Wednesday - 7:45 am

I posted the Umpire post, btw, for a little information to the masses who visit here out of searches to let people know that there is something they can do about unruly parents in leagues, regardless of what kind of league it is, actually.  But it seems the baseball parents can be the worst offenders. 

Late start today, late run.  I will have to jump start the truck, but if it's like 2 days ago, it just takes a little extra boost. The batteries or one of the batteries is bad I'm guessing. Taking it to Love's, they will end replacing all 3 of them.  I'm not doing that today, however, for an internet friend is coming through town and I'm hoping to make it back in time to visit with them. They want to see my RV park.  

Kamala Harris just sunk herself, again, with a comment she made that, reading between the lines, basically says she supports pro-Hamas "antagonizers"/protestors and therefore, one would have to assume, she is on the anti-Semite train.  I think that if Biden stays in the running, with Harris, Trump is going to win and by a relative land-slide.  If he drops out, all bets are off.  Biden is adamantly stating that he's not dropping out and now they have this "performance" of his at NATO, I think it was yesterday.  He's reading off of a teleprompter and he's still mumbling and messing up words regardless.  He is probably pumped up on whatever drug, most experts say Adderall.  

Can you imagine this man sitting in the Oval office in say, 3 years from now? I still stand in awe of a party that will support a person that clearly is not fit for the office.  If it were Trump, I would not support him, at all.  I would be in the mindset of "replace him and replace him quickly".  But it would never get that far, people would see the signs of it and start questioning his ability to actually make it through 4 years of another presidency, which is obviously highly demanding on both the mind and the body and probably the emotions aspect as well.  George Stephanopoulos, a staunch Trump hater, says Biden should drop out, that he can't make it 4 more years.  That sort of sent shock waves through the democrat realms of political reaction.   

I find it hilarious that these people say "it's going to be the end of our democracy!" and others STILL saying he's in Putin's back pocket - all of that nonsense has been thoroughly and completely debunked but if you ask people about it that still believe it, they have no facts, they just turn it back on you, the person questioning them, to prove it. Well let's start with the Steele Dossier and we can work from there. But it's a waste of time, if people still believe that crap, they are hopeless in any attempt to get them to see differently. People are free to believe what they wish, the same as people not believing Jesus is the son of God, not just a prophet or a good person, he is actual part of the Deity, God.  It is amazing how many people that are Democrats are also self-described atheists.  

Anyway, I want to be pulling out of the park at around 9:00 am.  I am not going to get the batteries replaced today unless my friend will have already traveled through here.  I can jump start it tomorrow and I don't turn the truck off at all on the Gurdon run, I will have to turn it off at Lufkin, they have their own shop there and they have jump started other trucks in the past, so I'm not worried about that.  After unloading, I can stop at the Love's on the way back and see if they have a1 hour wait, an 8 hour wait, whatever and if they actually have the batteries on hand.  

The internet is out at the park again, that's a new router so unless I damaged the sim card (I might have), there is no reason for it to not be working.  I will check it this morning for any fault words on the top of the unit to see if it is self-diagnosed.  Whatever. It's always something.  I didn't know it had been out for several days for no one contacted me - until this morning.  I try not to get too stressed about things at this point.  I do get worked up about some things, but even that stuff I'm trying to say no, I'm not going to let it eat at me.  Not worth it. 

Hmm, I think I will leave even earlier than I was going to so I have time to look at that router and be prepared to call T-Mobile to see what they say is wrong with it.  They can send another one if it comes down to that...

Yes. Get another cuppa or a little more, get the thermos filled and get over there.  

G'day

Umpire Shortage - Little League Baseball and Boards of Directors (and any other youth leagues by different names)

 In the early 2,000's, my son had just entered Little League in the teeball league of Little League.  I was approached and asked to be a coach, they pretty much do that all the time in LL, it's all volunteer, learn as you go. 

Fast forward several years and I was approached to be an LL umpire.  I didn't want to do it after seeing how umpires were being treated but I eventually caved in but I told myself I wouldn't allow myself to be abused like some of these other umpires were. 

Basically, our league was a lawless madhouse of parents that would get into fist fights with each other during games, call the other team's coaches and even 10 year old players foul names and direct cussing at them, yell at umpires the entire games and basically make it a very miserable experience. 

I ended this when, as also being a board member, I initiated a zero tolerance policy (this is a really shortened version here).  It was probably a thousand words long, had very clear policy directed towards behavior and intended action that would be taken against anyone violating the policy.

The first game we started this, I had the entire board out there.  As parents started in on their ridiculous nonsense, I would stop the game, point at the offenders and have them removed from the premises completely.  Probably half the parents were escorted out to the parking lot where they were instructed they could wait for their kid.  

One set of parents hit one of the board members and the police were called. I don't recall if the parents were charged with assault, I do remember that after that night, the amount of bs from parents declined dramatically.  

Fast forward again. I never claimed to be the greatest umpire on earth, but I was definitely all about crowd control. It wasn't really umpire's job to do that, but the situations we were encountering were drastic, outrageous and often times criminal in nature.  The district administrator would have me officiate championship games, usually the ones with the most potential for unbelievably bad behavior being exhibited by parents.

I had the fortune or misfortune - depending on how you look at it - of being assigned as field judge for a do or die game.  This game would decide who went to the state finals and who took their balls and bats - and went home.  I was warned in advance by the district administrator about the potential for very bad behavior and so I thought, maybe it was a good idea if he found someone else to do it? 

No, he replied, it's exactly why I want you to be involved with this game. Whatever people thought about me at the time, I had acquired the reputation for not putting up with parental or coach abuse at games.  And so this night was one that I will never forget.

The game started, there was some 500 people in the stands and standing around watching the game.  The stakes were high and emotions were high with it. These people took their Majors league championship game quite seriously and I didn't have a problem with that. 

However.....

It was about 15ish minutes into the game and the yelling at each other started. It was so loud that players couldn't hear their coaches trying to yell instructions at them.  What I heard was appalling. Grown men and women yelling insults at both the other team's coaches and cussing out other team's players, this was going both ways.  They were cussing out the plate judge for his balls and strikes calls. It was so bad that I just stood there, looking around at this nonsense and wondering why the plate judge wasn't doing anything about it.

Well, it's because he was mortified. After a while of this I couldn't take it anymore and I stopped the game, got into a huddle with the plate judge and asked him why he was tolerating all of this, even with the game stopped loud yelling back and forth at a feverish pitch.  He said "I don't know what to do!".  Well, I did.  I stopped the game and ordered the team back to their dugouts.  

The yelling got much louder at that point, most of it now directed at me.  I just stood there in the middle of the diamond.  Like at least 5 minutes if not longer.  I talked in a normal tone, which, of course, no one could hear for the noise of people still yelling insults at each other.  But, people finally got a clue and once people were stopping with the bs, I yelled loudly that nothing will happen until everyone shuts up. 

Yup, I told them to all shut their mouths.  At that point, they didn't deserve and respect.  The entire crowd of people eventually shut up.  That's when I went off on the whole lot of them. Yelling at coaches, cussing out 12 year old boys, threatening to beat each other up.  I gave them all a choice: You can either stop with the abuse or you can go out to the parking lot and wait for the game to end.

Did I actually have that authority? I didn't care, I did have the authority to stop the game and the league would have to make it up - quickly actually since it was finals.  I didn't want to stop the game, I wanted these people to act their age.  Be the role models they should be for their own kids.  At this point, and alleged umpire in the crowd started calling me out, saying I couldn't do that and then, after I didn't back down, alleging that "you aren't an umpire at all".  

Instead of arguing with him, I appealed to the crowd. You can either tell him to shut up or everyone is going to go home, the game will have to be decided by the league on how to move forward with it.  This turned the attention away from me and on to the alleged judge whom everyone started yelling shut up!  

Everyone just slumped and sort of caved at that point.  You can't yell at other people's kids or coaches! Well what CAN we do? one vociferous lady yelled at me?  You CAN cheer your kids team!  Be as raucous about good behavior as your about acting out. Your own children are more adults than you are right now.  I was laying it on them, it was quite disheartening to see people acting out like this. I know the stakes were high, but that doesn't excuse acting infantile at a youth sporting event.

I mean, this went on for probably 20-25 minutes.  Everyone finally agreed - I made everyone that I could speak up and agree to my terms.  I called the teams back out, the coaches figured out where they were when the game was abruptly ended and they actually thanked me. The coaches were no part of the ridiculous behavior, for their part, they were acting more professional than anything and definitely were focused on their players playing their best game, not chewing them out for mistakes or striking out.

Yes, it got loud again, but this time you could hear the parents yelling for their team.  If there was any cussing or threats, I couldn't hear them and yes, I was listening.  

You see, I was reading stories about how there is a shortage of umpires for Little League and other youth sporting events and even high school umpires.  Well, nothing has changed after reading these stories. Umpires don't want to be subjected to that kind of abuse where parents are dissing them and disparaging them for whatever call on balls and strikes or plays made at the bases or home plate.  Why should anyone have to tolerate that?

I know you need thick skin to be an officiate at a game, but this is beyond that.  It is really up the league admins to deal with these problems and it's obvious they are not. I could teach a course on how to handle a league with bad parents, mostly it's get in their face with a list of rules and a zero tolerance policy and call the police where appropriate.  There was a time when the police would park in between fields and wait their for the violence to begin, it was that bad.  Our zero tolerance policy and heavily enforcing it got rid of that element.  

