Thursday - 7:45 am

Taylor is going on the radio this morning, lol, this should be entertaining.  She is doing a section for her work to get people to sign up.  Probably about the best idea she's had yet. The program is free, it's for prescshool children to start getting the hang of school and learning.  I'm sure she'll do well, I'll be listening to it, already have the radio on online.

Somehow, I erroneously thought today was the 9th.  It is not, that would be tomorrow. Just looking for that trolling motor to get here.  Not that I will jump right on it, not even in the slightest.

There have been some - interesting - side effects to this antibiotic and it isn't exactly pleasant.  Just this weird feeling, I've had it before on other drugs, not really explainable, not a great feeling I can tell ya that.  I took another one a little while ago.  As much as I don't want to, I also want to get rid of this nonsense and get on with life.  

The new guy is moved in, paid up and then, I realized, I have this problem with electricity over there once again. Not that any signs are showing that there is a problem and it is already August, so that's good I guess.  Meaning, we've gone through 2 of the hottest months of the year without any issues.  

_________

Many, many hours later.  In fact, night time.  I am attempting to get the courage up to take one of these prostate pills, but reading the potential side effects, ooh la laaahh.  There is a list of 20 of them and some of them do not look pleasant at all.  Fainting?  Priapism? I had to look that word up, good Lord I don't need that.  Nausea, weakness, dizziness...and on and on.  Like, with what I'm already going through I don't need to add any of that to the list. 

I think I'll wait until these antibiotics are gone.  The story on this  prostate medication is that it softens the area around the prostate up so the tube with urine will have the pressure relieved off of it so urine passes through more easily.  The statement after that says that it does not reduce the size of the prostate and that it is only a temporary relief and that at some point, surgery may be necessary.  

I don't even know if it's a prostate issue (tho it probably is) and I have an appointment with a urologist on Tuesday, it may be that I just won't even take that medication and find out what the doc has to say about all of this after he does whatever he has to do to figure out what's going on.  I would very much not like to have to experience the "finger" exam.  Some have stated that I'll probably need a colonoscopy.  

These are bad words, like extremely vulgar language, I don't need any of that, lol. I have, at the end of the day, decided that I will go through whatever they want me to to find out what the deal is.  I still don't see how an enlarged prostate is going to cause pain on the side of your belly in the abdomen area.  Then again, I'm not a doctor, but I will be asking the doc that stuff when the appointment occurs. It's 35 miles away, there are no urologists in this town, apparently they all decided to move to Longview. 

I have not been to the RV park in 2 plus days now.  Allen is still there, he is still handling things, I am good.  However, this new dude that moved in?  Turns out his trailer is a pile of trash.  And has electrical problems. The roof is caving in, the interior is falling apart, etc etc etc. The stuff that happens when a roof leak occurs on a trailer and it isn't dealt with immediately. Over time? It destroys the interior of the trailer. That's not guess work, in this area, with all the rain we have, it WILL destroy the interior. The floor will fall apart and you have a worthless pile of junk.

So, this dude is wanting to bring in yet another trailer...not so fast buddy.  He wants to live in this other trailer he is borrowing from whoever while he fixes the trailer he already has.  No, no and no.  Allen called me earlier, told me I was on speakerphone and the dude can hear everything I'm saying.  All well and fine, I made it clear that I am not operating a trailer trash park.  There is no nice way to say that, so just let it out.  He replied that he didn't know the thing was in such bad condition - apparently they just bought that trailer sight unseen for cheap.  

I don't really believe him, but I told him I can't have that stuff in my park.  So, we left it with him needing to get and send us pics of this other trailer. All sides, please.  I usually have people send me pics anyway, I was distracted with this situation going on with my body and wasn't really thinking clearly about it.  On older rigs, I want pics.  It's really going to be a pain when Allen starts working and I am going to have to go back to dealing with everything.  It's just something I am glad to be taking a break from, but I know that isn't a forever break.  

My manager hasn't called me in 2 days and frankly. I don't really want him to call. He said last week that there is the option of taking time off.  I am taking time off without asking for it. This is the deal where the plant is shut down for 2 weeks for maintenance and repairs and the work is shifted to another plant.  He hasn't called, he probably has the situation covered.  I dunno, but I don't have a lot of energy right now, one of the side effects of this antibiotic.  I just shiver at the thought of taking even more drugs that will compound that effect.  

I literally did nothing today.  I never left the house.  I am going over to the park tomorrow to collect some money, I doubt I will be staying long.  I want to see this trailer tho.  Is it really that bad?  Lol, I'm sure it is, I have seen countless trailers with severe water damage, they all look the same. Falling apart, roofs caving in, interiors completely trashed.

With that? I am calling this quits.  Watch some tv and try to get some sleep.  I did watch some news today, however, just a little, I can't deal with that nonsense right now.  Kamala finally gave a "bit of a press conference" in answering questions after getting off of AF2, I am assuming was the plane she was on.  She is still saying that Trump is afraid to debate her. I just laugh at the preposterousness of such a stupid statement.  There is nothing further from the truth and I am sure she is well aware that what she is saying is completely false and therefore, she is lying through her teeth.

But, that's what politicians do a lot of: Lying.  

G'nite. 

 6 stops. 

That's what it took to get this day over with, for I went to CVS and got the prescriptions. Unfortunately, it's the anti-biotics that have the potential side effects, the stuff for prostate isn't near as bad.  I just took an antibiotic and won't be taking the prostate stuff until I see if/what these antibiotics do to me.  In all of the antibiotics I have taken in my life, only one - of which I don't remember the name of - had a really bad side effect to the point I stopped taking it after the first dose.  My nostrils felt like they were on fire and breathing was difficult.

I have weird reactions to common medicines that don't affect other people the same way.  So I take this stuff sort of fearing what might happen....No way am I taking two medications I have never taken before at the same time.  I do want to take the prostate thing to see if my urine flow gets better, but it can wait a minute - or many hours.  They probably would have given me penicillin if I weren't allergic to it. 

I also went to T Mobile where it took an hour and a half? I think to port my Iphone 13 and then I got a new phone because it was so cheap for the secondary phone.  $75 and I have a brand new phone comparable to the 13.  Now all I have to do is get on Verizon site and cancel my service altogether.  Although, I suspect I'll have to call them for that.  That removes $192 per month off of my bills. 

The final shed payment is going through today, I think. I only owe them $9!  The financial picture will look a bit better after these 2 things are gone and not sucking my finances dry along with credit card junk.  The internet in Phoenix? No clue, he was saying he needs the start up money. I will give it to him off the next month's rent if necessary, after that I will dump $220 range per month for internet.  Oh, I still have the credit card junk, sorry if I was making it look like I was dumping that, I can only wish.  No, I still have those payments and since they all jacked up their interest rates, the payments went up with it.  

There isn't any savings in getting a consolidation loan to lump it altogether, not at 29 and above % interest rates.  I was thinking of doing the Sofi loan until I saw the reviews - lots and lots of them saying the same thing about wanting endless paperwork and then at the end, many of them saying they were denied the loan anyway.  Why bother?  

________

45 minutes since I took that pill.  I dunno how long it takes to start working, I'd like to hope that it's already doing so. If that's the case, I do have some slight - strange - feelings right now but nothing serious.  This particular antibiotic fixes unrinary tract infections, prostate infections, cures various STD's and is basically just the type of antibiotic I wanted. I do not have STD's, that is 100% guaranteed.  But the feeling that I have some sort of infection? YES.  Like it's somewhere down there or in there, behind there, around there, but it's there. And it's very uncomfortable and could be the reason I have this pain on the side of my abdomen.  

I didn't know what, exactly, that doctor had prescribed so it's a bit comforting to find out one of the prescriptions was specifically for the indications of what I had described to her.  There was no inspection of the areas - not that I wanted one exactly, but isn't that their job? -  apparently just taking my word for it and that's fine as long as the treatment is directed and focused on fixing it.  

Ok, well I'm not doing anything for the rest of the day.  Im glad the park host is still over there, if anything comes up, he can and will deal with it.  I want to get that coach moved so she can come over there and start working on it - but - that's just going to have to wait until tomorrow. I don't want to be driving anything until I am confident there are no serious side effects to this stuff, cause' honey, there is a long list of them. Death, heart attacks, organ failure, strokes are, fortunately, not on that list, but still. Dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, etc.  

Ugh, of course someone wants to move in when I'm doing something that requires me to do - nothing but wait.  It's been an hour now tho and nothing serious yet.  A man just called me wanting to come over - right now! - of course, that's the way half of this stuff works.  Call, move in, done. So I called Allen to be on the lookout for this dude and he said he'd go over and spruce the lot up nicely.  Fine by me.  

I care how I feel, but I am also in business and as long as the park host is there, I'm going to keep him busy.  Not too busy, then I'd feel like I'm taking advantage of him, it's $450 free lot rent he's getting, he's probably already done 1/3rd of the work I'd minimum require him to do for any given month. I don't want him doing it too fast, the grass will need mowed again in a couple of weeks and he's been working on the riding mower, trying to get that going plus he has mowed all the lots in between the trailers.

So much for my previous theory that he just goes to work when I show up ... that was true but now he's working again and I'm good with it if it just sort of goes back and forth but I do, indeed, get my minimum requirement of work done every month.  Just spoke a little hastily, based on previous man who was definitely lazy, definitely not doing anything but mowing the doggy park once a week.  I just get tired of moochers. I didn't mooch to save the money to build that park, that is guaranteed.  I suppose just from a biblical stance I should expect to help some people out.  To whatever degree I feel like that help should be given. But so far, it's been take advantage of the situation to the point they are doing next to nothing and too bad, so sad.  Screw all of that.  The man that doesn't work, doesn't eat. I believe that's in the book of Proverbs.  I've worked, and worked, and worked. 

