Well.

Tuesday morning.

The person that came out to look at installing the shower stall and toilet called earlier to give a quote.  I don't know why he couldn't just print the quote in the same messages he was sending me to call him for the quote? He said they could start Saturday morning and be done by Sunday afternoon. It's mostly labor, I have almost all of the stuff to install it.  But, there is some labor there for sure.  I fear what quote he may give me, it sounds like he is going to want more than I want to shell out for this.  But, after I wake up  a bit more and some coffee in my system, I will be calling him. 

The idea of a loan is out of the question.  I was informed that, like most if not all banks, appraisals are farmed out to companies that do appraisals and for RV Parks? The cost of an appraisal will be anywhere between 2 to 5 THOUSAND dollars.  He wouldn't give me a ballpark, I've already come up with my own. It may be that in the end, I will have to get an appraisal if the county decides to give me some over-priced valuation on the property for the next tax year.  But that isn't a bridge I need to cross right now.  Going by other parks for sale, I'd say the place is worth around 400k.  Acreage alone has skyrocketed in this area over the last year- year and a half.  The property without anything is probably worth around 200k.  Add a park and you have minimum 400k. If I go by other properties in the region, it's more like 500-600k - but you have to be able to find a person that wants to pay that much, of course.

Anyway, putting that out of my mind for now.  I'll keep looking around for other types of loans is all I can say about that.

2 people left yesterday. Just magically, out of the blue, they are gone. One of them gave no notice - his rent is paid until the 12th of April if I recall correctly. The other? That was a bit strange. I texted him yesterday morning and informed him he is a couple days overdue for the rent, can I go ahead and run your credit card? Yes.  I am glad I got that in writing, because, 10 hours later? He texts me that he's moving out of the park and onto his parent's land. 

I've got my feelers out for people that have inquired about moving in - several messages.  One of them is moving in this week, I'll be needing two more, so I reactivated my facebook ads and notied my Google business account that i have a lot available.  It's near the end of the month, the inquiries for lots should come in.  Now, I have been getting calls nearly every day for some time now for long term, I do hope that trend doesn't stop now.  I need those lots refilled quickly.  Well, the dude that isn't due for awhile I'm not terribly pressured, but the one that left after paying the same day? Well, I will repay him after I get someone to move onto his lot.  IT doesn't seem fair to me that I should be eating this on a notice like that.  It also wouldn't be fair to him to make him eat an entire month's rent for nothing. The middle ground is once the lot is re-rented, pro-rate the days from the due date of the rent, subtract that and give him back the balance.  

So what's on for today? Well, find out what this guy wants to charge.  Go to property, start painting the picnic tables if nothing else.  Depends on what this dude tells me for a price. I won't go around shopping for prices, if his is too high, pretty sure everyone else's will be up there, too.  If you take 3 guys and give them, what? $15 per hours?  That's $720 right there plus the parts.  He's part of the crew of people working. I'd say this dude is going to want $1,500, just taking a guess paying his crew and taking a chunk of change for additional profit.  

I have no idea when the electrician will come. Par for the course.  He'll show when he wants to, that's pretty much how they operate. I will have to drop everything I'm doing, if I am doing something, and rush over there if I'm not already there.  I'll say that waiting much longer isn't on my schedule.  I need that coin op up and running and really, the only thing holding it back is electricity.  I can set up that dryer and washer pretty quick now.  Just have to cut a hole for the dry exhaust, the rest is just hooking up the electric lines to the machines - the come separately with them and you have to screw them into place, hook up the drain lines and hook up the water inlets.  The rest should be nothing more than plugging it in, putting some quarters in the slots and make sure it's going to work properly. 

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Eternal waiting games are not my forte.  I've waited for long periods of time for this contractor or his associates to come out to do whatever.  

With that, I am going to get a very long overdue haircut and then over to the property. 

G'day.  

 I just went ahead and pulled the trigger on lot 11.  I was over there thinking - too much thinking/over-thinking I do believe - but it just doesn't make sense to not get the revenue from a lot that I can readily fill.  Waiting to see whether people will come short term or not seems to be irrelevant considering 1: they really aren't, at least not at the moment and 2: there is going to be another pull through available at the end of April. 

Losing that money for an entire month seems stupid on my part.  I'll keep 2 pull throughs open for short term and hope it fills up more than it currently is.  I've already got someone to move in in the next couple of days.  I raised my rent to $475 per month - it will be that rate from now on.  It includes electricity and the electric part is why I'm raising the rent.  I'm doing great with electricity right now, but give it a couple of months and that bills is going to steadily inch higher.  Get into June and it's going to sky rocket.  

I'm probably going to start telling everyone that the rent is going up as of 30 days from their payment. Not everyone tho. The older couple I'll leave, another guy that is almost never there and doesn't leave his AC on all the time I won't raise and another one whose trailer is maybe 20 feet long and he also doesn't have AC running all the time will have their rates kept at what they are. 

I'm targeting the people that have their AC's on all day long - but mostly that targeting is the 50 amp trailers that have 2 AC's and I just don't feel like paying that much for electricity without more money coming in to replace it.  

In about 2-1/2 weeks, I am figuring with the long term people that I will have around 10 grand in the bank. That's after paying the windshield, the electric and water bills. The water bill is amazingly low considering how many people are in there. But, I suspected the usage wouldn't be that great with people gone all day long.  That means the septic system isn't getting strained, either.  

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how much to pay myself to keep myself afloat.  But I think 3 grand is good and figure around $1,500 worth of taxation added onto that.  So it's actually $4,500 gross pay.  I still need to make an appointment with the CPA and I'm going to do that this week.  The taxes on that 3 grand may be slightly higher.  I definitely have to spend the money on an accountant, I just am not going to take that chance with the IRS trying to screw me.  I haven't paid myself anything thus far.  But it's a coming, and coming soon. 

Now, I am waiting on the electrician - still.  I have sent him 2 texts today and have received no reply.  It's been hours now.  Since I have a person paying for the use of an electrician, I'm not going to worry too much about what needs left done. I have done the lion's share of the work.  I have saved myself probably 10k worth of money.  That's not even an exaggeration, that is probably low balling it.  

But what about this shower and toilet install?  I'd like to have someone come install those for me.  Especially the shower.  I watched a very lengthy video about the shower stall installation this morning and it gave me a headache. The least I can do is try to find a competent handyman and see what they would charge.  I have the shower stall, the toilet and the sewer line is at least close to where both will go.  I just placed a request in the local gossip facebook forum.  The worst that can happen is a ridiculously high price which will motivate me to do it myself. But if I got, say, a grand quote, I'd be all over it. Yes, please and thank you.  

I just want it over with and I don't want to have to fool with it forever.  I want to get HipCamp going and for all the time it took me to get to where I'm at with the washer and dryer, I could see it taking another month.  I am not a framer, shower installer, toilet installation person.  I have to learn as I go and I don't really want to have to learn skills that I may never even have to use again.  

Oh good grief, I forgot to take a look at a potential 15th RV lot.  I am quite sure my septic system can handle another RV in there full time.  I just don't want the potential lot too far from where the pipe runs into the septic system, it will be easier to install and not much pipe.  Same with electricity, it can run off the closest pedestal and same thing, not too much wire equals not too much cost.  If I can get away with 2 grand to make a new lot, I'm all over it. That's do it myself, but that is much easier than all of that stuff in the shed, gag.  $400 pedestal, $200 at most water line, same with sewer line, $300 wiring (at most), rent a machine - $400 and a truckload of gravel - $700.  $2,100 give or take.  $400 more if I rent a bulldozer (probably recommended).  We're talking 5 months to repay itself.

Actually, now that I think of it, if I run it off the end of the line, it's going to be 26 feet to the next proposed set up. Yeah, my calculations are probably pretty close.  It will be more gravel than I need, but I have plenty of use for gravel elsewhere.  The 2 pull through lots that are short term both need extra gravel put down on one side.  

 I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see the next electric bills. There are 2 of them, 7 lots on each meter.  The total is $600.  That isn't much more than I paid last month.  Now, I know it's going to go up for summer, but for right now? I'm seeing some savings on power that can go towards getting my business checking account starting to go up instead of all of these endless start up payments and such keeping it - well not too low but certainly now where I want to see it. I'd like 5 grand minimum in there and then after that, just pay myself.  

Well, I'm paying myself out of necessity before that. I was at $4,400 in there, but that windshield is going to knock it down and so is the high Verizon payment, should be the last one.  I have a "final" bill for the first trash company and have yet to receive a bill from the new one, but the new one is $160 per month.  

 The extra bills will be gone this coming month or maybe a final verizon bill and I should hopefully be able to get a grasp on my monthly expenses. Not just in theory, but actually seeing it in the banking account.  It's been a tough road.  I've decided to - probably - let another long term in. I dunno.  Traveling season is coming if not already here, it's kind of hard to decide on this one.  

One thing for certain, lot 11 only has one reservation now that this weekend is over and done with.  It's in April.  I just blocked that date out for the pull through lot 5.   It just seems like the right thing to do, get rid of it as a overnight deal and fill it up with monthly payments.  Something is better than nothing - unless - there is a wave of reservations coming.  It's very possible, it happened last month.  

