Has anyone ever heard of Scotch Eggs? I was scouring the internet last night looking for recipes and happened upon a recipe for these things, before last night I had never heard of them.  And here I thought I had pretty much had every version of eggs that exists?  Probably not even close lol.  It looks like they should taste good.  I dunno if I'm going to make them or not, I'm still trying to decide if it will be worth the effort after discarding carb laden ingredients and replacing with carb-less or low carb ingredients.  You know, instead of regular milk, almond milk, instead of regular white flour (is that racist?), almond flour and instead of Panko bread crumbs, you crumble up pork rinds instead. 

It's day 5 since the boy was diagnosed with Covid.  The other boy also has something, a cold I guess, he was tested and came back negative. The point is they are both sick.  I have been fortunate so far to have no symptoms of anything.  

Ida will not affect us at all, or if it does, it will be nothing more than a little rain.  We're off to the west of where it's going, thankfully.  So, I will likely take the dogs to the property today - I don't have any qualms going over there even if I am not the owner since I have money down on the property, under contract and the presumed owner of it - eventually.  Not to mention the owner lives nowhere near the property - Maine is a long ways off - and I have repeatedly told my realter that I have been hiking on it in case there are any issues with it.  The seller's realtor didn't mind either.  I mean, if I were to get hurt on the property, I am not the kind of person that files lawsuits against other people for the consequences of my own actions.  

I would rather be going over there to get on a piece of machinery, clearing trees and creating driveways and pads.  I will still do that on this 14 days off if enough time presents itself after closing - if/when that ever occurs.  I don't imagine it taking more than 4 days to clear the first driveway, the trees simply aren't big enough to pose that much of time wasting machine utilization.  Even just getting the west side driveway done before I have to go back to work would be a huge help in afterwards designing the property the way I want to.  There are no models that I can think of or have looked at that wouldn't include a driveway on the west side of the property.  And with pull throughs, there are no models that don't include a driveway somewhere in the center.

However, the driveway in the center will not be determined until I see what it looks like with the driveway.  I "believe" the property is fairly level at that point, I don't know that for a fact.  The reason it makes a difference is because if I'm putting in pull through sites, the land either has to be level or can be leveled without making too much of a slope at the end where the RV's would pull out.  Otherwise, they will have to be back-in spaces. If it's pull throughs then the lots will angle towards the street/front of the property. Simply drive into the pad and set up.  If they are to be back in sites, then they will have to angle towards the rear of the property.  There is no room for error on that part - not if I want to keep trees up in between sites, which I definitely do.  

My next action will be to simply print out a satellite pic of the front portion and make several copies of it and start drawing some models up.  In fact I intend on doing that after I get done with this entry.  Oh, and yesterday, we went out to the back yard and started doing a major cleaning job.  Cutting down small trees, bushes and vines, especially on the back fence.  Also cutting down limbs off of trees that were almost touching the ground.  Work that was far past overdue, we aren't done yet and may go out and continue with that - as long as my health stays good and I don't start feeling sick.  5 days is the average amount of time it takes for Covid to incubate in your body and start showing symptoms. 

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Took the saw back - finally. Get that behind me. Almost $300 worth, I didn't want to pay for something we weren't going to use.  Went over to Waffle House for a nice keto friendly breakfast and then over to PetSmart where I scored several, very cool looking Koi.  Brought those home, put them in the aquarium and then proceeded to take all the rest of the fish that were still in the aquarium to the pond out back.  There's probably something like 30 fish in the pond now.  I'm not really interested in any more goldfish, Koi are expensive but those are my favorite fish for ponds.  They're more like pets.  But it's a risky expenditure - they aren't cheap and they can be eaten right along with the goldfish for bird, raccoon or snake dinner.

I have yet to see any birds attempting to fish, I haven't seen any of the water snakes this year and raccoons aren't safe in our back yard with that scrawny shepherd mix, she will instantly kill any of them that come in the back yard. I don't wonder if she isn't the reason I am not seeing any water snakes anymore, either.  Of course, we don't have dogs out back at night, so the fish are still open prey for raccoons.  Regardless, I have several hiding spots for the fish at least.  They are medium sized sections of Flagstone placed on top of bricks. That will at least keep the birds and raccoons from getting them and yes, they definitely use those hiding places.  

Glad I went over to Longview, there were several refugees from the hurricane that had traveled there to escape.  We're out of harm's way and there isn't anything going on, the hotels should have ample rooms available.  Normal rooms available, I should say.  I've looked for rooms over there several times in the past, I've never seen any of them sold out.  It may be they are coming this far because everything before that IS sold out?  Well I was glad I went to Longview to get that thing taken back AND to get the Koi. I was blessed, this time they had just received a shipment.  This is why I was going to start my own Koi stock tank and sell them.  I had asked Maria if she wanted to do it, but she declined.  I wanted to give her a small business to start up, Koi sell out over there all the time and they aren't available in this town.  

Buy around 500 of them and put them in a 500 gallon stock tank and sell them.  Not a hard job, really. I don't do it because I am out of town all the time.  I guess I could do it and just sell them when I'm home.  I would assume at least $5 profit off of each fish, if you could sell them in a short period of time,  like maybe 2 months or so, that would be a nice haul.  

Anyway, it's nothing I want to do at this point in time.  I "will" have enough going on when this property deal closes.  I will be back to ultimatum time if it doesn't occur this coming week. There is no reason to hold this up any longer - unless the county is taking forever to do it.  But they aren't short staffed and they are operating as normal.  

Well this post has grown exceedingly long.   

 With renewed hope, I went over to the property yesterday, took some videos and pics and traipsed the front portion of it . It's mostly small trees with a few big ones mixed in. I intend on saving as many of the larger ones as possible, but if they have to come down? Down they will come.   I had not ventured into this portion of the property before, it was too densely loaded with trees and didn't feel like it. But now that we are allegedly getting "closer" to closing date, I need a solid plan.  I have one to start with.  It shouldn't be difficult for a smaller machine to take down those trees.

It was a bit comforting if nothing else is at the moment that the ground in there appears to be fairly level.  Whatever the case, the County did not adjust their entry for the property in their website with the new deed.  Whether that means nothing was done is unknown.  When I got my Sheriff's deeds back, it still took them a long, long time before they updated the website, so that may be meaningless.  The county  has to file it first before it can go back to the title company and then back to my lender and then an actual closing date.

This has been dragging on for around 2-1/2 months now.  Just a bit disconcerting that I could be over there, right now, with a skid steer and getting this operation started.  

In other news, my mom contacted me last night.  She informed me that my middle brother's son had contacted her and let her know that my middle brother "may be dying".  He has contracted Covid and apparently is not doing well at all.  Remember, this is the brother that wrote the entire family off over 2 years ago and hasn't talked to any of us since then, including mom.  My nephew - middle brother's son - is over in Germany. I don't know what he said to his dad, probably something about going to the hospital.

He was refusing to go get any kind of medical help.  Death wish?  I don't think so, he's not one to just give up.  Perhaps the nephew was just thinking out of fear and saying things out of fear.  Regardless, mother called the police in his town and asked them to go do a welfare check. They did so and found out that someone had brought him groceries and that he had stated he would seek medical attention tomorrow morning (today).  After posting a short blurp about this on my Facebook page, some old friends of his reached out to me and asked if they can do anything.  I had to inform them that we aren't on speaking terms, but that doesn't mean I don't care about him.

They asked for his address and said they would go do their own welfare check on him.  I haven't heard anything back.  We will be operating out of limited information and that's fine, for that's his choice to eliminate family out of his life.  If he passes, I will be sad but I will not be going to a funeral where he would not want me there. I might go visit his grave after the fact, but a funeral is out of the question, the only way I'd go is if his nephew specifically asked me to.  I am on speaking terms with him,he's a man now, in the US Army, going places, he was promoted to some level of authority not long ago (I don't remember what rank).  

As for me, I am so far doing fine.  With Covid, that can change overnight of course, but so far I am having no ill effects besides the normal old age junk that is slowly creeping in - what a pain that is.  I have a full contingent of hydroxyqloroquine (spelling?) sitting here ready at the go.  I bought it in advance in case I contracted this virus and so many doctors weren't prescribing it or pharmacies were refusing to fill prescriptions- because - Trump said it was effective.  Imagine that.  Controlled studies have shown it is quite effective to treat corona, yet because Trump said anything about it, the entire liberal medical world went haywire.  If I have no symptoms in the next few days I will go in and get tested around Tuesday. If I get symptoms before then I will go get tested right away.  I remain hopeful that that nasty illness I had last year was Covid and that I have some level of immunity to it.  That 6 year old is pretty clingy right now, his symptoms have worsened, tho in saying that, I don't mean life threatening, just his nose is now running like an open faucet, his voice is scratchy and he is generally not feeling normal.  

And definitely, there hasn't been any social distancing in this house. I don't know how you do that with little kids.  

And now, I have several old friends that have contracted covid and some of them are definitely not doing well at all.  I can only pray for everyone that is affected by this evil.  I can remain at least somewhat comforted that most people do not die from it.  They might end up in a hospital but many of those actually come out of there alive and kicking.  I think it's the media hyping it up for so long on a daily basis that makes it scary for many people.  If you did that with the flu and started posting every death that occurs from it, you'd have the same reaction.  There is a point to be made about turning off the news and getting off the internet. I'm not off the internet but I rarely watch the news on TV anymore.  It's all - and I mean all - negativity. Afghanistan taking the world stage since the pullout and Biden's failure as a president.  