 Applying that standard to myself, I'd like to think my work ethic that has kept me active for 50 plus year working my butt off should be winding down. I dunno and I'm not planning on stopping working, but I would like to cut back a little?  

Okay, Verizon is canceled and will take effect on the 12th of this month. Why then, I have no clue.  I'm sure I'll get a final bill, it's whatever.  It's over $400 gone with the shed done as well. Good riddance to both.  Now to figure out the internet service at the house and dump even more money going down the drain.  I figure I might try the T-Mobile Gateway again now that I have phones with them to verify I am actually with their service.  A bit ridiculous you can't deal with their screwup because they can't send a "verification code" to a T-mobile phone. What about the email address on file? Lots of companies verify doing it that way.  

I'm back and forth here, was reading more about this antibiotic and several sites have this: Stay out of the sunlight, especially between the hours of 10:00 am and 3:00 pm.  I can drive a truck and stay out of direct sunlight.  I just want to know I'm not going to have some of these side effects and some on that list probably take a while to show up if at all. 

And that's it. Lot 16 - one of the alternative lots - is rented.  They are moving in today.  I asked lots of questions, I don't know what else I can do about it.  Oh yes, have Allen discuss the rules with them. I am not going over there today and I am not working tomorrow either, apparently. My manager didn't contact me and I don't care at this point, I'll take a paycheck from the business and be done with it if I have to.  There is plenty of money in there, just deposited 2 grand, plus have taken in several payments including today.  Even having to pay the electric bill, there will still be lots of cash in there, at least lots of cash from my perspective.  

There is only 1 lot left available right now, the giant lot 1 and I don't know if I'm going to rent that one out.  I have an overnighter coming in in 5 days and another a bit after that and that's all.  I know in another month or so, maybe 2?  I should see snow birds traveling through looking for a place to stay over night. My area is not a snow bird destination as much as I'd love it to be. 

_________

Many hours later. I started feeling funny for a couple of hours and then? Pretty normal now.  Thankfully.  

 Wednesday  semi-early

I mean, I went to bed at 9:30 last night, 6:30 am hits and it's just time to get up.  

Since the appointment for the nurse practitioner isn't until Tuesday of next week, I ended up going to urgent care.  They asked a bunch of questions, took my vitals, my blood pressure not bad. Not great, could be better but not in the "you are about to have a heart attack and go to the emergency room right now!" bad.  In fact, nowhere near that.  

They took 2 x-rays of my abdomen/groin area, took a urine sample and came back a little later and said that my bladder isn't draining out fully and I need to go see a urologist, replete with a name and a referral - that they never sent.  There is no family history of prostate problems, everyone I have encountered that has that issue also has a family history of it. I'm not saying that isn't the problem, they didn't really know and said I needed that specialist. Well let's get this train moving, I am not going to just sit around hoping that it just goes away, I want the entire situation checked out and determined what is going on and what, if anything, can be done about it. 

They also sent some prescriptions to a CVS and I haven't gone and gotten them. I didn't get the notice that they were ready until evening and I just said screw it, I'll get whatever it is tomorrow.  Although I have had good results from this urgent care in the past, I feel like they weren't listening to my symptoms.  Admittedly they aren't really the people to go to for serious issues, if this is indeed serious, but at least get me rolling in the right direction? I supposed they did that with a referral - that they never sent.  I'll go get whatever meds they have prescribed, check them out first and take whatever it is.  

I don't take medications without seeing what the potential side effects are.  You know because you have likely seen it on TV ads.  Where they are advertising some pill for a minor issue but the side effects can be heart attacks, strokes, death, kidney failure, etc?  And I also check any antibiotics, I've had docs attempting to give me penicillin in the past, even tho I directly told them I am allergic to it and checked the box on the sheet about any allergies? Yes, penicillin and any derivatives thereof.  

I'm getting on the urologists docket for starting whatever process as soon as possible.  

I am likely to go to the park today and pick up where I left off 2 days ago.  I was rather - deflated - that I didn't get any answers from the urgent care yesterday.  Who knows what's wrong and who knows how many doctor visits it will take to find out and who knows if it's something serious or not?  None of that was answered yesterday beyond the vague "your bladder isn't completely emptying out when you go pee".  How does that affect my abdomen? On the right side? The far right side? I don't know, maybe it does or maybe there are 2 issues going on.  Oh, so I didn't go over to the park but I did check in with Allen - who is leaving either this weekend or Monday to start his new job.

I'll give him credit that he just mowed the lawns between the trailers and since it's not currently raining and there is no rain in the forecast, I figure it won't grow back too quickly.

Oh, my canopy did arrive yesterday.  So, that's a job that needs done, I want to get the trolling motor hooked up somewhere on the bow first before I decide where to put those marine batteries. It will be in one of the front storage compartments for sure, just which one I haven't determined yet.  My goal in getting 24 volt was that there are 2 batteries to draw off of instead of 1 in case the 2 stroke, 150 hp engine decides it won't be starting for me.  This is going to be a project and will probably take some time, but fishing is good year round here so whenever it's done, we can go even if it's out of summer.  

I check interest rates frequently. I don't know why, the feds haven't reduced the base rate so you know the loan companies aren't lowering their rates, I just do it out of habit I guess. Maybe more out of desire: I'd love to increase the numbers of sites and I can't do that with a good chunk of change.  Or not?  If I could get the lots carved out and ready to install everything in the ground, just have to do the installation of the utilities and have some gravel brought out, I could get the next septic system on credit, get the lots carved out and completed quickly and get the revenue in to cover the payments (and then some, of course) on the septic system.  I'm a little leery of spending my cash right now in this kind of toxic economic/hyper-inflation environment and the possibility of another financial meltdown.  

Yes, I have fairly well decided that whatever I do, it makes no sense not to get at least another 15 sites in there.  Double the current income and then think about tiny homes or whatever for the front of the property.  There is a lot of room up there, it's just that leveling it out for each pad would mean putting up retention walls. That's more money - a lot more money so the front will remain untouched except to clear it out again until I get to that point, if ever.  I will probably shrink the distance between sites as well. 35 feet instead of 40.  But, probably make 4 or so sites larger both in length and width.  I dunno, it's just in the thinking department right now.

______

Turns out they sent the referral to the doc's office via fax yesterday and I can either wait for them to call me or I can call them to speed up the process. We'll be speeding up the process, thank you.  I see no benefit in waiting. 

 

Tuesday - 8:00 am

Their dog was injured yesterday, meaning it had a huge open gash behind the belly, so they took off to get the dog treated.  The only place open in these parts that late is 40 miles away.  I don't even know what time they got home.  Feel badly for James, he didn't get home from work until like 7:00 pm after leaving at 5:30 am and then having to do that with the rest of his free time before going to bed and getting up again for work this morning. 

I was asked to go to Ennis for today, I declined.  I am going to see a doctor, sorry.  Oh, that didn't sound good coming from the manager but regardless, my health is more important than this job.  He didn't argue per se, you could just tell with the sighing and sounds that the "easy fix" wasn't going to be so easy.  Whatever the case, I made an appointment for Tuesday, today, but then realized I didn't verify with them which Tuesday, for the lady on the phone made it sound like next week.  I'll still go next week if that's an issue, but I'll go to Urgent Care today. Next week can and will be an annual checkup as I stated that's what I wanted on the phone. I'm not waiting until next week to have this situation diagnosed.  

I did finally sleep last night tho. Like 8 full hours of sleep. For me? That's almost into miracle territory.  The throbbing pain on my right side has stopped, I don't know what caused it but for how long it went on, I still want it checked out.  Do your tests, do whatever, figure it out and get back to me. 

I don't much care for this doctor's office, however. I just spent 15 minutes on hold just to speak to the person at the front desk.  Maybe they're all like that, but the other issue I have is I am just now finding out this "doctor" is a nurse practitioner.  I have nothing against them, but I'd like a real doctor such as the last one.  I mean, I have this appointment and I also just found out it's for next week, so off to urgent care today I go.  This local urgent care is more like a mini hospital, I have always liked their service and expertise.  Oh, the the other thing about this nurse practitioner, the few reviews that are on there, one of them said he is rude.

However....people get mad about petty stuff and go instantly to the internet and start saying nasty things.  I need more than one bad review to make me think about going somewhere else. 

Anyway, Im going to sit here, drink my coffee, shave and shower and then off to Urgent Care.  I am almost tempted to say, nahhh, I don't need it now that the pain is gone, but what caused that pain? And is it gone permanently?  You want to think, it's not something serious and attempt to deceive yourself into thinking, no, it doesn't need checked out.  But I have insurance now, the co pay is only $70, and as much as I hate going to see doctors? I'm just not going to leave this to chance.

As it stands, everyone is gone this morning.  Taylor is going to do a setup for her work over at a splash pad 2 towns over, but since it's a splash pad, the kids went as well.  I would have gone but I didn't want to sit there for 4 or 5 hours and I also want to get this doctor visit done and over with.  I guess I could have driven myself over there.  