I have 2 coming in today for the pull through lots so I want to check and make sure they are clean and ready for the next campers.  I also put in a text to the electrician - are you coming today or what is your schedule?  It is still early, I got up early in case this dude shows up.  But it's been 20 minutes so far and no reply from him.  I would say I don't want to to go over there with nothing to do - but there is plenty.  

I can start taking measurements for the bathroom to go get the lumber to build the walls/wall.  I suppose I could make the bathroom the entire width of the shed at 8 feet, but it seems unnecessary.  The stall is 36 inches square.  You already know how big a toilet is,  the setup could fit in a smaller space.  I dunno, but I also need to watch some videos about framing in a shower stall.  It's probably harder than it looks, everything else has been. 

That will be my agenda today.  It's lumber, drains, a door, run electrical, finish the underground stuff outside. At least get the sewer pipe run around the corner to the other side of the shed so I can fill that trench back in.  Oh, and water pipe inside the shed as well.  Water pipe and electric will be the easy stuff.  I would just go as wide as the shower stall, but I think people need more room to move around in there and for the toilet. I wouldn't mind putting a small bench in so people can sit down after showering and drying off to deal with their clothes and redressing.  

So, I really don't have a good idea yet of how I want to structure that.  It will come to me after I get in there, start looking at it and thinking about it.  

Oh, and that other shed. I haven't built that one yet. It's for my tools. But I will have to get the trench filled in first. It won't be that much to install the rest of the sewer pipe around the corner.  And I have decided to go through the walls with the water line, so I don't need to run that any further than what it is.  I will likely cut that valve off where I stopped with it and put a cap on it instead.  

I completely spaced turning the water off to the shed.  I guess it's a good trial run, it's been on for some 5 days now with now leaks anywhere. I was over there yesterday getting my rent book - one person owes rent as of 2 days ago.  I will be contacting them today.  

I shaved that goatee/beard off this morning. It was becoming unmanageable and looking - not very good, at least in my opinion.  I would have had to buy a beard trimming kit and I just decided I don't want to fool with it anymore.  So, people are likely going to be giving me stares today once they see me without it.  No one staying at the park has seen me without a beard before. I've only had it since November, but I didn't open up until the end of December and my first guests didn't come in until either the end of December or the 1st of January.  

It's whatever to me, I might try again sometime and keep it nicely trimmed instead of just growing all over the place.  Just not good a beard trimming, I've never really had one before.  I can trim my mustache, been doing that since I was 15.  

Weight hasn't dropped any for around a week or more.  The fat loss is noticeable, tho.  Especially my gut.  I'll be keeping at Keto and doing some things to try and kick start the weight loss again.  A 2 or 3 day water only fast will help with that. 

Yesterday, I was not in a particularly good mood when I woke up.  I didn't want to go to church.  The granny and oldest kid left maybe an hour before church was going to begin.  She left without saying goodbye.  She has made it perfectly, crystal clear that the "only reason she comes down there is to see you, you and the boys".  It was so rude, she said this right in front of me, pointing at James and Taylor.  I know she isn't coming to see me, but she didn't have to do that the way she did.

She is, in fact, a fairly rude and obnoxious person, IMO, as it stands.  I tolerate her because she is James' mother.  There was a wildly drama-filled event this last week with her - well I'm not going into that on the internet.  Personal stuff that will just have to stay within the family.  I will just say that I wanted nothing to do with it and while the worst of it was going on, I was at the movies, thank God Almighty.  

The idea of living with her, tho.  She eventually wants to move down here, buy a piece of property and build a 5 bedroom house on it.  We are to all move in with her.  With her controlling style of behavior, well, I didn't sign up for that.  If it came down to move in with her or leave, well it would be an awfully difficult decision just because I've lived with this family for a long time now, but I would definitely consider leaving.  

This may be years down the road tho.  She's mostly interested in being with her grandkids.  All nice and fine, but she tries to throw the rules out the window with them when she comes.  Ensuing chaos, tho we have all started pushing back.  I'm beyond tired of it, especially on the longer stays. They were here 8 full days and 2 partial days.  That's a long time with a person that - is like that. 

Anyway, the kids finally got their way.  I decided that not going to church because of my mood was denying them an opportunity to learn more about Christ and generally be around Christians, so we went anyway.  I knew there was going to be a special guest speaker, I didn't know she was going to go on for 30 minutes beyond the normal church service time.  It was interesting, tho and a message to challenge everyone.  After that, to the property to take a look, then to Kroger's for dinner stuff and then home, where I spent a few hours cooking and then just hanging out. 

It's generally what I like to do on Sundays - versus - driving trucks down to Brownsville, Texas. I used to absolutely hate that run on Sundays.  It's an all day drive down there and you are expected to - get down there same day unless there is an issue with the truck or if the plant took too long to load.  As it stands, I am in a Facebook group devoted to drivers for that company, there are people complaining about the way the company treats it's drivers all the time on there.  And the way the company operates in general.  

The flip side to that, is that a lot of companies are extremely controlling and intrusive into driver's lives.  After GPS became publicly available decades ago, it was the first step into manipulating and controlling drivers.  "I can see where you're at and that you're stopped somewhere" s***. Yes, I stopped to take a pee, get something to eat, refuel the truck -whatever.  I always pushed back against that stuff, truck driving jobs are plenteous, they always have been even in troubled economic times.  

Then satellite got a foothold into it and then they could install all kinds of devices that they could constantly monitor 24 hours a day.  Then the cameras came - this was the most intrusive thing.  Not forward facing, but the inward facing cameras with the microphones.  I couldn't deal with that when they installed that junk in my truck and I covered it all up. 

I don't ever forget, while I'm not driving and facing having to go back to it, the ways that trucking companies treat their drivers.  I will - likely - not drive for a company ever again with inward facing cameras.  No idea yet. I can survive at least another month if not longer.   If I can keep the lots filled, probably quite a while before I cave in and say, ok, I lost, I have to go back.  But, I am going to still keep trying to get a loan to expand. I only need about 125k.  That isn't really that much money in the business world for getting money to - make more money.  I could easily afford to make the payments and still take in a tidy sum of profit after expenses.  Increased electric bill, water bill, yes.  

Well enough of this. Off to the bank to deposit cash and a check and then off to the property.

G'day

 Family leaving tomorrow morning, it's all been - exhausting.  Too many kids.  Too much fighting and stupidity.  The kids aren't stupid, they just do stupid stuff that they know is dumb but they do it anyway.  Not going into it, it's just that I'm glad they are leaving, the grandma and the oldest brother.  Things can get back to normal around here.....

I'm just waiting for Monday, really. I need the electrician to come out and tell me what I need to do about this ground. If he doesn't show up, I'm just going to go get the ditch witch, dig out the trench which shouldn't take too long with that kind of machine, take the machine back and get the wire from the electrical supply house. Hook it up to the shed breaker box, fill in the trench, take off the panel again on the pedestal, turn off the power and get the wires hooked up.  

Turn the power back on to the park with the main breaker in off position on the shed, go to the shed, flip that main breaker and .... see what happens.  Nothing should happen.  Well, the water heater will start heating the water, but that should be the only thing that turns on.  That's the plan whether it happens on Monday or not. 

Just one more delay in a line of many.   

I paid for the new windshield this morning.  The man was in a much better mood and thanked me for dealing with it without turning it into an ordeal. No problem, it was my fault, the only right thing to do is to pay whatever it costs and write it off.  It's a chunk of change, money I was going to pay myself with.  I still have more money to pay myself with,  I was just trying to leave a large cushion for any issues.  Such as, who knows what this next electric bill will be.

Speaking of that, I am looking into having a solar array installed on a frame.  I know summer electric bill is going to be huge, I'd like to do something to mitigate those bills. First is to raise the rent rate, second is to see if I can get my own power generated.  It's worth a look, the federal government is giving out 30% of the cost of solar. 

This coming month I'm going to let everyone know the rate is going up to $475 per month. If they don't like it, they can certainly find somewhere else to move to. They'll have 30 days to make up their minds.  May, I want that increased rate because it will start heating up. June, well, we all know what happens in June concerning outdoor temps.  Oh, this rate is pretty much the going rate in this region, with one or two exceptions going lower and several exceptions going higher - much higher.  

I was informed by a guest the other day that I should be charging more than I am.  She said "at least $500 per month".  But that isn't realistic.  I replied that I am going to have the 50 amp trailers paying $475 and the 30 amp trailers paying $450.  30 amp trailers only have one AC unit, the 50 ampers have two - and occasionally 3.  

I did not feel like hanging out at the park today, we went to the 8 year old's soccer game this morning.  It was getting warm outside. His team had several no shows, meaning the boys had to play the entire game without any subs to come in to take their place to let them rest.  The other team had 4 subs and were moving  kids in and out of the game.  Our 8 year old was toast. And when I say toast, I mean, not talking, bright red face, barely walking. I felt his forehead, he wasn't particularly hot, he was just completely exhuasted.

After that we went to a birthday party down the street and after that..home. I have no plans for the rest of today.  

 I'd like to forget today.

The electrician didn't make it, said he was busy trying to get a pad done before the storm arrives.

The storm never arrived. 90% chance of rain went to nothing.  

I mowed all 14 lots - and busted a windshield on a late model pickup with a rock that flew out of the mower.  $640 wonderfulness. 

People coming in tonight called and confirmed.  Then they called again and said their friends staying at another lot said that their lot was taken. 

