just 2 cones and signs - no entry, authorized personnel only.  Or whatever the store has.  I can't be having people driving heavy equipment over that driveway, end of story.  Sooner or later, enough times of heavy trucks and it will break that pipe.  

Well, off to the races. Put in inquiries on dozer rental and waiting to hear back.  Nothing local, they don't rent them to people who aren't contractors around here.  It will cost a small fortune for the delivery since the nearest places are 30 miles away.  I have little choice, I need one if I can get one, I really don't want to have to use a bobcat to do all of that work. I dozer will do the work 4 times faster and with better results.  

G'day.  

 At 48 degrees this morning, we can safely say that Fall is definitely here.  Temps still getting up into the 80's, pretty much the way I like it, actually.  

Still waiting to hear back from the power company. I've been trying to contact the engineer for an update on when they will come and install the poles and lines.  It dawned on me that they may likely be sending crews over to Florida.  With millions of people out of power, it is very likely that other states will be sending personnel to help with getting it restored. I've seen it in Texas where crews from states far away come in caravans.  The icing event 2 years ago was one of those situations where you saw all kinds of different companies showing up that were from other states.

So, if that's the case, I will patiently wait until they get that situation handled.  But, I don't really know and I'd like at least an answer.  

Meanwhile, I'm having the people come back today and continue working on clearing the trails.  I will be out there as well, lighting up 2 separate burn piles and feeding it with the wood they will be bringing in.  That stuff needs to go and frankly, all of those woods chips from the mulcher man operation need to go as well.

That stuff lights up like dried out pine cones with a match put next to it.  I want to get a steel rake out there and have them clear out the intended camping sites of all of that stuff. I was just going to leave it but the flammability of it told me otherwise.  I will also be assessing the bridge area and installing a set of stairs. 

I was hemming and hawing about that one but that hill is just too steep. People will slip, fall and slap lawsuits.  I was watching several YouTube videos on it, looks like a pretty simple affair to cut out the stairs and lay some flat rock on it.  

Yeah, there aren't any flat rocks around.  In fact, there are hardly any rocks in this region, I was just noticing yesterday.  You know, just use whatever is around to build natural style steps? I saw a few videos where they were using logs, but they look tacky and they also don't look very safe.  Likely go to Lowe's buy the cheapest stuff they have that's flat and be done with it.  

BTW. I didn't say this would be easy work!  This whole "hey, let's figure out a way to cross the creek" affair has become a nuisance.  A bridge, a truckload of gravel, a machine to bring the gravel and now this? And then a handrail after that? Gag.  I wanted walking trails, lol.  I'm neck deep into it now, no turning back on it.  

But now? I don't have the 4 wheeler to move my equipment around back there. Fortunately, I haven't moved a lot of that stuff from the bridge area. Something told me that I would have further use for all of it.  I can tell ya now, if this 4 wheeler situation doesn't improve, I'm going to get that Jeep over there, put a new battery in it and use that instead.  

Anyway.....Dozer, I think next week.  I'm just going to get it over with and done.  I would this week, but it's Friday and I don't want a whole weekend worth of rental. Too much money.  Try to get the stuff done in one day.  I'm going to have to go back to work here sooner or later, this dozer work needs to get done and over with.  

Well, that is if I can find a place that will rent one. I think I found one, but who knows?  I don't want to pay someone to bring and operate one, they'll add thousands of dollars to the bill for that.  It doesn't need to be a professional job, at all.  There is nothing to run into, for the most part excepting if I use it to level out the areas next to the pads, then there are pedestals and water and sewer outlets.  There is  a place two towns over that will rent me a bobcat.

I can't use the local place bobcat because for whatever reason, they don't want their bobcat to clear land.  Note, they didn't say that about the mini-excavator.  I only say that because I used it to clear the doggy park area.  Just some weeds, tho, no trees. I think it's the trees they don't want people tearing up their equipment with.  A bobcat could clear out the land but it wouldn't level it like a dozer will. 

Guess I better get outta here. Those people are showing up soon and I intend on supervising the operation today.  Beyond supervision is working while I'm doing it, I intend on getting some stuff cranked out, over and done with.  I don't want to have to have these people coming back too many times, the bill after a day's work is a bit up there.  Worth it, yes. They aren't lazy and they aren't playing on cell phones all day long.  

I'll take the pick and see how hard it's going to be to dig out those steps!

G'day. 

 Yesterday just one of those days. The chainsaw tensioner was broken - there is no way that just "happened", those people must have done something to it.  Not intentionally, I'm sure, but that chainsaw is out of use at the moment. 

