My plans to get home at a reasonable hour tomorrow have been dashed.  We were going back and forth in texting about the schedule and then I said I'd be coming up before offloading to switch out trucks.  The dispatcher made some convoluted comment that made no sense so I had to ask for clarification. After several back and forths, I was finally able to come to the understanding that the trailer has to be empty as well for they want to do an inspection on it.  

I don't mind this at all, actually, even if it adds hours to the day. The reason is because the trailer I have now unloads painfully slow. Even on the best of days it takes it much longer than other trailers I've had to get all the glue out of it.  

This is probably the worst part of this job: anytime I have to go to the yard, it adds at least 2 hours and usually 3 to the day.  

Whatever. I knew tomorrow would be a long day.  

Then we get to Thursday load. They had sent me it last week, and it was early load. I noticed in my tablet today there was another load in there, so I clicked on it. Another load for the same day? And late loading? This is what I get when they don't communicate with me, it turns out the first load had canceled so they gave me second load.  They just aren't going through product up there as fast as we are bringing it.  They need to keep us, the dedicated drivers, busy with it and keep the OTR people out of it when it gets like that.  

Collected rent from the new guy and then got an odd call this evening from the college kid.  He had to take his truck into the shop, he claimed, so he only had $300 but could come up with the other $100 on the 6th.  He then started going off into a tangent about how he might be able to come up with the other money before then, but I cut him off: the 6th is fine, I have no problem with it. They've been at my park the entire school year, why get upset over $100 one time? He then asked if there was any work he could do? No, I have a new guy to do that, but please don't worry about the $100, pay it when you get it, it's no big deal.

Apparently this was stressing him wayyyyyy more than me, for 2 minutes later, I got the $100 payment. Lol, ok?  He texted: I didn't want to hold you up on rent and a friend loaned me the $100.  ?? Ok.  I'm not going to complain about getting my money, but I really did not have a problem with waiting and tried to convey that to him.  

Whatever the case, I collected $800 today and more to come.  

The new people - the dude was doing a lot more mowing today.  I'm fine with that, I'm fine with giving them up to $300 off on their rent. They aren't occupying a regular lot and tho the electricity will cost me this summer, it's still a good trade off in my mind.  The riding mower isn't working, something wrong with the deck, I need to take it off of there and find out what's wrong and fix it.  He's just using the new push mower on everything and doing a lot of it. 

I'm trying not to let this dude get chummy with me. Mark did that and tho I didn't want it, in fact I told him to his face I really didn't want his help with anything, he still decided to force his way into my business and then, well you know the story/ies if you were reading this blog during that time. Mark is a truly forgettable person and I don't want to dwell on him.  I don't mind being friends with people - as long as they aren't trying to take advantage of the situation.  It's trying to figure out their intent, that takes time.  Unless they blab something out that reveals their motive.  

I actually had no idea they were wanting to work for rent.  I wouldn't have agreed to it, people are lazy and just want to take advantage of you. I've been down that road enough times. However, once I saw that he is actually getting some stuff done, I'm good with it - as long as he keeps it up. 

Anyway, it's been a long day, for I had the late load and I didn't get back til late afternoon and then eat dinner and then off to the youngest' baseball game.  They were brutalized by that other team who blew them away. But, it turns out, that other team is a tournament league team that sticks together. I really have a problem with a youth baseball association allowing that to come into what is otherwise mostly a bunch of players that know nothing about the game and are just getting started.  They'll easily win the league and it's not even real competition for them.  So what's the point? Kids getting lessons in humility and losing?  I mean, yes, they should get a dose of that, but a team that way outclasses every other team doesn't really even belong in that league - or - they should split ;them up between the teams to give everyone a fighting chance.  

That's just me and take on the younger kids in baseball. Once they start getting older, sure, they can go for the throat and it becomes highly competitive. Or at this age, these kids and their parents all into it that they are basically playing ball year round.  I did youth sports - baseball - for 10 years in a Little League and I was on the board, coaching, umpiring, crowd control, you name it.  I'm pretty well versed in this stuff.  Not like it just went out of memory banks.  

The one month stay people should be leaving in 2 days.  I have one lot available right now, but I'm going to have that other one available as well and probably a couple more in a short period of time.  My Facebook ad is still running, I got this new guy in here and unless he gets unhappy with the park, he's there for a while. He took a job at TXTC (state university in town here) and I am the closest park to his job.  Much closer, in fact.  But it's not enough. I really try to keep the park full and a few bucks spent on ads is worth it to me.  

I also kind of think I'm spinning my wheels trying to fill up 15 more spots? Without the amenities to get them in there?  I dunno about that.  Namely, a swimming pool. Yes, I know I have discussed this subject at length and I'm not going to go into great depth here, but I really think if I want to get higher rates and more spots filled especially with overnighters, a pool is the way to go.  If I really want to find a loan for something, maybe a pool loan is what I really should be looking for.  I can raise my rates and pay for the pool payments, maintenance and then some.  

I just throw things around in my head, all the time, folks.  I was looking today at how I would want to create more lots. Seems like moving the doggy park is going to have to happen, that or have to create another huge entrance, wasting a lot of space where I could put more pads.  But then I thought, I sometimes struggle getting enough people in here. Not all the time, but there are instances where numerous people are all leaving at around the same time. Not because they are unhappy with my park, a lot of these people are temp workers who get moved around all over the place.  

And frankly, if I could attract more overnighters, I would make a lot more money.  That's just the nuts and bolts of it. Expenses would go down as well, namely: electricity.  You free a space up at noon and the next people don't come in until 5, 6 or later?  That's all those hot afternoon hours during the summer when no one is there and not using electricity.  It was my goal from the get-go to do mostly overnighters. My fantasies were dashed with reality, when I realized that your name has to "get out there" for awhile and you have to build a good reputation that slowly and over time gets spread out across the country.  I have people stopping in from all over the country. Not just Texas or neighboring states.  

BTW. I have 74 likes on my latest boosted ad. Amazing that has only translated into one person showing up.  I don't know who all of those people are, lol.  

Well enough of this.  My business account is going to start looking pretty nice with far more money coming in than going out - the next electric bill hasn't posted yet but I doubt it's going to be much more than the previous month. Maybe a few hundred dollars difference.  And I"ll be collecting another 4 grand before then.  It's all nice fine and dandy until you realize high electric bills are coming and then the end of the year will come once again and taxes and insurance due - once again.  

 Monday - 8:00 am

I mean, it's a 1:00 pm load and they don't like people showing up too early at the plant, so I'm just sitting here biding my time until I figure I can leave, get the trailer washed out and show up there at the plant maybe an hour early.  Or less, actually, maybe leave here at 9:30 am and then I'll only be maybe a half hour early.  They pulled that stunt a while back on the second load where they made me wait an hour and half after my appointment time, I just don't need a repeat of that.  Might as well just sit at home and drink coffee.

Tomorrow is the much longer day with not only a late load, but having to stop at the yard and switch trucks.  Since I have the late load, I will just leave here early, go to the yard first, switch out and then go to Gurdon.  It's 2-1/2 hours to El Dorado, actually more like 2 hours 45 minutes even tho it's a shorter distance than going to Gurdon.  Half hour at least at the yard switching out and then almost 2 more hours up to Gurdon? I'm just leaving here at my normal time for the early load and that should have me in Gurdon after noon.  

Meanwhile, I'm watching these anti-Israel protestors.  Their premise is absurd, their reasoning is based on propaganda.  Hamas is the target, a terrorist group that has done nothing but murder innocent people since it's inception. They have no loyalty to the Palestinians.  Israel is not targeting Palestinians but these people are calling it genocide.  They completely ignore the atrocity Hamas committed against Israel in killing innocent civilians inside Israel territory, they don't care that Hamas used and uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, they are right!  

But, we've seen such protests at universities through the decades of my existence, I just think this takes it to the next level, but on a religious perspective.  Israel is the apple of God's eye and coming against it may be setting yourself on dangerous territory. At the same time, the Bible tells us that the "beast" will rise up in Jerusalem at the holy temple itself and tells the Jews to run to the hills when they see the signs of this occurring.  It would not surprise me in the least if we were at the verge of the end times.  

And we have this sham of a trial against Trump going on today in federal court. Sorry, but I don't believe this and the rest of the charges being brought against him are anything but a political hit job.  The left fears Trump being elected into his second term as President and they are and have been willing to do anything to stop him.  There is a long list of things they have already tried, this is just the next cog in the wheel of a two-tiered justice system.  

Whatever. I just shake my head in disgust at the way politics and politicians are acting out right now, along with the DOJ and other prosecutors who have a mission to stop him from becoming President. Let the people decide at the ballot box.  I believe these trials are turning Trump into a political martyr and will have the opposite effect that these people believe it will have.  Even the polls are showing that people that are undecided on who to vote for are saying that these charges are politically motivated.

I guess I'm a bit more interested in the Middle East tho, because of the potential for what the Israel-Palestine-Hamas-Iran situation could turn into.  

My latest paycheck wasn't as good as the previous one. I expected that, however, for I was off too many days. In fact, they still haven't updated the tablet, I have no idea what days I will be working this coming week, which is a bit unusual for this company that normally loads the thing up with work going on 10 days in advance.  

I keep watching CreditKarma for they are the best source of loans that I have found - anywhere.  So far, the best offer is 17.9% on a 5 year loan for 20k.  That is actually much better than any of the other offers available.  I've got offers in there for 32k loans that have you end up paying 28k in interest.  So, yeah, no.  The feds have indicated they aren't convinced about inflation and that they aren't yet ready to start lowering interest rates again.  What a jacked up system.  Make us pay!  I wonder why the federal government should have that much control over  the monetary system to begin with.  

