Tuesday

Another trailer popped up on the Marketplace which is quite clearly in excellent condition. Listed price: $3,500.  They immediately went down to $2,700.  I agreed to buy the thing for $2,700, however...

It's 112 miles away and it was already 7:00 pm.  I can't come right now, without stating that little fact but I can come tomorrow morning.  Well I have to work, she replies, are you here in ****ville?  No, I'm a little bit away from you but I really want that trailer.  I get off at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.

Now, did they sell it between the time I spoke with them and now?  No idea.  I will be trying to contact her soon.....just messaged her.  Not going to let the day escape and have her change her mind with someone else.  She confirmed the time but said she would give the address after she gets of work.  That makes it a bit sketchy.  You know other people will be contacting here. She might tell them there is a pending offer, they might offer more, she might take it even tho she has promised it to me.

I think I will drive up to Linden and be ready to move up north by the time she gets off.  There is a meat distributor in Linden that sells all kinds of meats at excellent prices, I've been wanting to go up there anyway. If it turns out to be a dud - them selling me the trailer that is - I can at least justify it with going somewhere I already wanted to go which is right on the way up to where the trailer is.

I will not, however, drive all the way up to the location without her confirming her address first.  Her not giving it to me now could mean a lot of things. Perhaps she's afraid I'll go and try to steal it or something.  Perhaps she wants to ensure someone is there with her before a stranger comes to their house. Or, perhaps, she is holding off to see if she can get a better price. That thing had just popped on there and I immediately contacted her. 

These trailers that are in good condition for a great price move fast.  One minute they're on there, the next, poof, it's gone "SOLD" on the post.  

Been feeling sluggish in the mornings.  Maybe because I got fat all over again, lol.  I stayed off the diet far longer than I was going to and a lot of fat piled right back on.  I'm going heavy duty into Keto right now to get some of it off. I need to get my medical card renewed before July 12th and I don't want my weight to be anywhere near the obesity level.  

The federal government has reached it's tentacles well into truck driver's lives, a thing I don't want to go into right now, just to say they basically dictate when you drive, when you pee, when you stop.  And they dictate your health and if it's not good enough in their estimation, you lose your CDL.  It is converted back to a regular driver license.  

They even know that I am not driving now.  It was in the verbiage on the letters they have sent me telling me to get it renewed or lose the privilege.  Maybe people new to the industry can deal with all of this, they haven't been in the game. I've been in the game when they gave out chauffeur's licenses that simply gave you permission to drive a truck even if you didn't know how to drive one.  The driving test wasn't any different for those tests, the written exam had more questions. CDL's came along and eventually, over the years, the Federal Government has become truck driver dictators.  There is no exaggeration there and there is no other way to adequately put it.  

Now, will I go back to trucking? At some point I think I will have no choice.  If I do get back into it and at least find a semi-decent company, I will probably stay in it for quite a while. Get debt down, get a pool built on the property, etc.  At least the shed will be done.  

Speaking of the shed.....

These people......

I don't know if they don't like to listen or if they have comprehension problems, but I'm already at the verge of telling them to leave.  Try to help people and what happens... These people are parking their car directly in front of the shed, in front of the door.  I told her yesterday to please stop doing that and she agreed. Last night? They were out there parked the same way.  I also told them before they moved in that they weren't going to be making the shed their home.  How many hours did they spend in there yesterday? Over 5.  Further, they were either to pay $5 per day - I was giving it cheap to help them out - or do work. 

They opted for work, yet haven't lifted a finger.  In fact, she was sitting in the shed yesterday, half blocking the door, using my electricity to charge 2 phones and a battery and had turned the ac down to 72. I turned it back up from afar.  Her dog got up and started growling at me when I walked.  

Ok. I was annoyed enough by their behavior that I just sent them a text.  In a nice way, it was shape up or ship out.  No speeding, no hanging out at the shed, pay for your stay, keep the dog out of the shed, etc.  

 I woke up this morning not feeling all the great.  Weird sleep patterns.  

The man with the trailer contacted me - I went over there after taking the money out of the bank and looked at that thing and left. It's pretty easy to take flattering pics of these trailers and make them appear as something they aren't.  