As much as I dislike Biden, what I am about to say will probably be wildly unpopular with Biden detractors: We must pray for him.  God is in control, not some politician somewhere. This is still His earth, we are still His creation.  His plan is unfolding before us - what stage we are in I don't know and don't need to know. I only need concern myself with my walk with the Lord and my status with Him.  And possibly engaging others about Christ and salvation, repentance and living a life separated from this world yet still living in it.  My mind has been flooding with Scripture lately.  I don't even need to read the Bible to know what it says, I've only read it countless times. I've read the New Testament so many times I don't have a count for it. On a few occasions, I've read it straight through without stopping for anything but to sleep and eat.  I don't remember how long it took, like 5 days if I'm recalling correctly. 

Eternity looms for all of us. Where will we spend it? It is a thought worthy of time contemplating on it.  What if God does exist, to all of you unbelievers?  What if the Bible is all actually true?  To all of you that have spent your lives trying to discredit it and attempt to formulate discrepancies and inconsistenices within it.  I choose to believe. I have seen the hand of God moving in people's lives and I have experience the presence of God.  There is nothing like it.  You can cal it fairy tales and make believe, that's your choice.  But does it make any logical sense that this earth came into existence without a supreme Creator at the wheel, crafting it to His design?  

Preachy I guess. Just where my mind has been at lately, at lot more than "normal".  We are admonished to "return to your first love", for Christians that have lost their zeal.  The first love is something you should also contemplate for you that calls yourself a Christian. I apply that equally to myself, as I said, I have been thinking about that a lot.  I do need to open up the actual book and start reading it again. Reading it online just isn't the same, at least not for me.  My context is getting saved in the early 80's and reading the book, the internet didn't exist and we didn't have smart phones and personal computers all over the place.  

Whatever the case, there is no way, it appears anyway, that this closing is going to be done before Wednesday.  IF the papers have been filed by the County and IF the title company has it back, the title company still has to certify it and then..send it to my lender for a final review and then closing can take place.  

I do not yet understand - and I may not ever understand for that matter - why there have been so many roadblocks, to acquiring any land, not just this one.  But I don't have a stoplight appearing before my spiritual eyes and unless something drastic happens that literally stop my from physically engaging in this - I don't even want to think about those possibilities - I am moving forward.  

And with that, I am off to do - something, not sure what, but I spent a large portion of yesterday doing nothing. Don't really want to repeat that. At least take the dogs for a nice walk if nothing else.  

 I've done much of nothing in the past few days.  Hearing that I'm being forced from working for 14 days sort of took all motivation out of me. It didn't help to find out that closing won't be until next week. It just keeps getting pushed further and further out.

The only good thing that comes out of this is that on Monday, the loan has to be renewed so my lender says I will get a lower interest rate.  I mean, that's good, lol, I don't know how much lower, it's 5.1% offer at the moment. Without property taxes or insurance, the payment will be $444.55 per month. Taxes are around $1,300 per year - not cheap around here, I dunno what they are using all the money they get from it on beyond courthouses, sheriff's department, county road maintenance etc.  Normal stuff but seems to be pretty high taxes, I don't even pay that much for my house in Phoenix and it's worth far more than this land is.  

But add $108.33 per month for taxes and I have no idea how much basic liability insurance will be.  Probably not much since I won't list it as an RV park until I get the operation up and running, just private land that has no house or any structures on it at all.  See if I can bundle it with my Allstate package which already covers the boat and 2 vehicles, perhaps save some money that way. I figure the total monthly bill around $600 which isn't bad in my view for 25 acres of land.  

Whatever the payment is, it's going to be low enough to be able to afford for a while with just my job income.  It's going to take a while to get anything up and going.  But if we can get this deal done and over with early next week, I can spend a week or more out there clearing out tree and building the first driveway at least, perhaps even get some pads cleared out. Be nice to get about 20 of them cleared, do the second driveway and have something to start with.  Doing that stuff myself and probably with James help I can save a ton of money.  I have all but decided at this point I am going to do - with help but not with any contractors beyond what is required - all of this myself.  

That decision was made much easier after seeing all the information they want in order to obtain an SBA loan and the need for hiring professionals to come up with that paperwork.  No thanks, not now anyway.  Get something going, hopefully start getting some income from it, keep it going for a year and then I'll have all of that info on paper/excel and then get a loan to put in the lacking amenities. Namely, a pool.  A larger pool with a jacuzzi, the concrete decking, a good wall around it etc. More liability, but far more revenue, especially in the summer.  Get a big enough pool in there and people in the local area will come to use it, it's not like we have anything like that around here. You drive either 45 miles east or 30 plus miles west to get to anything.  Or not - lol - just depends on the occupancy and how many people I can get in there to use the facility either overnight or for several days or longer.  

I also have room for a party barn - another rent-it-out-to-the-locals type of thing or advertise it with the RV park as a get together for family reunions or gatherings where people who know each or part of a group or whatever can come to have a place to hang out with each other. The costs of a barn or a pool are obviously well out of my reach atm.  The pool would have an additional charge added to the lot rental, not much but the maintenance needs to be paid for and I don't want to eat those costs in just the lot rent. A card key for entry like a hotel room - I've seen them used at pool as well.  

That may be wishful thinking, but it's part of my goals for an RV park that stands out among the rest in the area.  There's several of them here, they are mostly all run down places excepting for a few that have a pretty good look to them.  The appeal to draw people beyond just a park, initially or whenever I can afford to get it done, will be a large pond stocked with fish.  Ask a typical RV'er what they'd like in a park and many of them are going to answer any type of fishing hole, please.  

I am cautiously optimistic at this point.  The revelation that the lady signed off on the paperwork but it was lost in the mail gave me hope that there is light at the end of this particular tunnel.  I was going to put an ultimatum down on this table of delays and demand it either get down or I'm backing out, but it doesn't appear that I will need to do that now.  Such a move could easily backfire and the seller could simply say fine, I'm not selling it to you.  I was, however, at the point where I didn't care, got very frustrated with this situation and was ready to back out of it anyway.  I had no idea this paperwork had to actually be filed with the county. But, that's right here in town and I don't see it taking forever to getit done.  In fact, I should just check the tax assessor's site, it should be adjusted on there whenever they file it, supposedly today. 

And no, it's not done yet. She lives in Maine, the title still showing the deceased name,  living in a small town 100 miles south of here in Texas.  Whatever the case, as soon as this thing is done, I'll be over there, at the property. Actually, I'm going to go take a look today.  I need to see what I need to do to be able to clear out the driveway.  There are large trees at the front that need to be cut down - but - there is power lines running right through it. Could be a bit tricky taking down trees without damaging the lines, but I don't really want to pay anyone to do it.  Way too expensive. They want thousands of dollars just to take down a single large tree around here.  Tho, if they could just cut the thing down and let it fall, it will be much cheaper. The expense is in having to cut trees down in pieces because they can't take out power lines, communication cables, etc and not taking out houses and structures.  In this case, they could simply tie ropes around them, tie them up in a direction away from the power lines, cut the trees and let them fall in the road way, hook them up to a tractor and pull them off the street.  There isn't much traffic going through there, it would mean stopping a lot of vehicles to get it done.  

There are no structures near those trees to be concerned about, maybe barbed wire fencing but that's easily fixable and cheap.  Once I get the front cleared out I can call out the water contractor and the power company.  Septic - not sure which system they would want to install or where it will go, tho I have a place I'd like it to go, out of the way and not taking up any space in the park itself.  

Not a desirable situation, but I expect that my costs will far exceed what the 401k is going to end up giving me, so that's sort of a headache I'm going to have to figure out.  Getting another loan will mean that more in monthly bills - it's the kind of thing where you want the park as close to being ready to turn the key and fire it up as possible.  I don't want to be eating another $1,500 per month payment without additional income.  It's just that I can see the septic system being very costly, probably more than electrical.  I'm guesstimating somewhere around 20k for electricity to get maybe 20 lots up and going to begin with.  And tho companies list septic systems for 3 grand, that's just for one house.  How much for 20 lots?  I've seen estimates as high as 26k.  

There will be a lot to contemplate once I get the costs of everything established and attempting to figure out how to go about doing it without sinking myself in monthly debt payments.  

That's kind of where my mind is right now - where to start and how to proceed after certain things are accomplished.  

With that, I am heading over there to take pics and video of the front and get a good idea what it will take to get all of that cleared out.  

 My reaction to the video being circulated around showing farmers who are saying the government is paying them to destroy their crops - and ensuing conspiracy theories - is always the same in such situations.  I always try to keep enough food in the house to last us quite a while in the event of an "act of God" or man made emergency.  We already have two freezers full of food. In fact, I have been asking that we clean them out, eat all the food and even give some of it away so we can put fresh stock back in them.  

We are a bit low on canned food - I was looking at that yesterday, easy fix. Go to Kroger's and deal with it.  There are lots of stories in the news right now about the supply chain for certain products being disrupted.  It also isn't anything new that the government is paying farmers not to farm for certain crops.  I think it's ludicrous to pay farmers not to farm or even worse, destroy their crops.  There are plenty of hungry people in this world that would gladly eat that food.  Of course, that opens up another discussion about how we ship relief to other nations and the food/supplies never get to the people they were intended to get to.  

