Tuesday - evening

My whole weekend worth of work including yesterday - so 3 days - was cancelled.  Too much product not enough room.  I was thankful. Means I could spend time with the kids before they leave for - the summer basically. Yes, they are coming back in 2-1/2 weeks but then leaving for a month directly after they get back, I've heard within hours.  I dunno if it's actually going to work out that way.  

I do enjoy not having them around, frankly.  They're good kids and all, but a little peace and quiet is nice as well. It's pretty constant stuff day in and day out with all the noise, questions, tv blaring, etc.  When it's adults only here, we really just enjoy the silence.  I'm not sure how I will feel after a month and a half however.  They're with one set of grand parents atm and they spoil the stuffing out of those kids, so I'm sure they're having as good a time as can be had.

I haven't been writing with any regularity for frankly, there isn't a lot new going on.  I'm still waiting on permits and Swepco.  I've got a couple of empty lots that need filling. One is allegedly going to be re-rented this week. The other? No calls. 

Funny how that works. You don't need people and you get dozens and dozens of calls. About the time you do? Nothing.  lol 

The only irregularity today was taking the truck to a local shop to get a wheel hub cover replaced.  It has been leaking for going on 2 weeks now and the oil level in it was very low.  Meaning, potential to burn up bearings and the entire wheel assembly coming off.  That can kill people actually.  Don't worry, I was keeping an eye on it, it was just time to get it done today.  The other thing that can happen is the bearings heat up to the point a fire starts in the wheel, brakes and spreads quickly. The trailer can burn down fast and can even spread to the truck if you don't act quickly.

But why let it get that far?  It's leaking, get it fixed. It's fixed. The only other issue right now is the AC and the place I took it to said if Peterbilt can't figure it out, we aren't likely to be able to either.  At least they were honest about it and gave some recommendations.  

I would have done some work at the property today, but that repair took a couple of hours.  Just that they didn't have the part - even tho they said they had ordered it - they had to get a place to deliver it and then had to wait for the repairman to get back from a run.  I wasn't going to leave at this point, that thing needed fixed.  It's almost 5 pm and I just got home, hence the reason I did nothing at the park. 

Tomorrow is deliver to Gurdon and after that? I didn't check. I saw that there is a load in there, I am assuming it will be for Thursday and Friday and at this point? I'm going to need to work the weekend, way too much time off here.  I mean, I could not work the rest of my life and be very happy about that, lmao.  Yea - no.  Not a happening event, at least not right now.  

Oh, it rained all night long.  There was way too much noise even with the fan on high and ear plugs in, I didn't sleep worth a dead Petunia's petals.  I passed out at the loading plant and fell asleep again at the repair place doing the endless waiting thing.  I feel fine now, lol.  

So what's with the rest of the day? Dinner, pushups, probably a little gaming, some tv and then bed. 

 Friday - evening

James is going to start helping out at the park.  His normal side gig is done for  now and I could definitely use some extra hands over there, a person that I can trust and will actually do what they say they will do and not lie about it or try to steal from me, or whatever.

I've been getting back late every day from trucking so I haven't really gotten much done.

However.

I was up at the plant ready to deliver, had to go find a supervisor. Took quite a while, it's a large plant and there are a lot of moving parts all over the place and foremost: it's extremely noisy in there.  The sound of hydraulic presses, conveyor belts and all kinds of devices constantly moving, you have to wear ear plugs.  I found him way in the back, I had never even been back that far before. He signed off and I was good to go.

I'm outside doing my thing about 15 minutes later and here comes the plant manager - not the dude that signed off. He's looking at me making motions about how full the tanks are and asks if the supervisor checked  the tanks? No, but I did, there is just enough room for another truckload in there.  He's going to go look for himself, of course, I don't work there and I don't pay the price for any consequences if I'm wrong, but he trusts my word anyway. We both went in and looked.  

It's because the first driver was just finishing up when I got there, this manager had looked when he was unloading and didn't know if there was still enough room in there.  Thankfully, there was.  So, this glue is flying out of that tanker. It's 70 degrees inside of the thing and when the product gets that warm, it flows nicely.  I get a text message from the dispatcher: Your load for this weekend just cancelled.

I was ecstatic.  I didn't want to work this weekend but I didn't say that to them at all. I just accepted the work and resolved myself to working both Saturday and Sunday. The reason I really wanted to get this weekend off is  that the kids are leaving for grandma's for 2 weeks and then they're coming back, but leaving within hours of returning with the folks to Colorado.  I basically won't see them for a month and a half so I wanted to spend some time with them.  

At the end of the delivery, I went to find the plant manager - another trek through the place searching for him. I found him in the break room, I said I'm done, there's about a foot left in that tank, we're all good. He said great and that he had just cancelled a load, too much product.  I said  yes, that was my load and you just gave me the weekend off! Thank you! He smiled real big, he's a really nice guy and humble.  

\

 Uhh, Thursday?  

Yeah.  I had yesterday off, which I spent the entire morning mowing grass. That got me good because I am not used to this heat, more specifically: High humidity.  It just drains the energy out of you.  I got what I wanted done, done. More to go but it looks much better now.  I started mowing the area where I want to begin installing lots, didn't quite get that done, the goal was to get the lots done and then I could start working on the other stuff. 

Well, not just the lots but all along the driveway and the front area where my signs are.  

Today is late load day. I'm totally not liking how many 2 loads they are giving me and if they continue, I will have a conversation with them about it.  I don't care what other drivers want, they ask for time off all the time, I don't do that so the tradeoff should be I get to get more 1 loads.  Or not.  The more bs I have to put up with this company, the more it motivates me to get these other lots in and get it started.  

I've got someone leaving on the 25th and someone else moving right back in - on the 25th. Tentatively anyway.  I'm also considering just doing away with an overnight spot, I'm not getting a lot of that and it's really wasted money.  

Today is the last day of school for the kids.  They will be here until Saturday or Sunday, that wasn't really made clear and then grandma is taking them for 2 weeks.  Once they get back? Allegedly they'll be home a few hours and leaving for Colorado.  I'll have the house to myself for 2 weeks before James comes back with his oldest kid - that one doesn't live here - who will stay for 2 weeks as well.  I won't be seeing the other 2 for basically a month and a half, which is kind of odd but it is what it is. 

I dunno, but I am going to fire up a diet while everyone is gone.  I can make whatever whenever and not have to worry about what everyone else is going to be eating for dinner.  I am really kind of stuck on Keto even tho I will have to drastically adjust it for low cholesterol, meaning getting rid of most dairy products and not eating  as much meat as I used to.  Pastas and potatoes will also go by the wayside, but I"m pretty much ready for it.  

I'm kind of leaving late today, they have been taking forever down there to load trucks and I don't really care to sit in a truck for hours waiting to get loaded. It's a bit ridiculous.  As I have stated many times before, we have appointment times - they mostly don't keep them. Sometimes you get lucky and get in and out of there, more often than not, you don't. 

Considering I had 4 unwanted days off not long ago, my paycheck today was healthy enough.  If I'm not taking home after taxes, 401k, medical etc at least a grand a week, I'm not happy.  I know, this is a part time job in the trucking world, that's not relevant to me.  They're making their money, I want mine.  Otherwise, I consider it a waste of my time. 

The flip side is that there are a lot of jobs that are local being posted, the hours are ridiculous. Typical trucking jobs that consume your entire life, basically.  

Not going to do that, yet.  Had a pretty crazy interaction with another truck on 30 the other day, but I don't have time to write about that right now.  I don't want to wait in a truck foreever, but I still have to drive down to Nacogdoches, get the trailer washed out and then head to the loading plant. 

With that? G'day. 

 Monday - evening

Toast.  4 hours waiting at the plant, just wears me out.  I know it's just sitting but I just don't like sitting around doing nothing. I did have my Switch with me and played a few games, but I can only play so much of that game before I have to put the thing down and do something else.  

I had been sitting there for and hour and a half before I went and politely asked the loader when he thought he would get to me.  He got testy and showed me all the trucks he has to do. Ok, I get that you're loaded up, do you have an estimate? 2 hours.  2 HOURS? Dang!  He didn't like that reply and I just thanked him and left.  It's not his fault the plant doesn't have enough loaders tho there are 3 of them being trained, it takes months before they can let them go on their own.  

Anyway, the dude has a temper, not that I'm particularly afraid of him, I've seen him throwing papers, his hard hat, etc all over the place, come storming in saying "I'm just one person". Yes, life is rough and then it got hard.  I dunno what to tell you, deal with it. 

I was supposed to go get the trailer wheel hub replaced, but it was way too late, no way I was doing that today. I had the wheel cleaned at the washout so it doesn't look like a cop--magnet to get pulled over and get written up for a leaking seal. They'll write you up for any and everything.

The IRS sent me a  large envelope today.  I opened it up with no emotion whatsoever.  It is what it is, I thought, if they are going to audit me, I'll do my best to pass muster.  It was, however, my tax return, saying I failed to sign it. Oh.  Guess I forgot.  It also asks to list where I got 5 plus k from that I listed as income.  Yup, that would be Cashapp, I think. I'll have to go through all of that again, tally it up and make sure that's where it actually came from.  They didn't ask for anything else, I'm wondering if that's a good sign? 

Oh and some form I didn't bother to look at, I'm tired and I don't want to deal with that today. I have Wednesday off, I'll mess with it then.  Why do I have Wednesday off? I have no clue unless they are going to try to dump me working an entire weekend.  They tend to make you pay for having weekends off, like I had last weekend tho I didn't ask for it.  I did ask for Monday, but not the weekend.  I don't typically ask them for weekends off for this is the nonsense they throw at me.  I'd rather just keep working Saturdays and have Sundays off like they have been doing, mostly, for quite a while now.

