Monday

So I'm sitting here watching TV and get another text (there's been lots of texts today): hey ben, sorry to let you know but your load canceled tomorrow.

A bit of a letdown.  I need to work, I didn't get this job to sit around all the time. Holidays have been fun for the most part, but it's time to get busy.

As for today?  Oh what fun!  I get a text this morning from mr grumpy informing me he's moving out.  I did not respond to him.  This is the 4th time in a month or longer span that he's informed me he's moving out and then goes into the current victimization he's experiencing with whoever at the park.  He's an eternal victim and a half decent manipulator.  Tired of it, I almost texted him back and said goodbye. 

Instead, I just waited. He then went into this lady that is staying at the park and calling her a bi*** and such and that he can't deal with it.  I called him and he went off on her, making all kinds of accusations and saying things I had my doubts about.  In fact, I didn't believe much of what he was telling me based on his demeanor, the way he talks, the vulgarity of his speech, the foulness of his mind, especially when he's been drinking.

So, I got all of that and then texted her.  She called me.  She went into a lengthy list of things he had been saying to her - all of which are easily believable including calling her a fuc**** c*nt (that word I particularly loathe),  following her boyfriend to the store, letting his dog s*** on her lot, cussing her out last night after she said something about them lighting off fireworks IN the doggy park and several other things.  

So, I called him back and confronted him on it, especially the part about calling her a stupid b**** and worse, a fuc**** c*nt.  He admitted he had, 2 sentences later after I started digging into him about it, he said he didn't.  No, you just admitted you called her that, where did you learn that it is acceptable to talk to ladies like that?  I handed him has @$$ on a platter.  I don't need his ilk in the park.  I'm tired of the drama, I'm tired of his mouth, vulgarity, foulness of speech, I'm done with it.  

It's exacerbated with his drinking.  He has been sitting around for quite a while now, laid off, not doing anything so he starts drinking out of boredom.  Then he finds someone to mouth of to. This is why he has a black eye, from the dude that was beating the s*** out of him.

The real, underlying problem is that he has spent time in a federal penitentiary - a thing I didn't find out about until after he moved in - and his mindset is still sitting in the facility.  I've tried to coax him to get that garbage out of his head, I am done trying to be his counselor.  He's paid up through the end of January. 

He then got quiet and then stated he would "keep to himself". Yes, you've TOLD me that SEVERAL times now.  Even if he isn't drunk, he still talks in a way using words that most people don't want to have to listen to on a continual basis.  

I texted her back and told her if he says ANYTHING else to you, let me know.  Like right now let me know.  This guy is the center of problems and I am done with him. 

Last night we stayed up very late, I was up until 2:00 am. Another family came over - 4 of them - and a couple - and we played cards and hung out until midnight, where we set off fireworks and ushered in the New Year.  James and his couple friend stayed up long after the family left and we went to bed.  Like, until 8:00 am this morning he was up, his friends left at 5:00 am lol. 

The oldest boy leaves in the morning with grandma who showed up some 5 hours ago.  The middle one is sick and the youngest is going stir crazy. I took the 2 that aren't sick to the property today to walk off some energy.  Helped a bit I guess.  While we were going the sick one was throwing up but also had a meltdown because he couldn't go with us.  Yeah, sorry, but being sick and it being very cold outside today with a crisp wind giving a pretty good wind chill factor, he needed to stay home.

So what to do tomorrow? I haven't decided yet.  It may be that I will stay home with the kids who are off until next week. They were going to take them to daycare tomorrow since we are all working, but now both James and I have had work canceled.  I am thinking of trying to burn off those weeds tomorrow tho. It's worth a try, just put some gas on some of the weeds to get them going and see what happens.  I'm definitely not going to be paying anyone to do anything right now, I don't have the finances for it.  It's fire, a scythe, or possibly trying to mow it down.  It's what I have available, it's what I can afford - nothing, lol. Nothing more than what I already have anyway.  

If I can't get it done with any of those methods, it just isn't going to happen right now.  Just would love to get them cut down, put down a spartan layer of seed and get something growing in there besides weeds.  And have that grass in there and in place when weed season starts up again.  Just set the spreader at a much lower setting. It's more about the view you see when you come to my park.  You see 2 signs, trees and then a field full of weeds.  Ugly, not a good first impression, I'm tired of it.  

Keto. I've been off 3 days again for the holidays.  Tomorrow I will start back up and then there won't be any excuses to cheat. Christmas is over, New Year's is done, I'm good with going a couple of months without any cheating.  It's not a New Year's resolution, I don't really even do those anymore. I always break them and feel foolish for having had made them.  This is something I've been doing for 3 years now, on and off, I'm ready to get back on it and stay on it for quite a while.  I could see, now that I'm thinking about it, taking my birthday off of it to go get ice cream.  

I guess there's more, but right now I'm a little preoccupied with the situation going on a the park. I didn't sign up to be a counselor, mediator or having to be an adult man's nanny.  Just going to relax, take it easy for the rest of the night and eventually go to sleep.  

 Saturday

So what is the worst that can happen? 

If I use my riding mower to try to cut down the weeds in the front of the property.

Why am I asking this? Because I don't really have $600 to pay someone else to do it and in the past when I did pay someone to come out, they did a terrible job of it and exacted premium prices for it. 

My riding mower is $150 plus the parts I have put on it.  I was reading about it.  The blades can get ruined.  Fine, the blades are already done for.  The housing can get damaged. Fine, it can be fixed.  Anything else? It's got a strong and larger than average engine on it that has lots of power.  

I'm going to try it at least.  If it doesn't work, I'll find that out pretty quickly. Set the speed on the lowest setting and the engine speed on highest and see what happens.  If it takes forever but it does the job - I"m fine with that.  If it doesn't do the job, I have lost nothing.  I think, lol.

The only other cheap method is getting a scythe and doing it by hand.  I don't really think I would last very long trying to do that, that's a lot of work for there are a lot of weeds. I'm tired of looking at the damned weeds, they are a huge eyesore, I have to at least try whatever I can.  

The driveway is also a source of frustration but so far, I have found nothing that I can do to fix it. Not without spending a lot of money anyway.  There is no hand solution to that, it has to be a blade on a machine, I see no other way of fixing it.  

That's where I've been at today, looking up things on youtube, google, etc trying to find some way to rectify these problems without spending a fortune I don't have on it.  

Well, anyway, in a couple of hours we are headed downtown for the first-ever, in-town fireworks display. Or at least, the first I've ever heard about here and everyone else for that matter has said the same thing. Fireworks are not allowed in city limits.  Everyone does fireworks shows outside the city.

It came to my attention today that the owner of the local company pretty much knows everyone, he must have pulled some levers to get it done.  The only drawback to tonight is it's cold and will be down in the mid 40's by the time we get there. The plus side is I was looking up at the roof of the place yesterday and saw one of those tall propane outdoor heaters up there. For the price, yes, we should get at least one of those, lol.

Oh, there is also this thing called "controlled burn" for the weeds.  It is actually a possibility since there isn't really anything that could go up in flames beyond weeds - and 3 telephone poles?  They're stone dead weeds At worst it would hit live trees - small ones - in it's path and doom them. I'm quite fine with that.  I just don't necessarily think it's dense enough to keep a fire going through them.  You think this a bad idea? No, I don't.  I've seen them doing these burns around here.  

Even the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have instructions on how to do it. Mostly, disc-ed fire stops. Yup. a driveway on one side, a street on the other, the end of the weeds on another and an empty field on the other.  

This is actually by far the best idea I have seen yet.  A little gas on a small area to get it started and then see if it takes off or just peters out.  I might actually try that on New Year's Day. I have 3 days off including today.  I delivered yesterday at Gurdon, fairly painless process tho it was freezing cold with a bone chilling wind factor going.  I got in and out of the truck as little as possible, staying in the truck, running with the heater on.  

They don't care, we run the trucks there all the time.  They want you to be competent in what you're doing and so, as far as identifying problems, I think I have sufficiently done that by now.  The head dude is amenable and easy to get along with.  He might come out and check on any given trip up there, that's his prerogative.  He can check all he wants and frankly, if he sees something wrong, I want to know about it.  So far, they have liked my work and those are the people you really have to make happy. If they are happy, my management will be happy. 

 Friday - early

I have no idea at this point who is staying and who is going out of that park.  I know one dude is allegedly leaving today, something I would have liked him to advise me of in advance.  I don't know for sure, even now, I guess when I get back to the property after driving today I'll see if he's still there.

Someone is still letting their dog defecate in the park and not cleaning it up. I have not installed that security system yet.  I was going to but other things keep getting in the way.  The lady that's been cutting the grass said she found yet another one yesterday, tho it's been a while since it's happened.

I'm fairly certain it's going to be the tent lady's brother taking that dog out there and letting it do it's thing and him not cleaning it up, I won't know until I get cameras aimed that way and have actual proof positive. Installing that system hasn't been high on my list of priorities.  I'm more concerned right now about finances.  

It's been cold here, at least our version of it. It barely got out of the 40's yesterday and the wind blowing made it chilly. Down in the high 20's in the morning, it's allegedly 30 right now, I believe it.  My room is cold, it gets that way when the outside temps drop and I just don't get enough share of the heating system to warm it up.  I do have room heaters.  

