So...(yesterday, Wednesday)

I get a call earlier. You have any lots available? Yes!  Good, my husband is coming through Gilmer he'll be there in a little while.  Ok, well he can just pull in and take whatever empty lot he likes.  Well what about payment? I'm in the middle of something right now (sweating my ass off while I was doing it), I'll catch up with him later.  These people are apparently not used to hearing that. I don't need payment right away if I'm busy doing something else, I WILL be at their door at some point, they will pay.  I have no doubt about that.  I know my rights as an RV park owner, they show and don't pay, they leave.

So far, no one has ever tried to not pay.  I may run into it some day, but up until now, it's been a non-issue. They pull in, park, hook up. I come by later, they pay, we're good. 

So, they pulled in while another person called.  They live on the street that connects to our road - not the main highway end but the other end where our road crosses the Interstate and ends.  It connects to another county road. That entire road is not serviced by SWEPCO, they are serviced by a rural coop and these people were being told it could be weeks or longer before their power is back up.  They have a travel trailer and say they are tired of paying $75 per day for electricity when they could come to my park and pay much less.  

Makes sense to me.  We've been going between $48 and $90 per day.  I just filled the tanks back up maybe an hour before the power came back on.  I had no choice, it was time to refill, I couldn't bank on the power coming back on, you have no idea when it's going to happen in these dire circumstances.  I can use the fuel in the mowers at the property, James can use it in his welder.  Not like it's going to sit around for a long time and go bad.  

They grumpy texted today as well. They said the area they were sent to, all the RV parks are charging around $1,500 per month. Some with no amenities at all.  Port Sulpher, Louisiana.  Apparently they are building a new power plant down there, which of course would mean bringing in workers from all over the place.  Imagine that, actually building new power plants in this energy hostile environment the White House is creating in this nation.  

I replied that I expect prices to go well up around here when the Interstate starts getting built.  They always bring in a huge amount of crews and those people have to stay somewhere. Some will stay in hotels, yes, but I always see trailer parks filled up and even temporary trailer parking at the job sites themselves.  It was a bit strange to even hear from them again.  I figured they were done with me, lol.

____________________________

5 hours short of 7 days, we finally just got power back on. 20 minutes ago.  We are hoping beyond hope it actually stays on this time. We did shut the generators off, they have been running almost the entire time and need a break.  But, we are not rolling up extension cords, not at all. I am not doing that again and then having the power go back off 20 minutes later.  In fact, I suspect we'll just leave it all like it is all night long.  Or, as far as I am concerned anyway, my extension cord going to my room is staying put.  

And, confirming it's going to take hours for the house to cool down.  It's been on half an hour now and only down 1 and half degrees.  13 degrees to go.  

We'll see if it stays on, it would be wonderful if it did. 

The grandma just showed up as well. I was asking why she was coming here when there is no power on?  It makes literally no sense.  It's hot in the house, there would be 6 people sleeping in that bedroom.  I don't understand her thinking, at all. James can't go back with her until after work tomorrow.  She hit it lucky with the power going back on.  The house will finally be cooled back down after all of this time.  

I keep walking out there to see if it's cooled down yet, lol. The doors have had to been slightly open with all the extension cords, lots of flies in the house, gag.  I was thinking we could just fumigate the common areas of the house and leave for a few hours.  The kids will be gone and we can just go do something, like watch a movie we wanted to see.  

Whatever the case, there will be a major cleanup operation.  And laundry.  Sweeping, cleaning, vacuuming, etc.  Wait til the kids are gone tho.  

The internet is out once again.  IT comes and goes. We went and toured some more of the destruction today.  A mile away, there was an area we hadn't seen that someone told us about. It was insanity.  Trees had fallen and destroyed several houses, fallen and pulled down lines, fallen and snapped telephone poles in half like match sticks.  You just can't describe such things, you have to see it with your own eyes. HUGE trees EVERYWHERE. 

And my property!  I hadn't gone for a hike in the back 15 acres since the storm hit. I had NO idea there would be that kind of destruction back there!  Trees down all over the place, some of them huge trees. I'm going to need to do a cleanup effort back there but with all of that, we're talking days worth of work, maybe weeks.  

 8 hours into day 6 of no power.

Yup. We're done with this. We have all been trying to keep a good attitude but this situation has us all in each other's business what with only 2 bedrooms being cooled.  They are still saying Friday for our power to be restored.  I am not blaming the power company by any stretch of the imagination, that isn't the point.

The point is, yes, we should be grateful. We have 2 generators - albeit we have spent somewhere near $500 keeping them fired up.  But...it's just old.  I think I might take these kids to the movies today to distract their attention to something other than getting on each other's nerves for a little while. Just one more day. Well, 2 days really.  The grandma isn't coming until tomorrow afternoon and she isn't leaving until James gets off of work. He is going back with her. 

There's a couple of movies that are kid friendly showing in the local - and cheap I might add - theater.  I can get all 4 of us in there for less than $20.  Now, eating popcorn and drinks another story.  If we go, I will get them popcorn but the drinks will be limited to water only.  I've spent enough money.  Went through my records yesterday, I have a lot payment coming in on the 25th after that, it's the 1st.  The only other things have been some short stays here and there.  They help, definitely. One dude lengthened his stay by 5 days.  

He said they weren't finished patching up a gas line pipe they were working on. A short section, it was the only reason he came to town and then they are leaving.  They being the rest of his crew, staying where? I have no clue.  The Asplundh workers said they have to drive clear to Shreveport every day after work.  If I had rental units I could easily fill them up - temporarily anyway.  

I am still looking for a trailer.  I'm just not letting myself get carried away on price so the options are limited.  Most of it needs major work and really, aren't worth anything at all. There is utter junk being sold for 2 grand that has no value in their current condition at all.  Like, those things just sit on Marketplace, who in their right mind is going to pay that much money for something that they will have to dump thousands of dollars and untold man hours worth of work into? Not me.  I can see a little work, but nothing like replacing walls, entire floors, leaking roofs that have caused major damage inside the unit.  

If these people had bothered to at least rolled some rubber sealant on those roofs, they would have something that would be worth 2 or 3 times what they are asking for.  

Today's agenda? Keep generators running. Head to Lowe's.  Price the parts to install a breaker for the generator. If' I can get it around $50, I"m getting it.  No matter when the power comes back on, it will be available for future reference.  But if it's going to cost $100 or more, no thanks.  It just really depends on the cost of the breaker, the wire will cost around $25, the male connector around $10. This is a different type of circuit breaker than what I used on the shed.  

I have nothing else right now. 

 All 3 kids departing in 3 days for Arkansas.  I can't wait.  They are going stir crazy.  It's hot outside, only the bedrooms in the house are cooled, they need out of here.  It was planned months ago, this trip of theirs with grandma, but couldn't happen at a better time. Actually, it would be better if grandma would come get them today considering the circumstances.  I guess that's not in the works.

Yesterday, the power did come on- and go back off at the property. It was on for 6 hours. The instant it went out (I was over there most of the day), I reported it to Swepco. They have a yard a mile away and a crew was immediately dispatched.  I watched them trying to figure out what was wrong for many hours. 

I also lost 3 customers.  2 of them showed up - and left. Another called, found out I didn't have power and said no thank you. Can't blame any of them, but it was extremely unfortunate to lose that kind of business.  I need the money.  

Anyway, I was out there until around 8:00 pm and then I finally went home. I left the light switch in the on position at the shed. No guess work if the power is on, just look at the camera and see if the light is on. Later on yesterday night, the light came on and more importantly, has stayed  on all night and half the morning.

We are on day 5 of this stuff, 9 hours into it to be precise. We are getting very tired of this. Understandable tho, SWEPCO finally gave a really detailed update of what actually happened. 50 transmission lines - the type that carry high voltage went down and most of their facilities went down as well. We're talking beyond power poles and lines, this is generating plant, main plants and substations.  They are having to rebuild most of them.  

This explains why the power went out and has stayed out for so many people. It's slowly coming back on line, people getting their power restored at random, we just don't have it yet.  The fuel expenses for generators is around $90 per day.  A hotel room around here - a decent one - costs over $100.  I compare these because we have 2 bedrooms nicely cooled. A hotel room is just that: one room only.  You can imagine having 6 people in one room all day long.  This is far better even if pricey. The alternative is to just sit here in this unbearable heat.  

I don't think that is a realistic expectation with a pregnant lady, dogs, cats, 3 kids and 2 other adults besides the pregnant lady.  I guess I could deal with it - go sit at the property in the shed now that the power is back on, the AC is on in there.  Sit in the car and run the ac in there.  But you just can't do that with that many people and trying to keep your food from expiring and just trying to have a place to keep comfortable.  

_________________

There is a large Baptist church nearby feeding people for free.  They don't care who you are, come in, sit down, cool off, have a meal and a drink, charge your devices.  Second day we've taken advantage of it.  The kitchen is dark in this house, the stove doesn't work, we do have a crock pot but we'd have to eat dinner in a hot dining room.  Just no.  Eating out is expensive, but this church food is decent and it's free. We thank them profusely each time.  It's nothing grand, it fills the gut and that's all it needs to do.  

