Monday - relatively early.  I am absolutely not looking forward to this nonsense today.  Not only 3 hours up to the plant but also having to stop by the yard.  I will make that stop as fast as possible, I don't have time to be lingering with people who sit behind desks all day long.  I can chit chat with the best of them when I am inclined to do so, I will not be inclined to do so today.  

I just know I won't be getting back until late, this run takes all day long, tomorrow is a little better.  Well, tomorrow is a lot better for it doesn't take as long to get there. An hour and a half less driving round trip from my place to the plant and back.  I don't particularly care for this run simply because of the time consuming factor.  

It's 3 hours and 5 minutes to Crossett, but can add an hour to the trip up there with the stop in El Dorado.  I can take I-20 to Ruston and head north, which takes me up just east of town, so it's not terrible, but it's not great either.  I figure to be at Crossett by 1.  There is no reason to get there earlier with this other guy dawdling and taking his time.  I found out, however, his load time isn't as early as he stated it was originally.  He still shows up 2 plus hours late.  

I apparently will get the late run as long as I'm doing this and that's that.  They've got us delivering on the same day so obviously seniority will get the early run. But why does he want it so badly if he can't show up up there on time? Otherwise, I'd get up there a little early for the first load and get it done and over with.

The only good thing is that it only takes like 45 minutes for them to load the truck.  I was informed by this other driver that they don't force us to wash out the tanks every time, so I don't plan on doing that.  Otherwise, add an additional hour.  Oh and don't forget the fuel stop.  This is trucking, you do lots of things you don't actually get paid for. In my previous job, I didn't care as much for I was making a lot more money.  The tradeoff with this job, of course, is that I get home almost every single day and I do get some weekends off.  I worked many, many weekends, in fact, most of them, with that previous job. I don't ever want to get entangled with any kind of schedule like that again unless I am forced to do so for financial reasons.

As it stands, giving it some thought, it seems the only real way to quit working is to wait until I'm 65 to get on Medicare.  The only way to bypass that is to greatly increase the number of lots in the RV park.  AS I have said a few times now, that just isn't in the cards.  Maybe a new president will drive this country in a different direction  - if Biden doesn't win another term - but if he does win, I suspect these interest rates will stay up there for the foreseeable future. The Fed raised the interest rates far too many times.  No expert here, but the consequences are obvious and palpable, especially when visiting the grocery store. 

And when you try to get a loan.  Especially when you try to get a loan. It's not even worth trying to get one right now. Were these results what these people wanted when they started doing this?  I don't know.  Dependency on the government is the leftist way.  People go to work, go home and do what, exactly, since many now are struggling just to pay the recurring monthly bills or feed their families.  Work to exist.  That is the revelation that finally go through to me after decades of working for corporations and really, having no life beyond work. Work dictates your life, not the other way around. 

Hence spending my retirement on this RV park venture.  Was it a mistake? Dunno.  If I end up selling it for what it's worth, then definitely not a mistake, I will end up with far more money than what I started out with.  I can tell you, if I were to sell that property, it would just be the RV park portion, the front 7-1/2 acres, I would have a real estate lawyer draw up an easement right through the main gas driveway to get to the rear of the property and keep the 15 acres in the back, which have no bearing on the RV park  excepting there are, indeed, people using the walking trails back there now.  At least 2 different people walk their dogs back there.  

Today is a holiday, President's Day to be precise (wasn't this George Washington's birthday?, oh yes, he was a white nationalist that killed a bunch of Indians and held slaves and so on and so forth, so the woke people tell us that is why we shouldn't be celebrating such a horrid person's life) so the boys are home, the granny is leaving with the oldest, probably pretty soon and I'm spending the day on the road.

I won't complain too much, I just had 2 full days off.  3 days until next paycheck, I keep saying this because I both anticipate a larger paycheck with all of this working and also anticipate that I am going to have to spend most or all of it on property taxes.  

Anyway, it is getting close to departure time, must get busy getting ready to leave.

G'day

Saturday - mid morning

I woke up late and thought it grand.  It's cold outside at 38 degrees, my idea of doing anything went out the door and stayed out there.  If it warms up I may go over and get a few things done. Nothing intense or involved, unless I decide to tackle the security system.  I never did install it.  The problem is attempting to install outdoor outlets.  I actually kind of think I should just run a line from the breaker box instead of what I was going to do.

The problem with that?  A lot more wire, wire is quite expensive right now and probably will stay that way. Things have a way of staying up there in price unless demand goes way down.  

Anyway, I'm starting the unenviable task of trying to get the books completely done so I can take a look at taxes for 2023.  Start now, yes.  It's already February and I don't want to wait until the last minute to try and get this stuff done. I will owe money, that's for sure, for I didn't pay taxes on some of the money I took for myself.  I couldn't afford it at the time and I didn't care.  I will, of course, care once I see whatever penalties they assess, but we aren't talking about a lot of money here, hopefully meaning the taxes won't be too great.  

I've at least learned a lot of how to navigate Quickbooks.  It has access to a lot of stuff, including my bank account which is where it matters the most.  

5 days until next paycheck, I'm just hoping with all of this working that I can get a nice paycheck and spend most of it on what else: property taxes.  I'm not going to wait forever, if I have to put some of it on a credit card, I will.  There is no way I'm going to jeopardize the property by having someone else pay the taxes for me and then incur a lot more fees and interest to boot.  

At least I've almost completely stopped using credit cards.  In fact, rarely now and that in extreme situations.  The damage is done, just not going to make it even worse.  

_____________

13 hours later.  I only went out today to do things I needed to do.  Deposit rent money, get a new screensaver and case for my phone.  Went to carwash, not because I needed to but since I have the monthly package and was given the top tier for less than the bottom tier (I made a comment about the carwash on the local facebook gossip page, the owners saw it and rewarded me with such, not even asking my for any of my information, they simply looked my name up on their database and assigned it to me), Hobby Lobby for a piece of felt and then home.  

Home was interesting, there are 7 people here currently - the grandma and the 3rd child - plus 2 more showed up to visit that were here quite a long time. I won't go into details, but I do watch such behavior with entertainment in mind, lol. No, not sexual things, get your mind out of the gutter and nothing illegal.  Just personal stuff.  

And that's that. This day off went by entirely too fast, at least in my mind.  I suspect tomorrow will be the same and Monday is a late load but I'm going to ask the other driver if he's planning on getting up there early, since he doesn't like to get up early, I could beat him up there, get loaded and get out of there and get Monday over with. Plus I have to stop at the yard in El Dorado for IFTA stickers, they are expired on my truck but apparently hold over until March. Yes, March is coming up.  

The yard will take time regardless, it just does. The ABS light is on on the trailer I'm pulling, I'm going to see if they can take a look at it. Usually? Dirt in one of the sensors or one of the sensors failing and needs replaced. Not an elongated repair and their computer should tell them what the specific problem is.  Yes, they use computers on trailers for diagnostics as well.  At least to a limited degree, much of the stuff on trailers is pretty easily diagnosed without anything but your eyes and/or ears.  

It's power trains with all the sensors and electronic junk that you really have to have a computer take the codes that the truck computer is sending out and transfer them into - this is what's wrong with this thing.  

I'm not looking forward to Monday because I have to go to the yard and because this other dude seems to think it's ok to show up 6 hours late for his appointment time. He's a really nice guy and all, but I just have little patience for such things unless there is a legitimate excuse.  Not wanting to get up early is not a legitimate excuse and he should simply ask for the later loading time. 

I was going through some old stuff and found an envelope that was mailed to me - from my Dad. Dad passed away many years ago from Alzheimer's complications. Unfortunately, the note that was in it is gone.  Brought back memories, tho, of his encouraging and uplifting letters he used to send periodically.  I really looked up to him for he was a pastor and he really took his calling seriously. Not a fake Christian acting like something he wasn't, he had his share of problems, don't we all?  The people he served absolutely loved him and that was quite evident at his memorial service where there was a message and then people were asked to get up and speak a word if they wanted to.

A lot of people came to the front and I kind of felt like my input wasn't going to be necessarily that great, but, I felt the nudging inwardly to do it and it did set off a chain of interactions with people afterwards that didn't know who I was, had only heard about his 3 boys but had never met any of us.  So it was very cool and a very good ending, I guess.  His earthly ending was not a great thing and I hate Alzheimer's more than any other disease because it has taken so many relative's lives and because I fear the same thing will hit me.  It's why I started a fasting regimen which allegedly helps with the "brain plague" issue that all Alzheimer's patients have, at least to everything I've read about it and trust me, I've read a lot about it. 

They have apparently started to make some progress in a drug that has shown quite a lot of promise in testing on mice that stops or slows the progress of the disease.  

Well not to dwell on that, I believe my father is in Heaven with the Lord and other relatives and that I have my hope and faith and belief in Christ that I will be with them some day.  

Uhh, well anyway, that's it.  I got what I wanted to get done today: much of nothing. A few small errands with kids in tow - they wanted to come - home and spent the day hanging out with folks. And watching movies. And helping kids playing their games with things they were having difficult getting past.  And cleaning, lots of cleaning in my room, tidying it up. Quickbooks as well, got a good start on that.  I guess I did get some stuff done, it's just that I didn't have to spend the day in a damned truck.  

With that, I bid you a good evening. 