And then there's the kid who was demanding to know why I was charging him X amount of money when it was cheaper last month?  I had to explain to him that that was what we agreed upon when he moved in. This was one of the people who took advantage of my $200 off deal.  I took off X amount per month for 3 months adding up to $200 and now he's having to pay the normal price. Which is still cheaper than any or most other places around.  

There is no word yet on Swepco or the septic system.  

 Friday - late afternoon

Late load today exacerbated by a blown brake chamber.    You hit the brakes, the air goes into the chamber, pushes a diaphragm, pushes a road which does a bunch of other stuff not worth going into that eventually pushes the brakes shoes against the brake drums.

It happened close to the park, I just drove it in.  Not like it was going to crash, the rest of the brakes still worked, I just got it to the park, parked it and now there is a mobile mechanic company working on it.  Yes, I'm home. It was amazing tho. They sent a person out immediately upon calling them..  It was bam bam bam and the dude showed up. 

He also informed me that a famous tik tokker is at my park.  I won't mention names but I did look it up and sure enough, it was him.  Anyway, if that brake chamber had gone out on the road somewhere, I would be sitting there right now and would continue to be sitting there for many more hours.  What was perplexing was the dude at  our shop.

"Are you going to get it fixed tomorrow then?" Huh?  No, I want it fixed today, I don't want to spend my entire Saturday messing around with this nonsense and I need to leave early morning.  He said ok, call those people and give them my number.  I'll do whatever to save myself a lot of grief and headache.  

That was the other thing today. The first load driver showed up at the loading plant and they rejected the tanker. Said it's not insulated and they require it to be insulated so it doesn't get too hot and end up going out of spec for their customer which is Georgia Pacific.  Poor guy had to drive clear back to the yard in Arkansas, get another trailer and then go back down.  

My manager called me with this info to let me know I could just go up there at the first load time tomorrow. By the time this dude is done today, he won't be able to get up there until early afternoon.  Thank you, I will do that!  So, I don't have to have all of Saturday eaten up by this stuff.  That is, if they can fix it today, which I'm sure they'll try to get it done quickly, they no more want this dragging on any longer than it has to than I do.  

As for other things....well there's always the Trump hate constantly emerging from the shadows.  Comey wanting the President assassinated is the newest headline, at least on Fox news. I'm sure CNN or MSNBC either have it labeled as something different and insignificant or haven't reported on it at all.  Then there's the Supreme court ruling that they can't deport illegals under that Alien Act without giving them enough time to file a grievance. Well whoopdee doo. The news framed it as some sort of huge setback but in reality, the court said it is only saying that they need to give those people more time.  

And then, there's the 400 million Boeing 747.  It's not the President's personal airplane, lmao.  The left are begging for a way to "legitimately" impeach Trump again.  It's such a waste of time, there is no way there would be enough votes to remove him from office. But, they want to use whatever they can get - which isn't much anymore, they've already done everything to him - to either get rid of him or show that he is a bad choice for the nation and therefore, vote democrat for every election from now on! Lmao

Politics in this nation has turned into a giant clown show. If it wasn't so pathetic it would be amusing.  It's sort of amusing anyway just for the sheer desperation of democrats losing their woke initiatives and all the rest of the nonsense they have introduced into society that is drifting away into the sunset.  They lost power and they hate it.  

No, I've heard nothing from either Swepco or the septic company.  I'm really just patiently waiting.  It'll happen when it happens and I can do nothing to rush it faster.  As it stands, I still need to meet up with the septic people - same people who built the park - figure out where to put the system and also ask for pricing on running the line from the power pole to the meter assembly and also what they would charge to do some dozer work.  They're experts, they aren't exactly cheap but no one else is, either.  

Anyway, it's getting late and I'm getting up at 5:45 am. So, g'nite! 

 Thursday - afternoon

I started writing a post on Tuesday but I never finished it and not enough to post, so it's just going to sit along with the 1,000 plus other drafts that have never been posted lmao.

Today was uneventful excepting the International Road Check they have going on - everywhere  - where troopers and other officials are pulling trucks over - all over the place, not just weight or inspection stations - and doing high level inspections.  

So, the first one I was dragged into  - I did not get the bypass sign that I was hoping for on the tablet, it instead said "Pull In Unless Closed".  And lo and behold, 2 troopers were standing on the porch waiting for me - everyone - to drive through.  I was the only truck there at that point in time tho, I figured I would get pulled in for inspection.  

The porch elevates them so you can see clearly into the cab of the truck, best have your s*** together when going through there.  I slowed down to 5 MPH, their posted speed limit, opened the passenger window and was bracing myself for the inevitable.  They glanced at me but looked away, talking among themselves and examining the truck as I passed on by.  And kept going, waiting for them to either say something or hit the green light to red.  

It never happened.  It was almost shocking.  I don't fear them anymore. I used to get extremely nervous about inspections and troopers, but now? I just shrug my shoulders and whatever happens, happens, don't care really.  I don't get to control anything, I am completely under a trucking company and federal regulation control,  a thing I have always hated once they introduced CDL's.  I remain respectful - until they start disrespecting me..  That doesn't happen as much as it used to, troopers used to treat truck drivers like s*** all the time, low-class citizens that weren't worth anything more than to be pissed on type of attitude.  

Now, in the days of the internet and Facebook, public shaming and all of that cool stuff, they don't get away with it so easily and they usually - not always but usually - behave professionally and even if they are bending you over and screwing you with tickets, at least they aren't demeaning to you while they're doing it.  That hasn't happened to me in many, many years, thankfully.

The other 2 weigh stations on I-30 I was bypassed on the tablet. They were both opened and they both had reams of State Police in there with a bunch of trucks stopped and as usual under such circumstances, a lot of tire trucks in there replacing tires.  Drivers put out of service, not a good thing on their record.  If that happens to me? I really don't care about this line of work anymore, I actually, greatly despise it Just motivate me even more to get the 14 lots going and get closer to my goal of financial freedom from working for paychecks from someone else.  

Write my own damn paychecks and live my life accountable to guests, yes, but management lording themselves over me or police harassing me? No.  

I got back and decided to do some mowing with the new push mower.  Did 35 minutes of that and was toast.  4 lots worth that were greatly over grown, they needed done worse than anything else.  It's muggy out there and I am not used to that yet this year. There is a conditioning period I go through to try and adapt to high humidity combined with high temps.  I'll probably do more tomorrow. Good exercise if nothing else, lots of walking. 

And now? I am at the house, in my room, not even 2 pm.  I have a lot of daylight left to hang out, think about things and get nothing done. The tractor isn't at the property and neither is the trailer the kid brought that hauls gravel. I would have gone to get a load of gravel if he would have left it.  He's doing work for someone somewhere on our road, he's a go getter, but I did tell him I'm going to be using that tractor to help build lots coming soon, is it going to be available? 

He said yes, he's just doing a side job.  

There isn't much else unless you want to delve into the world of politics, the latest outrage that democrats have against Trump being the Saudi's gifting the US (note I didn't say Trump, it isn't a gift to Trump as far as I'm reading it) a Boeing 747.  It's unconstitutional! It breaks the emollments clause! and on and on.  I'm sorry, but these people are stupid.  

Oh and this morning. The youngest got of bed and then laid on the floor wrapped up in his blanket.  I don't do anything to help get him moving unless I'm asked and today? I was asked.  He wouldn't get up and he wouldn't get dressed and mom just has her limit, when she reaches it, she asks for help. I have no problem in the department. I walked into that bedroom and ordered him up off the floor, NOW.  He started crying which I completely ignored and ordered him up again, which is when he started moving. 

You see, no one else  in the house wanted to get up and go to work or school this morning either, but we all got up, we all got dressed and we all got ready to get moving.  This kid isn't somehow immune to the effects of the clock and how life revolves around it.  He was crying and carrying on, but he was getting dressed so I backed off a bit.  He went to bed in time for near 10 hours of sleep, it isn't like he isn't getting enough sleep time.  He's just lazy and doesn't want to go to school.  It took several minutes but he finally finished dressing and that was the end of that.  

And now? I'm going to take a nap and then probably play some Fortnite after that and then get some more work done in my bedroom. 

G'day

 Monday - early

Got up to see the boys off. No work today but we're leaving at 8:15 for the amusement place in Tyler to spend the day with the oldest.  Well, everyone was up making noise so I just got out of bed. I was going to sleep another hour or try anyway, but the sound of the refrigerator door slamming shut ended that hope.  People don't tend to think about how their actions may be affecting other people.  

On that note, Fortnite was introduced in 2017.  Many of the people playing in the game have been playing - since Twenty Seventeen.  I mention that because they are quite good at the game including the kids that parents let play the game endlessly with no supervision.  I throw that little tidbit in there because you can always tell that they aren't being monitored.  They start cussing out other people and getting into pissing matches with each other about who is the best and then they start demeaning each other.

I started playing at the end of last year and I don't play all day long. In fact, there are many days where I don't play at all, too easy to get bored with the game.  Or days where I only play a couple of games and that's that. 

++++++++++++++++

Many, many hours later. The field trip was fun.  It was bowling, a movie and arcade games.  We opted to not see the movie since the boy had already seen it and we wanted to bowl after the kids groups got done.  It was a nice day albeit it took most of it up.  I have tomorrow off as well and that will likely entail working on the driveway and moving more of the dirt mound in the morning and then cleaning the carpet in my bedroom which I have kept putting off for I have definitely been busy. 