It's the kids that suffer in the end if there isn't anyone that is willing to literally step up to the plate and volunteer or even get paid to put up with that kind of verbal and even physical abuse. It's hard enough to learn all the rules - Little League had some different rules than you see with MLB or higher up level of play.  But regardless of the league or whatever name it is operating under, you need to deal with this situation head on.

If umpires know you have their back, you won't have a shortage of them for long.  Umpires typically do the best job they can without bias towards one team or another. "Bad calls" tend to even themselves out with bad plays by one of the teams poorly executing plays during the game resulting in them losing. You might get a parent attempting to diss you on that one bad call until another parent from the same team says, yeah, but look how our team played tonight. They wouldn't have won regardless.  

I have made bad calls. Not on purpose, it just happens.  I had a parent follow me out to the parking lot, threaten physical violence on me and actually went to his vehicle to get a hand gun.  Yes, you read that right, he was going to shoot me over a game.  Well, I didn't wait around, I hopped in my truck and took off - and called the police.  I did make a bad call and realized it after the fact.  I apologized but that wasn't good enough.    

This was a long time ago yet obviously, the situation hasn't changed at all.  If you are involved in a league on the board of directors and you have a shortage of umpires, it will do you well to consider why you have that shortage. If it's anything like what I've been reading about abuse being heaped on to the official's heads and the league doing absolutely nothing to stop it, you can go look in a mirror and point the finger at yourselves.  

Do something about it. It's your responsibility to enact a code of conduct and apply it to everyone attending games.  In our case, it was a zero tolerance policy that ended our problems.  After we applied that policy to everyone at one particular game and a couple of them afterwards, parents started policing themselves.  If one parent did happen to lash out at anyone, the rest would tell them to stop.  Get the parents on your side and you will see effective change.

BTW, if you have a kid on a team, considering volunteering. For Board, for umpire, coaching, whatever.  These leagues don't run without an ample supply of volunteers making it all happen!  

 Tuesday - 9:30 am

I didn't make any plans for today, just going to wing it. I knew I would want to sleep in and laze around this morning, which is exactly what I've been doing. It helps that there are no kids here to constantly get into my personal business asking for this, that or just be with them.  In fact, this is likely the last day I have to have in freedom, so it's probably going to be a lot of time spent at home.  Today was just marked off for working, there were no canceled loads.

Yesterday.  I was a little apprehensive about working yesterday for the tornado watches which turned into tornado warnings and apparently several tornadoes did touch down in the region, we, fortunately, didn't get any of that.

Beryl came barreling through here with winds and heavy rain, yes, but nothing horrible. The power went out for quite a while, but not like a few summers ago when the power went out after an event like this and stayed out just short of 7 days.  

I think I will continue on with cleaning out the vehicle. I have used it as a work truck since I started the process of building out the park and it's got a lot of stuff in there I need to find a place to store it and organize and pull some stuff out of there.  I just need it cleaned out for the upcoming trip and I just want it clean regardless of vacations.  It's going to need a carpet cleaning as well.

Mother says I shouldn't come until September, it's too hot to drive back here and why take the risk? I didn't bother to tell her because I dunno if she's going to be alive in September, I thought that would be morbid and cruel, she seems to be doing pretty well, actually.  Apparently she doesn't think life is ending soon?  She'll hit her 90th birthday in September if I have her age correct.  She is still up in the mountains anyway, my oldest brother is taking care of her in that he's giving her a ride up there and back and making sure her needs are taken care of.  It helps that he has a full blown cabin maybe 7 miles away down a forest service road. 

I mean, I'd rather go when it cools down for several reasons. I just feel a little uneasy about waiting that long.  

I spent a little time praying for a 6  month old little girl who is in surgery as I'm writing this.  There's something wrong with one of her kidneys and nothing short of surgery was going to fix it, apparently. She's the daughter of one of the friends in the group.  Just got a message from mama that they have started the "robotic" portion of the surgery and it is going along perfectly. 

There's certainly things I can do at the park today as well, I just don't know if I want to waste a day off going over there and working.  Allen has done a great job of taking care of things and I'm happy so far with his work.  I laid out the amount of hours I want him to work each month for free rent in exchange and so far, it appears he will actually do more than that.  He was out there cutting a tree in the pouring rain yesterday.  I advised him that I have no expectations whatsoever for him to work in inclimate weather nor do I think it's a great idea for him to be out there in the heat of the day (yesterday was great temps, just was commenting on overall working conditions).  

Im not paying him anything, just giving free lot rent. It's worth something, definitely and especially considering the lot he has, but I've needed the help and I've got a job supplementing my income.  For now, as long as he continues like this, I'm good with it.  

My bank account is doing pretty well considering some of the recent expenses.  Just paid the $465 to have the septic sucked out. They just empty all the vaults. It should be good for quite a while now.  

I'm going to buy another bridge for the small creek area.  It's small but the span is about 8 feet if you really want to get above the water line when it rains.  It's a 6 footer in there now and it keeps getting washed downstream every time a downpour comes, it's fairly well ruined unfortunately.  I found a metal 8 foot long bridge with rails on either side for around $200.  I won't try to have Allen do that, that's my deal.  They don't come fully put together, it comes in a kit and take a couple hours to put it together.

The news has been come repetitious - extremely so - in calls for Biden to step down, speculation on Biden stepping down, who would take his place if he steps down and Biden adamantly stating he is NOT going to step down. Ridiculous nonsense, I am not watching much news right now for they don't seem to be able to unglue themselves from that story and actually cover other things that are going on. The only thing that does seem clear is the Biden has the delegates, enough to override all of his detractors and if he doesn't want to step down, I don't see them having a path to do so except for invoking the 25th amendment.  

I would say I would go along with that, but then you have Harris running this nation until election time? Does anyone actually believe she has the capacity to be able to deal with world leaders? What, is she going to go cackling at them, perhaps, to somehow force them to do something different? I expect Putin and Xi would just dismiss her as a pile of nothingness, insignificant and not even worth considering.  America is not in a good place right now, that's what I will say.  

I finally saw the number for this tractor dealer near Nacogdoches.  I thought I was calling them already, then found out who I was talking to is a different dealer with similar name that is maybe 5 miles away.  They only deal in brand new tractors, I wanted to try to ask about how much this place wants for one of their tractors and if they have any kind of financing.  

The dumpster. I have finally come to the point where it is definitively time to move it.  I am done with these neighbors just helping themselves to the use of it, dumping large amounts of their household trash into it and not caring.  They have been caught several times now and the guests told them to leave and that they can't do that.  I would have pulled the trash right back out of the dumpster and dumped it on the hood of their car.  And now that I reminded myself of that, request has been made to relocate the dumpster. It's not free, but neither is the overage charges I'm getting for these people overfilling my dumpster. It will save money in the long run.  This is why I've been calling it a theft of services, it's not free for me and it's pretty awful looking seeing the thing so overloaded that trash is piled high and even sometimes leaving bags of it on the ground.

I'm done with that and it's going to be place about another 200 feet back, around  a corner that the garbage truck will actually have to drive through the park driveway to access.  They would have had to come back and go through there to turn around anyway.  

If all I were doing was the park and not working a trucking job, I would just get about 4 residential cans and just take them out front every week. Save the money and have them near the amenities shed. I just don't want a dumpster back there because it's severely ugly, attracts flies and rodents and then the predators to come eat the rodents.  That would be snakes and cats, for the most part.  The cans aren't quite so ugly and more manageable.  There is another refuse removal provider that operates in the area, their cans are significantly cheaper than Republic's but they don't offer dumpster service.  

Anyway, it's getting near 11 am and I can safely say I have done nothing but lay in bed and then get up, let the dog out and now drink coffee.  No regrets.  I think I will get another steaming cup of coffee and some ice water and the mosey on over to the park and see what's going on over there.  Robert's wife blew up my phone last night long after I had gone to bed, I turn the ringer off so such calls don't affect my sleep.

She left a long message about how her son has "left the park" after I texted her much earlier about him speeding through the park and also doing a burn out in the driveway.  I didn't ask him to leave, I asked him to slow down, thanks.  Then she went off into "we have never disrespected you, we have always treated you with respect" and "I don't know why Allen is treating him that way" and all kinds of other stuff that I just listened to, rejected and ejected out of my mind.  What it really turns out to be is the fact that Robert - and her - are no longer going to get free rent and that the lot rent is due on the 17th.  That's 8 days from now.  I'm assuming from her tones that they aren't going to have the money.

This isn't my problem, there was no expectation of giving them a free lot when they moved in and that only occurred after I saw Robert doing a lot of work. "Well, if you are going to continue to work like this, I'll just give you the lot rent for free". It was after that that he almost completely stopped working altogether, maybe mowing the doggy park every week and perhaps taking trash out once a week as well.  Maybe 2 hours a week if I'm lucky out of him. I've already gone into great detail of the other nonsense he was engaging in so I won't do that again here.  