 I got on this 20 mile stretch of road that GPS told me would save time.  It was one of the most horrible roads I have been on in probably like the last 20 years.  It was so bad, it should be shut down until they fix it.  Live and learn, I will never take that road to Ennis again.  Other routes are an angled road that leads to Ennis back off of 20 or go into Dallas and hit I45 south.  Yeah, I don't want to go into Dallas if I don't have to.  Plus it showed an accident with a long back up, shouldn't have even been an option on GPS.

Everything went ok at the plant. 
A few nuances I needed to learn.  The air hose doesn't put out half the volume the hose up in Gurdon does, it takes forever to even get up to 22 psi and then it dropped all the way down to 10, where I shut off the valve on the trailer to let the pressure build up a bit again. 

It wasn't really that much fun and I really have to take a pic next time I'm there, which should be on Tuesday.  You see, where they have you offloading - which is the only place you could possibly offload, it's not like they can do it anywhere else, it's also a throughway to the back where trucks go to load whatever product they are making here, I think it's roofing materials.  

Yeah, there is just enough room for 2 trucks to pass by each other.  Not for the faint of heart for those in the back wanting to come back out, but this is their setup and I'm certainly not waiting for trucks to load and get out of there.  Sorry, but you can make it through, just take it slow.

One guy stopped and shook his head. They don't have very good management here, do they?  I don't think it's management's fault, I think whoever designed the plant should find something else to do with their lives.  

________

Many hours later, in fact, after 10 pm.  Kids came into the room, then grandma showed up with another one and we were watching a movie.  I dunno, but those kids better not get up too early and if they do, they best not wake me up.  I have 2, full, glorious days off and I don't need to get out of bed at 5:45 am or even earlier.  Although Monday I would love to swap with the other driver who won't show up til' many hours late anyway. Actually, he could just show up at his "normal" loading time and I will be done and gone.  

Regardless, I am tired after a long day and going to bed.

 Friday - 8:30 am

Yup, still at home.  Have this delivery and then I expect either the entire weekend off or Sunday at the very least.  They want me to load and deliver Monday, that's fine tho I really need a couple days off here. Wednesday wasn't a day off since I worked at the park literally all day long.  So, we're at 12 days in a row working including today.

I guess the only thing I really dread about today's delivery is how I'm going to get that big hose back up on that rack on the back of my truck.  I've never used it, we put it on there at the yard in El Dorado, we being the mechanic and I.  It's not exactly light.  I dunno, I'll figure it out I guess?  Lol

The rest of it is just procedure, most of which I have completely forgotten for I only did it once, did it with a trainer and the trainer did most of the work, showing me as we went along. That was months ago.  

It's nothing different offloading this stuff than it is anything else. Hook the delivery hose to their tank, hook up an air pressure line, turn on the air pressure and open the valves.  Pump the tanker out, make sure air has pushed the product out of the line, close the plant valve, close off the truck valves, walaah.  Remove the line, put a plug on one end and a cap on the other and you're good to go.  

I expect to be there a couple hours while trying to remember their protocols, hooking everything up, getting a plant employee out there to check it out and get it going.  But, I'll be showing up at noon instead of the 4:00 pm delivery time. This according to the other driver who says that most guys show up at noon on the second load. That's fine by me, I do not want to be out until 9:00 pm or whatever tonight.  

As for anything else?  Well, I'll tell ya on the 22cd when I find out how much that paycheck is and whether I can pay that huge property tax bill.  I certainly have nothing left over to "save" for anything.  That was my goal, that went to pieces and has been shelved for the moment.  How can you save money when you don't have enough to pay the current bills at is stands? I'd be fine if it weren't this giant property tax that is already due.

In other words, no, there is no hope of expanding the park in the immediate, foreseeable future.  So, that talk has kind of gone out of my head and mouth.  I am not saying it will never happen, it just isn't happening right now.  And besides, I really want to install power meters to see who is consuming what.  I figure there are power trolls in the park and I want to identify them.  They can either pay more or they can leave, that's up to them.  I don't have the money for that, either, so it's just sort of sit here and wonder what I can do about the park finances.  I may, indeed, raise the overnight fees, but I can't by too much.  I get sporadic travelers coming in.  

As for other things, the world of politics has completely gone to hell. It probably originated in  hell to begin with, so there is that.  I'm not a fan of either party at this point, but the left is completely out of control.  Sorry, but I don't want anything to do with their ideologies that basically want to tax you to the point you are a slave of the state.  Maybe we're already there, if not, it's certainly headed that direction. I also don't believe we need to be getting rid of natural gas appliances or shutting of federal lease availability to gas operators wanting to drill.  We are certainly in no position to be forcing EV mandates on the country with an already strained power grid, we should never have released that money to Iran and a host of other things that come to mind right now.  

And not worth writing about, for it would be venting and that doesn't really accomplish much besides release some internal pressures that build up when you see the economy in dire straits regardless of the bright and cheery proclamations of lying politicians, starting with Biden.  

So forgetting those people and their internal insecurity issues that they are taking out on everyone else by forcing people to do things they know the people don't want to be subjected to, I go to the grocery store, balk at the continuing rising prices and buy the stuff anyway. What choice do you have?  Don't eat?  The rental yesterday, $60 more than the last time they quoted me.  The only thing that's really come down is the price of fuel. I'll take that over nothing.  

I left the tablet out in the SUV, I need to see if they've dumped more junk in there. We are resolved to doing this Ennis run until they restart the Gurdon run. Actually, Gurdon is being done right now, but with locals. It's Crossett, AR to Gurdon, AR, which precludes us drivers that don't even live in Arkansas from doing it at all. They have crossed us over. Those drivers aren't doing the Ennis run they usually do, we aren't doing the Gurdon run we normally do.

Whatever. Get this next week over with and get back to normal.  I knew I would get Ennis runs from the get go, it's just these late loading times and longer distances/time to get it done.  If I could get the early run, I'd be fine with it and get done at a reasonable hour. It would mean getting out of bed at an ultra early hour, I can do that tho to get the day over with.  I like my afternoons and evenings "free" from this job. 

Well, I best get moving.  It's almost 9:00 am, I need to get over there, get my pretrip done, get the truck running, check everything out and get ready to roll.

G'day

3 hours 5 minutes up there, about what GPS said it would take.  Maybe 20 minutes to drop and hook, I tried to find someone at the washout, it was a fruitless search. Trucks idling everywhere, trucks in the wash bay and never saw a soul there, including searching the office, going to the bathroom since I needed to go anyway.  Whatever.  I dropped the trailer, talked to the manager, hooked up to the disgusting looking next trailer - it was covered with the acid that they fill it with, what a bunch of slobs.

Over to the plant, a mile away.  The other driver who was supposed to be there at 7:00 am had arrived 6 minutes earlier than I did. His excuse? He just couldn't get up that early. Well, it was after 1:00 pm, what time does this dude get out of bed?  I could maybe see a few hours late, but 6 plus hours?  For nothing more than you didn't feel like it?  So, he held me up around 45 minutes - it doesn't take long to load this product. They got me in to line up behind him, which was fine by me. The loader immediately got my truck into position and started loading as well. 

3 hours back and done. Tomorrow should not take as long. The other driver is going to text me when he's leaving where his truck is parked.  I figure to leave an hour after I get that text - unless it's getting later in the day. I want to be there at noon or 1 at the latest, I do not want a repeat of today. '

I'm sitting here looking at the clock thinking, well another hour and a half and I'll have to go to bed.  Uhh, no, I could go to bed at midnight and still get plenty of sleep.  Ennis is only 2 hours and 18 minutes from here according to GPS, leave at 9:45 am and I'm good.  That means I could get up as late as 8:00 am and still have plenty of time to sit around drinking coffee.  

Taylor is sick, I found out earlier today, not feeling well at all and I'm dreading getting the same thing. She goes to people's houses with kids in doing her job duties, I suspect that's where she got it because no one here has anything like what she described she has.  I need none of that.  I've had enough with sickness hitting me much too frequently. I'd like a reprieve from it for - quite a while.  ]

Did I say my phone fell out of my jacket pocket yesterday, apparently down in between the cracks below me where I was sitting on the tractor and got dragged by the box attachment for - looked like about 30 feet?  Yeah.  My bluetooth disconnected from the phone and let me know about it, so I was like, why did it do that? No phone in my pocket to check it, no phone in sight. Got off the tractor and there it was, laying in the dirt.  The screen? Saved by the screen saver, once I pulled that off it was still perfect. The case saved it from other damage and the only thing that it had was dirt stuffed into the holes in it.

Amazing the thing still works perfectly.  I recently got that phone replacing another one I had - destroyed lol.  I need to get another screen saver on it and another case.  $30 versus the payment they require for insurance to replace it. It was only $95 or something last time, this time it will be much more since it's not been that long.  So yeah, glad I don't have to replace it.

Am I dreading tomorrow? No.  I don't like the time of day they are giving me for the delivery, but other than that, I can figure out whatever I need to figure out for offloading, it's nothing different than what I have already been doing, just a few different protocols if I remember correctly.  

I don't know what else.  It's been a long day but the real thing is I am wound up after driving. Like, just going like that all day long I have to have time to settle down. 

 

 Thursday - 8:00 am

I did, indeed get the machine yesterday.  I just forced myself to do it and once I had it, I was on the hook. Either use it or waste all of that money.  It was somewhere around 7 hours worth plus transporting the thing back and forth plus other stuff mixed in.  I went back and forth over that driveway 30 times? 50 times? I have no idea. 