Regardless, it's not a panic thing for me and this reminds me - we have a generator but I never did get the hookup installed to plug it into the house - versus having to run a bunch of extension cords. If the power goes out, you just fire it up, plug it in and the power goes into the main power panel. Well, you have to shut off the main circuit breaker first and turn on the generator circuit breaker, but that's all you have to do. You don't want the power coming back on and frying your generator is the point of that, I assume the possibility of fire as well if you don't shut off the main breaker.  A trip to Lowe's or Home Depot today and buy the pre-assembled kit.  Well I dunno about today, just saying I have plenty of off time.

Off time I'd like to be using clearing land, btw.  And so far, both realtors are pulling their hair out attempting to get this title company to do their job and get this over with.  I'm not the only one being affected by this title company's lack of due diligence to simply finish this, get it over with and be done with it. I can and will do nothing with that land until I have a piece of paper saying it's mine.  Obviously.  The deal could still fall through. I haven't been going to the property, either, I don't want to keep going over there with this hanging over my head.  I'll be back when this deal is done.  

My realtor is completely exasperated at this point.  She has dumped a lot of time into this venture and has received nothing out of it.  Oh well. The other deal is being worked on, perhaps that will go through and she can get her take out of that at least.  But, if that deal goes through, that's fine, she can have the flat fee, that's sort of a payback for going through all of this with me that she has gone through and not just with this property. After that, tho, it's back to the normal percentage she would get.  She doesn't really have to do that much to sell these properties.  

I'm not sure why there isn't a tax sale up for next month, I've been checking.  They have it every 3 months.  Doesn't matter tho, I'd rather go to the end of year sale where the properties that didn't sell earlier in the year have a starting bid of $30.  Many properties looked quite appealing as far as acreage but the price tag going with them was way too high.  

So, today, I - still - wait for any word on the land deal.  I have not had clarification of whether tomorrow is the last day I can still close without getting a fresh credit check - or tomorrow is the day when I have to have one.  My realtor apparently didn't understand my question when I asked her yesterday, she is really stressed out over this.  I'm not stressing, I just want it over with one way or the other.  It's either yes, it's mine or no, it never will be and I can move on.  

Moving on? There is a 53 acre lot for sale at $143,500.  That's cheap for land, especially around here. That would mean a much higher down payment tho, around 29 grand.  Still, it's on a high traffic volume highway and as far as I know all utilities excepting sewer are there.  Much more property, I could do a lot more with it.  It's the only property that sticks out right now and I don't know if I could get the lender to give me a loan for the total amount which would be the 143 minus the 29 grand.  

You say why are you doing this? I'm doing nothing but looking. I'm not going and looking at properties, I'm just perusing what's available.  There isn't much, I can tell ya that.  That is the only one that sticks out -both because of so much more land and because of the low price per acre.  I'd definitely have to go walk that property and find out why it's priced low.  OH, well that was easy.  They had the county ID number on one of the photos. About 1/3 of the property has been cleared of trees, a huge pond and a waterway that is apparently part of the pond, the rest trees.  

Well I'm not going to get too much into that, I've been doing that for a long time now, not really too terribly interested in more of it. But, even tho I was lamenting not long ago about giving up - the reality of trucking and my desire to get out of it is much stronger than the idea of having to start looking for properties again. 

____________

Still Thursday lol.  My lender responded to my inquiry.  They are now waiting for the county to file and record the new deed that the seller signed before they can move forward.  Then it goes to the title company for final confirmation, hopefully by the end of tomorrow.  Then the lender says it will take 24-28 hours to edit the loan documents and then we can close.  So, it sounds like Tuesday at the earliest.  

And with that, I will move on with my day.  

 And now, just after posting that last post, this news in:

"The form has made it to the title office!!! So - hopefully we can wrap this up"

Yes!  I AM going to Oklahoma tomorrow - Lord willing of course - but I hope to see a closing on Thursday. They should be able to get this ready tomorrow for a Thursday signing/closing.

IN other, much more unpleasant news, the 6 year old went to the docs office - they're still there actually - and after a bunch of tests and finding nothing, they checked him for Covid19.

Yes, he tested positive.  I knew this would happen sooner or later, especially living with kids, now to deal with the reality of it.

I have a life long friend that is just coming out of having tubes stuck down her throat and extended stay at the hospital. I have a co-worker who was off 14 days but only sick for 3 and didn't feel bad. 

____________

Well that was fast.  I am now off work for 14 days.  I called the manager asking him because I didn't know what company policy is and the place I am going to tomorrow - or was going to - does not want anyone that has covid or has come into contact with someone that has it coming into their plant.  

I've actually been placed on leave of absence.  Not my doings, just the way they are dealing with it.  Interestingly, if you have the virus, they only have you off for 10 days.  

So now I am faced with what, exactly, do I do with 14 days?  And not really wanting to spend any money, mind you, since I am not working.  But, there is a legitimate expenditure of money: starting work on the property.  If the deal goes through, which it appears it should, I could clear the west side of the property along the property line of trees and get a driveway cleared out.  

So it appears a skid steer - a much smaller machine than a bulldozer and much less expensive rental cost - can take down small trees - with ease actually. Was watching numerous videos, there aren't any trees bigger than what I was watching on the videos.  They just take the bucket part, hit the tree about 5 feet up or so, get it pushed over a bit and then lift the root system out of the ground.  

This was quite the revelation for me, trying to figure out how to keep the tree clearing affordable was getting a bit exasperating.  

I've heard nothing back from my agent yet today.  If I don't hear soon, I will go ahead and text her.  Seems like a bit of a push to ask her to get any updates is what's needed, the same with the boat. If I don't call them, they just do whatever and then it sits - until I call them lol.  

Of course, clearing out trees not only rests on the idea of the land actually becoming my property, it also rests on the idea of staying healthy.  I have been in close contact with the 6 year old, there is no social distancing with kids.  They wouldn't understand and frankly, I think it a ludicrous idea that a person should be social distancing from everyone that lives in the same house.  That is what my employer was asking me off a pre-scripted list yesterday.

Do YOU social distance at YOUR home? lol Please.  I could have lied I guess and kept working, but I didn't want to lie about it.  I actually don't care about being off for 14 days, the hard part will be going back to work after being off that long. It's quite easy to get used to not driving trucks when on vacation.  The idea of going back is a miserable one and nothing I will be contemplating any time soon.  I'm on leave of absence and that's that. 

And with that, I must be off of here.  I was going to take this new chop saw back to Home Depot the other day but I got sidetracked.  It needs to go back, it's an almost $300 piece of equipment that is useless to us.  

With that I bid you a good day.  

 I have come to the conclusion that if this property deal falls through, I'm not going to be looking for any more properties. I just can't put myself through all of this again.  And I have also concluded if it doesn't happen this week, I'm either pulling out of this deal altogether or they are getting an ultimatum.  The property was up for sale on the listings for quite a while, it's not like anyone was clamoring to buy it.  I've made up my mind that I'm done with this for now, the amount of energy directed towards just getting property has taken it out of me and I can't do this anymore, at least for now.

Instead, I will wait for the December tax lien sale and see if I can get a decent sized parcel of land out and out for cash. Yes, it means waiting 6 months after that and then going through the title process to see if I can actually get the land cleared, but at least that is a much easier thing to deal with.  You just go look at the land, see if it's suitable, mark it on the sheet as a property you want to buy, show up at the auction and hope the rich people skip that particular auction.  

Actually there should be an auction next month, now that I think about it.  It isn't showing up in the listing on the lawyer's page yet, but they don't normally list it until it's like a week and a half before the auction takes place. Doesn't leave much time to research anything, I dunno why they don't list it sooner like the rest of the counties do.  I take that back, it's the 24th already, maybe I have my months mixed up. I just know they have an end of year sale at the beginning of December.  

It's Tuesday.  In my mind, they have 3 more days plus today to get this thing done and over with.  If not, I'm assuming the seller isn't serious about selling and I want all of my money back, even the option money.  Why would this person or these people go to all of this trouble to sell a property - including paying $1,800 for a survey - and then not sell it? Perplexing to say the least. Frustrating as well.  

I had to go back through my journal, this property "deal" has been going on since the middle of June. It is now August 24th. So over 60 days has passed since I started with this property and all of these people involved with this.  My realtor and their realtor aren't going to be happy campers if this thing falls through - but I am giving her a concession by giving her far more allotment for the small property I am selling than her percentage would normally give her. She's been through a lot, not just with this property but with me going and looking at all kinds of properties in general.  I'm not going to tell her of my intentions today, but if we get through tomorrow and hit mid afternoon and nothing has happened, I'm going to let her know I"m done with this. They either get this thing done or I'm out.  

Enough of that. The mental energy I have devoted to this thing is too much and I need to clear my head of it for a while.  I have today off. Didn't ask for it but I've been running pretty good lately so I don't mind. I had Saturday off as well, but that was supposed to be a 2 day run, I just got it done in one day. That's the way they look at it, it's a 2 day run and they won't give you one for the next day after the 1st day unless they are desperate and need a driver to haul something somewhere.  

I have no idea what's going on with the sick kid.  He had a slight temp yesterday and the school demanded he be taken home.  I haven't seen Taylor so I dunno if he's home or gone, or if he has covid or nothing, perhaps just a quirk.  99 degree temp is not high, at all.  But, anytime anyone gets a fever nowadays the first thing everyone thinks is covid.  The new world we are living in, I have my doubts it will ever get back to pre-2019 status.  Government officials are in love with the powers they received under emergency acts and dictating to people how they should live their lives.