Beyond that, at the time we were discussing the lot rent, Robert stated that it would be no problem for him to go out and get a job and that he would walk to one if necessary. Those are his words, not my rendition of them.  Well Robert, if y'all intend on staying there, you're going to have to go get that job that you proclaimed would be so easy to get.  I won't wait, tho, he's lazy and sits inside of that trailer all day long.  I get that it's hot, but he said he would work in the mornings or evening.  Yeah, 45 minutes per week spent on the doggy park comes nowhere near what I want for working and he fully knows what I expect out of him.  

The whole situation is rather annoying at this point.  Like, I don't even want to discuss this with them any further, I've made my intentions, desires and expectations exceedingly clear both in person, face to face and in writing, texting and over the phone.  

Enough.  I'm getting off my chair and going to get moving. Definitely go over there and see what's up and what I need to do.

G'day

 Sunday - early afternoon

Up early, washout - took a bit of time there, over to the plant, got loaded quickly and got home at a reasonable hour.  

Yesterday.  I get a call from Allen (park host).  Tells me Robert's electrical cord burned up, burned up the box, etc. 

I didn't want to hear anymore, I got into my vehicle and hurried over there before anyone does anything stupid.  Upon arrival, I see their trailer plug is completely melted. That is a thick block of plastic.  It also burned my plug in and  the box it is housed in.  

The immediately blamed my side of the hookup.  No, no and no.  THAT was caused by something going on YOUR side. It was either a bad plug, malfunctioning appliance (which would likely be an ac unit going out) or a short circuit. Robert was getting pissy so I just shut him down. I have had enough of his bs as it stands, hearing more of it was a non-starter. He tried to blame the sun after I dismissed his ignorance on electrical systems.  

If the sun could do that to a hardened piece of plastic, what would it do to us walking around?  I just sent them the bill and I expect them to pay it - today.  

There was a glimmer of hope coming from them, however. First off, Robert agreed to help Allen start cleaning up the front. He did no such thing and never appeared out of his trailer excepting to go to the shed and check the mail.  So I had texted them that that deal is off and the rent is due on the 17th.

She texted back that they expected to have to pay the rent and that wasn't important, this occurred while I was at Lowe's.  Lowe's no longer sells the outlet box I wanted, I opted for what they had which was a lone outlet with nothing, no box, just the outlet and a plate to hook to whatever.  

I hooked that up, turned on the power and had witnesses to show that there is nothing wrong with my side of the equation.  Im just not paying for this and it was telling, looking back and others saying the same thing, that they came out of their trailer yelling "it's not our fault!" before anyone said anything to them about it or even knew what was going on.  Robert continued to whine in a high pitched voice about that and blaming the park before I basically told him to shut his damn mouth.  As I said, he crossed my line long before this and his denial of everything got old a month or more ago.  

He did shut up, btw.  I wasn't playing. I had listened to his bs for a good 15 minutes or more before I finally just had had enough of it.  

Here's the good news: they can't afford to pay the rent on the 17th and his wife - who is actually sweet and nice even if she's a bear in the house (you can hear her yelling at him) - announced they were moving closer to where their son is and yada yada yada.  I hope it works out for them, but in this particular case? It's the same as Mark, if you remember him? Good riddance.  

If this actually materializes, I can park the motorcoach there, plug it in and Allen's wife (Brenda I think is her name) can start her work fixing it up.  I don't know how long it will take her, she's pretty efficient but there's a lot to do in there.  I would think a month at minimum.  I'm not asking her to get it done in any particular time frame, but once she starts, I do want it completed.  It will cost me several thousand dollars, but if the work is good, it will pay itself back quickly.  

I'm thinking $700 per month, I need to get back the investment on it.  Yea, I'm not wanting needy people, I want someone who has an income that can make the payment and be happy living in it.  But it's gotta be nice and functional.  That will be her challenge, I do feel that she's up to that challenge.  She made need some help with certain things, electrical is what I'm thinking, still I don't think it's something she can't handle. We'll find out,  I think. 

The remnants of the hurricane will be passing through here tomorrow.  A couple of inches of rain forecast, the washout dude in Nac said it's expected 6 or 7 inches? That's flooding conditions right there.  I say this because my manager, unexpectedly, gave me Tuesday off. There is a 36% chance of rain projected. IF it is just spotty rain conditions, I will rent the excavator or the ditch witch, haven't decided which one yet, and get that trench dug out, lay the wire and fill it back in.  I need it done.  

I hate to spend days off working, it's work work work, but I do have a vacation coming up on the 19th. Speaking of which, half the group that's going to Galveston is either afraid of sharks killing us off or that this hurricane is going to cause flooding. Well, it probably will, but tomorrow, when it's passing through there, is the 8th, not the 19th?  A bunch of fearmongers, for goodness sake.  Maybe another storm will come through, hopefully not! Haven't heard of any shark attacks in Galveston!  

They were talking about switching it to another place up in Oklahoma that they've gone to before, I bowed out of that conversation.  Not up to me, I'd rather go to the beach, but whatever, we'll have fun regardless, I think.  Taylor wasn't exactly happy about the phone blowing up with all of those texts coming in all at once.  

I missed church today, but something cool did happen. One of the members of the group that we all hang out together started going to my church maybe a month ago.  She wanted to start going back to church, she didn't want to go alone so she figured to go with me.  Anyway, she has a 6 month old little girl and that little girl has surgery - tomorrow I think.  Tomorrow or Tuesday anyway.  So, she drops the baby off at the nursery and had asked them to pray for the surgery.  When we went up to ask the pastor's second hand man - he preached I dunno where the pastor was, maybe on vacation, he already knew about the situation and said yes, we are praying for her.

Today, she went without me (I'm happy she's going regardless and has started dragging her husband to church if he's not working - another person with odd shifts), they presented her a giant basked full of goodies and useful items. She posted a pic of it on her facebook, it was pretty cool, to me anyway, that they had done that for her.  

So here I am at home. The kids are gone, not back until this coming Friday.  We do enjoy the time away from them, I'll admit that.  Cooking is not a thing, I guess, when the kids aren't here.  I'm going to do my normal after-church thing in a few minutes and go up to Applebee's and enjoy a blackened salmon dinner.  It's that or Wingstop and get some delicious wings.  I dunno, I'll figure it out lol.  

And then, I'm going to think about what I want to eat this week. If they don't want to do the normal dinner menu, that's fine, but I need to have food available. I can't just go to the freezer and pull out frozen food, not on this diet.  A nice roasted chicken would be good, I could actually just buy one of those pre-cooked I think for the same or less than buying a raw version.  I've got lots of recipes saved, I'll get some of that ingredients and keep myself fed this week.  

Speaking of food, it's 2:00 pm and I've only had 6 medium sized shrimp today.  Yea, I'm hungry and fixing to get out of here...

G'day

 Saturday - mid afternoon

Internet back up, James must have fixed it for the internet company wasn't coming out until Monday. 

I said I wouldn't ever get involved with 401k's again, but here I am, contributing close to $100 per paycheck to it.  Whatever.  It won't be a lot when I quit this job, but there will be a little bit in there for whatever.  I won't be charged a penalty fee, either, I'm beyond the minimum age now for that to happen.  

Anyway, let's get to the meat of today's matter.  On Saturdays, the plant in Gurdon is normally "closed".  That is, no logging trucks so the scales aren't opened either.  The plant is open 24 hours, it's just that certain things aren't opened.  So, when we show up on a Saturday or a Sunday, we pull up on the scale and call security, who sends someone over to weigh is in and out.  

1st call sitting on the scale: I'll send someone right over. 15 minutes, 2cd call: I'll call him again.  3rd call, half an hour.  Are you going to send someone over here? It's been 30 minutes.  Hemming and hawing, the man says there are only 2 of us here today and I can't get a hold of the other guy and I can't leave here.

Well what are you going to do? I can't sit here all day long waiting for you to weight me in, it's a 60 second operation.  Well what do you suggest? Call the plant and have an plant employee come out here. 

20 minutes later, call again. Well a lumber person was supposed to come out there...I had already talked with my manager who was just shuffling it off on me.  But at this point? No.  You need to call someone at the plant.  I've been here 90 minutes, this is absolutely ridiculous.  

Next thing I know, there is a massive search going on at the plant for this security guard for he had disappeared off of the face of the planet.  We got ourselves a winner! Hiding in a security car somewhere on the (huge) property, sleeping.  2 hours and this dude shows up.  What happened?  He doesn't answer. Why did it take you so long?  He had nothing to say, I didn't know at that point he had been found screwing off and doing nothing.  

He doesn't even know how to operate the scale printer, so I had to help him with that, but at that point, my goodness.  

Oh, I forgot to add I ended up leaving the scale and going to the plant supervisor who tried making calls on his radio to both the plant base AND the security guy. Even the plant was responding!  I went back to the scale and that's when my manager started making phone calls.  Yes, if I'm going to suffer with this ridiculous nonsense, everyone else is too. That includes the plant manager who was off for the weekend and his lower level manager.  In other words, make this such a big deal that they won't ever want to have to deal with this again.  They can deal with the security company who most assuredly doesn't want to lose a cash loaded deal with a company like that.

Welp, I got over to the offload shack, got signed off on, hooked up, started unloading and got back into my truck.  The boss of the security comes driving up profusely apologizing.  I accepted the apology and let it go, the damage was already done. I had lost 2 hours of my day and his company was going to get reamed by the plant.  