This nonsense all started with COVID, people getting ridiculous amounts of "free money" and spending trillions of dollars in "covid relief" stimulus.  The government spends ridiculous, unbelievable amounts of money we don't have on a crisis that didn't need that much money thrown at it, tells people to stay home while they're at it and then...we have the mess going on now.  Oh, it's the best economy in 40 years! ...they tell us, while completely ignoring the fact that interest rates have skyrocketed, the cost of groceries are forcing people to use credit cards, the cost of energy has also skyrocketed....etc....ad-infinitum.  

I'll get off of that soapbox, I am watching the news and most of it is forgettable but there are snippets of the Israel protesters are universities, cops being killed and the Trump trial going on. OH! and let's not forget giving Ukraine 6i1 BILLION dollars!  Zelensky is NO friend of the US, btw.  

Anyway, what's up now?  Meh.  Collect money from the new guy, check my book to see who owes what and see if I can find the other new guy/wife and discuss what's next for them.  The amount that is deducted from their rent relies solely on the amount of work he will do.  

I haven't seen any signs, whatsoever, that the grass seed I put down is coming up. At all and anywhere.  I will be inspected the entire area again, but it appears that $83 is down the drain.  Ahh, so yeah. 

So, I may take the John Deere tractor offer. Maybe.  I need to see when that shed is going to be paid off.  That payment being redirected towards a tractor payment would cover about 2/3rd's of the monthly payment and coming up with the rest would be relatively easy.  I'm waiting for the next statement to come in from the loan company for the shed, I throw those things in the trash as soon as I get them and didn't check what the payoff date is the last one that showed up.  I think it's getting close, like 5 or 6 months.  

The fact of the matter is: I need some kind of earth moving equipment out there.  Endless renting may work, I guess, I'm still weighing the advantages and disadvantages.  If I could get a tractor with a backhoe attachment, this would help greatly.  Trenching becomes readily available without renting a machine every time.  

Honestly, to, I'd rather get a new vehicle.  Not new new, but something a little closer to the year we are currently in. That thing is 13 years old, a gas guzzler and tho it's been pretty reliable, the the seats and the carpet is getting bad and if I'm going to keep it, I'm going to have to have it reupholstered.  The exterior is still in great condition, a few small dings from people opening their car doors against it.....

A tractor payment would come out of the business account, but a car payment would be personal finances.  It's not really in the cards right now, I'm just dreaming I guess.  

I really just need another 15 lots out there.  And a swimming pool to draw people in there.  

And with that, it's getting close to departure time.

G'day

 A fun day.

Church was good and the message really got me to thinking about my relationship with the Lord and also the end times.  He didn't specifically say or intone that we are in the last times, I have had my own thoughts about that tho.  Really, what it boils down to is, whether Christ returns in our lifetimes or not, are we prepared to meet our Maker?  Because it's going to happen regardless.  I pretty much got lost in thought and had to resurface to take in more of the message.  

After that, to Applebee's.  It took about 30 minutes to get our food. For that place and considering the place was nearly full (which is miraculous in itself), I was pretty happy about it. Our waitress was attentive and returned often enough to check on us but not too often, if you understand that.  It is actually just as irritating to have a server coming back too often as it is one that doesn't come back often enough.  This was the bartender serving us tho, even tho we were nowhere near the bar.  Either they were short handed or the GM was just making sure we were getting half decent service - yes she was there.

At the end, I did tell the waitress that I wanted the comp meal. She gave a weird look on her face, comp meal? Yes, this meal is free, just ask the GM, she knows about it.  Maybe 5 minutes later she came back with a receipt, it was $70 which is actually more than we usually spend there.  I tipped the bartender more than 20%, I'm not going to stiff her simply because this was supposed to be a free meal.  I really don't stiff servers at all unless it's really, really, reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy bad service.  And if it's that bad, the management is going to be called over, which I rarely ever do either, excepting in this case where I spent an hour and forty five minutes waiting for my food - which never arrived.  

I think most people would agree waiting almost 2 hours for food, being told 3 times during that wait that it's "done" and still not arriving, that you would probably walk out of the place and you would have a beef with whoever is responsible for it.  Or not, we are all different and we don't all have the same gearing in our reactions to things. 

After that, we went to the "Touch A Truck" festival. It's where businesses and government entities bring their trucks and rigs.  Fire trucks, ambulances, school busses, all kinds of police vehicles, hearses, other kinds of rigs and all kinds of tent booths set up giving kids free fidget toys and candy.  We stayed there for 3 plus hours going to every single booth and truck. My legs gave out on me and the boys were finally getting tired at the end as well. We had found a large area in the grass where they had wands that you dip into 5 gallon buckets filled with water and liquid dish soap to make floating bubbles.  They did that for quite a while along with dozens of other kids before they finally got tired of it and agreed, yes, it's time to go home.

Didn't matter, they were all tearing everything down and leaving anyway. 

Home.  Watched a few movies, kept getting asked to watch kids playing video games, so attention divided between the 2 and now? 9 pm, going to bed in an hour or so.  I don't have to get up particularly early since I have the late load and the plant is none too keen on people arriving there too early, they'll just make you wait.  I figure to show up there after noon, maybe around 12:30 or even a little later.  So, yes, I don't need to get up early for that. It's an hour and a half to the washout, usually around 30-40 minutes to get that done, 35 minutes to the plant from there.  

Oh, and yes, that dude did indeed show up to the park today, trailer in tow and parked at lot - 4 I think. Doesn't really matter, just didn't want him at lot 1.  I never went over there today, no need to and was too busy taking it easy. This week, I have no idea beyond Monday and Tuesday, unless they have updated the tablet, one moment please.....play some Jeopardy music.....oh my, I left the thing in the car. I guess I'll have to go out and get it, I always check it the night before and the morning of any run.  They change it too often and don't give a head's up.  I do want to work tomorrow, well, I don't want to work, I need to work, let's clarify that. 

I definitely didn't want the late load. Oh well.  

Reservations keep coming in for 1, 2, 4 day stays.  This is great. Almost tempted to leave 2 spots open for short term stuff.  We'll see.  If the demand picks up, I will leave 2 spaces empty, excepting now. If another person wants to come for long term, I'm giving the other available spot out, for I know more people are leaving soon and I will need the people in there.  

Which reminds me, I guess I need to get that tractor back over there and do the driveway yet again.  Hands are tied on that one, can't leave it like that. So, $800 about to get removed from the account for earth moving equipment rental. The tractor and the mini ex.  I'm just going to wait until they do, for unknown reasons, not give me anything for trucking for 2 or more days and get that stuff done.  I might be able to get that new guy to help me with the underground wire installation.  

Enough. Going to bed soon.  

 Sunday mid-morning, just a bit before we have to leave for church.

Well, we don't have to.

Did I say that these lunatics that talk about people shooting them with lasers all the time were at it again yesterday?

I didn't?  I get a phone call from an overnighter. He's been there before.  He says this man named Bill came over and demanded to know why he shot his wife with a laser?  The guy, of course, is dumbfounded and has no clue what he is talking about. "Well, you're the only ones that just came in here, it must have been you".   "I'm going to call the owner and he's going to have a talk with you". "I'll talk to the owner myself".

So, he calls me.  He was laughing, which was a good sign at least.  He has a sense of humor even tho these people completely serious.  He said he was leaving until late tonight and hoped they wouldn't be back. I replied if they do, call me and I'll deal with it.  

Those farmers? Are lunatics.  I'm sorry, but the government isn't just going around hiring people to shoot you with lasers.  They think everyone is poor and broke and the money is too easy to say no to, so these absolute strangers - and we're talking a lot of people at this point - are shooting them with lasers because the government wants them to.  

Yea. I don't believe the government has our best interests at hand, either.  Most of the people running our governments are selfish, greedy and power hungry. They become corrupted quickly if they aren't already.  Some go in with good intentions, but, "the love of money is the root of all evil". At the same time, I doubt the government has some covert operation against a couple of retired farmers, if it did, they would be dead by now.  It's gotten to the point I am going to have to address them and I am quite sure they will leave, if not at the time I say something, certainly when their rent is due again.  I don't know what happened to these people to believe that everyone, literally everyone, is out to get them...

I'm already facing several people leaving soon and 2 lots available already.  But, I won't trade mine and other's sanity for money.  People will come sooner or later, one is allegedly moving in today.  I did put up a Facebook ad.  It's received quite a few hits, hopefully I can get this dude and maybe at least one more person right off the bat and then run another one once a couple more lots are cleared out.  

Yesterday was quick and easy, in a relative sense to many other times going up to Gurdon and offloading.  The product was coming out quickly, at least for that trailer and I was out of there in an hour and a half.  On other trailers, I would have been out of there in an hour or less.  But, whatever, I got home early, before 1 pm, so no worries there.

Tomorrow is a late load day, unfortunately.  They know I like the early load but they give me a late load once a week or so now.  It doesn't matter, I need to go to the yard in Eldo, drop the trailer, switch trucks and then go up to Gurdon and offload.  It might be there a few days them trying to get things straightened out on that truck.  I want the AC fixed once and for all.  But, the air bag is leaking so heavily that one of the tenants was walking by it and sent me a photo of the tire next to it, telling me it is leaking heavily.  