People next door's chargers were just about completely charged. These are battery packs - HUGE battery packs, you can plug a phone into and recharge the phone.  These are as big as my camera phones over at the property. Those phones last at least 2 weeks if not longer on a full charge.  We charged these things for around hours before taking them back. I still don't understand how they can bear being in that house.  It's just unfathomable to me. 

I just spent another $90 on fuel after fuel spending $47 this morning.  Yes, this is getting old. We're 5 hours short of 5 full days of this. Day 6 begins around 1:00 am.  

Whatever. The generators are full and I have about 11 gallons left sitting out there. I wont have to get fuel in the morning at least.  I am talking like this is going to last forever. No, I know it isn't, but there is no reason to relent on the new routing of fueling those machines up twice a day and more so, buying the fuel in advance.  until the power actually comes back on.

With that, I am very tired. I've been out in the heat a lot today and it has taken it's toll on me.  

 RV Park power back on. Only one person knew about it, the rest had generators hooked up. I knocked on all the doors and let everyone know that they can hook back up to the pedestals.  Some of the oilfield workers have big welding units on their trucks, they were all plugged into their generators.  Still, it isn't the same having a generator versus having the power online.  You are limited in what you can run and if you have 2 ac's, you're definitely only going to be able to run one of them.  

I saw the notification this morning and rushed over there to verify the power is on.  I don't want to turn away any more business having to tell people we are dead in the water.  

I went so far as to do a short advertisement in the gossip group.  I have avoided posting in there because of all of the negative-Nancy's that find a way to sour anything that's going on.  Some people just can't resist to continuously bash businesses for "bad" service or other people.  But, I felt it prudent to go ahead and say something about it since other parks may still be offline.  If someone wants to hook up and cool down, that's what they can do at my place! 

A giant crew of line workers came in yesterday from Appalachian Power in West Virginia.  They are rocking it, they are all over the place getting power restored everywhere. I don't know where these people are all staying, unless they got the hotels back online, there is nothing but hot hotel rooms available in this town.  I suspect they may have prioritized getting those businesses back up and running.  I wouldn't want to be working out in this heat and come home to a hot room. That would suck royally. 

Our house is, of course, still down. I am really hoping today is the end of it, but I filled the generators back up anyway.  I have one more 5 gallon can filled with gas before I have to go out and start looking for fuel again - but - the entire street which is also a state highway near my house is now back online.  That's 5 gas stations back up and running, thankfully.  I'm thinking that so many people have their power back on now, the quest to find gasoline won't be too bad.  

At the same time, I don't want to buy another 12 gallons of fuel to keep generators running if they are going to get us going.  They have to be getting close, our neighborhood is close to so many businesses and houses that have their power restored.  Im just really happy the park is back online. People that might have been thinking of leaving for greener pastures can now just sit their - well anyway, stick around. I've got 6 spots available. I need them filled up. 

I'm thankful we have generators, but this whole thing is getting a bit exasperrating.  

Well, no great plans today. The shed needs finished but I couldn't do the rest of that alone even if I wanted to. It's all ceiling stuff now and you have to have either a specialized piece of equipment to put and hold the sheets in place or you have to have 2 people holding it up and trying to screw it in.  It may very well sit until next weekend, but I'm okay with that.  I think next week I'm going to go in and get my medical certificate for truck driving renewed.   

It's still 25 days off, maybe I'll wait until the beginning of July now that I think of it. Usually, you wait until it's very close to forcing you to have to renew it or lose your driving privileges.  It's just that it's 2 years of certification and you might as well get your full 2 year's worth out of the current certification before getting recertified.  

Ok, I'm just sitting in my room and quite a bit relieved that the power is back on over there.  I don't know if I'll get more people in or not any time soon, but at least I don't have to worry about losing current long term because of the idea that I don't have power, but someone else may.  

I might write a bit more later. The house is quiet, I'm assuming the kids are being forced to stay silent while Taylor is sleeping, they have all been sleeping in their bedroom since the kid's bedroom is hot.  

Just like to take advantage of the peace and quiet, lol. 

 Saturday - 10:45 pm. 

Figured to go out late and find fuel. 2 stops. 1st, the lights were all on inside and outside of the facility.  So, I parked at a pump and walked up to the door which had a sign that read: WE ARE CLOSED, THE POWER IS OUT!!!".  Oh? How can your power be out and you still have all of those light on all over the place?  Weird. 

A mile away is a Chevron near downtown. It is always closed at this time of night but you can still get gas as long as you are using a card. I pulled up, saw the "OUT" signs on every pump, inserted card, pumped out 10 gallons of premium into the gas cans and another 15 into the vehicle.  James wants to use premium because it stops a lot of the problems you get with generators and using lower octane gas. 

Ethanol free would probably get rid of the problem as well.  There aren't many stations around selling ethanol free, but it's what they recommend in using for small engines such as lawn mowers and weed eaters and such.  No, I wasn't looking for ethanol free, I was looking for gas. Any gas.  I really didn't care if it was lower octane, just get something to dump into those generators, the heat indexes remain high and aren't going down any time soon.  

I don't think I even spent 15 minutes on that trip. Now we have enough to last through tomorrow.  It's getting expensive tho.  Still much cheaper and convenient than hotels and frankly, there aren't any hotels that are opened or if they are, they don't have electricity.  The Marriott Fairfield has an empty parking lot.  The Holiday Inn apparently has guests staying but they out and out stated they don't have power. I don't know about the Hilton brand hotel down there, not really paying much attention to it, but IF there ARE any hotels that have power in this town, they are going to be full.  

The 2 bedrooms with window ac are nicely cooled, we will all sleep fine tonight.  That's what I can say about that.  I have other focuses of attention tomorrow, but it won't be gee, we need to go get gas first thing in the morning.  I didn't do the whole house hookup, James seemed to think I should wait.  Okay...but...we could have whole house ac and have lighting.  The down side is it would load that generator down and make it use even more fuel in the process.  It's a matter of what do we want.  

No stove or range or microwave.  Air fryer, yes.  Crockpot, yes.  Grill, yes.  I'm opting for crockpot stuff. You can make extremely delicious meals in a crockpot.  Oh and we have an electric frying pan as well.  

Just a couple hours short of 48 hours since the power went out and potentially facing another 120 or more hours of no power.  This is why I would want to just power up the house.  

I'm going to have to back myself off from looking at all the news about this and everything related to it.  Kind of consuming my mind at the moment.  Definitely don't have to think about people coming to stay at the park, who wants to come to a place with no power? The people that reserved a spot called and said they were making other arrangements.  I told them I would refund their money.  

It's really unfortunate, the timing of this outage. We would have had that shed finished by now.  Easily would have had all the drywall up and probably the tape/mud done as well.  James was off this week, he isn't off this coming week....Oh well, at least the walls are drywalled in.  I really wanted the ceiling done to help keep out the heat transfer through that thin metal. 

Enough of this. It's after 11 and I'm ready to go to sleep. Hopefully this wicked storm they are predicting coming tonight will fizzle out or go off in another direction.  

 Yesterday, at one of the few restaurants opened (doing a booming business because of it), this family's other kids brought up the subject of age.  These kids are 14 and 18.  I don't know what possessed them to think this, but they were shocked when they found out my real age.  Oh?  You must think I'm older than what I appear.  Well how old are you? 59.  What?!!!  They pointed at their dad and said "we thought you were his age!".  

Dad just turned 40 this week.  Now I was the one in shock. You think I"m in my 40's?!!  I haven't heard that in a long time, lol.  They just sat there staring at me. Umm, you know I have wrinkles on my face, right? Your dad doesn't have any....didn't phase them. 

Anyway, James just went out looking for gas.  Most stations are closed, some are just plain out of fuel - which literally and still makes no sense. I know how gas operations are run from the trucking side.  The stations set up accounts and then the trucks come and babysit the tanks. They don't necessarily fill a tank all the way up if there are other customers needing fuel as well.  But still, to just run out of gas and have nothing coming?  One of the stations has their own fuel trucks. Sitting there.  

Whatever the case, the few stations opened have lines that would make a Venezuela gas waiting line look like  a picnic in the park.  I can't imagine waiting that long to get gas, I'd rather just drive out of town and go 30 miles than wait an hour in a line, wasting gas sitting there idling.  These vehicles are out onto major streets on the shoulder, the lines are that long.  

So, that's exactly what we're doing, going to Longview for more gas after Taylor is done with her appointments over there.  We've got 2 5 gallon cans but I have another one at the property. Might as well fill them all up, we have no idea when the power is coming back on. SWEPCO is saying the end of next week, "but it could be much sooner than that". That doesn't tell us anything, really and we are going to operate off the assumption that we will be needing gas for the next several days.

If we don't, we'll have plenty for the lawnmowers and other gas operated devices.  My riding mower uses some fuel. 

We will probably eat out while over there.  

The grumpy people left about 30 minutes ago. The man was reassigned to some place on a Gulf port somewhere.  She lamented that they were leaving one place without electricity and moving to a place just in time for hurricane season. Sounds about right.  Their grumpiness sort of took a hike in the last week or so.  I dunno why, maybe because they knew they were leaving.  I've got 5 spots open? I think.  That's not good. I didn't hear back from the people allegedly coming in today - I sent them an email detailing the fact there is no power and don't expect any and yes, you can get a full refund. They didn't leave a phone number on their reservation so I can't call them and let them know.  