I don't know if he fired the dude, but he was sent home, the dude caught hiding out.  When I got done, the security boss came over after he had called another security guard to come into work and did the paperwork himself.  I mean, what the hell were these people thinking?  They know we are coming in there every single day of the week regardless of whether everything else is closed or not.  They know we need to be scaled in but now? They ALL know.  Kudos to them for doing a massive search, everyone started thinking maybe something bad had happened to the dude.  

I was the person that paid for it, but a massive correction has been enacted so the end result should be that I never have to go through this again.  

I was heading home after the 3-1/2 hours in that place and got a text from Allen: the park host is moving in.  I looked at camera footage and sure enough, there was a clip of the trailer being pulled in and a very nice looking trailer at that. 

That's what I want, decent looking trailers. I don't want trailer trash appearance, that just drives people away.  I didn't get to meet them, the student and his mom, they left to go get cash, apparently.  I dunno, I'll collect from them at some point, I'm not worried about that. 

Meanwhile, Robert was out there weedeating the doggy park and I'm asking Allen why is he doing that? Allen shrugs his shoulders.  Wasting his time. Yup, I'm fixing to get into my notes and find out when they arrived and then, give them a date to either pay or leave.  Well, I think I'll do that search right now.....

 Saturday - early

I was typing out a blog entry yesterday, when unbeknownst to me, a large branch broke off of the tree out front, fell on top of the cable that brings internet to the house and of course yanked it to the ground, ripping it out of the socket it was attached and effectively ending internet for the house.  

The political scene has erupted into some form of chaos, mayhem and heterdyne.  AS more and more democrats demand Biden step down and Biden continuing to refuse to budge, I just sit back and watch in amusement.  Sorry, but democrats brought this upon themselves. The "coverup" of Biden's mental condition has been no coverup to anyone that has been watching him for the last 4 years.  It's only getting worse.  

I'm really not making fun of the man, but he can hardly string a line of words together to make a coherent sentence.  Why would democrats back this man up until almost the point of no return?  Like, who are they going to bring in at this point if they so choose to do so that will "storm" the country? "I'll beat Donald Trump in 2020" he is seen declaring in a "rally" recently.  

Anyway, I'm hoping today will be better than yesterday?  I don't want to spend 3 hours sitting somewhere waiting for a problem to be fixed on a truck that is 20 years old.  

I don't have a lot of time here, it's just that I would have rather stayed home, stayed in bed, slept, lazed around, whatever.  The other driver is taking yet another weekend off.  I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing in his shoes but they could bring in more OTR drivers to cover the lapse.  

So, with that, I'm outta here.  At least the truck AC is working for the most part, better than it has been. 

G'day

 Friday - evening

 The day started at 5:40 am.  It just ended some 20 minutes ago, now almost 5:00 pm.  

Of course, that is not a typical work day for me, so some explanation is warranted.  

The issue started after I left the trailer washout, unbeknownst to me. It's about a 30 minute drive from the washout to the loading plant.  I did, indeed, look at the truck and trailer before I left the washout, there were no issues.  

I'm cruising down 59, maybe 15 minutes from the plant and a trooper comes racing up behind me with his lights on, gets in front of me as if pulling over the vehicle in front of me, who starts pulling over to the shoulder.

Nope, it wasn't for that person, he was for me.  Well, he wanted me to get into the U-turn lane and follow him.  ??  As soon as I stopped, I saw a lot of smoke coming up from the bottom of the truck.  Wait, what?  I wanted to get out and find out what's going on, the trooper wanted me to follow him instead. I was thinking, what if there is a fire going on under there? 

Well, I followed him several miles back to the inspection station.  I stopped over their pit, got out and saw diesel fuel gushing out all over the place, it was already pooling up in the pit it was coming out that fast.  I shut the thing off immediately.  He, however, was afraid the thing was going to catch on fire and burn their entire station down so instructed me to move the truck "over there!" immediately.  

Shutting the truck off shut off the flow of fuel coming out onto the ground and there was no fire.  Quick discussion, this trooper decided he was going to do an inspection on the entire truck ??  So, we did that and then went inside the office.  He handed me 3 business cards from 3 different mobile mechanics. 

I called my manager, who called the lead mechanic, who called me, got the numbers found one that was open and that was that.  Play the waiting game.  Well, the Troopers were a chatty bunch and one thing I have found with the various Troopers I have encountered, they love to talk politics.  So I just blurted it out about Biden, Trump etc and making it obvious I am not a Biden supporter.  I could tell by the way they were looking at me that they didn't want to open that potential Pandora's box if I were the opposite.

I mean, we talked for hours while they were doing truck inspections on and off.  They were also BBQ'ing chicken.  It was probably 2 hours and 20 minutes and they brought in a huge mess of cooked chicken, informed me that there is plenty there, please feel free to eat.  I hadn't eaten anything, I was hungry so I gladly wolfed down some chicken.  

The mechanics showed up, determined it was a busted fuel line, went to a local parts store, got replacement parts and had the truck up and running relatively quickly.  Thanked the troopers for their hospitality and the chicken and left.  Amazingly, I didn't have to wait long to get into the loading by and they started loading quickly. 38 minutes later they were done and I was drenching in sweat. 

It's hot out, the truck can't run while they are loading and it's just the feeling of sitting in an oven.  

I did get the one and only call today from the park: allen informed me that Robert once again did not come out to work as he had agreed. How shocking.  I didn't expect anyone to work yesterday, but there are still 2 days he hasn't done anything regardless.  

 Happy Independence Day!

I'm tempted to go into some of these debate groups filled with far left progressives (communists) and kids (college students) and ask a poll question: what war took place April 19, 1775? And then give all kinds of ridiculous answers that are real wars but obviously not the answer you would be looking for on July 4th. 

I see people randomly stopping people on the streets and asking them simple questions about American history that literally every American should know at the top of their heads and - it's mostly college students but still - they can't come up with an answer.  Or they take a guess that isn't even remotely close to being the correct answer.  It's just bewildering to watch these videos.  

Meanwhile, Robert, the workamper that was given a second chance by the behest of the new park host? Nothing new under the sun there and hence why I was done with him.  Allen was out there and started on the front acreage yesterday. His current goal is to be able to see the dumpster from his lot so that's what he started working on.k

Where was Robert, who agreed to help him? In his trailer, of course, doing nothing.  He said last week that "I was in my trailer doing things that needed to be done" in answer to a question I posed. Oh, I see.  All day long? I wondered but didn't say.  Anyway, if Allen spends another day out there working alone, I'm just going to give the date to Robert and his wife when the rent is due again.  Which I need to look up, but rest assured I'll have that date which is coming up soon and they can start paying rent.  She gets disability.

I don't know if Allen is working today, I'm not asking him to do anything on a national holiday of great importance to American History, at least in my view of things.  The park is mowed, things are looking good, no need to work on what is historically a day off for many citizens.  I would have been working today if my load hadn't cancelled, the flip side to that is now I have to work the entire weekend starting tomorrow.  

I'm also happier that I have a check in my wallet from another new guest and hopefully Saturday yet another after that.  It will be short-lived full park minus the one I leave open for overnighters/short stays, but, it's a good feeling anyway.  Bills are paid and the bank account continues to grow. Slowly, yes, but an upward trend regardless.  I say short-lived because 2 newbies are only there for a month. Not the man who moved in yesterday.  He has a friend in town that has breast cancer and she asked him to be around for emotional support.  He had a kidney transplant a year and a half ago, he understands what she's going through, whoever his friend is. 

It's just that those 3 lots in a row - they were all lots next to each other - made the park look half empty even tho the rest were full.  I like the presentation that yes, this is a great park, look at all the filled lots! Versus empty lots and who knows what goes through people's minds.  Hmm, wonder why those are all empty?  I'm very happy to have thrown that young couple out after a few months of contending with their constant nonsense.  They removed their Google review which was a good review but they did not add some garbage.  

Speaking of garbage, we now have 3 separate people confirmed as sort of scofflaws that are entering my property to dump their trash, even with a sign posted right there saying the dumpster is only for the park and it's guests and that all violators will be prosecuted. They obviously don't believe anything will happen to them so it's time for action.  I can't believe the park host didn't bother to get a license plate number. He said he didn't have time to get his phone to take a video.  All well and find, just get his license plate number.  That's how the sheriff's office will find them, a video of them doing it would be icing on the cake but not vitally necessary if you aren't going to be able to get any thing about who they are via the license plate identification.

However, now it's being reported that one of my guests says he's seen the next door neighbor dumping trash.  Uhh, those people are rude and I don't much care for them.  I wave at them, they just stare at me.  I haven't done anything to them and besides cars going in and out of my driveway, there isn't any noise or disruption. But let's clarify that: they have been that way since long before the RV park was built and trailers and cars going in and out.  They do not own that property, they are renters.  

I asked the guest why they would need to do that? They have their own trash service.  Yes, but when their trash can gets full, they come over and use ours. I like the idea that this guest thinks that the park is "his" in the sense of taking ownership of community pride and wanting to help out. He's been there about 6 months now.  

But that's just one of them doing this.  I just find it amazing that people who don't live there think they can actually enter my property, drive 100 feet into it, get out of their vehicle, dump their trash and leave as if they had done nothing wrong.  It's the reason I offset the dumpster back there, to keep people from thinking they can just stop along side the road and chuck it.  So now, I have to consider moving it another 200 feet back in full view of the park.  I just didn't want it back there because it's ugly, it attracts rodents, bugs, flies, smell, etc.  