I just left there instead of bartering with him, I had already bartered but I didn't expect it to be in the condition it is in.  I offered him $1,500 for it, that's about what it's worth. There will be repairs needed.  

Hasn't really been any new ones coming on there in the last few days that are in my price range.  I have cash in my pocket now and might keep it there a few days, see if I can jump on something that might come up.  If not I'll dump it back into the accounts I got it out of. 

I wasn't in the greatest mood. Getting notifications, that tent lady had come into the shed with her dog.  She went straight to the AC unit nd turned it down to 72 degrees.  I went to my app and turned it back up to 78.  She plopped herself down in the chair right at the door and partially blocking it, facing the door and her dog plopped itself down in the middle of the shed.  

I was still heading back from Shreveport and I decided to stop and have a meal before going over there. I wasn't in the mood to talk to her - or anyone else for that matter.  But, she was there when I got there and her car was parked right in front of the shed.  So, I asked her to not park there anymore, there is already a place to the side of the shed where people park.

Oh, forgot about the dog. It got up and started growling at me when I walked in there. I wasn't particularly afraid of it but that is not what I want RV'ers to be exposed to when they walk through the door. A dog growling and a lady sitting there facing a person.  I was in too bad of a mood to address her about all of that and the fact that they are neither paying me to stay there OR doing some work as originally agreed upon. I will deal with her tomorrow if I see her.  I'm not going to do it through text messages and such, I want a face to face event that hopefully will stay civil but at the same time, I'm going to lay out what she said when she came in there and what is actually happening.

I don't want her in that shed for literally hours at a time.  She was in there 2 hours, that's way beyond anything I imagined.  If they want an amicable solution and stick around, they can start paying me or start working immediately on the property and they can keep their time in the shed limited and NO dog.  I can even install an outlet on the rear of the shed for them to use to charge their devices.  

I did ask her about whether she was looking for a job.  She said something about finding places that are hiring. I rattled off a dozen names right off the bat. "Well, I put in applications online but I never hear back from anyone".  Did she think I am stupid?  If you really want a job somewhere, you put in your application online and then you go visit the place, find a manager and tell them you put in an application and that you are really interested in working there. You do your homework about the place and get some kind of basic knowledge of what they do and discuss it with the manager. 

She then said she had spoken to the manager of a gas station that is about a mile and a half away.  Ok. After that I didn't have much to say to here, she was in my way, I was trying to clean up the shed, she apparently doesn't get clues either. I hate to have to get blunt with her but this situation isn't going to fester with me. I will deal with it civilly but I WILL deal with it.  She finally did get a clue after some point in time, got her devices, her car battery, her dog and left.  It was a bit unbelievable, really.  

Lol, now someone else has turned the AC down in there, but only to 76. I'm interested in keeping it slightly cool in there when there is no one in there, but if they are doing laundry and actually have a valid reason, I have no problem with them turning it down.  I just don't think they'll remember to turn it back up, that's basically why I got remote access to it.  They leave, it's going back up to 78 or even 80.  

I have 5 empty lots and no leads for people coming in. We're near the end of the month so that's a bit disconcerting. Regardless, paying high electric bills for that shed is not a part of my plan, especially when income is limited.  

I need to find some kind of advertising ploy to get people to consider my park versus those that are right next to the Interstate.  My prices are low, I have done enough looking around at what everyone is charging currently.  I still only have 4 Google reviews, that's not helpful either. 

I think I am going to read other's ads and maybe get some clue about what I can do to get people to my place.  I have that in my ads, but I do think that I am too wordy  I am going to create an ad that is not overly wordy but makes the pertinent points. 

Enough of that.  There is plenty of work to do at the property and that is why I offered those people free stay in exchange for work.  Pull weeds, rake dirt, clear the trails, something. 

It's so hot out and it's going to hit above 100 degrees at least 2 days this week. I can only imagine what the "feels like" temp will be. It's muggy and nasty out there.  

Anyway, I'm going to just keep checking every hour at least for new trailers. If something good comes on there at a good price? They go quickly.  I'm trying to create business by offering something to live in.  A slum lord, however, is not my idea of running a business like this and so, it has to be decent both inside and out. Doesn't have to be perfect, but it needs to look good enough that it doesn't catch people's eyes by being too dilapidated.  