Anyway, I'd write more but as always in the mornings, I am limited on time. Today is the run up to Gurdon.  The place has been packed at the scales.  I don't know what those logging truckers think, when they're lined up in 2 rows going back at least 1,000 feet to the highway and I just merrily pass them by. But then again, I face another 2 hours anyway offloading, while they get done relatively quickly once they get off the scale and down the road to the machinery that scoops the logs off of their trucks.  

I'm just happy the scalemaster doesn't only suggest we bypass that mess, we should bypass it and "I don't want you waiting here".  Good, cause there is enough other stuff that can and sometimes does happen over at the offloading rack that eats up time.  Today will be the cold temps and thick/dense liquic trying to be forced through a tube at the bottom of the truck.  I know it will take at least an hour and a half just for the offload, which doesn't include finding someone to sign off on the paperwork before I can even begin or finishing up at the end by purging the tank with water, air and then purging the line with water and more air.

It's 2 hours easy.  

And here it is, that time again.  Finish making my coffee for the thermos and get out of here.

G'day

 Thursday - early

I was going to leave even earlier than normal, but waking up this morning has been a chore. The alarm went off, I was in a deep sleep and I had to lay there for a while to even think about forcing myself out of bed to go shave and shower. 

35 minutes later and I'm still like, gee, I could just go back to bed and sleep a few more hours.  

Yesterday was nothing special. Got to the offload plant, there were logging trucks double stacked in 2 lines all the way back to the highway.  I don't know what they think when I just drive right past the whole lot of them, bypass the truck that is about to get on the scale and weigh in, but it's with the scalemaster's insistence that we don't wait, so I'm good with it.  

It would take an hour at least to get through that line.  It didn't help, at all, that yesterday one of the scales was broken, the outbound scale.  So, one of the incoming scales was changed to the outbound scale which further slowed things up.  

After that, I got the tanker hooked up, got them to unlock the valve and then started offloading. Their fitting hooking up to my truck was leaking.  So, I had to close my valves, shut off the air pressure inside the building, hook the line up to the fitting on the line where it attaches to the truck, pump water first  and then air pressure to clear out the lines, turn all of that off, go find the head dude, have him find a gasket, it was the last one they had. "hmm, maybe I better order some gaskets". 

Uhh, yeaahhhh?  Lol. Got that on, leak stopped, an hour and a half later the tanker was empty.  It's amazing it's coming out that fast considering the temperatures. It was cold yesterday morning and it didn't warm up much later on.  A chilly wind was blowing the entire time I was outside and it didn't really feel all that great.  

This morning, another trip down south to clean out the tanker, load and go back to the park.  

And looking at the clock? That's all I have time for right now.

G'day. 

 Tuesday - early

As stated, I will not start looking for a new job until after the New Year.  I don't have the desire to do that right now. I really don't have the desire to start yet another new job, but this one isn't panning out.  

Christmas was quite lovely.  We didn't get up particularly early, which was amazing in itself that the kids didn't get up at the "buttcrack of dawn" as Taylor put it lmao.  One of them did come barging into my room around 7:30 am telling me to get up and "Come on! Come on! aren't you coming?!!"

We had fun opening presents and then going for the traditional Christmas breakfast at IHOP.  After eating there, I wasn't really hungry for most of the rest of the day, only eating a little shrimp and some crackers with cheese and summer sausage later on.  

The total bill for this 2 day feast fest? 4 pounds.  I really didn't go that crazy excepting yesterday afternoon I did, indeed, make myself a chocolate milkshake. I would have gone to Diary Queen for a blizzard, but they, like most of the town, were closed.  And I ate potatoes.  A lot of potatoes on this 2 day, eat-whatever-you-want thing.  It's ok, I'm fully back on Keto today and won't even take my first bite of food until this afternoon. 

The grandma is here with the oldest child.  She is, allegedly, leaving this morning and coming back next weekend to get him.  We are going on Saturday evening to a fireworks show that is going to take place downtown. It's a first for this town as far as I know it, they don't even allow fireworks in this city, they must have received a permit to do so and obviously, it would have to be pro's doing it.  We have reserved a spot at a local brewery on their rooftop. IT just opened a few weeks ago during a Christmas parade that was going on around the local square and therefore, right in front of it.  They will have, easily, the best view of the fireworks in the entire town.

Alas, my time has run out.  I actually feel like writing in my blog this morning, unfortunately I don't get up too too early for going to work. I find that 5:45 am is about as early as I can stomach it.  So, with that? I bid you a Good day.  

 Sunday

I woke up about 15 minutes ago, fully expecting it to be raining. Heard nothing so checked the app, it's supposed to start  - now actually.  It isn't yet, but it will  rain today and soon, the radar certainly is showing that.

So, I jumped out of bed and got the dog outside before the rain hits. He is not a fan.  He'll go pee in it and come right back under the cover, I just figured give him a chance to do his duty and maybe sniff around a bit before the rain starts and isn't stopping until later this afternoon.  

It's church day, I will probably go.  I warned the kids  - there is no kids church today, they are going to have families at the regular church service.  I kind of think it would be lame if they decided not to go, at the same time I'm not going to sit around at church listening to them griping about not being able to play in the giant tube assembly or run around on platforms elevated way up on the walls. 

I haven't posted in the last few days for there hasn't been much to post about.  The same old conundrums that faced me 3 days ago are still here today. The driveway needs fixed and a lot of other stuff that costs money I don't have.  

However. 

I get a series of texts from the grumpy dude.  He goes straight into how he's "probably going to move to another RV park" and "I won't stand other tenants beating the s*** out of me".  This is the 3rd time he's threatened to move - so move! I'm tired of hearing it, if this place doesn't work for you, go find one that does!  But you know that the place he's at isn't the problem. It's him that's the problem and that problem will drag around with him wherever he goes. He drinks too much is the first thing.  He spouts off at the mouth - drunk or sober - all the time is the second.  Well, let's reverse that, the spouting off at the mouth gets highly annoying, fast.  He thinks he's being funny when he goes around calling people a-holes and denigrating everyone.

It's why I had it out with him. I've had enough, I finally told him one day.  I don't want anything to do with you. If other people want to hang around that nonsense, fine! Not me.  

So what happened? I put the phone down and said I would call when I had a chance, I was out with family and I wasn't about to subject everyone else to his ridiculousness.  So the next morning, which would have been yesterday, he goes off about a person that "took a pot shot at me and then started beating the s*** out of me for no reason". 

I didn't believe a word he was saying.  We just had that other dude over at hour house a few days ago, James knows him from previous work place.  He's a totally laid back, chill person.  He may have his moments, I'm sure he does - don't we all - but he's got the demeanor of an angel compared to the grumpy dude.  I'm thinking, there are always 2 sides to a story and there is definitely going to be a completely different version coming from him.  I haven't even asked him about it yet.

Anyway, Mr. Grumpy finally admits they were all drinking, he "probably said some stuff to him", etc.  Yup, your mouth.  You likely said some incredibly foul things to the man and you were probably talking tough, like you're a bad-@$$ and this is the result. Apparently the man beat him pretty good before another tenant pulled him off of him - this other tenant is a big, muscular dude, neither one of those two would be a match for him - and sent him back to his trailer.  Go sleep it off.  

The thing is, I didn't hear about this from anyone else. And it wasn't even told to me until what, almost 5 days later?  Shrugs shoulders. The worse part is, this dude isn't supposed to be drinking at all. I am not going to go into the details of why on the internet, I will say he has very strong reasons why he shouldn't even be touching a bottle of beer, much less a whole 12 pack of them.  Very strong, motivating reasons.

So now, he's going to "stay in my trailer and keep to myself". How many times have I heard this from him?  A walking drama Queen, a Hallmark drama movie all by himself, it's getting to the point of unbelievable and really, intolerable. If this stuff keeps happening - which it likely will, it's in his nature - I'm going to throw his @$$ out of the park.  Money be damned, I don't need this at my park or in my life.  I'll find someone to take that spot.  I have 2 spots open right now - the one I keep available for overnighters and the one that was vacated by a temporary worker.  They are both booked next week, otherwise I'd be running my Facebook ad boost post again.  

I'm not really sure about anyone else leaving, if they are they haven't informed me.  I mean, it's the nature of the business, people come, people go, I just prefer people give me some kind of head's up if they know they are going. Many of these temp workers I get in there don't know about their departure until shortly before they are reassigned to somewhere else. 

Krampus. A sort of funny, ridiculous, evil and scary movie all in one.  The kids have watched it twice in the past 2 days, now they want to watch it again, calling it a Christmas movie and informing me it's the day before Christmas. Perhaps and tho Christmas is the theme, believing in Santa and all is the point, it's still not a traditional Christmas movie lol.  I fully intend on watching A Christmas Carol tonight, after these kids go to bed, the version with George C. Scott. 

I began watching it a few weeks ago but wasn't in the right mood, so I put it off.  I'm in the right mood now. I don't need do anything else for giving, 2 people have a free lot using my electricity and facilities and have been for months now, in a coach that was being sold to them that is making me nothing right now.  I'm not doing it begrudgingly, the lady had a stroke - she is getting better tho. I saw her walking around without a 4-legged walker a few days ago, that's a sign she's definitely on the mend.  

Ahh, here comes the rain.  35 minutes later than their prediction.  I knew it was coming just for the fact that the radar was showing it coming from the south and covering our area for at least a 1/4 of the day.  

With that, I guess I'll go watch this movie for the 3rd time in 3 days.  Lol.  They don't normally do that.  It's probably the scary parts that get them liking it.  