It's also useless to clean it when the kids are home.  I'll figure out tomorrow when tomorrow gets here. As for now, finished the kitchen, made dinner and eating soon.

Since the man stole my chainsaw, I went ahead and ordered another one.. Lots of cutting needs done over there to get some limbs down over the main driveway and other things.  There is a tree that fell over onto the doggy park, a small portion of it but it needs cut up and moved/burned.  I figure I'll keep this new chainsaw at the house. I need a large storage barn to keep my stuff in over there, end of that story.  Locking doors and at least one security camera if not a couple.  

I'm going to get one, I'm just not sure yet where I want to place it.  Chances are good, however, that it will be near the power pedestal setup so I can easily access electricity for it.  

That's about it for today.  It's 6 pm and I'm going to settle in for the evening and relax.  

 Sunday - night

The new mower works great - after figuring out how to start the thing.  It wouldn't start, I couldn't find a choke so I called the dude that sold it to me, who immediately told me where the choke was and that fired the thing right up...

Spent a lot of Saturday running the tractor up and down the driveway.  Every time it rains, like a good down pour and especially if it's several days in a row, the driveway gets trashed.  I also started clearing a mound of dirt, it's about 30X20 in size. The tractor can do it but it's going to take a minute. 

I am off work until Wednesday. We went to church and Applebee's today but after that, nothing besides doing the dishes.  Tomorrow Taylor and I are going to the oldest boy's field trip over in Tyler. Some sort of place with all kinds of things such as bowing, zip lining, arcade, etc.  I went to one of the younger's field trips so I just thought it would be cool to go to the oldest's. 

The youngest is now jealous and was throwing a hissy fit earlier - he wants to go and if he doesn't get his way?  Temper tantrum.  He has always thought that he is equal to adults and that he should be able to do everything adults do - except the working part of course.  He won't do that, tho he is forced to do chores.  I have offered him to earn money on many occasions, he works for 2 minutes and says he quits, doesn't want to do it anymore. Anyway, he isn't getting his way, obviously, he's going to school tomorrow and that is that.

James has the meter and panel assembly installed.  Which reminds me, I need to pay him for his work. 

The wait continues for the permit for the septic to be approved (hopefully anyway) by the state and the power company said it's a 2 week lead time for the engineer to come out. And after they come out, I will need to get a contractor over there to hook a line from the power pole to the meter assembly - that's not cheap.  This is why I didn't do this myself before, I simply didn't have the money, but now that I do, we are green lighting this thing.  I've turned even more people away in the last several days....long term. 

I still need to spend a few more hours working on the driveway.  I have Tuesday off as well so that's probably what I'm going to be doing with it, over there moving dirt and finishing the driveway.  Again, lol. 

It's mother's day and I obviously called my mom and wished her a happy day.  The flowers I sent her near 2 weeks ago finally dried out, but she says they still look good.  One of the my brothers sent fresh flowers as well so she has nicely fresh flowers and what she says is good looking dried out flowers.

That's it.  I'm tired, stayed up way too late last night and woke up too early this morning, time to think about heading to bed.  

 Thursday - night

Just a quick one here, it's getting late and I've been busy literally all day long. Just the last 2 hours or so I've had some down time. Well not even 2 hours.

Started out going to Nac to get the trailer washout, then Lufkin to load - they got me right in and right out thankfully. That doesn't happen every time and when it does, I start planning what I'm going to do with all of that "extra" time.

Well that's easy. Got back to the Park, hooked up the trailer and went 2 towns over to get the new riding mower.  Was almost home when the repair dude for the dryer called.  "I'm here".  Mind you, no one ever called me back yesterday to schedule a time and day when they were going to come out....

So instead of going home, I went back to the park and hung out there until he fixed it. Some sort of thermal fuse.  Plus, I had him change the price. It was $2.50 for the washer and dryer combined.  Just not enough money for washing, there are too many costs involved with running just those 2 machines.

First, the electric water heater. Second, the water.  Third, the AC in the shed.  4th, electric dryer/heat. And then there is the occasional septic pump out that costs a small fortune whenever it's got to be done.  I'm actually hoping the usage of it will go down, The laundry is just a convenience.  I don't know how much they are charging at laundromats, but the dude told me I am not charging anything near what I should be.

All well and good, but I didn't raise the price as much as he was suggesting.  It's now $3.50 to do a load of wash - that includes the washer and dryer.  It was $2.50. Sorry, I'm not in business to lose money and I really don't care if anyone doesn't like it, there is a laundromat 2 miles down the road.  

After that, I took the new mower home, backed into the yard and that's where it's spending the night. I do not trust leaving that thing over at the property, to leave it at home will be a huge pain to load it up and take it over there, I just don't have anywhere to store it safe over there.  I suppose I could at least put a giant chain and padlock around it over there?  I think I'd lose sleep.  

In the house, ended up making dinner. After dinner, we went to the 10 year old's class performance, they were doing it at the local high school auditorium. And finally? Home. 

That's it.  I'm outta here, time for bed.  

 Wednesday - afternoon

The day off that isn't a day off.  

I called a place yesterday to have the dryer fixed, they said sure, bring it down we'll be there in the morning.  It's 25 miles each way.  I got there and....no one there. I called and called and called them, left them messages and even got on their facebook page and dm'ed them.  That was hours ago and I still haven't received a reply.  

I started making a lot of phone calls in their parking lot, I need to drop this thing somewhere and get it fixed.  I was going to just buy another one and keep this one for the expansion, but lo and behold the soonest any kind of coin operated dryer can arrive is at the end of the month. That is quite a long time from now and I just can't have that at all.  

I was directed from one place to another - via phone of course - until I finally found a professional repair place that only services business.  I do not have an appointment with them, I was told the field techs set their own schedules and one of them will be getting back to me.  I'll give it til 4:00 pm, then I'll call back again.  I never heard back from anyone?

After driving all the way back from there, I went to Tractor Supply to pick up the assembled push mower, took that to the park, unloaded it and the dryer.  Way too wet to mow today, it was raining heavily yesterday and it's gonna be a minute before everything is dry again.  

I then headed 2 towns over, discussed a Bad Boy riding mower, zero turn with the salesman and then signed the paperwork. It's $155 per month versus at least $400 per month to pay someone else to do it.  Unfortunately, the trailer I took over there isn't wide enough for the mower, I'll have to go back tomorrow. Yes, I could go back today but I've wasted an entire day with stuff that just grinds at me and I'm done.  At least with that stuff.  

It's just gonna be this way with everything until I get it all over and done with.  I actually planned on spending half the day mowing today, that just went to pot when it started pouring rain yesterday and there is still water running down the driveway at the park.  That's another project I'll need to fix and it will be done when I have to rent a mini ex to dig  the trenches for the utilities for the new lots. . I'll dig a trench across the driveway and lay some pipe that will drain the water so that it doesn't keep destroying the driveway surface every time it rains.

 Tuesday - afternoon

Rain, rain, don't go away, we are now appreciating your presence today!

It's pouring rain. Not just a little drizzle or even moderate, it's pouring down rain replete with lightning and thunder.  I know, people say thunder and lightning, but doesn't the lightning come first? Why yes, yes it does!  I met up with Taylor at applebee's for a bit of lunch. When we left there, the downpour had begun and yes, we both got wet just running to our vehicles.

There will be no visit to the lawnmower dealership today, thank you.  I found a place that fixes commercial dryers - 30 miles away.  To save a $130 service call, I have to take it there. Yes, I'm going to put the thing on a trailer and haul it down there. There is nothing else in the area that fixes these things and I hope they can!  It will save me buying a new one - at least for now.

I have found a device that you hook the washer and dryer up to and you pay it instead of a coin op thing.  That means you can just buy regular washers and dryers for half the price (or less) and they pay a machine that turns the power on and off to the machines.  The devices cost $179 a piece, but if they last a long time, they will be worth it.  

____________________

So many hours later.  Swepco. Southwestern Electric Power Company, otherwise known as AEP. You don't just call them once, or expect that you are going to resolve an issue with the first person you talk to. No, you know that you will be approached the 7th circle of hell before you are through with attempting to even get something started, much more trying to get it  completed. 

The worst part, actually, is trying to get past their automated system.  It doesn't understand anything you are saying and starts asking you for your account number. Are you serious?  I just run around with that in my brain all day long.  They certainly don't ask you for that when you are talking to a live human being.

I eventually got through to the right person after many calls and on the final call, being transferring to fully 4 people.  And when I did finally get to that dude, I was asked a lot of questions.  The end result is that it's going to land on the desk of the lady that called me before all of this and she will direct it to an engineer who will determine whether the system is sufficient for another 200 amp setup.  

The meter stand isn't even set up yet. It's been raining, James hasn't had the time and even if he did, the rain would have stopped it.  Hurry up and wait? Patience.  I have patience.  I knew what I was getting into starting this stuff up all over again and I will face it again when I get to the last 7 lots and will have to have yet another 200 amp meter installed, albeit off of a different transformer.  That transformer is still up there on the front pole, not being used as I was going to start building at the front of the property. 

I have since reconsidered the grade and angles.  I have seen so many parks with people living on steep angles and this one not near as bad as any of those, that I am content to install lots in that area and just let people know in advance.  The trade off is that they will be getting a cheaper rate and a very good location.  If you need to be near town, my park is where it's at.  

I'm slowly getting there.  