I thanked him for his concern.  I was more interested in if his new neighbors were causing any problems? No, I've met them, he replied, they seem like nice people.  Ok, well they have little yip dogs and I asked them to ensure that the barking be nipped in the bud.  He replied that there is some barking, but it isn't bothering him.  Ok?  

So far, the new guy has mowed the doggy park, the large lot 1, lot 2 and I think lot 3. He's swept out the amenities shed and that's all I've seen so far. He has not washed his trailer, I will be asking them again to please scrub it down. It's not a huge trailer, but it's very dirty.  Spend the hour or 2 it will take to clean it up, it will be good to go for quite a while.  

Anyway, church en-queue and then Applebee's. I haven't been back since the ordeal where the boys didn't get there food for over an hour and ten minutes and I never got my food after an hour and forty-five minutes.  The GM assured me they will comp my next meal.  We'll see, but I won't be exposing myself to that kind of service again, if they can't have my food on the table within a half hour's time, we will get up and leave.  Even half an hour is too long, but I feel that's giving them enough time to get our order taken care of.  

And as it stands? My clock has run out. It's time to put on my shoes and get out of here.

Happy Sunday. 

 Friday - early

It was a good day yesterday. 

Got up early, saw the kids out, got on the road about the same time they would be leaving the school. I knew I would beat them, I didn't realize I would beat them by almost an hour.  No biggies, just sat out in the parking lot in my vehicle and then decided to mosey up to the entrance and wait for them.  I had no idea that there would be several other schools showing up from all over the place. 

Once our busses showed up, we went in side, bought a few souvenirs and then headed into the arena.  Huge affair, looked like a light, powdery sand on the floor where the performances were done, there were hundreds of people in there at least, the place was full.  There was lunch waiting at our seats which had a long, narrow strip of counter top running in front of the rows of seats for your food and drinks.  

The boy wanted a drink, so I got up and waited in line. The performance started while I was out doing that, I didn't miss much. It was some dude on a horse in the middle of the arena facing the King and Queen, the Queen seated on a large throne, the platform they were on near the ceiling at one of the ends of the arena.  

Some actors came out and there was a skit done about bullying.  But, of course, they took that portion too far and went into DEI.  Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness. These are alert words, you hear any of that you know you are being exposed to pure, unadulterated wokeness.  It was disheartening to hear all of that and wondered whether the entire show was going to be like this?  The message about bullying was ok, the rest of it was ridiculous.  I then assessed - well, this is  Dallas, a leftist bastion of socialist/communist ideologies, not surprising you are going to hear such nonsense here. Just one of the reasons I refuse to ever live in a big city again. 

They got done with that s*** and then the real show started, fortunately and thankfully.  It was pretty cool. They had actors on horses - well versed actors that had obviously taken the time to learn their parts and also hone their sword and jostling skills - and they did the entire show on different factions "fighting" each other for the championship title.  Yes, the place is divided up into 6 different groupings, wherever you are seating, you in one of those grouping and your knight in shining armor represents you in the arena.  

 There were skill sets, fighting sets, horse back agility sets.  They were using real, metal swords, by the way, these were not wood or plastic stuff. The sparks from when the swords clashed against each other proved that, which gave the whole scenario a heightened sense of reality, like: this isn't fake, they could actually do each other real harm if they mess up and accidentally hit each other. Not that I would want that to happen, but it added to the authenticity of the event.  

I was imagining what this place must be like filled with adults and getting rid of the "school" style talk, this show was definitely geared towards kids, but, it was a lot of fun regardless.  The boy had a blast, I was egging him and others on to cheer on our knight. The instructions online stated the more you shout for your knight, the better he will fight!  

I can say that 2 hours of it was about the perfect length.   By the time they had all of their skill sets/fighting scenes done, I was also done. Oh, well, during this time we ate our meal which consisted of a half chicken (small chicken, lol), half a small baked potato and a half piece of corn on the cob.  After that, they brought around some garlic toast, very delicious and after that, they brought some large, prepackaged chocolate chip cookies.  I ate one of the 2 in my package and gave the other one to the kid, who happily devoured 3 of them.  

Fortunately, my pep talk on not being able to go home with me worked, he was all happy when we left, but mostly that was because I let him take his newly acquired sword and shield and lighted cup with him.  

The drive home was uneventful even if the road is filled with idiots paying more attention to their phones than the road and acting like morons cutting people off all over the place. That's on the Interstate, driving in Dallas is the same as driving in any other big city: it sucks.  I'm well versed in it, I don't miss it at all.  I just let people do their thing and enjoyed my ride home.  I sort of pushed the speed limit a bit, will freely admit, I was following along a small group of vehicles going a wee tad faster than posted signage allowed for.  

Got home, relaxed.  I never did go to the park yesterday, but I did note on the security system that the new people were cleaning the amenities shed and mowing grass. 

I made dinner which consisted of reuben sandwiches, quite delicious if I do say so myself. Taylor agreed, we have somewhat same tastes in food, tho I love onions and she hates them, lol.

I ended up going to bed early, 8:45 pm.  And for once, I slept through the night, only waking up once and quickly getting back to sleep. The sleep monitor app said my sleep was "average", balderdash.  I slept quite well and I feel pretty good this morning.  I think it counts snoring against me.  When I'm tired like that, I will snore quite a bit.  It said I was snoring well over an hour and also a very minor amount of sleep apnea.  

The reason I got the app was to see if my problems were related to sleep apnea.  I almost never show any of it on there and if it does show some, it's because I'm wasted tired when I go to bed.  Never more than a minute, couple of minutes at most. But, I guess they think snoring isn't so great either.  

Never-the-less, I am ready to hit the ground running, so to speak, get down to Nac, get the trailer washed out, get over to Lufkin, load, come home and then see what this dude has done.  They are clearly looking for reduced or even eliminated rent rate.  My only beef so far is the trailer is dirty.  It's in good shape, but it's covered with dirt and mildew.  Please clean that.  

 
Thursday - early

They just left for the school bus. We decided that the bus would, indeed, make it to school on time and that would be that.  It is much easier for him to take the school bus instead of being dropped off, for dropping them off means going to a street near the school and sitting there and waiting in a long line.  You've seen them, I don't care where you live. If you're near an elementary or middle school, the parents line up in very long lines well in advance of picking up or dropping off and sit there...and sit there...and sit there. So, it's not a huge chance, Taylor has an app that shows where the bus is at.  As long as it makes it there by 7, we are good.  I am not leaving here until around 7:15, another hour off.  No need to, they aren't leaving until then and I will easily beat them there. 

I can safely say that unless stranded on the side of the highway, I have never been passed by a school bus lol.  Not that they drive slow, tho, just they aren't cruising at 75-80, which is the speed limit out there once you get past Longview on 80.  For some reason, all the towns along the I-20 corridor starting  at the state line and going to partially into Longview voted to agree with TDOT to lower the speed limit to 70.  

Yes, I'm sure that will force all the idiots to start paying attention to the roadway in front of them! Lower the speed limit by 5 mph!  I listened to that session of city council. The police chief made a 1 minute presentation and without any questioning, they voted for it.  But, that's the way this town operates.  They make a lot of stupid decisions that cost a lot of money for not a lot of return and ignore the glaring elephants in the room. Things such as a 70 year old water and sewer transmission system that is falling apart.  Residential streets that are in horrible condition.  

Anyway, the kid started getting extremely  pouty because we decided not to take him to school. After explaining how much easier it is to take the bus - he just gets on, they pull right up to the school and gets off versus the waiting scenario described above? Didn't matter. That is when we both said oh, well you don't have to go then.  You don't have to go to Dallas at all.  That changed his mood quickly. 

"I wish I had never said anything", he later stated.  Yes, you need to learn how to switch that s*** off and quickly.  There was literally nothing  to get upset about.  I figure him saying "I wish I hadn't said anything" is a good learning experience for him. There are times when you should just keep your mouth shut, think about what you are saying and what the implications of what you are saying might be.  There's a time to speak and there's a time to be silent.  It's a learning experience.  Anyway, he is already at school and it's well  before their departure time, so, I'm going  to sit here, relax, sip some coffee and do ---- nothing.  

He has been informed a couple of times now that he won't be able to come home with me after the event is over. Apparently I would have to go through a background check and that they didn't think it would be done in time.  Yes, I've gone through several of those types of checks for my CDL, the hazmat part of it, concealed carry and TWIC card.  It can take months for them to do that stuff.  Not because it takes particularly long for them to go through your files/history, just because they are backlogged.  The CCW took many months before they finally approved it.  I don't really understand how a person that is designated as a person that can actually pick the child up at school can't also take the child home, but whatever.  It's a better experience to ride in the bus with other kids his age and continue on learning social skills.

I was looking this place up.  It appears you dine in an arena where they have jostling events and sword fighting.  It looks like a lot of fun, actually.  According to maps, it's 155 miles, 2 hours and 33 minutes. Almost guaranteed it will take me 2 hours and 15 minutes or less.  I don't stop for anything going to Dallas and the speed limit is high almost the entire route, the only thing that would hold me up is heavy traffic/accidents.

Well enough of that.  The new people are moved in, whether they stay or not is entirely up to them and their behavior.  I am quite sure I made it crystal clear about certain things yesterday, we'll see if it pans out.  Because if it doesn't, I have no problems confronting them and even getting rid of them.  I have no problems getting rid of anyone in that park if their behavior is unacceptable. It doesn't appear like there will be problems, but you never know.  I'm just hoping that this offer to mow grass and stuff actually works out, I don't mind giving substantial cut on lot rent in exchange for a good amount of work.  Weedeater and lawnmower work would save me a lot of time wasted in engaging in such things and could focus on other projects. 