What else is going on....kids are still gone and won't be back until Saturday. I'm more than enjoying them being gone. They could stay out another week and I would be great with that. Love those kids but I also love the peace and quiet.  

That's about it for this one.  

 There was just no way for me today.  It's Sunday and I hate working on Sundays.  Totally out of it, I went over there, did a few things but basically just didn't feel it.  I don't feel the need to work every single day of the week. James is all gung ho and I'm happy for him, he's got lots more energy than me.  The older I get, the less energy I have.  Coupled with that miserable stretch of Covid last November where I really have never felt right since then. It just drained me and tho some of my energy came back, certainly not all of it. 

We ended up going to Lowe's to hopefully buy the last of the supplies to finish the drywall portion of this project.  I figure he'll get this done next weekend. If he has tie of course, but if he does have time, he'll get it done. I take that back. I think he's going up after work to where the kids are but he's going to stay to visit a couple of days. So, I guess a couple more weeks.  I am not going to leave all that mess in there that long since the drywall is done, I can throw all the stuff out and just one more area I need some of the leftover insulation. 

I'm going to scrub the stuff on the floor up, pine sol it and get it as clean as possible in there.  Once he gets all the tape and mud on, I expect the ability of that shed to stay cool without the compressor on the AC to have to be running continuously to occur. Maybe.  If I had known it was 20x12 shed versus the 16X12 I paid for, I would have bought a 10,000 BTU unit. Mind you, the 8,000 BTU is enough to cover the square footage and then some by quite a bit.  It just seems a tin shed needs more.  

I'm home now.  Just counted and packaged the last batch of quarters I got from the shed. Around $300 total.  It isn't near as much as I really need to cover having AC running in there, water heater and monthly payments.  Amenities don't always make money, in fact, they often times show a net loss on the ledger.  It's more in keeping people happy to stay at your park.  That lady last night complaining about there being "only one bathroom?!!" irritated me.  

I know, you can't please everyone.  Just all the work and money spent in putting that bathroom in there to end up hearing that nonsense.  

I was looking at that new park 20 miles up the road's amenities and pricing. I'm just amazed how much money they are asking for lot rent and apparently they must be getting it.  Here I am at the bottom of what I will charge and still have 5 lots empty. Well, they just emptied out, it would be nice if some more people came in. They've got location going for them. I have location for certain things. ETBU being one of the biggest ones.  But, ETBU is out for summer break and so are the rest of the colleges.  

I only got one person in because of the storm, he paid up a month.  

I don't really know what else I can do to get people in there beyond what I've already done and within my budget.  Well, yes, get some rental trailers in there.

Still working on that.  This person I wrote about last post had a no-show. I contacted him this morning and he said yes, still have it, but have "lots of people" coming to look at it. Well, he still has it and it's afternoon time now.  Who has $2,500 sitting around in their drawers?  I know I don't. It's Sunday, ,I tried to get that much money out after seeing that Chase bank allows it. Nope.  

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So, the first people didn't show up, another set of people showed up but didn't want it, the wife didn't like it.  What's wrong with it? I asked.  He said nothing, she just didn't like it.  Oh.  I'm hoping beyond hope this thing doesn't sell to anyone else and that I can go look and probably buy it tomorrow morning.  It's getting kind of late to be showing it now, but who knows.  It's the only one in my price range that even looks doable.  

But, as always, more keep popping up on there. There's several that are just junk.  I might take one of them if they were giving it away and just do it as a longer term project.  You've got floors missing, walls missing and roof troubles. IMO they are totally worthless in their present condition and apparently everyone else thinks the same as they don't sell.  

Well anyway, we went to  a place called Fire & Dice today to shoot off propane powered handguns at basically laser guided/acquired targets. It was fun. A bit pricey but the dude gave us double the time he told us we get. Target shooting, competition shooting and moving target shooting with scorekeeping.  I was doing pretty good if I do say so myself.  We don't go shooting near enough so I thought it pretty good to get such good scores shooting a target 50 feet away with a pistol.  