The 4 wheeler issues started 2 days ago, that is also out of commission. I have more chainsaws, I do not have another 4 wheeler and right now? I don't want to buy one. Even old, used ones are double the price they were late last year.  The market in this area for anything with a motor and wheels is outrageous and off the charts.  

You see 20 plus year old trucks going for 30, 40 and 50 grand.  ATV's are also off the chart.  Something that might have cost $1,500 last year is in the high 2's or 3 range now.  I tried to fix the thing but I couldn't get the fan to come back on.  So, I took both of them to the local shop and he told me 2 week turnaround time.

2 WEEKS?!! I replied, probably choking a bit.  I can live without the chainsaw since I have others, I can't deal with the idea of not having a 4 wheeler to get me all over the place in a few minutes versus a lot of time spent walking.  I don't mind walking, it's just the time spent going from point A to point B to point C and back to point A and then back out to the front -etc etc etc. It's a true time saver and it also pulls the small trailer all over the place. 

It's an indispensable piece of equipment that I must have running, is the point of saying all of that.  The shop owner looked at me and said, well, do you need something fixed faster?  Yes, the 4 wheeler. I'm trying to get a business going and I must have it.  I can put it on rush, saying that without saying whether there is an extra charge for it, but it's whatever, I need it and I said yes.  

Shortly before I lost my job, I had purchased a new chainsaw in addition to the one I already have from Harbor Freight.  I also have another one out there that I might be able to get running as a back up.  

I sent the people home yesterday after all of this and they said please call us when you are ready to have us back. These are the people that are cutting the trees and dragging the stuff by hand to designated burn piles or areas to stack the stuff up.  The 4 wheeler was down but they were gleefully hauling the stuff everywhere without it.  They truly got a lot done and I was happy to have them, but at the time, I thought the other chain saw was also not running properly. 

They said it was.  I am going out there this morning to fire it up and see if that's true.  If so, I can survey the work they've done and identify further areas that need more junk hauled to burn piles.  I want to make sure and keep them busy. It's an ex-military mother with her 2 sons. One of them is 17 so he works half a day and then goes home and does home schooling, the other in his 20's, excellent health, big beefy guy with lots of energy and mama keeps him busy.  

I could hear them laughing and giggling with each other while they were working yesterday, it really was interesting to hear the amazing chemistry this son and mom have together.  I did, however, get into business mind and tell them from the get-go that I expect productivity.  I did not supervise them, I didn't have the time for it.  I was busy finishing up the front with the Bobcat, taking the 4 wheeler and chainsaw to the shop and other things I needed to get done. 

Also making sure the burn pile I had lit up wasn't spreading anywhere.  

Business mind - that's something I'm trying to get. When it comes down to where the rubber meets the road, it's all about the dollars spent versus the money generated. I just want the walking trails finished and over with and there is still a bit to do with that bridge setup. They were telling me yesterday that if it rains, it's going to be pretty slick going up that hill on one side of the bridge. Yup, I am going to have hand rails installed.  Well, I'm going to install them, I'm just saying there is going to be something to hold on to. They were suggesting building steps, something I have considered and just haven't gotten myself to quite get to yet. 

It will be a lot of work digging out steps going up that hill. Yet, for safety's sake, it's probably warranted.  I don't want people falling and suing me because I had an unsafe condition that I should have taken care of.  Yes, it's an LLC which shields me personally from liability, but that whole property could just go away to someone else's hands in such a situation.  I'm very conscious of liability and needing to have everything I can have in place to mitigate it.  Safety is key, so is good insurance and legaleze on a registration form.  I may have online registration, but I want one of those things where you can't register until you click on the dot that says I agree with above stated restrictions/rules/regulations, etc.  

I need to get working on that.  I'm curious if I can just find something online with all of that, perhaps online lawyers to reduce the cost of having one made up.  I'll be searching that out soon.  

The news of the day is Florida and the devastating hurricane, of course and I've had trouble ungluing myself from ongoing TV coverage of it.  But, I need to get out there and get some more stuff done.  And contemplate the renting of a dozer.  Take a walk around the entire property and mentally note - once again - where I have the issues that need the dozer work. Most of it is out front, but there are areas in the trails and campgrounds that need minor work as well.  

I have to have everything I want done in my mind or even written down before I'm going to spend the money it's going to take to rent a bulldozer.  And I'm still undecided whether to do it now or wait until rain is forecast so I can get it done, put out grass seed and get some grass growing.  Yes, I could get it done and just be ready, but what if weeds start growing again? All that work and expense wasted.  Maybe it isn't the time of year for weeds to be growing, since we just hit Fall? 