Shrugs shoulders. I did what I could.  Everyone that called yesterday knew the power is out everywhere, but they were calling me just in case. I"m on the other side of town, maybe it's on over there! Nope.  I wish it was! I wouldn't price gouge anyone, I wouldn't even raise my rates, but I'd make a killing right now off of overnight guests and having the park full.  Anyway, hoping these people understand there is no power.  If they do show up, I will probably give them a partial refund.  Maybe 15 for an overnight stay without power instead of my normal rate.  

____________

We drove clean to Carthage again to get gas.  This time everyone went and we had lunch/dinner at Denny's  Carthage didn't get his like Marshall, everything is normal down there excepting the sweltering heat. It was even worse than Marshall with a heat index of 116 degrees while we were there.

Stopped by the property before going so we could grab my other 5 gallon gas can. Someone had taken it out of the shed!  The first people I saw I asked, did you by chance happen to see anyone with my gas can? "We have it in the back of our truck, we filled up our generator and then we filled it up again to give back to you".  Half the park has generators out there now, thankfully. The bad part is finding gas anywhere.  There are a few places in town but the waits can be hours.  The lines are that long.  

We drove all over the place and the amount of damage was astounding. Houses with roofs torn open, huge trees down everywhere - many had fallen on the power lines and had snapped the telephone poles.  I mean, a LOT of them.  Even more than I saw yesterday.  

I was thankful those people had refilled the gas can. We drove back home, dumped the fuel into the generators and then headed to Carthage for more fuel.  I mean, you have your choice: wait in line for fuel here and hope they have some by the time you get to the pump or just drive 30 miles, fill up, drive back.  We have enough fuel to last until tomorrow now.  I am thinking it best to get up early, refill the generators and get to the gas station here before the lines and eliminate the need to drive 60 plus miles round trip.  Taylor said someone had told her that people were lining up at 5 am for fuel, tho.  

Another tenant called a few minutes ago. He brought a generator but he doesn't have a gas can and he can't find one anywhere. Do you have one I can borrow?  I thought a bit, we can't just let our cans go, we can't find any cans either.  I was about to say, well, you can borrow it long enough to get fuel and dump it into your generator when I remembered the diesel fuel can sitting out by one of the huge burn piles.  I had hid it a while back out there, people are stealing my gas cans, I've had 4 of them stolen since I started this rv park endeavor.  I had it out there to start fires on the piles.  I left it out there but the lid/nozzle is tightly sealed on it.

That was my offer. Go find that, clean it out and walaah. You have a 5 gallon gas can.  Well, do you have any idea what I could use to clean it out? I mean, the answer was obvious? Put some gas in it, swirl it around, dump out the gas, maybe do it again?  Ohh, yeahh! I got you!  Gasoline will clean that sucker right out, you just have to dump it somewhere where you won't get into trouble doing so.  He had been all over town looking for a can.

Unfortunately, SWEPCO has not changed their outlook on a date to have power restored.  We're looking at up to 6 more days of this.  People are getting their power back on randomly all around us. It's still baffling to me how one house can have power and the house across the street not have power.  I don't fully understand the power grid, obviously, just weird how it works.  

Our neighbors are finally jumping on the generator bandwagon. We've had them out there since the morning after the middle-of-the-night weather chaos.  So, those generators have been running about 37 hours now.  Probably be good to check the oil on them, lol.  I've had mine for several years but I haven't used it that much, mostly just a back up for times like this. I did use it to help build that bridge last summer, I wouldn't have been able to do that job without a generator.

I guess I'm just rambling on, it's just everyone is a bit on edge right now. The power outage is getting on people's nerves and they are starting to cast blame on the power companies - who had zero control over the catastrophic weather event. I just now read that the tornado that touched down was a half mile wide!  That is huge!  

We filled up the tanks on the generators a while ago and have a 5 gallon and a 2 gallon can left.  That will last the night and take us into tomorrow morning, where, if the power isn't back on, we'll have to go ahead and buy even more fuel.  But, it's cheaper than a hotel and far easier dealing with 3 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and fish, not to mention keeping frozen food - frozen.  We would have had to run at least one generator anyway even if we did go to a hotel.  No savings, really and everyone crammed into a room. 

2 of the kids are in and out of the rooms that are nice and cool. Kids - they don't care that much lol.  Sitting in a hot dining room playing games.  More power to them. 

 This town is a hot mess.  All of our friends are suffering miserably.  Trying to sleep in a hot house, you might as well stuff yourself into a warm oven.  We only have bedrooms being cooled or we'd invite them over.  It's a lot of people, I have been watching their posts and I feel for them. But, I determined long ago -I"m talking years now - that I didn't want to suffer in power outages.  We were getting them one after another, close together, at the time I pulled the trigger and said nope, I'm buying a generator.

It's a 10,000 watt CAT and it rocks. James has a welder he's running as well. We've got 2 bedrooms with window AC units and I can tell ya, my room is cold. I turned that sucker down last night so that it would stay cool in here once the sun comes up and starts baking everything.  Our freezers are frozen, our refrigerator is refrigerated. We also have our wifi router on and it finally started working again as of this morning when I checked it.  That will make internet surfing much easier, everyone is using their phones right now because they don't have power to run their routers.  

Yes, lightning speeds, I've never seen the internet zoom so fast as it is right now.  

The only thing I know of to do to help our friends is figure out how to install a 30 amp breaker on the exterior box, run a line out the bottom with a 30 amp male connector that will plug into my CAT generator and plug it in. It will easily run the central AC and then some. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, I just have never been motivated to do it.  If I can get that going, we can run that generator for whole house cooling and some lights and devices and keep the other generator running the freezers and the fridge.  

_______________

Well, that was fun.  Just filled up the generators after running them all night long.  2 5 gallon cans empty yet again, the fun of trying to find a gas station that is open and has gas starts yet again.  

The real fun part? SWEPCO - the main power provider for this area (tho there are others, much smaller) updated their website yesterday to say that they expect power to be restored in various increments - coming back on starting on Wednesday of next week.  This is getting serious here, folks.  Can we deal with it? Of course. We aren't dying over here.  Many people are suffering in heat related misery. The local gossip group has people posting the woes of trying to sleep in a hot house.

Our friends the same. 

So, I have decided to go ahead and get on over to Lowe's and get the setup to hook into the main breaker panel.  It's really not that hard.  Turn off all the breakers, especially the main, hook the wires up to the neutral and ground bars, put the red and black wire into the new circuit breaker running a line out the bottom of the panel.  Hook a male adpater up that fits into my generator and plug the thing in.  It will work, I'm confident of that. 

But, to support my confidence, I did, indeed, do some research.  

So, looking for gas and getting the supplies to run the house off the generator are today's focus.  And just sent off an email to a person that reserved a spot this morning for a stay tonight. They are welcome to come, of course, but there is no power and unless they have a generator, they are going to be miserable in that thing.  I will be going over to the park today to inspect everything.  

Offa here, for now.

G'day

 We're on 14 hours of no power.  The storm last night was awesome.  I mean that in a way that describes the severity and intensity of the winds up to 70 mph, continuous lightning/thunder, hail and rain.  The power just  came on a few minutes ago and then, after I disconnected the extension cords from everything, went right back off.  

Yeah, that was fun. We are running James' and my generators to power 2 freezers, refrigerator, 2 window ac units and then just electronic devices, including this desktop computer. And tho we have the internet router hooked up and powered, it isn't pumping out internet. Likely they are down as well.  In fact, most of the town is out of power. 80% of street lights are out causing mayhem on the streets.  Most businesses are closed and yes, my RV park is without power as well. I can't help them. I would have left my generator over there, but we have kids, a pregnant lady and a lot of food to keep frozen/cold.  

Lowe's was open, thankfully, for we didn't have enough extension cords. It was warm in there, they had a generator running but that just to power the lights, not cool the building.  I felt for the employees working there.  The few fast food places open? Unbelievable. Cars wrapped around entire buildings all the way out to the street and on to the street itself. Gas stations? LONG lines.  People all doing the same thing: getting fuel for generators.  I got 5 gallons, if this keeps up, it won't last an entire night.  Not with 2 generators running.  

I drove around the city. I've never seen so many trees downed in this town by one storm and I've been here since 2014 and I've been through a lot of storms.  

My room is cool. I have a 12,000 btu ac unit in here that will cool this room down regardless.  I mean, it's nice in here. They went and got the 5,000 btu unit from the property for their bedroom. The few minutes the power came back on? Cooled the house back down quite a bit.  

So, my phone is providing internet to the computer and the tv for the kids.  We are not going to work over there at the shed in this heat.  Just no way. I could take my generator over there but then we would be lacking over here.  It's just a chore to keep generators going and dealing with it here.  

On another note, the grumpy people are leaving. They told me about it a while back, the job is being shut down - due to the fact that they need those transmission lines for the summer. They will likely be back in the winter months. But, another lot emptied out.  I brought my rates down as low as they're going, ac units are running constantly, I'm not going any lower.  Might as well be giving it away for free what with electric bills.  