End of summer almost here.  The 12th is the first day of school for the boys and they really need to get back into something other than sitting around the house all day long. The 2 were going at it so badly yesterday that I demanded they get dressed, put on their hiking shoes and let's go! Into this horrid heat and humidity, yup.  The oldest didn't want to go, so I was just going to leave without him, but he started getting pouty.  He wanted a certain type of food for lunch and mama wasn't giving it to him. She made sandwiches, she didn't want one.  Both of those kids are so skinny because they fuss about food every single day.

It's ridiculous. We are making delicious meals and they can have as much as they want, but often times? A plate of food is set before them and they just sit there and stare at it. They used to get into trouble for it, but that wasn't working. Now? It's eat or don't eat, but if you don't eat, there isn't going to be anything else.  You'd be surprised at how many times I've watched them choose "starve" mode over eating. And they know none of the adults in the house are going to cave after the fact.  If we are serving steak or chicken nuggets, they will gladly eat the whole plate. 

Take that back, they'll eat the whole plate of steak or chicken, the rest of the stuff? Yeah, no.  And what set this all in motion? Being at grandma's for half the damn summer. She just caters to them, making double meals. One for what the kids want and the other for the adults to eat. NO, NO and NO.  That is stupidity.  You are just setting up for a miserable household being selfish like that and giving into young kids. She thinks it's perfectly normal.  It's great you are retired and can spend your time doing whatever you please, but please act normal and just feed them whatever you are eating.  It's not bad food by any stretch.

Sometimes, we do make new recipes that turn out questionable. I mean, we do new recipes all the time, some of them are definite keepers, others, well, it's not that the food tastes bad, it just isn't appealing.  But, we keep the regular meals as well. Tacos are always a hit.  But make those kids BBQ chicken like last night? I don't liiiiikkkkeeeee that.  Pouting, sour faces, moping: ridiculous.  Then, if they don't eat, they're asking for treats after the meal.  LMAO, good luck with that!  I don't cave to that at all. You didn't eat your dinner, why on earth do you think I'm going to give you a treat?  

I had to remove the battery out of the coach yesterday to charge it on a battery charger. Jump starting it did nothing.  It was dead and I'm afraid it may be ruined. Who knows, I left the thing in the shed, charging.  It will either be fully charged by now or it's toast.  It was showing 3 amps of juice in it when I put it on the charger.  At least there was a little bit of a charge in it, maybe it's not totally ruined? I don't know, but the next time poor people want to come in? I don't know if I'm going to allow it. 2 times in a row they have taken advantage of me, ignored park rules and made life miserable for certain people and otherwise just living like slobs, actually. I like helping people, I don't like helping people that are life long moochers and have no more motivation to do anything about their situation than to sit around all day, doing nothing and going to people's trailers asking for cigarettes and such.

I can tell ya, the next time people want to tent camp? I'm going to be asking a series of questions. For how long? Are you just coming to tent camp for the fun of it or are you looking for a place to stay, in your tent?  Tho that last lady lied to me about it, saying she was only staying a couple of days.

Anyway, the extent of my day today will be go to Urgent Care and then go to the park and see about that coach battery.  

The marine batteries arrived yesterday, the canopy allegedly today, the motor? A tracking label has been created.  It hasn't shipped yet.  I won't wait forever. There is no "delayed delivery" on it, so I'll give it a few more days and if nothing happens? Cancel that order and move on.  I dunno what it is about these trolling motors and getting them shipped after actually paying for them? Lol. I will be draining all the gas out of that tank and putting fresh back in - after everything else is completed.  It's been sitting too long, I don't want to try and treat the fuel, I wonder if that's half the problem I had before.  I wouldn't mind finding fuel without the ethanol crap in it, I think there's a couple of places in town that sell "pure" gasoline.  The trolling motor will be insurance that if the thing doesn't want to start, we can just use the electric motor. It is 24 volt so 2 batteries meaning on any given outing, you are going to get a lot of use out of it before the batteries are dead.  I should have ordered 3 batteries, tho, the battery for the regular motor is likely trashed by this time as well. 

No one said boating is cheap. I feel like if I do this stuff, the rest of anything else that comes up will be minor.  I destroyed the canopy by accident, I didn't know you can't take off going 30 mph on the lake with it up. The wind destroyed it and that was the end of that.  But, I will also have to put it on my insurance, just remembered.  I don't want to get into a boating accident and have a huge bill facing me without insurance. It isn't expensive.  

Interest rates for loans are still ridiculously high. 29%?  That's worse than credit cards!  I'm stubbornly waiting for interest rates to come down and if it happens at all, it will be next year at the earliest before they are brought down enough to bring interest rates back into the reasonable zone again.  If nothing else, I have that tractor (hopefully) coming this weekend. I'ma put that baby to use.  Anyway, I need at least 100k to do what I want/need to do to expand the park and eventually get out of trucking altogether.  I'm afraid it's going to take much longer than I originally hoped for.

Well, that's sort of it. I am dreading going to the doctor. Not because I am afraid of the results. I don't want negative news that drastically altars the direction of my life, obviously, but it's more of the looking at things, prodding, sticking needles in, things like that.  The Urgent Care doctors pull no punches. I am happy about that, actually, the deliver whatever needs delivered in terms of whatever is going on with you.

Oh, and Kamala.  Well, apparently she was officially made the democrat nominee "in the middle of the night".  No one voted for her, people that voted? Voted for Biden.  The undemocratic process that was taken here is appalling and I have to wonder how that sits with democrats.  The VP is usually a useless additive to the President, almost no one votes for or because of the VP/running mate.  This is why I wonder how this affects the vote coming in November.  And once the super Pacs start dishing out the realities of a Harris Presidency, I can only hope that those undecided will not choose her and that enough swings states can be converted into a red X on the win box.  Harris is far left, meaning Communist.  To me, anyway.  This makes her unpalatable to any moderate voters.

Enough of that and this post.  I am still just watching a little political news here and there and then shutting it off.  Too much negativity, too much name calling, too much hatred.

G'day.

 Monday - mid morning

I have some sort of abdominal pain, more like discomfort, that is coming and going - but isn't going away.  It's been going on for days now and I feel like it's time to see a doc and find out what's going on.  I'm not one to rush to doctor's offices at the first sign of a sniffle, but this pain is in the area where the Appendix is located, if there is something going on with that, I want to know about it before something happens.  

So, I'm sitting here drinking my coffee but in a minute I'm going to call the doctor and see if he has any availability. If not, I'll head over to urgent care and see if they can at least figure out what's going on.  

The Dow Jones is around a 1,000 point nose dive and apparently is continuing on from last week.  I was reading about the Sahms Rule, which is by so-called expert analyst statements is in effect now, meaning we are on the verge of a recession.  People have been calling it for a while now.  Harris is, of course, blaming Donald Trump for what's going on right now, in this economy...

Imagine being in power for near 4 years and still blaming a former president for the current state of affairs in the economy.  

I was also reading a story where Americans with children are facing the choice between buying the necessary school supplies for their kids or paying bills and are opting to buy the school supplies.  Or, put it on credit cards.  The folks here go shopping every week in advance of the coming work week for groceries and supplies. Admittedly, we hadn't really stocked up since the vacation, but still, the total of $451 was a bit much.  I pay half of it, we all eat dinners together really we are a family.  

If there is a recession, I do wonder how it will affect the industry I am in in delivering glue to a large manufacturer who uses it to produce plywood.  No clue.  I think this company ships all over the world.  

The jobs report is being slated as as bad as it was in 2021.  Why is this important? Well, obviously it affects all of us to some degree, but it also is going to affect this Presidential race. It's going to be hard for a nominee to win a race where she is part and parcel of the leadership that is in governance while this market and economy are going south.  

Anyway, I don't wish for a recession, no one should and I wonder how it might affect my business. I have some retired but mostly working class people.  Everyone needs housing so that helps but I am not supplying the housing, just the place for the housing to exist.  I'm not going to worry about it, won't be the first time and you do what you have to to make it through it.  Basically, that means if my trucking job went south, it would be time to find another one, if one is available and do whatever kind of route necessary.  

The property does not have a lot of debt tied to it per se, it's me the debt is connected to.  Not sure that matters in a court if things go so bad I couldn't pay my credit card bills and such.  Probably doesn't matter at all, being 100% ownership of the property.  I'll just hope it never gets to the point.  If it does, a lawyer will be necessary to wade through the legaleze and attempt to find some way through it without losing everything.  I only say this because that recession that we went into in 2008 was pretty bad. 

It's not helpful the fed didn't lower the interest rate.

Anyway, my plans for today will be put on hold for the doctor is more important.  I don't even know if Urgent Care can do anything about such a condition, I'd prefer that over going to a hospital.  Much cheaper.  I envision having blood drawn and whatever else, getting prodded and basically a miserable time while they attempt to figure out what's going on.  This urgent care has it's own labs and x ray abilities.  There isn't much in this town beyond that and the hospital. The hospital shut down several years ago, then started back up as an emergency room only, the rest of it has been leased for doctor's offices. You really have to drive either to Shreveport or Longview (I'd go to Longview) for a "real hospital".  

Oh, well I'm assuming my regular doctor will have no availability.  He never does, they book him up the entire day and the only way to slip in is if there is a no show calls in and cancels.  

My marine batteries are showing up today.  The canopy is coming today or tomorrow, the trolling motor just shipped this morning, according to the report. I canceled the other motor since it was indefinitely "delayed" and ordered another one that was cheaper in price and has better reviews.  The price tag goes up substantially when you need a longer shaft for the blade to reach into the water.  The recommendation was 60 inches and higher thrust power.  So, I got the 60 inch model of a particular brand and 86 thrust power.  It's a heavy boat and some heavy people will be getting into it.  