 Friday 

Paycheck came in overnight.  It sealed my fate with this company. No way am I going to spend the kind of hours I am spending washing out trailers, loading and unloading coupled with the driving to get that small of a check.  Just a non-happening event.  I have decided that after Christmas and New Year's are over, I am going to start looking for a new job.

I say looking, who knows how long it might take to find a similar situation that will at least pay me for the time spent doing it.  I was appalled at the sight of the amount of money for a 15 day period of work, many of those days spent working.  Just not going to waste 7-8 or longer - the other day it was 13 hours - and get paid pauper's wages like that.  If I have to switch to something like the previous job, I may just have to do that.  I need more money than this and the promise was that I was going to get X amount of gross pay per week, that is not materializing.  

Just a little peeved this morning seeing this kind of junk going on at Christmas.  Most of my presents have been bought, I just have a few small things to buy for the kids left so it's mostly normal bills and thankfully, I have lots of rent payments coming up soon.  Much of it is around the 1st, a few days before and after.  I feel like I have wasted a lot of time with this company considering what I went through to get this job but I know I had this feeling more than once  - several times - that I should just move on.  My fault? Yes, I should have just listened to myself, but I was already invested into it by the time I got over to Oregon and was in the middle of that hellish landscape of working all day and getting almost no sleep at night.

I'll never forget that experience for it was one of the worst experiences of my life overall, not just for trucking but for much of anything.  I just really thought I would get a larger paycheck than this, by at least $500. But, obviously they aren't paying much for the "stop" pay, which is the pay for loading, unloading, washout, etc. 

I'm going to expand my search beyond trucking.  I don't know what else I could do - but I do know forklifts, I have operated them on and off since the mid 80's, a bit rusty right now, it would come back to me quickly much like ice skating the other night.  I don't know, can't predict what I might find or end up with, I am just going to expand my horizons on this front.  If there was something else I could do with my land that I am not thinking of that wouldn't cost a lot, I would do it.  

I kind of feel like I'm stuck right now.  I can't expand the park for I don't have the funds to do so.  I won't have the funds for a very long time at this rate - if  ever really.  I don't know what I can do.  I actually could add more lots to the current septic, it would mean having it pumped out, well who knows how often, every couple of months probably anyway.  So, would it be worth either putting up another lot or building a small cabin for the kind of return I would get minus the pump outs? 

I have no idea for I don't know how often I would have to have them coming in to do that.  

I'm a little preoccupied with these thoughts all of a sudden after seeing this paycheck.  Like, I need a lot more money than this to start getting ahead.  

I raised my rates on Hipcamp.  I am not going to let people get away with that again.  I had them very low, just overnight stuff, this person took advantage of it and will staying for 5 nights at a rate that doesn't make hardly any money.  I don't care if there isn't any traffic coming through that site, there is no way I'm going to be taken advantage of again with that nonsense.

Changing the gears at least for a minute, Keto is going well. It shows "trace" amount of ketosis, but I suspect it's just that I'm what they call "fat adapted".  Meaning my system produced enough ketones to deal with everything but not a lot of extra, hence it doesn't show up on the strips for results.  I'm not looking at strips for the results, however, I'm looking at my belly and my weight.  I'm down to 214 today, a 20 plus pound drop in the almost - is it a month now? - that I have been doing it.  So, I am at least happy about something this morning, lol.  Yes, I am going to cheat Sunday and Monday, I'll be right back at it on Tuesday and continuing on as long as it takes to get this gut gone.  

The guy has  definitely shrunk quite a bit. Still have one, but not near as big as when I first started this diet.

And sitting here musing all of this, I am going to go to Lowe's today and price out lumber and supplies to build a cabin.  We're not talking about anything fancy.  Wood floor, maybe elevated a bit to keep moisture off of it, one window, one exit/entrance door.  Maybe around 400 square feet of space, plus or minus.  Heck, I may not even have to go to Lowe's, there is always lumber of various kinds being sold on FB marketplace.  Companies doing projects with leftover wood, people with wood for unknown reasons they are selling, who knows why they have it, but it's sold less than retail/market value at places like Lowe's, Home Depot and local lumber places.  We have a few of those in town, actually.  

This something that will happen overnight? Of course not. Money is the issue, it always is.  I tried to get a big loan to pay off the debt and have one, monthly payment at a lower cost than all of it put together, that fell through for the idea of huge interest rates that didn't really help my situation that much.  Just didn't seem prudent to be taking out a loan at ridiculously high interest rates. 

Well, unexpected days off, I need to go over and figure out how I am going to install the new security camera system.  I also need to go get some stuff I won at auction a few weeks ago, I got some good stuff for almost nothing.  Especially the boxes. One for inside storing tools and things, the other for outside for a package drop off for the delivery services.  

Watching footage of people waiting at airports and such, lots of traveling they are predicting for Christmas.  I'm not going anywhere.  I saw my mom and my son a while back, visited with friends, that was it for this year.  Next year, we are all going to Las Vegas on Memorial Day weekend for a wedding.  I figure to stay 3 or 4 days.  I also figure to spend credit card points to pay for the flight there and back.  It's not cheap, either, which was a bit surprising considering how far off it is.  I'm going to keep looking at the various sites offering airfare, maybe I'll find something a bit cheaper. 

I dunno what else. Just going to have to try and get this pay situation out of my mind somehow.  It's Christmas, would rather be in the holiday cheer, festive attitude I had the other day.  

Regardless, that's enough for this one.  

 Wednesday - late

It was  a pretty seamless day as far as work is concerned.  Got out earlier than normal, the washout place got it done quickly and the guy that gets loading the trailer done quickly was there instead of the slow dude. 6-1/2 hours and it was over.

During the loading, the manager called and informed me there were "cancellations".  Well I hope it isn't what I'm loading now, we're done here.  My Friday load was cancelled, of which I considered nothing short of a minor miracle - I really didn't want to work Friday and Saturday after everything else this week. I mean, I would have done it of course, but here we are.  It happens frequently enough that I figured something would happen along the way here that they would cancel a load eventually.

Actually, they were filled up after my last load, neither tank could have taken another truckload. I don't know how fast they use the stuff, it's a 24 hour operation.  I have no idea whether it's too much product, or perhaps Christmas and they shut down, or something wrong, who knows.  I just know I'm delivering this load tomorrow and that's it for the 4 days following. 

I will be calling the rental place and seeing if the tractor with box attachment is available for Friday.  I can't exactly afford it, I can't exactly afford not to type of deal.  

We went to the Christmas Wonderland of Lights tonight downtown, the church had some family that paid for it for everyone.  They must have footed quite the bill.  There were a lot of people there.  We went ice skating lol.  They set up an outdoor skating rink every year at the town square. We haven't gone skating until tonight.  It's been a few decades since I went ice skating last and about the same amount of time when I used to roller blade a lot for fun and exercise.  

So I took one of the kids and James took the other. The youngest gave up quickly, I had the older boy who just couldn't figure it out.  He tried tho, I'll give him credit for that.  I pushed off and started skating around, I had to see if I could still do it.  The ice was badly gouged, they needed to do a resurface job on it, but I still managed to skate around all over the place - without falling.  And let me tell you, there were people falling all over the place.  Old and young, lol.  

We did the merry-go-round and then the kids went on the inflatable bounce house slide and that was it.  They left one way, I went another. My belt broke this morning at the Park, I've been holding my pants up all day long.  Like, I have to go to Walmart regardless of whether I want to or not and get a belt. They went to Taco Bell, Super 1 and then took the boys to a friend's house for 2 days. Christmas break started today after they got out of school - half day at that.  

They are off for 2-1/2 weeks, amazingly enough.  I'm working now so I can't watch them the whole time like I was doing last year.  Next week, James is off so they will be home and the week after, they are going to be put in a local daycare for the entire week. If I happen to be off any of those days, I'll watch them, I have no idea about that and won't even bother to give that any thought until that week comes rolling along. 

I had a lady saying she wanted to stay for 2 weeks, she disappeared off the radar.  Hipcamp got me a 5 night stay - I"m going to have to up the rate for my regular lots for that. They got a smoking deal, I'll say that.  Good thing it's nice and cool, I'd be eating a lot of electricity costs for a lot not making me that much money.  

_________________

Continuing from last night - forgot to publish this post lol...

It's Thursday morning, early.  Get up to Gurdon, get this stuff off the truck and try to get this day over with and get my 4 days off started early. 

Whether I can get that tractor is totally dependent on whether the thing is at the store.  It wasn't there last time I looked.  

My mind has been running all over the place with this idea of expansion.  I think, I need more lots. Then I think, hmm, it's difficult enough to keep my lots full.  I have turned people away, it's not like I've turned 50 people away tho.  

If I get another septic system, would my money be better spent building small cabins instead of putting in more lots?  What is the Return On Investment for more lots versus cabins I could probably rent out easier? But then, I think, well they're going to start up this Interstate project in 2025, shouldn't I think about being ready for an influx of people needing lots to rent? 

What if that doesn't pan out?

And then, I think, what I really need is something IN my park that draws people in.  When it comes down to brass tacks, it's what you have that's important to travelers and long term.  I have some stuff, I could use a lot more.  

When I get to the end of all of these trains of thoughts, I just throw up my hands.  I don't have the money for any of it.  No sense stressing over stuff you can't change. 

I've been working, that's what I can say.  I think this next paycheck determines whether I stay at this place or move on.  It will be a "full" check, a check where I"ve worked about as much as I can expect to work and have it show up to represent 15 days worth of work. Pay should be coming in tonight.  