I have had several calls today, however, asking if I have power over there? Nope.  My park isn't in any better situation than the parks on the other side of town or south.  Or north. They were hoping for power and move over to my place. For that, I wish I did have power! I would have gladly taken all 3 of them! One good thing, a short term called asking to stay 5 more days? Stay as long as you wish : )

Well, only one person has contacted me about the power, these are temporary people that have no clue what they are doing. They are very rich - building a $750k home and have a few hundred thousand worth of trailer and vehicles - but they know nothing about RV's. He said he has a generator but there isn't a 50 amp connection on it.  No, but you can buy an adapter that plugs into the 30 amp outlet and on the other end, you plug in the 50 amp cord you have. You won't be able to run everything, but you should be able to run one of the AC units and your devices.  So, he went, got his generator and the last I saw, they were trying to hook it up.  

Well, the internet is slow. Verizon system is probably overloaded. The cable internet company is down as well, meaning everyone is going to be using their phones.  So, usage goes in and out.  Right now, I can't even get on Facebook and the only reason I can write this is because I was already on here. Sort of writing, stopping, writing some more, etc.  In fact, I'm heading back to the gas station.  These generators aren't exactly gas economical units. 

________________

We went out to eat with some friends at a local restaurant that actually has power. There's a handful of them that are open and they are packed.  But even with the power on and AC's fired up in that place, it was hot in there. Too many people, not enough air volume coming out of those ac units.  But,  it was nice to visit with people.  Home, fired the generators back up - we shut them off because the cords were blocking the front door from closing - ac units back on, freezers, fridge, etc. 

We came home to a brown out. Meaning a very low amount of electricity coming in just enough to make a few lights shine dimly.  So, maybe we won't have to deal with power being out all night long? I dunno, but after I go to bed, I don't care if the power does come back on, I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to deal with generators.  

RV park is a ghost town. I can still see through the cameras because they run on giant batteries and they have SIM cards that send the information through cell phone service.  The RV's are still there but most everyone is gone.  I wouldn't stay there either. I have received even more calls about the park. Is your power on? Or, "we are traveling through do you know the closest area where there are rv parks and the power is back on?".  I suggested they google waskom and greenwood, otherwise, they are pretty much going to have to drive clear out of the Shreveport area.  

I mean, I could only wish I had power on, I could fill the park up tonight.  

Well that's enough for this one. James headed down to Carthage for gas for the generator, his truck and another family that needs gas. Gas stations here ran out.  I don't know how a power outage equates into trucks not bringing fuel?  That's kind of strange.  Fuel either comes from Tyler or over in Shreveport.  

 Thursday - morning - early.

We spent 10 hours over there yesterday working on that shed.  You would think we would be close to done with the drywall and you would be thinking wrong.  Progress, yes, finished? Nowhere near.  I hooked the trailer up to the SUV yesterday evening before we left, we did, indeed, use up all of the drywall I had there but we need at least 12 more sheet.  And a 6X2X16 stick of wood to run down the center at the top of the ceiling. This to be able to drop the lights lower and get the drywall up behind it.  

This is necessary. One of the big advantages of getting this drywall up will be the savings in electricity.  That window AC unit will be able to keep it cool in there without the compressor having to run all day long.  Yes, I have insulation in there but that works hand in hand with drywall which also creates a buffer to keep the heat out, cool in.  This is definitely going to be a "the money spent is the money saved" type of situation here. My electric bills are quite high and likely to get higher.  I don't need to be adding undue amounts of usage to that bill with that shed.  

I am trying to find a solar company to set up a solar array on a frame.  They can definitely do it, I just haven't found one with customer service reps that even understand what I'm talking about.  We get plenty of sun during the summer, a solar array would bring my electric bills way down. The flip side is that there are payments on the solar array itself, of course.  Still, it's a priority right now.  I will continue to contact these places until I find someone will actually understand what it is I am trying to do.

Meanwhile, the 5th wheel fell through. I may have written about that yesterday? I don't really remember, there's been a lot of work going on. Basically, I had a hauler ready to go. Not, wait until such and such time, I had the person ready to take off for the trailer. This was clearly communicated with the seller. The seller had agreed the previous day to sell it to me.  So what does he do? Sells it to someone else. I think I won't even contact the hauler until I actually buy a unit and have the title in hand first. The hauler is quite flexible. Otherwise, I may just stick to bumper pull units so I can just haul the thing back myself. Just the fact is, 5th wheels offer much more room than bumper pull units.  

I have my eye on a 30 footer right now and offered the man the full asking price 23 minutes after he posted it. He agreed to sell it to me, but you wait and watch. I didn't even say I was 65 miles away, I just said I can come tomorrow morning. He said no, how about Friday.  I said, fine, Friday it is. He then switched it to this evening. That's fine too. This one is a bumper pull, I don't have to pay a hauler. But, with all the previous people just selling it out from underneath me?  I won't hold my breath.  I just keep looking and bidding and hoping that at some point, I will actually be able to GET a unit that a seller has AGREED to sell to me.  

Money being transferred to my account, which will pay for a trailer. I do have enough money and then some to pay for one, I'm just backed up by this money coming in to be able to handle bills and expenses. I think I had another long term come in yesterday, these are people that camped in their pickup behind the shed a while back. The father of the lady passed away and they came into some money, enough to buy a decent trailer. I'm pretty sure it was them I saw going towards the property when I was going home yesterday evening.  I don't know for sure, the cameras didn't record the event of them or anyone else going in and out of the park or the shed.  These cameras are a joke and I want to sent them back to T Mobile. They work -when they want to.  

They work on live almost always. But it's the recording function that is sporadic. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  

I have no idea what today will bring, I just know that those kids have to come the entire day with us again.  That's getting old. They get bored and they get antsy.  There is only so much a kid can do at the property before getting completely exasperated and I'm going to suggest they be allowed to use my old phone hooked up to wifi to watch videos or something.  That's up to dad, of course but this will be day 3 of them having to spend an entire day out there, getting cranky and fussing about everything.  I get that they need to learn about what it is to spend your days working, however, it is summertime for them now and I just think it would make the day easier if they could all huddle around a phone. 

Well, it's getting late, at least for this endeavor at 9:00 am. Time to go to Lowe's and get this show started. 

G'day

 Well, yesterday was certainly a productive day. James worked on the bathroom walls all day long, I worked on insulation.  It's going to be good to get that drywall up and get the place sealed a little better. Besides just getting the project done and getting the place looking a bit better, it's also going to help with the cooling.  First line of defense is the insulation, second is the drywall.  

Anyway, his adventures in the bathroom kept him busy into the night.  I was there 8 hours, we all went home, had dinner and he went back over. I couldn't do it.  I didn't sleep the night before, I was up at 2 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I got eaten up by ticks 2 days ago, not sure what I was doing to get those things all over me. I didn't realize it until the middle of the night.  They got me good.  My legs are itching all over from ankles to upper thigh and ...other areas....

Must have been walking in the growing vegetation out front.  That's another issue that I just don't have an answer for right now. Let the trees grow back and hide the vegetation, I don't have tens of thousands of dollars for a tractor and attachments right now.  

Anyway, I got all the insulation installed. There was more than I initially imagined so it pretty much took the whole day. Once I got that done I spray-insulated the cracks. I have about a bottle's worth left to spray but I'm not doing it until the drywall is moved from the wall where I can't get at the cracks. You open a bottle of that insulation, you best be prepared to use the whole bottle right then and there, because after it sits? You aren't getting anything out of it. So, it doesn't make since to fill the remaining cracks I can get at and not do the cracks I can't.  Give me 15 minutes and it's all done.  

Having time on my hands - I just don't do drywall - I then wired and installed the outdoor light.  I have other things I need to do as well that I think I want installed before the drywall goes up.  I want that oven outlet installed. I bought the thing, I have the wire I might as well put it in. If it never gets used, it never gets used, I haven't made up my mind about it.  Waiting until after the drywall is installed would be a mistake. Then it's much harder to install, fishing line through the walls and putting it through...non-existent holes? It's the only outlet I really have left that I need to put in.  I was going to install another outlet for another dryer, but that's not necessary. I don't need a second washer/dryer set, the set I have now isn't even paying for itself. 

Well, it is getting used a lot more, haven't checked the coin basket lately.  I have no plans in adding another set any time soon, if ever.  Not at 14 spots.  If that time ever comes, I will just have to figure it out.  As it stands, I'm looking forward to ridding myself of those payments.  Shed payments as well. 

So what today?  I assume James is going back over to work on it some more, haven't discussed it yet, we're all just getting out of bed.  I have the person selling the 5th wheel saying now that they can't haul it, can you? Yes.  So I just contacted the hauler who has already replied.  This 5th wheel is 113 miles away.  It's older but it's been under a cover and is in excellent condition.  I'm trying to get that thing,it's about as good as it gets in the price range I'm looking at. No slide outs, oh well.  If I get it, I'm going to try to get $650 per month out of it plus a refundable deposit. Somewhere in the $500 range.  

I don't really know what today holds yet. That thing is up in the air but it's marked as sold on the Marketplace and yes it's sold to me, I just haven't paid for it yet. It may very well fall through the cracks if I can't coordinate this together, but I'm trying  my best.  

The hauler wants to know if the tires and jacks are good. Asked the seller, they haven't replied yet. This is likely the way this is going to go. 