Taken?  I have 2 guests coming in today, the 3rd of the group showed up yesterday, they showed up a day early, but that spot wasn't taken so that got the extra day. 

. They are all automatically assigned by the reservation system. I double-check it, but it's a sound system.

If someone makes a reservation, I am onto it right away. Nothing is left to chance, nothing put to memory.

So who are these people at lot 2? I have no idea. I know their last names because the people that showed up - with nowhere to park besides boondocking parking said the names of all of their square dancing friends. 

The got to the name of  a particular set of people. I went into the shed, fired up the computer, looked, they weren't in there.  

I dunno. 

Just a day.  I can't say I'll do better with reservations, I don't even do them. If someone calls me and wants me to do it for them, I block out the dates. I have a couple of those in there as it stands.  I don't leave anything to chance, faulted memory, distraction, whatever. If a reservation is made, it's in the campground software.

It's the broken windshield that got me today. I should have had the catcher on the mower - at least until I've been over the lots several times over to make sure there are no rocks to pick up and throw. I won't be making that mistake again. Any areas near trailers or vehicles for a while to come will be mowed with the grass catcher attached.

Windshields aren't cheap, especially late model vehicles with other things imbedded into them.

I'm offa here.    

 Friday - early

Whatever happened last night, I missed the ordeal completely. I heard all about it but I was not involved in it, thank God Almighty. I have had enough drama in my life in past events, I don't need any more of that.  

I feel like I could sleep a couple of more hours, but once I woke up, I popped out of bed. Really want to meet up with this electrician this morning.  It isn't going to be free but someone has decided that they are going to pay for it for me, don't ask, it was an offer out of the blue.  They saw the video I posted with the breaker box and decided they were too afraid of electricity to allow me to do that without at least having someone check it out.

In fact, the offer was to do all of the wiring.  I wondered if this person understood how much money would cost, but that offer just came a day and a half ago and I am almost finished. Let's just find out what the guy says.  

I don't know, but this stops progress until he either shows up - or doesn't. If he can't come, I'm moving on with installing the underground ground wire, rent the trenching machine, get it over with.  Not something I wanted to have to do, this job would be over as of yesterday and I would have started positing the machines into place and working on getting them hooked up.  Instead, we get delayed once again.  Nothing new under the sun going on here.  

His words were "if I can get loose before the rain". Well, the rain is slated for 12-1:00 pm.  So, I'm getting out there early, but not as early as I was going to, it's just now getting light outside.  I'll start mowing grass this morning - I'm not going to be over there and just sit around doing nothing, there are plenty of other things to do.  I also still need to treat those picnic tables and really, a lot of other stuff I can get done.  

$243 worth of wire, gag.  Plus $160 for the machine rental. Gag again.  Oh well. 

Well I don't have time to linger here. 

 So - I got everything hooked up. Went to the pedestal, stripped the lines to be attached and then saw something I hadn't seen before.  I huge ground wire.  It was near the bottom of the panel where the connections are, hence the reason I didn't see it.  

That threw me into a conundrum.  I don't claim to be an electrician and therefore, I started looking up videos on how to do the power service to the "sub panel", apparently is what it's called.  

From what I could gather, it's not good enough to just have ground rods at the shed - which I do have installed.  From what I could understand, if something goes south on any connection, say one comes loose and touches metal - the main meter won't shut off.  That may be true, but I don't need the main meter to shut off, I need the sub panel meter, 125 amp, to shut off.  

I didn't really know for sure, so I texted the electrician - while putting the panel back on.  No need to continue on with this until I know for sure what I need to do.  I'm not risking anything. 

He did reply back pretty quick tho.  "Honestly? I'd do both", referring to grounding the shed to it's own rods and running the ground wire from the pedestal to the shed.  I'm fully prepared at this point to go rent a trenching machine, dig out 155 feet of trench, lay the ground and get it done. 

However, I did ask him to come look at the setup, I'd be willing to pay for the privilege.  Might as well if he can get out soon.  He said he could come out tomorrow morning before the rain starts, text him when I'm there.  Okay? I'll be there at 8:00 am, then, so he has plenty of time to get over there from whatever else he is doing.  I almost fear what he's going to say about the setup, but, I'm willing to change whatever needs to be change if such is the case.  

Regardless, unless he says something different, it will be next week before I get that done.  It's going to rain tomorrow, which is Friday, the rental place is only opened half day on Saturdays, closed on Sundays and 48% chance of rain on Sunday as well.  A trencher "should" cost significantly less to rent than a mini-ex, but regardless, I really only want it for 4 hours worth, that's all it should take.  I think.

I have never operated one.  It's pretty simple stuff though. You set the thing at whatever depth you want and it does the rest.  Go a foot deep - if even that - and call it good.  I will have to hand dig down to the bottom of the pedestal again to run the wire to the lug inside the panel.  

Shrugs shoulders.  It is what it is, I'll have the peace of mind that my setup is good without having to wonder if I'm going to burn the park down, lmao.  It sucks that I have to continue to wait to get this portion of the project done and move on.  I will divert my attention to mowing grass tomorrow instead.

Well, after all of that, I left.  Halfway up my street back to the highway, I saw a diesel pickup pulling a 5th wheel trailer.  I knew I wasn't expecting anyone today, the square dancers are showing up tomorrow.  All 3 lots worth. I thought, well maybe they're going to that Sojourners camp down the road further? But I had this feeling....so I turned around and sure enough, they pulled into my driveway.  

I got in there and they said they were square dancers coming in for the weekend.  Nope. I fired up the laptop after a bit of confusion as to what was going on and found that they had, indeed, rented the space - starting tomorrow.  Fortunately for them, it is empty today.  So, I checked them in, offered to help them level the trailer, they declined and said their automatic levelers would do it, I still offered some boards for him to pull the trailer up on, he declined that.  Gave me his credit card, I went back to the shed, ran it, charged them the 4 nights, came back and saw the trailer unlevel.

I didn't offer again, but after seeing how he was setting it up? They don't know what they're doing.  I mean, I tried, that's all I can say. I can get any trailer coming in there level, that's a fact.  But if they don't want the help, they don't want the help.  He admitted this was only their second trip. I'll check in with them tomorrow, if it's still visibly slanted all I can do is offer to help.  

______________

A lot happened since I wrote the above.  But it's inter-family stuff and I don't feel it right to speak about that on the world wide web.  It wasn't me, I can say that, but it was disruptive. I went to the movies with a friend so I missed the fireworks, thankfully.  That's about all I can say about that for now.  

I'm getting up early.  I'll be out at the property by 7:30 or so.  I want to be there if this electrician will actually show up.  I'm certainly going to contact him as he instructed to let him know I'm there and waiting....

G'nite. 

 Thursday - semi-early

Finally found sleep last night and took advantage of it. I was going to get up at around 6:00 am this morning, but the aura of sleep overcoming was enough to stay in bed a couple more hours.  When I can get sleep, I will take it regardless of what is going on.  

Ill be taking my first paycheck here in the next couple of days.  The only time I transferred money from business to checking so far is when I made the error of paying the electric bill for the Park out of my personal account.  I noted the transaction and can always back it up with receipts from the power company.  You know, in case of an audit....  I'm going to take $2,500 worth of cash that I have been accumulating and a small amount out of the business checking account, the cash will be recorded in quickbooks as income for the business.  I do have a few people that pay in cash.  I wish they would all pay in check or credit cards.  Just easier to do the books, it goes into the checking account and automatically reported as income.   

I won't be making the power mistake again, that's for sure.  I just don't want to take too much out of the business account until i see what a full month's worth of electric use is.  I have no idea what that will be, last month the park wasn't full until near the end of the month.  

All 3 short term lots will be full this weekend for that square dancing event. It's after this weekend that the amount of short term goes into spartan mode. Like, only 5 days worth and that's in April. There's still 5 days left of February.  I dunno, I'm weighing my options here.  It's hard to wait until I have the laundry room completed to go ahead and fill up one more of the long term.  There will be a long termer leaving next month anyway, or at the end of April for sure. His work will be done and he's moving on to some other state for similar work with the power grid.  

Lot 11 only has one more reservation after this weekend, that would be the lot I would think of renting out.  I could move the sole, one night reservation to one of the pull through lots and start getting that $475 over - nothing.  It's so hard to make that decision, we are going to be entering the traveling time when people are running up and down the roads with their RV's and looking for spots to stay overnight.  I'm likely to pull the trigger, tho, and fill that spot with a long term.  I already have the person in mind.  I'll have to make up my mind soon, it's usually the end of the month when these people are looking to move.  

It just kind of makes sense to put a long term in there when knowing that another long term is going to be leaving in the next month or so.  Some money is better than none.....and besides, HipCamp is my next experiment. 

I've also thought about the contractor's words.  I can get up to 15?  I only have 14.  Why can't I build another lot out of the current septic system? I didn't ask him that yesterday, I just started thinking about it today. I have long term people that are hardly ever there.  They aren't going to be using their restroom facilities that much. In fact, 3 of them were gone for an entire week.  The usage on that system wouldn't be too great adding one more lot. The problem is, where would I put that lot? I will be looking this morning, rest assured. 

But, you know, that laundry thing will probably send that septic system to capacity.  Still, I have to think that one more lot isn't going to overload the system with people gone most of the time - they are using toilets elsewhere.  If I could fit in a smaller lot where I"m thinking I could put one, it would cost me .... around $1,500 worth of materials and mini-ex rental to install the utilities.  The pad could be layered with a 3 or 4 inch layer of rock - another $700.  Looking at $2,200.  It would pay for itself in less than 5 months.  