No one seems to mind that idea tho so tomorrow - I was going to call today but the office is probably closed - I will be calling them about moving the thing much further back. They charge $200 to do that. I can do it myself of course, but I don't know if they require them to do it so they can see if the truck can access it wherever the intended point is and give the driver new instructions?  I'll pay the $200 begrudgingly, the long term savings will outweigh the initial output of cash.  

I have to say that if I had the financial wherewithal, I would consider starting my own dumpster service. This Republic Services is high priced and business owners are constantly complaining about them.  There are other players in the region but they don't service our area.  Get a truck, screw the trucking job and start acquiring accounts.  People have to have their garbage removed and business especially aren't going to want to do it themselves, hence paying exorbitant fees to have this particular company remove it.

I have considered just having the competition regular trash cans and get rid of the dumpster.  But that would mean the other company would have to agree to drive that far down the driveway, or, that we would have to move them to the front every week. 

I think I'm going to ditch the diet for one meal today and have potatoes.  It won't set me back far and I just want potatoes lol.  I'm also ditching it for the entirety of the vacation. We are all dining together and it's just not worth the hassle trying to maintain a diet that no one else is doing.  I can rigidly follow Keto for long periods of time, but then? I have pent up food anxieties lmao.  Like, okay, I'm stopping it for awhile, so now I can eat potatoes, pasta and other things I can't have daily.  I know it kicks you out of keto, but if it's only a meal or two, ketosis will come back quickly.  

I'm not looking forward to working the entire weekend.  In fact, I could sit here at home for quite a while and do nothing. I will probably go over to the park today only to check in and leave.  I am cleaning today, actually, seemed fitting since I'm home.  Bedding, dog bedding, clothes, rugs, everything.  

I have been invited to go see a TYM tractor at a different place tomorrow.  I may well stop by there as long as I can find a place to park the truck without it being on the highway.  I didn't notice whether I could pull the truck into their lot. One would think you could considering they sell tractors and those things are delivered to them on trucks, but then again, they may stop on the highway shoulder and offload there.  I just get concerned about DOT seeing it and not liking it.  

I need a new bridge. The wooden one I put over the creek has been washed away several times now.  When we get a gully washer, that thing just gets smashed against some trees.  It's not long enough, it was 6 feet and it was cheap, that was what I was looking for at the time. But, my thinking has evolved and I need at least and 8 foot wide bridge to raise it up high enough that heavy water flow won't carry it off.  People are using the walking trails and a certain individual living in the park has been keeping the trails cleared for his purposes, of which everyone else benefits.  

__________

Cleaning day commenced and I have been busy. I let my room go a wee bit and it just becomes intolerable to the point I go stone wild crazy cleaning everything back up.  I still have a pile of papers - mostly business related stuff - to go through and I may do that later, but for now, it's break time.  Going through those papers means getting on quickbooks and taking pics of receipts and that can be tedious. I don't have a lot of that tho, I got caught up during tax time and there hasn't been anything near the volume of receipts like it was when I was building the place out. 

Anyway, back at it.  Dog bedding washing, a couple of bathroom rugs and all of the wash is done.  But I'm running out of steam.  Going on 7 hours of this and tho there are several other things I could do, the worst of it is over.  I have to go to work tomorrow and since it's a little after 2, I think I'll finish up the wash, put that stuff up and relax the rest of the day. I may forgo, now that I think about it, going to the Park unless something comes up that requires my presence over there. 

The park host is doing well, but there are issues that I will deal with and have informed him if there is confrontation that needs to be done, that's on me.  I'll take that heat, it will work out better that way.  

Oh, btw, the new vet I took Obi to is cheaper than the animal hospital I normally take my dog/s to.  I would have never even considered using anyone else, but they attempted to put me on a 13 day wait just to get in and get shots? No thank you.  That's ridiculous, I'm a long time customer and now, they are charging a walk-in fee.  This all happened after they combined with another vet clinic in town who shut down their operation at their building and moved over to the vet hospital.  

Whatever.  They couldn't make time for me yesterday even with walk in fee and today they're closed, I was like, welp, time to look elsewhere.  So, I'm glad I did.  

 Busy.

Bank, deposit cash and checks.

County courthouse - they passed a bill here recently that vehicle inpsections are no longer needed.  What I didn't know is that that doesn't take place until January next year.  So, over to a place that does inspections, which took all of 5 minutes, over to T Mobile to turn in the malfunctioning device, Lowe's to get supplies for the park then back to the court house to get the registration done for both my SUV and the trailer.  

Over to the park, a person was finally caught in the act dumping trash into the dumpster.  This is a big deal because there are several people doing it and filling the thing up every single week.  It's NOT people from the park doing it. If it were only people from the park, it might get 2/3rds full every week at most.  So, they didn't get the license number as I had asked them to, but they saw where they went.  

_________

Hours later, the dog was stuck with needles fully 4 times.  He never flinched, growled or otherwise showed any signs of unease.  So that part was great. The bill wasn't so great, almost $500 for all of that stuff, but I had to get him the full fledged everything, including an injection that will guard his heart from heartworms for a full year.  Ball park, he said was around $450 to $500 to neuter him.  I'm going to plan on getting that done soon.  

After getting him home, I tackled the pond pump. It hasn't been working and I got a new one to replace it. I went to unplug the thing, lifted up the outdoor weather cover over the outlet and.......WASPS.  A hive of them things in there. I quickly left the area, went into the house, got a spray bottle of wasp killer that sprays some 25 feet and let them have it. They definitely picked the wrong place to build.  Pond pump going, I got a call.

This lady has called 3 times now.  She wants to know everything.  I told her everything more than once, but I'm fairly patient when trying to get new people in there. She is calling about her boy who needs to move here for college.  I'm not sure which one, I didn't want to get too nosy but I did ask about any felonies?  She was actually relieved I asked that question and said no, there is no legal trouble at all.

So, I assume/hope they are actually moving in on Saturday.  That will leave 2 lots left, I need one more long term, the other one I am still going to leave for overnighters even tho the overnight reservations are spartan.  They will pick back up eventually, I just want at least one of them open for overnighters.  And the lot I leave open is the highly desireable end lot with a huge yard.  

So, it's been a productive day and I think I'm done. The heat index is what I guessed it would be: 110 degrees and after spending some time out there cleaning out the pond filter and installing that new pump and dealing with wasps? I'm going to call it quits on this day.  I'm still seriously considering....

cancel that.  I was going to rent a ditch witch, but they're closed tomorrow and I'm not paying for 2 days worth of a rental for a few hours worth of work.  I don't want this thing to drag on forever, I'll have to get a day off either weekday or saturday and just get up early, be at the rental place at 7:00 am, haul it over there, dig out the trench and get the machine back to them in the 4 hour time frame.  I really don't see it taking more than 2 hours, but I'll give it 4 for the entire circuit of getting it, bringing it, using it and returning it.  They're only 6 miles away from the park.

I'll have Allen out there backfilling the driveway while I get the machine back to the rental place and also will just have to block the entrance, people will have to come and go through the exit, no biggies. 

I want his wife, Brenda, to get on that camper asap.  I've really racked my brains about getting that thing fixed up and now I have a person that wants to do it - for an hourly wage of course but I was already prepared to do that anyway - and I think she will do a good job of it. I want a good used, refrigerator in there and she will build a frame around it.  I want the entire sink/cooking area discarded and replaced.  It needs a new RV toilet and the shower - I dunno what she can do about that. In my view, the entire thing needs to be torn out and replaced.  The carpet needs replaced and a sofa bed needs inserted.   A new or good used queen mattress in the bedroom and whatever else needs to be done.  It's going to cost a couple thousand.  I'm not opposed to that if the job is done right and I have a unit that someone can call home via renting and actually like living in it.

She already has a vision for it, that's the kind of person she is.  She is definitely the optimist.  

I don't know what they got done over there today. When I arrived, he was heading to his trailer. He was visibly over-heated and I don't want people dying on me just to get some work done.  It's the kind of thing where you either work in the morning or even, mornings better because it's much cooler out.  Working in mid day heat with the sun blaring down on your, 90 plus percent humidity and heat index at 110? Just not optimal, putting it mildly.

I am optimistic about another renter coming in and staying indefinitely, according to the mother. I do hope that materializes.  Just need another one....well there is another one that said they wanted to move their daughter in there mid-July - another student.  Hey, I'll become EBTU's second dormitory lol.  I don't care who moves in there, with some exceptions (definitely don't need the felons or the drug abusers or drunks and a few other types that come to mind).  Ok, I do have a felon in there, Felony DUI. She's been there for quite a while now and doesn't bother anyone.  She found a boyfriend recently, he's staying with her but he seems ok as well.  

So where am I at with my slowly forming agenda for park expansion?  Umm, if those guys can get all of that brush and small trees cleared out, I can do a version of leveling it with a bobcat.  I suppose I could pay someone to run a dozer there for a day, it wouldn't take a good operator long to smooth and level that out.  You get me that done and I will sit on here thinking of every possible avenue to move it along.  Get 5 more lots in there to start with.  And get a pool.  I'm sold on the pool, doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. That and a hot tub.  