I dunno.  It's a tough decision for me. I'm not made out of money.  I know I was discussing a refi-cashout on the property yesterday, but that's after everything is done and the business is up and running.  You don't get an appraisal before hand.  It's a grand, basically, maybe a little less but thereabouts, to have a dozer delivered to the property.  I can't haul a dozer, they weight 30,000 pounds for a light one, lol.  

Well it's time to get out of here. The situation in Florida isn't going to change much, flooding, destroyed homes and business, downed power lines, the things you expect to see happening in a major hurricane event.  My heart goes out to all of those people, even the ones that ignored evacuation orders and stayed in their homes - and then had to put rescue crews lives' at stake because they ended up calling for extraction.  I don't understand that, well maybe I do a little, but when they tell you that storm surge is going to flood your home, you should probably get out of there at least for a few days and see what happens. I don't want to sound heartless, I just don't really get these people making decisions like this. 

I think I'll take Addler today. I usually don't take him when I'm working out there, I can't keep an eye on him and get anything done. But today? I'm going to take notes of what is left on the table for needed done.  Get a sense of the magnitude of everything left to do and try to work a plan on finishing it all, step-by-step.

G'day. 

 Didn't sleep worth a nickle last night, but had to get up early to finish out the job this morning. 

Yesterday, the entire day was spent moving dirt from the pile up front to the various places the dirt was needed out back.  Specifically: the bridge, the drop-off and another drop-off right where I park my vehicle whenever I'm over there and working in the back.  

The 2 drop-offs are the intended driveway to the rear of the property. The drop-off that I have been referring to for a while now? Took a lot of dirt and then a lot of gravel to get it to where I could trust it to drive my SUV over it.  If I can do that, certainly any pickup can make it over it as well.

No, I haven't tried yet.  I want to drive over it with the 4 wheeler for a while and get it compacted in there nicely.  I can't be driving in there and find out I can't make it back out.

Anyway, about 7 hours into it and I was done for the day.  I still had the drainage pipe at the front to deal with.  ON that, specifically, filling it back in with top soil and compacting it back in.  That took longer than I expected it would.  I was pushing the time limit for 24 hours by the time I finally got the machine loaded back on the trailer, went to the fueling station and filled it back up with diesel and then got it back to their yard.

I was fretting taking it back. There is a pretty good dent on the rear door that I hadn't noticed before I left their yard with it.  The fretting is having to pay a solid amount of money to replace that door.  I had backed into a tree, but not very hard. That door is solid, thick metal.  It was a curiosity to me, but I just came to the conclusion that I would have to face whatever music they would give and pay for it.

However, when I got there and told them about the door, the yard dude said: "Well, it's not that bad, it's ok but I'll has him". Him being the guy that manages the place.  He came out, looked at it, thought for a minute and said: "I don't think you did that" in a deep, Texas drawl, lol.  Oh? Yeah, I have a door on an old machine I am already going to replace it with.  

Sighs great relief and saying to myself: "Self, you best be checking out the whole machine next time you rent one and note any damage, take pics for that matter".  It's probably not the biggest deal ever, the machine is old and has dents and damage all over it.  Works perfectly fine, but definitely has been through the wringer.  

I have a crew of people out there clearing the trails right now.  I'm not supervising them at the moment because I am extremely tired and decided to go home and try to take a nap for a while and then go out and watch them - probably help as well.  The outside temps have come way down and even yesterday afternoon, I wasn't burning up in that machine.  It was a bit warm, but not hellish hot.  Makes a big difference.

No power company out there, yet.  If they don't show up this week, I'm calling the engineer and asking for an update on when they are arriving.  

I still have lots of cleanup work to do on the lots and I really want a dozer for that.  I'm not sure about the affordability of getting one, but I would have all that done in a day plus clearing weeds and leveling the ground plus, hopefully, doing some work in the back on the trails.  There is still a driveway I need to plow and a dozer would be the perfect machine for it.  It may be that I'll have to rent one for two days.  

But that's not now.  Now, I need to get a bit of rest and get out there and see what these people are accomplishing.  They just called and asked where to put branches for the burn pile? The burn pile is apparently large now.  I said just put them off to the side, I'll be out "soon" and light that pile on fire and start burning it up.