Or just being lazy at times and doing nothing at all.  It would be nice to have help with the power line project.  Or having someone hold the ladder while I'm up 20 feet installing the router at the top of the pole.  I haven't done that yet for I haven't felt like it.  It's just another thing to do in a long list.  Mostly, I was waiting for the rain to not only stop but also dry out so that that concrete would harden.  

So many things to do over there, always.

And with that, departure time draweth nigh.  I want a nice thermos full of coffee to sip on on the way over there.  

G'day

 Well, the trailer isn't terrible anyway. Dirty, I told them to wash it but it's in good shape. This is the new people. I didn't know they had 4 yip dogs. I educated them on that as well.  I was pretty direct: clean up after your dogs immediately. No poop left anywhere, there are dog poop bags right there and a trash can.  No excessive barking.  Are you friendly people?  Oh yes.  They seemed like they were, but I'm going to get down to the nuts and bolts of this right away.  The man wants to do some work. I don't mind giving them some money off their rent in exchange for working.  However, I collected the first month's rent up front.  

I have no way of knowing whether he will actually work or not and I am not giving them a break until I see how he does.  Grass and trimming, that would be a big help.  Other stuff as well.  

During that time, a dude called telling me he is with so and so contractors, he needs to fill up a 300 gallon tank.  How much will you charge?  I have no idea.  I don't really want to get into the water business, it won't make any money, but the water is readily available.  I said 15, he said 10, I said fine.  So, he showed up and yes, filled up a 300 gallon tank. They spray gas pipe line easements for weeds.  I just did it to help them out, there is no money to be made in selling water nor did the thought ever cross my mind.  I dunno what made him call an RV park, I guess his experience tells him he has the best luck going that route.  They are not from around here.  

So now, it's just get ready for tomorrow.  Take the kid to school tomorrow, we're worried his school bus won't get to school in time and the bus leaves whether anyone that should be there is there or not.  So, if we leave their normal time to get on the bus, I will have him there 30 minutes early.  I will likely just take off for Dallas after that, if I have to wait, I will take my laptop with me so I can pass the time.  

Another tractor company quoted me far higher than even John Deere.  Amazingly ridiculous.  I guess I'm too cheap for this?  No.  I just know what I can afford.  This is all new machinery, not what I want.  Just can't find anyone selling used with financing.  Half the price. This guy quoted me a higher monthly payment and a 10 year installment loan. There is no way  I am getting involved with a 10 year loan, 7 sounded ridiculous, this even more so.  He says zero interest, so I am assuming extremely inflated pricing.  

I mean, I'd take the John Deere - trusted name for many, many decades over this foreign stuff. Just me. I have owned foreign made vehicles, not bad, not great, I'm a Chevy person when it comes to vehicles even tho I own a Ford SUV.  Just what was available at the time and I didn't feel like spending weeks/months looking.  

Anyway, I'm in no rush for a tractor. I'd love to have one, but it's just not in the cards right now.  I'll just have to rent one again to fix the driveway again.  

_________

Many hours later.  One call for a lot today, they put it in the system today and just showed up, lol. Well, no biggies, I was over there and had no clue they were coming. I don't check my email all day long, but I do check it frequently enough, I get a notification if there is reservation.  Big ole' giant motor coach pulling a 20 foot trailer, walled/enclosed.  Who knows what they had in there, probably a car or motorcycles at least.  Diesel pusher, expensive.  As I have been saying for some time, these people spend the big bucks on their toys but boy howdy do they want to tell everyone about high prices for overnight stays! Hence, I get enough traffic coming through on those types of people wanting cheaper prices.  

Time to wind down and get ready for bed. The SUV is filled with gas, vacuumed out and washed. Did all of that a little while ago, she needed a bath and a good vacuuming, which is free with the wash.  This place also has air chucks at every vacuum station, you can check all of your tire air pressure, which I'm glad I did, one of them has a slow leak and was at 25 pounds - it should be at 50.  I put it at 55 since it's a leaker that Ive had fixed how many times now? I think it's time for a pair of tires for the back of this boat.  Actually, it's time to replace all 4.  

 I spent a couple hours over there dealing with this and other things,  mostly this, this being the dumpster.  I sat there in awe of people who are capable of doing such things without blinking twice about it.  Oh well, now it's his  problem, they must have thought with a smug grin on their face as they dumped all of that and left.  Yes, they are very lucky - I am too now that I think of it - that I didn't happen upon them doing it for it would have gotten ugly, quickly.  

I don't take kindly to trailer trash mentality.  As it stands, I blew up her phone with pics of the disgusting filth - some of it was quite nasty, had to put gloves on to deal with it - and told her she WILL be paying for it.  She said she'd send me $40, it's all she has.  Good, it's better than nothing.  

I've got most of it cleaned up and put in the dumpster.  The bags were overloaded and I didn't want to load them onto my trailer like that.  The dumpster still has about 2/3rd's room left, hopefully it will last til next week. If it doesn't, figure something out.  The big stuff is behind the dumpster and I am not going to waste money taking it to the landfill.  I will burn the wood stuff and just throw in larger items as I can until it's gone.  This will save me from having to spend money on this crap.  

That's as done as it needs to be for now.  I cleaned out my vehicle, still have to go up to the carwash, get it washed and vacuum it out.  I don't really have to do all of that, lol, it's just me driving there and back, the kid has to take the bus there and back, apparently it's a school rule, they can't drive back with parents/guardians.  Oh, and fill the thing up with gas.  The venue is already paid for, it was $40 per person for the tickets. It's dinner and shows. Like 2 hours worth of shows with medieval theme. It should be fun. I would stick around Dallas afterward and check some other stuff out, but I'll have to go back to work on Friday, so I'll just drive straight home after it's over.  

I'm looking forward to it.  That is all I am going to do with the rest of today. Oops, plans changed. Those people never showed up, hence I left.  Well, they just called right now, they are going to be at the park in 45 minutes.   I need to move my utility trailer out of the way so they can get the trailer in there.  No rush, I'm 7 minutes away from the park and it only takes a couple minutes to hook up the trailer.  

I sort of need some time to just chill out here.  Tomorrow maybe while I'm driving.  But, I hate driving and especially along I-20 to Dallas.  It's just constant traffic and people looking at their cell phones. 

Anyway, I think I'll get another cuppa and get out of here, get over there and mow their area back down real quick as well.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 Wednesday mid-morning

Still reeling after the view of all of that trash laying out there by the dumpster.  They filled the dumpster up first...it's like a dumpster and a half total of trash they chucked....mostly onto the ground.  The lady trying to defer blame to the dudes living with her....Whatever it costs me, it's going to cost her.  She lives here locally with family, I am not eating this.      

It makes the case that people that don't have very much in terms of finances also don't live very well. At least not with the experiences I have had so far with people that are in the lower income bracket.  I don't have these problems with higher income bracket people.  I'm not trying to be a bigot, but so far, these observations are holding true and I am having serious doubts about whether I am going to allow any of these types of people in my park again.  I'd rather have empty lots than dealing with trashy people.  Proof of income or living comfortably off of retirement.  

I do have a retired couple that moved in getting close to 2 months ago, they have worked out well so far.

Moving on with this, Republic services texted me a little bit ago that they have completed the service, meaning they have emptied the dumpster.  However, I can't just fill the whole damned thing back up with their trash. Where is everyone else going to put their household trash? On the ground, of course.  I'm likely going to load that s*** onto the trailer and either haul it up to the landfill and eat the cost or just leave it on there in the back and wait until Tuesday next week and load the dumpster up as far as I can with it without overloading the dumpster.  

I just still can't believe this lady not only thought it ok to do this, but didn't give a damn the amount of my own time I will have to sacrifice to deal with their s***. Actually, I'm thinking I can burn at least some of it.  I still have the huge burn piles in the front of the property where they had burned up the forest in giant piles. Stuff that can be burned, this is mostly junk, not the waste from cooking and normal day to day stuff.  Just sort out the plastics and burn the wood stuff and maybe I can reduce the amount of trash I have to deal with.

5 paragraphs to convey the irritation and aggravating feeling I am experiencing right now.  

Whatever.

2 days off starting today. I have some new people moving in today, I'm waiting for their text or call telling me they are on their way.  If they do what they laughed about doing - well maybe you'll show up and we'll be in one of the spaces - they are going to also receive a hellish welcome.  I have given them specific instructions of where I want them and that they are not to park anywhere without contacting me first, I will direct them to the spot they need to take.  

If I didn't have the field trip tomorrow, I would be renting a mini ex today.  Get that trench done and over with.  It's starting to warm up, but nowhere near temps it will take to start overheating the main circuit breaker.  I have been saying I need to get that done for many months, however, I knew I wouldn't get to it until - about now, maybe next month.  No later than next month tho. We get into June and that's when the problems will begin if I don't fix it.

So today? Well, I have to deal with that trash.  I can't just leave it like that, it's a very unsightly appearance and I am not going to just leave it there.  After that, I dunno. Maybe nothing.  Well, clean out my car, take it to the car wash, get it all nice and cleaned up for the drive tomorrow.  That will take some time and then, well there's always something to do.   Basically, I'm just sitting here waiting for these people to call. Not going to wait all day, lots of people say they are coming and then - no show.  