There is a place that is hiring or local work that hauls sand for fracking operations.  You have to have some sort of certification before you even apply according to their website.  It's an hour course, I didn't see a price tag on it.  If you go through that training, pass and apply, you aren't guaranteed a job, of course.  

I'll wait until I see what I've got before attempting to make any decisions.  

Anyway, it's time to get my coffee thermos filled up and get out of here.

G'day

Wednesday - at the plant getting loaded. 

I ended up stuck in lufkin Monday night, I had yet another flat tire. On top of 5 hours getting the truck fixed, now I wait 3 plus hours to get a tire fixed, and yes I was at the shop, there were several trucks ahead of me. 

I slept quite well, actually. 9 hours of sleep. I was stuck there 10 hours on the required break and frankly, when I woke up I could have gone back to sleep for a few more hours. 

But I got myself moving and when my 10 was done, I drove straight from lufkin all the way up to the Gurdon plant. I got home in time for everyone to go out to eat. A friend of James and his girlfriend paying. It’s a super good Japanese restaurant that gets rave reviews from people passing through who wonder aloud how a place like that in a small redneck town out in the middle of nowhere can get such fresh seafood. 

I could guess…they have a box truck that is refrigerated, they may send it to somewhere on the coast to get it. 

Anyway, the last 2 days have been rather rough, I’m hoping for an easier day today. Besides the normal plethora of idiots doing stupid things on the highways, it’s going pretty good. 

I’d like to get off work early, go home and do nothing. Leave out early tomorrow morning, get it delivered and get home early again. 

I dunno, but I’m writing this one in my phone, writing with a keyboard is my h easier so maybe something on here hater today. 

 Tuesday - 5:30 pm

I don’t typically do posts on my phone, but since I have ample time…

Started out this morning, as mentioned in previous post. I got to the repair shop around 8:45 am. Never been to this plus, but it’s a combination of junkyard, landfill, a lot of junk vehicles stacked on top of each, “stuff” laying all over the place, a wrecker/towing company and both truck and car mechanics. Pretty much a shit hole. 

It took them quite a while to figure out what was wrong - a cam sensor. Over an hour for my company to approve it, at least two hours to get the parts and another 45 minutes to install said parts. 

I was stuck there 5 hours. No other businesses out here, no place to get something to eat, nothing. I ended up getting into my sleeper and taking a nap. 

Durkk ok by this nap, this old hag came out, screaming: “where is the son of a bi*** that drives this piece of shit truck? Did he go on a hike?” I can tell you that I had been friendly and respectful to everyone there including this witch (she looks like one and acts like one, get her a broom) up until that point . I had words to say about that garbage coming out of her mouth and yes, I said something about it.

She tried to claim she was talking about her computer. Do you think I’m stupid? Calling me an a hole, calling my truck a piece of shit? Do computers go on hikes? 

Some other people came out, oh she says that to everyone! Maybe everyone that works there, she isn’t about to get away with talking that bs to me.  I settled myself down and just ignored her the rest of the time I was there. 

Took 20 minutes to get the truck started. You get air in the lines and it can take a while to get it all out. Left there, went to the wash out, got in and out of there. But here? At the loading plant? They are loading other trucks and I will have to wait, I am told. Yup, it’s been a long day and no telling when it will be over. 

 Monday - early enough

I contacted the repair department yesterday afternoon, I sent them 4 text messages over a span of time and still have heard nothing back.

Shrugging shoulders. I have texted them several times in the past now with almost immediate response.  They don't reply, that's their problem and I won't take any flak for it. I contacted my dispatcher who replied within 5 minutes and that was on a Sunday.  I mean, it's just the way this company is, but you can bet your @$$ they'll still want that load picked up regardless of how much trouble I will have to go through to get the damned truck fixed.

Okay, I am in a fairly good mood, just thinking about this stuff sort of gets me, so I'm switching that off.  

I think Biden is toast, btw, as far as winning another election. The polls have changed slowly but dramatically over time to the point now that a vast majority of Americans don't believe his economy is helping them, at all.  You aren't going to be unpopular if the cost of everything is to the point that you have to worry about buying the basic necessities of life and paying basic bills.  

But, if you are a "MAGA Republican" according to Biden and high ranking Democrats, you are a pile of dogshit.  That's the message they have been conveying and they continue to convey, but I don't think that message is resonating anymore excepting with perhaps the most staunch Democrats that will vote Democrat regardless.  Why go off about this? Because their decisions affect my- and yours - daily life.  I'm looking at interest rates through the roof on a loan that would have cost probably half of that 2 years ago in interest.  Borrow 40k and pay back 22k in interest? That's crazy!  

It's an absolutely horrible time to get a loan and I have to keep that in my brain while I'm considering my next moves.  The Fed will have to bring down interest rates to stop this madness. I wouldn't be surprised if they do in order to boost Biden's numbers. A last minute, Hail Mary attempt to say "look at me and how good I am doing!".  As if everyone will automatically forget everything that led up to the need for having to take drastic measures. Then, if they win, it will be right back to draconian, ridiculous and outrageous policy that costs you and I a lot more money than we need to be paying for everything and hit with ridiculous regulations over electric stoves, water heaters, gas house heaters, etc. 

So I just texted these people again.  We'll see what happens, it's 7:20 am. I should be on the road, lol.  Nope.  That truck won't pull a loaded trailer, it will just die and then they'll have to send a wrecker and pay a lot more money to fix the thing.  I mean, if that's what they want, but if I tell them in advance that the thing can't pull a load and they do nothing about it, that's on them and yes, they will pay me for waiting.  

A little angst this morning I guess.  Just a bit irritating.  I figure I'll give it til 8am and then I'll contact the dispatcher and tell her I've sent 8 messages so far without any reply.  Maybe the dude is on vacation, I have no idea.  But I am not interested in being out until 7 pm tonight simply because this company doesn't have it's act together. 

Next.  Nothing. I can do nothing without a day off.  Apparently not going to get one.  And getting a weekend day off doesn't help for renting a tractor.  Well, maybe if I rented it on a Saturday morning and took it back before they close, but I think they close at 1:00 pm on Saturdays.  I want the thing for a whole 24 hour period.  In other words, the entire day, get it early, take it back just before they close.  

Other things I can do over there, just need the time and not being tired after getting up early and driving/loading/unloading.  I really find it hard to do anything after driving, even if it's only an 8 hour day.  

Current forecast is rain starting Friday and going through Monday.  Lol, a wet Christmas.  Or not, their forecasts are frequently wrong.  

Okkkkk.......so I finally hear back from someone else.  The man is on vacation lmao.  He gave the phone to another person who wasn't looking at the phone, lmao again.  Are you supposed to unload today? No, I'm supposed to load but I'm not going to make it. I have to have the tanker washed out and then go load at 10 am.  See? The dispatcher didn't even know the man that works, right there with her, was on vacation?  

I think I'll just get another cup of coffee and watch this clown show continue on.  

G'day

 Sunday - late

The last offload took - 3-1/2 hours? I think - today it took an hour and a half.  The trailers have internal thermometers on them and I think this is what's causing the problem, cold resin that flows slower and slower the colder it gets. 2 days ago, it was 45 degrees and got colder as I continued to pump out the product. Today, it started at 50 degrees and ended up at 62 degrees.  Big temperature difference.  I had never been there on a Sunday, finding someone to go into the scale house and print out the scale ticket was not a short ordeal.  

However, the real problem started driving back.  It started cutting out when taking off from a start and taking forever to get up to speed, much longer than normal. The situation deteriorated all the way back to the point I was wondering if was even going to make it back.  But it did. I didn't want to call dispatch about this beforehand, I know what they're going to say, take it somewhere and have it looked at.  I'm 90% certain the problem is a clogged fuel filter and tho I could probably fix it, I have done anything like that in decades.  I'd hate to try and replace it and not get it right. Then they have to send out a mobile mechanic. 

This isn't like changing a fuel filter on a gasoline engine.  

I contacted dispatch who told me to contact the mechanic department,  of whom I tried 4 times to get a hold of and then gave up on it. Don't care really, it is Sunday and driving up, unloading and driving back was enough for me.  I'll have an ordeal, I'm sure, trying to get this dealt with tomorrow.  Oh well. There are several places in town that do truck repair.  It's going to be a long day, that's all I know. They originally gave me work for this weekend, then Friday and Saturday of this coming week, then Tuesday and Wednesday of the week after.

I had no idea they were going to dump even more work on me for this week.  

I got a call earlier from this couple that was sitting at the local Walmart, do you have a spot available? yes.  We'll be there in 10 minutes. They claimed they showed up, said nope, we don't like it and left. However, they never came back to the park, so I assume they saw the driveway or perhaps the weeds and just didn't care for that part of it.  I dunno, but I need to somehow find a way to fix that driveway.  

If the gravel wasn't so expensive.  $750 per truckload and that was the quote last time I checked which was quite some time ago.  Inflation, I'm told. Rocks? Inflation?  

I won't go into those sentiments again, not worth it.  I'm definitely going to try renting the tractor - next chance I get.  Perhaps I'll get Wednesday and Thursday off, perhaps not, but I need a full day off to do that.  I want a full day's rental to get the most time out of the thing.  It's a long driveway and it's not a particularly large tractor.  I have to try something, this is the only thing I can afford right now.