The lake and fishing sound good right about now.  

Not shocking the people aren't even answering the phone at the doctor's office.  And if they are so busy they can't even get to the phone, it is highly likely I will be going to urgent care and that's that.  

And, it's the only thing on my mind right now because it is rather uncomfortable. 

G'day.

 Sunday -night

No work tomorrow, didn't do much today.  Church, clean the kitchen, help make dinner, mostly just hang out. Well, I did get quite a bit of laundry done today.  

The tractor is confirmed.  Allegedly coming next weekend, I will use the thing after work until I get everything I need done or they want the thing back. I don't really know what size they boy is bringing - I call him a boy, he's 18 years old and legally defined a man, however...well he does have a good work ethic and isn't a mooch.  So, I guess I can call him a man by that metric.  He will get partial or full month worth of rent for free.  No restrictions on not being able to use it in brush like the local rental company does and I don't have to transport it to the Park or back.  That's a pretty good deal, especially if I can get use of it for several days.  Or even a week? 

I asked Allen about that, he just paused and said, well, as long as we need it?  I'm kind of psyched about that, it's still one of those don't count your chickens before they hatch deals.  I'll believe it when I see it...but he must have asked his parents about using it?  

Lot 1 is open again, I dunno if I want to leave it open or rent it back out. I'd like to leave it open for overnight stuff, but right now, there isnt a lot of that coming in. One last night and I think it was a week ago before that.  

Tomorrow I'm getting some gas and putting it in the coach and then will attempt to fire it up.  I should have taken the battery out and put it on the charger now that I think of it.  Well, if I can't get it jump started, I'll just have to do that.  Since Allen's wife still says she wants to refurbish that thing, I'm all for getting it moved back into position. Meaning, being able to plug it in and have electrical service available.  She'll need it for power tools and also to be able to turn on the AC. 

I have nothing else. Went to church today and it was pretty good, actually.  The pastor has been on a sabbatical or something - he's disappeared I'll put it that way - for a while now.  The man preaching today said he's fine, he isn't retiring but they are going to start the process of finding someone to eventually take his place. At 75 years old, I can see why the pastor would want to slow down the work schedule and hand over some responsibilities. 

I'm not going to take the situation with the friend of the family to heart against the church. There are 2 sides to every story.  I don't even want to go there, for I don't see it as anything major, at least not from my perch.  I kind of like the church, I just think it's too big for my tastes but I've gotten used to it.  I like the level of interaction you get with other people in small churches.  It's hard to hide somewhere in a church of only, say 50 people.  Pastors typically find out about you as well and get involved to some degree in your life. It's more personal.  I will have to start going to adult group meetings to actually start forging new friendships and so far? I have resisted it. 

Just my experiences with other churches.  

Anyway, it's getting late and I'm going to go to sleep.  Nice to not have to get up at any particular time in the morning for work.

 Saturday - early

Well, I have no idea what's going on with work yet.  One thing that was clarified is that the Ennis run is not gone.  My manager had told me the wrong thing and said as much yesterday. He had actually been referring to some new run that had been installed temporarily going to Malvern, which is also in Arkansas.  He did say, however, that the Ennis run also has dedicated drivers and that if we take those runs, those drivers are out those runs. He then said, but it is what it is, if we have to we'll take some of those runs away from them.

Yes, they do that to us as well.  The "if we have to" part, giving our runs occasionally to other drivers that are not a part of the dedicated "team".  There are only 3 of us dedicated to it. Well sort of a 4th.  

Anyway, I have 33 hours of PTO time available, I have no idea what the pay is and he couldn't tell me. "It's run off of hour many hours you have worked and divided by the pay that you have received" etc.  It's kind of hard to figure out how much time you can take off if you don't know how much the hours you have are worth...

What I do know is that I have tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday off.  I mean, if I have to take a paycheck from the business account, so be it.  I have resisted thus far.  

I am highly amused, changing the subject, at the story I just read about the NABJ (black journalists association or something like that) who invited Trump and Harris to a sort of debate but with the journalists asking the questions. Trump showed up, Harris did not and now there is internal strife about why they even invited Trump, who "questioned their blackness" and other ridiculous statements.  I watched the entire thing on YouTube yesterday.  Trump was typical Trump and the first person to ask hij questions was clearly a Trump hater.  

But now, some person on the board of their organization has resigned because of it and some dude is saying that Republicans have not accepted their request to come for many years in a row, so why is he doing it now and "there must be some advantage to him coming". Well duhhh.  Trump has been going into clearly blue states as well, doing rallies and attempted to win voters over.  If you didn't want his @$$ on that panel answering questions, why did you invite him? 

It's just full meltdown mode when it comes to Trump and the left, I have been watching this for years now and it started before he even became President the first time around.  But now? Trump is an "existential threat to our democracy". They love  to use that word existential. As if he's Godzilla and is going to come breath fire onto our cities and kill everyone and tear entire cities down!  He's a convicted felon! Yes, out of a court with an activist judge who nixed many of the things the defense wanted to bring into play and allowed irrelevant testimony that had no bearing on the case other than to try and make Trump look bad and still had an active gag order on him long after the trial was over.

I fully expect that on appeal, that entire case is going to be dropped. Or, Merchan will be "forced" to drop it because of the Presidential immunity decision handed down by the "MAGA Court" - LMAO - whereas it is evident that many of the things they accused him of were done as his "official duties" and cannot be prosecuted.  You see, I greatly disliked Obama, hated his policies, but I never acted out like most all of the democrat side of the equation does when it comes to Trump and I don't know any conservatives/Republicans that had full tilt meltdowns when Biden won.  

Leftists take the "moral high ground" yet in my view, much of which they support is immoral to the core.  Especially abortion on demand.  I could go into a list, but I neither have the time nor the desire.  It's old news and if you don't know what leftists stand for, then you aren't paying attention to what is going on in the political world.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I guess, if you don't want to be exposed to constant negativity.  Both sides bash the other side constantly, unendingly, it gets old it's why I have limited the amount of exposure I place on myself to political news.  

Or there's this thing that just happened.  Several political prisoners were released in a prisoner exchange.  Which, on it's face, is  a wonderful thing.  Russia had accused them of spying and being pawns of the US military or CIA or whatever the deals were and then imprisoned them.  I don't know who or how many they exchanged, I just saw the story where Biden and Harris show up personally to greet them. Yeah, if you wonder if this wasn't a carefully executed plan to make them look wonderful - Biden and Harris - well believe what you wish. I won't pass judgment on you excepting to say the bias blinders are working well.  

The thing is, the amount of stuff that has happened just this year alone in the political realm concerning running for the President is quite amazing.  The most amazing thing, IMO, is an attempted assassination of a former president and going through a lot of video footage and hearing testimony, one has to at least consider that there is the possibility of an inside job going on there.  If you look at the latest footage that has been released, it shows the attempted assassin clearly moving on the roof. The person taking the footage is in line with Trump's head and the assassin.  You see the clear line of fire and wonder, how could have the Secret Service made the decision without willful neglect to not call that roof a portion of their defined perimeter? 

Questions that may never be answered.

One thing that is answered? It's time to go to work! Up to Gurdon, get it done and come home for a couple of days.

G'day.

 Thursday - evening

Some days, it's enough to make it through a work day and go home.  

The people at lot 1 have left according to Allen. They were there when I was there earlier, apparently they left for Lufkin. They are paid up through the 10th. This is the situation where it was alleged the man is beating on the woman.   That problem just transported itself off of the property and I didn't have to do anything but collect their money when they showed up.  It's ok, I like having Lot 1 open for overnighters. Not getting a lot of that, but there are some reservations in the system. 

Allen is starting his new job on the 10th.  Unless his wife shows up to take his place, I am going to ask him to take the "Park Hosts" sign down. It is pointless to have a lot dedicated to something that doesn't exist.  He's going to be gone 2 weeks at a time, my guess is that they will end up leaving and moving the trailer to wherever he's working.  People can't go to a trailer to inquire about lots or whatever if no one is there.  

I have some leads on other people to move in, I'm thinking get Robert's - the workamper - lot re-rented.  I don't see the coach being worked on any time soon, it can just sit where it's at and I will eventually find someone to work on it.  Things that never happened for $500, Alex.  The riding mower is running again if nothing else.  I'm going to have to go mow lots, that's what I can say.  Allen does some stuff, but he's starting to peter out.  I think these people think I don't pay attention, perhaps they think I'm stupid or that they can just get away with stuff. Allen has been "acting" like he's been busy all day, but I know next to nothing has been getting done.  

It's why I want a person to keep track of the hours they have worked and record what they did during those hours.  I'm going to start that with him if he wants to continue on.  I'll have to figure out what his time is worth per hour for the deduction on rent, but I am not going to go through what I did with Robert again.  What it really is, I'm too small of an operation to need that kind of help. I love it, but I am not there to supervise.  I can't keep track of it.

But, at the same time, when nothing is getting done and the grass is growing tall, that becomes it's own tattle-tale on the person that is supposed to be doing that stuff. The grass between the trailers is tall now and I will do it myself if he won't.  And then, we will have a discussion. You don't want to work, fine, start paying rent.  Take down the sign and you can just be regular guests living here. Or whatever you want to do.  Then again, he did start out well enough, it's worth something for sure.

