What stops Putin from advancing on if he defeats Ukraine?  You don't think this man is capable of simply moving right on to neighboring nations which are equally as impotent as the Ukraine to stop the carnage?  NATO is an interesting organization, but Putin is starting to get old and I doubt he cares.  When he starts posturing with talk about his nukes - he may be playing the cards and bluffing, or he may be at a point in his mind where he doesn't care. I don't know.  I'd like to think he would never think of using nuclear arms against an inferior nation militarily speaking but I don't put anything past this man.  Not at this point. His actions have always been reckless, but we have an update of how evil this man is in targeting civilians.  

And all of this blah blah blah about condemning the man, give the people of Ukraine what they need: the armament to stand up to this malevolent actor.  Not worth going too much into this, but I am watching the video and pictures of the destruction the Russian army did overnight, especially on Karkiv (spelling?) and it's horrible.  

Regardless, Addler is miserable right now, he hates that cone but if I take it off? He goes straight to licking the area that had the surgery and we just can't have that.  He's on pain pills until they are gone, so hopefully he's not too uncomfortable.  His appetite is gone, he barely eats and then lays down.  

The contractor sent me a quote to do just the first 400' of the property.  I can only say that to do the entire property is going to be very costly and we are definitely not going that route. I gave the ok to get it done, the range is between $6,500 and $9,700 for just the 400 linear feet of it and it is what it is.  I have no choice.  For the money it will cost to do the rest of it? It would be cheaper for me to buy my own bulldozer.  I doubt I'll do that, just the thought of how much money this is all going to cost to get to the eventual finish line with a fully developed park.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars, easily.  

Get the thing up and running, see what happens and make decisions from there.  Right now, the decisions are to move along with whatever I can afford and get it done.  I authorized the work and that's that.  If this thing turns out profitable, I will be able to secure a loan for somewhere in the 300k range and finish the rest of it.  I'm still going to be good with getting the rest of the pad work done and the utility installation - but - I haven't received a quote on the gravel.  I can easily see another 15k, even with the use of the existing driveway.  Plans are being altered to make the project affordable.  

I'm somewhere around 80k to do everything that this contractor will do to get this park going.  That's 24k more than I expected.  That 24k is the building and everything it needed.  Gag.  Very possible I'll have to take out a loan to finish this thing.  Not my first choice but I'll do whatever I have to, we are already knee deep here, might as well jump all the way in. I have, lol, jumped all the way in. I'm not worried per se, just wanting to get this stuff done so I can get the money spent on the things I need.  I feel like I'm racing against an inflation clock. The longer it takes, the more it's going to cost. 

I spent most of yesterday working on putting this rather large desk together. I knew it was big, I didn't realize it was this big.  Because it took them so long to get the thing to me, they took off almost $300 from the original price. I've put it off because - I knew it was going to be quite the project and I wasn't wrong.  There were a huge number of parts.  The desk itself is almost done, then put the hutch together and call it good. 

I'm back to my pre-trip weight.  I weighed in at 219 when I left, I was up to 232 when we got back.  That doesn't mean my gut is gone, lol.  Just came back to the weight I started at.  I'm looking to lose 35 pounds, well I'm looking to lose all of this fat.  

Well, back to the desk. Get it done and get my room back into some semblance of order.  Can't take Addler for a walk today, tho I guess I could take the shepherd.  Addler is going to forego walks for a couple of weeks as far as I'm concerned, I want that healed enough that his romping around all over the place isn't going to open the wound.  

 Addler is ok, is the good news. The unpleasantries of shoving even more pills down dog throats hits home as Addler needs 2 antibiotics, twice a day and a pain pill every 12 hours until they are gone.  He wasn't a particularly hungry dog this evening and he has a cone on his head.  He isn't allowed to go running around all over the place outside, so his outside ventures are to be just enough to get a drink and potty.  We are in for a tough week and I won't be here for all of it.  We already are shoving 2 pills down the shepherd's throat once a day before meal time, every day for the rest of her life. 