Keto - it finally showed a slight trace of purple again. After many days of not showing it. I've been following the diet closely this time around and it's still elusive on getting anything to show on the strips.  But, I am losing weight.  Just the fat is being rather stubborn, especially around my belly.  I haven't been doing the diet long enough this time around to really get impatient, it's been what, a couple of weeks? You don't lose a gut in 2 weeks.  Or even 2 months, but you can certainly get it to shrink quite a bit in 2 months time.  We'll see. I'm going to keep with it cause' it's the only thing I know that works.  It's just that you have to stay on it- eternally I guess - to keep the weight off.  I might do a cheat day on Christmas Day, but I'm thinking not.  I don't want to find excuses to eat whatever I want.  

I finally started getting approved for larger loans - I want to pay down credit card debt to get my credit score back up and lump it all into one payment at a lower amount per month.  The problem? Interest rates are ridiculously high right now.  I'd only be saving $150 per month.  And it's a 60 month loan.  Here's the thing, tho.  If I take on a loan like that, pay down all that debt and then if interest rates do, indeed come down sometime in the next - year or so say - I could refinance it.  It's an interesting proposition.  I wish I could take on more debt load to be honest, I'd just take the loan and build out the park.  

But I can't afford $832 per month on top of everything else. The whole thing of paying down credit card debt is just that, you pay off the credit cards so you no longer have those payments, those monthly payments just get transferred to the loan.  What I'd really like to do is take the loan, pay down credit card debt and get another septic system off of it. Just the septic system. Once I get that in, I've got a ticket to more lots installed. But you see, after the septic system, you have to install electric, water lines and sewer lines, plus a driveway, or the beginning of one anyway, etc.  So, getting a septic installed is the beginning of being able to get something going, but there is still more money needed to get there even if just talking 5 lots or so.  

I dunno what I'm going to do, nothing right now.  Sit on it, think about it, make a decision whenever I feel comfortable with it - or do nothing.  

Well, it's getting late. I'm going to get up at my normal time, even tho I have no idea where they are going to want this truck or when I'm going to be directed to move it there, there being wherever there is. 

 Friday- not particularly early morning, not late either

It totally slipped my mind until just now that it's supposed to rain today. Fortunately for me, rain doesn't start until this afternoon. I say that because the truck is pointed in the wrong direction - I am doing that now to keep the noise of that motor from reaching the park as much as possible. It's a very loud engine, I am projecting that sound towards the rear of the property instead of towards the RV's.  

Anyway, I prefer to turn the truck around at the back where this is a turnaround in the gas production area.   This is the area they tried to tell me long ago that I "can't drive through there".  OH? It's my property, I'll drive where I please.  I had to become almost insolent with those people for they were acting like mini-gods to me, attempting to dictate what I could and couldn't do on "our lease" as they put it.  Your lease does not supersede my ownership of the property the lease is based on excepting you are allowed to do what the lease states you can do. 

I can't turn the truck around, getting back to the point lol, if it rains.  It gets muddy back there and I already got stuck once after it had rained and a day's worth of drying had occurred.  I was able to back out of it, thankfully, left some pretty deep tire ruts in the ground. Nothing I will try again shortly after it rains, tomorrow after I get back I will just have to turn the thing around in the area I have designated for it, which is right in front of the motor coach and the other trailer behind the amenities shed.  

A new guest has informed me that the router that is on the pole needs to be elevated well up above what it is now.  Yup, I know that.  Well, cell signals travel downwards, not upwards.  Yup.  You want to do it? lol.  I'll have to buy the longest 4X4 I can find at Lowe's, which is probably 16 feet, drop 4 feet of it in the ground and probably cement it in there for the assurance the thing isn't going to come down on top of a trailer nearby.  It's nothing on my priority list.  One person was complaining that it "keeps dropping the signal".  Nope, it's more likely too many devices trying to connect to it and why aren't you connected to the other router which is literally right there? He did that and I haven't heard a peep from him about it since. 

It's that or buy a metal pole - somewhere - that is likely costly.  I would also have to deal with being able to get up that high on a ladder, it's just something I have put off.  

I'm not feeling particularly motivated, I have to work tomorrow and Sunday so I would love to enjoy the day off, however, I must get at least a few things done over there.  I'm just sitting here drinking coffee and musing the things of life.  Nothing highly profound, things like how they must have loved me having to get 7 new tires on that trailer yesterday.  They have to approve it tho, I only wanted 5 on there, the Love's said it needed 7. Yeah, it did, but I didn't want to push it too far.  Of the 2 extra tires that needed replaced, one of them was severally dry rotted and the other had a small piece of the outer skin of the sidewall that apparently had been hit on something.

Someone had actually placed an X over it, noting it needed replaced but did nothing about it? What I'm finding is that the driver who gave me the local training here cares about keeping the trailers in good working order, everyone else? Not at all.  Everyone else are OTR drivers that are brought in to take a load here and there when their runs dry up and there is nothing to do. 

The plant is taking forever to offload. We have conjectured several things that may have happened. The line may be clogged up - some of these drivers are not flushing the line out with water as required. A filter sock may have been swallowed up into the line or the product is too cold and has thickened substantially.  Whatever the case, I spent 4 hours dealing with tires yesterday and then 4 hours dealing with offloading.  I was on duty for 13 hours, even getting warnings that a "potential violation" will occur in X amount of minutes, the damn thing kept sending me those notices. It was a long day and probably why I"m not feeling particularly motivated to go work at the property. 

However, I am fixing to get up, get my shoes on and get over there.  Maybe take a thermos of coffee.  It's cool out but not freezing cold. I'd take the dog but he won't stay in the doggy park, he just tries to get out and stands there whining.   Would love to take him for a walk but work calls first. 

And the biggest thing on my mind over there right now is the driveway. It needs bladed. I don't have a grader in my back pocket.  I'm thinking to rent the tractor with the box attachment from the local rental company.  It's relatively cheap at $228 per day.  It's my only option right now, renting a grader is out of the question as there aren't any available rent anywhere nearby and hiring a person to do it would cost a thousand dollars or more. 

I also am expecting Christmas off. I worked Thanksgiving and I'm working this weekend, that should - will - get me next weekend off and Monday as well.  I'm not going to give them an option on that one, I'll work New Years if it is necessary to get Christmas Day off.  

And I'm waiting to see what this next paycheck is.  It should be more in the "normal" range of what I will be making on any given paycheck, what with having had worked quite a few more days than previous pay periods.  It's hard to make the goals I am making without understanding how these goals are going to be realized considering it's all based on income/outgoing expenses and what's left over.  Originally, I wanted to pay down a grand a month on debt, I haven't even started on that.  Way too many expenses have hit to be able to pay down much of anything.  That and smaller than necessary paychecks to even begin to start doing that.  I will see another paycheck on the 22cd.  

As for now? Time to get out of here. The sun is still shining, the rain doesn't appear to start until around 4:00 pm now - it originally said 3 - that gives plenty of time to get some stuff done over there.

G'day.  

 Thursday - early

5:25 am early to be precise. Just got up early to get tires replaced on the trailer before I end up in Gurdon, AR.

I don't even know if they are available to authorize such things early, but it won't but until after 7:00 am before I am at the Love's to get them installed.  Surely they're up that early? The mechanics shop seems to be, they leave at 4:00 pm, you'd think that means they start earlier than 8:00 am. 

You'd think. Lol.

Anyway I just realized the intended arrival time up there, I need to leave out of the house in about 10 minutes. 

That means no time for blogging this morning.

G'day

Wednesday - night

So, Biden is now facing formal impeachment investigation.  It simply means they can force the people they want to question to show up.  It will also force the White House to give up information they are obstructing.  I don't know why anyone would have a problem with this impeachment inquiry, Trump was impeached twice on ridiculous, bogus and sham nonsense. This is actual criminal activity, allegedly anyway, that occurred with officials from China, Ukraine, Russia and allegedly other nations.  

Hunter showed up to an inquiry that he was subpoenaed to testify in, gave a statement to the press and then left without going into the building.  Calls for contempt charges. 

And a bunch of other stuff in the news that only slightly interested me, I'm more interested in the Israel war and that has been shifted well down in priority or even coverage. Weird.

As for today and yesterday.  Well, it took 3-1/2 hours to offload yesterday and the other driver also spent that much time offloading today. So we've taken it to the head honcho over there, it's obvious the line is clogged and needs attention.  We don't want to spend that much time unloading.  I don't care about the detention pay, it isn't that much and definitely not worth sitting there for that long.

Today, loading, it took them almost 4 hours to load the truck. That is also ridiculous.  It's not the plant, it's a particular operator who really should find another line of work. Other operators take far less time than him. He always make excuses about how he has to transfer liquid from one tank to another - the others do as well. He always has an excuse, it gets old.  I flatly asked him today why it was taking so long and that was his rather lame excuse, he's given it several times now.  

There is nothing we can do about that, it is what it is.  I was there almost 4 hours. Messed up my plans for the day after I was going to get back to the property and start wiring up outlets for the new cameras.  I gave up on that idea getting back to the yard at almost 4;00 pm.  

It was chilly out today and it never warmed up. The sun hid behind the clouds and never peeked out from behind them.  

Whatever the case, we did end up taking the boys to the church Christmas party. I'm actually about to head over there and get them. A 2 hour affair, they were blaring loud music in the auditorium, which I didn't know they had services for kids in there since they have their own, rather large, room.  Then they were to go outside and play and then inside to that room for more playtime and pizza.  Hopefully they enjoyed themselves.  