I started off in the worst area and went back and forth on that probably 20 times before moving on to doing the portion in front of the RV's and then, just going up and down and up and down the entire driveway many multiple times including the hip camp area where I basically destroyed it getting the truck stuck a while back.  

It was a very long day.  When I finally got home, it was also my turn to cook, which I most assuredly did not feel like doing, but I pumped out 2 version of lasagna. One the Keto version and the other the regular version.  I found the Keto version not long ago and it is absolutely delicious, definitely far better than it's associated recipes with disgusting versions of noodles and basically very unappetizing s***.  

I have it memorized, no need to keep the recipe around.  

Now, is the driveway perfect? Absolutely not.  It really needs a big blade on a big machine.  But is is a lot better and that dreadful, huge pothole is gone.  It may come back, I'll be keeping an eye on it and this time I won't let it go, it will be fixed with whatever temporary measures I can take.  There is no budget for my contractor to come now.  Not that he bothered to show up anyway.

I also got sun burnt in the face.  Quite red, in fact, totally a surprise when I looked in the mirror yesterday evening.  We haven't had a lot of sunny days going on around here and I'd like it to stay that way for a while.

BTW, I was tempted to clear out the field with that machine, it wouldn't have taken much, but this rental company makes you sign off that you will not engage in bush clearing activities with any of their equipment.  It's a bit ridiculous for this is part of what those machines are designed to do, there are multiple companies out there that manufacture bush hogging attachments that go on the back of the tractor and hook into the PTO.  

Oh and their prices went up around $60.  Just like the gravel, there is no rhyme or reason to it.  Companies at this point, in my mind, are engaging in price gouging, getting on the "inflation train" and upping prices for no more reason than they can and they can get away with it. I did note, however, as I have been noting, that the rental lot is full of machinery that is not rented out.  I don't know the gravel company is doing, there are 2 gravel companies in town and they are both quite high in pricing.  

Gravel pricing going up as much as it has cannot be justified by increased shipping costs to get it there.  Sorry, charlie, but double the price it was less than 2 years ago?  No, I don't accept that as just "inflation" and "rising costs".  The whole system is going to come crashing down at some point with the pricing going on everything that we use daily. The cherry-picked inflation indicators the WH and lefties use are total bs and don't represent the real picture.  I don't want to see a recession or another housing crash or even worse, a depression, but what else is going to happen when everything is priced so high that people can't even afford to buy groceries?  Of course, they want you to be totally dependent on the government.  

That is the end game, Socialism and then Communism. If you think I'm joking, think again. We are well on that path.  If you talk to people about their changing views of socialism AND communism, they think it's a great idea. They don't care about the Stalins, Castros, Chinese CCP and a host of others that have killed multiple millions of people through starvation and just flat murdering people.

Whatever the case, I face a very long day again today.  3 plus hours up to the washout, drop and hook, hope the one I hook to isn't a pile of trash that needs all kinds of work, over to the plant in the same town, go through whatever stuff I have to go through there and back home.  I have forgotten half of the stuff at the plant and my notes on it have disappeared.  I'll wing it, really don't care, just pull in there, call the guard shack and they can instruct me from there.  It's been many months since I drove with the trainer, they should have had me do a solo run (by myself, no instructor) long ago while that information was still fresh in my memory.  I just know you show up, park in a designated parking area, call them and wait for your "turn" to weigh in and go into the plant.  

I'm thinking one of the turns to get in there is going to be too tight for that long wheel-based truck to make it around.  If that's true, it will be hell backing out of there.  I am not looking forward to today, if you can't tell, but I'll face it, get it over with and then face tomorrow - going to yet another plant I've only been in once and those notes are gone.  However, I think I have that fairly well memorized and there is a sign posted with the methodology they want you to go through. 

So will it be that difficult? Just do it and shrug off anything that is negative coming my way, such as scalemasters with attitudes (a lot of them have them) that want you to intrinsically know what to do. Haven't you been here before? Why yes, with a trainer, a long time ago, it's like starting out fresh, thanks.  What are they going to do, send me away because I don't have their procedures down to a science?  Lol. I've been in many, many chemical plants, I have the feel for what to expect.

Anyway, I must leave early.  One pair of reading glasses broke, another I lost yesterday and I've thrown the old pairs out.  They were covered in scratches and could barely see through them.  I can read without them, but it's pretty difficult. Walmart, unfortunately, is the place to go for such things.  And I must make a lunch, tho I can take some of that left over lasagna and take a sandwich, that will cover me for the day, I think.  If not, I'll wing it as well.

Time to go.

G'day

 The new person left their rent, in cash, sitting in a cubby hole underneath their trailer. I'd like to think people are honest, but the next door neighbors are poor, broke and desperate.  It was there, I took it but I made sure those people couldn't see what I was doing over there, ie: taking that cash out of there.  

I get up to the plant.  Ridiculous.  There was no way they needed to make me go up there today versus finishing out that run yesterday.  Or, even for today, that I needed to take it up there at 2:00 pm.  Both of the huge tanks were half empty and I had less than half a truckload, the dispatcher knew this.  

So what's the deal here? The head honcho up there gives me a look.  Has there been another truck here today? I wouldn't know, the other driver wasn't going up there today, but there is a plethora of other drivers they pull off the road to take loads.  I gave him the bad news that I have less than half a truckload. Well that doesn't help me at all! I know, lol.  It helps a little bit, but in the grand scheme of keeping a production line in operation, not that much.  

I could have both gone up there yesterday or gone up there early this morning.  I got up there at noon, 2 hours early and I didn't care after I saw what was going on.  Either the dispatcher is completely in the dark about what goes on up there, which would be odd since she coordinates the loads with them, or, she is playing games with me.  

Whatever the case, I have worked 9 days in a row.  I'm tired of trucking, I need a break. I get one tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I have little choice but to rent that machine and hope it will fix that driveway.  I dunno, but then on Thursday, it will probably be an all day thing going up to crossett, switching trailers, trying to remember loading protocols, especially getting into the plant and getting out of there and back to my park.  

It's 192 miles, 3 hours and 20 minutes according to the GPS, which means basically 7 hours of driving, plus at least 30 minutes switching out trailers, maybe more, then who knows how long in the plant, but I'll give it 2 hours.  I just know it's going to be a late day since it's a late loading time.  And why they are dumping me with a late loading time knowing my situation with an RV park and a lot of other stuff going on, I don't know.  

______

Honestly? There is a 25-50% chance I will not do the driveway tomorrow. Not because I don't want to, but because I haven't had a day off in 9 days and then have to work again tomorrow? Going to the rental shop, getting the thing, taking it to the property, unloading it, using it for unknown amount of hours and then loading it back up and taking it back to the rental shop? That's work, folks.  It is absolutely work and it's not even remotely close to a "day off".  I'm tired, I'm tired of working, I want to have some free time.

Yet, the driveway is so horrid.  Just really bad.  That's probably going to motivate me to get with the program and do it regardless of how I feel. At least I "know" I have Sunday off. How do I know this? Because I refuse to work this coming Sunday.  Oh, but they know this and they know it well after last Sunday.  Which means if I do the Ennis run Thursday and Friday, they can't have me work on Saturday unless it's possible to just get the load and park it for a day before delivering it.  I'd do that, just for the money's sake.  

2 days off in a row sounds so precious right about now.

I'm guessing it will take many hours to fix that driveway, if the machine can even do it.  I'm thinking it can since everything is wet.  Not so hard to break it all up and get it dug down into it, free up the gravel sitting underneath all of that dirt and bring it back up to the surface.  I'll have to drag the box over the topsoil and try to move it off the driveway completely. I don't need dirt, I need the thick layer of gravel underneath all of that dirt. 

And break up the ground  around the potholes.  They say you have to dig at least as deep as the deepest pot hole. Well that's pretty deep, actually.  This reminds me of Mark, the dude I threw out of the park. We were going to go get a bulldozer and fix everything, really.  

...several youtube videos later looking at box blade operation and I'm done for the night. 

 Tuesday - not particularly early

They decided I couldn't offload until 2 this afternoon, which I'm going to bypass and be there at noon.  Why I should have to pay for their junk equipment in terms of wasting an entire day is unknown to me.  Just another trucking company.  They're all pretty much the same, some have better perks than others, you might find a few people in one organization that actually care about the drivers - whereas the rest of the personnel don't - but mostly, you are just a number on a computer screen operating their equipment.  They have schedules, so do I.  

I am not shy about telling them about it, either.  I made this stuff perfectly clear before I ever agreed to go to Oregon for training/orientation.

So, if they tried to dump a Sunday run on me this week? I will flat refuse, consequences be damned.  I let the manager know about it, he never replied to that text.  He knows full well that drivers are hard to come by, first off and second off, keep them happy.  They have a few things going far against them as well. Old, junky trucks, old, junky trailers, some of them trashed. Trashed as in being damaged to the point you'd think the thing was in a serious accident. They just keep running them and not fixing the exterior shells.  And finally, lower pay than average.  

My manager has no control over any of that, it's the dude sitting in his lone office in Harrisburg, Oregon that makes the decisions about spending. Buying newer equipment is definitely on his list of things to do, neither is upping the pay.  If I stay long enough and if they don't get rid of me - you never know with these companies - I will demand more mileage and stop pay.  I've already decided to look for greener pastures elsewhere, but - it will have to be substantially better than this current mess.   I don't need lateral moves, I need money.  

I keep getting invitations for debt consolidation loans. Yes, great idea, until you see the interest rates.  25%?  That's no better than credit card interest. Why bother? Does me absolutely no good whatsoever.  