 Tuesday morning - early.  I put an ad up yesterday in one of my local Facebook selling groups to find someone to install the drywall, James responded to it, lol.  I was wanting to get someone to quote me on it and then I could figure out whether I want to spend however much.  James took the whole week off for his surgery, but apparently he is doing better enough...to go install drywall. 

So, that's what we're doing today.  Drywall and several other things I need to get done in that shed. I kind of put it on hold for a while, I was sick of working on it and I have other things to do.  There's a lot of minutia to be done in there as well as the drywall, things I either can do or can figure out watching youtube videos.  I dunno how this is going to go, but if it gets it done or close to done, I'd be very happy.  

I had a retired couple message me about one of the ads I put out for a workamper.  Don't ask me about the spelling, that's how they spell it. Look it up.  I don't mean in the dictionary, lmao, but in the groups.  These people have family here - they didn't say where they're from - the dude says he's good at figuring out technical stuff and doing maintenance.  Well, the maintenance around here is cutting grass and cleaning up after people.  The bathroom too, don't forget about the bathroom. 

It isn't bad if that's all you're doing and you plug away at it a little by little every day.  I asked for 15 hours per week which gives them lot rent, electric, water, sewer, wifi and free laundry use.  Probably just hand them a bag of quarters for the free laundry.  If I got 15 hours a week out of them, that would equate to $720 per month in work at $12 per hour. I doubt I'll need 15 hours a week out of them. Just having someone around to watch over things is a good thing as well. So, this guy is supposed to drop by today.  As I said, they are retired, I'm guessing living on a fixed income, this is a no pay deal. They work a little, they get a place to stay.  Probably around $150 to $200 month extra expenses in electricity, water and laundry usage.  

What am I really doing? Trying to get the place automated and staffed so I can go back to work.  I don't see much choice at this point and I really need someone there.  People paying cash? They can collect it.  Someone complaining about grass? they can go cut it.  Something breaks in the amenities room? fix it.  Mowing the community grass? Mow it.  I've just been stuck with all the new stuff. Once it's all done - grass included - it will be relatively easy to run the place.  

I found another 5th wheel for a great price last night. I was too late.  They go fast, the decent ones anyway.  This one is old, but you can tell by the pics it's been well taken care of. Amazingly good condition for it's age and has been under covered storage.  Still.  The dude was leading me on, actually, he didn't throw in the part that there are "several people coming to look at it tomorrow" until we had thoroughly discussed it and I was at the "I'll buy it" part.  

Why even bother responding? If you have several people coming to look, it is highly likely one of them is going to take it at the price they are asking.  Then he said, well, my parents own it and they are willing to take less if it sells tomorrow. Oh.  I will give the asking price if they'll sell it to me.  "I'll tell them in the morning". Yeah, that thing is going to sell and it isn't very likely that I am going to be the person that gets it.  2 AC's, 2 doors, beautiful interior, perfect.  

I look at these ads all day long and refresh and stuff and I sometimes get the first response in, but I haven't been able to score yet.  

I was thinking what it would take to build a cabin - I get calls for those all the time.  But the shed I have was $4,200 and that was cheap compared to everyone else. When I say cabin, I'm talking about a plain Jane thing that is an open layout with the only room in the thing being the tiny bathroom.  I am going through all of this with this amenities shed.  For $4,200 I could buy a decent trailer and just rent it out instead.  Not even that much money and a lot less headaches.  And anyway, $4,200 is just for the structure. Add $8,000 at least to finish it.  You don't realize how much money this stuff can cost until you start digging into it.  I feel like the shed was a necessary thing and people are using the laundry like crazy now.

There are people in there using the machine several times a day, most days.  There are several people using the bathroom as well.  Oh, btw, I need to turn the ac down in there so it's nice and cool when we get there.  There we go, 71 degrees. Why so cold? Just get it cool in there so that when we start going in and out of the thing it will still stay decent.  

Good chance of rain later this morning. Nothing that will affect us tho the noise levels inside of that shed when it's pouring rain gets quite loud.  I only have 6 sheets of drywall in there, that won't be enough to finish it out. But trust me, with all that you have to cut around in there?  It will take half a day or longer to install just those 6 sheets.  

And still nothing in the reservation system until next month. Of course, that doesn't stop people from calling and saying yes, we'll be in late, is that ok?  I literally don't care what time they show up anymore. If you could see the video recordings of what goes on in there at night, you would see that last night? 3 tenants came in from work near midnight.  One of them at 1 am.  Those are crazy work hours, much like the trucking industry.  But yes, some people showed up last night at whatever time, it was dark and I didn't look at the clock on the video, for a 5 day stay.  Taking my computer today, they haven't paid yet and apparently want to use a card, in person. They know without asking this saves money on fees.  

But I did notice a work truck driving through at 6:05 am.  Like, just a little while ago.  They drove in and drove back out.  Frequent occurrence, assuming they are looking to see what the place looks like. Well, the grass is dead, so there is that. 

Well, departure time has arrived. I dunno how long we will be there, but knowing James? It will be most of the day.

G'day

 Saturday - installed the new AC unit.  Not sure how it's doing, I just got the thing in, installed the app on my phone, got the thing insulated around it, tested the app and walaah.  New, much larger AC and hopefully that will take care of the problem.  I can change the temperature on my Iphone from anywhere.  It was shortly after I got the thing installed and it started pouring rain and even some hail came down.  

Sunday - nothing day. I usually do a nothing day for Sundays. Well, we went to church but beyond that, it was go home and laze around most of the day. I did spent some time looking for a trailer and I did put some offers out.  I think some of my offers were ridiculously low, but if they don't like them, they don't even have to respond. I just think a lot of this stuff is way overpriced. Whether it is or isn't, I need a half decent unit that doesn't need a lot of work and my budget isn't real high.  I don't want to spend all of that money I am getting just on one trailer.  

I have one person that said maybe, another one that says "pending until Monday morning" - that one I really wanted and offered full price as soon as I saw it.  $1,500 for a trailer that is in very good condition. But, I didn't beat the first person to offer full price so I just sent them another message - since this is Monday morning - saying I could be over there quickly with cash in hand.  I mean, the pics showed the entire interior and exterior, it's in excellent condition for the money at $1,500.  There are other units I could have at the price I offered but then I found out how far away they are..

200 plus miles to get a camper? And if they've been sitting a while, they may have dry rotted tires that will pop going down the Interstate.  And trying to get a temporary tag to  move it.  I don't even know how that works in Texas, I suppose I should look it up lmao.  

I also put an ad up on a workamping site for someone to come live at the extra spot behind the shed - it has 30 amp hookup, access to wife, sewer hookup and will install a water spigot closer if I can get anyone to come.  It's free lot rent and utilities in exchange for someone to come work for 15 hours per week. That's not that much compared to most of the other places wanting much more work. I'm just needing someone to help me out and this seems like the perfect solution if I can find someone.  Help me with the grass work, keep the shed clean, etc.  I dunno if it will result in anyone coming, but it can't hurt to try.  

It's usually older people that want to do it so I guess I can write off them helping me with that crazy machine but they could water the grass seed once I get it planted.  Not that I'm younger, lmao.  If I could just get a little help in there.....it would be amazing...doing it myself all the time, not fun.

Not holding my breath on that one but I am going to be posting in all the workamping sites I can find.  

Today? Well, it's supposed to rain. Kids are out of school but the parents are both home.  I'm going to go over and see if I can get some more tilling done or maybe just start raking up area I have already tilled. It may still be wet tho from rain yesterday.  It needs to be dry to rake it smooth.  I really wish I had a small tractor, I could use it for so many things.  Out of budget.  Lots of things out of budget.  I'm focusing this next money on a trailer, not on equipment.  

Anyway, not much else besides the news cycle continuously pumping out quite strange stuff.  The Trump indictment, the lack of a Biden indictment for the same thing (top secret documents), the lack of interest in the media about the Biden revelations that have come from the FBI, the continuous news about this trans movement, California is always in the news, always.  Newsom threatening some sort of charges against DeSantis for "illegally" moving aliens.  Lmao.  I'll be that goes far.  It is not longer a downward trend of morals and ethics, it is just a straight down plummet.  

I thought it amazing they wanted to get rid of gas stoves and now they want to get rid of gas heating systems. Insisting on all electric vehicles by 2030 with a power grid that can barely handle the strain on the system as it stands right now. Finding out that the elements needed to make these electric cars and specifically the batteries uses more than it takes to build a gas burning car.  A projected warming decline of a thousandth of a percent by forcing all of this on us....

I just hope a Republican wins next election and gets rid of all of this nonsense. Of course, another democrat down the road will just put it all back in place.  I still stand in awe of the push to get rid of all coal fired plants.  And these democrat run states rejecting nuclear powered stations to replace them.  Nuclear has it's risks, but it's "clean" energy and pumps out far more power than any other method of power generation.  

Enough of that. Time to get ready to leave.

G'day. 

 So these people that wanted a lot called after I sent them 2 emails. They are actually staying long term.  Oh, and there is value to checking off the LGTBQ+ friendly tab on a Google business account.  They look for that stuff when looking for a place to stay.  This is a....well it's a lady married to a lady.  I haven't had any problem with these people in my park and I've had a couple of them now.  They're nice, friendly and the ones that I have encountered don't feel the need to announce to you that they are gay/lesbian/whatever.  Just like straight people don't go around announcing they are ... straight. 