________

And oh yes, they did. I went into their giant playroom/auditorium and couldn't find either one.  There is a giant set of those pipes you crawl through on one side and then a sort of tunnel that goes from one side of the room to the other - approximately 15 feet up in the air and then more play stuff up there on the other side. It's huge.  I finally had them call for them, the oldest showed up the youngest did not.

Found out they separate them by grades so the youngest was in a different room altogether.  

That's it, end of night and going to bed soon even tho it's only 8:20 pm.  I went to bed early last night as well and slept pretty well.  I am running this sleep app all night long - it listens to you.  It gives a report of your sleeping patterns, snoring and potential for sleep apnea.  Some night it's been mild snoring and no risk of sleep apnea, 2 nights ago it went way up on the sleep apnea scale but then decreased last night.

It says my room is noisy, lol. It's the fan on the window ac unit, I run that thing 24 hours a day.  I have to have it to sleep, there are far too many noises in this house at night that will wake me up, the biggest is 3 cats wandering around doing what cats do.  Drowns out noise of cars/trucks going up the road and just allows me to sleep better. If I were to turn that thing off, I would just lay there awake.  I might eventually fall asleep, but it would be short-lived.  So, it can tell me whatever it wants about that, that's not something that's going to change.  

At least I don't snore all night long lol.  It'll give me a summary of averages after it does it's thing enough nights.  

Keto - not in ketosis yet, or if I was, I'm not now.  Funny because I'm definitely not eating carbs.  I had finally weighed myself in the 230's range and now down to 219.  It showed 216 a few days ago but that was short lived. At least I'm no longer gaining any weight - fat.  

 Monday - late

I didn't wake up feeling particularly rested regardless of this new app's declaration that I slept well. It even showed the hour and a half I was awake, but it didn't care about that part, citing the deep sleep that I had acquired which is, of course, more important.

It was a typical Monday. The guy at the washout was tired, burnt out from the weekend and didn't want to work. It took him twice as long to do the job as it normally would.  He took several breaks. 

At the plant, the man that doesn't know what he's doing - showed that he doesn't know what he's doing, at least compared to other loading operators there.  He was crossing over tanks, which took him far longer than it should have.  Then he said a bleeder line was clogged up due to "lazy workers on the weekend" and he had to replace the whole line. 

I mean, it just dragged on for 2 hours.  At the end of it, he couldn't get his software to work on his computer to do my paperwork and some dude over him couldn't figure it out either.  So he hand wrote it and that was fine by me, I had spent enough time in there.  

Back to my property, I checked the doggy park again. No dog poop.  I've been checking and when I say checking, I mean walking the entire perimeter looking for any poop, anywhere.  Nothing. Thankfully. I was pretty sure the tent lady would keep her word and that the last days of dog poop in there was from the 2 night stay not dealing with their dog's dung.  I think I was right.  

I texted the lady that was having such an issue with it and she thanked me.  Ok?  

This dude that showed up last month that said he was staying into next year? No.  His work is already done and he's moving on.  Which is fine, I'm glad he gave me a head's up, I just wrote up a Facebook ad for my FB site and will be updating Google as well.  I just turned a guy away, unfortunately. I can't give spots I don't have....

Hopefully I can get that spot re-rented as quickly as the other ones were.  I may even restart the Facebook ad for a couple days. The only thing is, the man said Wednesday, but not 100% sure, he would be contacting me.  I still put it up on my Facebook page for this industry, you do what you can immediately upon finding out that someone is leaving.  

I am going to go over to the new place to see if any of "my" people have ended up over there after he leaves.  Why? Because I need to know.  If people are going for $25 less per month, why are they doing that? I could see him moving over there tho.  It's a straight shot from that place over to 43 and then down to the plant he has been working at. I'm just a bit suspicious that he said he would be here until February and now, only a month into it, he's leaving.  There is nothing I can do to keep  him, if he's leaving he's leaving, but I have to satisfy this need to know if I'm losing customers. 

If the weird people ended up there, that doesn't bother me at all.  They can bother the owners of that place with their - weirdness.  No love lost on that one, I had had several decent conversations with the dude, but they had become disgruntled with my truck moving through there twice a day and the lot itself. Now this dude is leaving, they could have taken that lot, but I am not stopping driving the truck in there for them or anyone else.  

I do think a good possibility this guy is leaving for that place. It's probably 3 or 4 more miles further away, but cheaper.  Or not, who knows.  People at my place like having quick access to town, groceries and everything that is in our town.  I'm going to take a pic of his trailer and the license plate so I can see if he's over there.  I dunno what the owners think about competition driving through their park, other parks do it to me all the time. 

Well not much else right now.  My Christmas shopping is almost done, I just have my son to buy for, which I forgot when I was at the store today, I would call it a more spartan Christmas then previous ones, no matter. Mom has hers already, my oldest brother will have his in a few days, my son will have his probably next week, the family here will have theirs Christmas day. 

Even if I have to work on Christmas Day, it's not an all day thing. I can be back early afternoon - maybe.  Depends on the day and how things are going. I'm going to Arkansas tomorrow, but if everything goes well, I can be home by 2.  If not, well, who knows lol.

 Sunday - late

Work sent me a run for Monday shortly after I posted yesterday's post.  Which is fine, that's what I wanted after realizing they're giving me 3 days off.  I'm a couple of hours until bedtime. 

I downloaded an app to find out what my sleep is like. It sits there and listens all night long.  It said I was snoring 15 minutes out of the entire time and risk of sleep apnea "low", that was nice. I then had a recording of me snoring - it wasn't snoring at all. Not that I don't snore, but this was an amber alert that went off in the middle of the night, woke me right on up.  The recording was of a monotone sounding female telling the story of an abducted minor.  

It told my sleep was average, far better than I thought it would be, but then told me "it could be better". Well no shit Sherllock, tell me something I didn't know.  It told me background noise is too much. No, it's white noise and it's perfect.  I wouldn't hardly sleep at all without it.  I didn't want to argue with the thing but I disagreed with some of it's findings.  I'll do it again tonight, nothing special to do but turn it on.  It stays on whether you have the app up or not.  It goes off at whatever time you are setting it at.  I really thought I spent most nights snoring.  I'm glad I don't but it's strange for me.  

New person did, indeed, move in today and I'm full again.  Yes, I do have the overnight pull through available, it's got several reservations on it and people show up out of the blue.  I turned down a person today after getting lot 10 filled up, sorry, the only thing I have available is overnight.  He then told me he was only a few minutes away from my park. And?  I didn't promise him anything nor have I ever spoken with him before. Sorry, I don't have anything available right now.  My competitors do, I didn't tell him that, I'm getting kind of wary of telling people other places when they are places I wouldn't want to go to myself unless under duress, ie: no other place to go.

I just brought the camera system into the house. Wanted to take a look at what I'm getting myself into here.  It's not "direct wired". Probably Chinese stuff, they don't know what they're talking about.  Direct wired is connecting it directly to wires, not plugging it in.  These are all plug ins. Does it matter? Well, I'll have to go buy out door outlets for it, which will add cost to it, a little more trouble than simply wiring it in.  

Time for bed.

 Saturday - semi early

No work today and nothing in the system.  Since they are doing this, they might as well skip Sunday for me so I can go to church.  If I get nothing for Monday, I will be calling or texting the manager on Monday to find out what's going on.  I don't need or want another 20 days off.   I need the money, get caught up on everything and then get moving forward. That was the whole point of getting this job which has, thus far, not panned out. 

There is an argument to be made for simply finding something that takes me out overnight and gets me back the next day - making more money.  I haven't quite gotten my mind to the point, yet, but it may very well happen at some point, especially if this job keeps playing these games.  The lack of communication is amazing, to say the least.  

Anyway, allegedly a new person coming into the park tomorrow/Sunday.  I still haven't collected the rent from the new guy that came 2 days ago - my bad, but I finally got this new laptop up and running this morning, including links to the reservation software which, in turn, has links to everything else including credit card payments. I got to the credit card payments, got that set up and now I can just turn the computer on and access it quickly. Amazingly fast compared to the old pile of junk.  

I spaced out paying the electric bill yesterday - it isn't due until tomorrow.  I would like to hope they don't just come and shut off the power because I paid a bill on the weekend and it's not posting in their system as paid.  I guess I will find out.  I assume that a power company will send notices of non-payment and I doubt they would wait terribly long to shut it off considering the size of the bills.  Even being winter, it's still $906 total, both bills combined together.

I suspect people are using space heaters, which I have subsequently found out is highly discouraged for use in RV's.  Not because it jacks up park power bills, but because circuit breakers in those things don't really handle that stuff all that well.  

I have finally come to the conclusion that I am going to have to install edging along the driveways. The rocks are getting on the lawns and then if I'm not careful, the rocks are getting thrown all over the place.  I have the new mower on mulching setting - which is simply leaving the flap down on the chute where the grass comes flying out.  It works most of the time but some rocks can still get out from underneath the machine.

I cannot take the risk of having rocks flying into windows, windshields or worse, the vehicle bodies themselves and having to make an insurance claim.  

My new security camera system is ordered.  It's a cheaper one with 4 cameras and a hard drive to store the images that are recorded.  It has WiFi access and hopefully will be enough to find out whose dog is crapping all over the place and it's owners not cleaning up. It's ridiculous and people are getting pissed about it.  I can install 2 cameras on the shed aimed at the dog park from different angles and I will find out who is doing this and they will  be confronted directly.  I am not the park maid and neither are other dog owners who want a shit-free environment at the doggy park. 