So, I guess tomorrow, if their machine is available, I am going to rent the thing and try to fix the driveway.  I have few other options and those options are more expensive.  The contractor never got over there, never took a look, didn't send his bulldozer operator over there, I have given up on him.  It's just not going to happen, have to accept it and move on.  He was my best hope for getting a pro over there at a reasonable price, everyone else is ridiculous.  If that machine isn't available tomorrow, I will get some of the gravel at the gas well area that is off the beaten path and serves no useful purpose and at least fill in some of the holes.  

I can at least look forward to no more washer/dryer payments and I certainly am not getting another set.  I don't care what anyone over there thinks, I don't have the facilities for it, number one.  We're talking the electricity supply and the ability of the septic system to be able to handle it and I don't want to.  I don't need more debt, I need less. The more things I can pay off, the more I have in my pocket at the end of the day.  Actually, I think the shed is the next thing that will be paid off. When that is done, the only actual strings attached to that property are the mortgage payment and the property taxes.  

Still fretting about property taxes? You bet I am.  It's pay it this month or start seeing ridiculous fees added to it and I don't know when, but at some point, they allow others to pay it for you. Then, you owe them plus fees plus interest - plus plus plus.  I've got some more funds coming in this month what with renting out the alternate lot and people staying at lot 2 on and off and a few more lot rent payments coming up.  Couple that with what should be a decent paycheck and maybe I can swing it.  Maybe.  It's do or die time as far as that is concerned, get it done or start stepping into risky territory.  

As the old saying goes, you never truly own your property even if you have it fully paid for. Amazing Americans just allowed at some point, the government to take your property if you owe back taxes on it, sell it at pennies on the dollar on auction and then you lose everything.  Or, allow them "eminent domain", to come and take your land regardless because they "need" it for something.  Sure, they have to pay "fair market value", supposedly, but I've read the horror stories.  

Well, I am getting close to the time I need to get out of here and I want to be there at or very close to noon.  They can gripe about it all they way, I am the one getting the short end of the stick here.

G'day

 Monday - evening

Today did not go without a hitch, as the old saying should go, but it wasn't terrible.  Basically, the sharkbite cap I bought yesterday, I installed this morning in the dark (and cold)...(and wet)...

I pumped the crank and on the last, final pump? It blew that thing right off of there.  Gag. 

The available choices after this made it a simple decision: Go to Longview, get the parts, fix it.  The other option was to contact the lead mechanic - which would take many hours for him to even figure out what to do or contact the dispatcher - which would have had me headed up to where else.....Crossett.  No thank you.  

Home Depot did not have what their site said they had on hand.  No copper tubing, to be precise and very few fittings.  I decided to figure out a way to cap or plug the line instead of fixing it properly, I wasn't about to start driving around town looking for copper tubing.  I found 2 fittings that would work and left there.  

Back to the yard, I installed the stuff and walaah.  Worked perfectly.

Oh, forgot about the water encounter.  When I want to go to Longview from my property, I go the back way. It's faster than driving a mile in the wrong direction to get back to the highway and then down to the Interstate.  I figured there would be water on the road from the recent rains, I did not figure there would be so much water on the road.

I know this road, that water couldn't have been that deep?  It was moving at a good clip and it was a few hundred feet wide.  I started to drive into it. It was dark and I couldn't see the road, versus in the daylight, not that deep, I would be able to see it to ensure  I was both staying on the road and it wasn't getting too deep.  

But it got up to the bottom of my door and I thought, this isn't good.  I've watched enough videos of vehicles floating away, I really don't believe that would happen, but what if the water had destroyed the road way that I couldn't see and I would get stuck?  You know, the videos where the road is washed down stream?  

I decided that it wasn't worth the risk and turned around. If I were on my 4 wheeler, I would have plowed through that stuff, but I'm not doing that in my SUV. It's my only ride, my transportation, just can't take that kind of risk. 

Down the road I went after fixing the truck.  At the washout, it took him 15 minutes and he was done.  At the plant, it was maybe 20 minutes and they were done.  Huh? It takes longer than that to load that truck, I've done this a few times now...

Get on the scale, it's gross weight 52,000 pounds, a full 26,000 or so short of normal.  I ask the guy on the phone, this is light? Yes, we are out of product. So you're sending it anyway? Yes.

In the control room, it was explained. They are shutting it down for a week and a half and this was the last of it.  Ok.  This is why they have me loading out of Crossett on Friday. Dreading that, long day, too slow, etc.  

So, I'm driving back, get on the highway that goes to my place, contact the dispatcher. I was planning on delivering it today and getting it over with so I can have 2 days off after working 8 days in a row.  No, we need you to deliver it at 2 tomorrow.  Huh? I asked the other driver, he says the tanks are low.  Why are they doing this?  I didn't ask, just wasn't in the mood, figured best to let it go than get into it with these people.  They have their reasons, they didn't want to let me know why, whatever.  I will arrive up there at around noon, no 2 pm.  Not with tanks that are half full.  And me only having less than half a truckload.  

But, there goes my 2 days off to get that driveway done.  I won't be in that plant more than an hour so I will still be home by 3:30 or so - if all goes as it should, lol.  

Just paid this horrid electric bill. Gag.  Painful to see that much money going to the power company.  Weather has improved considerably, heating with space heaters should be reduced greatly.  After the bills I have like $1,100 left in the account. This is not what I got into business for, but, there's a few more payments this month.  

 Sunday - late

Not going to say this was an ideal day by any stretch of the imagination. 

The first thing that happened was at the washout place this morning. The man was up on top of the trailer, washing out the interior of the trailer. He gets down, waves at me and I get out.  The emergency shut off valve had closed and wouldn't reopen.

It opens by moving a lever up and down, pumping fluid into the line and forcing the valve to lift.  It took a while to figure it out, but there was a huge leak - on the other side of the trailer, hence taking a while to find it.  

Long story - go to Love's, they tell me. I go to Love's, 30 minute drive away. We can't fix it.  I then try to bend the copper back and forth upon itself to effectively seal it off, where the line leads to is not a  critical thing to have, could simply cut it off. But try as I may, several times over, it wouldn't seal.  

So now I'm told to drive clear to Crosset, AR to get an empty and then drive clear back to load?  

While all of this is going on, I get text messages.  Pics of golf ball sized hail, reports of vehicles being damaged by it and the entire electrical system  on the side of the house being ripped off the wall and hanging there with the overhead power lines laying on the ground.\

I wasn't feeling it. Sunday, missed church, had this stuff going on at the house, had a new person coming in for a few months, had a superbowl party to go to and they want me to spent the next 11, 12, 13 hours doing all  of this nonsense?  Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't legally be able to do it? No thank you. I wasn't feeling particularly well, either. Just very tired, not a good night's sleep.  

So, I made my own decision to drive back to my park and fix the damn thing myself. We're talking 1/4 inch copper tubing, I've fixed this stuff before on other applications, same thing, different usage.  I was wrong about that tho.  Lowe's was completely out of 1/4 copper tubing and  fittings.  I thought that rather strange. They  had the shelf space for it but they didn't have anything.

I tried AutoZone, Tractor Supply, Harbor Freight, looked it up on Walmart site for the local store, somewhere else I can't think of I went to, nothing in town.  So I gave up.  Well, I found it all in Longview, 30 miles away at Home Depot.  Not going there today.  My sleep hasn't been all that great in recent times -dogs, cats, neighbors out making noise in the middle of the night, waking up after weird dreams, all kinds of stuff.  Take a while, like often times hours, to get back to sleep. 

I think what's wearing on me is this is day 7 of consecutive days of working. Now it's going to be even more.  Oh, well I was looking stuff up on line and found that Lowe's has a cap for soft copper tubing that just slips on.  It holds up to 150 pounds of pressure, which should be plenty for that pump.  That was it, I went out looking for the stuff, came home and took a long nap.  After that, the folks were going to the party early, I was not.  Slept some more, actually.  I think I'm missing the year long haitus from having to get up at a certain, early time in the morning.  

I was sleeping in til I felt good.  If it's was 9:00 am, no worries.  I'd like that life back again, maybe someday.  

When I left the house, I went to Lowe's first. It took a while to find that cap, they had it in an aisle that didn't make sense for that stuff to be in?  But I found one and got 2 just in case I screw up.  Got a quart of hydraulic fluid to fill the reservoir back up and then went to the party.  

First Superbowl game I've watched in years.  Skipped the pregame stuff except watched the National Anthem.  No weird stuff, no kneeling that I could see anyway, I heard they played the black national anthem.  Do we have 2 countries here?  Is the National Anthem now  a white anthem?  I find it abrasive the force these organizations take to try and push their wokeness on everyone.  I'm not biting. 

Well, anyway, I have no stake in that game, whoever wins, wins, no sweat off my back, at least the Chiefs finally made a comeback. 

Ok, well the cap isn't installed. I'm going over there in the morning and hopefully deal with it, get it working and get going with this.  If it doesn't work? I dunno. Either drive to Longview and get the stuff or call them and tell them there are no parts in this town - which there legitimately aren't any - what next.  They'd probably tell me to go up there, which I don't want to do. What a waste of time, they'd rather drive hours and hours out of the way going up and back then just pay someone to fix it?  

9 seconds left on the clock, 4th quarter, KC 16 - SF 19, KC in scoring and/or field goal range.  What's going to happen? A little bit of suspense here....