If I can't mow grass tomorrow - don't know until the day is started, I get the mowers over there and see how wet the grass is - I will be working on measuring out lots.  I may do the lots regardless.  I'm going to try to get 3 going initially, but 2 is ok to start with as well.  

I've got another animal I'm going to have to tackle down and put in a cage: another laundry, bath and shower room. 

I really don't want to spend a lot of money on it for at some point, I want a main building - a large thing that isn't made  out of tin - that has a men's and women's bathroom replete with separate showers, a laundry room with at least 4 washers and dryers and other things that amount to amenities. A game room, maybe a sandwich shop/coffee bar, things that make people happy and they don't mind paying for.  I'd still like to get a pool in there at some point, just not a  priority right now.  

When I talk about that big building, that would be after or during phase 3 and adding 25 final lots.  I don't want to go too far down that rabbit trail right now, I just want to get this phase 2 expansion going and I've taken the steps necessary to get it going.  But, we're talking a significant investment once we're talking about a large building with all kinds of amenities/upgrades.  A couple of hotel rooms wouldn't be bad.  

Why? People come to visit their loved ones.  They could be luxury rooms that rent to locals.  It could be anything, but I have a vision and I would love to see it through before this life is over and then, hand it over to my people that might want to enjoy not working for large corporations and taking things on by themselves.  

As I have said before, I started a bit late in life on this project.  So, I dunno how far I will get before life says no, you can stop here, it's too late. There isn't enough energy, or perhaps health, or just desire.  Well, the desire is definitely there.  I don't want to live off of SS monthly payments, it's a pittance of what I get now.  I'd like to be able to say screw living off the government altogether, yet, I paid into that system for many decades.  

No, the goal is simply to have enough income from it to pay the bills, pay for health insurance and have money left over to enjoy the little things in life that cost money. I'm not looking to get rich tho the man telling me the place will be worth 2 million when I'm done was intriguing. Still, I'd like to leave something for people that will carry on with it.  I dunno if my son would want to do that.  I don't even know if the folks here would want it or just sell it off after I leave this earthly world?  

The only thing I've heard is the 10 year old wants to work there when he is of working age.  I'm teaching him some stuff, just the lawn care for now, but it will expand if he's serious.  He's going to learn how to operate the riding mower.  He's doing pretty well with the push mower.

Tomorrow is, indeed, off.  It's just weird to have a middle-of-the-week day off after working 6 days a week for many weeks in a row.  

And finally, we have the political world. I am watching and reading it.  I am not doing a lot of commenting on it for there is a lot  going on and you really won't know the outcomes of many of these issues until it runs through the court system.  Dems are fighting Trump's agenda through the courts with endless legal battles.  But, as Trump does, he's trolling them. Do you really think Trump just decided to revive Alcatraz because nothing?  

 Monday - evening

Started out ridiculous.  I couldn't find the Elog tablet last night, I searched high and low.  I finally gave up and decided I must have left it over at the truck at the park.  But, I remembered having it with me in the pickup when I went home?!  Regardless, I went over there and it was nowhere to be found.  Got in the semi and just drove it home, no sense in driving the pickup back only to have to turn around and go back to the park again.  

I finally found the thing - behind the bed on the floor.  It wasn't a huge setback. I had to sit down and think for several minutes because I had torn the place upside down looking for it.  "Where could it be that I haven't searched? What impossible place could it have gone that I wouldn't think of because...not possible?" And that's when the Eureka! light when on and I found it.

Got back, went to Lowe's to search for a mower. I didn't like any of their selection. Just the same old junky mowers that don't last more than a year or much less and then they're toast.  Over to Chili's - across the street - to visit a friend that works there, hadn't been in a while and my reasoning for not going anymore became glaringly evident once I saw the menu: very high prices.  I just don't think I need to pay Texas Roadhouse prices for a local bar and grill restaurant type of thing.  Been trying to stay away from restaurants besides the Sunday Applebee's outing anyway.  

Over to Target and found one I liked. A bit pricey but a solid workhouse with a big engine.  The park looks like hell right now, btw, the grass is very tall.  I asked them - at Target that is - if I could have the display model? I don't want to build it, I just want it put together. "Well, no but we can put it together for you". Yes, thank you.

Go to the register and pay and then we will have it put together.  Sure thing. She grabs some dude to go over there and put it on a cart, he starts wheeling it to the register.  She got hold of him before I could speak, for she guaranteed me that they would put it together.  No, he wants it built first.  Oh. Is he going to wait? He's on the other side at another line of people waiting and didn't know who was buying it.  I spoke up, yes, but can I just come tomorrow and get it, would that be ok?

He got a look of relief over his face, YES! Ok! lol.  

Home, took the oldest to his guitar class, waited outside playing what else? Fortnite on the Switch tethered to my Iphone.  

I also finally heard back from SWEPCO (power company).  A long conversation finally clarifying the steps I need to take to get the power turned on. The call was to find out if the transformer is going to be big enough to supply everything. The lady explained that yes, she understands what I want to find out but the way to go about it is to start a ticket to turn on the power to the meter.

But I'm not ready yet.  No problem, we still need to get a ticket going first.  I wasn't going to argue with her, let's get this going.  She further explained to call a number she provided, open up a ticket and then it ends up on her desk anyway, which is when she will forward it to an engineer.  Ok.  Whatever hoops I have to jump through, I'll do it just to get it over with. James should have that thing up and ready to hook the line to sometime this week, tho it might be raining a good portion of this week.

I knew this power thing would turn out to be an ordeal, hence getting started on it right away.  Still waiting on the state to hopefully approve another septic system.  I'm not in a rush - yet.  But once that septic system is set in the ground and ready to go, I'm going to want everything to fall into place quickly and get at least a couple lots up and ready to rent out.  I could have rented out 3 lots in the last 3 days. Yup.  Calls keep coming in, I just hope that happens once I have a couple ready to go.  

I'm going to take a different approach to the lots than what the contractor did. I don't have the equipment they have.  A dozer, mostly.  I think it's just going to be a 4 inch thick pad.  I'm not there yet, just thinking ahead.  I do need to have the lots formed before I install the utilities to them tho.  

One of the kids is getting sick and was coughing all over me.  I'm like, dude.  I fear it too late and I'll be getting sick for the third time in a rather short period of time.  I hope not, that's all I can say.

I need a couple days off. This 6 days a week thing is getting to me.  I have to deliver tomorrow and then who knows what, preferably load wednesday and friday and then get sunday and monday off. Or something like that.

Sunday - morning

I didn't finish yesterday's post but published it a few minutes ago anyway, lol. Completely forgot about it.  

But, to finish out the last post since there is a bit of new info....I got up to the plant yesterday in Arkansas and had to call security to come weigh the truck. The logging portion of the operation is typically closed on weekends, tho occasionally opened on Saturdays.

The lady gets there and says she is confused.  Huh?  What's up?  I don't think you are the same driver that just left here?  Huh?  Well I guess he didn't weigh out before he left, she continued It came to pass that she thought I was the truck that was off-loading and was leaving.  Nope, just got here, how long ago did he leave?

10 minutes ago. Well I timed that pretty darn good, I thought.  I had wondered on Friday when I should be leaving to get up there considering dispatch had called me and informed me that yes, he plans to be up there at 10.  It also turns out the driver didn't weigh in either. 

I don't know if this driver was trained poorly or if he wasn't listening during his training or he doesn't care. I contacted the manager, the plant wants everyone to use their scales. Yes, we scale in and out at the loading plant, that doesn't stop this plant from wanting their own scale in-out  as well. 

It's Sunday and I'm feeling highly unmotivated. Just worked another 6 days in a row and sleeping in this morning was a luxury.  I actually slept and that was beyond a luxury, that was purely amazing.  But, as unmotivated as I feel right now, I threw in a pile of laundry a few minutes ago realizing I have no clean clothes for church at 11. 

One of the college students is moving out on the 25th. I already have 2 people wanting the space.  But, they are needing a space sooner than the 25th so I just hope by the time they leave, there is someone to move right back into it. 

The other one that said he has a family emergency and was leaving this weekend? Isn't leaving at all now.  I don't start advertising empty lots until they are actually empty. I don't even have an ad running right now and I still get plenty of calls. A marked difference from last year when fully 6 spaces were empty for an elongated period of time.  Anyway, the point being people say they're going to leave and often times end up staying longer.  

Tomorrow, I intend on going to the dealer and getting a new riding mower.  That is, if they have the model I want.  There are some Bad Boy mowers that have pretty negative reviews. This dealer also sells Kubota which has been around a long, long time and has pretty good reputation. I might go with Kubota instead. I'll be looking at more reviews today.  I'd buy in town here, but the only real player in town is John Deere and I'm not impressed. They are over priced and there is a lot of negativity surrounding their products, at least from what I have read. 

I could buy one from Lowe's, but I think not.  That would mean a bunch of credit card debt all over again, the thing from the dealer is an installment loan at good rates, credit cards do not offer good interest rates. Tractor Supply also has credit terms but I'm not familiar with Club Cadet mowers and know nothing about their reputation.  I guess I could spend even more time looking at reviews...

++++++++++++++++

Sunday - night

The day went well - until the kids found out they couldn't play games today.  They literally played video games all day yesterday and Friday night, way more than they are usually allowed, but today?  That was completely forgotten. The oldest went into a pouting fit that just never ended.  He ended up getting into bed at 6:00 pm and I had to force him out of bed to go feed the animals.  