I just know that I have figured this out.  He hears my truck coming in, it's noisy. I crawl at 4 mph through the park as to not disturb people, but I see him "working" as if he's been "working all day long". No, he hasn't.  I'm going to move the camera discretely so I can see what he's allegedly doing "all day long".  I had the feeling he was trying to pull one over on me.  He did do a little bit of mowing on the riding mower today, but that stuff can wait, I need the trailers mowed out regularly. That's more work. 

Anyway, Lot 1 is vacated, lot 11 is empty but paid for, lot 16 - an alternate spot - may be rented back out. That's where the workamper was. A dude just called about a spot, I told him I do have a 30 amp lot. We talked for a bit but I need to ask him more questions. He wants to move in this weekend, I want to know about how many people are going to live there, how many vehicles, dogs, tell him about the park rules.  Etc.   

 Wednesday

Pretty much sailed through the work day.  The washout didn't take long and they got to loading me at the plant immediately. I was home before 1:00 pm, of which I was very happy for a long time Facebook friend and her daughter - neither of whom I have met in person before - were going to stop by for a quick visit. Traveling through, she had picked her daughter's friend up in Little Rock 3 weeks ago and then took her back to Little Rock yesterday, I believe and coming through our town today.

It was a very wonderful visit. I have not met a lot of people in person from the internet, but all of them that I have met have all been very wonderful people and a joyous time has been had, at least from my perspective. She lives near Houston, so not exactly down the street around the corner, but...

Taylor was here as well. Well of course she was, she only lives here, lol.  But she hung out as well, it's always a pleasure to have Taylor hanging out because everyone instantly likes her.  Anyway, at some point, Taylor is standing there staring at me, giving me a look. I knew exactly what she was thinking without her saying a word.  The friend that stopped is a little younger than me, still very beautiful and a very lovely daughter.  Young - going to be a Junior in High School, very intelligent, has her act together, she will have most of the credits she needs to graduate by the end of this next school year.  

Anyway, I never really thought about the situation with my friend turning into something a bit more than friends. I dunno.  Maybe? I really have put any thoughts of ever getting married again well out of my mind after the last disaster.  I am not going to go into that disaster excepting to say that the person was in seriously depression and I should have known better. Alas, the ideology of wanting something to work out, even when something inside of you is telling you it most certainly will not.

This friend, however, is not in depression, isn't fresh out of marriage, has her act together, has good employment, takes care of her daughter very well, she's a real class act IMO.  So who knows?  There is on thing I will say tho: I am not moving to a big city.  I have had my life long share of that junk, it is definitely not for me, not anymore.  Not to mention I have really set roots here what with my extended family I live with and the business I have created and is going well enough.  

Speaking of that, a lady is moving out today, another one is "moving" in.  He just paid.  It's actually a man who is setting everything up for his son to attend the state college here.  He is buying him a new 5th wheel, I assume setting him up with a nice pickup, I would suspect paying for his college, doing everything a parent can do to help their child succeed.  In other words, the man is quite rich.  I mean, I am not saying anything bad about it, I commend him for trying to give his son the best start in life he can.  A state technical college is absolutely a great way to go about doing that as well, as long as the kid has a good work ethic. Those types of colleges are for working men and women, out in the heat type of stuff, long, grueling hours at times or all the time, depending on the line of work you choose to get into. 

For me? He is saying his son will be staying at the park for a year at least.  Guaranteed income and one more lot that won't have high turnover.  It's the turnover of long term guests that throws things up for a loop.  I've had 2 lots leave in the last few days and I've had 2 people claim those lots right behind them.

I am facing probably 2 more lots worth to replace very soon.  The one monther that I knew wasn't staying long and these weird people at lot 1 that were parking and driving on the grass and letting their dogs run loose. To be frank, I want those people to leave.  They are strange and now I'm being told that several people think that the man is beating on the woman. They heard a lot of screaming and crashing sounds coming from inside the trailer last night.  That isn't necessarily proof that the man is beating the woman, but it is odd behavior to say the least.  No one thinks those people are "right in the head". 

Ok, but have they done anything since they were addressed about the dogs and parking? Any negative interactions with anyone else? No.  Then there isn't anything I can or will try to do about it unless the noise is disrupting anyone from enjoying their peace inside of their trailer.  If there is a strained relationship with abuse going on, I can't do anything about it. Unless someone actually sees the man hitting the woman, what am I supposed to do? I strictly forbid the park manager from addressing them about it, that isn't our place unless it turns publicly ugly.  Then you can call the Sheriff to do a wellness check and tell them the story about hearing the noises and screaming.  I mean, if I see the woman and she has visible bruises, I might be inclined to do something about that. 

I do not like men who hit women.  It is nothing I have ever done and it is nothing a man should be doing to a lady.   I don't care what the beef is, if the relationship is that bad, get out of it.  It is amazing that women do, indeed, stay in such relationships, but apparently studies have been done, lots of them, that say that they get caught up in a relationship to the point they don't feel like they can get out of it. Or they don't want to get out of it, making excuses for the man and thinking it will get better. I've seen this with my own eyes throughout the adult portion of my life.  It takes a support system to help some of these ladies walk away from it and get out of the abusive treatment.

But again, I have no proof that that is what's going on in there, what I am getting tired of is constant drama.  It has been one thing after another.  Gets old.

Well, anyway, they only stayed an hour.  She has to go back to work in the morning, getting up at 4:30 am so yeah, it's 3-1/2 hour drive from here to there and it was already almost 4:00 pm.  I really could have hung out for the rest of the day tbh.  

There isn't much else. The Park Host found a job - he's been broke so I understand why he wants to go back to work. He doesn't want to lose his position as park host, but he'll be gone for 2 weeks at a time. Not much help to me.  I'll have to have him keep track of his hours if that is what he really wants to do, I'm not giving a full month's rent for free if there isn't the working hours to back it up. An hour-appropriate discount, sure.  His wife still hasn't been back and I do wonder if there aren't marital issues going on there.  He says they're fine, that's as far as I wanted to take it.  She is a great worker and I really wanted her to work on the coach after she offered. I'm guessing that isn't going to happen and will think about re-renting that lot.  

Oh, wait.  Yes, there is something else.  It's the yearly 2 week thing where the plant in Lufkin shuts down for 2 weeks and then throws our work into chaos.  The Ennis run is no more, that's what I was doing when it shut down last time.  They were only given that run on a trial basis, but my manager told me the company was outbid by another trucking company and so, they lost the trial run and the contract.  

What does that mean? It means, if I'm going to work the next 2 weeks starting Monday,  I will have to load in Crossett, AR and deliver to Gurdon, AR the same day. Well, ok, it's like a 3 hour drive.  The point is, I come nowhere near my town.  It's just an Arkansas run.  It's another plant that is owned by the same company as the one I go to in Lufkin.

I honestly don't know why they don't just produce the product in Crossett permanently? Not that I want to lose my job, but that makes more sense than having to have it shipped clear from Lufkin.  Much cheaper shipping costs.  I don't get it but I'm not going to try and explore that question, why would I want to? My job relies on going to Lufkin, not going to Crossett. Crossett is a little over 3 hour drive from here.  

To do any work, I'd just have to stay up there and sleep in the truck.  Yeah, not really into that.  The manager suggested I take PTO time and just don't work.  He's already got 2 volunteers to do the runs and that is all he needs.  Well how convenient. One of the volunteers was hired after I hired on, so if I want to bump him, I can even tho it doesn't sound like the manager wants that to happen.

You see, I didn't even know the company gives out PTO and I have no idea how much I have earned if any.  I will find out tomorrow as that was left up in the air.  I don't want to take 2 weeks off without pay. That isn't going to work. I mean, I could draw a paycheck from the business account if I have to.  So this situation that was presented to me today and the first I had heard about it - last year that 2 week thing was done near the end of the year - is up in the air and oh well, thank you Lord, whatever happens I'll trust in Him.  What else can a person do?  

As it stands, I have delivery tomorrow and then he said he was going to give me a run for Friday to deliver on Saturday and then Sunday off.  

Enough. Getting late.  

 I, uhh, find it strange I guess. People who are married, one of them dies and the other one shows their emotional distress over it. That's not the strange part. The strange part is a month later and they are dolt in love with someone else like the passing of their previous mate never existed.  They are suddenly all happy and the world is all right with them.

I can't and probably won't ever understand that. 

On the same note, I have a friend whose wife died and he has been in such despair for going on 2 years now, you can tell simply from looking at pics of him that he has let caution go to the wind.  He is still crying daily, drinking heavily, I can understand that.  You're married for 30 years, your mate is the entirety of your existence and then that mate is gone . That would mess with me too.

But just changing gears and going on to someone else?  I think people need some counseling after such things occur. Not because they are psychotic, but because they need help walking through their emotions and their thoughts.  I keep saying I might go through another episode of counseling and I might actually do it. My life isn't bad or horrible, I just think it would help me understand what I'm thinking and why I'm thinking it.

Then again, a degree in business from a college would probably help me immensely. Sometimes I feel lost and tho I do ample research, I still don't feel like I have a grasp on it.  I haven't heard anything from the IRS on my tax return and that leaves me uncomfortable. Then today, attempting to deal with the state of Texas Comptroller office.  I try to fill out the fields as best as I can and I have to do Google searches to even understand what some of it is asking.  I don't want or need the government focusing on my for tax purposes. I've tried to be as thorough as possible, doing what they ask for tax purposes, but who knows if I got it right? 