Anyway they are allegedly showing up tonight.  I say allegedly, as always, because they actually have to show up first before I can say - yes, I finally got another long term in. 

Meanwhile, I burned up in the sun today. I knew I would but I had to get that started. It's not going to get any better, so why put it off? One of the people in the park came up behind me while operating that machine and touched me with a cold bottle of water. Yes, I'll take that.  She was asking about how to build a site. They are there temporarily while they build a house but they are also wanting someone to come and make them an RV lot so they can live on the property while the house is being built.

Well, I gave them the number of the company I used and told them these are the best in the area.  I still believe that even tho a few misgivings, nothing serious.  These people are staying a little long than a month and they are gone .

Back to this beast of a machine.  The top layer of the ground is hard and even this big, heavy things takes a bit to churn through it.  It took me a while to figure out how to use it without having to manhandle  the thing.  You still have to use some serious muscle with it, but nothing like when I first started and said, gee, I'm not going to last very long having to do this the entire time.  

But it's definitely necessary to churn up the ground. After I get a couple of lots tilled, I will have to rake it smooth, throw down seed, roll it and start watering it.  The lady that gave me the water today said "have you looked at the upcoming weather?"  Yes.  "It's going to be near 100 for the foreseeable future, the seeds will dry up".  Oh I know.  I'll have to water it probably 3 times a day.  I don't have any choice, I'm not going to not plant seed because it's hot outside. It can be mitigated, you just have to ensure that you are watering it morning, noon and evening.  

I'm going to limit it to 4 sites to begin with.  I can't be watering 14 sites all at once. I don't know how long it's going to take to get all of this done but there is no way to run water to 14 sites, 3 times a day.  I mean, I guess there is but I'd be running around all day long in this intense heat and I just don't think I can handle it. I'm not 20 something anymore. Or 30. or 40.  I'm close to 60's now.  

 So, the older couple left this morning. I saw them off and the lady gave me a big hug. They are moving in with family on the Louisiana side of the state line not only for help with the hubby who has heart problems but also - it's free rent.  They are on a fixed income, I can understand that.  I now have 5 empty lots and the number will continue to grow unless people come in. I've had some calls, but so far, no-one has actually shown up.  I do have one couple that is allegedly coming once they purchase whatever they want to live in. 

But basically,  I have empty lots and the only overnight reservations I have going right now are well into next month.  Nothing for this month besides the lady that just left today after being here for a world series elimination at the giant Baptist university.  

I dunno, I lowered the rent to levels that are as low as I can really go.  I didn't go into business to break even.  I can only hope and pray some people show up - and soon.  

I did call the rental shop in town. They don't rent an attachment for their tractor to till. It's listed on their website, but they have several locations all over the region.  They don't have everything that other stores have at other locations.  I started looking in Longview and found nothing as well.  I didn't want to go further out, so I went back to looking at new, manual versions. Then I decided to look at Marketplace, found one, bought it and here we go.  

No, I didn't even get it over to the property.  I would far rather have used a tractor and just be able to do it without all the physical exertion.  It's getting very hot outside and it's wearing on me.  We've got 90's weather for the foreseeable future.  I can imagine getting very hot. I will be packing the cooler with gatorades and water and I have a hose at the shed that pumps out cool water I can spray over my head.  

I have no plan yet. Get some lots done and start watering them? And keep plowing?  I guess.  Seems about the way to do it.  Get a lot plowed, get it prepped, seed it, roll it (get the seeds pressed into the soil), start watering it, get moving on the next lot. Rinse, lather, repeat.  I did just order a roller - it's a thing that used to press the seed down into the soil.  I dunno folks, I'm just plodding along here, feeling this thing through and doing my best.  

So, the 3rd kid is here, dropped off today.  He's here for 2 weeks, the oldest sibling that lives in Arkansas. There is a court ordered arrangement for visitation that occurred last year and now he's here on regular intervals.  This one is the result of a previous relationship.  James is headed to the hospital tomorrow for a procedure that I won't bother to go into here. The kids will just have to go with me to the property whether they want to or not - I have stuff to do and they can just play on the phone if they don't care for doing anything else.  I'm going to start plowing either the huge lot the older couple had or the doggy park.  I have no idea how this is going to turn out with this machine or how long it will take to plow through everything, a complete mystery to me.

I just know that I fired the machine up, cranked the tiller on and it went right down into the ground without any hesitation. I let it run for a while and it seemed to be running pretty good. Just don't see the need to buy a new machine that I will likely only use once or very little after the initial use and then store it.  I can imagine it taking hours to do that one, large lot and the doggy park as well, if not longer. 

There isn't much else going on. At least, nothing worth discussing here.  Well, mom sent me pics while I was there. Actual, developed photos lol.  The kids wanted one of the photos.  Okay?  

That's it. Beyond reading the news that gets more and more far out there as time goes on. Governor Newsome is started a grassroots campaign to add a Constitutional amendment which "defines" the 2A.  It's quite amazing, because I was reading what they want the amendment to accomplish and at the end? It said it will give both states and local governments the ability to enact their own laws!  

If you don't think the left wants Communism, you haven't been paying attention to their calculated moves to eventually get there. It won't happen overnight, but it IS happening at a steady pace.  I'm not sure Newsom is going to be able to get 2/3rd's of Congress and 2/3rd's of states to ratify it, probably not.  In fact, I'm sure he already knows that. But these efforts have some sort of end game to them.  Remember, they have the full backing of the media.  The media is dominated by left leaning outlets. They're experts at propaganda. 

Off of that subject, it's gotten to the point that I read the news and maybe watch a little on TV and then I just turn it off.  I believe God is still in control and that He has the ultimate end game and that's all recorded in the Bible. So, whatever is going on now with progressives in this nation or China, Russia, Iran and the rest of the bad actors is only facilitating the means to the end times.  

With that? I'm off to bed.

16 gallons spread yesterday of weed killer and that wasn't enough?  No, it wasn't.  My third trip to Walmart I bought 9 more gallons and that should hopefully do the trick today, or at least finish the lots and most of the doggy park.  I'll have to remove fencing in the doggy park to get a tractor in there.  

But, by the time I got that done I was toast. It was hot out there and I was in the direct sunlight for many hours doing the application.  I don't really care about the heat that much, tho, just drink a lot of water.  Now, the heat inside of the shed is a completely different subject.  I haven't installed that AC yet but I may start that today.  I dunno.  It will likely meaning moving the 2x4 that is holding the existing one in there to accommodate for a larger sized unit.  It will be a semi ordeal, but it needs to be done. 

Even after lowering the rates I'm still not getting calls. Although, it is usually closer to the end of any given month where people start looking to switch places.  Let's put it this way: If I don't get some people in by the beginning of next month, I will seriously have to reconsider lowering the rates even more.  What else am I to do? Have a half empty park?  But I will hold out on that temptation for at least a few more weeks and see what happens.  If only I could get a couple of rental units in there....I am still looking. 

My 2cd to last payment hit the bank. I owe $345 on that SUV and it's actually mine. Not, mine but the bank owns it, it's mine. The exterior is in great shape, the interior is okay but the driver's seat either needs replaced or reupholstered.  There is an excellent upholstery place in town.  Of course, it wouldn't be cheap and it also would probably take a few days for them to do it, so no vehicle for a few days.  Yeah, no thanks, at least not right now.  

I do very much like the idea of getting rid of that car payment every month and not getting into another one.  I have enough other payments right now, that will free up some money after I make the final payment.  Of course, instead of helping your credit score, paying off loans show as a closed account and actually hurt your credit score. Yes, I keep tabs on my credit score even tho there isn't much of anything I can do about it right now short of getting a job.  

The grass was always the final hurdle to jump before going back to work.  I knew it would be an ordeal and an ordeal it is.  Not just because it costs money, but the amount of work it entails.  There is the option of simply having a giant gravel park.  They are mostly unappealing and with the amount of weeds on my property, it would be a constant battle.  i intend on killing as much of the weeds with the spray as I possibly can and then hope that after the grass starts to fill in, it will crowd out everything else.  Grass tends to do that.  

Oh, btw, putting that much gravel in instead of grass? At least 15k.  And that doesn't include having to do the doggy park in grass anyway. Who has a gravel dog park? I've never seen one.   

I've given up on a loan for the moment.  It just isn't going to happen with the amount of debt I have and I am facing that reality - for now.  The situation won't change without paying down a good chunk of the debt incurred and that isn't going to happen unless the park fills up and stays that way or the inevitable job hunt starts.  I can't predict the park filling up, finding a job wouldn't be that difficult if my desire for a higher paying job was lowered to something less money but gets me home every night.  They're still 14 hour  a day jobs tho.  Kind of tired of 14 hour a day jobs and staying out on the road all the time, just in case I didn't make that clear through the myriad of posts I've made about it previously lol.

I take that back. My house is still worth a mint in the Phoenix housing market, but selling it means kicking everyone out including Mark. After all of these years, it would be hard to do that.  I could pocket around 70k if I were to go that route. That's deducting 30k for realtor and lowball on the amount the house is actually worth. However, people getting housing loans right now? I dunno about that.  High interest rates are probably locking people out of the housing market.  I think my refi loan was low 3% range.  