Still awaiting word on the address of the person dumping trash into my dumpster.  I fully intend on having the sheriff's office go over there and inform the person if they do it again, they will be arrested for criminal trespass and theft of services. I don't want people going to jail over trash, I just want them to STOP dumping THEIR trash into MY dumpster. If they can afford to live in a house, they can afford to get a company to do weekly trash service.  

I think this is enough for now.  I have no clue what's for dinner, we have tomorrow covered but we bought nothing for today, lol. 

 Wednesday - mid morning

Of course, I didn't bother to get out of bed particularly early today and likely a repeat tomorrow.  I decided against renting a skid steer today, it's going to be projected 99 degrees which means the real feel, I'm guessing around 110 if not higher.  Yea, screw that.  It can wait until these guys clean it all up first anyway.

I did not ask them to do all of that by hand, btw.  The workamper is headed out the door, so to speak, without his work opportunity so apparently he talked with Allen about working with him to clean up the front and the rear.  I was quite blunt with him, Robert is his name.  After thinking about it as I said in previous blog entry, I flatly told him that Allen is your supervisor and you will do whatever he says.  He gave me a look that almost had me telling him to go away, your opportunity was lost and now after that glare, you can go jump into an icy cold lake.

But I didn't. The man is low IQ, something is wrong with the cables and motors that bring the elevator up to the top floor, it makes it midway and stops working.  I am not saying that to mock the man, I am seriously saying something is screwed up in his head.  You say something and you can tell it did not resonate with him. He just has the blank stare like you were just talking to a telephone pole.  So, with Allen, I am going to tell him that if he wants that man to work with him, fine, but keep an eye on him constantly for he doesn't listen.  He'll do his own thing.  If his "own thing" was grounded in any semblance of common sense, I might go along with it, but it doesn't and I have no more time to waste with him nor have to deal with the frustration of attempting to deal with a person that simply is not all there.  

I will be over there later. I just got out of bed and I do have plans. The dog needs his shots, I need to go renew the registration on both my SUV and my trailer, I need to stop at the bank, I have to pick up some supplies at Lowes (business related, not personal) and I need to get some steaks that are on sale at Kroger's for a little cookout tomorrow for the 4th.  Patriotism is not evil, as the left/woke tries to make it appear. A lot of men and women have died for this nation including the American Revolutionary War  "The regulars are coming!".  These people that want to change the fabric of our society into some communistic horror show care nothing about patriotism, God or the American culture.  

Some people believe we are already in a cold civil war. The country is definitely divided and there are lines that have been drawn.  I hope it never comes to an actual war being fought with firearms and citizen' death.  We have a president running our nation that is clearly not all there. No idea what is wrong with him, but it would appear he is not aging the way I have seen others aging that are older than him. My mother is much older than Biden yet her mind is definitely still all there.  She is in her "winter years", but that's relating to the condition of an aging body, her brain/clarity of mind? Still intact. Biden? Not at all.  When people discuss risk to our nation's security, it's discussing a person that is Chief of our nation's military yet cannot be counted on to make decisions that are in the best interests of our nation.

That is NOW, not in the next election.  If the Russian or Chinese - or both combined along with Iran and other hostile actors - against the US, do you really believe Biden could make the decisions needed to be made, quickly, in order to defend our nation? No.  Other people are making decisions for him, that is my belief at this point.   

Anyway, I digress.  A simple statement about going to Kroger's and I go off on all of that, lol.  It's just that this nation is not headed in the direction that many of us would like to see it going and that's of great concern. God is still in control, I have to remind myself. Whatever happens to the US, it's by design.  

I'm carrying around far too much cash, I need to get that stuffed into the business bank account and besides, I have a huge electric bill coming due.  Not that the money isn't already in there, I just would like to see the number continue to grow as far as cash on hand versus outgoing bills (accounts payable I guess).  

I don't even know if they can get the dog in today, he needs rabies, parvo, Bravecto, etc.  Whatever they say he needs, that's what he's getting.  He's a good doggy, I've grown to like him. He's quite rambunctious and he's very strong.  After all of this time trying to fatten him up, his rib cage isn't sticking out so much but he's still a skinny beast.  I mean, at his age Danes usually fill out. Not this dog! Not yet anyway. I also want to get him fixed, not today but I do want to discuss how much it will cost including kenneling him at least overnight.  I can only guess at at least $500.  

I also need to get the ride ready to go for vacation. Apparently we are taking 2 vehicles.  I don't care either way, it will be a very cramped ride for 5 hours if we all try to cram into the pickup.  Getting it ready is just cleaning it out nicely and detailing it.   And possibly taking it into a shop to see what's wrong with the rear ac. It just doesn't come on at all.  No fan, nothing.  The good thing is that my front ac blasts out cold air, all 4 vents have a large volume of cold air that come out of it, it takes a bit but after a while it will cool the entire vehicle. Just have to aim the vents towards the rear.  

Still, I'd like to have it fixed. 

I think I'll go to the bank and the county building first,, get that stuff done, head over to the property, ask what they need: gas, a gallon of white paint and a new 2 gallon sprayer at the least.  I need to get that power going over there, that's not happening today but maybe ... maybe... tomorrow. It's just so darn hot out there.  Gag.

I best get moving.  

G'day

 Well...

Sometimes I hit Publish on the blog and it says it published and come back many hours later, like after work for instance and there it is sitting as a draft.  I have hundreds and hundreds of blog entries that were never published, including the last 2.  

 Anyway, Allen (park host) has a hernia.  He's had it for a while, apparently, soon he's going in for surgery.  Well, you know what that means: he won't be able to lift anything for months.  I dunno when that operation is going to take place, I was going to ask him today but the whole conversation got sidetracked.  He wants to clean up the entire front and rear acreage - by hand - and wants Robert, who was acting like a giant child to Allen - to help him.  I instantly thought, no thank you.  But I didn't say that.

Gave it some thought while we were sitting there discussing everything going on and decided that if Robert will work and be under Allen's direction, I will go another month of free rent.  I mean, if they can get it done, the money saved is substantial.   And Robert came up behind Allen while we were discussing this and other things, so I told Robert to his face: you will be under Allen's supervision. Etc.  He gave me a look and I don't care. I was already done with this dude, I want nothing to do with it. If Allen can get him working, I'm fine with that.  

An older couple just showed up today, do you have a lot available for the night?  This was with Allen, they didn't call or anything, lol.  People do that and I don't mind at all.  I've got 3 empty lots and only 1 is possibly rented - the middle of this month.  

Okay. Allen's wife. She is quite handy.  She has built a mailbox, installing a door next to the shower, made all kinds of signs that are already hung around the park, I mean, what else could I ask for in an older lady that has a better work ethic and skills than many people 40 years younger than her?  Well, she is offering to fix up the coach.  I never even thought about that.  She could fix that thing up so it's nice enough to rent out and take in some decent money out of it.  That thing is sitting there, collecting dust and yes, I really don't want to do that work. Someone motivated to earn some money, however? That does a great job?  That can also put the woman's touch on it? 

That sounds like a win-win to me.  If she could get that thing nice enough inside of it, I could get $700 per month for it.  Lot rent, utilities and the place to stay? Yes.  I'd have to add it to the existing septic system, the only real drawback. It would mean having that system pumped out probably every 6 months or so.  

Sounds like a plan. The local rental shop has a ditch witch to rent and it's not cheap, but it's not ridiculous either.  I think it was $225 per day, but I only need one for a couple of hours.  I'm trying to think if I need a mini ex for anything else, more money but get everything taken care of? No.  I'm not going to spend 2 days just working outside when I want to take some time off for nothing.  But, if I want that motor coach to be fixed up, I will have to be able to get her some AC going in there.  

 Monday - 7:30 am

Maybe I should be changing the name of this blog.  The RV Trucker. RV Park Trucker? 

My middle brother has resurfaced on Facebook after many, many years. We don't talk.  I mean, yes he had a life-changing encounter with near-death experience after having a Covid booster shot and yes we talked a few times, but I'm not going to be the one that always initiate the conversation.  He is the one that left Facebook in a huff, puff and a storm, he can show a little more initiative to want to have anything to do with his own brothers. 

Or not.  It was funny how quickly Facebook showed me a "people you might know" pic of him and suggestion to add as a friend. Uh, no.  This is all on him.  He started from scratch, too, he had just gotten back on and had 6 friends so far.  I'm sure that number will grow into the several hundreds.  I don't even know what he's doing.  He's old enough to retire.  

Anyway, I have the late load today and every time I show down there earlyish for the second load, I always end up waiting for an hour or much longer. Might as well wait at home.  I say that now, then 9:00 am will roll around and I'll say, oh well, I'm leaving, just wait in the truck if I have to.  I get the feeling that I'm missing out on an earlier load time and instead of having this drag out all day long, I could be getting it all done.

However.  Having had to wait several times for near a couple of hours before they even start loading me in recent times plus the 8-1/2 hour day waiting? I am going to try to force myself to just wait here.  I just want it done and that doesn't happen sitting at home.  A loader told another driver yesterday that to "expect it to take a couple hours" to load the truck. That's not waiting for them to get to them, that's how long it will take to load "because we are still having problems".  Why don't they just shut that thing down, take it all apart and fix it?  That's what they normally do.  