Seriously tho. We went to church, they were good. We went out to eat as we always do after church, they were good. But get home? Good grief.  I just washed my hands of it.  They simply aren't allowed to play video games endlessly and this is a good reason why - they just get pissy and pouty when you don't let them.  Now? They are highly likely going to be seeing a lot less video game time because of it. Instead of being thankful, they just get snotty.

Someday, maybe they'll learn.  We haven't arrived at that point yet.  Not even remotely close.  The problem is that many of their friends can play those games endlessly. The parents don't care and that's a problem, IMO.  

Speaking of that, a bunch of kids came into my party.  The game works in parties and when they join, you are all standing in a lobby.  Anyway, one of them started cussing out another kid.  No rhyme or reason for it. A few minutes of this and the kid getting cussed out's dad go on there.  This is one of those situations where the reaction is far worse than the offender's actions.  This "man" cussed this kid out, up down and all around. It was really bad to the point I started saying something to this "dad".  What the heck dude?  You are cussing out a 13 year old.  Are you really going to stoop that low? 

If you are that concerned about what your kid is being exposed to - which realistically parents should be - set the controls to your liking. You can mute the microphone and they can't talk to anyone. You can set it so you can't play with anyone but friends and you, the parent, can control who the friends are going to be.  They put so much parental controls available nowadays, it's inexcusable to act out like this dad did.  

I shut off the game. I don't need it at all. I just play for fun, not to hear a bunch of people cussing each other out and you would be surprised how often that happens. You can report them and yes, the game will mute their microphones if they agree with the assessment, but still.  People need to get lives. I don't sit on Fortnite 24 hours a day.  

Anyway, the dryer went out again at the Park. I don't remember if I wrote about that yet or not, I've been pretty distracted with a lot of thinking about things.  It's like, let's get this party rolling - referring to expanding the park. To that end, James went out there today and sunk the posts into the ground to set up the meter rack. Im happy to have a bit of help, regardless of whether it costs me money.  He won't try to ream me, he'll charge a reasonable price and he does good work.

That electrical panel will be set up soon and ready to get connected. Not that I want it connected, I still need to hear back from the power company about whether the transformer is going to be able to supply the extra power. I have no idea, just looking at the thing up there, if it can handle more, a lot more, endless more, no more, what? I'm not an electrical engineer, thanks. I'm guessing that big thing can handle a lot more, but that's just a wild guess. 

If you can't guess, I'm not just waiting on the permit for septic and to get it installed. I'm starting up everything.  Power supply takes as long as septic, get that going. Now I need to get a new 300 foot tape measure - the old one fell apart - and start measuring out lots.  I have some decisions to make about grass or no grass - I'm thinking no grass next to the parking pads if I can find some landscaping rock - otherwise known as decorative rock.  

I kind of think laying down plastic and putting down rock is a better idea than having grass.  I've had a lot of problems with grass between the trailers and kind of tired of it.  I'll think about that and look up any local suppliers, I think the nearest one is 30 miles away so trucking is going to be costly.  There are other things I'd like to do now that I have a better idea what I'm doing.  

Regardless, it's not going to do away with the need for mowers for all the other grass I already have everywhere and if I get done early enough tomorrow, I'm heading 2 towns over when I get back and see about getting a zero turn mower. 

I have a lot to do.  It isn't a good time to be asking for time off of work, but I need a weekend off here.  I'll need a weekday off to rent a mini-ex. Looks like around $500 for metered pedestals. It's $6 or so per foot for electrical wire. 

We're getting there.  Marking out the lots might be difficult as I really need to figure out how I will set it up when I end up with 14 lots over there.  And whether I will want to add even more lots in the future? There will be room, but how much room? Enough to justify yet another septic system?  I dunno, I haven't gotten that far yet but it's always good to look at the whole picture and what you might want to do down the road.

It's getting late and I have early load tomorrow and tomorrow is Monday.  Hoping for a good Monday....

 Saturday - 8:10 am

Leaving soon.  I have the second load, which really is an unpleasant thought on a Saturday. I'd much rather get the second load run on a weekday ending on a weekday.

Anyway, I got to the washout yesterday and the first load guy was still there. ???  I wrote to the manager, this dude is here at the washout, he should have been at the loading plant 30 minutes ago? 

A new driver, just doing whatever he pleases I guess.  The manager made him wait until I was done loading before he started to load. Which put him late in the day, for when I got done loading, the plant operator put a truck in place right next to and in front of where we load, making it impossible for our driver to back in there. 

The driver hadn't shown up anyway.  I eventually informed the manager I am done, let the other guy know he can come in here.  I also asked if this dude was going to show up late to deliver today (Saturday)?  I got a phone call 30 minutes later from the dispatch lady. Yes, he's going to be there at 10:00 am.  I dunno about that, I thought, why isn't he going to show up at 8:30 or 9?  But, if he's there by the appointment time there isn't much I can say about it.

The only other thing I could have done is get up at 4 am and get unloaded before he even showed up.  No thanks.  

The power company told me they won't locate the lines because it isn't their responsibility, it's mine.  Oh?  I've never heard any utility say they won't locate a line because it's on the person's property before.  Am I supposed to go out and buy the expensive equipment to do the locate?  

 Friday - morning

Second load today, but woke up early anyway for there was a lot of noise going on out in the kitchen. A hub of activity both positive and negative going on, I wanted to wish Taylor a good trip.

She's going to work today and then her friend is picking her up at work and they are heading to Dallas for a girl's retreat over the weekend.  She likes her time away from the kids, probably all of us lol. The negativity wasn't coming from her, in fact she was addressing it but I won't go into details, that's more of a private matter.

I can't do anything about the mower this morning, not enough time.  I wanted it for this weekend but unless I can get back early enough from work, I won't be able to get it today.  But who knows, maybe.  They are only open until noon tomorrow so that's not going to work at all.  Really I guess it all depends what time I get back today.

The 10 year old could operate that thing. I was speaking with a person a few days ago about that, he has a 10 year old and said that those machines have so much safety built into them now, there isn't any real concern about them getting hurt on them.  However, crashing into things would be a different story.  I think if the machine is big enough - which it will be - I can ride along with him and he can get the feel for it. He can earn some money and I can turn my attention to other things, such as expanding the park. 

_________

Ok, the new season of Fortnite is out and it's totally Star Wars themed out! The skins (what you are dressed in) and all the weapons I found so far are all star wars stuff. They even have a light saber tho I couldn't find one - yet.  Unlimited "ammo" you don't have to worry about finding ammo all over the map. Haven't been to the black market yet to see what's for sale down there, I'm guessing some pretty cool stuff.

Ok, just before I have to leave, I got on and found the light saber right off!  I think there's only 2 of them in any given game and darth vader is standing there, not moving.  You go up to him, hit the pick up button and he goes through this little ceremony to give it to you. I was blasting people all over the map.

Back to earth.  I need to leave, lol.

G'day

 Thursday - night

I might as well go for - not broke, lol.

I've been qualified for a zero turn mower.  In my mind, this is debt I don't mind having. If I'm cutting my own grass - which I will, just work on it here and there and don't try to get it all done at once - I am saving money over paying someone from the outside to do it or giving away free lot rent.  Either one of those options is twice as much as the monthly payment for a brand new mower.  I'm talking a riding mower, not a push mower. Push mowers aren't that much money, I'm getting another one of those as well. The last one was greatly abused.  

People don't seem to care about equipment if they don't have to pay for it.  

No, I haven't heard anything back about the septic permit, not going to stress over that, it will happen sooner or later.  

I forgot to check if they had marked the underground lines today, gag.  They emailed me that they had, I want to lay eyeballs on it.  The engineer never called me back from the power company, just want to ensure the setup is enough to cover more lots. Because of the lag time between when you make an order and they actually show up to do it, I must know now that the power company is either ok with the current setup or put an order in to upgrade. 

It's a very large transformer up there, I"d like to think it's enough for whatever I want to throw at it.  But who knows, I'm not going to leave it until the last thing and then...find out...it's not enough and they have to replace it and that will be 2 months.  No thank you.

As for work today, I went up to Gurdon, delivered, over to Texarcana and - spent almost 3 hours getting 6 new tires on the truck.  I knew today wasn't going to go fast and I wasn't disappointed.  Whatever, the tires are all good on the tractor and trailer - for now anyway - we're good to go. 

Late/second load tomorrow, no getting up uber-early, I'm down for that. Too many mornings I'm awakened by the alarm clock that went off long before I would have otherwise awakened on my own without it.  I think this is the 5th straight week I'll have worked 6 days in a row, off Sunday, back to work on Monday.  I very much don't like it, all I can say is I'm working towards the day when I won't have to do that anymore.  Either through a much larger park or just retire on SS and sell the park and have the income to live off of.

Yea - no.  I am not going to the trouble of building this park to just end up selling it off.  It can end up being a hands off thing that I don't really have to be present for, eventually, if that's what I want to do with it. Reap the benefits with little work involved.  

I paid off the cards yesterday that had the highest balances on them and the bigger loan.  I'm waiting for all of that to go through the bank and see what's left. There's still more to pay off, I just don't need to leave myself high and dry.  Right now, I have dumped the same amount or more than what the loan payment will be.  

The plan is simple. Get rid of most credit card debt, pay the monthly payments for a year or so, hope interest rates come down, even if they don't my credit score will skyrocket, get a better rate and pay off the current loan with another at a much better rate.  Set myself up for the opportunity to get an SB loan and get all of this over and done with.  

A high 700's score coupled with a property with a 25 space rv park that has very little owed on it should be good enough to score a decent loan with acceptable interest rate. 