The end of the day. The tent camping lady was in there again today, but this time she spent about an hour.  Her friend wasn't there, the one that was complaining last night tho she was talking it up with another RV tenant.  I'm going to ask her about this person and how she feels about having that kind of setup in the park. I don't know when they are leaving, they have been working on getting septic, electric and water on their land, I have no idea where they're at with it or how much longer they will be around. I've only really got 4 actual long term tenants left in there, the rest are here for short stays up to a month and then they're leaving.

Yes, I'm saying I need a pretty good influx of people to come in and soon.  

Or not and whatever.  The shed is being finished to get it finished, it isn't going to have any more effect on getting people in there than it already has.  I want it done and James has been getting with it.  Another 6 days of no kids.  It's really been great, lol.  I talked to them on facetime - the older one wanted to talk about nothing in particular, just connect I guess.  

Well enough. I am on hold.  The man says he doesn't know yet whether he will have to work tomorrow. If he doesn't, I can go look at the trailer and potentially buy it. If not, he says he won't be back until evening. Welp, I'll go over there in the evening.  

Sunday - early

James left a few minutes ago, I'll be behind him after I get a couple of cuppas down my throat.  

11 hours at the shed yesterday netted in getting all of the drywall installed. Now, it's tape and mud time.  I think he's trying to get this done today Ambitious, but there's a lot of taping to do.  He's motivated.  

Tent camper lady showed up last night.  Like, how do you show up at night to start your tent camping?  She went into the shed with someone else who had come in another vehicle - who was complaining about the bathroom.  "Is he only going to build one bathroom?!!"

What.  This person that doesn't live there and never will complaining about the facilities.  You can take your happy ass and you can get the Hercules off of my property, was my first thought.  The tent camper decided she was going to back her vehicle in in front of my shed, help herself to an extension cord run through the window and park there for an hour and a half like that. 

We'll have to have a talk.  First off, she can park to the side of the shed.  Second off, I informed her before she moved in that she wouldn't be taking over the shed.  I personally wouldn't want to tent camp in this heat, that is her decision.  I'm going to be all over this situation and monitoring it right off the bat.  Her brother - alleged - was nowhere to be seen.  

I don't care if she spends an hour in there charging her phone and taking a shower, but that's the limit.  After that, she needs to vacate. People won't want to do their laundry in there if she's sitting around in that shed in the middle of the floor.  

There is plenty of space in there, I may end up putting a small desk and chair in there.  I'm just getting really happy that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that this project is near completed.  It's been a very long road and I can say some of it wasn't so pleasant. James will be leaving there now that I think about it to help his friend move, I think that's why he's starting so early.  I don't really think it's going to be done until next weekend.  Whenever he finishes, I will buy some paint, paint the walls and call it good. There are other things that need to be done, but they aren't priority.  

I found a trailer.  It's $2,800.  It appears to be in excellent condition.  The dude just texted me and said the other people who beat me to it didn't show up.  They had offered $2,800 with his initial asking price of $3,500.  Oh well.  He just said "Few more people coming..so anything can happen".  

Whatever. I'm not racing over to Shreveport to find an RV that's already been sold.  It happens every single time.  Had my hopes up on that one, from the pics it's in really good condition.  I was second in line, but that doesn't mean squat to these people even if you say you're coming. If someone else shows up, they will just sell it and that's that and you can go jump in an icy cold lake.  

I'm half tempted to try - it's still early and it's Sunday, are people really going to get up this early to go get a trailer? Probably lmao.  

Outta here. 

 No kids Saturday. We all slept in lmao

Not a lot of time here, I think I'm holding James up.

Back to the  property after a couple of cups of joe and get this drywall completed. 

Well, after a trip to Lowe's.  Since the shed is 20 feet long, not 16, I need another 2X6 to cover the extra distance on the ceiling and an extra sheet of drywall, some more drywall screws and other drywall rleated stuff.

Anyway, I'mnot going to linger on here, just have to get back to the blog later on today.  

 Friday.  Morning. Not exactly early. 

For whatever reason, I'm out of it today.  It was hard to wake up and it was hard to get out of bed.  No, I didn't get drunk last night lol. I did have a glass of wine tho.  That wouldn't make me feel like this.  It's usually because I haven't been sleeping well so finally, one random night, I'll sleep like a log and then feel like hell the next morning.  