Note that it is an ex military lady and her 2 sons.  The sons are black kids - very muscular and obviously in very good shape.  I don't know what their work ethic is, but with mama there, it shouldn't be a problem keeping them working.  I noted to her yesterday that "some kids like to play on their phones" instead of working.  Yeah, she said, hence my boys phones do not have cell service, they can only use them with wifi.

There's a tough mama! lol.  I'm not racist, btw, noting their race, just  noting that they were quite muscular - 17 and 25 year old.  Not fact, gooey kids that you wouldn't expect to get much out of.  They were also very respectful.  I like that, I encounter lots of kids nowadays that have no respect for adults or authority.  

Anyway.  The sign is finally being made.  They found a "different supplier" for the shade of green they wanted to use. These people are self-described very picky about the materials they use.  As I said in a past post here, they claim that some of their signs have lasted over 20 years.  Yeah, I don't want a half-@$$ed job, number 1 and number 2, I don't want to have to be replacing a sign 2 years down the road.  So I'm hopeful that they will produce the quality they claim they will.  

I never heard back from the internet engineer. Not a priority atm.  Getting that done would mean incurring another monthly bill which I don't need right now.  I'll get back with them when I have a clearer idea when the park is actually going to open.

People are calling, btw, about the park.  Do you have a space available?  Twice yesterday and once the day before.  Google search puts my park in the map listing you see when you are looking for something and it shows all the available places in that town or area you are looking at.  I haven't checked where it is in the page rankings lately.  

My price is going to be $400 per month plus a flat fee for electricity.  It will be listed as $525 per month includes all utilities/electric (yes, I know electricity is a utility but some people don't, lol).  That sound high? Well, I'm in this for a profit.  My park will be unique in that it's over 450 feet from the nearest road.  It's in a beautiful area and it has those lovely walking trails.  I'm more about overnighters but have come to the conclusion that there is more of a demand for long term.  

The long term stays will be in the back in pads only.  I will attempt to reserve the pull throughs for short stays only. That's what they're for. Pull in, stay a night or however many  nights and pull straight back out. Especially appealing to those pulling cars or trucks, they don't have to unhook them to pull in.  There was no extra cost to making pull throughs, btw, excepting I made the pads 5 feet longer to accommodate longer rigs pulling either cars or even 20 foot utility trailers. I've seen them all over the place in my travels. 

Well, the day isn't getting any younger and I really need my nap.

G'day

 Woke up in a funk this morning, but forced myself out of bed anyway.  

Got over there, got to work leveling the drainage pipe. As with everything else, much more work than expected.  All by hand, the machine was only for one, 24-hour rental.  

I have one drain pipe at the end I can't install until I get another machine out here. That's because those pipes won't go into the bell end of the other pipe without being forced in there.  It's nothing unusual, I have been at countless job sites and track-hoes are always used to push one pipe into the bell end of another.  

I'm not sure when I'll get that machine.  

Tomorrow, a "military girl" is coming over to help start cleaning up the trail ways. She claims to be able to use a chain saw, we'll see.  I have other stuff to do, I don't want a supervisory job, but I'll have to in the beginning to make sure she understands what I want done.  Pretty simple concept: pull the felled trees out of the sides of the trails, cut them into moveable pieces, load onto the trailer, move trailer to burn pile, unload, lather-rinse-repeat.

I wasn't saying it would be easy work.  It's why I was hoping to get some high schoolers out there full of energy, but apparently none of those are interested in working this kind of job.  I wonder if there is a board for high schoolers to access for local jobs? I'll have to look. This isn't work that any machinery can do, it's all stuff buried in the sides of the trails that needs pulled out.  

Anyway, I may be able to get the Bobcat tomorrow after I get this person oriented to what I want done.  

The power company "should" be out this week. The engineer said 4 weeks, maybe 3. It's the 4th week.  

Installation of power lines will greatly increase my motivation to get everything else done.  I'm motivated, yes, but it's hard work and I can only do so much before I have to stop and take breaks or even quit for the day.  Makes me feel old.  

Oh well, not going to fret over getting older and I really haven't been the same since I got this last case of Covid.  I dunno what happened, but I had a lot more energy before I got hit with it.  Will my energy ever come back like it was? No clue.  

My search for tax rate I have to pay info got me nothing but advice on how to do it, not what percentage to charge or end up paying.  There is a form to fill out to sign up, I guess, for such payments to the state.  Perhaps that's where you learn what to charge? I guess I'm going to be forced to see an accountant. I wanted to save the money, but this isn't something I want to fool around with. The government wants it's money and it will do whatever it has to to get it from you.  