Oh, Turbotax cost $237.  We'll see if it was worth that much for an online service, tho I did contact support a couple of times with questions.  Some of the answers were helpful, I'll give them that.  I think I'm stressing pretty good right now, a nice long walk in my woods would probably be beneficial. Get out into nature, temporarily leave the world behind and dial it in.  Life isn't worth living in stress.  Take the dog, let him run free for a while. Sounds like a great idea, actually.

 So, I drive up to Gurdon, feeling miserable I might add.  It was at least good that the product was over 60 degrees inside the tanker and therefore, the delivery was much shorter time than many previous deliveries. But I was soooo tired.  I tried to take a nap while the glue was draining,  just wasn't happening.  

Anyway, I'm on my way back and this lady contacts me: her boyfriend and the other dude living with her basically shafted her, she needs to leave.  Ok.....do you know anyone that might want to buy the trailer?  Long story short, I said I'd ask around, which I was going to do.  

Well, I pull into the park and lo and behold, her whole family is out there moving her out.  I mean, we went from moving out before the rent is due to moving out today. Whatever.  I thought nothing of it.

Fast forward many hours and another person calls. You know those people dumped trash all around the dumpster? Which people? The ones that moved out.  You mean they took the trailer out as well?  So I'm thinking, well how bad can it be, the trash around the dumpster that is?  

I found out.  Some travelers had called earlier needing a place, I had to go over and collect their payment.  The dumpster? There was a huge pile of trash sitting next to the dumpster on the ground and they had over loaded it.  It gets worse.  After I left, well, I hadn't seen the huge amount of trash they had thrown behind the dumpster. This is at  least an entire dumpster worth of trash laying next to it.  They also left a oil drain pan full of, what else? Used oil.   

I was pissed. I texted her, replete with pictures of the disaster she had left.  I flat told her I am not eating this, you either need to come back and clean this shit up or pay me to deal with it.  She ignored my texts for a while but then finally tried to tell me that since she had left early, can I work with her on it?  I guess she thinks I will immediately have that lot re-rented. There is another lot that needs re-rented already and then hers.  

But I unloaded on her.  Why would you treat me this way? You dump trash all around the dumpster and act like a bunch of hillbillies and expect my @$$ to deal with it? WTH.  Yes, I was pissed.  Especially after she said it wasn't her stuff, it was those guys living with her.  YOU rented the LOT, YOU are responsible, not to mention those guys didn't dump that stuff there, she and her family did.                  

I had to stop texting her. It was just too much. Like it's somehow normal to just dump a bunch of junk - as we are talking a lot of stuff here - on the ground and then act is if it's somehow MY responsibility to deal with it.  

Amazingly irresponsible and completely selfish, asinine bs.   I just can't believe people sometimes.  

Whatever.  

 I had to take  a long nap after I returned home today, I was completely out of it.  Wednesday and Thursday are days off. I only needed Thursday off, but the way it works...it's a 2 day run.  So, I'm working Friday and Saturday, they wanted me to work Sunday. Nope.  I worked last Sunday, you are welcome to schedule me for the following Sunday but I'm not missing two weeks in a row of church.  

Well, just realized it's getting late.  I don't have anything forced upon me tomorrow, stuff I'd like to get done but I'm not going to fret it if I don't.  This tax thing really got to me and I don't mind relaxing for a day.  

 Tuesday - early

Sleep eluded me last night.  Fall asleep, wake up, fall asleep, wake up.  Too much stuff going on in my mind and wasn't feeling all the great either.

In fact, if the tanker wasn't loaded with glue, I'd call in sick today.  Not that I am sick per se, just tired and not feeling it.  

I think it's the tax stuff that has really messed with me in the last week or so.  "Your Federal Tax was accepted by the IRS", Turbotax sent me an email. Well, whatever that means. Accepted could simply mean they have it. Do they review these things? Or is it just some sort of program that scans them?  I can't imagine them individually reviewing hundreds of millions of tax returns, but who knows?  I'm sure AI will be involved with this in the future if it isn't already.  

Well, at least they have it.  Sent in on time, barely.  

Today, I'm supposed to offload the tanker and then go switch out trucks. 

However, from how I'm feeling right now? Switching out trucks can wait.  We'll see how I feel later on today when I'm leaving the plant. It's a decision that actually needs to be made before leaving the plant, because going to El Dorado necessarily means heading south on a 2 lane highway that starts in Gurdon.  That is the only way to get down there, other than that, you go way out of your way to get to Eldo from there. 

Anyway, I have an open lot I need filled at the park and I think there are more openings coming.  I'll wait for more to open up before I take out another Facebook ad boost.  I have ads on there, just on my business home page.  It's the ad boost that targets people looking for RV parks.  It is inexpensive and usually generates results. Not always, but generally I'll get one or more people in the park out of those ads being "boosted".  

Anyway, I have 20 minutes to get my stuff ready and get out of here.

G'day

 Monday - late afternoon

It is finished.  I added other sources of income I had forgotten about and done with it.  It has been sent, they are claiming I am owed almost 2 grand, we'll see.  Will the IRS see it differently? Under the current administration that wanted to add almost 80,000 agents and have banks submit to them any transactions over $600?  

Yeah.  Who knows. I'm hoping that if something needs changed, they will simply tell me that more info is needed, or something like that.  I dunno, but I am washing my hands of it for now, if something changes, I will deal with it when I get to the entrance to that bridge.  Hopefully it's a drawbridge and traffic can be stopped to - deal with things.

"It is finished" meaning I have electronically filed my tax return.  Really, the only thing I needed to change was some income that I had forgotten about. It was easy to find, it was in my business checking account.  And I needed to add the check I received from the AG loan company on my mortgage, it says right on the form they sent me it is recordable income.  So yeah, I put that on there.

Meanwhile, the air leak on the truck has grown significantly, to the point I reached out the to lead mechanic - who is the person you reach out to for stuff like this - and asked him if he's available to get this stuff done in the next 3 days? Well, 4 actually.  That should be plenty to replace an air bag and tear apart the guts inside the truck and git'er done.  That is, fix the AC once and for all. If they can't get it right this time, I am going to demand, not ask, for it to be taken to an actual AC repair shop.  This will the the third time trying to get this fixed.

Anyway, a sigh of relief as I am finally done with this junk and have learned a few lessons about inputting where things should be inputted on quickbook/income and expenses for tax return purposes. Do it right now, don't have to have to pull the hair out of my head about it later.  

Oh, well, one kid has a baseball game and the other has a soccer practice. I am taking one of them to the soccer practice.  It's like a mile away from here and its about an hour and 15 to 30 minutes.  The coaches keep them later than the one hour that is advertised, lol.  

Tomorrow will be a long day. Up early, get up to Gurdon, offload and then drive to El Dorado, switch trucks and then drive home. Add 2 hours at least to the return-to-home drive time.  Why can't they have a yard closer to an Interstate? Well, I haven't asked for it's a useless conversation, they are doing what they are doing, but it is probably because they have local people running the day-to-day of the place and why bother switching things up?  Well, because it would be far easier for OTR and drivers like me to access it and not waste a huge amount of time just getting TO and FROM the place.  Trust me, El Dorado AR is not close to any Interstates. 

 Sunday - night

Air leaking out of the top of the tanker after hooking up the air hose to the fitting at the bottom. I climbed up there to find out what it is.  Coming out of the seal on the dome lid, gag. 

I went in and asked them if it would be ok to climb up there? The guy just couldn't commit one way or the other and even tried calling his boss to ask him, who didn't answer the phone.  This went back and forth for a while until he offered to get a support you wear with a lanyard on it for fall protection. 

Well, I guess.  "or just do it without it, it's up to you, I'm not your boss".  That's all I needed to hear. The plant has a policy of having fall protection over 4 feet. Yea, that's well over 4 feet, thanks. It's almost all geared to truckers coming in and out of the plant on the scale road, likely someone did something stupid, hurt themselves and sued the plant for it.  

So, I unhooked the air hose, opened the tank valve and let out the air pressure. Yea, just go ahead and try to open a cap like that under pressure, you'll be lucky to come out alive.  Sure enough, there were clumps of hardened glue that were obviously allowing air to pass by them.  I cleaned the gasket and resealed it and walaah: no more leak.

I would have been there much longer than I was. 2 hours and 45 minutes? Would have been 4 hours anyway with pressure that low.  

I have not finished the taxes.  I am not doing it tonight, either. I am going to Lufkin tomorrow and whenever I get home, I will finish it and send it off. I have several things I want to change after giving some thought about things I have read, info from Turbotax and just - thinking about it. It will be what it will be, I guarantee you I will send that thing off tomorrow regardless of how I feel about it and let the chips fall where they may. 

The conspiracy theorists called me again today. This time? Complete strangers that have nothing to do with them are not only shooting lasers at them, now they have radiation.  I couldn't make  this stuff up in a thousand years on my own.  It went on and on and he said he has pics.  I have seen his pics, they just look like light fragments likely caused by the lense or some other thing that has nothing to do with....lasers.  Pretty sure they won't stay another month, but, in their minds, the government is doing this to them and paying people who are near them to shoot them.

I just have to stop myself from laughing, it's way too far out there.  If the government really wanted to "get them", they wouldn't be here.  

No, I got home today from the run and just did much of nothing.  It is my thing on Sundays.  I mean, I got up at 5:30 am for work, not like I sat around on my @$$ all day long.   

Anyway, I'm not going to linger on this post.  I'm tired, it's getting late and I have to get up at? You guessed it: 5:30 am, along with the rest of the house.  