A news story about Pelosi and other politicians having a party somewhere in California - all of them without masks on and not social distancing while at the same time her telling us that if you don't wear a mask, you aren't a man - is indicative of the elite class ruling the peasants.  I can only say I'm glad I'm in Texas and Governor Abbott has grown a set and is taking a stand against the Federal government.  The power is supposed to lie with the states, not the Feds. Anyone that has read the constitution should know this.  Apparently half the country or even more is quite fine with these dictatorships springing up all over the place, starting in Washington.  

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The boy is sick. Throwing up, can't keep food down, a bit of a temp, they are off to see the doctor.  I'm just hoping whatever he has, I don't get it as well.  I usually have about a 50-50 chance of it.  Either getting it or not.  He says his ears are hurting, but that doesn't explain the throwing up.  Flu or something I guess, maybe Covid but I don't remember reading ear aches as a symptom.  

My realtor says the other realtor has a query in about signing the form. The excuse was given that the person lives in Maine (I said Atlanta in another post, but it turns out the parents lived in Atlanta).  Fedex can have that paper up there in 24 hours and back 24 hours after the signing.  We're 5 days into this now.  

Well I got a little boost in my view of this whole situation.  I am subscribed to an RV Park owner's group, they write stories on the various aspects of owning an RV park. This one was all about why should you own one? And goes into the various pros of having one, there are very few cons to it. Even the part about "very few RV park owners manage the park themselves", meaning you can still work your career while your park is hopefully taking off and growing a customer base.  That was my plan, to initially have someone else running it while I continue working - just in case monthly revenues aren't quite what they need to be to be able to go full time into it and quit trucking altogether. 

It was a good read. Another story they put up recently was the subject of trees.  Most people like shade and the appeal of trees .  I'm on the right track, I think, I just can't get the land to start this challenge and opportunity out with.  I guess I'll go through all of the properties for sale again, perhaps there's something in there I missed or there is something I looked at once and perhaps a second look would give me fresh perspective.  

________________

And finally some good news.  It's still Tuesday, lol, I just get distracted by things going on here - sick kid wanting to play his game on my phone, a pond plant I had completely forgotten about and still not replanted into the pond, making wings for lunch, going to the store for dinner stuff, getting text about tomorrow's work - etc.  

Anyway, there was much more to what this seller had to do beyond what I knew. I figured as much but still, this situation is starting to wear thin on me.  She had to have it notarized and file it with the county.  AND, it was lost in the mail, apparently.  I have no clue, I just know that the paperwork is being sent to the realtor to send to the title company.  That really should be able to happen today, since they are sending it electronically.  I have until Friday to get this done before the lender has to redo my credit - again. Happen today meaning the title company should receive it and let's get this thing done  - well not tomorrow, I have a run and I'm not turning it down. It's just an Oklahoma run, I can do this on Thursday and still beat the Friday deadline.  

So, the realtor just texted fingers crossed.  I don't think I want to rely on luck, that isn't working out too well. I'll just have to trust in the Lord. Sometimes that's really easier said than done, but it also provides a growing opportunity in trust and faith issues.  What this texting with the realtor just now did for me is renew my hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel and it's really close.  Like, you are almoooooost there, just hold on a little longer!  

Okay, this can't happen tomorrow, I have a run to Oklahoma tomorrow and I am not turning it away, not with everything that has already happened with this deal.  Hopefully tomorrow they can say, yes! We can do this on Thursday!  I have a 16 hour exception available, I will drive half the night if I have to to get back so I can be at a potential closing on Thursday.  I truly expect to hear back either today or tomorrow that closing is now a thing, let's get it done immediately.  

If this thing goes through, I'm going to have a nice, stiff drink. Of ice water lmao, I have beers here and there but we aren't drinking anything for 3 months.  And I will probably extend that to the rest of my life. Maybe on special occasions have a few beers but other than that? I'd rather focus on my relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Eternity is more important than a few pleasures here and there.  Part of this thing I want to do with an RV park is give a portion of the proceeds to mission/outreach work.  I don't think I'm currently connected with any real missionaries but that can be easily fixed.  Or even orchestrate food outreaches coupled with the preaching of the Gospel in foreign lands.  

What about America?  I don't feel the calling for here. I am more interested in areas where there is abstract poverty in large regions with people living in wanton hunger and not being able to feed themselves.  This is part of the instructions Christ gave to us - to feed the hungry.  I have been kind of lapse on that besides helping out here at the house.  It's mostly that I'm on the road all the time and I just can't stand it anymore.  I really despise driving trucks and it takes a lot of distractions to keep my mind off of it while I'm driving.  

Anywhere, here's to hoping the outcome of this particular property deal is going to take a turn for the bright side of thigns, the glass half full, we are almost at the closing date, see you on the other side type of thing! 

 No one has any answers as to if/when this lady is going to sign this single form she has to sign to allow this property deal to go through.  It's been 5 days now since this information came to light about the need for her to sign off on it.  There isn't really anything else to say about it excepting if it doesn't close by Friday, my lender will have to do another credit check and a new interest rate depending on the market. 

The boat.  I called them since they don't call me and found out they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They said they ran it for a long, long time in their shop, turned it off. Then fired it up, off, on off, etc and it simply wouldn't do what it did to us on the lake that last time we were out.  I mean, if they can't get it to - not work - they can't get it to not work.  They then said they would come up with an estimate to fix the steering which he agreed was pretty bad and I also asked them to see if they had an old ladder on one of their junk boats they could install on mine.  

Can't jump out of the boat for a swim without a ladder to get back onto it.  Or if a person accidentally fell off?  They'd have to be hoisted back in cause' honey, there ain't no way most people are going to be able to climb back onto that thing without a ladder to climb up on it.  Once I get it back, I'll install a second, separate battery for a trolling motor which I will also need to buy.  And we need to get the bluetooth stereo working on it, there is no music to be had and that's kind of - important, depending on what we're doing.  If that thing that's on there won't work, I'll buy a new one and put new speakers on it as well.  

I'm too far into that boat to not finish it now.  It's old but it doesn't leak and the upholstery was all redone on it.  I figure if the motor won't start again like it did last time, we'll just use the troll motor until it fires back up. I don't know what else to do. I've had it in that shop twice now and another one once.  Keep my eyes and ears open for someone that knows those BlackMax motors.  If we got into a real pickly, my insurance will pay for someone to come out and rescue us lol.  

So far, they have been keeping up with empty trailers in Brownsville. I know my company got tired of having drivers tied up waiting down there - most of us were quite fine with it.  I haven't gotten any detention time in a couple of months now, no one has.  The plant is back up to 2 loads per day, about the first time they order 3 loads in one day is the most likely scenario of them getting behind again.  It was always nice to have a reprieve of sitting around doing nothing and getting paid for it.

I suppose there's more going on but it's late and I'm tired.  Long two days - was up til 1 am getting down there last night and now it's almost midnight.  

 Saturday - late morning.

I wasn't sure if I was going to just drive the entire route to Oklahoma yesterday and back or not. I was pretty tired.  That last Brownsville run took it out of me.  16 hours the first day, didn't sleep well that night and then 12 hours the next.  But, about the time I got 50 miles out from the yard - I was seriously considering stopping at a trucksop in Pittsburg, TX - I decided to get it done.  I'm glad I did.

Got home and slept 7 straight hours without waking up once. That is akin to being miraculous in my little world. I wake up every single night in the middle of the night, sometimes several times, and getting back to sleep is the luck of the draw.  I didn't sleep any more than 7 hours lol, I just laid there awake at around 6:00 am until 9:00 am, just laying there wondering how I could be so exhausted? Well, 43 hours in 3 days will probably answer that question.  That doesn't include drive to and from work time or hooking up to the truck and doing inspections before I get on the clock.  

So today, well, the dogs apparently decided that my bed was their nesting place while I was gone and totally trashed it. I had just washed all of that - the comforter, the sheets, the pillows and the thing I have underneath everything that catches any spills that may occur while in bed. The last one I really don't need, I don't drink anything but water in bed.  But, the people that sold me the bed talked me into it lol. So now, I'm back to washing the entire mess all over again.  The bed cover - it's a giant blanket I bought specifically for the dogs to lay on when I'm not here and they are going to sleep on my bed whether I like it or not - was covered with dirt.

No word about the papers that need to be signed. It could have been done in a day - easily - if the seller was motivated.  I mean, sign the papers in front of a notary, FedEx them back.  Simple stuff, yes?  I did start searching again, for property that is - nothing that stands out. Not for the prices anyway.  There's some decent properties, my lender won't approve overpriced properties and I don't blame them.  I don't want over priced properties no matter how nice they are, just not worth it to me.  

So if this deal falls through, I have nothing else as a back up.  Finklea would be lovely, but I doubt we'll be seeing that one back on the market any time soon - if ever.  I actually prefer this one - Cooks Road - because of it's proximity to town and home. It' sonly 3-1/2 miles away. Any emergencies could easily be dealt with quickly.  Any work at all is an easy drive over there.  

_______________________

Sunday morning. 

We celebrated James birthday yesterday, had fun at El Taco when one of the servers brought dessert and started shoving whipped cream into his face lol.  It was funny, trust me, all in good humor.

Anyway, fixing to head out to the yard, get the truck hooked up and head over to the loading plant to eventually go down to brownsville today. It will be a late day, considering load time is noon. That puts me at midnight getting down there and getting done with everything.  I get a 34 hour reset out of it, but I didn't really need one.  There was enough hours to do that entire run without having me have to load so late for this particular run - I like to get the 10:30 at the latest load time for Brownsville. 