I have too many questions that I want an expert to answer for me.  Taxes and insurance, gag.  The rest is pretty predicable. Average $125 per month for electric, $30 for water and probably a couple hundred for wifi per month. 

Well, tomorrow is sealed. Taylor is going to be home in time to get the boys from school tomorrow, I can plan on being out at the property all day long with a machine. The rental place is holding a machine for me. Shouldn't take more than half an hour to get the person oriented to what I need her to do.  

With that, I'm ending this one.  I ended up going home after the trench work, just had nothing left in me.  Ribs in the oven slow cooking, make some home made mashed potatoes and french green beans for dinner. 

G'day

 Saturday, morning.

Received a text at 8:33 am: is James awake? Taylor asking about James. 

I dunno. Got up, went out the bedroom door, no-one is awake. I instantly knew what this was about: the 7 year old was supposed to be at a location to sign up for soccer clinics, sign-ups starting at 8:30 am.  

To save the household from a weekend of a 7 year old pouting and crying because he missed the sign-ups (yesterday he proclaimed playing soccer "is my dream")l, I woke James up.  A flurry of activity and they were out the door in a about 10 minutes time. Not bad, really.  

I decided to get with it and get the last stick of drainage pipe over there and also loaded up 4, 14-foot sticks of sewer pipe I have laying in the back yard.  

Whereas the RV section of the park could have 40-50k pound vehicles driving over the drainage pipes, the drop-off in the back will have at most a pickup truck worth of weight driving over drain pipes and the pipes will be deep under the ground.  No worries about them caving in, the pipe being free, I am using that old stuff to use for when it rains and you can clearly see water runs along the bottom of the drop off.  

I have my rates pretty much set.  $525 monthly rate which includes utilities;  $40 nightly rate for large lots and $35 for smaller lots and 10% off nightly rates for weekly rates.   These rates designed with everything else in the area.  

I'm not really sure what anyone charges for monthly rates, tbh, but I have to make a profit and electric usage is estimated around $100 per month annually.  There are large variables, of course. Giant rigs with 2 or even 3 air conditioning units will use much more electricity than much smaller rigs, but if you're going to live there, you're going to pay.  It really makes me second guess myself of why I didn't have power pedestals equipped with meters.  A lot of people say no, you don't need them, but if you're doing long term stays, then you really do.  

What I really have no idea about is what I'm going to get coming in there?  It's going to be advertised, yes, the advertisement is going to be nightly, weekly and long term stays.  

Anyway, it's the weekend and I am worn out from working in the hot sun, high temperatures and high humidity. I'm not doing any work out there today or tomorrow. The temps are supposed to drop considerably on Monday.  I have to see if I can find info on taxes and who to pay them to at what rate.  I'm not a tax dodger and I don't need the IRS coming after me.  I don't know if I have to pay federal tax on business revenues.  I do believe I have to "pay myself" out of the business account and deduct federal income tax accordingly (Texas has no state income tax).  Well, saying that I"m going to spend today and tomorrow doing research.  I'd like to cut my expenses if possible.  

Bookkeeping isn't my forte, but there's a YouTube video for everything, right? lol.  My list of known expenses beyond taxes will be electricity, water, wifi, lawn maintenance.  I can't find any info on how much a small park pays out in expenses every month, so I'm going to guesstimate and - probably be off but maybe close?  I'm guessing around 3 grand.  I'm guessing insurance around $500 per month, that's from reading other park owners, but they have much larger parks and I'm hoping the price will be lower than that. Whatever it is, it isn't something I will be going without.  

The last thing I need is someone suing me and then losing the park and property altogether because I didn't have insurance to cover everything.  Maybe a subscription to one of those legal operations would be in my best interest as well.  

I have so much work to do....I was walking around the trails today. There is so much wood to be cleaned up.  And some of the trails are powdery dirt, I'd really like some grass  in those areas.  Amazingly, there is natural grass growing near the back of the property where there was just trees before.  I didn't spread grass seed back there, lol, I have no clue how it got there. 

I have also determined how to get a road back to the "group campground", I'll need a dozer for that.  There is a lot of dozer work that needs to be done in the front and rear of the property.  I don't think one day rental of one will be enough.  There are mounds of dirt that have been there a long time when they made the easement passage on the west side.  They pushed the dirt well down the hill. I only need flatten those out and use the extra dirt for the drop off there to create a nice road back to the group campground. 