Paypal tricked me last time. A few people pay me via paypal - I'll take my money any way they want to send it and both Paypal and Cashapp are very popular, so is cash.  In fact, I'm hardly using credit card portal at all now, excepting online reservations.  Anyway, Paypal changed how they are showing you getting your money transferred and I just clicked on the tab and walaah, they took like $13 out to have it deposited instantly.

I don't need the money deposited instantly, I'll save that 13 dollars, thanks.  Took a few clicks to get it to bypass the instant deposit thing.  They are just like a bank: whatever they get in on any given day is money available to be loaned out.  

SCOTUS.  They are going to dole out their decision regarding presidential immunity.  "Only minutes away" is the headline on the tv, of which I am casually watching as I have had enough of the Biden quitting or staying headlines.  This ruling should be fascinating.  If they find for the Presidential, where will the lines be drawn?  I'm sort of thinking they won't find for him, or some very limited scenarios where it might be allowable.  I just don't know, some of the greatest legal/constitutional minds on the planet sit on that panel and they very often come out with interpretations I either didn't think of or didn't think they would decide in that direction.  

If they find for Trump, invariably there will be a dissenting opinion coming from liberal justices.  I'm 99% sure the leftist judges will find against him, regardless of their intent or motivations to make such a decision.  So, I'm watching the news atm waiting for this decision to be released and then the news people to sift through the decision and then, over the next few days, skew it to whatever way they are affiliated in political parties.

I don't know what else.  I'm rather scatter-brained at the moment. Work today, the park, finances, relationships, vacation coming up, mom, brother, etc, lots of things scurrying around in my mind, but I did read the Bible for a short time just a few minutes ago, a thing I am determined to do with more frequency and just focus on the Lord.  Eternity awaits.  

G'day.  

 Never ending drama I guess.

I was informed after church today that some of my tenants caught a person attempting to dump a large amount of trash in the dumpster who, of course, doesn't live there.  I was asking for a license plate number, they didn't get it.  A black lady driving a white car.  The dumpster is almost full, I emptied out wood and a chair yesterday in order to make more room.  The dumpster is never full like this before Wednesday, if, the only people using it are park guests.  

There is simply no way it gets that filled up with that few people.  I am half tempted to get my chemical gloves out of the truck, go to the dumpster, pull out all of the trash and start sifting through it.  What am I looking for? Mail.  People dump mail without thinking.  Their name and their address.  

Then there is the router.  I installed the thing incorrectly and spent some time trying to fish it out of there.  Finally out, I may have damaged the sim card. Oh, I mean fishing out the sim card, you have to transfer it from the old unit to the new one.  

I guess I'm going to have to go back over there again later, the old one started working again, lol. I get calls all the time and then I get a new one and the old one starts working?

Robert - the workamper - is acting like a d***, I was informed today.  Of course he is.  He lost his opportunity, he could have a good thing going keeping my place up to snuff, but he got lazy.  He didn't want to do anything and now? That opportunity is long gone.  He has been replaced and he knows he's been replaced and there isn't a damned thing he can do about it now.

I take no pleasure in doing things like that, I actually abhor it.  I decided when I started this business that if/when - more like inevitably when - something like this happens? I would make decisions based on the best interest of my business.  Not people's emotions, but my business.  If I don't make any money, what is the point?  I'm not giving 2 people free rent every month, that's a fact.  

Oh, the dumpster. Lost my train of thought.  Well, I've been floating the idea of moving the thing another 200 feet up the driveway. I'm going to call Republic tomorrow and find out if they are okay with that, after describing why I'm doing it.  Going to find the camera that isn't working, get the memory card out of it and put it in my new camera.  I haven't done that because it is morbidly hot out, the humidity is killer here.  

I've been sending money to a Christian ministry in Pakistan for a few years now. Nothing great, $25 here and there, $50 recently.  It's kind of a thing where you wonder if what you are doing is backed by any facts, like: am I sending my money to a scammer?  I couldn't imagine anyone going to the depths of trouble this man has gone to go scam anyone. Scammers are in it for the least amount of effort.  

I sent him a pic of me last year I think and they printed the pic and had the kids holding these printed photos with the words on it: God Bless Brother B!  

He did this again yesterday, but these were much more up close pictures of the people holding the signs. Note that I didn't ask for this and greatly embarrassed, actually, that these children were doing it.  I'm not looking for accolades for my giving from anyone at all. Great is your reward in Heaven, the Bible says, but the Bible also talks about humility and the servant's heard.  I know for a fact that Pakistan is a mostly Muslim country and run by Muslims who hate Christianity. 

I know this from close friends that spent 25 years over in India, having to leave India every 6 months to renew their visa and they would head to Pakistan.  

Well whatever, lol. I'm feeling fine having this wonderful day off.  I still have 6 solid hours before it ends, I sigh and say well, it was nice and then who knows how many days in a row worth of work. 

______________

Went over and installed the new router.  Working fine after a few minutes of setup, I texted everyone the new password. Stood there quite a while with the new park host.  He's very helpful and was helping a lady with a broken sewer line.  They apparently break easily in this heat and covering them is the best option.  She was blaming the workamper, maybe.  Didn't look like any damage from a weedeater tho.  

Over to the dude sitting in this watering trough with his new girlfriend.  Nice lady, they were in this rather small thing all entwined with each other, lol.  I don't insert myself into such things.  Keep them happy to stay there, that's my motto, as long as they aren't doing anything to bother anyone else or degrade the appearance or feel of the park, I don't care.  

It's so humid out there, just standing there I was sweating my @$$ off.  It was crazy hot.  I was informed there "is no other chainsaw in the shed" besides the one already found, but yes, it's still there.  

But it's all done and Im done. Another 3-1/2 hours I go to bed to start the rat race all over again.  Except, I don't get up early tomorrow and right now, I'm fine with that.  

Oh, the new guy also said he could help me build out the rest of the park.  I said I'd love to do that, but..

I started quoting costs and he looked at me in shock.  I have these numbers in my head, they may be inaccurate due to inflation.  I could probably get away with less gravel. I can't do anything about electricity, it's 35k regardless.  8.5k septic.  Another 3 to 4 thousand for water.  I said 60k off the top of my head, just for materials, that doesn't include renting equipment or having a contractor come out to hook up electrical from pole to post.  

I don't have 60k and I don't have the additional funds to add amenities that will bring people in over other parks in the area.  I've got to have something that stands out beyond what I already have.  I'd like to get a pool in there before I get more lots. What I want and what I get? Well who knows. God is good, perhaps money will float out of the sky to pay for all of this.  

Give and it shall be given unto you. I'm not a prosperity preacher, I just know that God can make things happen where everything else has failed or the options available aren't good options (high interest loans).  Did you know that if I installed an above ground pool, partially in the ground, that the decking would cost more than the pool itself? Yeah, I figured it would be like that, I discussed it with a person that built a small park but put in this huge above ground pool and spent the money to put up a huge deck around it.  

I just noticed my manager has me working Monday through Saturday again.  I assume Sunday off. I'll do that 2 weeks in a row but then? Well, I have vacation coming up.  So I might do that again, if he continues to schedule it that way, until vacation.  

Enough. A couple hours left and this day is over. 

 Sunday - morning

It's the time of year where people are where they want to be for the most part.  I'm talking about the RV crowd.  They're in Florida, southern Texas, Arizona, wherever, they aren't coming through here.  I kind of expected it tho.  It's why I switched the game plan to long term.  Unfortunately, long term also means a community and community always means people who complain about everything, people who don't get along with each other and people taking advantage of the amenities.  

I have people come into that shed and they start looking around for - something - and then they look at the camera - then look around again, wander around in circles and then eventually leave.  No, I don't sit there and watch the camera all day long, these are found through notifications which I usually scroll through to see who is doing what in there.  When you see someone acting strangely like that, you wonder what their intent is.  I go straight to: taking something that doesn't belong to them.  If I didn't have that camera inside of that shed, who knows what have gone on in there what with all kinds of people with all kinds of views of life.

I was going to replace the wifi router yesterday, but I was put on hold for need of a tiny screwdriver that opens the access to the sim card.  I have to switch from the old to the new.  Someone took the router out of the water proof box I have it in and set it on the ground, which pissed me off.  I am replacing the box with a larger one and have to put a small ac unit in it. I think that's what killed the broken one.  

The workamper's wife texted me and asked for clarification.  Are "they" doing the mowing now? I thought I had already made that clear?  Allen also clarified this to you?  Okay thanks was the answer.  However, to leave nothing in muddy waters, I clarified that Allen is taking over as park host and will be taking over all park related duties. No offense, but you were doing very little and you weren't doing anything that I asked of you to, or if you did, only after asking you countless times.  You can stay and pay lot rent on the next day that it is due or you are free to leave, either way, this working relationship is over.

See, I didn't bring them into the park as workampers, I never promised them anything and free lot rent was based on the work they - he, she doesn't do anything but sit in that camper all day long - do.  It was of great annoyance that he would also walk around without a shirt on.  An older dude walking with a giant beer gut representing the park.....

Well now? Suddenly a fire has been lit under his feet and he "wants" to do everything. Only because Allen is busy working, cleaning things up, mowing, etc., doing far more work than this workamper ever dreamed of doing.  The workamper had resolved himself to mowing the dog park once a week and that was the end of it. Is that worth an entire month's worth of lot rent? Of course not.  So he's getting in Allen's face, wanting the lawn mower to the point Allen contacted me about the situation and that is when I contacted them to clarify - for the howeverth many time - they no longer work for the park.  