OT.

Back to the situation.  The man did, indeed, show up. He's been at the park on work assignment several times now.  He works at the gas fired power plant down south, about 10 miles south of the park off of Highway 43.  I told him I only have a dirt lot with 30 amp available behind the shed, he said fine. I give a discount on it since it's dirt.  And right now, a bit of mud.  The rain finally stopped. I told him he could stay in lot 2 if he wanted to wait until it dries out, but I could see him on the camera, even if in the doggy park, he pulled around, backed in and set up. Then contacted me telling me he has to leave to go get parts to fix water leaks.

Apparently he didn't winterize in that dreadful freeze we went through wherever he was at at the time and burst some lines.  He is all concerned about paying the rent, I'm not concerned at all. He is a good person to have around, he pays his bill on time and I have no worries about him not paying.  

It's just been a long day and I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.  I mean, the tanker is going to get loaded.  The point is, that valve has to stay open to wash it out.  I just hope my repair cap is going to work.  As for the electricity? James put a plea out on the local gossip page and some electrician's wife saw it, posted the phone number and the next thing you know? that guy was over there fixing everything. Only had to wait for SWEPCO (power company) to come out and hook the lines back up.  It was cheap, too. $350?  This guy must be doing side work or just freelancing and taking whatever he can get and lowballing everyone else.  I'm going to keep this guy's number if I need help at the park. 

Oh. And now that today is messed up for delivery, it also messes up my days off.  Instead of going to Gurdon tomorrow, it's go to Lufkin and load. Then Gurdon the next day, only giving me one day off. Yeah, not fun for me.  I'm wanting to try to fix the driveway, i wanted 2 days off for that.  Rent the tractor on day one, bring it back on day two, no huge rush.  

Enough.  Finish watching this OT in the Superbowl and then go to sleep.  

 Saturday - night

I originally "thought" I had Sunday/tomorrow off.  They decided to throw a load on me overnight without bothering to contact me.  It just shows up in the tablet as "accepted load" - they accept it for me, I don't accept anything.  So, if I don't check that field, I won't see what they put in there.  Not real happy about it, not when I had my mind set on going to church and then going to a Superbowl party tomorrow afternoon. 

I can still go to the party, I can't go to church.  But even that isn't the point. I don't want to work on Sundays, I never have and I never will.  

I had last Sunday off, yes, but I worked the entire week before that and I have worked every day since and now another 2 days? They've got me doing this next run, then 2 days off, then they are finally dumping an Ennis run on me, a run I have only done as a passenger in a trainer's truck, not on my own.  Not that it will be particularly difficult, but who knows?  

What I know? Those will be 2 very long days.  It's just the way it is when you do something new in this line of work.  Number 1, it's over 3 hours from my house to the plant in Arkansas where we load in Crossett.  193 miles and more than half of it on 55 mph highways plus going through small towns at 35 mph.  So there's 6 hours plus hours of driving the first day of the run, plus stop at a washout up there to switch trailers, then hope the trailer I get is in decent shape - I haven't had to switch out trailers in a couple of months now.  

Then go and load and then drive back.  It will be minimum 9 hour day, probably more like 10 or more.  

Then Ennis, the drive there won't be near as bad since it's I-20 for at least half the distance and then I thin it was decent highways after getting off of it. It's been quite a while since I did that run and again, I wasn't driving. 

Anyway, they could at least let me know via text message that they are dumping a Sunday run on me, please and thank you.

I can guarantee you I will not be working next Sunday.  There is nothing but maybe double pay that will get me to do that.  

It's rained much of the day.  Enough that I dared not drive back to the back of the driveway to turn around nor did I drive through the area where I got stuck previously.  Instead, I drove through the park, all the way back around to the main driveway, pulled up to straighten out and then backed into my normal spot.  I think I will do it that way from now on.

Since I have Tuesday and Wednesday off, I am going to have to consider renting that tractor with the box attachment. More rain and the driveway is getting so bad that it's really not good for cars to drive over it.  Pickups and SUV sure, but a car, not really.  I can't just leave it that way and this rental tractor with the box attachment is the only thing available.  I'll work that driveway all day long if I have to, but it has to be fixed. 

I dunno what else to do.  If I leave it that way, I am going to get bad reviews for the overnights and I'm going to potentially lose long term.  I don't need either.  

That's been weighing heavily on my mind, but so has the property tax issue. I guess all of this working will help pay for it.  Hopefully next paycheck later on this month will be big enough coupled with taking some money for pay out of the business checking account that I can pay it and get it over with.  

It's not over after that. I'll have taxes to pay in April as well.  After that, we'll hit summer time and summer time electric bills.  So what do I do?  I mean, in reality? I'm either going to have to charge separate for electricity or raise lot rents or both.  I can't charge for electric without meters.  I don't know what will happen if I raise the rent say, $25 per month.   Probably lose people.  Everyone, probably not, but at least some of them.  

I just confirmed that the washer/dryer set is paid off.  It's a $219 a month that can go elsewhere.  I've only paid half of the shed off, there's still a year plus to go on those payments. Actually, I think it was more like 2 years.  Or whatever, I dunno, have to check it the next bill they send.  As far as actual payments on the property itself, right now it's just a mortgage payment and the shed payment. Monthly recurring fees on electric and water.  

Doesn't sound like much until you consider the debt I got into on personal cards to finish everything out.  As far as that is concerned, I have stopped using cards entirely.  The damage is done, however. There is no way I'm taking out a personal loan to pay that stuff off with the current interest rates. Those will have to come way down. Can you imagine taking out a 40k loan and paying over 25k in interest on it?  Lol, no thanks.  

That's about it, for my time is out.  It's time to go to bed. The cat situation is taken care of, the cats are dumped into the pantry and they can make all the noise they want, all night long: I don't hear any of it.  

Oh, well I got up super early this morning, well ahead of what I normally do in order to get back in time for what else? A baby shower! lmao  I don't do baby showers, but I did this one.  It was being held at a local hamburger joint and the people are nice, they are having a girl soon and I did my part in giving them a large package of diapers.  I got home from the run just in time, Taylor was leaving.  

Tomorrow is the Superbowl and since that doesn't typically start until evening time, I am good for working even if I don't want to work.  In other words, unless some breakdown occurs, it doesn't matter if it takes longer. It likely will, it's raining heavy right now, it's supposed to stay that way through tomorrow.  Plus, getting the guy out there to wash out the trailer on Sundays - it takes half an hour after you call them to get them to show up to do it.  The plant? They get right on it and get it over with, thankfully. 

G'nite. 

 Friday - mid-afternoon

Yes I have had a drought in posts the last 5 days, Fin I will call you back whne I am not so tired and cranky.  I was driving when you called and that truck is very noisy, I pretty much do not talk on the phone in that thing.  Good thing I don't have to be out on the road all the time and the longest stretch is 2 hours and 15 minutes, the drive up to Gurdon.  

The crankiness is because of one of the cats here.  It is constantly in heat, apparently, and it makes these very loud calls all night long.  Not in front of anyone else's door but mine, for my door is right next to the kitchen, where these animals apparently hang out all night long.  The noise started at midnight and was on and off all night long until I got up at 5:30 am, very unhappy, grumpy and moody. 3 hours of sleep is not enough sleep for anyone.  

After the first time, I went back to sleep, after the second time, it took longer to get back to sleep and after the third time? There was no getting back to sleep.  If you wanted my honest feeling at the time, I wanted to take that cat and smash it up against the wall. No, I did not do that, I didn't do anything to the cat, but obviously something has to be done about this for this goes on every night.  Basically, if they are put in the very large pantry, that cat can make all the noise it wants to and I will either not here it or the noise level will be inconsequential and I will sleep through it.

As it stands, I got back from Lufkin today and had to spend an hour and a half fixing lights on the tractor.  Some of the wiring is corroded and the light connectors as well. I had to rewire 3 lights worth and then realized I needed to go up to the auto parts store and buy some new lights as well.  Lights are a Trooper attractant, if they aren't working, they are inclined to pull you over and tell you about it.  I don't need something as simple as lights to signal a state police officer to pull me over, so I fixed them.  There are more that need new push on connectors with new wiring, but for now, they are working and I was not in the mood, really, to do any  of it.  I will get to them when I get to them.

I have been working since Sunday, I had Saturday off and worked 4 days? I think before that.  I have this load on the truck that I need to get up to Gurdon tomorrow and then I can come home, relax and have Sunday off. I have no idea what they are having me do next week, they haven't sent me anything yet.  I'd like 2 days off in a row, actually, Monday would be great.  

Actually, isn't Sunday the Superbowl? I sort of watched a few games - something I haven't done in years now - just because.  I didn't see anyone kneeling and I haven't heard of their political rants - NFL players that is - in quite a while.  Have they stopped doing that? This is why I quit watching some 4 years ago, maybe 5 now.  I got sick of hearing it. I don't tune into an NFL game to be preached to by some person that has a rap sheet that is 5 pages long or some person that thinks they are better than everyone else and therefore has the right and privilege to tell everyone what they should believe and how they should live their lives.

I may watch the Superbowl, I may not.  I even stopped watching the hilarious ads, tho I heard last year that most of them were pretty lame.

The driveway is still in a shambles and tho I have tried to get the contractor out there, he hasn't shown up, even tho he's given his assurances that he would, indeed, do so.  I am blowing him off at this point and waiting for a day off during the week where I can get the rental tractor from the local rental place and hope that the box attachment with no teeth will work. Probably, going over it many times over will loosen the soil and the gravel underneath the soil up and perhaps I can work it to basically redo the entire area that is very, very bad right now.  