There might, however, be a possibility of no empty trailers down there.  Likely not going to happen, they've been keeping up with it, but it puts me behind anyone/everyone else that may be doing down there. Sometimes on Sundays they load up 3 trailers for a Brownsville run.  

I can't say I'm looking forward to this coming week, there is no indication of getting anything done on that property and everyone has thrown their hands up in the air.  

But, I put my trust in the Lord. Whatever happens, even if a letdown, it is what it is and move on.  Whether moving on means continuing to look for more properties or if it means let this thing go and find something else, I have no idea.  Not at that bridge yet, but the entrance to that bridge is near and a decision will have to be made if this heir doesn't follow through and finish all of this up. 

That sounds dark and dire, it really isn't. Just matter of fact.  Stark reality, a thing we all deal with all of our lives.  

With that, I am going to finish preparing for this trip - I am finally restarting Keto after taking extended time off of it - and get rolling.

Happy Sunday : )

 Truck being done, they sent me down to Brownsville on a two day run so I could get back up here in time - today - to be able to get to closing - tomorrow.  My dispatcher has taken care of me in that regards and hasn't even complained or anything about it, I just apologize every time I tell her it's been canceled and she is good with it.  Or if she isn't, she at least acts like she is lol.

It came as no shock to me today that my realtor contacted me late this morning and said the closing for tomorrow has been canceled once again.  The paperwork had all been approved but had been sent off to a title company in the county where the property is - by law it has be to be done that way - and that title company said that the "gift deed" was improper and that the heir - the daughter and lone heir to her parents fortunes - had to sign off on a different paper.

I wasn't exactly happy about this prospect, obviously, this is the third cancelation now.  It not only keeps my company in limbo, it also means I lose runs I might otherwise get that might be good runs. Or any run for that matter. So it was surprising, after I contacted my dispatcher yet again, telling her about the deed problem and that it would have to be resolved and of course apologizing yet again, that she sent me a run for tomorrow shortly after that. 

Well, I don't want you to miss out on any more work this week! .... referring to the 2 days I had off in between using another driver's truck and waiting for my truck to get finished being fixed. I was happy that she thought that way and even tho it's an Oklahoma run, I said thank you, I need the work. And I do, that wasn't a lie or embellishment of the truth and actually was happy to get anything at all after thinking I would be sitting home another day this week.  3 days off doesn't make for good paychecks, let me tell you.  

I got back too late to go home.  About an hour ago, pulled into the yard, parked, unhooked, hooked up to different trailer for tomorrow and then did my paperwork. It was almost 8:30, I would get home at 9:00, have no time to visit or do much of anything but go to bed to get up early to be back here early.  I just thought that would be a waste of time and sleep.  I can go to bed later sitting in this truck and get up later and get more sleep.  I don't do this that often, but I just didn't see much benefit to driving round trip 64 miles and wasting that much time.  Everyone would have gone to bed and tho I could have seen my dogs, they have seen plenty of me this week.  Plus a nice hike over at the property the other day.  

A bit warm for that, I'll welcome cooler temps when we can go for longer walks and their tongues won't look like they're about to fall out of their mouths.  I'm telling you, Great Danes have giant tongues!  

I have no idea, whatsoever, if/when the closing is going to take place now. Not tomorrow and definitely not this weekend. The daughter will have to sign the new forms in the presence of a notary public and then send them back to the title company.  She doesn't live here, I presume she also lives in Atlanta, tho I don't know that for sure. Whatever the case, I didn't even try to give my dispatcher another date for this.  I literally have no clue.  

I did tell my realtor that I was going to start looking at property listings on the internet again.  Why? Because this deal is starting to smell like the failed Finklea deal.  It's only one heir, tho, my realtor informed me more than once, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal to get this done.  No, I replied, it shouldn't and don't take my words wrong, I still want this property. It's the most acreage available at the price per acre, in the location it is in near the Interstate and just outside of the city yet definitely the woodsy feel to it, plus all the utilities right there including internet and cable, I want that property.  I'm just saying I"m going to see if anything new has popped up regardless. 

She agreed a good idea, and after looking, I found nothing new that was worthy of my attention.  Giant properties are out of my price range.  There were several of those, 127 acres, 200 acres, etc. Just not in the cards. I'd love 100 plus acres, don't get me wrong, I could do a lot more with that much land that just building an RV park.  There were also numerous, small properties listed at outrageous prices that had popped up.  My property I'm selling? It's under contract.  The title company has it, the buyer is having the survey done, so I hope it doesn't fall through for if it does, I'll be on the line for that survey cost.  I'm not sure about this sheriff's deed, if there are faults I have no way to cure them.  

So, here we are again in the same situation as we were with Finklea.  But, don't give up until they say it's impossible. Finklea has not come back on the market.  That's been many months ago, as I said then, anytime you get heirs involved with disputes over who gets what, that stuff can be tied up in the courts for a long, long time. So, perhaps this is different in that it's just one heir and I assume that is the person selling the property?  My realtor isn't too keen on details and I would have to call the title company to find out more.  I won't, I'll just wait until next week and see what anyone has to say about finishing this deal.  

I had asked Taylor about James helping out with the development of this property - he's pretty much an all around handy man and can figure new things out.  I'd pay him, of course.  She said she had talked to him and he didn't feel right about getting paid considering what I do around the house.  I hadn't really thought about that, the living situation is a completely separate thing in my mind. This is a business proposition and I cannot possibly think of asking people to work for free?  That wouldn't set right with me. It wouldn't bother me to get a deferment on paying all of it at once if he would be good with that. In other words, put some of the wages off until the property is up and running and then pay him back.  But, I dunno if I'd even feel comfortable with that - tho it would take some financial strain off of this situation.  

TBH, I wouldn't mind getting the tent camp sites set up for fall camping.  They don't need water, electricity or anything else.  Just build a driveway back there, clear the pads, put in picnic tables and a fire ring and walaah. You have a money generator without much money spent.  Maybe a couple thousand dollars what with clearing a driveway and the pads and buying the tables and rings.  Heck, I could have James build the fire rings. 

How much money is there in tent camping, you ask? I dunno, I don't know what the demand is for it.  Of course it would mean having to get more liability insurance, getting a business permit/tax number, setting up the LLC, etc right off the bat as well.  Even so, I'm thinking about it.  

Anyways, I have spent a lot of time at the property looking it over and making plans for it to simply go away and have nothing.  It's not really a palatable thought to think that this deal may fall through the cracks. So, I will remain hopeful and trust the Lord and pray that if this is the right thing to do, in God's will that is, it will be done regardless of what it "looks" like at the moment. 

Well, it was a long drive today - I pushed it hard because I needed to get back in time to get off the clock so I could get started again in the morning on time.  In other words, I drove 8 hours straight, only stopping to use the restroom  and once to stop and grab something to eat. At the fueling station I both fueled up and took the 30 minute break, at a salad and left after the mandatory 30 minutes was up.

That makes for a long day, yes, but it also gets the run over with faster.  

Anyway, saying that to say it's time to go to bed.  And being left in limbo until next week, lol.  And since that's the case, I hope my dispatcher sends me a run for Sunday as well.  Surely, if this person signs the new documents, this thing can be closed next week?  

G'nite

 Hot! So muggy outside, even 85 degrees felt like well into the 100's.

Nevertheless, I trudged the eastern part of the property where the rear of it begins looking for those 2 elusive corner markers - and found both.  The one near the driveway was hidden in some brush, the other one at the far east corner was much further east than I thought it would be.

In fact, having so much difficulty finding it, I got out the survey notes, noted that it's almost 300 feet from the corner marker I had just found and walked around 95 steps that direction and then started looking.  It was well up the other side of a hill - it goes down, there's a stream at the bottom and then back up.  It wasn't terrible far off the easement I just hadn't looked that far east to find it. 

After that, go find the hunting camera.  I found it, brought it home, downloaded 285 pics and found - nothing more than the trip over there and to the point I had hung it up on the tree, it took a pic of my face and then I realized that the camera is well off angle, there is no way it would be able to take pics of wildlife on the ground. The pic of me was my face and I was looking down at it.  

So, I will have to go back and try again.  Not today, thank you, I was boiling, roasting hot by the time I left there.  A bit disappointing, but not the end of my world, the next day I have off I'll go back and hang it again, this time making sure it's at the correct angle.  It is interesting tho that it didn't take ANY  pics at all, no birds, branches moving in the breeze, I wonder if I had done something wrong in it's setup? yet it too pics all the way from the time I turned it on to the time I hung it up. 

I've got it set up on my computer desk, I'll leave it for the day like that and then check to see if it's taking pics of anything throughout the day.  A red light comes on when it's activated tho, and it's coming on, a bit perplexing.  

The rest of the day? Well, I ordered the wrong chop saw from Home Depot.  When I realized the mistake, I immediately canceled the order - but they still sent it to me anyway : ) So now, I have to drive 2 cities over to return it to the nearest Home Depot. That or get stuck with a saw I will likely never use.  At $285, I don't want to pay for a saw I'll never use....

But I'm feeling highly unmotivated.  I'm sure I have a while to take it back, but at the same time I don't want kids getting into it, tearing open the box and then having Home Depot say no thanks, you opened it.  

Well, that's it. No word from anyone about anything.  I even texted my dispatcher about Friday and heard nothing back from her.  Well, that's all nice fine and dandy, but she needs to acknowledge she received the text and a yes or a no. If it's no, I'll contact the title company and ask them to move it out until next week.  

 Today's musings.