James is on his way home.  He didn't get out early because they had drained the oil and the coolant out of the motorcycle.  Why would you do that?  Whatever, I guess he had to go buy both, fill them up and then he was able to leave. He's hot on the trail of wanting to get the shed done and told Taylor that he intends on going over there today when he gets home and get with it. 

I'll be over there with him, that's what I can say.  Let's get that done and I can wrap that project up for now, clean it all up and start something else.  

I intend on asking him if he would be interested in another side job.  Namely, if I buy one of these trailers that have "soft" floors, would he be interested in tearing up flooring, replacing the wood and the flooring?  There's a few of them on there at the right price.  I'm tired of making bids on trailers and not getting them.  I know, some of it is low-balling, I don't expect to get those. But when I offer full price and they still sell out from uner me? 

There's a motorhome in Nagodoches that is selling cheap and needs work.  There's several bumper pull trailers, everything works, but cosmetics and new flooring and probably a bit of roof work needed.  I need to get some other methods for making money in this park beyond just renting spaces.  I need to keep it full and that can happen if I have at least a couple rental units.  

As I was pulling in there today, a trailer was pulling out. He was only temporary, said he actually was pulling out a day early.  So right now, I have 3 open spaces. One of them is allegedly spoken for, showing up on Sunday. That leaves 2 empty spots I need filled up for there are more going to be leaving.  It's the nature of the business, yes, but the business needs to operate at full or very near full to be profitable.  

Here's where I went and said to myself, well if I"m going to do that, why not just do this instead?  I was thinking of building a cheap cabin. This would be a small, basic structure with no more than a bed, a couch, a small kitchen and pretty much nothing else. I don't need a bathroom in it, there is one in the shed. I would have to install heating/cooling as well. So what do you have invested into something like that, even just plain Jane?  Thousands of dollars.  Lumber, shingles, windows, doors, electrical, plumbing for the sink and running water in kitchen.  Etc.

It would be listed as a camping venue, but it would undoubtedly rent out monthly . Anyway, looking at 5 grand minimum to do that.  Or, buy a trailer that needs work for a grand, dump a grand into it or even 2 grand and I have a place ready to go in much less time and much less money.  

I haven't made any decisions yet. There was a trailer that was pretty nice, until I saw how they had pained the interior. This ugly, dark looking blue paint, it was just a repulsive look in there.  Of course I could repaint it.  I'm just going to have to rethink this.  The trailers in my price range: they are decent but usually so far away that I can't just get over there quick to get it so they sell to someone else or they are in various stages of disrepair and need a little to a lot of work.  

I just really frown in roof damage.  It just does so much damage to the interiors. It rains a lot around here, 

No noise in the house. It's a miracle. The kids are gone, there was no screaming, yelling, loud laughing, etc this morning.  There is still none of that noise and there will be none of that noise until next Saturday. The grandma is keeping them for 9 days instead of the 7 she originally spoke of. It's all good with us, we need a break.  The roughest part about this type of situation is when they come back. We brace ourselves for the noise and the torrent of kids clamoring for attention, but it never works. Lol

Just counted quarters and wrapped them.  Next time at the property, I'll empty the receptacles again and wrap those, take them to the bank, get the cash and stuff it in my desk drawer.  Keep doing that until there is enough to pay off the machines and get that over with.  Then start all over and save the money to pay off the shed.  

I've been looking at solar, but so far I am not impressed. Very pricey systems. As much as 70k.  That's for my house, not the property.  The payments supersede the savings in electricity every month.  I don't see the allure of them unless you are somewhere where there are no power lines.  I signed up with a company that gets quotes from different companies and you get to compare. Well, so far, the cheapest system is 19k and gives you estimated half of the electricity you use.  The payments, however, are higher than amount of electricity saved. So what's the point? 

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Many hours later.  James headed over to the shed and I met him over there a little later.  He got some trim done and then we got started on the ceiling.  We got 4 large pieces up - with odd cuts and just a bit trying to get in, but we got them up.  I expect that all the drywall will be done tomorrow and then there's the tape and mud to do.  Once that is done - and I have no idea whether that's going to be this weekend or not, but if not, it's okay I can still clean the shed up -  I can primer and paint the walls and call it done for good. Well at least for now, lol. There's other minutia I'll get done over time.  