This group campground - if I can ever get it ready - will be heavily promoted locally.  There is enough space for probably  7 tents plus a large fire ring and a couple of picnic tables.  Promotion will simply be on local Facebook pages, nothing I will be spending money on. But there is one local group where, if I place an ad on there, it will spread around the region like wild fire. It's the local gathering spot for everyone looking for whatever they are looking for. Everyone is on there including the local Chamber of Commerce.  I'll gladly have port-a-potties brought in if I can get groups to come in. Boy Scouts, businesses wanting outings, just large groups of friends? Who knows.  

And there is another large area - which is flat, level ground - on the other side that I really would like to have for large groups.  It's all dozer work getting roads in there, I don't think I need the mulcher man back out for that.  

So, this coming week? I'm going to try to get another person out there with me that said he'd work every day for X amount per hour (not high rates, let me tell ya, but if he really works I'll give him a bonus to keep coming back).  I just have been putting off a lot of trail work with removing wood because of the high heat factor, I get worn out after only 3 or 4 hours and I'm toast.  Monday's high is 85 and low is 57!  This is the kind of outdoor temperatures where I can work and not get work out so quickly!  

Tedious work, the small trees have to be dragged out of the side pockets along the trails where the machine pushed them into, cut up into smaller pieces and hauled to a burn pile.  It's pretty unsightly and I can't imagine just leaving that stuff there.  Woods don't have to be "clean" per se, but all of that debris has to go.  And it's going to take a while.  

Gag, which reminds me, one of the chainsaws needs the idle screw set to idle higher. The thing won't idle. Runs perfect if you hold the trigger in a bit, nothing wrong but the idle setting.  Just have to take a bunch of stuff off to get at it, I could have brought that home with me to tinker with today.  The other chainsaw needs a new chain- I have the chain just need to install it. Maybe I'll go back over there today and get them and bring them home.  

Oh, and I am wondering if James will finish welding together my ramps.  I got the materials for it a long time ago, but he only has one ramp completed. The rental company only charges $30 for the trailer rental, yes, but I'm counting my pennies atm and every little bit helps.  

Enough for this entry. Time to get busy with research.

G'day

 Legit could use that mini-excavator - their name for it, I just call it a track hoe - for a few weeks and get everything done.  Okay, a couple of days anyway. 

2 days ago, I went to the rental place and got that machine. Spent the afternoon in the blazing sun and heat digging trenches.  But I noticed the efficiency of the thing dragging the blade along the dirt and pulling up weeds.  

So, yesterday, before attempting to complete the trenching project, I went ahead and dragged the entire doggy park, a pic of it on Facebook.  

Oh, prefacing that.  The machine wouldn't start yesterday morning.  This is an older machine and doesn't have all kinds of "weird" "stuff" you have to do to start it up.  An orange triangle with an exclamation point kept coming up on the screen.  Note that I was out there at the crack of dawn, ready to get my money's worth out of it, they allow 8 hours of usage per 24 hour period.  

The shop had to send someone over to fix it.  They already knew what was wrong before they even showed up: loose starter cable.  I mean, I got my time back for free, yes, but I got out there early for a reason: it's still hot and no one will tell me anything different, even if it is the first day of Fall today. Yes, it's nice and cool in the mornings but it's still going to be in the 90's today.  

Well, I didn't finish the drainage pipe project. No worries, the trenches are dug, I need to get the pipes on a slight downhill grade all the way the length of them.  I was well off on my projection of how much pipe I would need.  30 feet per trench? Try 40.  How I could have been so far off, I don't know, but I had "extra" pipe and ended up 1, 20 foot stick short.  I'm going to hook up the trailer after this and go get another stick, also taking 2 or 3 sticks of sewer pipe from our yard over there.  

Anyway, I still need to rent a Bobcat for a day and I'm going to have to work the trenches into that day.  It'll be next week, I'm not going to spend another day baking in the hot sun out there, it leaves me without energy and having heat headaches no matter how much water or sugar free gatorade I drink.  I did a little better yesterday, tho, by dumping cool water over my head.  

A dozer would take care of all of these weeds in a day's time, all 7 acres of it.  Well, not even that much now, around 4-1/2 acres of weeds.  Nothing I'm doing right now, the weeds will just grow right back up. With no rain in the forecast, it would be a waste of money.  I want to immediately spread rye-grass seed over the entire area after getting the weeds plowed up and try to get something other than weeds growing in there.  

The dozer would also smooth the dirt out and get rid of the little hilly stuff that seems to be everywhere in those weeds.  The goal is to have grass, not weeds.  Of course, that opens up a whole new can of worms of having to mow the grass.  But, you either have ugly weeds or beautiful grass.  Grass mowing can be sectioned into different days, it doesn't have to be "let's cut all of this grass in one day" type of thing.  No, to start with, I won't be paying someone to cut all of that. They want far too much money.  Money is a precious commodity right now and I am not even going to schedule the gravel install until I'm much closer to starting day. 