If I can put a lot in where I"m thinking, the cost wouldn't even be that much. Just as I went off the end of the last lot for power, water and electric for the shed, I would go off the other end for the same for a lot and it wouldn't be that much distance to cover.  I dunno, but I'll get back to that later on today after I take a look and take some measurements.  If long term lot, it increases my gross receipts by $5,700 per year.  That's nothing to shake a stick at.  I can make it a shorter lot - there are plenty of people wanting long term that don't have these super long 5th wheels.  

Well, this morning is a trip to Harbor Freight and if they don't have it, Lowe's.  If they don't have it, I will try the electric supply house in town. It...being a number 7 metric hex key.  I have a set of hex keys, it goes from 6 to 8, skipping 7.  James and Taylor had their own sets and theirs did the same.  I cannot install the neutral or ground wires into that breaker box without it.  I don't know why the hex key sets skip 7 and I don't know why they would use a number 7 in that box considering, apparently, most sets skip that one?  Just a way to make doing the job more difficult? Seriously.  Anymore, manufactures include hex keys with whatever it is you are buying if it needs one.  Not this manufacturer, which would be GE. 

Well whatever, I'll find one, that's for sure and hopefully today, I want to finish that blessed box and be done with it already, dang.  IF I can get that thing done, THEN I can hook up the main lugs from the pedestal and power it up.  With the main circuit breaker in off position, I can then go over and turn that sucker on and hope to high heaven I got everything right.

Rest assured, I was triple checking my connections while hooking up the various outlets.  But, I"m going to check them again, just to be sure.  I'm confident in my work, yes.  You can't screw up those main lugs, they are obvious what they are. 2 hots and a neutral. The neutral is delineated with a yellow line running all the way through it. The ground you get from the grounding rods installed near the breaker box and a separate run for the ground, including that damned number 7 hex key lug.  I am so tired of having to go to stores ...gag.

Well, not that tired, it's just an annoyance that I will be getting over shortly once I power it up. There are other outlets to install, but I can't run those wires until I know where I need them, I won't know where I need them until I get the bathroom built.  That will take a minute.  

Well, the day's wasting away and I need to get busy.

G'day

 Well...

I got quite a lot done, in fact I started wiring the breaker box.  I have been saving that for last, just something I figured should be done after everything else.  So, 2 of the 3 main lines are connected. I couldn't connect the third because it is some odd sized hex key that I will have to go buy.  Got the water heater wired, put the 2 inch pipe through the roof and put the seal on it - which is going to need further work but it's good for now.  I got the 4 outlet box installed and I dug a 2 foot deep hole and drove in the second, 8-foot ground rod.  

I was going to go to the store and get a hex key, until something happened.  Let's just say I found out the hard way that I had the runs.  TMI, I know, but it's why I didn't get the entire breaker box wired.  I have no toilet over there and I'm not going to be running into the woods.  So I quit for the day and am home, will try to get some paperwork done instead.  

Oh, and the new wifi router. Working great.  In fact, a better signal at the shed for it than where I have the other one.  I'm not sure where I want it.  Would like to have it indoors to keep it out of the coming summer heat.  But that shed is all metal and I suspect it will drown out the signal from going too far. At least, not on the rear of the shed where I will need coverage for Hipcamp.  Or extra lots?  

I used a mortgage calculator, at 10% interest on a 5 year term with zero down (property is collateral) and came up with $2,400 monthly payment giving a handsome interest profit over the life of the loan.  This would make the investor happy and I would be happy to have the opportunity to double the size of the park and live comfortably on that income.  Will it happen? I have no idea. I will find out, for sure!

So, I'm not really giving too much thought to it beyond what I had to do to find out a decent interest rate that would give the person a hefty return on their investment and still give me enough revenue to have the additional profit I need to be able to live off of it. 

______________

Well that apparently isn't going anywhere. Rather strange. I didn't bring the subject up neither was I hinting at anything . 

The contractor got back to me. That 7 grand system will do up to 15 lots. It must be the same size I already have.  The rest of the money was installing the sewer pipe and the other pipe that got installed with it.  If I could get them to install the septic and trench out the ditch for the pipe and wiring, I could do the rest myself with ease.  Well, with a machine, but you get what I'm saying.  

 But it would still cost a fortune to install all of the sewer pipe, water pipe, wire and pedestals. There isn't any way around this without a good sized loan. I'm not giving up, I just don't know if I need to spend a lot of mental energy on it considering the times we're in and the interest rates to be had.  I have phone calls to make tomorrow, I'm sort of motivated to get this thing rolling in the right direction.  

Anyway, it's almost 9:00 pm and tho that isn't particularly late, I'm going to bed. 

 Wednesday - Morning - Semi-early

Didn't sleep worth a pile of pins last night.  No idea why.  Just didn't.  I'm hardly coughing anymore, the meds are working quite well. 

Tried to see estimates for this month's electric bill, they just show a graph and it doesn't show the cost. Most days are just estimates, not actual usage.  

A person of interest threw out a - sort - of - interest in loaning me money stating they are interested in finding a way to increase their portfolio via interest.  Hmmm, I thought, I wonder if this person is serious.  Well, I'll look up average business loan interest rates going right now after being asked.  I found anything between 5 and 10%, but I need to do more searching. That may be old information, interest rates may be more than that now.

This would be amazing even at a high interest rate.  Add another 14 lots and even with a heavy mortgage note, I could still make enough money to live off of comfortably.  I will be floating this idea around with this person to see if they are actually serious about it.  They have money, I can say that for sure. I can also say with great confidence that I could fill up another 14 spaces within a month - or less. 

I could still manage a 28 space park without any employees.  I would probably get some outside contractors for certain things such as lawn maintenance.  I don't want employees - at least for now - because of the expense, obviously, but also the paperwork and IRS requirements.  Just a lot more work. I'm sole proprietor and it's fairly simply process.

Well, I'm not going to elaborate on this too much until I find out if this person is really serious about it.  I'm good for the money and yes, the RV park would be put up for collaterol.  In my view, it's a no lose situation.  If worse came to worse, I could quick-sell it for $300k, pay that person back and move on with life. I wouldn't expect that to happen, not with all the phone calls i get on a daily basis with people looking for long term rentals.  

Anyway, I have one mission today: Try to get that laundry set up close to done.  I'm pretty sure I can't get it all done, but I am sure that I can get pretty close.  I have to hook up everything in the breaker box, finish the water heater wiring, another wall outlet setup, the drain pipe going through the roof then move the dryer into position, determine where the hole should be in the side of the shed for the exhaust, get that hooked up, plug it all in, hook up the water lines and walaah.

LMAO, I can tell ya that is not all happening today, but I can get pretty close.  Plus hooking up the 3 main lines at the pedestal.  

OH and a second ground rod. That took me a good hour yesterday to drive in the first one. I hit some rock or something about 6 feet down and it took quite a while to beat that rod through whatever it was.  My reading has indicated that it's good to have 2 grounding rods for safety.  So, that's what I'm doing.  With all that I will have going in there, I want to be sure this isn't lacking.  

Well, my coffee time is up.  I have to do Cardpointe training - apparently it is an "annual" thing even tho I most certainly have not had it for a year.  Last night, some people called asking if I had a space available for the night? Sure - but it was so late I wasn't going to go over there to meet them. Simply pay for the reservation online and find your lot.  They called an hour later asking about WiFi?  Got that going and done with them.  Late night stragglers, lol, good for a bit of income.  Nothing I'll turn down, that's for sure, unless there are no lots available.  

Which reminds me, I keep forgetting: My signs need lighting on them. Solar lighting.  You know, it charges a battery during the day and automatically comes on at night? There is a sign off the highway right next to mine that has solar lighting and works quite well.  But especially the entrance sign at the park. At night? It's not the easiest thing to see, there are hardly any street lights on my street and the ones that do exist are not provided by the county, that's private citizens' setup.  

Ok, I could go on forever, I really need to get out of here.

G'day

 Tuesday - early

Not as cold as it was yesterday morning at this hour, but it's still a bit nippy out at 49 degrees.  Not complaining - summer is around the corner and that won't be fun.  Let's get this done before then! lol

I was semi-pleased with the progress I made yesterday. I wanted to get more done, but as always, I was lacking some things.  I still got over 4 straight hours in on it, but I would have liked to have gotten 7 or 8.  Instead I was looking at what needs to be done with the park beyond the shed, going to Lowe's, eating lunch and getting other stuff done.  

It didn't help that I remembered long after leaving the Park that I needed the trailer.  I need a ladder to get up on the roof and drill a hole for the 2 inch pipe and also install the rubber seal/mount that the pipe goes into to hold it in place.  I also don't remember if I need more 2 inch pipe....I was a bit distracted when leaving yesterday.  I'm just going to go over this morning, get what I can get done with what I got yesterday and then go back for the ladders. 

I guess I best make the dreaded appointment with the CPA for next week as well.  I've got most of the books caught up, a few things lacking, but QuickBooks has been a lifesaver for me, automatically drawing everything out of the business account and organizing it into pre-determined categories of expenditures.  It's really quite easy once you start getting into it.  Well, not "quite easy", but it's easier than I expected.  