Anyway, we got those 4X8 sheets up and I was looking at what wasn't covered yet. Huh? This shed is supposed to be 12X16. Uh, no, it's 12X20.  It's what's been throwing me off for a long time. I just assumed it was 12X16. My mind couldn't quite gather why more stuff was fitting in there than it should.  

It means more drywall than I originally calculated, but really, I think we only need one more sheet than what we've got.  

James was commenting that I should put a vending machine in there, there's plenty of room.  Yes, I thought the same a long time ago but I put that out of mind.  I started looking for fun.  You can get used ones relatively cheap.  The question is, will it be worth it?  I haven't decided on that and it's definitely not a priority.  At some point I need an official sign mounted to the shed that says laundry, bathroom, shower vending.  Well, I don't want to get a sign made until I decide on vending.  I wouldn't mind getting one of those machines that sells both soda/sports drinks and candy/chips. 

Anyway, James also said he would fix whatever trailer I buy.  Not only does he want to do it for the funds but also so he can take before and after pics.  He wants to go full time as a pro-handyman at some point. So I'm now looking at cheaper things that need work. Like, new floors, new walls, things that he can fix up and I can rent out.  There's one I'm looking at that they have listed at $1,200.  It need new flooring half the trailer and new walls for same-said half. It's something that might be worth a few hundred dollars, I'm gong to make an offer on it.  

I think I'm just going to save the quarters from the machines until there is enough there to pay them off.  It will take several months to do that, of course and meanwhile making payments on it, but that will speed up the pay off date and get another $216 a month worth of payments off of the books.  It shows I have 8 more months of payments, not ridiculous really, I just need to dump some payments.  

The shed is still a ways off.  Probably 2 years.  It may very well be I'll just do the same with the machine quarters for the shed.  

Another tenant supposed to show up today - tho I haven't seen him yet, I am going over there in a while to verify.  Need to have it written down what day they show up for payments sake.  

The kids finally left for Arkansas.  The oldest - who was here from Arkansas visiting for two weeks - sat on the couch all day long, pouting.  He wouldn't talk to me or Taylor at all.  The middle brother was lamenting all day long how he didn't want to go.  Too bad.  The youngest was the only one that was talkative and all over the fact that he gets to go to grandma's for a week.  Grandma spoils him and she changes the rules over here when she comes.  

I had a falling out with her today and we didn't talk the rest of the day either. One of them wanted to go with me to the property to deal with a tent camper that had shown up.  So, walking out, I informed her he was going with me. She got a smirk on her face and spouted out: No, he's not.  Oh? Why?  Because I don't get to see them that often and I want them to stay here with me. 

It wasn't that she wanted him there with her. It was the way she was talking down to me and ordering me around as if I were also a child.  Not too many people in this town that have met her like her.  She is crass, bossy and impudent.  Her feelings supersedes everyone else's.  I instantly had had enough of it. She has been doing this forever, I have bit my tongue forever.  Today?

I flatly informed her that they would all be with her for the next 7 days, he is going with me.  That was it, instead of just blasting her as I felt like doing, I just refuted her and left.  We went to the property, met the lady who wants to move in semi-permanently.  We went to the tent site, she approved of it and said if I need any help, her brother could help. I dunno how that setup is going to work, but I do hope they have 2 tents and that these siblings that are in their 40's or 50's aren't actually sleeping in the same tent?  I don't really care that much, but they will be signing an agreement to cover my ass.

I just don't want people claiming squatter's rights.  I have read too much of that going on and that isn't going to be a happening event on my property.  A signed document declaring them as temporary guests that are being allowed the use of the property in exchange for daily payment, tenancy can be revoked at any time.  Or something along those lines.  

And then another guy here on work assignment.  He's working at the same power station that several before him have come in on.  He's coming Sunday, or so he says.  

Anyway, just like that, there is peace and quiet in this house.  It's amazingly wonderful.  It's summer, the kids get too antsy, start squabbling at a moment's notice with each other, fighting, pouting, crying, etc.  I mean, the power being out was the real problem and everyone crammed into 2 bedrooms.  Sometimes the kids would be out in the common areas in the heat playing, most of the time they were in either bedroom and driving adults up the wall.  