 It took many more hours than usual to mow the lawns for the grass was tall.  It was one of those situations where you have to go over certain patches a couple of times to bring it down.  I also had a bad fall that feels really good right about now.

I was backing up at a site and forgot there was a fire ring behind me.  Yup, I tripped on the ring and my lower torso on the right side landed square on the thin metal wall sticking up.  There is this line going across that area that is black and blue.  I'm telling ya...it was a stupid mistake but I guess nothing serious, just painful. 

I mowed all 14 lots, the only thing left now is riding mower work, which is the easy stuff.  

I don't quite understand people wanting to get into conversations when they can plainly see that I am working and trying to get stuff done, but that happened several times which dragged the process out even further.  

The man on lot 5 - who hasn't been there in at least 3 weeks and told me he was paying today never called.

So, bashful me called him.  I'm looking for my rent, your account is severely past due. He didn't answer, I left him a message. Then I started texting him.  There is no way I was going to let this go on any longer, pay up or that trailer is going to be moved off of that lot, plain and simple.  He did call back a few minutes later, I took credit card payment over the phone and he is moving out on Monday.  I have a tentative long term for Monday, tho they wanted to come in on Sunday, so they haven't made up their mind yet.  

__________________________

A few hours later.  Right side of my entire back is sore.  It isn't just where my side was impacted by the wall of the fire ring.  I was put into a pretty grotesque twisting position trying to break the fall, I probably pulled a/some muscle/muscles.  

I don't know, but everyone is telling me the impact area is purple.  Hard to see that portion of my body.  I opted against going to the youngest' baseball game tonight, I didn't think I would be in a very good mood to sit on a hard metal bench watching 7 year old baseball game.  

Plus I have to work in the morning.  There was no way around that.  If I took the weekend off, which was what they had me slated for, I would have been off for 7 days.  This is too much and I need the money.  Now, they have it for Saturday through Tuesday.  They tried to give me a Thursday run, but I texted them after they dumped that into my tablet and said no, I have Thursday off to go to Dallas for the school field trip at Medieval Times.  So they changed it to Friday load.

Meanwhile, more phone calls about RV spots. I'm trying to juggle things around to get people in there for the park is going to lose several people in the next coming days.  I think, anyway.  Lot 5 is definitely leaving.  Lot 12 apparently found a place to rent out, their own land.

I've been told that she is pissed because "no one would take in my packages" while she was gone. Well, she didn't tell me she was leaving anywhere and she didn't tell me about packages.  If she had, I would have been happy to deal with it.  She told other people, but she didn't ask them to move the packages out of the elements and yes, those packages got rained on for 3 full days.

Shrugs shoulders. If you want my help, ask me, I'll help you.  I don't read minds.  I don't know that you have 10 packages being delivered.  I don't even know that you are moving out.  She either bought or renting land, I'm hearing different versions of the story. All well and fine, I need a move out date.  She is paid up til the end of the month, tho.  I'm guessing that will be the end of it and she will have that trailer moved out of there.  

And then there's the family.  No clue when they're leaving but the last I heard, they had struck a deal with someone.  Of course, it's months between striking a deal, making the sale, signing off on the paperwork and then, after the sale is complete, getting power, water and sewer run to the property.  People tend to leave me in limbo about their leave dates and I have gotten used to it.  I just work very proactively the second I find out they are leaving - or see that they have left - in getting the lot re-rented.  It may be time, soon, to run another Facebook ad. 

Right now, everything is rented besides the second alternate lot. The pull through has an overnighter tonight and another one tomorrow night, empty for 2 days and then more coming in. It pays for itself and at this rate, it pays much more than long term.  

Oh, forget that, I just remembered another phone call I just got: the second alternate site is going to be rented out tomorrow.  It works out so wonderful sometimes. Other times, not the greatest but as long as lots aren't empty for a month or more, it's fine.  

The only problem with the second alternate site being rented is that power issue.  I didn't get to it this week - taxes ate up my time. I'm still not through with that, I took today off. I will get back to it tomorrow after I return from Lufkin.  I'm hopeful a couple more hours of that stuff and I will be comfortable enough to hit the send button and transfer it over to the IRS electronically.  Ok, I didn't take today off, obviously, I took today off from taxes, not from working.  I am grateful I had these days off, I wouldn't have had time to work and do taxes.  

Well, I'm going to go lay down.  I don't feel very well right now. Probably take a Tylenol for the pain.  

 Friday - morning

Will be taking a break for several hours today from this tax nonsense to go over and mow grass. The rain, of course, has made it grow substantially and it's not looking very pretty over there right now.  Never-the-less, it has been too wet to do anything with it.  Today should be good, however and I can get it looking good again.  I'm sure there are complaining tenants that go around behind my back cursing me because of it.

Trust me, it happens that way, word gets back to me.  Such as the family that decided to mow 3 lawns a while back and tell everyone they want me to give them a deduction on their rent, notwithstanding the fact they never asked me about it.  I figure those people are ready to leave and frankly, it won't hurt my feelings if they do, indeed leave for a variety of reasons.  Whatever they have to put up with from me, I have had to deal far more from their end of different things that are occurring that point back to them.

Such as dog poop in the doggy park.  They're nice enough people, but it's the nature of the beast. The real deal here for them is that they want their own land and they are becoming disgruntled with their situation in life.  I get it, a family of 3 in a small trailer, that is going to get old.  Not to mention their roof started leaking badly during this recent rain.  

There should be several people leaving soon, actually.  The college kids should be getting out - well that may not be until the end of next month. I guess I have a little time for that.  The dude that is almost 2 weeks behind in rent is leaving Monday.  There is another trailer that came in for only a month.  I'll have some lots to fill  up here pretty soon, unfortunately.  I mean, it's easier if they just stick around, obviously.

Oh, there is some chainsaw work that needs done as well, not sure if I'll get to that today.  Some branches sticking out over the driveway that need trimmed back.  

I dunno, but I'm in no hurry.  To do much of anything.  

I rarely watch tv news anymore and am reminded of one of the reasons just now.  I turned it on to one of the media outlets to find - commercials. Endless commercials. It must be 4 or 5 minutes now and it's just one tv ad after another.  I mean, besides the fact that all of them put a spin on it and many of them are engaging in the dissemination of nothing more than pure propaganda, the commercials are highly irritating.  

I wonder what the allure is of a drug that can give you a heart attack, stroke, death, etc and all it does is help you lose weight? You hear this list of things many current day drugs can do and you wonder why anyone would take them, save if it's a desperation move where there are no other options.  But a lot of it is not life-saving drugs.  This is the kind of ads your ears are assailed with when you turn on regular tv.  To think I was naive enough to believe, many years ago, that getting satellite would eliminate ads, right?

I mean, you are paying to watch tv, wouldn't that therefore and logically also eliminate the possibility of having to watch endless ads?  Otherwise, what are you paying for?  I've been watching a lot of Hulu content lately that has no ads whatsoever.  It's cheap and it has a lot of interesting content.  Well, let me change that, if I am watching tv, I am looking at Hulu a lot more than I used to.  TV isn't a big thing in my life at this point, I have far too much other things to do. 

What do you think of FISA?  The recurring theme I've soon over and over is it has been abused to spy on Americans as well as foreigners.  Like, they can listen in on conversations without a warrant to foreigners without a warrant even if that person is talking to an American, who, under normal circumstances, they would definitely have to have a warrant to eavesdrop.  That's the problem I have always had with FISA and other privileges the government gives itself to intrude open citizen' rights.  

And Biden, clearly attempting to buy votes by giving away billions more in student loan forgiveness.  It's an election year, expect to see more of it.  I wonder if people will start to wake up to these tactics that occur every election year, especially a presidential election?

_________

I told "them" that I am working on my taxes and not sure yet if I can work this weekend. But alas, my last load cancelled and that was what, Monday?  So waiting until Monday to go back to work is a bit excessive, even if I don't want to work on the weekend, the money is greatly needed.  It's that thing of not wanting to use business account money for personal use. The tanker is washed out already, which makes it nice, I can bypass the washout and go straight to the loading plant, meaning not having to get up quite so early.

I haven't responded to her yet, she just texted asking if I can work this weekend.  The rigors of trucking include working when you don't want to.  Well, I don't ever want to, lmao, I mean working on days when you'd rather be home doing other things.  I'll miss the soccer game again and a baseball game.  Not the end of the world, but those things are more important to me than driving trucks all over the place.  At the same time, a steady paycheck is also necessary in this life, or something that replaces it.  

My taxes come as surprise as I thought I would be owing some money, not getting a return.  Of course, I'm still fairly nervous about this situation and when I send it in, it's just going to be a shrug-my-shoulders event, hope everything is correct and move on until/if/when I hear from the IRS.  

With the trucking job, I was well above poverty level, with the income only from the business last year, it was only 4 thousand above it.  One would still consider a person in the poor range with the income I made from both sources, lol.  

Well that's that, I'm working, probably tomorrow load and Sunday offload, I'll find out shortly. They just dump the stuff into the tablet. I asked for early load, tho, in fact I required it.  I will not be wasting entire days on the weekend doing trucking work.  I can be back by around 1:30 tomorrow afternoon and 2:30 on Sunday.  That is, if nothing goes wrong. Which reminds me, that truck hasn't been started in 4 days, I need to turn it on while I'm over there today for a half hour and make sure the batteries are good to go as well.

Well, that's it. I need to get over there and get the mowing started.  I will put off this tax junk  either until this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon when I return from loading. 