I hate to have to leave that cone on his head all night long, but he licks his butt - all night long.  Just can't have that, it can open up the wound and then back to the vet and another big bill and no thanks.  He isn't enjoying life right now, I can't do anything to change that.  

The vet sent the mass she took out off to have it tested.  She said it was connected internally and she had to take out a lot more than she had expected, including the anal glands on one side.  She knows what she's doing, I can't imagine having to do surgery on any animal or human in that particular region of the body.  I do hope this is the end of it, whatever it is and that we don't have any further action needed to be taken.  

One can hope.  

I did not hear back from the contractor, he stated he would get me a quote by the end of the day, I figured he wouldn't end up being able to do that. In fact, he doesn't even do that particular quote, he says his lead foreman would have to come and work up a quote on that.  If it's less than 10 grand I'd be shocked.  I'm not saying I want a bill that high, but yea, I can see it going way up there.  Which is why I am considering changing the parameters of my pre-determined route of doing this setup to save money.  The pre-existing driveway is looking better and better all the time.  

A fresh, light coating of iron ore on the existing driveway, fix a problem spot and it's done.  Now all I have left is another driveway to be built and I'm going to have to give notice that that truck simply cannot park there anymore. I  am not going to fix all of that only to have him come and destroy it.  That would piss me off.  The next time the truck is parked there, I'm simply going to put a sign on the window.  "this property is being converted into a business and as such, this driveway is going to be used for such purposes.  We cannot have this truck parking here (this is private property) and continuing to tear up the front of the driveway and taking up space.  We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we can no long allow you to park here.  May I suggest the storage place at the corner of 80 and 390? It is only $50 per month and a truck could easily fit in there." Or - they can build their own driveway and spend the money, that's on them. They are renters, so I doubt they would want to do that. 

Some day - well down the road, I would want to approach the owner of the house and make him an offer to buy. Tear the house down, get rid of all of that junk and either replace it with cabins or just have nothing there.  It is something of an eyesore. There are natural ways to block the view of it - but growing plants takes many years to get big enough to do anything.  A 6 foot fence would also help to block the view - and that may be something in the works down the road a piece when I get a better financial foothold.  A 6 or even 8 foot tall fence might actually be a better route.  Cheaper and blocks out the view and sets the perimeter. This is my land, thank you, not trying to be an ass, but I am taking possession of it.  I really don't know what kind of potential trouble I am going to run into with these people, they are not friendly.  I've tried waving at them dozens of times, only once did a person wave back and she doesn't even live there.  

There is plenty of unused land on the east side, 3 different tracts.  It's all the same owner who also owns the house.  I could see someday making an offer for the portions that have towering pines.  

Anyway, I'm only musing about that because I am going to have to deal with it and after I get this entry done, I am going to write out and print a letter to the truck owner. I don't know how long they've lived there, but no one has ever done anything with my land besides the gas well so i guess they just figured they could do whatever they wanted.  The truck is a total eyesore besides tearing up the driveway.  Yes, I'm a trucker but yes, this truck is ugly.  Dollar General plastered all down the sides and the back of it and an old, ugly looking tractor pulling the thing.  

One thing I would like to do is avoid court battles and even sheriff's deputies having to get involved.  If I were parking on someone else's land, I would have asked the owner beforehand if I could park there.  I guess that's just me, but having a tow truck come out and tow a truck away? The owner is going to pay 1 to 2 grand for that service and they are probably not going to be too happy about it.  I will always go back on the fact that that house has plenty of land to build a driveway on the other side of it if they so desired.  They just put in a huge garden over there, like a mini farm type of thing.  

This is ugliness I just don't want to deal with, but I have no choice.  I was going to do this over a week ago and simply spaced it out what with the vacation that was coming up and getting a bit excited about the land being cleared and the timber being burned.  But yes, it's time to take the initial steps and attempt to at least work this out without any kind of confrontation. Just a polite, please find another place to park your truck, give a suggestion of a place that is about 3 miles away - and cheap monthly rate - and thank you very much. Here is my phone number, call with any questions.  It all came back into my mind once I saw where the truck had been parked and after this last rain, he had put a large number of deep ruts into the driveway starting at the street and coming back probably 100 feet worth.  It is obvious he was doing backing maneuvers to get the truck in there.  