BTW, there are pool kits sold out there that are far less money than the tradition mortar/expensive stuff.  12 grand and you have a pool.  Not the most ideal setup but it's an option for cash strapped people such as myself who want/need such an amenity to exact higher prices.  These are decent sized pools, big enough anyway to make people happy, I think lol.  I dunno, just looking at options out there. I would be surprised if the new competitor doesn't install a pool in order to lure people away from existing parks and get new customers into their fold.

However, I think they have already started to fill the place up. With who? I have no idea.  As I said in previous entry, probably from my main competitor, maybe even 1 from me.  I just am wary of that park for those people have far more money than I do and can do whatever it takes to get their park full and steal clientele from surrounding parks.  

Regardless, I'm still going to continue on with my quest for another septic system and other options that I have been considering.  None of which will ever happen if I get too many days off from work.  

But let's not go there right now, it's something I have discussed over and over, take a break from that.  

Today? Well, go collect the payment and then possibly do some work over there.  I dunno, still recovering from this coughing cold.  Hate to overdo it and then have it come back full bloom.  Regardless, I am definitely going over there now that I have this new computer up and running.  I don't have any other payments currently due, unfortunately.  Where does the money all go......Oh, yes, I pay myself when I am backed into a corner and have nothing in my personal account.  That will likely happen again this month.  I don't really want to pay myself if I don't have to.....I want to save the money in the business account for the septic system and pay for it directly out of the business account.

No personal income tax spending money on things the park needs or upgrades, the money isn't going to me, it's going to the park.  

Well enough of this. Drink another cuppa and get moving.  

G'day

 Friday - late morning

When I realized I had no work for the trucking company to do today, I decided last night I would sleep in, wake up, and lay there and do nothing.

Exactly what I did.  It's a quarter after 10:00 and I just got out of bed, lmao.

I'm going to guess they will schedule me for tomorrow to work Saturday and Sunday, but who knows.  Or something happened at the plant...or or or....I don't call them to find out.  I don't really care, if they want to work me, work me, if they don't have anything, I'll find other things to do. I've already made a list for today that will take me well into the afternoon.

As it stands, a man moved in yesterday, I still have yet to go over and collect.  That's my doings, not his.  I also have another person saying they "might" want to move in Sunday or if not, 2 Saturdays from now.  I said I can hold the lot for him until Sunday, but if he wants me to hold it until next Saturday, he's going to have to put a deposit down.  I'm doing that now.  I can wait a few days, I'm not going to wait 10 for someone who may or may not show up. If they put down $200 non-refundable deposit, that will motivate them to come. If they don't show, I've got $200 and move on.  

At least the Facebook ad is working.  I've got his phone number, if someone else calls about the lot and wants it, I'll call him back and ask him his decision.  For I have lost enough business from wishy-washy people who have no stake in the game and don't stand to lose money if they decide they aren't going to come.  It's deposit time or if you need to, go find another place to stay.  The guy said "let me check my schedule", which means to me "Let me call every other place around town and see if they have a better deal". 

I don't blame people for doing that, but I think they should just be up front about it. I'm not going to scold them for comparison shopping for rates.  I'm not going to tell them about the horror stories I've heard about some of these other places.  Or the fact that the new park is well outside of town. Some people are fine with that, others want to be able to get to town quickly to get their needs so they can get back home quickly.  

I would be wiling to bet the weird people moved to the new competitor.  I say that because it's a little cheaper over there and even tho it's well outside of town, those people rarely leave their coach.  I did find it amusing that the new park already has 9 google reviews. some of them dating back 2 months. Oh it's so wonderful here!  Liars.  That park hasn't been open for 2 months, they had the gates closed and locked!  I'm going to go over there soon and see how many RV's they have in there. I suspect they're pulling them from what used to be my main competitor.  

I say used to be because this new guy on the block is undercutting everyone still and I don't wonder if that will go on for awhile. I just did a check for rates on their site, it goes down to $369 per month.  That's cheaper than me, but I have location as a huge extra added plus.

As the experts in the RV industry always say, location location location.  But the other place - well they have 2 of them - they are probably suffering, at least from what I have heard.  Their reviews are full of people telling the tale of sites that are too small for big rigs or even larger sized rigs.  Too little room to maneuver in and people complaining they ended up in a site that doesn't fit their rv.  It has gotten so bad for them that they are advertising 2 lots for one price.  In other words, a lot more room.  

It's an ongoing battle to look up other rates and see where I stand competitively.  I wasn't sure what the new place would do, but I had to figure they were going to undercut everyone.  How they are making money after spending on a million dollars? They aren't. The ROI simply can't be there.  This is a ploy on their part to get people in there and then jack up the rates, that's the only way I can see them playing this hand out.  They might add some amenities that we all don't have and namely: a jacuzzi and a swimming pool. 

These are things that are still high on my list of amenities I need and want in my park. I could raise the rates significantly.  People want pools and jacuzzies and are willing to pay more for it.  That's what I've heard over and over.  Yes! A pool!  I would up my rates at least $75 per month if not more.  Or give options.  If you want access to the pool, this rate, if you don't, that rate.  The pool can have a keypad security and a camera to identify who is going in and out. Tenants who aren't paying for the pool option but are using it? Will be evicted.  Or even make it a club so that it's exclusive. Pay extra for the club.  I can already see the pool and jacuzzi area replete with a small bathroom and an outdoor shower.  A covered area with a table  and covered pool side tables.  

This would up my game substantially.  It would set me apart from literally every other park in this area.  No one has a pool, not a single one.  There is one place that is a group event type of thing, they rent a few RV spaces on the side that has a pool. But, the caveat is that RV'ers can't use the pool when groups are using it as well as everything else.  

So, more spaces and a pool setup are my next objectives.  Impossible with my current credit score, so that's kind of where I'm at. I haven't paid a single dime down on debt for I haven't made that much money yet and the money I have received from the job I've spend on bills. As I said long ago, I knew that by September, after paying exorbitant electric bills, that I would end up needing supplemental income. ]

Thank me for reminding myself, lol, that the electric bill is due, well, there's 2 bills.  I broke it down, it's about $57 per month per lot in electric usage. That's not bad. The bill is high, of course, but getting the picture of how much is being used on average is a little easier to digest.  

Now then, for today?  I'm headed to the sign shop, Harbor Freight and Walmart.  Sign shop for a sign I had made quite a while back that I never went and got. Harbor Freight for a camera for the doggy park and walmart for miscellaneous stuff I need for both the park and personal.  After that, to the park to collect the rent from the new person and maybe, if there's time, go ahead and work on more potholes.  Get those potholes filled up. It actually lasts quite a while as long as I don't fill them immediately before rain.  

If it rains before people run over it and smash it in there good, it will just splash out a gooey mess as people drive over it and the soil becomes muddy.  There is a slight chance of rain today, there was a 70% plus chance tomorrow, it's now down to 40%.  Kind of iffy on that one.  

Anyway, I'm getting nothing done sitting here and lazy-time has been completed. Enjoyed it thoroughly, especially being that there is no one else in the house. No noise besides cats getting into things and dogs barking out back. James is doing his side job, Taylor is back to work and the kids are in school. It's the verge of the weekend and I will be quite interested in seeing what this company has me doing.  I can say I needed today off and didn't even know it.  Just need the break.  

G'day

 So...

I'm at the plant at the scales, getting weighed in.  Sitting on the scales, I got weighed but I couldn't move, there was a logging truck in front of me.  The whole place was backed up with logging trucks and there wasn't anywhere for the driver in front of me to go until some trucks pulled up on the roadway ahead.  

So I'm sitting there wondering how long this is going to take when I look over and see a silver trailer passing by.  I couldn't see the truck - more logging trucks blocking the view.  But the trailer was silver and I wondered what product was being brought into this plant that wasn't required to be weighed first.

I sat there something like 10 minutes before that logging truck finally moved forward, then I had to try and flip a U turn to get out of there, meaning going over another set of scales to do so.  I finally get out of there, onto the main highway and drive down to the other end of the plant.  Pull into gate 1, pull up to the offload shack, get out, go to the bathroom before anything, hook up the airline, go find someone to sign off. 

Sign off and unlock the valve. It was in the closed position, you obviously can't unload into a closed system, lol.  I get done with all of that and lo and behold, this driver pulls up behind me.  He was disgusted, apparently and also didn't bother to get of the truck to chit chat. His intent was obvious, he came in there like that to be me to the rack and get unloaded first - even tho his offload time was for 2:00 pm.  

I had just started unloading so yea, it's gonna be a minute.  A lot of minutes lmao.  Ok, well the dude that signed off on my paperwork and had come out and unlocked the valve came out again after I was unloading.  "I have a question for you if you don't mind". He's a real nice guy, humble, but has his position, he's over that entire portion of the plant.  "When were you supposed to be here to unload?".  I have the 10:00 am slot.  He shakes his head, yea I thought so...which is when yea, I was wondering what this guy was doing here.  

He went over there and had some words with the driver lol.  They don't want 2 drivers showing up at the same time.  I get done, pull back out to the highway, didn't bother to do anything about that other driver, don't really care - well I would have if he had shown up before me, then I would have contacted the manager.  It's a huge no-no in the trucking industry to do something like that, try to jump ahead of another driver. It has been that way for decades. 