__________

Verizon phone paid off, unlocked and ready to switch.  I was just up that way, not going there again today.  I'll try to get that done tomorrow after work.  I'm already having to pay Verizon another month's worth of service, so no great hurry.  Oh, well I was just up where the T Mobile store is. 

I'm contacting Mark at the house tomorrow - are you sure you are ready to have the internet turned off over there? I will be gleefully happy to rid myself of Cox Communications after they went from $99 per month for unlimited internet to installing "tiers" that have me over $200 per month.  I despise these large corporations for they are always greedy. Cox, Dish Network, Directv, even the smaller companies are upping their prices drastically to the point - who needs it? I want some in-home entertainment for sure, but at the prices they are dictating? They can keep it. 

Try going to 6 Flags with a family of 6 and spending under a grand for the entire day. Good luck.  I mean, if you want to drive there and back the same day and save a hotel stay, okay.  If you don't eat anything at the park and paying $18 for a frigging hotdog, okay.  I'm not joking about that hotdog price. It's a large corporation. Disney far worse.  They charge these prices because rich people don't care and will pay it out and everyone else? Suffers.  Average families can't afford to go to Disneyland or World anymore.  Not to mention the woke factor.  

I'm getting on a rant and I'm quitting.  Let's look at politics.  Nahh, let's not.  Same old s***, different day.

Let's look at the rest of this day?  I'm just relaxing now.  I've done the boat, potential tenants for the park, T Mobile and other things.  I haven't started laundry, I guess I best get busy with that.   

I'm getting offa here and going to watch a movie.                                                               

 Tuesday day-off

The problem is finding the right length shaft with enough thrust that doesn't cost 2 thousand dollars.

I am talking about a trolling motor that will be sufficient for a boat the size of mine that weighs as much as mine does and add the weight of 5 people onto it.  I'm thinking at least 90 pounds of thrust if not more.  Walmart has lots of 28 inch shaft motors, just not long enough.  The warnings are abundant: if you don't buy on with long enough shaft, it obviously is either not going to even go into the water or it will pop out of the water as you are cruising along. 

I also don't want a piece of junk, I want one with a lot of good reviews. Minn Kota is one of the top of the line brands but boy howdy are they also expensive.  Still, I don't want to get stuck in the middle of a lake and have no way to get back to shore.  I've gone the route of buying "cheaper" stuff before in other types of things I am doing and end up having to go back and buy something more expensive because the cheap thing - didn't work.  I don't want to make that mistake here. Most if not all of these companies that build these motors say once you put it into the water, there are no refunds.  

So, I'm just going through seemingly endless web searches attempting to find the right size - which I believe is around 54 inch shaft and at least 90 pounds thrust. We are big heavy people, lol. Okay, we're not that bad but still, you want enough thrust to move the boat at a decent pace.  This and a new cover are the last of the Mohicans on bigger ticket item expenses for this thing.  

__________

Done.  Ordered and gonna be a minute before it gets here.  They don't have what I need at Walmart, they had it online and I wanted to use Walmart for the protection plan. 

And, the State of Texas sent me an email saying they are going to cancel my ability to operate my business. Why? Because of some form I apparently didn't fill out and send in to them. That was a bit disconcerting : )  Form is printed out, I will fill it out today and mail it - today. I have until the 6th of August.  Nothing like a lot of pre-notice to ensure you have time to do it.

If they sent me a letter in the mail, I didn't see it.  It would not be fun to try and get my business authority back, it would cost a lot of money and completely unnecessary. It's a tax thing, but I owe them no taxes so there is that.  In fact, they tell you you don't owe taxes if your total income was below 2.4 something million last year. Yeah, I come nowhere close to that...unfortunately. It would be grand to be taking in millions of dollars per year! I could employ my own tax person to deal with that nonsense and I wouldn't have to worry about it.  My small time operation doesn't warrant the need for such a person and neither could I afford one, at least not if I want to make any kind of money off of this operation.

______

Well that was a PITA. I decided that "expedite" was the operative word for that form, turns out I had to fill out 2 forms and I had to look up a lot of information in order to accurately fill those forms out. Guess it's good I had the day off? Nahh, I could have done it after work.  

I'm guessing my work schedule is the next 4 days starting tomorrow, off Sunday and then work, work, work.  Probably a pretty accurate guess.  

As for everything else? Well, gonna eat something cause I have had nothing today beside a fingerful of last night's dinner, literally it was just what I could pick out with my fingers, it's afternoon and I'm starving.

 Let's take another look at tomorrow.

I'm going to bed here, it's 9:45 pm, and I'm double checking the tablet. I do that often for they change things often.  The manager has taken over dispatching drivers and fired the lady - I didn't think she was horrible, not great, not bad, in the middle I guess, as far as dispatchers go - that was dispatching our runs for usually a week in advance. A nice person if nothing else. 

He, the manager, doesn't do that. He might get 3 runs out at most, which is 6 days, but I have yet to see him go beyond that.  This was my fault this time.  I must have missed the part where I finished this current run today and then had tomorrow off.  I looked 3 times at the tablet before I took it out to Taylor, who was on the porch with James smoking, can you read that?  She gets this look on her face.  The 31st! You have 2 days off! No, just tomorrow but I wanted to confirm that I wasn't having lying eyes.

I know, or I think I know anyway, what the manager is doing. He is having me off tomorrow, work through Saturday and then Sunday off.  That isn't confirmed since I only have the next run to look at, but I suspect that's what he's doing based on previous weeks after he took over.  

I have a whole world of possibilities tomorrow.  That doesn't necessarily mean I'll do anything with it, I just have it available, lol.  I mean, I could retire and do much of nothing, which isn't good for you and you need to stay active in some way, shape or form if you want to live a longer life.  I've seen it far too many times. Retire, die.  Retire, die.  Retire, find something to do? Keep active? Don't die.  It may sound gruesome, but I have witnessed it with my own eyes beyond just reading about it.  Many times over, actually.  Why is my mother still alive? I believe because she goes for walks at least 3 times  a day. 

At her age? That's doing pretty good.  The dog keeps her alive, basically.  Some purpose to live for, something right there, with her.  Take the dog for a walk, she tells herself (I'm guessing of course, but I know for a fact she goes walking several times a day).  She's always intensely loved her dogs and takes care of them meticulously.  I grew up with parents that loved dogs and hence, it carried over to me.  There aren't many dogs that I have disliked, I could name those few dogs tho. The one that tried to kill the 7 year old here (not our dog, next door neighbor's).  The one I adopted that the owner didn't bother to tell me had serious behavioral issues including the desire to kill other dogs.  

I have determined to get the boat going and get it on the lake.  So, I will probably start working towards that end tomorrow. It needs a trolling motor, a couple of batteries, drain the fuel tank and put fresh fuel in it, registration.  Other things I can't think of right now, it's been sitting for quite a while.  Yes, I think the bilge pump wasn't working, they aren't expensive.  You kind of want that feature, if the thing starts taking on water, that's what is your hope that the water will be pumped back out.  I spent a lot of money on that thing, I'd like to use it while it's still hot outside.  

Batteries and trolling motor will cost some.  I spent a thousand dollars just installing a new steering system in the thing and putting a new battery in it some 3 years ago? I'll say this, now that I'm that invested in the damn thing, if I have to have the motor rebuilt, that's going to happen as well. Maybe not right now or if I can find a used motor, but it will happen.  

Some person showed up at the park today and wanted to know about moving in.  There are no lots available right now.  Not only that, but the person wants one of the "premium" lots.  The park host has one of them, the other? The people that said they were going to leave after being confronted about their dogs running loose and driving and parking on the grass. The thing is, after that confrontation, they stopped driving on the grass and they don't let their dogs loose.  If they've been living in a trailer in RV parks for any length of time, they would already know that almost every park has the same types of rules.  So are they leaving, is what I was confronted with?

Well how the hell would I know? If people clean up their act, my intervention is over with, they can stay as long as they like.  They are not sociable and I don't invoke myself on people that don't care for unwanted visits. Pay your rent, follow the rules I'm good.  You don't have to talk to anyone in the park if you don't want to, I'm all for freedom and the freedom to have your space.  Which is partially what I said to Allen: I have no idea. After they were confronted, they have been parking on the gravel and their dogs aren't running loose unless there is info about the dogs I don't have.

No, they have complied.  Ok, well I don't go bothering people that don't want to be bothered.  He doesn't quite understand that, but the thing is, he does listen to my wishes about how I want things dealt with and he goes by that, whatever that is.      I'm running a business, I'm not trying to drive people out of there. If I have to, I definitely will, but these people?  Not now. I'm trying to figure out how to ask them if they are staying without it sounding...wrong.  Then again, the man was informed other spots were coming available.  I dunno, if he doesn't want that, that's his choice, I lose enough sleep over nothingness, I'm not losing sleep over people that don't like what I have to offer. It's definitely not a resort park.  It's a quiet little community, the prices are good, the atmosphere is mostly great, but it isn't for everyone.  

Well it's getting late. Even tho I don't have work tomorrow, I don't like staying up to late. My sleep is too messed up as it stands. I force myself to keep a fairly tight sleep schedule excepting on some nights when I have no work the next day.

I can say that I've given it considerable thought and tho I was having sleep problems before I went to Oregon, it is nothing like after I left there.  Near 3 weeks of mostly sleepless nights, I really haven't recovered from that for unknown reasons. My mind went through that experience once again yesterday, I can't explain why I replayed that hellish nightmare, it just started up.  When you go through some horrid experience, you seem to remember every single detail, down to the specifics of things to the time of day or the specifics of everything that was going on around you.  Because it was that bad.  