The tent lady's brother apparently got the revelation that I am none too happy with them, if they can't pay, DO SOMETHING around the park.  So, I spotted him on the surveillance camera mowing the doggy park. That IS something better than nothing at all.  The lady that has been mowing it got disgusted with the dog poop situation and decided she wouldn't clean it up anymore (I don't really blame her, it's not her job and the situation shouldn't exist anyway) and apparently has decided not to mow it anymore either.  

That's all fine and dandy, but her discount on lot rent also went away after I found this out. She has come into some money - disability that a judge ruled in her favor and the state/feds/whoever has to not only begin paying her but has to give her over 2 years of back payments. So, she isn't broke anymore and she has decided she needs to find her own land and put a mobile on it. 

More power to her.  I don't begrudge her that, either.  These people living in my park, however, that are mooching off of me is coming to an end as I have had several conversations with her, the tent lady, about money.   I am not going to have them living there for free forever, especially considering the fact they wouldn't lift a finger to help me out with anything.  You know, like mowing? or cleaning the bathroom? 

I've been watching the news with great interest.  "Biden is an elderly man with a poor memory" is on Hur's report after investigating him for months now, noting that he had willfully taken classified documents when he was VP AND he disclosed them, apparently to some sort of "ghost writer".  They declined to press charges because they didn't think they could convince a jury to convict him because of his age and memory issues.  They had no problem indicting Trump for the same thing, we are living under a two-tiered justice system and I have no idea what it would take to dismantle it and start fresh.  Nothing, probably, short of a civil war.  I don't want a civil war, let's just make that clear, tho you'd think Texas does with the stand off at Shelby Park with Border Patrol agents and not allowing them to come in.

So, if the man is too senile, old and can't remember most things he says or even writes, what makes him fit to be the President of the United States? But we have been saying this for a while now and it should be painfully obvious to any citizen that he cannot possibly last another 4 years after this term is up serving in the same capacity.  He's a feeble old man, like all of us will probably be some day, in his 80's, he needs to be on a fishing boat eating ice cream cones, not making decisions about this nation both internally and externally that will affect citizens for years or even decades to come.

I do love the left's reaction, they automatically invoke Trump's name and go off on how he does the exact same thing! However, Trump is not the sitting President of the United States, Biden is and the subject matter is whether he is fit to continue on as President.  The person that would take his place, Kamala Harris, would be the worst disaster this nation has ever seen.  We are screwed either way and so, what difference does it make?  I dunno, but at least she isn't 81 years old and half her mind is gone to senility, she is just a fruitcake with quackery clothing.

Back to working, since I have been doing so much of it, I do hope next paycheck on the 22cd is "very good", at least by this job's parameters. The last one on the 7th wasn't horrible, not great but not horrible.  

And with that, I think I will get off of here.  I am tired and I want to take a nap. 

 Sunday mid-morning

Was awakened this morning by kids yelling, screaming, having all kinds of fun - at the expense of any adults that wanted to sleep. They know better than to do this, especially on a Sunday morning.  Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed.  I don't even know if I'm going to take them to church this morning, perhaps they should sit one out and have time to reflect on why they didn't get to go to one of their favorite things of the week to do. 

However, another part of me says it's really not right to keep them from church for most any reason.  I have no parental say in giving some other kind of disciplinary action out, such as them not playing their games for the entire game instead.  

So, 30 minutes from leaving time I am still undecided as to what I will do. 

Yesterday, however, was great.  I was asked where I would like to go for  my birthday treat.  Uhh, well get back to me, it was still early.  I thought about it for a while and settled on Outback Steak House.  Haven't been there since I was there with my dad many, many years ago.  I don't even remember when, more than a decade I can say.  Longer than that.

It was a great meal and the staff sang an Australian version of happy birthday the restaurant clapped and shouted. 

Meanwhile, been collecting rents.  I mean, I'll be able to pay the electric bill and get a good chunk into the property taxes, but I had to pay myself some money just to be able to stay afloat.  If I didn't have to do that, property taxes would be a breeze and so would other things such as saving money for expansion.  I didn't go into business to not make money and atm, it's a necessity. Not often, but certainly enough to make a dent in the business checking account. 

_________

I decided to go ahead and take them to church, if nothing else they were being extremely apologetic.  But, this happens to frequently and I'm going to have to figure out how to deal with this, I do not like being awakened on a day off AND a Sunday morning for no more reason than kids playing.  It's bit ridiculous and I am not the only one in the house with that sentiment, thankfully.

My park is completely full sans that space behind the shed that was vacated to move a new trailer to one of the regular lots.  That will change as of Tuesday.  I have a guy coming that's been here several times now on work assignment that wants it, it's the only thing I have so i offered it to him, detailing it's behind the shed, in the dirt and only 30 amps. But I know his trailer is 30 amps so that isn't a problem.  

Unless I hear from the contractor, I will be renting the tractor next time I get a full day off, preferably 2 days actually, it works out better to rent it one morning and bring it back the next.  I don't have any other options and something has to be done about that thing. The only other thing I know of I could possibly do is to put a lot of weight on that setup I bought for taking out weeds for the 4 wheeler quite a while back. It has teeth on it.  It's not enough weight to do anything, it needs a few hundred pounds of additional weight mounted to the top of it to be able to do anything to that driveway.  

Whatever the case, I have joined some HipCamp manager's groups on Facebook. Thought had never actually occurred to me to do so or it had and I spaced it.  Like, what is anyone else doing, specifically that owns an RV park and trying to get some side hustle in?  I've got an area for them, I've got facilities, what else can I do? So I asked. This is what I have, what can I do better?  I also asked if installing a kitchen would help?  I don't know and I don't want to spend money on something that won't produce results.  I could get kitchen stuff used pretty cheap and I have the outlet already installed for an electric oven and I ran a drain outlet to the outside of the shed right where I figured I would want to install a sink if I ever do this. 

Now, I would have to remove some drywall to get to hot and cold water, but that's the worst of it and drilling a hole through the floor for the drain.

Am I doing that? No, not without some kind of confirmation that it's actually going to greatly increase customer base.  Make me $400-$500 a month on it and I'll consider it, I really want honest feedback.  We'll see.  

Well, it's been a nice 2 days off and the restaurant thing yesterday was cool.  Lufkin in the morning, birthday tomorrow as well, hopefully I'm not stuck all day long somewhere with some nonsense, 7 hours and I can be done, even faster if it works out.  

Anyway, after this repeat customer comes back, I'll be completely full. Yes, there is room for Hipcampers, I can always make room for them, that's on the "secondary" stuff, but, I have removed that from the site because people were like "well, I know this isn't the main RV sites but do you have anything available anyway?"  People expecting a premium site for half income, that isn't going to work.  I may end up removing the actual RV sites from it and just doing the "alternate" site which is just a place to park and run an extension cord ot them. That's pretty much what a lot of HipCamp is.  

It isn't necessarily fancy accommodations, it's just a "cool" place to park or a place to park in between places, cheap, offers what they need without getting high dollar about it.  

Anyway, Appleebee's is allegedly going to offer 1,000 more of the Date Night Passes.  You know, the ones that sold out in 30 seconds online when they opened it up for sale? Meaning they basically had almost none to being with? My guess it was 1,000 or less that they were offering.  I heard they are going to have more through an Appleebee's employee, but they had no information on when they were going to offer them.

It did end up raining, just not near as long or heavy as they predicted, which was fine by me.  It did hail for a little bit last night.  

Not much else on the home front, nothing new that I've seen on the Texas/Fed "war", I'm figuring Abbott will come out with more things to do.  The Supreme Court can keep knocking his actions down, but as we have seen, he keeps coming up with something new.  SCOTUS can't tell Texas to stop doing something they haven't even done yet.  It's unchartered waters, basically, with new methods to physically stop illegals from crossing and Federal government taking these actions to court.  It's been interesting to follow all of this.

 Well that was fast.  I beat another truck to the washout and I was in and out of there in half an hour.  Loading plant the same, straight to the loading bay and then loaded and out of there in an hour.  The only real sweat today was the CMV station was open - commercial vehicle check station - and the trooper was looking at me kind of funny. Well, it is a pink truck lol.  I flashed all my lights on and off - there was a sign there saying to turn lights on - he waved me on.  Thankfully.

That can end up taking hours of time, usually at least an hour.  

I have yet to be inspected or waved into the shack at any of the ones I have to go through yet, knock on wood. No day is a good day for it, but some days would be worse than others.   

____________________________

Many hours later, 8:30 pm.  We're all sitting in the dining room which is next to the back door and suddenly we hear this horrific wailing from what sounded like Obi out back.  I mean, the dog sounded like it was being tortured, it was really bad.  I opened the door and heard the sounds of other dogs doing the same thing. Then it registered: he's learned the habit from the other dogs to howl a fire trucks going by on the highway which is a couple blocks away.  

I've never heard a dog making such a horrific noise that wasn't in awful pain.  The realization that the dog wasn't in any pain turned into laughter.  We all busted out laughing.  Taylor said she had heard it for the first time a few days ago, I had never heard him making such noise!  I'm going to try to get a video of him howling, well a video but not with him in it, if he sees me he'll stop and run to me, just a video with the phone poked out the back door so you can hear this stuff. You really won't believe it. 