The news is rife with the situation in Afghanistan.  I'm watching a little here and there, mostly reading info off of various news sites.  We went in there to find Osama bin Laden. That should have been the extent of our incursion over there.  If these people want to fight and kill each other, who are we to stand in their way?  We can do intelligence gathering operations 24 hours a day over there if we need to for any terrorist threat activities, we don't need a military presence over there getting our troops killed, maimed and messed up in the head for the rest of their lives.. for what purpose? The Russians of all people warned us about going in there.  We probably did some good over there, from what I've been reading it was far more than military incursions, they were actually helping the people.  Still.  

  It's probably the only thing I have agreed with Biden on, but the way he had the military go about doing this withdrawal is abominable at best.  Is it Biden's Saigon moment?  I don't necessarily agree with that assessment. But make no mistake, Biden has been around for all of these wars and incursions we have gotten ourselves into.  You'd think this dude would have a little more sense to see what was coming than what he did.  

I could go on for hours with my views on the military operations we have gotten ourselves into, some of them warranted, many not, IMO.  A  lot of it gives credence to the idea of the US industrial military complex, the people that have enabled it - namely politicians with something to gain by it - and the extraordinary amount of money we have spent on such.  We MUST keep those industries alive and kicking! Anyone else yearn for Christ's return?  

Enough ranting.  Today was the day - the third time now - that we were supposed to close on the property. The lady at the title agency made it exceedingly clear that that was not going to be a happening event today and gave solid reasons why it wasn't.  Information I wish my realtor would have given me.  But whatever.  Temps are not supposed to get exceedingly high today, I want to go to the property and get my hunting camera.  The boys are in school/daycare so I won't be taking them this time, but the dogs can go. It won't be a long trip anyway, just hike back in there, retrieve the camera, come home and load the memory card and see what, if anything, shows up.  Hopefully some entertainment from that.  If there is any animal life to be seen, I'll be posting that on Facebook later on today.  

I don't really feel like going hiking, tbh, lol, but I really want that camera. My curiosity is definitely piqued and that thing has been sitting there quite a while now. If there is anything back there, it's going to show up.  The property was listed in the real estate listings as "Prime Hunting Ranch".  Realtors do like to embellish and make things up tho, lol, those people would have no idea what is back there beyond just guessing because of the terrain, the region and the forest.  

And whether I feel like it or not, exercise is a good thing, especially for a trucker that spends more time sitting in a driver's seat than much of anything else. They really like you to get out and walk every day.  I do try to do that even on the road, but sometimes I'm so tired after 14-16 hour day it's all I can do to finish my paperwork for the day and drag my happy @$$ into the sleeper and go to bed.  

One thing is for certain: It's nice to have the kids back in school.  I am not being awakened by screaming and running around at any point of the morning at all.  I can sleep in without those kinds of disruptions. The dogs lay in my room and make no noise whatsoever until I get up.  They know better lol.  Ugh.  I forgot.  All of my truck gear is in the back of the SUV, to take the dogs I'll have to either move it to the passenger seating or take it out.  My truck was in the shop and it is always locked when the mechanics go home, we have no access to it.  

Other than that? I might go 2 towns over today and get some more Koi. Might being the operative word. Most of the fish have been moved to the pond - they appear to be doing well.  But I only have 3 Koi, the rest are goldfish. I'd like about 10 Koi at least. Goldfish are good distractions for any predators, Koi are smarter and will hide.  I'm not sure raccoons can fish in that pond setup with it being 2 feet up off the ground, the same with birds. Snakes, however, totally different story.  I have been looking for them for a couple of months and so far haven't seen them or any sign of them.  

The best sign being when they shed their skin. Used to see that frequently enough last summer, I've seen none of it yet this year.  Their favorite place to bask in the sun has turned up nothing.  Mind  you, I don't want any water snakes back there now. Before I didn't care, but now, they'll just eat the fish happily like a snack in the refrigerator.  We are all wondering if the super freeze event earlier this year killed them off.  Or for unknown reasons they left the property.  That doesn't seem likely, there is a small stream in the back of the property and there is ample wildlife including rats for them to eat.  

Whatever the case, I best be getting out of here, moving all of that stuff in the SUV and getting the dogs loaded in - or I will change my mind and not go lol.

G'day.  

 It isn't any secret - at least to me anyway - that autonomous trucks are a thing and they are coming soon to a highway near you.  In fact, I saw one at a truck stop on the West Virginia trip I did last week.  It has cameras mounted all over the front of the roof, it's obvious what it is.  

How long will it be until they are actually driverless?  Unknown.  Right now, the technology is required to have a human behind the steering wheel.  So it isn't really going to answer the demand for more truck drivers, not until they can actually drive themselves. Even then, the technology is only good on interstates, they can't navigate city streets, they can't fill themselves up and they can't back into loading docks. 

About the first time one of these monstrosities takes out a family of 5 in their SUV, there will be instantaneous public demand for regulation and demands for guaranties of safety.  I suspect there will eventually be lanes on the interstates devoted entirely to these vehicles with concrete dividers to ensure public safety.  All of this is a ways down the road, autonomous trucks are coming,, but I am not concerned about it right away. It's the major trucking companies that will buy the things up, companies hauling hazmat such as what I do will probably not be real interested in it until it's safety is more or less guaranteed.

I only say all of that because I was thinking last night about this RV park nonsense - it's become nonsense in my mind because of all of this ridiculous trouble just trying to acquire land, even tho I already have approval for a loan, a good appraisal, a completed survey and an incompetent title company.  I don't even know if autonomous trucks will be a threat to the current choice of hazmat hauling in my lifetime, I'm not exactly a spring chicken and I have no aspirations of continuing on in this "career" forever, but it's just another thing driving me on towards finding something else to do to earn an income beyond trucking.  

I could always do a forklift job and make less than half the money I'm currently making lol.

It just crossed my mind that I put that hunting camera up over a week ago.  I need to go get that thing, take a look at what may be roaming on the property back there.  And also in case this deal falls through, it was a $130 camera, I'd like to get it back lol.  

And my realtor just called them - they are listed as open on Google - they should be it's Monday morning during normal business hour - no answer. So I called them as well, no answer tho I did leave a message : )

____________

A few conversations later....the lady that is running the title company went off into personal issues, namely, her husband having medical problems of which she didn't identify (I didn't ask,, that's none of my business), how hard it is to get good help due to covid (true), the fact that this property is not in her county (she has to use the services of another title company to get things done) and that there is a trust issue.

She said trust issue and my heart sank.  NOT again. THIS is what happened with the Finklea property.  I sympathized with her husband's issues, listened to her rant about a lot of stuff and we ended the call. She said she was trying to get the property to close on Friday.  This is far more information than I'm getting from my realtor who apparently knows all of this.  She has been short on info but I think that's just the type of person she is.  I want details, to the nth degree details, that's who I am.  I'm not going to fault her, but it's a bit more reassuring to hear the whole story and understand that no, everything is not completed and therefore that is why it's taking so long.  

I did ask why they would have chosen a title company in another county? She said it's because of people moving here from California and the overload on title companies with them buying up properties.   I watched this occur in Arizona, not just in Phoenix either, they bought up all the good properties up in the mountains and drove property pricing up drastically in all markets.  Hence my house being worth around $275k.  

I'm wondering if this is why these people at the tax lien sale auctions are bidding up prices.  Yet, those over priced properties don't sell, it's only the ones like the one I'm trying to get that sell quickly - tho mine was on the market for a while.  They took horrible pics of it.  Did nothing to show the beauty of the property at all.  You actually had to go see the property in person to see the potential for it and that it's not near as ugly as the satellite view makes it look.

Regardless, I'll just hope for a Friday close.  She didn't give a guarantee, it was just "I'm trying for Friday".  I don't want to contact my dispatcher with that info right now, I doubt I'm working tomorrow since the part wasn't coming in until tomorrow. I'll give another day to see if anything changes, otherwise I'll just let my dispatcher know it's "tentative".  

Finally, I don't disagree with America getting out of Afghanistan. But what kind of stupidity is it to withdraw our troops and leave all of those Americans stranded over there and the embassy with sensitive documents?  It's just another sign of the lunacy we have occupying the White House.  You would THINK they would have thought of this before just saying goodbye.  You would think that at the very least, the generals would have thought have this right off the bat. And now, Biden is babbling in an address to the nation.  I think I"m going to switch off of that, the guy lies, embellishes and changes his tune more often than a hummingbird flaps it's wings in a second. 

With that, I'm outta here.  

 Sunday - morning.

Hotels have been using the ever lasting excuse of Covid to not serve any kind of breakfast, this hotel is no different. They have coffee and that's it.  Well, that's better than nothing!

I have 40 minutes until I can even got on the on-duty clock.  I didn't sleep well last night, not because the room wasn't quiet or the bed wasn't comfy, I'm just tossing and turning.  That's ok, Sunday drives are usually the easiest, get this trip over with and go home - hopefully anyway - and get some sleep.  

The property can stay on a shelf until I hear anything new.  I'm doing no research and haven't been looking for any other properties, that got old long ago. I've already got a pre-determined path for the property anyway, I've written about that several times, I'm just on hold at the moment.

Adventure and challenges are what interest me, tho, hence the property sort of takes close to the top position in my mind.  Everyone needs challenges to stay ... involved in life I guess I'll put it.  Without new challenges, adventures or something to pique your curiosity and perhaps confront you with decisions and things you have to do to get past that challenge, life can get pretty boring.