Oh, btw, now that gas stoves are being targeted by the Biden administration, what's next? Well, according to the latest news? Gas furnaces.  I can guarantee you that after they say no more gas furnaces, they'll come after the gas water heaters.  Let's see, gas dryers? I'm trying to think of all the gas appliances one could have in one's home.  In other words, welcome to Communist America!  Where big government gets to tell you what kind of appliances you can have in your home! Land of the free, huh? You believe in climate change?  

I watched a video of a scientist putting it into context.  These activists pick and choose which date to use for their fraudulent numbers.  If you go back far enough in time, the temperatures have actually cooled over the centuries and even under 100 years.  These people that are flying around in private jets all over the world to go to these conferences are as fake as prosperity preachers who live in millions of dollars mansions and drive 200k cars around.  I just find it amazing that people are still supporting Biden even tho he is basically walking through your front door and telling you the things you can and cannot have in your own damn house.  

You read accounts of people that have escaped communist nations - China being the worst culprit I think but certainly North Korea is right up there, just China has a lot more people - and they warn us of what is going on right now  in America and cite Mao as an indicator of what the "progressive left" - Communists - are doing and wanting to do in America.  It's glaringly obvious and the left doesn't even deny it anymore, they want Communism.  Property rights go right out the window and I am not just referring to land.  ALL of your property, your money, your house, your cars, everything is controlled by the state.  

Look at the endless tirades against 2A. And that the Constitution is a "worthless piece of paper".  And the desire to either eliminate the SCOTUS, pack it with more activist judges or impeach judges that dare make a decision that is against the left' will.  It's coming to a head sooner or later. I don't know when, but they will cross a line in the sand.  Look, the left is attempting to design elections laws so that they basically will stay in power forever.  It isn't just one thing here or there that is being done to arrive at Communism, it is a carefully thought out plan.  Infiltrate the schools with teachers and propaganda curriculum that are in line with their theories.  Get rid of God and the Bible - they've done a pretty good job of that already.  Fill the local governments with progressive "leaders". Get Congress and the WH filled up with communists ideology.  

It's already here, they are just in the beginning stages of getting it implemented.  I dare say most Republican congresspeople are either RINO's or career driven or cowards and won't stand up to any of this.  You get the few that will take  a stand and they are labeled as extreme right MAGA Republicans.  They label everything with a stigma and try to force it down American's throats.  

Well whatever.  I'm fixing to leave here, I need to get these last 9 gallons applied and then do some other stuff over there. 

G'day

 I'm kind of getting tired of being the first person to respond, offer what the person is asking (if it's good, there is no sense in haggling the price because someone else is going to come along and offer full price), get promise that I am first in line and then have them just go ahead and sell it to someone else. I have never really experienced this before. But, these people so far are just unethical as far as I'm concerned. They list a price, get 10 people wanting it and so instead of selling it to the first person that offered their asking price, they allow bidding wars to go on.  

I will not engage in such foolery.  When they do that, I bow out. If they wanted to do an auction, they should list it as an auction and certainly, they shouldn't be saying they will sell it to you and then change their mind.  The problem is most of the time these people aren't available to sell it right away so by the time they get off work or whatever, other people have come along and there it goes, right out the window. 

So I put my bid in for another one today. But, my caveat is I need to see interior pics.  I won't bother to even go look at one without seeing the inside of it and having questions answered about whether certain things work and if the roof leaks.  

There are new ads for trailers popping up at various times throughout the day, every day.  I've made offers on many dozens of them. Some full price, some less than full price, some far less than full price asked.  

Honestly, if it weren't absolutely necessary, I wouldn't be doing the grass right now for the cost.  

Oh well.  I got up early so I can get this spraying done early, I'm outta here.  

 The dead grass looks abysmal. It's really aggravating, but I knew it was coming. there is very little green going now, it's mostly dead, burnt looking grass.  I've spent hours looking all over Google, facebook, whatever, looking at information, sales, services, whatever info I can find.

I'm finding it hard to digest the idea that a 50 pound bag of grass seed can cover up to 10,000 square feet.  

I probably well overseeded the rye grass, but that seed was cheap.  I just can't imagine how a 50 pound bag can cover that much area?  I'm saying this because even tho a bag of summer grass seed is expensive, it comes nowhere near the price of hydroseeding or sod installation if you really can stretch out one single bag for that much area.  

Everything I've read says I need to use a machine to till up the ground.  I suspect that would be true for hydroseeding as well.  

So, here we go.  This dude has an ad going: "costs $64 per 400 square feet versus the cost of sod". So I ask him what he's going to charge for 10,000 square feet?  By his math that should come out to $1,600. He quotes $2,500. 

They will all probably tell me some price beyond what claims they are making online.  

These people are amazing. I wanted to buy a 5th wheel - the pics made it look quite good for the price. So they tell me after 2:00 today. They contact me, you want to come look? Yes, in just a few minutes.  So what do they do? Sell it to someone else. I had contacted them yesterday, I was the only one giving them an actual promise to buy.  I don't get these people.  

And now, a few hours later - I start posts and leave them to do whatever and come back to them oftentimes - the grouchy people starting in on me. This time? I gave it right back. I'm tired of these people complaining.  This is all they do in life.  She gets drunk, he drinks as well but I don't think near as much as she does. She gets drunk on wine every single night. And then? She has to open her mouth and start spewing. As I already knew, but this time she all but admitted it, she is spewing filth to anyone that will listen.  

So, I told her I'm tired of cleaning up her dog's shit and I'm also tired of picking up your husband's cigarette butts.  It went back and forth, but if they want out of there, they can pack their bags and leave. I don't need that kind of bs for $425 per month, I'll replace them or if I can't, I'd rather go back to trucking than listen to constant whining from people that take pleasure in it. She lets her little dogs run all over the place. I'm done with these people, they want to dish it out, I'm going to give it right back to them.  They think I should be there all the time.  Like what?  

What the hell do these people think I'm doing, anyway?  It doesn't matter. They will find something to complain about because that is their nature. It's poison, it's foul and it gets on other people. If left unchecked, it will just get other people to start thinking the same way. I've been there, done that. I told her that I have done room rentals for many, many years, it's the same damn thing if not more so as an RV park where people are all living in a small community and people need to respect each other.  She thinks she knows everything. "I've stayed at 100's of RV's parks" and yada yada yada. I've tolerated it all the way up until today.  No more.  They like it, stay and shut up.  If they don't, get your trailer hooked up to your truck and get the hell out of there. 

I get unsolicited compliments about my park all the time. I know I have something good going there, they can bitch about it all they want, I have shrugged it off - long enough.  I can make it better, but that all costs money. It's about as good as it gets for right now. If people like it, stay! If they don't, don't stay!  

Here's a primer about RV parks that owners forged into my brain long before I opened the park up: You can't and won't be able to please everyone. These people have been doing it for decades and speak out of experience. You focus on the things that you think make a good place to stay. Some people won't like it. There are always those "some people".  My place is a conveniently located park that is quiet, peaceful, away from the city but close enough to be right there.  It's really quite an amazing location considering the other parks around.  How do I know this? Not just because I live in town, but because other people have been telling me this for months now. What do I go by? 

I'm just venting a little bit.  She stopped texting and I was happy to stop as well.  She blew up my phone out of the blue and it was nothing but complaining.  

I've spent countless hours working at that park. Long before they ever showed up and making their ridiculous judgments based off of - what I don't know - I was working my ass off over there.  Some of the things I thought would be important didn't pan out, like that bridge I built in the back of the property. I love having it there, don't get me wrong, but that walking trail gets very little use beyond me, the dog and the boys.  Tent camping hasn't panned out, either.  It's cheap camping as far as the price is concerned at $10 per night.  

I don't really think I'm off with trying to acquire a park-owned trailer to rent out, I just don't know how it will work out in reality. IE: will a person/family take care of it or trash it?  There is always that kind of risk in any kind of housing rental.  It's why you try to do background checks and get deposits.  

I've got my work cut out for me the rest of this week and going into next week. I am going to leave the shed alone for awhile except to replace the AC unit and continue to take a break from that stuff. 

 I'm in limbo on the grass situation.  I am still waiting for the dude to come over and give me a quote.  I haven't found any other companies that do that hydrograss application nearby.  There are options to buy on your own, no clue.  I'll start looking into the DIY option today.  I want to get this started and get it over with.  The park is looking pretty dismal and it needs corrected sooner than later.  

Yesterday I didn't even go to the park (Saturday).  We got started on an immense yard cleaning project and spent a good portion of the day getting it done. I made those boys work. The youngest was going into fits of screaming and crying, irrelevant.  He doesn't like to do anything beyond watching cartoons and playing outside.  I don't know about you, but my parents started me very young doing outside chore in mowing the lawn and clipping the bushes.  You don't get a work ethic by sitting around all day long doing nothing.  It starts young and it has to be nurtured.  

At some point, James was finished with edging the front yard (I had mowed it) and came over to help. That's about the time he took off with the younger boy to give some corrective application as the boy was still acting up. I do not typically administer discipline of that nature to their kids. They can do that, that's really a parental thing. Tho I never had an issue with them doing that at schools either, way back in the dark ages when both teachers and administrative staff would spank your @$$ and parents didn't say a word about it.  My how times have changed and we see the result of these changes.