Look, I don't take my truck home, I have no choice but to park it at the yard in Longview, 30 miles away.  

Ohhh and the lock on the gate.  I dunno who did it, but the lock was cut off and discarded on the side of the driveway.  There is nothing back there worth stealing so it was either the contractor or the county fire department - both of which have the gate code for I gave it to them.  But, a worker might have tried to get back there and didn't know the code and just decided to cut the thing off.  I dunno, but I suspect I will be hearing from the gas company about it.  Of course, the main gas company never replied to my email about their employee speeding down the driveway......

Anyway, enough of this.  I am going to bed early along with the rest of the house that apparently is already in bed.  Like, it's only 8:30, lol

g'nite

Ukraine is basically being destroyed. It's heart breaking to watch, the people of Ukraine have giant balls and are standing up valiantly to the evil oppressors, I hope they can win.  There is always hope. Things can happen that tip the scales in favor of the underdog.  I'm no Biden fan, but the people bashing him for not doing - what else? - I'm a bit unsure about.  If we send in troops, we have WW3.  If Ukraine had been a NATO ally, this Russian bullying would never have started, IMO.  I also do agree that the world stage looks at our current President as weak. That's all I have to say about this war that Putin started, completely unprovoked and totally unnecessary.  And invoking some special powers statement to raise the level of nuclear readiness?  This dude isn't that dumb to start a nuclear war, is he? 

    

Whatever the case, the first large check has been issued.  Part 1 of land clearing is done.  Part 2 is dozer work.  I am waiting on a quote on that, I just met with the contractor at the property.  He's trying to save some money for start up costs and I can't help but think about his suggestions.  Using the existing driveway for the beginning would save probably 10 grand right off the bat.  I hesitated to use it because it's the gas company road.  Yet, there is very little traffic on it.  Just one pickup truck per day and occasionally a few other companies going in there. I'm going to think about it.

He also suggested dozer work on just the portion of the property that needs to be done for the first 14 pads.  I mean, getting those trees down, the size of this rather huge expanse of property is much more than I really expected.  I knew it was a quarter mile long, but now being able to actually see all of it.....

So his proposals are to use the existing driveway - which cuts out half the amount of new driveway I need to build and simply just get the dozer work done on the portion of property that needs to be done for the lots.  There's probably a 20 grand savings there, maybe more.  Maybe much more, probably nothing less than that.  Instead of 1,400 feet of dozer work, we get around 450 of it done.  These are decisions I will make based on my money supply.  

I can say after cutting a 12 thousand dollar check? I'm going to rethink this a bit.  It's going to disappear quickly if I go the route I intended on going.  The dozer work wasn't anything I had thought I would need to pay extra for. I don't blame the contractor, it's ignorance on my part.  The contractor gave me the lowest bid on land clearing of all of them, easily, hands down. I could -and may - get a second quote on the dozer work, but based on all of the quotes I've received for everything else? It's highly unlikely this guy is going to be beaten in price. His knowledge through experience of building parks is also worth a mint in itself.

He said he doesn't have a bobcat for clearing trails but he has a contractor he uses whenever he needs work like that done, of which he texted me the man's phone number and then cautioned me: a lot of these mulching companies around here don't do it right. They will run over a small tree, mulch part of it and left the rest laying there. That isn't the way mulching is supposed to be done.  I agree. There should be nothing but a pile of - mulch - laying there, not a tree trunk.  I'm not going to get a bunch of quotes on that, it shouldn't cost more than a couple thousand dollars with an experienced operator to clear through a trail that isn't any wider than the machinery being used to make the trails.  At most a days worth.  But, I will probably have a driveway mulched in to tent camping sites.  So that will up the price. 