 Monday - 7:45 am

Late load yesterday, late load today.  Leaving around 9:00 am.  Get me there around 11:30 am, I don't want to get there too early cause there is the possibility of the other driver still being there. Funny he can get his @$$ to the plant at 4:00 am to load but can't get up to the plant to unload by 10:00 am?  I don't get that.  But who am I.

It is what it is, I get one late load per week, some times two.  If I get two, they better not be back to back, because I will say something from now on. Can't do that, switch it with someone else.  4 late days in a row equals getting nothing much of anything done.  

Now that I have another moved in, I'm facing at least 2 more leaving.  If this man with his son needing a place to move into works out, it will only be one lot needed filled and that student will be there a year.  In this business, however, you don't count your chickens before they hatch.  The person has to actually show up...

My take on the mocking of the Last Supper of Christ? My two cents which is probably only worth a penny in this economy is: oh well.  People have been disobeying the Lord and attempting to mock Him for a long, long time now.  I see the people that engaged in that nonsense as people who need Christ.  The Bible tells us not to judge the world for they are already condemned. There is a place for taking issue with people doing certain things, as evidenced by Christ overturning the tables in the temple, but is this one of them?  I don't know.  No one was mocking Christ at the Last Supper.  Well, maybe there was?

Judas Iscariot.  He betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver, telling the "killers" where to find him.  Is that a form of mocking? Well, it's in there somewhere.  Christ knew all about it tho, not like you can deceive the Lord, He knows everything and there is nothing you can hide from Him.  It is a sad state of affairs that the Olympics would allow such nonsense and highly likely knowing what kind of feverish outcry there would be.  So what is the end game? I don't really know, except unbelievers love to make fun of believers in Christ.  I've been exposed to that on the streets of America all over the place when I was doing missionary work.  I had to remember that we fight not against flesh and blood....

And you have to remember that the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  That pic they are showing endlessly of those people are a portrait of this world and how the world hates God.  "..tho they are in the world, they should not be of it".  I haven't said much about this subject because it's nothing new.  The only difference is it's the latest 15 minutes of fame type of thing on the world stage that everyone is talking about.  Let's discuss praying for those people's souls and all of those whose hearts are far from God. 

So the challenge I offer to my Christian friends that are outraged by this incident is simply this: Offer up prayer and supplication to the Lord of Hosts that He may get a hold of their hearts in whatever way He chooses and bring them to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

And I just copied and pasted that and put it on my Facebook page. Why not?  I have lots of Christian friends from all over the world on my friends list.  This page here? Not so much.  It's rather "private". I know it's on the WWW but there really aren't that many people that know about it and that is by design.  I just like to write out my thoughts. I find it useful to understand why I might be thinking the way that I am, read it over and perhaps make decisions or perhaps wait on a thing that is in front of me to do.  Or not do.  I don't mind people reading it, not at all, it's just that I have always like sort of explore what is going on in my mind by writing it out "on paper" so to speak. It also helps if something happens and I need to refresh my memory.

As for today? My agenda is to simply get up to the plant, unload and get back.  I need to get some gasoline for the mowers. Allen is trying to finish up the riding mower. Yes, it's still sitting there like that. For so long, in fact, the battery is dead.  I am feeling much better now and the coughing has died down significantly, to the point I don't need to go to urgent care.  If it continues to go away, it will be one of the shorter-lived chest colds I have ever had, really.

I have no business decisions to make. Tractor, buildings, things are on hold. I am seriously considering putting in a hot tub, I am putting out a request to an insurance provider to see how much that would cost adding it to the insurance portfolio.  I can get a whole setup for around 15k, maybe 20.  The reason I have given up for now on expanding the park is simple: interest rates are still ridiculously high.  But, I may go ahead and try to get a loan through the local bank, at least see if they will lend to me and what terms I might get. I think I asked them if I could get a 125k loan.  They said it's possible, fill out all of this paperwork and then handed me a thick packet of papers.  It's been sitting for quite a while.  

Actually, I could get another building up for around the same monthly payment as I'm making now.  Everyone is always looking for an "office". I don't really have one, I tell them.  Well, I do, here at the house.  What do I need with an office? I don't.  But I do need a storage shed to keep all of my tools and stuff in.  A place to store things in an orderly fashion and easily accessible. I don't have that right now, I am just balking at the idea of having another payment immediately after getting rid of one.

At least, if there is another payment, that it brings in money? Such as a cabin shed that is completely finished?  No decision being made for I have no idea what I should "really" do.  As I have often stated, I find it better to simply wait, put things on hold until I get that feeling that yes, this is the right thing to do, or no, I shouldn't do this at all.  Now that I've gotten rid of Robert and that trailer, I don't really need to run that underground line so I put that on hold as well.  It's just one trailer back there now and the shed stuff.  So far, there are no signs of the system being overloaded.  I think getting rid of that trailer, it will stay that way. 

The other Robert would love to move back there and I would love to accommodate him, but it's 50 amp for his trailer and I'm afraid it's too much draw back there.  

Anyway, it's just another day in paradise, lol.

G'day

It dawned on me today after thinking about what the current electric bill might be that the next bill should be somewhere near or even lower than what I might be seeing now. I say might for I had not even thought to look at the current bill, it isn't due until the 11th.  It's $2,200.  The reason I believe the bill shouldn't be as horrible as my thoughts were taking me is that the last week? We've had storms and it's been cool.  AC units not working so hard to keep trailers cool, less electric usage. 

Anyway, the dude that might or might not show up? showed up about an hour ago. He called from the park.  I looked at the video, huge trailer.  I'm actually not in love with them, they use far more electricity. I mean, I'm not rejecting them, I charge more but I can't charge that much more.  It just seems to me that I should target the 30 amp trailers - smaller and only one AC unit.  How do you target 30 amp? Well, if I really wanted to do that? Just advertise 30 amp only, sorry, we don't have 50 amp here. It's that or just jack the price of 50 amp much higher and if they want it, they can have it, but I suspect they would move on.  I can see charging $500 per month for 50 amp to make decent profit off of them.  I say decent, I didn't say greedy. 

I've changed my thoughts about a pool. I still want one, it's just not doable right now.  Interest rates are jacked up to ridiculous highs.  I'm instead thinking of a large hot tub.  Those are popular year round, even in hot summer.  Much cheaper, the entire setup.  You're talking 10k or so for the actual tub versus 50k or more for the pool. Both need a deck - or - many hot tubs can just sit on a concrete pad.  I dunno, this is still a thought process.  There are other things I am "thinking about".  ATM, however, the coach is in the works.  Well, it's not being worked on ATM and the lady isn't even staying at the park. I was informed she's staying at the "kid's house", wherever that is and why, :I have no idea.

Marital issues?  She hasn't been around in almost a month.  She's very handy, I'd love to see her back lol. 

Not my call and certainly not inserting myself into other people's issues.  However, I do need word either way if she's going to repair and fix up the coach.  If she's not, I will head other directions and leave that thing be until I find the right person to do the job.  Other directions are my continued focus on "cabins". They aren't really cabins, that's just what they call them in the RV world. Much of it are sheds, they call them to keep them out of housing designation.  

What I want and what I need aren't that far apart.  I need something finished or very close to it, not just a shell. Finished as in the interiors being completed or certainly much of it done. Electrical, plumbing, flooring, walls, insulation, etc.  It needs to have heating/cooling or a built in area to install it.  It obviously has to have financing. Something finished like that is at least in the 20k territory.  I would pay that much and more to buy one unfinished and then have the interiors installed. Doing it myself would save money, but I am not there right now.  I don't want to do that kind of work atm.  It's enough to run the park and work a trucking job.  

The park host, so far, has been an invaluable tool to keep my head on the right side of sanity.  He deals with stuff I don't want to do.  I just plain don't want to do it and losing a month's worth of lot rent to have it done for me is fine by me, as long as I can keep working.  I say that because no one is granted tomorrow, and even if you get tomorrow, no one is granted the health to be able to do what you want to do tomorrow.  I keep that in mind always, not in fear but as a general way to keep myself in check.   I'm starting to get old and I am starting to need naps.  Not that I haven't always wanted to take naps, especially in trucking, driving 8 hours and getting a 30 minute nap in, now it seems like I need those naps. It isn't unexpected, I've watched many people growing old and the things that happen slowly, over time.

But whatever.  I just wish this inflation s*** would end and the fed would start lowering interest rates.  I need a loan to really move forward.  I can do stuff piece meal, that will take a long time to do it that way.  Now, if I could get a cabin under financing that's basically instant income.  No guarantees, but the local housing market is hot and on fire for places to rent.  And we aren't talking cheap.  I've been watching the market for some time now.  

Anyway, the washout took much longer than necessary.  There is a guy that does washouts on other types of trailers that feels like he needs to get every last bit of anything out of the trailer.  He spends far more time on it than anyone else and it's completely unnecessary and a waste of time.  He carried on almost to the point of having to go a second hour on it, which costs more money.  It's a mixed bag on Sundays, the place is closed but you can call them out 24 hours a day.  I rarely even see this guy, apparently this was his day to be on call.   After that and getting to the plant? They got me in and out of there quickly.  