Goals are also good.  I've always had goals and have pursued them until either realized and done or to the recognition that they are unachievable and create new goals for something different.  My trucking career has been a continuous goal of sorts until I got to this job and have stopped looking for anything "better".  Money and home time were the goal, I've got a bit of best of both worlds going.  Not that I'm happy with this career, but at least I've got it as good as it's going to get.  I think.  Lol, no, I'm not looking for a new job either.  If the company decides at some point my services are no longer needed, that is about the only time that I can think of in my current state of mind that I would start looking again.

There is a Facebook group filled with our company's drivers and many of them are of the thought that there is no job security in this particular company.  I don't believe anyone thinks that after seeing them let go managers, dispatchers, drivers without, in most cases, any good reason.  Ok, the drivers were probably warranted. One ran over an automatic gate and did 10k worth of damage. They didn't get rid of her at that point, but her productivity was in the tanks.  She'd take several days longer than anyone else getting trips done, pull over and sleep for long periods of time.

Turns out she was just trying to make it until the end of last year when she would qualify for the level of Social Security she wanted before retiring.  This lady boasted how she had "nothing" saved for retirement.  Several times over, I heard her bragging how she literally had zero money saved.  I just couldn't fathom that.  

The other driver was a drunk.  He would sit in the office after hours with half a gallon of Wild Turkey and sit there drinking until he passed out.  One day, he forgot about the bottle and got up and went to his truck. A middle management guy found the bottle. They couldn't prove it was him but they had their suspicions.  They were just looking for a good enough reason to fire him and they found it after the driver started cussing out a shop manager at a Peterbilt repair facility.  He was pissed because they kept calling him, telling him the truck was done and then he'd show up and - the truck wasn't done.  Although I can see getting a bit upset, he went off on this dude.  

That's really the liquor speaking tho.  I would see him at the yard in Brownsville so lit up he didn't even know where he was. He'd brag about how he got up at 5 am and started drinking.  Insanity.  He even had the gall to tell the manager that he was a "functioning alcoholic".  She never reported it, but the company fired his @$$ after that deal with the Peterbilt shop.  

The point is that I have no job security regardless of how well I behave myself.  I don't expect it with this company and therefore I won't be shocked if they come to me one day and say it's time to part ways.  I probably won't even bother to ask why, don't really care. If you're just a number/name on their computer screen and nothing more, I'm not going to bother hearing a lecture on whatever their reason is.  Many trucking companies are - or were anyway - like that. We are in a different trucking landscape now, tho, with companies begging for drivers to come to their greener grass and experience higher pay! and better home time! Better home time is an empty promise that most companies won't honor. Recruiters will bald-faced lie to you about home time, new trucks, perks - whatever they think you need to hear to quit your current job and join up with them. 

I don't even have it in my mind what I would do if they let me go, tbh.  Just a bridge I would cross if the bridge presented itself.  Probably look at local jobs tho.  Maybe try to get on with a fuel hauling company. 

Well, I stopped keto diet when we went on vacation and never went back on it.  Amazing how fast the fat piles back on!  I'm thinking to fast all day today and tomorrow and maybe even the next day. Not just for dieting sake, tho, but for seeking the Lord.  Haven't decided on that yet, hence it's good there isn't any food downstairs for breakfast.  I usually do drink coffee - black - on a fast just to keep the caffeine headaches away.  It's enough to stop eating, coffee isn't off the list, just can't add any creamer.  

Kick starting Keto is relatively easy if you just don't eat for a few days, your body is going to go into that mode by itself.  Instead of who knows how long before you get into ketosis.  I'm ready for another diet, tbh, but I haven't decided which and right now? I need to get this gut back off of me.  I don't wear fat well lol.

With that, I bid you a happy, enjoyable Sunday. Don't forget to worship your Creator today!

G'day.  

 Day finally done at 11:20 pm

I've been to Brownsville, dropped the loaded trailer at a "new" yard and then picked up an empty at the old yard.  Contacted my dispatcher, told her I would be in Raymondville tonight, please get me a room at La Quinta.  Drove the 50 miles back north to get up here and walaah, in a hotel room, sitting here just winding down.  

I spent a lot of time contemplating this property situation today and the idea that I seem to get doors closed at every turn.  

It could just be coincidence.  It could be the Lord saying this isn't my plan for you.  It could be the enemy attempting to thwart these plans for unknown purposes.  

Whatever the case, I just let it go.  Into God's hands that is.  If it's meant to be, it will happen, if it isn't, it won't.  I can't sit around getting excited about property and then having the let down every time.  

I'm not going to continue to allow this title company to mess with my life.  If they do, indeed, come up with a date to close, I'm going to demand a written guarantee that it will happen or they can pay a fine.  No, they probably won't go for that, but it will send the message that I'm tired of their games and I am at the end of the line here.  Get it done or I'm moving on.  

This seller can find someone else to buy the property - which was on the market for a long time - or they can find another title company - which there is a much better one in town. Better by customer service standards anyway. I'm not currently looking at any other properties online.  I only have looked at my listing for the little property I am selling in town. By now it should say under contract or contingent or something similar on the ads.

I'm just tired of this property searching. It is going to be over. Either with or without actually acquiring property, I am done with it.  

So that's it.  The realtor can deal with this nonsense, I'm just going to kick back and wait and see what happens on Monday. I canceled the Tuesday day off because of the title company dropping out again and hopefully I will have another run, even if it's just an Oklahoma run, I want more work.

Strike that, I need more work, wanting is a stretch lol.  

I guess there's lots going on - lots of people I know have been dying lately and sadly.  One of them had his whole body stricken with cancer. Another also had cancer and my cousin died of a heart attack.  I hope that's the end of it for a while.  

There's all the politics going on, which I am definitely not going to go into right now.

There are good things going on everywhere as well. My pond seems to be doing well and my aquarium is staying nice and clean now that I got most of the fish out of there and into the pond.  It was getting dirty quick, I was replacing filters at least once a week, they are supposed to last a month lol.

Tomorrow is Sunday, I won't be able to start driving until 9:20 am, which is fine, I'm quite tired and one of those beds sitting behind me is looking pretty inviting right about now.  Not to mention the fact it's 12:30 am, much later than my normal bed time.

Hope everyone is doing well.

G'nite.  

 Coming up from Brownsville. 

First thing's first tho.  Dispatcher sends me another run for Brownsville in the morning.  "Is my truck fixed yet?".  She didn't know, even tho she promised to find out yesterday.  She instantly replied she didn't know but she will get me a hotel room tomorrow night - obviously intending me to drive this other driver's truck again.  I didn't refuse, I just don't want to drive his or anyone else's truck.

My truck apparently isn't going to be fixed until Tuesday - at the earliest.  But hey, if she's going to get me a hotel room I'll just take that and run with it. Probably stop at the same town as I did last night - with one change - they can pay for either a Holiday Inn or a La Quinta room instead of the Deluxe Inn.  I'd do the Deluxe Inn again under the same circumstances and if on my own dime, but on the company's money they can pay for a major brand chain.  

Next:  My realtor.  Uhh, I don't think they legally can close on Tuesday, the rules say they have to give a 3 day notice before closing and they haven't sent anyone....anything.  She went off on that title company and said she would never use them again even if it meant losing a sale.  I finally lost it - well, not full blown melt down but I've had enough of this shit with this title company. A bunch of incompetent idiots.  So I took the bull by the horns and said "How about we tell them Friday and if they don't like is they can kiss my a**. I'm not going to have these people dictating my life like this".  

I had to cancel the day off with my dispatcher again.  I was very apologetic.  What else could I do?  I can't control these people at this title company. The thing that is even more frustrating is they have all kinds of rave reviews from people - it's a mom and pop type thing and is locally owned and operating.  She said it's okay! and said no problem. But I don't owe her anything, I've done all kinds of favors for her and got little in return until I got the bobtail to West Virginia and now 2 Brownsvilles in a row.  And if I"m lucky, something else on Monday since I don't have to have Tuesday off.  

The whole thing pissed both of us off - the realtor and I - and we started mocking this title company.  She's going to have her say, I will wait until it's done and over with - if that ever even happens - and then I"m going to let them know exactly how I feel about them in on uncertain terms and that is going to be face to face or a phone call. Then I am going to blow up reviews with statements that no one will look and say, gee, he really likes them!  This nonsense has been going on waaaaaay too long.  

I don't really know when this is going to happen. I've all but given up on this shit show I call a "search for property". I'm disgusted with the whole system and the incredibly lethargic way you have to crawl through it to actually get land.  I made it clear to my realtor, tho, that I am in control of the closing date now.  They can suggest a closing date and I will have to agree to it.  Here I was getting excited that Tuesday was finally the end of this incredibly long road to getting property and now?  

I'm really at the verge of giving up on this.  Maybe this just wasn't meant to be. There's been way too many roadblocks.  What kind of hell am I going to go through to actually get the operation up and running if I do actually get property?  How long does a person contend with a dream before that person says screw this, the dream isn't obtainable?  

The only thing that is actually stopping me right now is the fact that I also despise trucking and very much want out of it.  I don't care how much money I am making doing it, it sucks and I'm done with it.  But I can't BE done with it until something else takes its place.  

Whatever. I'm just a wee bit disgusted right now. 

Just going to go to bed.  

 Welcome to Friday the 13th!

I don't give the number of the day correlated with a particular day of the week any specific credence, but some people think it's bad luck.  

Because of that, I figure I'll have good luck! lmao

Sleep last night was absolutely delightful. This cheap hotel that I've passed by hundreds of times with a huge truck parking area? Hit the spot. I know I wouldn't have been able to sleep in that sleeper last night and I would have been miserable this morning.  