But I think for now, I'm going to wait and get these pads done.  Meaning the driveways, the pads, the utilities.  Or mostly done anyway, and then get my building and get started on that.  I just want one building if I can get away with it that has a bathroom, a shower room and a small laundry facility, get that all in one building and hopefully have a little space left over for a small office where I can put all the wifi hardware.  I am planning on all transactions being done on the internet.  

My focus in attracting clients is going to be on amenities. Dog park, walking trails, hopefully a fishing pond right off the bat and still wanting that pool.  The pool would need a loan and it isn't on the top of the priority list, but it's on there.  Things for people to do.  I'm not sure how any of this is going to turn out, I'm feeling my way through this. I'd really rather have the entire plot of dozer work done right off the bat.  

I would really love to put in some cabins as well. Those are money makers beyond RV spots - of course they cost a lot more money.  I see them at lost of the parks that wanted to find other ways to increase revenues and it's a no brainer for those that have either the working capital to build them outright or get the loans needed.  

There's lots of things swirling around in my head about this venture, right  now? I'm waiting on a quote to do the blade work.  One thing I won't change my mind on, at least for these first 14 spots, is the 40 feet weed aspect.  That is non-negotiable in my mind, it's one of the biggest complaints you will see: ROOM.  Smaller lots can come in the future, a bit less wide, maybe 35 or even 30 feet and less length since many rigs are not that long and don't need that much space.  

So there it is, for a Monday. Addler is at the animal hospital, I would assume by now the operation is done and over with and he will be recovering.  They figured they wouldn't call me to come get him until he is fully awake. Good, because I don't really want to have to try and lift him into that SUV. Right now? No news is good news, meaning there weren't any complications for if there were, I would have heard about it by now.  He hasn't passed away, it's all good. He was very friendly this morning with everyone, that was a good sign at least.  Hopefully get him back into not having a painful growth on his butt and feeling whatever pain or discomfort that must have been giving him.

And finally, my credit dump 79 points again.  Credit scores are complicated, at least the way they determine it. In this case, my thought was that your overall credit use being less than 30% is good, less than 10% is optimal.  Over 30% and yes, your score will take a dive. What they do NOT tell you is that you can't have individual cards over that 30% threshold, either.  So, if you have a low limit credit card and you basically use it for anything, good luck with that.  

It took me a minute to figure this out today.  Look at Credit Karma and then click on "see what changed" and then go through everything. 3 of them said "balance decreased by", 1 of them said account paid off/closed and then the culprit:  I paid something for $599 on it plus I had around $500 on it already and it showed "using 49%" on it.  That's it.  This stuff sometimes eludes me, they don't actually tell you a lot of specifics.  You have to figure it out.  So, I paid that down to less than 30% of card use and that should change my score back up the 79% I lost.  

We'll see, but I'm pretty sure that's what caused the nose dive.  You go from excellent to fair range in one, fell swoop.  Ridiculous.  Not like I've missed any payments on anything in over 3 years. Over all credit usage is well below 20%.  I can't have this stuff, not if I'm going to get a pool loan or personal loan if I need one to finish off the setup. Which is why I am probably going to take this guy's advice and just use the existing driveway.  I've got loan offers for personal loans, one of which is particularly appealing - but only if I need it.  

Well I'm going to end this one.  I did get a $533 credit from Bank of America for using my points towards the vacation.  Which is good, lol, that wasn't a cheap vacation.  San Antonio Riverwalk area is a tourist trap with tourist trap pricing. Next vacation I'd like to simply rent a cabin by a lake and have a bit more natural outing and much less expensive.  

G'day. 

 San Antonio

Cold. High floor in the Marriott, 34th floor to be precise.  Not too shabby.  I like the Grant Hyatt across the street better tho, lol. Maybe some other time.

We got here late, like 2 am late and we all just came up to the room and crashed.  It's just that we got a late start since James didn't get off work til - normal time - which just pushed everything up.  Hindsight? Probably should have just slept at home and gotten up early this morning. 