Anyway, the park is full again, but on Wednesday another lot is vacating. And 2 more potentially vacating.  I have that guy saying he'll move his kid in - or will he? He never called back. People do this stuff all the time.  They say they'll call back, they don't and then...they just show up.  I don't argue with them, of course, but it seems a bit of a chance to just leave the park on hold and hope? that there is something available?  No clue.  I just go with the flow here, or at least I try to. It's the nature of RV parks? Yes, but you are more on the overnight side with people coming and going, not this type of thing where a long term just up and leaves without notice or a long term just shows up without notice. Or they tell you they might be coming, and then 2 weeks later, you hear back from them - at the park.  

I'm not going to feel bad if one of these people shows up and there isn't anything available.  Confirm it or don't, but if you don't, it isn't guaranteed that a lot will be available. When it comes to long term, it's pretty much first come-first served.    

It's starting to get late, I sort of stopped writing on here and ate dinner and tended to other things.  

 Sunday 7:30 am

I'm slowly starting to feel better. These chest colds have always kicked my @$$.  It's nothing new, but they allows pack a serious punch and just take me down for a while.  I've been working the entire time, thusly making the punch even worse. I get home from 7 or 8 hours of trucking and I'm toast, done, wiped out and ready to lay down.

The college kids up and left - I dunno if I reported that last post or not, I don't think so.  There was no advanced notice, it was: "School is over, we're going home!".  You know, while I'm turning some people away because I have no spaces available?  They literally said nothing until they were ready to hook up and leave.  Whatever.  A "dad" called yesterday going in an extremely long explanation of his kid, what the kid is doing, how well behaved he is, the fact that he, the dad, is buying him a brand new trailer and one that will "last for a long time", etc.  

Daddy is rich, I can tell ya that just by that conversation. We're talking a 150k trailer, not some hunting stand type of camper.  The kid will be going to a local college, there are 3 of them here (it still amazes me after living here 10 years that this bitty little town has 3 colleges, one of them is growing exponentially, another was part of a movie of a small town versus Harvard, I think it was, the other is a state college that churns out people who are instantly offered high paying jobs).

He wants to start paying rent on a lot on the 1st, even tho the trailer won't arrive until the 15th.  You got it!  I don't care what they want to do and so far, the college kids have, actually, been the best behaved of anyone.  Speaking of behavior, the park host went around after I told him I was getting disgusted with people parking on the grass and told everyone to get their vehicles off the grass, please and thank you.

And sure enough, people did it, with one threat of moving out.  Bye!  Those people would drive on the grass up to their front door.  Absolutely appalling behavior, as if they just bought that lot.  Even if they had purchased the lot, they would still be under what amounts to HOA rules.  How many people do you see parking on their front lawn?  Not many, hardly ever.  I may lose people, I'll take it over people who feel entitled for some unknown reason to abuse the privilege.  I'm not making money hand over fist here, folks, I'd need a lot more lots to do that.

I am watching the construction of a new RV park about 30 miles up the road, I pass by it every time I go and return from Gurdon.  They put the gravel in which really made it stand out. Stand out, however, as one of the worst set ups I've seen. It's old school setup where they cram as many spaces in as the possibly can in a very small area.  I mean, if you get a trailer in there with slide outs an dyou get another trailer next to it with slide outs - and most trailers being built now have the slide outs, I have to wonder if they could even do it without hitting the neighbor's slideout. 

I don't know who designed the thing, the only thing I can think is maybe they are just going to off cut throat rates.  Even then, having them that close together is very unappealing nowadays.  I've done my own polls and I've seen the stats, people don't want to be crammed in if they're paying. If they aren't paying, they don't care as much, think: truck stops where RV'ers think it's perfectly acceptable to park their rigs in truck parking spaces and then flaunt truckers who complain about it.  You won't find signs at places like Love's Travel Centers saying trucks only, they don't care.  If you go to a big mom and pop place, they very well may enforce trucks only, but those are few and far apart.

Anyway, there is allegedly a man moving in today.  I am not sure tho, he seems to be wishy washy about it, I am not counting on him arriving.  I have the college student spot empty and another is leaving on Wednesday and there is a one monther that should be leaving soon as well.  So just like that, down 3 spaces.  Oh and the people that said "we'll just move". Well move your @SSes out now if you're going to have that attitude, I don't need that s*** in my park.  They don't drive or park on the grass now, however and they aren't letting their dog out to roam freely around the park.  

I'm loosely following politics, it's really a circus act.  I'm amazed that democrats think they are pulling anything over anyone's minds.  Biden was sharp as a tack, now he's stepped down and this person that has no clue what she is doing and certainly has no business being at the helm of the country has been pumped up to the point you'd think she just invented electricity, made all the appliances for your house and you are experiencing the wonders of dishwashers and electric waters heaters all at once.  

And, of course, the left is calling anyone (read: Republicans) that opposes her racist and misogynistic.  Literally, they are doing nothing but using identity politics. She must deserve the position simply because she is black and a woman.  Virtue signaling on steroids.  What I know is, leftists engage in ad hominem attacks regularly online.  You can't have a conversation with them about politics without them attacking you personally.  You bring up something that is factually correct and can be verified with various articles from a myriad of different outlets both left and right leaning and they will still dismiss it, call you names and that's the end of the conversation and yes,  they won!

It's amazing how fast they change the narrative.  Did you see where Biden now wants to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices?  This is a change to the Constitution itself.  He's a self-imposed lame-duck President.  You do know that fully 3/4's of the House and the Senate PLUS 3/4's of states have to vote in the affirmative to ratify a change to the Constitution?  That is, if my memory serves me correctly.  The point is, in this political environment? That is literally impossible, especially with such a ridiculous proposition.  I don't recall Republicans wanting to change the structure of SCOTUS simply because leftist judges were installed?  If I am wrong, feel free to correct me, I don't have the time to look that up right now.  Nor the desire, it's absurd to think because you don't get your way, you are going to start crying like a baby and demand that you get your way! And wanting to impeach 2 of the longer tenured justices because...reasons.  

100 days until the election. What else can go off the rails?  And they are floating Gretchen Whitmer for the VP! You remember this chick? She banned stores "over 50,000 square feet" from selling gardening supplies, saying they are "not necessary" because of the Coronavirus.  You want to talk about Communism, there is a grass roots start to it right there.  Let's tell everyone when to piss and eat while we're at it!

We will become the laughing stock of the world, previous generations will all turn over in their graves at once creating a worldwide earthquake and the end of mankind as we know it. Ok, that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration. Lol.

I just wonder what 4 more years of this chaos will do to our country and what kind of poisonous, toxic, hateful environment we will be living in if Harris wins and ends up with a VP such as Whitmer?  

Meanwhile, I am watching footage of Israel striking back at Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Apparently Hezbollah fired off a rocket that hit somewhere in Israel and killed 12 children that were playing on a playground.  Imagine the outrage of these idiots that hate Israel - the people in this nation that are anti-jew and anti-israel (and who also hate America as it stands, tho most of them will never outwardly admit it) taking a stand against anyone that supports Israel in it's quest to defend it's own borders.  

The deadliest single attack against Israel since October 7th, I am hearing now.  They're showing a blurred pic of a child laying on the ground, but even blurry, you can see his legs are covered in blood.  

Well, anyway.  There is evil in this world and that's not going to change until you start to see the book of Revelations coming into play. When that happens or if that is going to happen in our lifetimes? I dunno.  "there will be a massive response ot this attack in Lebanon" and questions as to whether that will lead to a broader war.  Well, my guess? Of course it will. Hezbollah is evil, they might as well have the devil as their leader. They are just another extension of Iran the same as Hamas.  Israel, btw, has stated that they are going to take out Iran's nuke capabilities.  Sure sounded that way, anyway, listening to Netanyahu speaking during the speech he gave to Congress.  

You know, we live our lives and experience things like this and wonder, what is the end game of all of this? Well, I have the answer! Just start reading the Bible.  If you believe, you understand. If you don't believe, well, live in ignorance. I can only say that God gives the "peace that passes all understanding".  

I keep thinking "I need to leave now" and then I think, oh, yeah, other drivers who don't show up to appointments on time, which has a cascading effect.  The plant will say screw it and start loading their own trailers and then, when that late driver shows up, they will have to wait for the plant to finish loading the other trailers.  I was out of there at 10:36 am 2 days ago. I have the late load today, which sucks, especially on a Sunday.  I might leave early anyway just to get there and even if I have to wait, I will be en-queue to get loaded as fast as possible.  But still, it makes no sense to show up there before 11:30 am.  

If any of those other drivers were to show up on time regularly, I would already be on the road right now. 

But, I am going to get out of here anyway.  Leave by 9, at the washout by 10:30, over to the plant around 11:45 am.  I won't get home until 4:00 pm at the earliest is my best guess just from historical perspective.  Not that bad, I guess.  Not great but not bad.  2 Sundays in a row of missed church.  Kids haven't been to church in 3 weeks including today, unless mom gets up and takes them.  

And with that, I am getting offa here. Make another cuppa to go, a glass of ice water, maybe stuff something to eat in my mouth and get this day rolling.  I almost called in sick.  Just because I want the day off, lol, and because my sleep has been not-so-great.  

However...bills are calling me.  ONE more payment on that shed and I just keep putting off paying off the phone, I need to get that done.  Pay it off and rid myself of a monthly phone payment that is rather pricey.  Couple those with no more internet service at the house - however they are doing that, more power to them.  They will  have internet there, I just haven't heard how they are going to do it, some other plan that I don't know about because I am not there. Local deals aren't going to show up 1,300 miles away.  I fully look forward to ridding myself of a little over $600 per month in payments.  

G'day