 

 I have no idea how that happened, but all of a sudden, I am at the end of this trail of tears, trying to get through all of this stuff and it's asking for payment.  I'm not ready to do that yet.  I want to go over all of it again and I do mean ALL of it even if it is a PITA and at least try to make sure I haven't done anything wrong.  Especially the payments I made to myself, I will be triple checking that.  It's pretty easy, I wrote checks to myself and I got cashapp payments that went to the personal account, but all of those transactions are viewable in cashapp.  

Which is nice, just add them up and there it is.  There's also a few mortgage payments that I loaned to myself that I just now remembered I never paid back to the business account, so I need to add that to income.  It isn't going to affect anything, my expenses were far too large for the small amount of money I took out of there, with the mortgage payments will come to around 20k.  It's actually more than I expected.  I made less than 10k with the trucking company.  Last year was a bust in annual revenue.  

Yup, I'll be taking a fresh look at it tomorrow and attempting to decide if my nerves can handle clicking on the send button to send it over to the IRS and hope to high heaven I got it right.  Because I have no doubt they will be contacting me if they don't think it is.  They are good at that. The whole point here is not intentionally doing something to evade taxes.  I only need adjust the mortgage income and after that, I  will have reported all of it. I was really good about cash too, taking it to the bank and dumping it into the business account.  

But, this is a small business and there just isn't that much income coming in from it, it shouldn't be expected that I made that much from it and especially with all the start up costs.  I am feeling a little more confident right now, but just a little.  It's really nerve wracking. I have never been audited and I don't want to start now.  If they want to, fine, I'll bring hundreds of receipts, access to quickbooks and the bank account and they can do whatever they want to do.  

And when I do hit the send button, that's it, I'm not going to lose sleep over it, it will be what it will be.  I am definitely doing things differently this year, receipts are all being input as I go along now.  I won't have this mountain of stuff to do at the end of the year, it will all be input into quickbooks and it will just be a lot easier.  

I may actually be ok to go to work this weekend.  I'm afraid tho that what they'll want me to do is the late run, that just sucks on weekends.  Leave late, get home late, miss the weekend basically. At least on the early run I get home early afternoon and still time left to enjoy the day.  

The aftermath of the 3 day rain event was extensive on the driveway. There is still water running down the driveway.  Not that much, but it's just trashed again.  The man that wanted to sell me the tractor isn't really interested in down payments and financing it.  He said he was, but he changed his mind today. He just wants full payment or he wants to trade for "something". I don't have anything to trade that is worth that much money.  So that's off the table, unfortunately.  The Kubota dealer said they could get me down around $300, but with caveats.  

Still considering that one.  I think I'll wait to see several paychecks before opting to get into a 7 year loan.  Do those things even last that long? I  would like to hope so.  

Well whatever, I need to go vegetate in front of the tv or something and get my mind off of taxes.

 Thursday mid-morning

I went to bed at 8:40 last night and just now got up - 12 hours later.

I was very tired, I think this tax stuff is getting to me.

I also think I have met my match on this nonsense.  I usually can figure things out and was hoping with the help of Turbotax I could sort of feel my way through this. I'm going to try again today, I haven't given up just yet, but I think it may be that I will have to pay someone to do this stuff for me.  

__________

After an hour spent with a live chat agent, I think I have finally figured this out and it is going to take agonizing hours to go through all of these receipts and reclassify them.  It is a slow process and I am not exactly jumping up and down for joy with it.  54k worth to go through, that's just those types of receipts.  I think I have everything else categorized correctly, it was just this stuff I figured were expenses and in reality, some of it is expenses and some of it should be classified under assets.

What that does to my tax return and whether I owe money or not? I will find out in the end.  Right now, I am taking a break from this nonsense and also wishing, of course, that I had started this sooner.  Now I am under pressure even tho I still have what, today through Monday.  The only other recourse is to file for an extension, something I'd rather not do.  I just want this stuff finished and over with.  

__________

I am entangled in the woes of this tax nonsense and not getting a lot of help from "pros".  I suspect I will end up doing the best I can, call it good and if they audit me, they audit me.  I have receipts for everything.  It's all input into the system, I don't have to produce them, there are pictures of them.  They can access my bank account and my quickbooks account and come up with whatever conclusion they want to.  I'm going to continue on with editing what is an expense that isn't an assett, get it over with and be done with it.  Today? No.  

Hopefully by tomorrow I will just say screw it, here it is, hope it goes through, whatever.  

Well that isn't shocking now.  Electricity is under expenses, that's what it is categorized under.  I spent around 15k just on that last year.  Then you have credit card payments under the business, a shed payment, the washer and dryer payment, these are all under expenses.  I don't actually think I mislabeled most of this, some of it should have gone under assetts but not that much.  

 Taxes

It is giving me red flags telling me that maintenance and business expenses "seem high".  Yes, it is a new business and there were many expenses for a start up that I incurred.

However, I am going to go back through all of it and find what title I should have given it, there must be something for new start up expenses or something that will more adequately explain what the expense is for. I just put it under supplies, but perhaps that isn't correct.  

I can tell ya, I have no idea what I'm doing here.  I will be paying for the return to be reviewed, for so far, with all of the expenses, I owe nothing to the IRS.  I feel like that isn't right for some reason. 

______________

Night time, many hours  later. 

I got tired of tax work and went up to Lowe's for supplies I needed - chain saw oil and gas, a bag of concrete and paper towels.  Oh, and a hair cut up the street.  And met up with Taylor/oldest child at Cici's for lunch - sort of a buffet pizza place.

Went over to the property later on, the driveway is totally trashed again.  I kind of expected it, but it's worse now than the last time and there if far more water coming down the driveway, draining off neighboring property, than last time.  The destructive powers of moving water.  I have no plans to fix that this week, it will happen after the next round of rain comes and goes next week.  I don't really want to be renting an expensive machine every month, but then again, we don't normally get rain the lasts for 3 days at a time.  

So, this round is over.  

I have a lot more work to do on taxes and it's just going to have to wait until tomorrow. It takes precedence over renting machines and other stuff, I need it done, over with and get it behind me. And right now? I don't know that it will be done before or on Monday if I don't just continue working on it as I have today and yesterday.  

I'm going to have to go over a few hundred receipts from last year and probably reassign them, that will take hours.  I want it labeled under construction, not supplies  That makes it look like what it is: supplies for new construction. It's 60k worth which is why it was flagged, I guess.

That's it. It's almost 9, I'm going to bed soon.  

 Tuesday late-morning

Well, yesterday was a unmitigated horror flick on real life. OK, it wasn't that bad, but it was seriously bad driving conditions.  I got on the road and felt the truck hydroplaning at only 55 mph.  I was driving slow in very heavy rainfall for a long distance.  When I got near the trailer washout place in Nacogdoches, guess what happened?

Work texted me: Your load cancelled for today.  I drove an hour and a half, got soaking wet to get into the truck, etc etc, for this? The worst part about it is that they had received that email from the company last night, no one bothered to read it until after I was already well down the road.  That kind of got me going a little bit.  I was almost to the washout place, so I went anyway, at least get that over with.  

Drove back in rain, but it wasn't as bad. When I got home, I started working on inputting all of these receipts.  Oh, well the manager called me and didn't exactly apologize for having me driving in that s*** for no good reason at all. He instead asked about my schedule, which he already knew but was about to make a point: we are really short handed for weekend drivers.  He made it known in no uncertain terms that he needed drivers for this weekend. 

I replied that since it was scheduled off - something I didn't ask for btw - I was going to be finishing up my taxes. It might take a while to do them since I've never done a business tax before coupled with a regular job taxes.  

I have, in fact, started on that after spending many hours this morning reviewing endless receipts and assigning them to their proper account designation and how it was paid for.  In fact, I am on Turbotax now but I needed a break from this nonsense.  It asking me endless questions and I am stuck at the W-2 part.  I don't remember getting a W-2 from my employer, I'm about to look through where it "should" be if I did.  If not, I will be asking them to email it to me so I don't have to wait for it in the mail.  No rush, it's only Wednesday, I will try to take care of it today but this office work really is not my cup of tea.  Or coffee. Or anything else for that matter.  

Actually, I'm fixing to leave here and go to the park and see if these people took the spot or not.  They reserved it yesterday, I did accept the reservation but I included in that email that the spot where it's at is quite wet and potentially muddy, you may want to find other accommodations.  So they call me and start yada yadaing and I just reminded them what I had written.  In no uncertain terms, I wasn't recommending this spot, at all.  

We have had ongoing rain for a couple of days now. It has stopped but only for a few hours, it is going to start again around 1:30 pm it's saying on the forecast. That's enough time to get over there, take look, get over to Lowe's and get some bar chain oil and gas for the chainsaw.  There is a tree that needs to be cut back along the driveway and some brush that has come down along it as well.  It's sort of impeding the flow of traffic through there.

Needless to say, there is a stream (and not a small one either) of water traveling down the driveway and of course destroying my driveway again.  I will be renting that machine again, I guess, to fix it.  But first, I need the mini ex and get that stuff done.  I can use the mini to dig up some pothole areas, loosen up the soil and then just use the blade on the mini to go over it and smooth it out. That way, those potholes are no longer an issue, the area around them will be completely loosened and the holes will be gone.  

When am I doing that? Well, tomorrow isn't showing any rain, so maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday, not sure.  Taxes really take precedence but right now, I just remembered my hair has grown out quite a bit and I need a haircut, need to get to Lowe's for the chainsaw stuff and another bag of concrete for that pole and then over to the park to see if those people decided to stay, they owe money if they did, but I'm guessing they moved on.  Who knows.