I don't need to be in a situation where I"m running low on cash and have nothing but to go back to work to get it back up.  This "free time" I have now is working my @$$ off out there attempting to get some semblance of a nice place going. If I could have only afforded double the spots I have now, I wouldn't have to go back to that horrid trucking lifestyle.  

It makes me wonder if I could just find some other kind of work that may not pay near as much but with the park income, it wouldn't matter.  I'm pretty handy with forklifts, all kinds and sizes, a bit rusty but it would come back quickly.  

BTW, that machine? Yeah, that took a minute to figure out.  It's been 20 years or so since I've operated a backhoe - which is pretty similar to operating a track hoe - and I really struggled with it for the first hour or so.  Plus, the controls are really touchy, barely touch them and the thing is jerking around.  

Oh, and waiting on gravel install? That could change, much has many other factors of this project has gone.  I'm weighing getting it done so I can finish the lots up versus keeping the cash until very near the end.  It may well be, ,tho, that the equipment they use to install the gravel will trash any grass I might have planted if they go off the pads to work on them.  It may only take a day or two for them to do the gravel, but growing grass? Well, Rye grass grows quickly, for sure, but it's a couple of weeks anyway before you start getting anything substantial.  

I also wonder about spending the time fixing the grass areas. By fixing, I mean smoothing all of it out and getting the rest of the weeds out. If they use a dozer to spread the gravel and that dozer goes into what-would-be my freshly fixed up grass areas, I would not be a happy camper.  

It's all about the money and the dwindling supply of it.  

BTW, I am going to have a glamping tent setup, but I'm not paying a company twice the money it costs to install it plus 20% of revenues.  My interaction with building the bridge and re-learning how to work with wood convinces me that I could build the platform that most of them use to put the glamping tents on.  It's a very large deck.  It not only has the tent but it has a BBQ, outdoor chairs and/or outdoor couches.  

Still, it's just a deck. And right now? The cost of wood is so high, a deck worth of wood would probably in the thousand dollar range.  Folks, there is a  YouTube video for just about everything, including how to build decks, lol.  Deck -  around $1,300, tent around $1,500 and then you dress it all up.  It has to have power as well. It's basically a hotel room in a very large tent. The point? You get a lot more money off of those things for nightly rental and you quickly recover the money spent on them.  

I don't know if they heat them - cooler temps coming.  I'll have to check into that. It's on the "closer to the top" of the list type of thing.   The cheapest nightly rate I was informed of in this area is $60 going up to in the high $100 range.  Of course, there is a problem with them. You have to be available or find someone to clean it up nicely after each guest leaves.  

I also want it in the mid section of the property - there is a nice stand of pines and a couple of open areas where I could put the setup.  But - that would mean running water and electricity over the pipe easement and I dunno how they feel about that.  

It'll be something I'm thinking about how to work it while I'm doing everything else.  This would be an AirBnB type of listing.  The income if it worked would be substantial enough to make it a higher priority than tent camping sites.  I've still got some figuring and work to do for those. Even with the road I am going to have in there, there is still a parking issue which I didn't even think about - no place to park - and access to the group campground isn't possible - yet.  It will take the use of a dozer back there to level off some large dirt mounds that are in the way of otherwise having a driveway straight to it.  

If/when I eventually get to renting a dozer, I have to have all of this stuff figured out so I can go straight to work with it and get everything done. Not, sit there and think about how I should work and then get to work. With delivery, it's almost a grand a day for the use of one.  I think it's 10 hours allotted usage time.  I can get a lot done in 10 hours.  The RV and the entire front take priority over tent camping sites tho.  Those weeds are ugly.  I'll take pics of them today when I've over  there to give an idea of what I am talking about, but it's acres worth of - weeds.  This is not the first impression you want an RV'er to see when they are pulling into your driveway? Yea, I don't think so.

G'day.  

 Days getting longer.  

Bought the pipe for drainage today after telling the contractor I would just do that stuff myself.  He didn't mind and usually just says well, if you want to use someone else (even tho I am not saying anything like that or even hinting at it) I have no problem with it.  

I called the local rental place, yes we have the track hoe, X amount of dollars per day, etc etc etc. Great, I need it tomorrow morning if it's available. Well, sir, it is broke down.  We need to fix it first.

Couldn't he have just said that to start with instead of going through this entire conversation and wasting my time?  