Well, the new router is set to arrive today.  I finally got into the Verizon mastercard account, that is a separate account from the other verizon accounts and was rather difficult to find. You actually have to go to the bank Verizon uses to access the card.  I wanted to make a minimum payment, it isn't even showing one due yet.  

I found the IRS form for estimated tax payments.  The first one is due on 4/18.  The texas comptroller also wants a statement filed by May 15th for last year.  I made no money last year, that should be easy.  LOL!! Government never = easy.  What I need to do is get into a CPA and find out the ways to reduce the tax burden. Legal ways, of course, but whatever they can do to bring the tax burden down, I'm all for that.  I think going the S-Corporation route is probably what I'm going to be told.  

OH = RV parks are not taxed in Texas.  I have no idea why, but that's the resounding information I'm getting from everyone including the state of Texas.  I've got a basic knowledge going, I'm not sure I want to try and fill out that IRS form without help. Next time I have a few minutes, I will look at it a bit more intently and see if it's something I can do on my own. Paying accountants isn't really high on my list. The initial setup perhaps, but quickbooks really did that for me.  

 Monday - early

Cold outside, 33 degrees with real-feel of 30.  It's going to get up to 59 degrees later on.  I have a light in the shed that puts off a lot of heat.  Even at 30 degrees, give it 20 minutes and it will warm up in there.  I want to get as much of the wiring done today as I can possibly get done.  I will be charging up the 1/2 pipe as well to see if that is also -hopefully - leak free and can move on from the water stuff, at least for the washer and dryer.

Yes, the dryer has a hose going into it for some sort of steam option to get wrinkles out of clothing. I have never heard of this before and will be interested to see if it actually works.  IE: do a load of wash once I get it going.  With the water hopefully done, it shouldn't be much longer.  The drain is complete excepting running the line to the roof so it's really just a matter of getting the electrical finished or at least, mostly finished.  But I think I want all the electrical lines run for everything before I go hooking up the main line to the lines in the pedestal.  

Realistically, I could already do that, it's just 2 hot lines and a neutral. Oh, speaking of that, I just remembered I also have to put a ground rod in. I have the rod already, I didn't get the ground wire and the clip to attach to the rod yet.  So, there is another trip to Lowe's before I can think about turning on power. But I'm not going to Lowe's first thing, at least, not if I can find an extension cord here long enough to work instead of having to buy yet another cord.  Oops, I need 2 grounding rods. This is why I watch endless YouTube videos of this stuff....

Anyway, I don't think I want to energize the main line until the whole thing is ready to go, that way there are no accidents/electrocutions and death, lol.  The wire just plugs into a 125 amp breaker that feeds the board with power that feeds the individual circuit breakers.  I'm glad I bought a bigger breaker box, I'm going to need several circuits for everything. The dryer, water heater and oven will get their own, dual pole breaker.  The HipCamp will likely have 2 single pole breakers devoted to that.  The window AC - I haven't decided yet, but probably inline with the light switch and light.  I run a window AC in my room and that circuit also provides power to everything else in the room. 

I can put the washer on that circuit too.  I currently have the window ac fan, 2 space heaters and the coffee maker going on one circuit in here along with lights, computer, charging, etc.  It's a 15 amp line.  I'm installing 20 amps for that circuit.  I'm ready to try and get this stuff over with, it's taking too long.  People are wanting the washer and dryer and I am definitely trying to get it up and going.  It's far more work than one would anticipate.  

I am buying a cord of firewood for $175 - very cheap price and 18 inch long pieces.  This is far better than the first cord I bought.  There wasn't a cord there to begin with and much of the pieces weren't even a foot long.  Just a rip off, really.  They tried to claim it was a cord, I know better.  This person is also going to string it up into bundles. I offered to pay more.  I don't know how much more he wants, I'm assuming at least $100. Maybe more.  

I was quoted $10 a bundle from a large firewood company in Dallas.  That's my cost to buy bulk quantity. I had to laugh at that.  I don't want to even try and charge my guests $10 per bundle, I consider that an outrageous price. Lowe's has bundles like that at $10.99 and I laughed the first time I saw it. Their pile isn't dwindling quickly -  at all.  Not only was this company going to charge me that much, I would have had to drive clear to Dallas to pick it up.  No thank you.  

I've got another week stay that came in Saturday.  As of Monday next week, that will be the end of any short term stays this month and only 5 days worth booked for next month. That is not good.  I am motivated to get this project completed and get started on the bathroom already.  There should be minimal costs to build the bathroom now that I already have the toilet and the shower stall.  Lumber to build the walls and form the shower stall. Floor drain and p trap for the shower, floor drain for the toilet.  It's going to be fun trying to hook all of that up.  Not just hooking it up, but leak free hooking it up.  

Still, I have most of the supplies, at least the costly stuff.  Lumber isn't cheap but I won't need that much of it.  Maybe 10 studs at something like $4.99 per 8 foot stick.  I think. I haven't measured it yet, I'm just doing head calculation of how many studs I'll need for vertical and the horizontal studs.  Oh, forgot the door.  I will probably buy a pre-framed door, I'm just not good enough to try to frame my own door setup.  That will add on to the cost but it will eliminate a lot of headaches. 

Anyway,  I am going to have the firewood by the shed now.  That way I can set up a camera on it and see who's taking it and see if they are going to be honest about it. Yes, the honor system for now.  I don't know of any other way to do it besides simply selling it only when I'm there.  These people show up at night and have fires long after I've gone home.  

If it doesn't work out, I will either not sell firewood at all or it will only be available for the hours that I am present at the property.  I don't know how honest any of these people that are using firewood are, I don't really trust strangers too much.  

If you think I'm going back to work before I get most or all of this done, think again.  I have enough money coming in now to tide me over for a while longer.  In fact, if I get rid of some more stuff I don't really have to have, I may be able to live off of the income until I get it completed and then - maybe - I will go back to trucking.  Maybe.  I don't want to be broke all the time, ie: just paying bills and nothing else.  

I have been reading that these bank collapses are going to make it much more difficult to get business funding for upstarts or expansions. That is really disappointing.  I don't know how I am going to expand the park without a loan. Another septic system is almost 7 grand in and of itself.  Of course, if I could get a septic system installed and have them install the piping, the rest I could do mostly myself and save a lot of money.  I don't want to install the piping because it has to be at a minimum pitch and tho I did okay with the sewer line I installed for the shed, I really don't want to try and do that for lots.  

Putting wiring in the ground is easy, installing pedestals apparently isn't that hard and I can definitely run my own water line. That would leave dirt work and gravel.  So let's say 6 more lots, I think that's what I can get on that size septic system.  $500 for wiring, around $400 a piece for pedestals, $700 per truckload for gravel, $7,000 plus piping for the septic, around a grand for water line and fittings.  

Looking at over 15 grand plus a couple grand for unknowns/higher prices/ more materials than expected.  If paying someone to do the dirt work, add a couple thousand.  So more like 20 grand.  It would be weird if I couldn't get a collateral loan for that much.  You know, put the entire property up for repayment? I could easily fill up 6 more spaces with long term, which is around 3 grand more per month income.  I could definitely live off of that plus the income already being realized with the 14 spaces. 

That's basically what I'm going to try and do tho, see if I can get a collateral loan.  

When I get this shed closer to done, I'm going to be calling the contractor's business partner - he recommended him and gave me his phone number - and see if I can get anything going.  I won't know unless I try, market be damned and failed banks be damned as well.  There are still going to be loans made, it will be at higher interest rates. It's whatever, as long as it doesn't consume the entire amount of projected income.  The business partner is a banker and can give me an idea of how much the park is worth including the 25 acres it's sitting on. I guess they would also have to finance the property to make a collateral loan.  I'm wondering if I shouldn't divide the property into 2?  The main driveway is a permanent easement tho I would have that written into the thing and I could have the RV park as a separate entity from the rest of the property, some 17-1/2 acres.  

If I could get a loan, that would mean the 17-1/2 acres would be paid off in full and the only amount owing would be on the RV park itself.  I don't owe a huge amount on the property, somewhere around $64k right now.  But its a 20 year loan, that's how I got the payments so low.  

Well, I'm not getting anything done sitting here, musing about things.

G'day

 Church was great!  I mean, the message was a basic one but it spoke to my heart directly . The kids enjoyed church as well.  I took them to Applebee's as a final thing to do for Spring Break, which is over today. Tomorrow,  the 2 younger boys go back to school, the older one is apparently going to do things with grandma at some sort of festival.  And I will be forcing my @$$ out of bed early to get over there and get s*** done.  Let's try to get most of the wiring done tomorrow?  Maybe?  

Whatever.  As stated in a comment in the last post, I have thoroughly enjoyed not having to sit in a truck all day long, alone, being watched by idiots in a corporate building somewhere scrutinizing my every move, being watched over by all sorts of electronic devices and basically making driving a miserable experience. 

The answer to that is buy my own truck.  I don't want to do that, but I wouldn't have to be exposed to people I don't even know are watching me if they so choose.  No, they probably aren't watching drivers all day long, they are probably reviewing "coachable events", as if any of those idiots could teach me anything about driving trucks - from people that have never driven one.  They have no clue what it's like to sit in a vehicle for 11 hours behind the wheel and then spend the rest of the time in the truck but not in the driver's seat.   