Then I can come back home and look for that W-2 and request ...cancel that, found the W-2 looking where I figured I would have dumped it and lo and behold, there it was.  So, that takes a big worry off, the next thing is finding how much I sent in last year for estimated taxes.  I wrote it down on my big pad - somewhere, lol.  I never said I was a businessman, tho by default I am one.  I'm referring to the paperwork part of it, I hate that stuff and I have Quickbooks to thanks for saving me from an otherwise dreadful existence trying to figure that stuff out.  

Anyway, I have a 3 hour window to get some stuff done before we get another deluge. And I really would like to help the manager out if possible, I hate working weekends but working every other weekend was part of the deal. However. I did work 2 weekends in a row....still, it's going to be too long between runs, I need the money.  

One thing that is making me very happy, however, is the fact that after paying the property taxes and the electric bill, I still have almost 3k in the business account.  And most of this month's business bills are paid. 

The only thing of concern right now is a person that has disappeared but their trailer is still sitting on one of my lots. They aren't responding to my attempts to ask them their intentions. Staying, going, if staying, when do you plan on paying?  They are currently 8 days behind on their rent.  Not the end of my world, but if they are moving, take the damn thing out of there so I can re-rent it. I have been turning people away left and right......Anyway, if I go into summer with at least 3 or 4k in that account, I won't have to worry about summer electric bills. Really took me by surprise last year the incredible amount those bills were.

This year will be different in that I have a trucking job so I shouldn't need money from the business to pay for my personal bills.  

Yup, I still have some stuff to do for this tax return. I have to see how much I paid myself as well, that will take some time going through all of that. Or will it? I will be looking in quickbooks to see if it delineated owner draw checks, I put that on them to ensure I knew what was what.  It's pretty easy, tho, they are even amounts and usually around 1k.  I would be surprised if I had any huge tax burden from last year considering I didn't really get paid that much.  I'll be finding out soon enough. 

As for now? I want to get stuff done before the next round of rain.

 Mid - day

Got more than I planned on getting done - done.  The pole is put together, in the ground and cemented in.  It will be next week at the earliest before I trust the cement has dried and cured enough to put a ladder against the thing.  It's supposed to rain the next 3 days.  I don't mean sporadic rain, from what I am hearing it's going to be another 3 day constant rain event.  

Not in love with that idea, but, it doesn't matter. I have a lot more mowing to do over there, I didn't plan on doing all of that today.  I threw away a large amount of trash from the tent lady's area, mowed that all down and the guy next door and cleaned it up nice.  It's usable for 30 amp service if anyone wants to stop in for an overnight.  I don't want to do long term there right now, not until I get my other electrical system in.  

I could have forced myself to do more, but I have other plans with the rest of the day that don't include physical labor. I badly need a haircut and then - if there's time after I get the rest of my agenda done today? start clicking off photos for my quickbooks.  That will get tossed into the turbo tax setup - it's all owned by the same company and interlinked when you allow it to do so.  

Oh, I also went to the bank and deposited more cash.  I'm pretty good about that, getting it into the business account and getting it out of my hands so I don't spend it.  Both accounts are looking pretty spiffy now that I have dumped the gift money in there, have a large paycheck added to it and just collecting rents for the business account. Even after the property tax, there is a nice chunk of change in that account of which I am fixing to pay out the electric bill.  It will still be around 2 grand, money I don't want to touch but, alas, will have to in order to rent a mini-ex.  

I figure Thursday I will get everything ready for that venture and then Friday morning, go get the machine and hope that they have one available.  I'll get the pipe for the driveway over to where it needs to go and I'll get the spool of wire out and ready to go as well.  

With that in mind, yes, I"ll get started on this tax garbage today. I've been procrastinating, I freely admit. I hate that kind of paperwork, it is tedious and it just gives me a headache.  

BTW, the sky is completely overcast.  The eclipse starts in 40 minutes, will peak in something like 2 hours.  I'll try to get a live video - short one - of near the period where the least light will be showing, but it's already dark out there with the overcast skies. 

 Monday - semi early

I had no plans of getting up ultra early today and don't regret it. 

I do have plans of getting out of here in about 30 minutes and go get some stuff done over there.  Mostly, finish cleaning up the tent lady's disaster zone - most of that stuff is going straight to the dumpster.  And see if I can put that pole up.  

That will eat up some time and then - we have an eclipse and afternoon rain.  And the comet, which I am now reading has been viewable with a pair of binoculars and apparently will be most visible on the 21st of this month. 

The people that wanted the tent lady's old space bowed out of it. Said their son was going to take them in and so they won't be needing it.  I basically advertise those "alternate" lots on FB page here and there, but I don't actively seek people for them. It just sort of works out that way that they eventually get filled.

Off today, 2 days on work then 4 days off.  Thursday or Friday I'm hoping to rent the mini ex and get with that trenching project.  I want 2 days to be able to rent the thing, get the stuff done but not have to take it back until the next day in case I find other stuff I want to do with it.  The trench should be easy enough, dig it out, lay the wire and backfill it with the machine's blade.  I'll just leave enough extra wire sticking out of the ground near the pedestal to be able to run it into it once I hand dig out the pedestal to be able to get the wire in there.

The other end, the trench can stop where I want the new electrical panel to be installed.  I'll have to install a couple 4x4s in the ground, I can't mount it to the shed for I have no access to install a couple of boards on the inside of the shed to be able to screw the setup onto.  In other words, I'll get the trenching done and the line in the ground, but there will still be work to do afterwards.  I also want to get a trench across the driveway and get an 8 inch diameter piece of pipe in that can drain off water from one side to the other.  Or maybe 6 inch would work better.

I keep looking at the power bill and dreaming it could stay that way year round.  I might get another month close to it tho.  I don't expect the next bill after this one to be terribly high, after that? yeah, can expect it to start ticking up. 

There is nothing else of note going on in my world - I did file a complaint with Applebee's about the atrocious service I received their yesterday.  The oldest boy was sad that I stated I don't want to go there anymore.  He said he didn't get a chance to say "goodbye to Applebee's". What that really means is there is a gentleman that works there who is really cool, he is a host that seats people, cleans tables, puts out the silverware, stuff like that.  He has no control of how the place is run and I don't blame him for yesterday's ridiculous fiasco at all.  

It isn't the first time this has happened, but after an hour and forty five minutes, one would think, especially after the restaurant had finally cleared out, they could have gotten me my food and they even told me my food was ready.  20 - 25 minutes later I left - with no food. I am sure Applebee's will write back and say we're sorry, make excuses and that will be that.  Shrugs shoulders.  

Well, make some coffee, put it in the thermos and get out of here.  

 The local Applebee's typically has horrible service, so it's not a shocking surprise when you wait, 30, 40 50 plus minutes for food.  Today?  I was there an hour and forty-five minutes and never did receive my food and yes, I finally got up and walked out.  It's a long story and I don't feel like going into it right now, but an hour and forty five minutes? And a manager visiting several times and still nothing?  Bad day for them? Every day is a bad day for this particular Applebee's, the place is an anomaly. Most Applebee's are not this bad.  

Learn my lesson? Well, I like their food but I'm not going to go back any time soon.  Try keeping hungry kids from getting irritable for that long amount of time.  Yea, doesn't work out too well. 

The cows are gone. I called the Sheriff, they contacted the owners, the owners must have come and got them.  

________________

Sunday night.  

Tomorrow is rain, which doesn't start until afternoon, but the forecast is calling for "mostly cloudy".  I'll just wait for the eclipse around noon, watch it get partially dark, say wow that was fun! and move on.  Someone will get footage of that 2 horned comet I would like to hope, that's what I really want to see.

More tractor companies pitching their wares. They are mostly in the same price range tho there is a Kubota dealer - the orange tractors - that gave me a quote for 27k. Still pricey, at least in my little world, but not as bad as 35k.  $337 per month.  7 years, of course.  This is where they lose me still, even with a lower payment, they are still quoting for near forever terms.  I'll be 67 years old by the time the thing is paid off. 

I haven't gotten back to the dude at the park about how much I could do for a down payment.  The Kubota place said if I put 3k down I'm at or below $300.  Still 7 years, but that is a little more palatable than the rest of the "offers" I have received.  I'm not in a hurry here, if I need to rent a tractor again, I will.  If I can afford a monthly tractor payment then I can afford to rent a tractor once per month as well?  

I'm not dwelling on tractors, I need one, but not so badly that I can't live without it.  It just means stuff not getting done.  

If it isn't raining in the morning, I'm going over and get some stuff before the rain hits.  Get up around 8ish, get over there 9ish, work 3 hours and then come home and start taking snapshots of receipts, get that into quickbooks.  Quickbooks wants $425 to do my taxes if I have a pro take a look at it after I'm done, less if I just do it myself with no oversight, much more if I want a pro to do all of it.  I'm undecided but it's probably going to be the first one as long as I'm comfortable that I have it right. I don't need the IRS breathing down my neck, I want it right the first time.  It'll be the first time I'm trying to do a return with owning my own business and working a job.  I can say that it's less than 25k earned between the 2 last year, there isn't that much money to have to account for. 

I'm not worried about it, per se, just want it right and get it postmarked/elecrtronically sent before or on the 15th.  

Well that's enough.  It's getting close to 9 and I'd like to vegetate in front of the tv for awhile, go to sleep relatively early.