You should never, ever spank your kids! "They" tell us.  You couple that with cellphones and instant gratification.  It's a bad mix and lends to the culture rot we are now experiencing.  Well, that's what some folks call it, I call it the age-old loss of a moral compass.  That's really what it is, abandonment of morals and ethics and that is a result of people abandoning God.  You would be surprised how many people in one particular political party are also atheists.  I have Christian friends attempting to force me into thinking that atheism isn't possible.  

Maybe to some extent that is true, people believe in some kind of "god" if it isn't the true and living God. It's called idolatry.  But atheists specifically denounce the Christian God, the Lord, the Creator God and spend their lives attempting to denounce and mock and humiliate those that do believe. I don't cave to such people, they can mock me and/or God all they want, that's not going to change my view of it. I personally believe it takes more faith to believe in the big bang theory than the Creation reality.  

Well, I got off on a tangent there. Anyway, the boy came back out with daddy and his attitude had changed, if only temporarily.  When those 2 are told to do something such as clean their room, the youngest will just stand around and do nothing while the oldest gets the job done because he doesn't want to get into trouble.  However, I was out there and supervising them while working myself, that wasn't going to be an option and he was hating it.  He was required to do as much work as his older brother, tho it took constant prodding to get him to do so.  

Whatever the case, we got a huge swath of neglected yard - mostly one side of the house - completed. 

I will be going to the park after church today. A lady just called and said she wanted a lot.  I said fine, just show up, take a space and we will deal with it after you move in.  The usual questions about the appearance of the trailer, how many amp hookup, pricing and in this case, she wants to put a fence up.  I don't mind that at all, but I want it to be a decent looking fence. Not chicken wire, pallets or some other trashy looking setup.  

I also had a lady calling yesterday asking about putting a tiny home in.  I had to ask a lot of questions because, tho I'm not opposed to that at all, I want to make sure it's a good fit. My first question was one of amperage. Some of those homes are built with 100, 120 and up amperage receptacles.  I don't have that much amps at any of the RV outlets.  She said no, this one is built to use the same as an RV. Ok? How old is it? It's still being built!  This isn't some trashy looking thing.  The problem? Turns out it's still being built and she won't have it for another 2 months.  Whatever, she can bring it in if I have a lot available but my genie isn't telling me if a lot will be available. Right now, I have lots of lots available.

I reduced the monthly rate after looking at the main competitor who had lowered their rates.  I try to keep up with that because most people are just going to take the cheaper option if it means saving them money.  They might not like one place as much as another, but the savings, in their minds, will make it worth it. 

There are no others en-queue right now, but I just changed the rates a couple days ago.  And I changed a bit of wording on my website that the designer had put in there. Although I like the idea, "friendly staff awaits your arrival" isn't always true and I'm not always over there when people show up. In fact, many overnighters I never even see beyond seeing the footage on the camera.  I'm not racing over there for no particular reason if they don't need any help.  Most of them don't and they pre-pay online.  No, they say, we're fine, just calling to see what lot you want us on.

That happens frequently, even tho they are assigned a lot at the time of the reservation.  I guess they just don't read that part.  Or forget about it, or who knows what.  

No grand plans today beyond church, check the park, make sure people aren't there that aren't supposed to be there and also people lingering that have shown up.  Again, I didn't go at all yesterday.  I also will have to try and reset the camera that isn't recording motion events.  That's the manufacturers solution.  We don't have any such problems with the Nest cameras we have at the house. The drawback to the Nest cameras is that they are pretty pricey.  Same with Ring cameras.  

And of course, finding a solution for the grass situation.  It's got to be done and it's got to be done soon. The motor coach near Fort Worth apparently has fallen through as I sent the man a message and he didn't reply, that was a day ago.  There is another rv 25 miles away that I may go take a look at today. The pics make it look good as well as the description.  No, I can't move a 5th wheel but it would cost less to have it moved to my park than having to go through all the trouble of renting a car, driving to Fort Worth, turning the car in, taking an Uber to the house where it's at and hope that the man isn't making things up and that the unit actually works and will drive the 160 plus miles home without a hitch.

Not that I have anything else to do beside sitting on the side of the road with a broken down motor coach.  I'd be driving that thing about 55mph on the Interstate all the way back.  Yup, slow lane drifter, I wouldn't be in any big hurry.  Yes, I'm still set on trying to get a unit for sale or rent in there, no, I'm not in a rush to get some trashy looking thing that has a multitude of problems. The lower priced ones are usually trash with holes in the roof that have cause significant damage to the interior. I don't have the time or the desire to fix such nonsense. Taking the thing down to the frame and even replacing wood in the frame? No thank you.  

Well, it's almost time to leave. Taylor was going to go with us today but that may change since she had an appointment this morning and apparently has to work with the child one on one. I don't know, but I'm going regardless if anyone else is going or not. The youngest is currently screaming about something.....I have no clue.  

 Still trying to figure out how to get the 160 plus miles to get that motorcoach.  The man didn't put it up for sale - yet, I just happened to give him an offer on another RV he has and he showed me this one instead.  Obviously, I can't drive my vehicle over there and then drive 2 vehicles back.  I'm thinking maybe put an ad in local groups and see if anyone is heading to Fort Worth. Pretty common destination from these parts.  Pay them whatever - well reasonable - to get there and take an Uber from the closest point to the town the motorcoach is in.  It's just south of Fort Worth. 

I want that thing, is all I can say but there is a limited window where I can go get it before it he just says screw it and puts it up for sale on Marketplace.  His sentiment was he would rather deal with one person than have a hundred messages coming in asking about it. I figure I best give him an answer today or I will forfeit the sale and he will just find someone to sell it to.  It's old but it's in great condition.  Some people take care of those things - really all that matters is keeping the roof leak free. If you do that, you might have some issues inside the rv but much of that is repairable. A leak can and will destroy the interior where the water is going into it.  

The lady with the bumper pull over in Louisiana still has that thing for sale.  But after looking at the pics again, I determined it's too much of a project.  There is a leak in the roof and it's been rotting the inside portions where the water from that leak goes for quite a while now.  I really don't want another project, not right now anyway. If I were going to do a project, I would rather do a glamping setup.  It would be a lot of work just building the platform - and money - but after that, the rest would be relatively easy in comparison.  I know where I could set one up and have access to electricity and give the campers access to the shed for a bathroom. 

I keep thinking it's the weekend for some reason, it's only Friday and I have stuff to do today.  I dunno why, but the outside camera on the shed continues to stop recording motion activity.  If a vehicle or person walks by, it should activate the motion sensor and record it.  It stop doing it and I have no clue why.  The inside one works perfectly well.  

Besides not having a swimming pool and no guarantees that having one would draw people in anyway, I have no answers why I am not getting more business beyond the fact that I only have 4 google reviews and I just haven't been on the map long enough.  People tell me frequently the like the park and would come back again - but it doesn't translate into a Google review. Frustrating.  I lowered the monthly price and that is all I know to do at this point.  The nightly price is already low and I'm not going any lower than what it's at now.  There is no point in being in business if there isn't a decent profit to be made after all expenses.  

Whoever it was that called about coming in long term didn't show.  They said "one air conditioner isn't working" for an excuse to get a lower price.  But it's 50 amp service and there are quite a lot of other appliances in those units that gobble up electricity. It's probably why they didn't come. I'm not giving the park away for free.  I only know I need about 3 or 4 more long term to come in and come in very soon.  

There are other parks that are charging less.  I just don't see how they are making any money with unlimited electricity.  It's $375 for everything at one of those parks. My floor is $400. I won't go under that.  My location is closer than every other park in the area to certain things that people want, including a grocery store and the hospital.  And the grocery store is on a major highway, it's quick access to it.  I have all the right things going, or most of them anyway, I'm just not getting the business I need to keep it afloat without going back to work in the trucking industry. 

I swirl this situation around in my head a lot.  I can't live on $2,000 per month income. Which, if the park stayed like it is now with  5 lots open, that is basically the income from it after expenses.  I definitely can on 4 grand a month.  That's net income after everything.  Yes, that's a good chunk of change.  This is why I want that motor coach, I think I can rent that thing out for what I want for it.  At 2 grand and needing nothing more than a new brake caliper on the front right, it's a no brainer to me.  It's affordable housing for someone and it's close to town.  

Well, anyway, that's the musings for this morning.  Kids are on summer break but dad's home so I'm not particularly babysitting today. I'm going to have to go back to work on the inside of the shed. The walls need finished and there is still some insulation to install. Not much insulation, but the walls and drywall are not my forte.  But I want that drywall up and installed instead of sitting there as an eyesore.  

Oh and to add to this situation? There are a couple of units in there that are temporary. And the older couple leaving soon, I"m going to have a half empty (or more) park unless I can get some people in there soon.  

I did learn how to edit my webpage so I don't have to constantly ask the web designer to do it for me - and charge me accordingly. It was actually rather simple once I figured out the proper tabs to click on.  I didn't like some of the wording he had in there and I wanted to update the lot rent rates.  The first think people are looking for is the rates.....