When you buy a truck, you become married to the thing. You can't just walk away from it like you can from a trucking company's truck.  And from what I have learned from OO's, it's a very difficult time to be an OO right now with all the undercutting going on from foreigners coming to this nation to drive trucks - many of whom have no training driving trucks and apparently get some sort of pass with their license acquired from that other nation with far fewer requirements.  

Still, I could drive a chemical/hazmat truck and make very good money. Several job openings.  It's just the idea of going back to that.....

And anyway, I'm going to at least finish the washer/dryer setup before I make such decisions, but rest assured, the idea of going back to trucking, as unpalatable as it may be, has been in my mind in the last month or so. Haven't discussed it much here because I just can't get myself to cross that bridge - yet.  Trust me, if I start going broke, I will be back in a truck.  That's a no-brainer.  I'm not going bankrupt over my desire to just do the park and nothing else.  

It would certainly help my chances of getting a decent loan if I were employed with a sizeable, annual income.  I'm still on that "just need another" 14 -40 lots to live comfortably. The more, the better. Of course, you get too many and then you have to have employees - and that can be quite costly. 

I'll just add here the washer-dryer setup is getting close.  The problem is when you are running wiring, you are supposed to do all of it when you are doing it. That means the washer, the dryer, the light switches, lights, outlet for range, outlets for the cameras, everything.  

Look, I'm seriously tempted by this 4 day a week, 70k per year job training drivers. It has a curriculum, you just follow it and give your own advice, of course, after decades of being in the industry.  These new drivers are woefully undertrained and misinformed about the trucking lifestyle.  Many truck driving training courses are only giving the bare minimum to pass the CDL tests.  It teaches them nothing about the nuances of driving trucks. Maybe they don't want you teaching them that stuff, probably would have people dropping out if you tell them the stark realities of the industry?  

Yes, I can make a ton more money going out on the road and hauling hazardous materials, but do I want to? LMAO, if you've read this blog for any length of time, you will know that answer to that question is a definitive NO, LOLOL.  

Anyway, these antibiotics are dragging me down. They are doing their job but they are making me sleepy all day long.  I'm not using that as an excuse to do nothing tomorrow, just saying it's dragging me down. The benefits, however, are worth the trouble.  

I have tomorrow planned.  Lowe's - again - and then start hooking up the outlets.  Electrical outlets, that is.  Well, maybe I can bypass Lowe's and just take an extension cord from here for the day, pretty sure we have a few laying around that aren't being used.  I don't really want to go to Lowe's tomorrow - at all actually.  

That's all.  I'm done for the day, watching  a movie, chilling, hanging with friends, etc etc etc.  

 Sunday - morning

Yesterday, I went over to the property and finished the router stand setup.  The box I bought was curious.  There are no holes in it except for cutouts that you can remove for screws.  It's supposed to be a junction box - so where are the wires supposed to come in at?  Well, whatever the case, I got out my hole saw and cut a hole big enough to get an extension cord up into it as well as drilling out the holes for the screws.  

Unfortunately, the extension cord I bought wasn't long enough to reach to the pole, so I had to use another one that is being used to bring electricity to the shed until I get electric in there.  I would like to hope this coming week I will have everything done on electric and I can fire the box up with power and have outlets instead of running a cord.  

Until then, I will have to go buy another cord.  

Anyway, the device has 3 bars of service now instead of the two it had which is enough to pump wifi throughout the park. I kind of think I should have placed the pole somewhere else, sort of. Instead of behind the row of trailers, I think I should have put it in front.  The drawback to that is if you put it next to the driveway, there is the real chance that someone coming into the park and backing in will hit the thing and destroy it.  Still, reception would be much better if I had done it that way.  It's not a big deal to cut that thing out of the ground and put it somewhere else, the pole doesn't have to be super high to get the required signal strength.  

I was thinking of putting the devices near the ends of the park and that way, all the units will be covered, I can also install a camera along the driveway that can receive the wifi signal and also be able to cover the intended HipCamp area with wifi as well.  People want their amenities, that's all I can say about that.  I definitely must have wifi in the shed for a couple of cameras.  One inside watching the machines and one outside keeping an eye on the driveway.  In total, I'd like 4 cameras. The 2 at the shed, one at the main driveway and one on the HipCamp area.  

This will cover my @$$ for any bogus claims - or even legitimate claims - for damages or injuries.  People can lie, the camera does not.  

I mean, I did get the water stuff done this week, tho I haven't charged the half inch pipe up yet to see if it leaks. In fact, I turned the water pressure back off. I will turn it back on Monday when I get over there and leave it on all day long.  If it's going to spring a leak, I want to be there to be able to shut it off.  However, a couple hours after I shut it off, I opened the valve that lets water into the water heater tank.  There was still pressure in the lines as you could hear the water spurt into the tank. That is a very good sign.  All of that trouble is finally paying off.  

I need another T to add to the half inch line so I can direct it towards the other side of the shed for the shower and toilet setup.  Put the T in, a short piece of pipe and then a half in valve.  That way I don't have to shut off water to the entire shed to be able to work on those lines.  I have 4 valves installed so far.  The toilet will have it's own shut off, the shower sill be able to be shut off with the 2 valves I will have installed that go to it, there is a shut off to the entire shed and another valve in the existing trench.  The trench is for the sewer line going to the toilet and shower.

I realized after I started installing the water lines for the water heater and the washer that I didn't need to run water to the other side from the outside. I will just go from the inside through the 2X4 studs.  I will install another water spigot where that one in the trench ends and have it available for HipCampers.  I am not going to plumb water out into the HipCamp area, it's too much money and I don't see any need for it. If they need water, they can pull up to that valve I will install and fill it up.  No sewer out there either, same thing: I have the parts to install a sewer dump  next to the shed. 

I will advertise it as well. It won't be cheap tho.  $15 to dump. That's mid-range going rate. Some charge as low as $10 and others go as high as $20, I even saw one listed at $25.  It's a deterrent - stay at the park instead of just coming into dump. But I don't really care that much, it won't get that much use, more of a convenience.  I don't necessarily just want people coming in there to dump, but HipCampers will be able to use it for "free" - included in the price of their stay.  

Honestly, if I knew what I was doing, I would have had all of this done by now.  

I can see weeks worth of trying to figure out how to install stuff that I have never installed before.  I don't expect the wiring to take terrible long tho, it's pretty simple stuff.  HipCamp wiring will wait until I get everything else done. 

I actually have done some framing in the past - but we're talking 3 decades. Still, it's also pretty basic stuff.  That doesn't mean I'll breeze through it but at least I have an idea of how it works. The bathroom door will probably give me some headaches and framing in the shower stall.  I'm not going to get a door for the shower stall, it is made so you can either use a door or simply put up a shower curtain. A door assembly is at least $300 unless you find someone selling one on the Marketplace. Just not worth that much to me, if someone really wants to take a shower in there, they aren't going to care about a shower curtain.

The door will have a lock on it, I'm just making it possible for someone to clean up if they don't have access to a shower or if they have a family with kids and don't really want to use the trailer shower for all of that.  

BTW, T Mobile has a deal going for cameras as well. There is a monthly service fee, of course, but it records 24 hours a day and it's 2 cameras.  One for inside the shed and one facing the Park driveway.  These types of cameras are plug and play. No additional equipment needed beyond needing a wifi connection.  You can look at what's going on 24 hours a day and it records, 24 hours a day.  I didn't opt for that yet, but I suspect I will be.  It is likely I am going to install the next router next to the shed - in between the shed and doggy park.  That way, the shed and the Hipcamp has access to internet and a portion of the RV Park will also be covered.  

Just so glad that T Mobile has this deal and it's a "forever" thing, at least according to their claims. I don't know why they are offering it that cheap for unlimited data and the ability for each device to hook 66 devices into it.  They claim there is no reduction in speed with that many devices hooked up. I don't know, I just know that it's an amazing deal and is saving my @$$ both over the local, wired company that wanted over 7 grand just to install the wiring and Verizon, which is charging and outrageous amount of money. My current bill is $375. 

Things are slowly working out.  It's been a bumpy road and I've made my share of mistakes, but it's going to be ok, as the old saying goes. Well, I hope so anyway and asking the Lord's blessing upon it. I need to call Verizon since they haven't asked for the unit back and give me instructions on how to send the thing back to them - or take it back to the store.  And the trash can - that account needs ended, completely spaced that out.  And set up auto pay for the dumpster - still a bit of things to do beyond just shed stuff.

Slowly whittling away at the expenditures and bringing the costs down.  This way, even if I need to go get a job, it doesn't have to be an OTR or Regional position that keeps me out all the time.  In fact, I am very interested in the driver training position available. Home every night, Monday-Thursday, 3 day weekends. 10 hour days tho.  Nothing new to me, but I haven't been working in that capacity for a while.  It would take a bit of adjustment time to get used to that again, lol.  

Keto - no weight loss in the last several days, that's pretty typical. But the fat loss is becoming noticeable.  

Map - Google still showing a forest instead of what it is now.  I wish I would have made a few changes in the trees taken down.  The tree row at the south end of the portion where the park is could have stayed up, providing a natural view barrier to those ugly tanks.  I was thinking ahead into the future that I would need them down, but when is that going to happen? And even so, I didn't really have to take all of those down. There is nothing I can do now about it beyond planting more trees.  Anyway, the satellite image shows those trees standing.  I need Google to update the image lol.  That way I can make a map of the park without paying $300 to someone to bring a drone out. 