The pipe, of course, was ridiculously expensive. Not near as much as every other place I got quotes from, but still quite high.  

I'm waiting on gravel install until the power is put in and turned on.  Actually, I don't even think I'll have the power "turned on" - meaning getting an account in my name and putting whatever deposit money they want up front - until it's just about time to turn the park on.  

I was working on hanging vines on the trails today.  They are ridiculous and they are very long. Some of them stretch upwards 40-50 feet up into trees.  Most of them are dead and rotting. Usually, you pull on them and they start pulling free from the trees they are entangled with. There is so much work that needs to be done on those trails - just clearing all the felled trees the grinder dude brought down but didn't grind up. 

They aren't ON the trails, but there is a large amount of that debris on the sides.  I started cutting some of that up as well.  I was thinking I could just cut it up and put it in place for people wanting to have fires.  I might do that but I don't know how long until the park actually opens and that stuff may start rotting on me.  

I could spend months back there.  I don't have months right now, the RV park takes precedence, I was mostly just working on these vines that hit you in the face when riding the ATV back there.  The pipe - that was of the "take-precedence" value and so, it's laid out on the lots.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about a track hoe now that I know they don't have one available.  Not real interested in leaving expensive pipe sitting out there for unknown amount of time.  

I'll make phone calls tomorrow in neighboring towns, see what they have and how much.  

Definitely considering having 1 glamping site put in. It's $7,500 to buy the stuff and have them set it up.  At $60 or more per night, even only 10 nights per month would have me close to paying off the expense in 1 year's time.  The thing would have to have heating for winter and cooling for summer tho.  That would be "extra" expense, they aren't supplying that in that deal.  I'm going at $60 because that was the lowest nightly rate they said existed anywhere, the highest going into $300 range.  

Pretty sure no one around here is going to pay $300 to go glamping, but, there is money around here.  It appears from research that outhouses are actually allowed here, not the greatest solution but I don't have any desire to try and run sewer clear to a potential glamping site.  There is a perfect area in the back where I could put one.  Not far from the front and running an electrical line underground via a trenching machine would be easy.  

The problem? Going over the natural gas line.  I'd have to find out how deep they have it, tho it would realistically have to be at least 4 feet depth. An electrical line could be run a foot deep with no problems. Or, I guess I could do a makeshift telephone pole thing and run it over the top of the line.  

I just think it would be a far nicer setup to have glamping in the piney area with the natural grass.  Much better views and away from RV's.  These are different mindsets.  Eventually somewhere down the line and the Lord willing, there will be a glamping venue and at least 1 tiny house.  Or, a community of tiny houses with people actually living there.  Rentals, of course.   

Anyway, that's all.  Just waiting on power and still need to get into an accountant.  And figure out power for the shed.  And other things, lol. Lots of other things....

G'day. 

 I went to the local competitor for rock - I didn't know there was one here, it didn't show up in any Google searches.  His prices were considerably better, but after the fact?  By the time I have them deliver it, rent a dozer and spread it, I might as well pay the contractor to do it for me. It's simply amazing how much the price of gravel is around here. Maybe everywhere?

This guy has it brought in on rail cars, versus the other company has to truck it here from quite a distance away.  I only found this guy because the driver for the first company said "I should shop around".  I replied there isn't anywhere nearby to shop around with and once you get too far out, even if you find cheaper gravel price, it will be erased by higher shipping fees.  That's when he told me about this dude in town. 

I caught the guy coming out of his office.  He said he normally isn't there on Saturdays and was only there because of a railroad mix up and he had 7 trucks waiting at the rails to be loaded.  Long story short, this is the dad of the man that owns the other company, he gave it to his son who has run it to the ground, according to dad. So, dad said the heck with it and started a new gravel business lol. Anyway, the cost is better but it's still so high!  I have no choice. Finish the park or let all that money sit and rot.  

I've said it several times before, I'll say it again: the costs of this park just getting the basic operation going are so high, I dunno if I would have even done this if I had known the costs after inflation started hitting everything.  The real bummer for me is that if it hadn't taken so long to get the property, I could have bought all of this stuff before inflation hit.  I'm neck deep into this, I have no choice but to pay the price for the gravel and pray to the Living God that He pours out His blessing upon the operation and causes it to prosper.  

Well, anyway, I need to get the quote on the drainage pipe install and get the rest of this going.  Even after all of this money I have acquired, I still may have to take out another loan!  Gag.  

Why does it seem like it's been months since I lost my job? Yet, it's only been a month.