If it continues I am going to go to their door, get in their faces and tell them directly to leave Allen alone and stop trying to suddenly do something to save your position.  If you had wanted to do that, you would have done enough work to at least get by.  You wouldn't wait until someone else comes along that has a much broader vision for the park, btw, including expansion, see them start doing all kinds of  stuff including decorating the shed and putting up hand made signs (they are really nice btw), mowing, trimming, picking up stuff, etc.  

Go sit in your trailer and drink, or do whatever you want to do, but when rent time comes around? I want that money.  They now know this in no uncertain terms, it has been concisely stated to the 9th degree, it is in writing via text, there is no possibility in realistic terms that they can say that they weren't told.  

I'm cleaning up the messes in the park that were brought on by undesirable people coming in and doing things I don't want them to do.  You can't just look into a person's soul, heart or brain and see what's going on in there. Only God can do that.  I take chances, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, there is a big mess to clean up - via getting rid of people. It's unpleasant work for it's always confrontational. I don't care how professional or nice or kind you try, they are going to get mad because they aren't getting their way.  Like 5 year olds throwing a tantrum on grocery store floors, thye kick and scream, sometimes literally, while they are being taken out to the dumpster. 

Not that I think they're trash, but when they act like that, I don't want them around.  The workamper already drove away one of my favorite repeat customers, I don't need him doing that to anyone else.  

Live and learn. Next time - well I already have the replacement in Allen and yes, I did grill him quite a lot.  Much like when I used to screen people coming into my house to rent rooms.  If there is something amiss, just let them talk long enough and it will come out.  This all came flooding back into my mind after this ordeal. Remember, I haven't done any of that in quite a while.  I've had quite a few long conversations with Allen and so far, it's all normal and a drive to actually help me succeed. They want free lot rent, of course, I'm willing to exchange that for people that are actually on my side and not just about the money.  He's unemployed and apparently not looking for work right now.  

Anyway, it's been an aggravating week, frustrating and very draining.  That stuff takes it out of me and wears me out.  I have to go relax and even take a nap after I have been involved in those ordeals both with the workamper and the couple with the dogs. Add to that Allen losing his wallet and apparently someone taking it - or more likely- someone stole it and his phone to begin with.  He had to go cancel his credit cards, bank cards, etc.  Lost I don't know how much money, but at least a month's worth of lot rent.  

Relishing a day off, I realized I have no clean clothes for work. I have pretty much ruined all my jeans with the trucking job - get some of that glue on your clothes and it ain't coming off - I have one pair that is usable for church.  I was waiting to buy anything more, whether I was going to have to switch to the next size up or stay in the same size. I have been diligent about this diet. I'm not losing a lot of weight but I'm definitely not putting any on, either.  So today after church, I'm going to go buy at least a couple of pair of new jeans and keep them set aside for non-work stuff.  

I'm still going to go over to the park after church and switch out that router. It sat in the heat last year, it's going to have to sit in the heat again until I get a new setup. I need a much larger, waterproof cabinet and a small ac unit to keep it cool.  Actual AC, not that humidifier stuff.  I don't think a fan is good enough. It will blow air around to keep it cooler than if you just have a box collecting heat, but it's still going to be pretty hot in there.  I had bought a box that the thing barely fits into, there is no room for a fan or small ac unit.  Yes, it's going to cost me but unless I want to have to go through this continually, I have no choice.  

What else....well I'll tell ya, I think I've dealt with enough this week.  It's still Sunday.....

19 days away from the trip to Galveston. The beach.  19 people going, they rented a large house, I paid appropriate percentage for my stay, far cheaper than getting a hotel.  I mean, hotels over there at this time of year are in the hundreds of dollars per night range.  Even old, junky hotels.  We are also cooking our own food, planning only one outing where everyone goes off on their own to eat wherever. We have already decided that as well.  

As with most vacations, I will ditch the diet. It's too hard to diet on such occasions, especially when you are eating whatever someone else is making.  I suppose I could take my own food with me, just think it easier to eat/drink whatever for a few days and then right back on Keto.  It was a bit difficult to get back on the no sugar, pasta, potatoes, etc diet again.  After a week, it was like nothing, really.  We are leaving Friday and returning Sunday, it's not a long vacation.  I took Monday off as well, there is nothing as bad, actually, as coming back from a vacation where you've actually worn yourself out with all the activities and then have to face work the very next morning.  A day of recovery, thank you. 

Meanwhile, we have the city of Phoenix with it's ridiculous water bills.  It includes sewer and trash, yes, but I remember the days of $40 per month payments which are now over $200.  They claim water conservation efforts - they are in a drought and have been for many years - but that isn't the whole story.  It's the unions working as city employees that keep demanding higher pay and benefits, far beyond anything you would find for the same type of work in the private sector.  Phoenix is run by leftist tax and spend individuals who just give these unions whatever they want. It will eventually break the city - it might take many years or decades, but when it all catches up to them?  I've seen this scenario taking place in other big cities.  It's absurd to have to pay that much every month.  We're talking some plants to water here, not grass, it's all landscaping rock.  Half of my plants are gone what with the  person taking care of them not really knowing what he's doing.  

I have it set up with a drip system, I don't even know if he's still using it.  He just let stuff go, saying he didn't know what to do and not contacting me about it. I know what to do with the various plants. In the end, I'm not there and he is.  There are still some desert plants that don't take a lot of water so that is that.  We've gotten a lot of rain over there this past season, I'm wondering if that equates to lake filling up and underground reservoirs doing the same? 

Anyway,  my mom is going to be up in the mountains again for the 4th. I'm trying to figure out when to go.  Just going to wait until she's back, at the same time, we have this mini vacation.  Kind of a conundrum.  The only thing that I will not like about the trip is staying at her place. She keeps the thermostat at 80 degrees, a full 10 degrees higher than what I can sleep at. We keep this house cold at night, I'm not the only one that likes it cool for sleeping. 

 I'll call this a short.

The park hosts have come to the point that they are realize they probably will never see the wallet, cash or phone again.  I'm just not sure how this happened. I'm far more concerned now that there is a thief/are thieves staying in the park.  Of course, the people I booted could have also been the culprits, they were also needy.  I call people needy if they can't come up with their rent on time and are struggling to pay their bills.  I don't think ill of them, but sometimes, people in such positions feel like they need to start taking from others to make up for it.

Many of these people will excuse themselves in their own thinking, bypassing any morality or ethics and simply saying: I am poor, I can steal.  Remember, I lived in a poor neighborhood for many years. I didn't steal from anyone but there were many thieves in my neighborhood and I heard this "philosophy" regurgitated endlessly. 

I slept poorly last night and that's because of a case of constipation.  It just wasn't happening and I just don't sleep well in that condition.  No matter, finish this run today and then I'll have the rest of the day off and tomorrow as well. Monday is a late run, which is fine actually, I actually don't mind not getting up early on Monday and having to stay out later.  

I've sort of tuned out politics now that the debate is over. Both sides are now just saying the same talking points over and over and declaring their side won.  Tho it is hard to imagine anyone believing Biden won that debate and even many prominent democrats are not only declaring he is no condition to continue on another 4 years, they are pushing him to step out of the way.  However, Biden's staff, of course, says he's great along with his wife and numerous other pundits, commentators and the like.  

So, what do Democrats do in such cases? They push that narrative on the opponent, saying Trump is incoherent and producing "proof" because he stumbled with his words once in a 90 minute - 2 hour campaign rally.  

Most of these people - well everyone needs - Jesus.  I mean that quite seriously and not funning around.  Many of them are evil, IMO, on both sides and are of this world, so to speak.  

I buy the cheapest coffee pods for the Keurig I can find, I'm just that way and especially with the price of coffee right now.  So, I'm particularly pleased with this Donut House, I think it's called, coffee that I found at Walmart yesterday.  Much better than anything else I've found in town, it's actually quite delicious and my thermos will be full of it in a few minutes.  

Back to the park hosts, I feel bad for them.  It means they are going to have to take precautions against theft. I do that all the time anyway, but still, they had rent money and living off-of money in that wallet. I have given them time to figure out what they are going to do. I will not give the first month's rent off, not right away anyway. I want to see if they are going to live up to their words.

This first guy was living up to his words temporarily and then....almost nothing.  He blames me, of course.  Behind my back, not to my face for he knows what will happen if he says such nonsense to me. I'll blow him out of the water with facts, basically.  I could see those people being thieves, but are they?  Judging books by their covers isn't the greatest methodology to finding out who is doing what.  The money is gone regardless, whoever took it probably spent it already.  The workamper dude is just not all there. I don't think he's on drugs, I think he did that earlier in life and it took it's toll on his brain and thinking capacity.  Especially in the comprehension area of being able to understand and internalize what people are saying to him. It's the reason I think he's capable of stealing.  They aren't totally broke but her (his wife's) disability doesn't take them very far.  

Whatever the case, I am done here. I must leave post haste. I tend to get to thinking when I start writing and time passes by - lots of it - quickly.  Yes, I know the clock stays the same rate of ticking and clicking, just a euphemism. 

G'day.