I still have yet to take that video - well retake it.  I want to upload a video of the park and a separate video of the walking trails.  I did get one but the camera was shaking around too much. 

And that's that. The boys all want to go to church. I say all - the step-brother is here for he week even tho other 2 have to go to school this coming week.  Different Spring break schedules from different states.  I am not going to be dealing with the third this coming week, thankfully, I have too much to do to be able to supervise children and get work done. It's fairly distracting to have them constantly asking for this and that. I don't mind doing it, I just need the quiet atmosphere to be able to think things through while doing that project.  I very much like going over there alone or with Addler.

Well, off to church.

Have a Blessed Day in the Lord!

 So this started 3 days ago. This guy says he's in a car, saw my ad on Hipcamp and asked if he could stay the night - in his car - to recharge batteries on his various devices?  I didn't know what to say right off. Hipcamp isn't opened yet.  At the rate I'm going with it, it's going to be a month at least before all that junk is in that shed and fully operational. What a pain! 

Whatever the case, he sounded desperate so I offered him an extension cord and to park behind the shed, warning him there are no facilities here and you would have to use the "great outdoors" to relieve yourself.  I mean, it's not the end of the world to pee on a tree, but some people don't like doing that.  I disappear into the woods when I've over there whenever the need arises, I'm not driving all the way home to use the toilet.  

Someday, I'll have a toilet installed in there and I wont have to go anywhere.   

Well, he didn't show up that night and he texted me telling me why: he was stuck wherever he was at and was trying to get out of the predicament he was in.  No worries, I thought, I was only going to charge him $5 anyway, more along the lines of helping him out than making any money off of the deal.  Yes, well he did show up the next day, night actually.  I never saw him, it was just messaging. He showed up when it was pouring rain and I had already put the extension cord and power strip out there for him, wrapped in plastic so the rain wouldn't get into it.  

It was yesterday morning I was heading to the property with the boys and saw him driving out. There was no mistaking him in the car, lol, because one of the tenants texted me asking about it.  I am very fortunate to have 4 sets of eyes and ears over there watching out for the place.  Well, turns out he left me $10 cash instead of the $5, I texted him saying I was only charging him $5.  Yes, he replied, I left a tip. Well thank you!  He also left a lengthy review on Google and it was a good one.  That was worth the hassle in and of itself.  

Well, I got quite a lot done yesterday, in fact, I got the 3/4 water system installed and charged. No leaks.  I got the 1/2 system done as well, but I didn't test it.  Not enough time had elapsed for the curing process and I'm not interested in blowing out lines with glued on fittings that haven't had enough time to cure yet.  I will be testing that today. About 3 hours in, the boys wanted to go home.  I accommodated them on that one, my meds had arrived and I wanted to take an antibiotic pill ASAP. 

I took a nap and went back to the property - late actually - by myself.  I've had those boys all week long, time to pass the torch.  The youngest is a handful, the oldest is low maintenance but put the two together and it can get a bit dicey at times.  They fight with each other - as brothers will do - and it tends to get old.  

I dug out a hole for the 4X4X8 wood - I admittedly had completely forgotten about it but my memory was sparked when I remembered the T Mobile internet isn't working.  Why? Because the device is too low to the ground and needs to be elevated.  As soon as I pick it up, it adds another bar of service and the internet is restored.  Anyway, I got that in the ground, dumped quickcrete around the wood in the ground, poured water on it, leveled it and left that to dry. 

Back to the shed, I started running wire.  Of course, there is always something.  I don't have enough wire and the route I am making it go, I need clips to hold the wire in place.  I needed something else which has escaped my memory - I write everything down so I don't forget things when I go up to Lowe's.  It's time consuming to go up there. I'm sure there are many more trips up there before the entire shed is done.  So, this morning I will be going up there for that stuff and then back over to the property.

But, the first priority is to get that box attached to the 4X4 and get that setup going.  I want that done so I can unplug the Verizon over-priced trash and send that back to Verizon  They can keep it.  I am ordering another T Mobile device so I have complete park coverage including the shed and hopefully will extend to the HipCamp area.  I do want internet in the shed, I intend on running my video surveillance in there and it will have to have functioning WiFi in order for me to be able to view what's going on over there when I'm not around.  And recording as well.  

The extra unit will guarantee full park coverage as well.  It's $100 for both versus almost $400 for that Verizon nonsense.  What a joke.  

Done. Decided to get that over with.  I am also switching my phones over to T Mobile as well.  The savings over Verizon is amazing.  I'll be paying around $170 per month for 2 of the internet devices giving unlimited data and 2 phones. They are paying off the phone I purchased through Verizon last year - still $500 plus on that one - and sending SIM cards.  I'm all about saving every last penny I can save right now, which reminds me....

Dish Network. I have been avoiding that because I hate calling either of the satellite tv companies. The process to talk to anyone with any knowledge is ridiculous. I will just start with the house here and tell them I want to cancel the service. If they don't drop the rate, I will cancel the service today.  Only me and the kids use the satellite, the other folks use other, internet-based services to watch whatever they like to watch.  I like my satellite, don't get me wrong, but it isn't worth anything remotely close to what they are charging me now.  

Well, I might tackle Dish today, I might now.  My mind is sort of drifting over to the property and trying to get things done. I can only take so many of these mega-corporation phone calls on any given day. But, I am glad I got the second device because they not only offered a huge savings on monthly phone service, they also are sending me a $200 Visa gift card plus they will be sending a Mastercard to pay off the phone once I get to that point.  

That really feels good. Saving literally hundreds of dollars for same service.  They couldn't issue me a second internet for the property - my address isn't showing up there. Not surprising.  I asked if I could just get a second one for the house? Sure.  Okay!  lol

The coughing went down substantially last night after taking those antibiotics. I kind of thought it would work considering this is probably a bacterial infection versus a virus.  

Keto - up a few pounds.  It's quite expected.  I'm also barely in ketosis - I think it's the cough medicine I've been taking. You can taste the sugar in it.  I don't know if any cough medicine exists that isn't loaded with carbs.  I'm going to try to not use cough medicine today since the coughing has abated substantially.  

Well, I guess sitting here is not going to get anything done. I'm at the least going to try to get that router setup going so people can stop complaining that the wifi doesn't work. I can see why they would want it - you pay quite a bit extra for unlimited hotspot on a phone.  Meaning running your laptop or streaming devices off of it.  Verizon certainly gets me for it.  I'm just glad to have found a viable alternative that actually works and doesn't cost a fortune. I wanted to get in on that $50 per month deal before it goes away - I doubt they will have that offer going forever. 

 I'm hardly getting anything done at the property with the extracurricular things going on elsewhere.  Although I'm not really regretting it, certainly not for going and getting those shower stalls.  I'll have to go to Karnack again today to get the other shower stall, buy parts to fix the situation with the cracked adapter in the shed and then hopefully get to work before it starts raining.  

Yup, it's supposed to start raining this afternoon and go well into the night.  The adapter thing is going to be cutting the whole thing out of there and starting with new 90's, the adapter and a reducer.  The reducer is rather expensive, no choice in the matter.  I would very much like to get that fixed and hope to the High Heavens that there are no more leaks and I can move on with this.  It's not as bad as it sounds.  Cutting those lines and replacing everything is more a  matter of time than aggravation.  

You simply put one piece on at a time, give it a bit of time to dry and start curing, then move to the next piece.  I can get the flexible hose and work on the water heater while that's doing it's drying thing.  And half inch hose has to be installed back to the laundry box.  

Well, yesterday's excursion into the wild blue yonder ended up with me getting sunburnt on my face. Hadn't been burned in so long, it was a bit surprising to see that in the mirror last night.

I am also down another pound.  It's just a pound - but it is going down, now up, that's a very good thing.  11 pounds from 200.  Fat bulges are noticeably receding.  

And a complaint about a tenant at the park, replete with a pic.  They left a plastic bag out with household trash in it, something had gotten into it and it was strewn all over their grassy area.  These people owe lot rent today, I will be discussing this situation with them.  It's just intolerable and I won't just let such situation continue on.  

Whatever.  Just stuff that I expect I will have to deal with on and off.  It's human nature and some people have no respect for their living area or anyone else's. At least, so far anyway, the beer bottle situation has changed. They are no longer dumping trash into the can by the shed. That is a huge step in the right direction.  But leaving trash out by your door? Even if it's in a trash bag? Animals smell right through that stuff and will come straight for it.  

Actually, I haven't seen the people in lot 6, 8 and 9 since I left that notice.  Their trailers are still there, but I do wonder if they are planning on moving.  No worries, I am getting calls on a daily basis and have several people on a waiting list.  They can move to wherever a park allows such squalid living conditions.  

Of course, the people complaining about the bones and trash aren't any better.  Their dogs are getting loose and running directly down there to eat them. Pet are supposed to be leashed at all times - clearly written in my rules.  No one is perfect. 

No new reservations in many days now.  What to do?  Finish the shed, lmao.  

If reservations don't start picking up, I'm going to rent out lot 11 after the end of next week. I have a couple of stays coming up, but after that there is nothing.  I mean, it can change quickly, it has a few times now when I was thinking, gee, I want to rent out that lot long term.  And then within a week's time it gets filled up with enough reservations to cancel that thought.  