Anyway, back to the road to get to the scale - there are 2 lanes of logging trucks backed up almost to the highway.  To put it into perspective, it's probably 1,000 feet to the scales - there are 3 of them, 2 incoming and 1 outbound scale - from the highway.  I sat in the outer lane for several minutes, thinking, I'm not coming in, I'm trying to leave, why should I have to wait in this line?  I've already waiting in an inbound line, thank you. 

So, I passed all of those trucks, went around the incoming scales and then did a u-turn to go into the outbound scales.  I didn't know what the scale house master was going to say, but I was facing a 45-60 minute wait.  I got up on the scale, got out, opened the window, explained how far out the line is. He said, well, I'd rather you come around to this scale for both incoming and outgoing anyway.  You don't need to be waiting.  

He never said this to me before so how was I supposed to know?  This is why I hate having to start a new job. You literally start at the bottom and you have to learn your way back up to any semblance of knowing what you are doing.  It would save me a lot of time to simply bypass all that logging truck nonsense, flip the u-ey, come around to the outbound side and scale in and out there.  

That was my day. That and driving on the same roadway with a large number of idiots behind steering wheels, doing stupid stuff in traffic.  

_________

Much later.  A man that called 2 months ago showed up today, lol.  "I'm 30 minutes out, do you still have a lot available".  Why yes, yes I do!  He moved in without me there, which happens a lot.  So for the moment, that leaves 1 lot available and I am just keeping one pull through lot open for overnighters for now.  I get lots of last minute calls for that one.  None today, but it happens frequently enough that it will pay for itself as long as that continues. 

Work never called or texted today and they didn't send a load to the tablet. So, unexpectedly for me, I am not working tomorrow.  Change that: I'm not working for the trucking company tomorrow.  I will go and fill some more potholes tomorrow and mow the rest of the lawns.  Go get a sign that was made months ago that I have just not had the opportunity to pick up.  See if I can find some cameras - there is far too much complaining about people not cleaning up after their dogs in the doggy park, I'm going to put cameras up, trained on it and find out who is doing it and approach them directly.  I don't want to spend the money on this but there are good people that are getting frustrated with the situation and I don't want to lose them over some person not cleaning up after their dog.

I believe it's still the tent lady's dog doing it, I'm going to have to catch it in the act - or more like the humans not cleaning up after it in the act to confront them - or whoever it may be. I will evict people that refuse to clean up the poop their dog is dropping. I don't care who it is or the loss of money, it is insufferable.  

That's about it.  There is some backlash going against universities that refuse to condemn this anti-semitism that is rising up within the confines of their establishments with big time donors pulling out and taking back donations.  This is good, in my view.  If there were ever an oppressed people, Jews would be at or certainly near the top of the list.  I don't and never have understood the anti-Jewish sentiment and it is not a stance I would want to take in light of God's Word.  Then you have the amateur hour with the wanna be GOP "hopefuls" that want the GOP nomination. It's a joke. We see this every time. They start acting like school children taunting each other and calling each other names. Ridiculous.  We are adults, we don't want to see this childishness.

Another day.

Paycheck wasn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be - I had 20 days off, the last paycheck was the really bad one, this one improved, the next one should be fairly decent.  Like, 3 days before Christmas type of thing.

They didn't leave a bad review - yet.  I have found good reviews on other sites that I didn't even know people were using.  So that's good I guess.  It was a bit off tho.  They said no bathrooms or showers or laundry.  Maybe they didn't know? They took pics, one of them has me on the riding mower. They, btw, being the weird people that are pretty much unhappy with life in general.

Now that these people are gone, I started up a new Facebook ad with the boost.  It targets people. You know, like when you start talking to someone about something and then it shows up online? lmao, something like that anyway. 

No bites from that yet but it has directed traffic to my facebook site.  

As for today, it's just a trip to Gurdon and back.  

Maybe write more later, but now? I have to get ready to leave.

G'day

 I'm coming into a small town called Jefferson which is in Texas off of Highway 59.  I'm going the speed limit - you really don't want to speed through these small towns in Texas or Arkansas.  There are frequently anything from local police to Constables, Sheriffs and State Troopers out there looking for people speeding through these towns.  

This dude in a semi comes flying up beside me, cuts in front of me and continues on well over the speed limit of 45mph going through town. Going over the railroad tracks, a steep incline and then a steep hill on the other side, he was hauling.  He was forced to slow down somewhat for a school zone, but he was still going well over the speed limit.  He was cutting in and out of traffic, cutting various cars and trucks off.  He gets out of the speed zone and speeds up, only to hit another speed zone for the high school, 35 mph.  

I don't know how he could have missed those huge signs with big, yellow lights flashing, but he did. That or he didn't care since it's heading out of town.  One thing he definitely didn't see was the Constable sitting out there.  He passes by the Constable going at least 60 in a 35 zone and the Constable, of course, takes off after him.  

The Constable gets behind him, lights flashing, lit up like a Christmas tree, the driver of the truck wasn't pulling over. The Constable pulls out into the passing lane, the driver still doesn't stop.  This went on for 2 miles before the Constable finally passed him, got in front of him and forced him off the highway.  By the time I got up there, he was already out of his vehicle, standing in front of the truck, hands on his hips, standing there with this look on his face that made me cringe.  

Like, I am very glad it isn't me that did that.  I don't know what happened with that driver, but I suspect it wasn't a happy ending for him.  

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Only one slight mishap at the plant.  There was a crew of people that showed up after I started offloading the truck. I didn't know what they were doing, but they stood there staring at me.  Lol, ok?   One of them finally came up to me and said something about needing to add a new air line to the existing two and were waiting for me to get done, how long did I think I still had left to go?

About 20 minutes.  I need that air, btw, I can't unload this trailer without it. They weren't being pushy, at all.  Well, the thing finally got done and I did the cleanout of the trailer and then attached the air/water line to the hose itself.  They want us to push water through it to clean it out.  I pumped a lot of water through that thing, I like to keep it clean so it doesn't get clogged up and then pumped air through it to clear the line out of the water.  While the air was still pumping into the line, I closed the main valve on the plant side and then went and shut the air off, telling them I was done.

I think it was them that got me, even tho they were really nice, it kind of pressured me to get done with everything and out of their way.  Because I popped that line off of the trailer and it popped off all right, it was pressurized and spewed water out of it.  I forgot to bleed the air pressure off out of a little valve they have on it to do just that. 

I was fortunate that it was almost all water, only a very scant amount of resin.  But, I went and reported it anyway, tho I did clean up the little bit of resin that was on the ground with one of the rags that they supply (they have a 55 gallon drum full of them ).  I said, well, I spilled some water and there were a few drops of resin in it.  He said no problem. I said well, if you want to come out and take a look...No, lol, you can go.  It really was just a very small amount of resin, but I didn't want someone to go telling him that I had had a spill and didn't report it.

That's a good way to get banned out of those kinds of facilities.  One of those lessons you probably will never forget: bleed the air out of the line! lol. It actually wouldn't have been a disaster if it was a bunch of resin, just take a hose and wash it off.  I was just glad it wasn't that.   That and the idiots were out in full force, driving down the highways and causing trouble everywhere they go.  

Back to the park.  I took a package that FedEx just dumped off at the shed, lol.  I saw him doing it on the camera, he just threw it on the ground and left. It clearly says "Lot 4" on it.  This is why I'm getting a big box, they can dump packages into the box and people can come look for their stuff.  When I got over there, the weird people that are leaving were out front of their motorcoach.  But as soon as they saw me? They scurried back into the coach as if I was a monster out to get them, lmao.  

I hate to think this is going to happen, but I give it at least 50-50 odds they are going to leave a negative review and yes, I will respond to it.  If they have a problem with the park, they didn't tell me about it.  People that go and blab all over the internet without first at least giving management a chance to try and correct the situation are low-lifes in my view.  I never do that. I always give a company a chance to make things right before I go leaving negative reviews.  

Our local gossip group is actually a group to "lift local business up", specifically, local restaurants. But people go on there and trash restaurants all the time.  They almost never give management a chance and when they do, they say "I tried to contact the manager but they weren't available", so instead of waiting to hear back from there, give it at least a day, lol, they just start trashing the business.

Anyway, they're leaving tomorrow, or so they say.  I haven't heard back from this other guy that says he is interested in moving in.

As I travel through small towns in the region, I look up the names of RV parks that I am passing by on the internet to see how much they are charging.  It's all pretty much the same.  They're charging $400 which includes everything.  The difference between them and me is they are charging much more for nightly and weekly rates. 

I've thought about raising nightly rates.  Maybe another $5. I'm getting a pretty steady run of people coming into the pull through spot I've kept available for it.  People that stayed last night booked another night.  Guess they liked it, but if they want to stay yet another day, they're going to have to move to the back in lot cause' tomorrow night, the pull through has been booked by someone else.  These people like the walking trails. They have a rambunctious dog that has more energy than Obi, the thing is crazy.  

He asked yesterday if there's anywhere where he could run the dog free? Yup, just head up the driveway, you'll see a sign, follow the arrow and then you'll see another sign.  That's the trail head, you are on your own once you get back in there.  

Almost 4:00 pm and they just finally sent me a run for tomorrow lol. They keep sending me the early run, which is quite fine by me.  I can be home by 1:00 pm tomorrow.  I won't go home, tho, I need to start mowing grass. I say start, I don't do it all in one day.  I'll get half the lots done one day and the other half done the next or whenever I get to it.  I also need to continue on with filling potholes.  The park is looking much better now with grass.