I just got back from the park collecting rent from various people.  The newbies I had never met but had been there for 3 days - I've tried to catch them home, they are here on work assignment and they are only there later on in the evening.  I typically don't go over there at night time unless there is a problem.  So I got their money, the next door neighbor's money and then to the 3rd lot. 

I pulled up - on the main driveway mind you - at the rear of their RV.  There is a large window there.  They have that window partially covered but certainly not enough to block out the view of whatever is going on inside.  I was just going to get out of the vehicle, go to the door and collect the money, I had already contacted her earlier that I was coming. 

Unfortunately, out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement and human nature, I looked.  I am only saying all of this because these people were having sex right there, half exposed through the rear window facing the main driveway where there are other RV's on the other side of the driveway and anyone could see them doing it. How can you have sex in front of a window that you know people can see through?

Whatever. I went and knocked on the door, I don't care about that, I want my money, this is the people that asked for a week grace period and that week is up today, please pay me, you can get back to your activities after I leave.  The man opens the door and says "hello" with that sort of whiny way of saying it when you start at a higher octave, go down to a lower octave and end in and even higher one. As if to say, who the hell are you and what are you doing here?  

Didn't phase me, I'm here to collect the rent.  I want my money, I paid to build this park, they can give me the money when it's due.  I was tempted to say something about putting something up on that window, but I decided to leave it alone for now. Getting late, I didn't want to spend however long with it, whatever.  At least it's dark in the park, the only real light is the one I have on my shed.  Some people have outdoor lights but the rest of it? Dark.  

If you're going to have sex with someone, wouldn't you check to make sure that no one can see what you're doing? Or have that well established long in advance of the act? I'm just saying, no one wants to see you doing it. No one. Or if there are people that do, that's weird.  Whatever again.  Not to mention there are kids in the park, tho they aren't out running around at night time.

Oh.  And the new guy said a box blade would work on the driveway.  But the one they rent doesn't have any teeth on it.  He thought about it for a while, yes, but enough passes on it and it will break it up.  I mean, I've got to do something. I texted the contractor again today, no reply. It's pretty normal for him.  

That's it. I'm going to write myself an owner's draw check, deposit it electronically and take care of stuff on my personal account before it hits.  

 Home by 8, not bad.  Not great, but not bad.  I was driving through the park after getting back and remembered after finally seeing the guy there (versus having never seen his pickup there in the last 3 days) that he needs to pay up.  But, I didn't have my computer fired up, it would take half an eternity to do so, I blew it off. Need to go over there tomorrow after he gets home and not terribly late.

A 7 mile backup on I-30 going the opposite direction while driving up there, I was aghast at the lengthy backup of vehicles and the fact they were going extremely slow.  One lane shut down for some sort of accident cleanup replete with earth moving equipment.  

And I once again saw a practice that some truck drivers engage in that is maddening. It frequently happens that in a major backup, 2 trucks will get side-by-side and slow down to around 3 mph.  This enables them to put their drive clocks into on-duty mode and not burn up their driving hours. That's all great, nice, fine and dandy, however....  IN almost all of these instances that I have seen them doing it, the nearest traffic in front of them is thousands of feet away.  

It's a ridiculous practice, if you want to save your drive hours, get off the highway. Pull over on the shoulder, but don't hold traffic back that far.  I can't believe some of these people actually do this.  

Hipcamp. I revised my entire setup on there, eliminating the secondary parking, since people seemed to think they were getting a regular lot, even tho it was detailed in the description of what they were getting, that option is entirely gone. I then upped my price, just a bit cheaper than my regular, overnight prices but still up there enough to actually make some money off the thing, after Hipcamp takes their rather large bite out of the profit pie.  I've had 3 or 4 bookings since then, including one that just came through and I approved.  

It's getting to the point that I'm just going to have to try that box attachment without the teeth and see what happens.

And the sleep tracker is telling me it's time to go to bed. Actually, it is, for I have to get up early for my next run.  I just have a hard time going from driving mode to sleep mode in such a short period of time unless it's transitioning from the driver's seat to the sleeper bed.  A thing I rarely do anymore and thankful for it.  

 Oh the day just gets lovelier.  The manager called and said: "They don't want the load delivered until 4:00".  

Talk about figuring out ways to screw up a person's day.  Oh well.  I'm going through my book, I have a lot of rents due tomorrow.  I have one that was due last week that they were asking to hold off until tomorrow as well - the freezing event that basically had people off of work because employers were canceling saying the roads were too icy to drive on.

They were, however, correct in that assessment, the roads were horrible.  However, I have bills to pay as well and creditors don't give me time to pay, they just ding your credit score, add late fees and tell you to have a nice day.  

I find it hilarious that Chase Bank wants to charge you $10 per month for a business savings account.  You are keeping money with them and not using it, they are using your money for loans and making interest off of it, what is the deal here?  I've had thoughts of switching to another bank, but there are so many automatic payments and direct deposit and such tied in with my Chase accounts, it would be a huge ordeal.  

OK, it's free if you have over a grand in the account.  Well, I won't have a grand in it for over 3 months, this is the savings account I was referring to in previous entry so I can start saving for property tax payments.  I'm going to start a business savings account somewhere else if they offer one for free. If they all charge you to save money, I'll have no choice, but there are lots of local banks, surely one of them has something that I can get started with for "free".  

There is a local bank that is charging $5 per month and this is the bank I want to eventually try and get a business loan through.  Not happening now, but if I get started with an account with them and show that I am saving money from the business, perhaps that will help.  They came highly recommended, I just am not interested in high interest loans right now nor do I think I will qualify with my debt-to-income ratio currently.

Anyway, I need a separate account to save this money in so I can not get hammered near the end of the year and beginning of the year with these costs.  Insurance and property taxes equal over 4 grand.  

Actually the property tax bill is a little lower than I remembered it being. $2,406.50. It was over 3 grand?  I don't get it. Still, with a $1,700 electric bill coming up, that is a lot of money.  For me, anyway.  I'm going to try and pay that bill by the end of this month.  After I get my second paycheck this month, I'm hoping to cover it, if I can't, I just am going to have to because after this month? They start assessing penalties.  

And I still have to figure out what to do with the driveway.  

This is my life currently, should have followed through with my plan earlier last year to save even $200 per month towards these bills, I didn't do it - tho I really couldn't. I was struggling to make ends meet hence getting the job.  The job helps, it isn't really enough but it does help. 

So, I'm facing getting home around 8:30-9:00 pm, go to bed and get up again in the morning for another load.  I have Saturday and Sunday off, my birthday on Monday where I go into my 6th decade of existence.  Lord willing, of course.  But, I'll work all of  this I have been working to get this coming weekend off and hopefully if I get a load on Monday it will be done quickly and early.

I take that back, they dumped a load on me for Monday, just remembered, but it's the 10 am instead of 2 pm slot, I'll take it, hopefully home no later than 2, leaves me the rest of the day to enjoy my day off, I intend on cheating on this Keto diet and eating to my heart's delight.  Namely, a Dairy Queen triple chocolate chunk Blizzard, large, or whatever that thing is called. It's chocolate to the extreme and that's what I want to treat myself with.  I'll get up earlier on Monday to get to the washout place at their opening time. I usually get there around 8:30 am, it basically works out to getting to the plant either early or on time.  The plant doesn't really care when you get there, but if you get there early and other trucks are ahead of you, yup, you wait.  

Speaking of property, back to that subject, there should be a check coming my way here sooner or later from the mortgage company.  It's a nonprofit and they send back whatever overages ther are, percentagewise, to everyone.  Last year I think it was $600, money I could definitely use right now. 

Anyway, I need to get to the bank and deposit the now-reduced monthly check from the pipe welders.  

 Wednesday - early.  

I have one more payment on the washer/dryer set, I thought I was done as of this month, I thought wrong.  That will free up some money every month to help pay for other things, it comes nowhere close to what I am facing financially right now.  

The tent lady affirmed to me yesterday that she will get her tax return completed and "give you money".  I've made it clear to her that it's time to start paying.  She isn't using a walker anymore and she is getting around just fine.  She may not be 100%, I'm sorry.  

Of course, no dog poop has been left in the park since I put up the camera.  Of course not, people understand that I am not happy about the situation and I have made it well known my intentions if I find out who is doing it.  Like, tell that person to take a hike out of my park, permanently.  Or, pay a heavy fine - and if I could actually get someone to pay a heavy fine, I'd just give it to the lady that's been cleaning it up.  I don't want to leave a camera out there permanently, but apparently I have no choice if I want to keep this from happening again.

I still think someone is going to just blow it off, walk out of there with their dog and not clean up the pile and bam.  Someone is doing it, no one is confessing to it.

Those are, of course, the least of my problems yet still, it's irritating.  Others take their dogs in there and find a pile of s*** sitting there.  It's not my fault, of course, but the park gets blamed anyway, right? That's how stuff works in this society.  

I had a pleasant conversation with a man that is staying with his with for 4 days.  "You have a nice park here". I haven't heard that in a while, it was nice to hear. He was commenting on the nice job of the gravel and how everything looked nice.  That coming from people that travel full time in their RV, that's a pretty good compliment.  Makes me feel like I'm doing at least something right.  

I'm going to have to at least do a temporary fix on one of the potholes, it has evolved into a giant mass and it's pretty bad.  Filling it with dirt will do much of nothing, I think I can mix dirt with that river rock in the back and try to see if it will stay put for a while.  Or not, I dunno. Someone tried to tell me that "oh that box attachment on that tractor" will definitely do the job of fixing that driveway.  I replied it has no ripper teeth on it. They didn't care, they thought it would do the job nicely. 