Anyway, the day is moving along without me. Time to get busy.  

 Slept poorly last night.  So much so that it is not a very pleasant thought about the day facing me today.  I mean, I'm going to have to leave here soon, go to the property, hook up the trailer, go to near the state line, get that shower - and whatever else they may have that I might need - head back to the property, over to Longview for a kite festival, spend a few hours there and then finally, after that, go home.  

Taylor is manning a booth for her company at the kite festival, but she promised to bring the boys for the festival itself.  The problem is, her work dumped a bunch of stuff on her at the last minute to prepare for today's event.  That meant that she wouldn't have time to drive clear home to get the boys and take them back over there, which was her original plan.  So I decided to go ahead and take them, it's Spring Break and they can't just be sitting at home all day long for a week.  

I just can't believe this coughing nonsense. It's endless. If I'm laying down, I'm coughing.  I am tempted to get some antibiotics to ensure that this isn't some non-virus thing that can be treated.  I at least want to try meds to see if they will help alleviate this endless misery.  Well, during the daytime, it's not so bad, I start coughing at times but it doesn't go on for hours.  

I'm basically in a race right now to get this shed done.  It really needs to be done before the end of this month, but I doubt it will be.  When I say that, I mean the bathroom done as well as laundry.  Kitchen can wait til the last thing on the list.  It's going to be a scavenger hunt as well  - well it already has been, I'm not buying new and I will wait until I find something such as this shower stall before I pull the trigger and buy.  

_________________

Very long day.  Got the trailer, went over to Karnack, got the shower stall and a toilet. I said I wasn't going to buy a used toilet, but this thing was hardly used and only $40.  I saw the other shower stall and asked how much?  $100.  Sold!  That shower stall is the walls, the base and the glass door.  Similar setup at Lowe's starts at $599 and goes up from there. Not including tax.  I don't need 2 shower stalls, I will decide which one I want to use and sell the other one - at a markup.  

They had an old, metal bench that rocks on gliders.  You want this? How much? $20.  I was shocked and said yes without hesitation.  That thing cleaned up and painted is easily worth $300.  I've looked.  It can go in the doggy park or it can go by the fire pit.  

I didn't get the glass stall today tho.  Not enough room on the trailer. That fiberglass stall took up a lot of the trailer, the bench more and the toilet finished it off. I will be going back tomorrow to get the other stall. It is likely I will keep the glass setup and resell the fiberglass one.  But I'm not sure yet...

Back to the property, dropped the trailer and headed to the annual kite festival over in Longview.  Replete with a free kite for the first 720 people.  Both boys were into it, but the older boy was really getting into it.  We did that for quite a while, then to the bounce houses, then to the ice cone truck, back to where Taylor was, back to kiting, then to the bounce houses again and then...out of here.  Oops, forgot the boys got into a fire truck and police cruiser.  

That was 3-1/2 hours of that and I was done.  Came home, made dinner and here I am.  Needing to run over to the property actually, which I'm doing soon before I just say nope, I'm toast,; thanks, have a great day.  

Oh, those people that came in last night? They had 100 grand easily worth of toys on 2 trailers, which doesn't include the trailers themselves and the vehicles pulling them. They are going to the Sabine River thing that is also an annual event. Apparently they weren't able to get a spot down there for last night, hence staying at my place.  They had side-by-sides, 3 of them and other stuff.  Those things aren't cheap and these were decked out well beyond manufacturers outfitting.  

The water lines...well, the adapter has a crack in it, hence why the entire thing blew up.  So, I will have to redo that entire setup down there.  Unbelievable.  I'll be checking the next adapter for cracks....that's a bit of work and a few dollars as well.  I'm just going to replace the entire setup - it's just pvc stuff not extremely expensive.  Another trip to Lowe's tomorrow - but I was going anyway for the flexible pipe for the water heater.  

Shrugs shoulders, fix it and move on.

I'm very tired.  Dinner is almost done cooking.

 About all I can say about that is... whoops!  I put everything together this morning - well all the way up to the water heater anyway - so I could have it dry and cured enough to put it under pressure later on.  Including installing 2 valves for water shut off purposes for future reference.  

So, we went to a museum today - it was a kid's museum full of fun things for the kids but  Taylor and I were having fun as well.  A pretend kitchen, kids were handing us make believe coffee, fried dishes and other things that we pretended to enjoy.  We built a sort of log cabin thing out of giant Lincoln style logs.  

After that, we had a bite to eat at a local restaurant, which was quite good and then we went home after stopping by the property. Taylor hadn't seen it since shortly after the trees had been cut down - a long time ago.  We drove around it and she was like, well let's have weiners and smore's tonight!  I have that big fire pit that basically, I am the only one that uses it.  Lol, it wasn't intended that way, but that's how it has worked out.  

Well, I went back to the property with one of the boys - who really wanted to go, the other one did not - to turn the water on to see what would happen and to take Addler for a walk in the woods.   That's the whoops moment.  You see, when I was bringing the pipe from outside to the inside of the shed? I forgot to glue one of the fittings together.  When I turned the water on, there was a literal geyser going on inside of the shed - there is very good water pressure at the park and it comes pouring out. 

Well, I turned the water back off and just figured I'd come back tonight for the hot dogs and fix it after everything drained out of it.  Which is exactly what I did, but I didn't turn the water back on. Not with that much pressure, I wanted to let it dry/cure enough that it's not going to blow up again.  Over to the fire pit and James already had a fire going - we used my last fire log.  We had fun roasting hot dogs and making s'mores, tho I didn't eat any s'mores, my diet said no.

I also checked the dumpster - almost completely full. A couple more bags of trash would fit into it, yes, but it was amazing to see how much trash was in that thing.  I don't really think anyone is dumping into it that doesn't stay there, I just think with 14 lots and mostly full, that's going to happen.  The dumpster is being emptied tomorrow. Hopefully people will get rid of more trash tonight to keep the next one from getting filled up too quickly. 

I have the boys tomorrow morning, but after Taylor comes and gets them I will be back over there.  I will charge the system back up and make sure there are no leaks up to that point.  The pipe came off immediately, there is no way the entire system charged up with water. But, earlier today, I was trying to think what I was missing.  Then it dawned on me. They don't put solid lines on water heaters, they have somewhat flexible tubing coming off of it. 

Of course! I want flexibility because  neither the amenity shed nor the small shed the water heater is in are tied down to the ground.  Yup, back to Lowe's tomorrow morning to get those hoses and also to attempt to find the fittings to convert the pipe to CPVC.  If I can't figure out what to use to convert it, hopefully that plumber who works there will be there to help me out.  If I can get the figured out and if there are no leaks, I can pretty much get the water lines completed tomorrow. I only have to run the hot water line back to the laundry box.  That will take some hole drilling and pipe cutting and installing some fittings, but a couple of hours should be enough. 

Once I am sure that is good to go, I will start on the electrical.  It will invariably mean another trip to Lowe's but I intend on getting as much done first as I can so I know exactly what I will need and at least try to make a one-trip excursion to Lowe's, instead of multiple trips.  

I - think - I have all the wiring I need for the dryer, washer, AC unit, wall switch, light fixture and another general outlet.  I definitely have enough boxes and I think I have enough plugs.  I have all the circuit breakers I need for that portion of the project, I will probably need a few more for HipCamp. HipCamp is not a priority at the moment, the shed needs done first.  

______________

Shower stall. A person had just posted it on Marketplace while I was writing this entry.  Something told me to look at FB Marketplace, don't ask my why, I think God is involved with a lot of things in our lives and He blesses us in ways we don't even recognize.  And there it was.  It's a molded shower stall, the base and the walls all one piece.  It doesn't have a door on it, but they only want $225 for it - that stall sells new $700 and up all day long.  They claim it is in near perfect condition with no scratches or cuts in it.  It has the water valves and the shower tubing on it as well.  I don't necessarily have to have a door, I can put a shower curtain on it, just have to see if i can find a door cheap as well.  It's a done deal as far as I'm concerned, the man is remodeling a cabin and is upgrading it to a more luxury style setup.  I don't care about that right now, usability is all I need.  

This guy is now telling me he has a "I have another cool corner shower stall with round door".

This is actually what I wanted to begin with.  He said I could see it tomorrow, didn't give a price.  If it's the complete setup with the base, walls and glass, it's a grand. That's pretty much where the complete setup starts and goes up from there. If it has the fixtures, it would be worth even more.  I'm not telling him that, of course, he can set whatever price he wants and then we go from there.  The corner thing would be easier to install for the base doesn't need concrete put down first.  I never knew these stalls - certain styles I guess - have to have a concrete or similar layer installed on the floor first.  

Do I need this shower stall right now? No, of course not. I've been looking for quite a while now, however, and I can tell ya, that stuff isn't cheap and anything decent at a good price sells almost instantly. Unless this thing is messed up - which the pictures don't show any problems with it - I consider this just short of a miracle.  Not just for the price, but the fact that I had this feeling to look at marketplace and it was the first thing I saw on there. I'm serious, it was literally the first thing that showed up.  I'll watch videos how to install it replete with the concrete if necessary.  I don't really care, the price is the selling point. The labor is - it is what it is.  

"Apparently this is a great price- in 30 mins I have people begging me"

Lol. Yup, I can imagine!

Well, long day and time to start thinking about bed. Tomorrow is going to be chock full o' stuff to do as well.