I wonder what traffic will be like today......

My 10 hours is almost up, time to get out of here and get on down the highway.  Hey, at least I'm already 50 miles headed in the right direction!

Have a great day!

 Brownsville, TX area hotels are pretty strange with their hotel pricing.  One day it's a good price - at any of them - the next it's ridiculous.  Today was in the ridiculous range.  

See, I got in this other driver's truck today, with no small amount of aggravation attempting to remember everything I absolutely have to have from my truck and making several trips back and forth until I was satisfied I had everything I needed - and headed to the plant.  Got in the sleeper to snooze while they were loading.  Horrible bed.

Horrible bed.  Like sleeping on jello or something, the thing was so soft it was more than just  a bit annoying. I can't sleep on beds that soft, I feel like I'm sinking or something, I just don't like them. I already knew I would be getting myself a hotel tonight and oh well, eat the cost and move on.  Not to mention the smell in that sleeper.  Just a non-happening event.

Also of note was the tires on the trailer that I was assigned to that I have reported in the past and that haven't been replaced. They don't need fixed, they need replaced. Last two times I pulled that trailer, there was a severe vibration with other drivers reporting the same.  Well no duh, some of the tires have flat spots on them, someone must have locked them up.  I texted the lead mechanic - he was all of 100 feet away but I have no interest in face to face contact with him at this point after the meltdown he had last time we went through something like this. 

He was cordial at least but told me they don't have those size of tires, they aren't our fleet.  Yes, I know these mexican trailers don't belong to us, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared to fix them and bill the customer.  They do it already anyway.  He wanted me to go to a tire shop to have them replaced.  I just blew that all off, didn't lose my cool and contacted my dispatcher, can I take E001 instead?  This trailer has several bad tires on it.  Sure! Please tell Ryan about the bad tires! Already have, I replied and thank you.

Easy peasy, bypassed, Ryan and got a trailer with decent tires.  Anyway, it only took them 45 minutes to load the trailer and I was only at the scale house for maybe 30 minutes, so I made really good time today. 

Back to the hotels.  No way I am spending the night in that truck.  If I had the misfortune of being permanently assigned to it I would be demanding a new mattress.  I just couldn't believe even normally low priced hotels were in the $70 range and everything decent was well over $100.  I only need a place to sleep for the night, I don't need a fancy hotel for that, just a comfortable bed and a quiet facility.  

After checking all of the places, I finally decided to cave in and just get a pricey place and eat it.  But then I realized I had an hour and a half left on the clock.  I could make it back up the road somewhere before getting to no man's land - it's like 60 or 70 miles of nothing but ranch land, literally nothing else there excepting a miniature post office and a immigration check station, they like to call it.  

Raymondville!  There's a place I have been seeing forever with truck parking, cheap prices and at least some decent reviews.  So I drove the 50 miles here, got the trucker discount and paid $55 plus tax.  The room is nice considering this is just a mom and pop place, the ed at least look comfy, I'll find out in a few, I'm really tired.  Long day and everyone woke up tired this morning.  How that hit all of us the same I have no idea, but it did.  I was half awake/half asleep for several hours after getting up today.  

So that's it.  I'm here, in my room, the drunks out in the parking lot apparently decided to go into their rooms - thank God almighty, not in the mood to have to go ask for a different room away from those people, they were being obnoxiously loud out there. They looked like workers staying here on some work duty, so they have to go to sleep at some point, it's only Thursday there's at least another work day left in this week if they are Monday-Friday workers.  

There is nothing else.  Well, the 6 year old had his first day of 1st grade today.  No masks.  The 4 year old was driving Taylor crazy because his older brother isn't around to play with.  Summer is over, at least school wise, still plenty hot out there. 

I'm just counting the days.  Waiting to be sent the info on how much money I need to bring with me - well bring cashier's check/s and get this property over and done with.  The property I am selling I've heard nothing back, I signed off on the paperwork dunno what's going on with that, I assume the lengthy process I am going through now.  Survey, appraisal and title company.  Title company should be interesting since this is a sheriff's deed.  My realtor sort of stopped when I told her this is a sheriff 's deed. OH, well let me do some research on that!  Apparently she thinks she can get it done - really it's all the title company. If I have to come up with "anything" other than the sheriff's deed?  I dunno what I would do, I have no other documents.  Just that the property taxes are paid up on it.  I'm assuming these title companies have experience with these sheriff's deeds since the sales are every 3 months and people have to have the titles cleared to be able to sell them.  

Speaking of tax lien auctions .... lol no, I don't think I'll be going to the next one or any of them any time soon - unless - this deal with this property goes through seamlessly or close enough to it and make it worth the trouble.  Actually, now that I think about it, the next auction is likely done and over with.  There won't be another one until December. That's the one where they try to sell all of the properties that didn't sell during the year.  They start the bidding out at $30 and it goes from there.  If I can sell 2 of these properties before then I'd likely go to see if I can get more at cheap prices.  

Anyway, enough of that talk, I have no desire to do any of that right now, this 25 acre deal is all that is on my mind for worldly things.  

And sleep.

G'nite

 Although I do want another run tomorrow, I do not want to do it in someone else's truck.  I reported mine yesterday when I got back with a broken off quarter panel. It's a plastic cover that goes over the tires, the bracket broke off and the panel was just dragging on the tires.  No idea how long it was doing that, it wasn't making any noise and impossible to see from the rear view mirrors.  It had small holes rubbed through it so it was doing it for awhile.  However, that is an easy fix.  

When my dispatcher told me to take Dusty's truck, I asked what was wrong with mine?  That panel isn't even a DOT warning or ticket, it isn't legally required on there. The only thing I have to have on there is a mud flap at the rear of the tires on the rear axle.  "Ryan said the sensor needed to be replaced and and it is on backorder". What sensor, I thought.  I have been reporting an engine light on on the truck for -  2 months now. Apparently they found that after writing up the panel.  

I actually don't really care about reporting things anymore, but I do it because it is mandatory. What I don't do is keep giving the reports to the mechanics, over and over, for them to ignore. I just give it to them once in their mailbox as required and that's that. The report gets sent into the headquarters via email when I send my trip paperwork in and that's it after I give it to the mechanics once.  I find it annoying and aggravating to continuously give them the same problem to have them do nothing about it.  I said something to my manager and that mechanic about it once. Why do you want us to write up things wrong with the trucks and you don't fix it? Or you don't even read the reports, you just trash them or file them?  

No answer.  

Anyway, I asked if this driver knows that someone else is taking his truck? Why isn't that driver driving?  It is a big time no no to be driving other people's trucks, at least among drivers, in the trucking industry.  I don't want anyone else driving my truck and I know - especially those that keep their trucks clean - they don't want anyone else driving theirs either.  She replied she didn't know, it was Brandon's (manager) call and that Dusty is out of surgery recovering.  Surgery?!!  She didn't elaborate on what it was, I didn't ask, not my business.  He keeps his truck immaculate, I can say that.  

So I said to her I don't like driving other driver's trucks, especially Dusty, he's particular about his truck.  She replied that she didn't have any choice, she's down 5 drivers otherwise she wouldn't have asked.  Well fortunately, it's a 9:00 am load, I'm going to need to get there early to get stuff out of my truck to put in there. Paper towels, my laptop, charging wires, bedding, water, etc.  That's the other thing about switching trucks, all the stuff you want with you on a trip? You'll have to take out of one truck and put it into the other. I won't be using any of his stuff in there, it's drive down to Brownsville and hopefully come right back up the next morning and get that over with and hope that my truck is finished for the next run.  

And if there are no empties down there, I will be getting myself a hotel room and just do that instead of staying in someone else's truck.  I dunno if that truck has a refrigerator so I won't be taking any food. Fortunately the Brownsville run has several options going down to find decent food to eat along the way.  

As for today, the boys played in that pool for hours.  Phoenix didn't even want to get out until mama said time to get out. Us old folks had had enough - it's really hot outside.  5 foot pool that's less than 2 feet tall, only little kids are getting in there. Those of us on the porch - sweating and just nasty. The pool was a good idea, but it's welcome had worn out lol. 

The gentleman that brought the other boy was asking why I wanted to build an RV park?  Umm, just a dream of mine that I've had for a long time.  Yea but there's several parks in the area. Yup and they're full or mostly full.  True. Cooks road? Yes.  He named the former sheriff.  that lives there and another RV park.  Yes, there is another RV park but it's private, membership only thing. You can't just get online and book it.  It's no competition at all.  I knew the Sheriff lived on that street, I didn't know where.  Apparently a few hundred feet from where my intended property lies.  Oh, that's interesting.  

He lives up the hill on the other side, my traffic won't be coming by him, fortunately, I don't need people starting trouble.  RV parks are generally quiet, an exception might be families with noisy kids or drunks making loud noise and blaring music.  The latter will not be welcome.  Drink if you please, but if you get drunk and start trouble with people, you are going to be thrown right out of there. It will be clearly written in my park rules.  Quiet hours will be from 10 pm til 8 am, the general rule of thumb I have found for parks, tho some say 7 am.  

I dunno, I have thought about conflicts, I have addressed several of them, I can't foresee everything.  I'm not going door to door asking people's opinions, there is a reason people move to the county - get away from city restrictions and more importantly, do whatever you please.  There are no HOA's, no associations, that was determined right from the get go.  All the things I have found that could be impediments to progress I have addressed. There may be other things that I don't know about, c'est la vie.