Maybe with 100 passes of it? I don't know.  It'd be one of those things where you spend the entire day trying to go over and over the affected areas and hope that it all comes loose and then work it until there's nothing but smooth, level driveway with a lot of the gravel brought back up to the surface.  

I did find a bobcat for rent with a "planer" attachment that would work. However, the daily rental fee is so high might as well just pay an expert to do it for me.  I'm still waiting on that expert to quote me a price.  I mean, at some point I may be forced into trying this tractor with the box blade that has no teeth.  It would likely simply mean that I would have to run over and over and over the same areas until the dirt and rocks are loosened up.  If I had my own tractor I would have already tried this.

People continuously ask me why I don't have my own tractor? Money, folks, they are expensive and even if I could get one on payments, that's too much money for me to handle on a monthly basis right now.  If I had a tractor, I could keep the driveway repaired before it get as bad as it is now and also could slowly work the terrain in the field that are just weeds.  I'm at least a little hopeful that all that grass and ground level weed stuff is going to stay put and not just die out, it's thick and should keep weeds from growing.  

Oh, did I say that someone just dumped a bunch of trash in front of the dumpster? Yeah, household trash laying all over the place.  I haven't been able to get my hunting camera to work and I keep saying no to buying new ones but perhaps it's just something I have to do, buy a couple of new ones.  

Oh, the reason I"m up so early is kids making a lot of noise this morning.  Strike that: ONE kid making a lot of noise.  It's to the point with me that I will just not have anything to do with that one when they come home from school. Explain to him why I'm doing what I'm doing and stay out of my room, stay away from me, do not bother me today.  He does it all the time and doesn't care one way or the other.  

And my offload time is 2:00 pm, I'm going to show up there around 12:30.  That will be after the first load is done and should be fine to do it that way.  I let him know, the other driver as well. He doesn't have a problem with it and neither do I if someone shows up early - but after the first load time is done.  Not, show up so early that you are there at the first load appointment time or even earlier.  I don't want to be on the road until 6 or 7 pm.

That's it for now. My fantasy of getting a new septic system are trashed and stashed on a memory shelf somewhere, I have no way to even think about doing anything like that unless I get a loan and I don't want more loans.  This would be the year to get that park increased in size to vamp up for accommodating for highway workers coming in 2025.  Or whenever they get here, but 2025 is the beginning date for that stuff and I would think that also means a lot of workers are going to show up and it definitely means that at least some of them have trailers.  Without another septic system, the only other thing I can do is tie into the existing one and then face pump out charges however often.  It's $400 I think  it was to have a truck come in and pump it out.  

I just giving up on it for now.  Praying and asking God for guidance, definitely.  Loans are at such high interest rates now anyway, it would be ridiculous to get one unless it was just an extreme thing where "I have to do it".  Property taxes aren't anything to fool with, I just have to find the money somehow and pay them.  They were lamenting here at the house that their property taxes have more than doubled.  Yes, we are living in a greedy little town that wants to build new schools - one of which they already have - and greatly expand and rehabilitate old schools.  "There will be no new taxes" they keep saying, I voted that one down last election, I did not see the results of that election but I suspect people probably voted it in, duping citizens into thinking that it "isn't going to cost anything more".

The proof is in the pudding, if their property taxes went up, everyone's did.  I knew mine would go up for building the RV park, but I also knew after they shut down that power plant that those millions of dollars would have to be made up for somewhere.  Just ream people that own property, everyone else gets away with paying nothing.  It's "always" been this way but I have "always" hated it.  Why do so many people that have kids in the public school system not have to help out paying for that system? Texas was supposedly doing something about bringing down those taxes on property owners, but so far, I've heard nothing concrete about actual results.  

The real problem I have with property taxes is that in essence, you really never own the land even if you paid it off.  If you can't or won't pay those taxes, they will come take it away from you, auction it off and you are screwed regardless of how much money you dumped into that land or how much you are losing.  Instead, there should be some sort of school/ISD tax added to county or city or both sales taxes or some way to come up with the money without forcing it down land owner's throats.  How many land owners are paying for schools that they don't even have children in the system?  

The thought of losing the land is why I am stressing over this.  It wouldn't happen right away, of course, but they start tacking on fees/fines and the amount goes up that you owe.  It really lends to the thought that I should just be taking out the money every month so I am not caught up in this nightmare every year.  It would be something like, ok, once that last washer/dryer payment is paid, start taking that money and dumping it into a savings account so I have money at the beginning of next year to cover this nonsense.  Oh, and thank you Californians for forcing the prices of housing and land up around here.....

G'day

 Tuesday  mid-morning

Later load time, actually an odd load time today.  Noon isn't a time they typically ask me to load. It's either 10:00 am or 2:00 pm.  I didn't mind, I slept in a couple of hours and feel a whole lot better than if I were to have gotten up at 5:45 am.  

The other driver allegedly saw one of the wheels/tires yesterday. My next trip up there, which will be Wednesday, I'll be looking where he said it's at.  

He also said they are considering shutting down the run at the Lufkin plant for the Gurdon stuff and having it being hauled out of the Crossett plant.  It's a 114 mile trip that allegedly we wouldn't be taking.  Well what are we going to be doing? Cause' honey, if they think I'm going to start going long-haul, they have another thing coming.  I made it crystalline clear, I don't know how many ways I put it but crystal clear is the proper way of saying it, I just added the other stuff for clarity. 

There is no way they don't understand that I am not going anywhere on long haul.  I originally agreed to an "occasional" run to Georgia or Florida, I have yet to do that and I don't want to do that.  I like coming home every day, or most days anyway. \

No, he said we would be doing Ennis.  Leaving from Crossett.  It's a much longer drive that he, the other diver, was lamenting about. He's older than I and his energy levels aren't that great when it comes to longer drives. I don't blame him, but for me?  It might mean the prospect of larger paychecks, something I could use right now.  We're talking 650 miles round trip, which is much farther, obviously than the less than 400 I'm doing now on a 2 day round trip tour.  

This is a wait and see thing, I'm not preparing for anything until I hear it officially, tho I suppose I could ask down at the plant today what their knowledge of this story is. 

Well, it's time to get ready to go and today I need to collect rents, well the next several days.  I'm still pretty peeved about these people busting the line, it must have been spouting off like that all night long to create that much of a bill.  She promises she'll pay it back, but when?  I need money, now, not 2 months from now.  

And the dog park camera. Well, I'll wait until the lady says she found a pile of poop in there and then I'll start looking at footage.  I can see almost the entire park and the few little portions at side corners I can't see, the dogs aren't defecating there anyways.  Whoever is doing this, they are going to get caught, or not.  2 of them yesterday were sitting there staring at the camera, I didn't announce it to anyone excepting the lady that has been cleaning up the messes who said she isn't going to do it anymore. I don't blame her, tho I am giving a discount on her rent....kind of paid help without paying them.

Oh, yes, it's getting late in the day, I best be going.

G'day

 Uhh, Monday night.

This situation with the tent lady and their blowing up the water line cost me $200.  At least, conservative estimate.  I had enough, I've been thinking about this anyway, these people need to find a way to pay or I'm sorry.  Occupying a motorhome that cost me good money, using my utilities,  using my bathroom and laundry facilities, doggy park, occupying a space here.  She didn't apologize for the water line blowout, instead went into excuses. I cut that off quickly, I have done nothing but be nice to them and I don't see why the man can't go get a job or do something to help them.  

It's start paying or leave, I don't have the resources to leave these people in there forever without paying anything and it was never promised to them. 

People staying for a few days contacted me and said the sewer connection is busted. First I've heard of it and they are on their second day. I ended up having to bust the fitting out of the adapter which ended up destroying the adapter.  So, cut the entire thing off of there, go to Lowe's and install a new adapter.  This is Mark's doing, btw, the dude I threw out of the park.  Nothing like a final touch to stoke old feelings. 

Someone's dog is still pooping in the park and it's owner isn't cleaning it up.  Everyone denies it, of course, so now I moved the camera on the outside of the shed over to the doggy park.  I only told the lady that's been cleaning up whoever's mess, I did not tell anyone else. It's on a tree at the back of the park, but 2 people noticed it, I could see them looking at it and saying whatever.  Don't care, really, I'm going to find out who is doing this and I'm going to deal with it directly and ... quite firmly.  It's a ridiculous notion that someone thinks that everyone else has to clean up after their dog's shit.  

I'm a little irritated right now after seeing the water bill. More than twice it's normal amount. 

Whatever. I took the load up to Gurdon, unloaded it and got back by just after 1:00 pm today.  I have been informed that the Lufkin plant is going to "temporarily" stop sending product up there and apparently they are going to get it from a plant nearby.  Then, we are supposed to start doing Ennis runs. This according to another driver. I don't know, but I have no desire to be driving up to Crosset every other time to get loaded. It adds hours to the drive and doesn't add any miles.  They can go find someone else to play those games if this is true, but I have already decided to look for another job anyway.  Yes, I've been looking. 

My mind is going all over the place with everything that is going on.  I'm frankly worried about all of these payments coming up and wondering how I will afford them, keep the lights on, keep the county and ISD off my @$$ and fix the damn driveway.

I need a break from all of this plus a trucking company that has no clue.  

I'm done here.