________________

Had to play some Fortnite, lol.  Won a crown and then lost it the next game, then we came close to winning again but got blown away by sweats near the end.  They have a new season to download tonight.  

Anyway, it's bed time.  

 Wednesday - afternoon

So there are some bad tires on the truck - again. Doesn't seem to take long.  I go over to the Love's and they're telling me at least an hour and a half, so more like 2 plus hours.  No thanks.  Mechanic at our shop is saying 'well you'll just have to wait there then".

No, I flatly replied, I'm not waiting.  

It took a while for him to reply to that.  I don't care, these tires are low on tread, they aren't about to blow out.  So, tomorrow I am taking it to a place in Texarcana.  Or am I? I wrote him a text a while ago and said "well since this company doesn't have a problem with service calls, you can have them come out to my property to replace them".  

I didn't get a reply on that one at all, lmao.  I don't see why I should have to spend my time dealing with their truck's issues? They don't pay us for wait time for this stuff....unless it's a  breakdown.  Highly unmotivated to help them with anything the way they run this organization.  At the same time, I don't want a dangerous condition on the truck or risk getting tickets by DPS.  

A man calls me, he specializes in brokerage of mobile home parks and rv parks.  We chat for awhile, he's from California and the conversation ended up in politics since I figured he's conservative from the way he was speaking.  Anyway, he said after I get 50 lots in - that's somewhere around my end game goal - and get all the lots metered, the park should be worth roughly around 2 million.  

I was aghast.  2 MILLION?!!  I figured maybe getting close to a million?  I kind of had to think about that for a minute.  

Meanwhile, since I'm going to be getting this loan to pay off my credit card debt, I'm also applying for a loan for a new riding mower.  I'd far rather pay for a nice mower than paying some person doing a half-assed job $400 per month.  I'm going to get that app in today, actually.  I may also get a larger shed loan going.  The riding mower payments are very low, not even a factor, really and will save me money over paying someone to do it.  I don't really want to mow grass but I just balk at the idea of paying ridiculous amounts of money for some outside person/company to do it and getting a piss-poor job in return.   

I'm going to need another shed and this time, I want a much larger one that can accommodate a laundromat, a couple of showers, a bathroom, an office and possibly a living quarters and also offer some storage space.  At the same time, I could convert that motor coach into a laundry room with a shower and bathroom. Any way about it, I'll need another unit, I can't have 14 more lots worth of people going to that single shed for everything, it will be overloaded and people will be getting upset about it.

I'm not there yet.  I need to get this preliminary stuff done first.  

It seems like it was a long day.  It wasn't really, I'm just tired. I did sleep pretty well last night for once, but I've lost a lot of sleep previous nights and really the only way to feel better again is to get several nights of good sleep in a row.  

___________________

Many hours later. 

The loan deposit appeared in my bank account.  It's a lot of money but it's going to disappear within the next 24-48 hours paying off credit cards.  There is no way I can afford to keep that money, ie: use it for the park, make those payments and all the credit card stuff at the same time..

In fact, I think I'll pay off the highest balance right now, lol.  

There, just paid 23k worth of credit card debt in less than a few minutes, lmao.  It was not just one card.  

30k now. It was a loan I took out a few years ago to fund me while I was still working on the park. I kind of think now that it was a bad idea.  Too late, but I had paid it down by half anyway.  

That went far quicker than I thought it would. Thanks to this new computer, I can fly through the internet, I wish I would have upgraded long ago!  Anyway, the 4 biggest cards and the loan are paid off. There is another loan but it doesn't have much left on it.  I am going to wait until all of that clears the bank before I move forward with paying off more debt.  I'd like to get CareCredit paid off and then use it again to fix my front teeth - 3 of the crowns are gone and it doesn't look very good.

The power company allegedly came out today to mark where the underground lines are. They weren't marked when I was there earlier but that was early afternoon.  I called the engineer at the power company who forwarded me to the local engineer to ensure that there is enough power available out of that transformer to add 7 - 8 more lots and a small laundry.  

Anyway, the idea here is that paying off these cards will skyrocket my credit score, I can see it going up 70 or more points in the next few months after all of these credit card debt is gone - or most of it anyway. Once/if/when the fed reduces the interest rate and loan rates come down, I will refinance it.  

It is highly likely I will ramp up the Lowe's card again to build out another shed or the camper or whatever I'm going to use to create another laundry and shower room.  

Well, I'm glad to get those high level debt cards down to zero before the new month began.  I don't think any of them hit on the first, but still, I don't want to pay them anything so that money can stay in my account and be there when the first auto-pay hits.  

And with that, I'm off to bed. It's a little past my bedtime (only 20 minutes) and I am going to Gurdon tomorrow.

But what's really cool is it's raining and it's therapeutic. The thunder? Not so much.  Might not be able to go to sleep until the thunder passes, it's been going on for many hours now.

G'nite.  

 Tuesday - early

I woke up early, tried to get back to sleep, knew that wasn't going to happen after 30 minutes of trying and just decided to get up.  

The project has started, sort of.  The permit is paid for and now we are in a holding pattern, waiting for that to hopefully go through.  Meanwhile, I went to the electrical supply store today and got the new panel with meter.  I've asked James to help me out with doing some of this since he no longer has a side hustle going, those people are leaving town for extended vacation.  

I decided I best get the electrical part going, I need to call the power company and ask them if there are any requirements I need to know about before they will go ahead and approve another metered outlet.  Mainly, does the setup they have installed, ie: the transformer, capable of handling another 7 lots and probably another small bathroom with laundry?  I want that assurance because if it isn't, they're going to have to come out and upgrade it and that could and will take months.  

They aren't in a big hurry. You get on their docket and it's a month and a half to 2 month waiting list.  Get this stuff done and out of the way now so there aren't any surprises when I want them to come out and turn on the power.  I've spent a little over $1,200 on electrical and permits so far.  I knew the beginning portion of this would be one of the most expensive parts.  

Water, fortunately, is much easier.  I don't need to do anything but tap into the 2 inch line I'll T off of the main, put a valve on it and then I don't have to have the water off for too long and can take my time with the rest of it.  

Today, I'm calling 811 to have them stake out where the line is running underground, James requested that so he doesn't accidently dig down and attempt to put a post in the ground where there is a high voltage line.  I don't blame him at all and I am not in a big rush for this. I knew it would take time, it's just something that took a bit to get into my head: get this thing rolling or it's never going to happen and do it now while I'm still physically capable of handling such projects.  

So that's that for now. I'm going to be out there staking out the lots here pretty soon.  I need to figure that out so I can take down a few trees and get that tractor out there and see if I can smooth out lots with the box blade on it.  That would save a ton of money if I could do that.  You have to know where your lots are going to be first so you know where you are going to dig your trenches.  I like the setup the contractor did for the electrical and water/sewer outlets, I'm going to mimic that the same as I am mimicking their power meter setup. 

I think I will try to get 3 power pedestals in advance as well. I want to try to get 3 lots going at first.  i was going to do just 1, then 2, but 3 sounds about right.  The money coming in from those lots once I get them rented out will go straight back into the project to create more lots. Remember, I will be installing 14, maybe more, lots on this phase.  I have 16 on the first phase plus laundry, so I may up it to 15 anyway. 

It's just that phase 2 will necessitate building another driveway and that will be costly.  Dozer work and then having endless truckloads of gravel brought out.  I can see 5 grand worth of dozer work and 20 grand worth of gravel, unfortunately.  I know where I want the driveway to be installed, it's going to have to be about 400 feet long, that's where the cost comes in.  So, the sooner I start saving for it - by getting new lots rented out - the sooner I can get the other 7 lots installed.  That's down the road, yes, but you have to plan for that in the beginning stages.  I just feel fortunate that I can use existing driveways to facilitate the first part of this expansion, it will save a lot of money.  

________________

Wednesday - afternoon

Never finished yesterday's post so just adding on to it here.  

Work was easy enough. 6-1/2 hours going up to Gurdon, unloading and driving back isn't bad at all.  It's not even 2 o'clock and I've been home 20 minutes.  

Just got off the phone with 811. That's the underground line detection, they're going to come out and mark everything where I need it marked to ensure we aren't going to accidently dig into high voltage lines.  

I also got approved for a credit card consolidation loan today. I mean, to the point it's been approved and the funds are being transferred.  It's not at the interest rate I wanted, but it's 10% or more less than going rates right now on credit cards.  I am going to spend some time writing down all the payments on all of them, figure out what I will be able to get rid of but I am sure I can free up at least $700 per month.  

I've been going the rounds with looking for a loan for several weeks now, this one was a new one that had popped up on CreditKarma and I was surprised how fast and easy it was.  Upstart is the loan company in case anyone is wondering.  I'm going to pay off the highest balance credit cards and the 2 small loans that are sitting out there gobbling up my money.  Freeing up that kind of money is almost liberating in and of itself, it can go right back into the expansion project.  

Anyway, I figure I can pay on that for a year and then hopefully find another loan to replace it and get a better interest rate.  I mean, if the Fed brings the interest rate down by then?  And hopefully, I might be able to pay on it for half a year or something and get the loan to do the 25 lots at the rear of the Park area.  

Anyway, I'm really tired right now, didn't sleep well yet again and I need a nap.  

 Thursday - night

Uhh, it's a little past my bedtime, just sitting here waiting to recover so I can finish my pushups. I finally got back into the habit of it again, didn't want to lose what I had worked so hard to gain.  Don't use em', you lose em'.  Just 15 more to go but I stopped doing them for several weeks so it's kind of a push to get back into it.