But whatever.  I have a heavy winter jacket and we are going to see whatever there is to see.  At least today, for tomorrow there is a high chance of rain.  That will just have to be indoor stuff.

Spend much of yesteday running around town, getting stuff done, 4 year old in tow.  Considering we were out most of the day, he did surprisingly well, without too many pouty face moments and no meltdowns whatsoever. Of course, uncle Ben spoiling him a bit to keep him in that mood might have helped lmao.

But I did get Addler and Aspyn in yesterday.  They did an exam on Addler's rear end, declared he has a growth right on his butt end and he needs to have surgery to have it removed.  Okay?  We'll get a quote worked up for you for that.  I was expecting thousands of dollars for some reason - attach the word surgery to anything a vet does nowadays and you have a hefty bill.

So, once she came in and was - a bit apprehensive about giving me the bill - I just asked to look at it.  Whatever it is, unless it's 20 grand or something, we're doing it.  Turns out it was only a grand.  I looked at her, well this isn't even that much, I'm good with this.  Big sigh of relief?  I guess people are broke and can't afford such things right now?  I dunno, but I'll easily spend that much on my beloved doggy to get him well. He's 7 going on 8, hopefully has some good years left in him so yeah, let's do this.

But, that was yesterday on the day of leaving for San Antonio, I asked if they have a  kennel. Yes we have large kennels we can keep him. Still, I thought, I'll be out of town and far enough away I can really do anything but authorize more procedures if something goes wrong. I decided to wait until we get back and take him in on Monday - if my dispatcher will give me an extra day off.

I was pondering that and then the dispatcher sent a group text.  Plants have shut down because of the weather, looking like a slow week next week, etc etc etc.  I immediately texted her and asked for Monday off as well.  She said she'd have to look in th morning and would get back to me.  I need to know today so I can call the animal hospital and let them know they can prepare to get this done on Monday.  

So, other than Aspyn getting a rabies shot and fresh license, that was that.  Addler didn't get any of his shots yesterday, for they said they could just give them to him while he's knocked out.  Makes sense, the dog doesn't much care for shots, I can tell ya that. 

I also went by the property.  I always drive by the property, I want to see if they're out there doing anything. It was raining so I didn't really expect to see them. But half a mile from the property I said big plumes of smoke rising into the sky, I got excited lol, are they burning the piles?!!

Yes!!!  There was a different man out there on yet another trackhoe they had dropped off, he had 3 of the largest piles burning. I dunno why he didn't just light them all, but whatever.  He said he hopes to have it done today. I was smiling seeing that getting done, a little more progress.  I went back later on that after noon.  2 of the piles had burned down to giant piles of ashes and he had lit another one and 2 of them were burning pretty good - and he was leaving lol.

I didn't bother to tell the fire department that those fires were going to be left unattended.  They were sitting squarely in the middle of the lot and it had been raining all day long, there wasn't much chance of a problem.  He had repiled the fire I had started and it was smoldering from days ago.  Hopefully that one was going to catch as well.  

I also got a new phone yesterday. Between the horrible video and picture quality and the fact it runs really slow, I just buckled down and said yes, it's time to do this.  They wouldn't let me pay cash for it, but I didn't get any discounts anyway.  They were only giving discounts for an Iphone 12 and they didn't have them in stock, but, they had the Iphone 13 in stock, just no discount.  Ok, I'll buy this thing and sell my old one on Ebay.  That's my plan.  It's an amazing phone. I don't regret waiting this long to get one, but I'm super glad it did take the plunge and go ahead and get it done. 

The 4 year old was entertaining pretty much everyone in the place, so it was fun to boot.

Anyways, I think my peoples are waiting on me, they went down - 34 floors down lol - to smoke and get coffee.  I just wanted to put up a quick post and report the wonderful news of the property being worked on and not so wonderful news of Addler having that problem - but I am hopeful that will turn out okay.

Time to get out of this room - tho I can tell ya? I could just sit in here all day, alone, with no interaction with anyone and just relax and enjoy myself.  However, Taylor has other plans lol so off to the races!