I've already started cleanup.  My desk has been cleaned off, the bed linens have been washed and that's it for today.  Tomorrow will be the kitchen, another area in my bedroom and anything left in the front yard.  When James gets back - he's on his way up to Arkansas with his mom/ the grandma and the 3 kids - he says he intends on continuing work on the shed. Good, I will gladly go help him all day long - it will be the worst of it, putting the sheets of drywall up on the ceiling.  Let's get that thing done and over with, I want to get it all cleaned up. 

It will likely be a busy weekend with all of this stuff to do.  I'm heading over to the property in a few minutes to see if these folks have shown up. They paid $100 in advance, I would assume they would be, but who knows. 

Well enough. I got my book up to date on who is where and what.  Didn't fix the campground software yet, I will just wait until a person leaves tomorrow instead of trying to move everything around.  

 Thursday, mid-morning

I didn't get up late per se, but I've had the kids cleaning up their messes. They are leaving today for a week, Taylor went to work, the grandmas is here but I made them completely clean up their room.  We're going to completely clean up this house now that the power emergency is over and their room? No, they can do it, not the adults. The adults didn't make that room dirty.

So, it's clean by my standards but I'm sure Taylor will have them doing other things in there.  Just the main bulk of the ridiculousness has been cleaned up. I'm totally out of sort with the park.  I am going over there in a while and getting my notes straightened out on who is in what lot and for how long.  My reservation system is all in a mess for people have pulled in to whichever space and I have fixed that either.  

But, I need to go there first, lay eyes on everything, write it all down and then fix the reservation system.  I know I have 2 back in lots available. The rest of the lots are taken. But, some of those are only temporary.  I need to fix the reservation system to show which lots will be available when so I can still keep getting reservations in if anyone so chooses.  

We can finally cook in an oven and a stove top again, the days of eating out are one, as far as I"m concerned and I'm going back on my diet now that I can cook what I need to to my specifications.  

But my do we have a lot of cleanup to do. Extension cords laying everywhere, 2 trailers backed up onto the front lawn near the steps, the kitchen a bit dirty, just need general cleanup and get this place spic and span again. I have a bunch of receipts I have to upload to Quickbooks and get that stuff filed away and just general cleanup in my room as well.  Kids were crammed into 2 bedrooms for almost a week, it became pointless to try and keep it the way I like it.  I just tolerated this situation.  

Most of the businesses in our city are powered up and back to normal again. But there are still a lot of houses without power.  We got lucky, but I found out that's because one house on the next street down which is also on the same leg (power) as we are filed a complaint with the State of Texas. They have a special needs child that is listed with the state as such and as such, their power should have been priority to be restored. The child has to have 24 hour monitoring. When the parents aren't at work, they have to have a licensed nurse in there watching the child.

We don't know that is the reason for sure, but it likely had something to do with it. All I know is, I saw a SWEPCO pickup driving through our neighborhood and then an hour later or however long it was, the power was back on.  It actually stopped at our house and took note of the 2 generators on trailers on the front lawn.  

All of our friends had their power restored before we did, some of them many days ago, so there's no helping them, they don't need any help.  My bank account depleted from all of the gas and eating out.  We are thankful for the church feeding us, tho, it saved us a chunk of change.  If they're doing it again today, we will go for dinner.  There don't stand at the door and ask if you're power is out, they welcome everyone in.  My church is still without power, at least as of yesterday, haven't checked today.

I am fairly certain that if they had had power, they would have done the same as others of these churches.  Yup, their power is still out. The church is located on the same highway my property street is on. Everyone is still saying they don't have power down there. 

Well, it's time to get with it.  So nice to go into the bathroom, hit the switch and the light actually goes on.  Or not have to have the door to my bedroom perpetually closed. The whole house is nicely chilled. And I know I keep saying this, but it will be wonderful to have those kids gone for a week. After the week we've had with everyone going through what we've been going through, the adults definitely need a break from children.  We can have some peace and quiet and go about the business of restoring everything to normal in here without constant nagging and asking questions and such. 

 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.

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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.  

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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.  

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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.