I am reading that it can take up to 30 days for the state of Texas to approve or deny a septic system permit request.  These people doing it have been in the business for decades, kind of hard to imagine they would not approve it. That would entail plan B - install one myself. Not actually a septic system install guy here, but there is a YouTube video for everything, right? Nah, I'm confident it will get approved, just didn't figure in the time it will take to get that permit approved and get that system installed.  Might be a bit.  I could get the electrical panel ready to go at least?

That might take a minute as well. I dunno if the power company has to approve that, the last time they just left the box open for the contractor to do the install. I didn't even look at it today, the panel where the other 2 panels are, kind of spaced it.  I was tired and just wanted to go home.  Some nights I sleep ok, many nights I don't. Not often that I can say I slept "well". 

If nothing else, there are 5,000 gallon underground septic tanks - they cost around 5 grand.  I don't know how many days one of those can handle before it needs pumped out.  

I've worked 4 days this week with 2 more to go.  3rd week I think that they have had me working 6 days in a row with Sunday off. It's sort of ok, I need 2 days off at least here and there, just need the rest sometimes.  Or time to get other things done.  

And the alternate lot where I've filled it several times and the people that moved in were ridiculous? Well this time, I think I have a winner.  Middle aged lady, older 5th wheel but in good condition, has a dude coming over here and there, quiet, keeps to herself.  She works locally and said she just needs a place to "hang out".  Whatever floats her boat, I'm happy to get the money every month and not a lot of hassle doing it. 

Anyway, I guess I better take a look at that setup tomorrow, get the brand and model number of the existing panels and order another one.  Installing it is simply bolting it to the framework.  After that, it's the contractor that will have to do the line from the bottom of the telephone pole over to that panel.  I'm going to work on getting that done.  And I will start measuring out the lots, but I need to get the layout good first.  

Meaning, where I'm going to put each lot and how long and wide I want them. I'm not going to go 40 feet like I did these other ones.  I'll probably go 30 feet wide instead.  Just need to back up the truck into position and sit on the tailgate and think about how I am going to get 14 lots in there but also for the future, if I want to dump 14 more in there. There is room for 28 lots up there, but adding 14 more up there after these first 14 is going to be more costly.

Mostly because I'll need to build another driveway.  It'll start at the main entrance, head west for about 75 feet and then curve around towards the south.  The back in lots will be turned into pull throughs and then the new lots - if this ever even happens - will all be back ins.  

I'm pretty tired right now.  I"ve been working, thinking, watching the news and yes, still playing some Fortnite (online interactive video game).  

So with that, I'm going to do my last 15 pushups and go to bed. 

 Wednesday - mid afternoon

The loading plant has not 1, not 2 but 3 new-hires learning how to load trucks.  So, it's taking longer to get loaded, a lot longer.  The flip side to that is when these individuals are fully trained - if they stick around that is - there should be no  "shortage" of loaders to deal with the sometimes larger amount of trucks coming in all at once.  I was here 2-1/2 hours today, ridiculous for sure, but there were fully 4 trucks waiting to get loaded and 1 just started getting loaded when I left.  

Yesterday, I was approaching the septic service place north of the town I live in and thought, it would be good to just stop on the side of the highway, go in, fill out the paperwork and get that over with versus driving all the way back to my Park, get in vehicle and drive all the way back up there.  So I did.  I couldn't have been in there 5 minutes. The man just handed me forms to sign, said he'd fill in the rest, took a copy of my debit card to pay the $650 fee and that was that. It's sent to the sent for approval and then they can come out and install another system. 

So far, I've only found one person charging me $3,500 for 2 days worth of dozer application.  I just need to figure out a way to get it done without all of that expense.  It is likely that I could smooth out the new lots enough with the box blade on the tractor and just  ensure there is enough gravel to smooth out any rough spots.  Leave the rest of the area untouched for now, I just don't want to spend that kind of money on it.  I can't really afford to spend that much money on dozer work right now.  And I really think I can get away with that box blade set up.  The first 3 lots would be on already graded terrain anyway from the first install.  

Which reminds me, I need to find a 200 amp metered panel and a stand for it.  I know where to get the underground piping, there is a place that sells it maybe 2 miles from the park.  I also need to think about getting 3 pedestals.  I'm just sort of waiting for the approval for the septic first before I take any more monetary moves.  Let's not get the cart before the horse, but for stuff I don't know where to get from, I can at least get that accomplished by finding suppliers and getting pricing. So I will be working on that the next few days.  

Actually, I should be able to just find the part number and model of the main breaker boxes out there already on those boxes and get that going easily.  The stand I have no clue about, a trip to the local Elliot electric should help with that.  No, wait.  I don't need another stand for the first 200 amp breaker setup. I already have one that has room for another box on it.  That will save some money and time.  A breaker box with meter will probably be around $300.  Pipe and fittings for the first 3 lots will probably be around a grand. Make that 2 grand.  Pedestals are around $500 each, metered.  3 truck loads of gravel at $850 per load.  Rent a min ex for around $450 for one day's use.  $1,500 to have power line hooked to meter box.  

See how that all adds up? Quickly?  But the meter box and getting power to it is just one time, not for each lot.  It's still going to cost, regardless. 

_________

Very long interlude.  Got busy with stuff. Night time and bed time are here...

 Tuesday - early

Yesterday, I was supposed to go fill out the forms to get the septic system process started. Instead, I was stuck at that plant for 3-1/2 hours, waiting.  "I have to load a truck it'll take an hour" ended up taking 1-1/2 hours, then load then another hour to do paperwork.  Why? Because their system wasn't loading required information properly.  

Anyway, that's where that is stuck.  I have to go to Gurdon today but usually I'm home relatively early for that.  Right now, I am trying to find someone to do dozer work, I am going to get a quote from my contractor when he comes out to look at where to place the septic tanks.  

I've been finding it hard to get back into the pushup routine ever since I got sick - twice in a row.  I'm slowly getting back into it, but the idea of doing them somehow isn't that great.  Yet, the outcome wasn't bad at all, that's what will motivate me to get full fledged back into it again.  I just want to start doing them earlier which will make it more appealing. 

There isn't a lot else in my mind right now.  The idea of expanding the property has been occupying my mind since I decided I was going to go for it, do it as much by myself as possible and get this thing going the direction I want and need it to.  When you read about SS and it's alleged fate if Congress does nothing about it, there is a likelihood that it's going to run out of funding and then it's completely reliant on workers paying into it.

The problem is that there is a large number of baby boomers in the system, more than there are workers to fund it, according to the data I have read anyway.. So, you start looking at losing 25% of your payments every month.  I don't know how much I would get in payments, but whatever it is, I'm guessing it's not even enough in and of itself to pay for everything much less taking 25% off of it. This was the motivation to get into a business from the get-go.  

Get the operation up to around 50 or more lots, get them filled up, stop the trucking nonsense and just focus on the business from that point forth.  These 14 lots will get me up to 28.  14 more would get me close.  I guess the goal would be 56 with 4 septic systems.  That would probably be the end of it.  56 would be plenty of money after all expenses, employees and taxes.  I think, anyway, I'd need an accountant to review all of that, not there yet and no need for it - yet. 

Anyway, time to get ready to leave for work. Trucking work, that is.  Hopefully back early enough to get over to the contractor's office.

G'day. 

 Thursday - afternoon

Well that was a bit of a let down. 18 hours after I submitted the loan request, they rejected it.  I figured since it was taking them so long that that was a good sign. Apparently not.  I don't know if I want to try another loan company for I don't want a lot of hard hits on the credit score inquiries.  Doesn't look good, they say anyway, because they think you are desperate if you have too many of them.  I may have been asking for too much money for unsecured loan tho.  I'm thinking of going through the company that gave me a much smaller loan, at least I have a history with them.

I think, however, that that is almost meaningless to these loan companies.  

I'll think about that for awhile.

Meanwhile, the septic dude hasn't called back and I am getting nowhere with mowing companies that will do the work without charging a fortune.  

______________

Many hours later.  I texted the septic guy again. This time, if he wasn't going to respond, I'm going to start soliciting bids from elsewhere. This guy has the best reputation in the entire county, he's just so inundated daily with texts and phone calls he can't keep up with it.  It's good to be busy, but at the same time, you can piss your customers off to the point they go elsewhere. 

Well, he replied and said he'd give me the same system I already have at the same price.  Now, I got that system before all of this inflation crap hit everyone. I'm like wow!  I wasted 2 seconds and replied "let's do it".  That leaves me enough money to get the dozer work done, however that's going to happen....I figure when I get him out there to look at where this is going to go, I'm going to ask him what he'll charge me to level - well flatten - out the area. It isn't large by construction standards and shouldn't cost more than half a day, a day at most. 

If some dude is going to charge me $3,500 to do that work for a "couple of days", I might as well go with a trusted contractor who knows what the Hercules he's doing and with one of the best dozer operators I've ever seen in my life and I can tell ya, I've been to lots of construction sites and watched a lot of them doing their jobs.  The $3,500 dude is the one who gave me that quote a few days ago. I just balked at that.  

So, I think I have the  septic down.  Meaning, it's the first step and we're taking it.  Now let's add some spice to the dish.  James says the people that use him all the time for his handyman services are going on extended vacation this summer and he's going to need to find some extra work. I've got just the thing for him: ME!  James wants his money, of course, but he won't try to ream my with ridiculously high prices.  He's very fair, he's very efficient and he does a good job.  I don't need perfection but if I did, I'd pretty much turn to him. I don't really need the knowledge in this affair, I know what I'm doing, I need the extra hands. 

So I have determined, at least preliminary stage, that I can just line the main driveway with back in spots.  That could change, but right now? I doubt it.  Building another driveway would be costly.  Just the gravel alone is very expensive nowadays, it's absolutely amazing how much money they want for rocks.  

If you can't tell, I'm getting myself fired back up for the vision. The goal. The means to an end, the thing I need to get done before it's too late for me and I'm all worn out, can't do much of anything, age gets the grip and you are just sitting there wondering why you didn't do this, that and the other thing when you could have done it. I don't want to rely on social security. I don't trust the government to pay me every month and be totally dependent on it.  I'll take the damn money if it's available, I've worked many decades for it, but I want to be prepared for not government "handouts".  

There is a certain element of conservatives that call SS an entitlement, and so it may be..... on paper.  In a computer data base.  But in reality, you and I - well I am guessing you anyway - paid into that system for many, many decades and you sure as Hondon Hondurans want something back out of that stuff. Especially with the government spending trillions  of dollars on what amounts to more fraud, waste and abuse than it does helping anyone do much of anything! I want some of my money back just for the fact that the government is just doling out money for bulls***.  Make a contract, give it to some "company" and they do little or even nothing to "earn" their pay.  

Anyway, I'm kind of stoked right now about getting this party started. The Park that is.  That tractor is still there, I give the kid a monthly discount for the use of it. I'll be needing it for spreading rock.  It isn't enough to smooth out the land, it's just not a big enough blade and not enough weight to force the blade to stick with the same plane.  

Enough. Now that a quarter day has passed - I started this entry 9 hours ago and just stopped and kept coming back to it - I feel better. Yes, I was denied the loan, I looked into a few others. The best I could get was 19.99%.  That's ridiculous.  It's better than CC rates but it's still high. I mean, it would save me some money.  Sofi rejected me, I guess I should take a look and see why. Prosper rejected me because I already have a loan with them.  Accredited said yes - but to that 19.99% interest rate. I'm not through looking, as long as I don't get a hard hit to get an initial offer.  To my credit score that is.  I figured that since CreditKarma said my approval odds were outstanding and offering a $50 guarantee if rejected, I should get the loan.

Every time I've tried that with acquiring credit cards and personal loans in the past, it always worked.  Oh, I think Upstart offered me a loan, but it's not near enough and the outcome isn't worth it.  

I just realized I have second load tomorrow, I don't have to get up early!  I'll take the sleeping in when I can get it, I never ask for it tho. I'll take the early load just to get the day over with and have free time galore.  

 Wednesday- mid afternoon

So I was asking this dude off of Facebook Marketplace a price to go ahead and do the dozer work on my property.  I figure half a day will do it easily.  It's almost entirely just smoothing it out, we're not talking moving or bringing truckloads of dirt or anything beyond taking down a couple of burn piles and smoothing out the rest.  For a dozer, this will be an easy job.

I sent him pics of everything and then said it's approximately 1-1/2 acres.  His price? $3,500.  

He wants to drag it out several days and just milk the cow.  Well honey, my cow isn't completely full of milk at the moment, I'm just trying to expand my operation so I can get some  more money flowing in, save some of it so I can expand it further - etc.  I'm not paying that much money for such a small amount of work. I figured more like $1,500. So, my quest to either find a dozer to rent or one with an operator at a more reasonable price continues.  

Meanwhile, the septic contractor finally got back to me - just a few minutes ago actually. He's been out of town, he'll get me a quote tomorrow morning.  I intend on moving on this quickly. I want to try and get 3 lots in right off the bat - well within a month or two time anyway.  Everything takes time.

Getting the septic installed - time.  Finding a dozer - or a blade - time.  Getting a contractor out to install the meters - time.  Then me doing the trenching and installing pipe and wire - time.  It's the initial stuff that takes up the time, after you start trenching and running your lines/pipe, it goes much faster, the basic stuff is out of the way.  But as far as I'm concerned? I'm full tilt into this.  My "let's gooooo!" gear has been engaged, let's get this moving along.  A lot of this is going to start with how much they want for another septic. The same size/system I got 2 plus years ago is going to cost more today.  That was before inflation took off and pricing of everything skyrocketed.  

That's what is occupying my mind at this point.  I don't want a half-@$$ed setup, I want it right but it doesn't need to be fancy.  

_______________

I've got that kid at the park asking what size I need? Dozer that is.  Umm, I dunno, not a huge one.

The application for a loan to pay off credit card debt is in. It's through CreditKarma and I get $50 if it's denied.  That's their guarantee. I really want this loan, dunno if I"ll get it. They asked for a lot of documents, all of which I sent to them immediately.  The interest rate is ok, good enough, the payment would dump almost $900 per month in outgoing payments and I would be in a much better place financially, plus my credit score would sky rocket.  

This is NOT debt relief. That is almost scammish in nature, a thing I have delved into on this blog previously. Basically, you don't make any credit card payments to any of your creditors, the money instead goes into an account where after it's built up enough, the debt reduction company makes an offer to a cc company for half or less of what is owed in exchange for cash. 

But meanwhile, your creditors are breathing down your back.  They try to tell you that all calls will go to them. All well and fine if that's true, but the fact is: you are screwing your creditors and your credit score will tank drastically and probably stay down there for a long time to come. 

No, this is just a flat out loan.  It's 5 years, yes, but I would be paying off those cards indefinitely.  I mean, who knows how long it would take at skyrocketed interest rates?  I won't go too much more into this now, I don't know if I'll be approved. 

Enough. Time for bed. 

 Tuesday - early afternoon

First off, the unload went faster than it has in a quite a long time. 46 minutes and that trailer was emptied out of 45,000 pounds of liquid resin (glue).  The drive home was a bit longer for I-30 had construction going on that had the lanes showing red on both Google and the other map I have on my phone. I took the scenic route which saved a lot of time but still took longer.

At this point in time, I have almost convinced myself to say screw the giant loan, get the septic system and start installing lots one at a time until I have 14 more in there, however long that takes. And yes, it would take quite some time, but I wouldn't be in a huge amount of debt doing it.  I'd say give it a year to finish it since I don't have all the money up front anyway.  I have enough for that septic system and then I'd have to come up with enough to install 2, 200 amp meters on the existing panel and have it wired into the wires coming off of the telephone pole.

I can't and wouldn't think of doing that part myself.  The rest of it isn't exactly easy, per-se, just not as technical. More time consuming. Do one lot at a time as I can afford it.  But, trench out the trench for say, 5 lots at a time. Those mini ex machines are costly to rent and I could actually dig out the trench for the entire 14 lots in one day.  Just don't want to do that since it will be quite a while until I can get them all done.  

I haven't fully convinced myself of this plan for it would entail me doing all of the work beyond installing the septic system and installing the line from the telephone pole to the panel - it's only like 15 feet, but they charged me $1,500 for that last time.  From there to the lots I would be doing the rest. That's the electrical, water and sewer line.  

_____________________________

Many, many hours later.  I basically procrastinated on taxes.  Just something I didn't want to do. Quickbooks didn't exactly make it easy, but it did make it easier.  I had to go through an entire year's worth of bank statements, power bill statements, etc etc etc.  When I thought I was done with everything, it told me I owed 8 thousand dollars!  I didn't take that much out of the business last year, I was keeping the cashapp payments and the paypal which amounted to maybe 15k.  It was showing me getting paid 44k.  

I figured out what was going on and re-did what needed attention and then I came out with me being owed almost 3k.  Yes, I reported the cashapp and paypal, I really need to get a business version of it going so it goes straight to my business bank account.  Anyway, I think I have it right.  I paid and obscene amount of taxes off of my trucking job which is basically what saved me from owing anything.  I celebrated with a glass of iced tea replete with fake sugar (monkfruit).  

That ate up many hours but I figured if I set my mind to it I could get it done in one day.  I didn't want to have to pay a penalty on top of any potential taxes.  

Taxes superseded everything today.  I played a few games, we watched a movie that ended a few minutes ago and that's that.  

Tomorrow I intend on looking at the front of the property to see what it would take to install 14 lots up there.  It looks like an entire truckload of gravel per lot.  It's just short of 14k pounds from a calculator I was using.  $450 meter pedestal, $850 worth of rock, at least a grand worth of underground wire to get from the meter stand to the first lot, Probably $500 worth of sewer pipe to do the same and $200 worth of water line.  That's it, you've got rock, wiring, piping and a pedestal.  

But that's not really it, lol. Mini-ex rental, dozer rental, whatever else I'm not thinking of.  Oh, yes, there will have to be another trash dumpster, more internet - however that is going to happen, another bathroom and laundry room.  However, I don't have to have a laundry room or a bathroom in order to get it all started.  I just want to get a few lots in to start with.  I turned more people away today.  This isn't as risky doing it this way as it is with taking out a loan.  You have the risk that you can't fill the lots and you have all this money you owe on a monthly basis.....

I won't get a second dumpster tho. I'll just get a much larger one.  

Anyway, that's where my thoughts are at atm. At least as far as the business goes.  

There's other things on my mind, of course, but securing my financial future - well part 2 would be nice to get started at least.  I basically need part 2 - 14 more lots and then part 3 - 14 more after that - to be able to afford the park, everything it will need with that many lots (paid employee), and my personal bills/lifestyle/health insurance, etc.  14 more after that would be the icing on the cake.  But then it's a lot more work and more amenities - at the same time, you are bringing in some serious cash. Anyway, let's just think about part 2, shall we? lol