G'day

 This laptop has to be the most worthless pile of electronic garbage I have ever owned. I keep thinking I need to buy a new one. It just took 20 minutes to start it up and actually have it get to the main page and then try to get the internet up and running. It's been like this since shortly after I got this heap of unmitigated dog dung and it's really time to get a new one. I will never buy a Lenovo again, the next one will probably be an HP.  I am also unhappy with my phone.

I tried to buy one the other day, the newest version of an Iphone, the store wouldn't sell it to me. They told me that I could only get one on payments at the store.  I said ok, fine, if I get one on payments and then pay it off? You will lose the $300 credit, I was informed.  I politely said no thank you and got up and walked out.  I will find one online and be done with it.  I hate to spend the type of money I'm talking to buy a new phone and a new computer, but I feel it's time to get rid of this garbage and upgrade.  The issue with the phone is limited memory and not-so-great photo and video quality.  All of that is allegedly gone now with these newer phone and 3 lenses on the back taking pictures and/or video.

Anyway, I was "surfing the web", namely, I was on Facebook and the reel section.  It just puts up random, short videos of this and that.  Well, it apparently tries to give you content that you like, because it is always showing businessmen/women giving business advice and showing how to do things.  Things that I don't know, btw, an in some cases, didn't even know I should be doing.  

So today was one of those moments. A lady was on there telling you what to do with a business start up. It was a 15 second video.  She went through the list so fast I had to wait for it to replay and then pause it when the bullet points were all up on the screen, for there was an item at the end that I didn't understand what she was referring to.  It said "apply for a duns number".  

Okay, that was strange.  I looked it up on this computer after writing that and it said there is another business name registered at our address.  Well, I'll have to look into that later, there are no businesses established through our address as far as I know it. I'm using home address for business address to get everything started and will switch to real address when I finally get a street address for the park.  

Anyway, it's an account with Dun & Bradstreet.  I've seen this site many times over, I've used it to look up info about a business, usually a corporate headquarters phone number.  I had no idea it was necessary to get an account with them to start building your business' credit file.  I thought the EIN number issued from the state was all that I needed.  I'm very glad I stumbled across this info now.  You don't build credit over night, that's a fact.  Capital One is also asking for more information, I will finish that when I get home.  

Yes, still sitting in Brownsville, it's 11:15 am, they just told me a truck is coming but the wait at the bridge is long.  It's been long for a few months now.  That's one of the bridges commercial vehicles use to come back into the States. I don't know what the holdup is, these people here never know, they just tell me the bridge is holding everything up. More intensified scrutiny of vehicles coming over? No idea.  I know they have dogs sniffing all of those trucks coming across and random FDOT inspections.  That's a federal level truck inspection, those are the worst in terms of time taken.  I got stuck in one of those for an hour and a half one time.  

Anyway, I have my homework set out for me when I get home, well actually tomorrow. If they come within the next few hours with that trailer I will make it home tonight. After that? It'll be tomorrow afternoon.  

Still have this cough.  It's not the worst cough I've ever had, nothing like the last one I went through where I was constantly hacking 24 hours a day for a week straight.  I have the remnants of some prescription cough medicine that's working quite well with this. I may go to the urgent care tomorrow and see about getting more of it.  And yes, they'll probably want to do a covid test and as long as it's free, I don't mind them doing that.  Which every time? It costs me nothing.  Whether that's my company paying for it, the insurance or the government, I have no clue.  

I guess the point is whether this trip to San Antonio is still a go.  Yes, as long as it don't start feeling any worse than this.  It's a vacation.  I don't have to do anything. We are just going to be wandering around looking at the sites and things to do.  Oh, well if the urgent care tells me I have covid I will cancel the trip and it will have to be put off to later date.  I won't knowingly go around spreading a virus to everyone.  Except driving the truck. I don't care about that.  My only interaction with people is at the truck stops.  Even then, I don't have to interact with anyone.  And the loading plant has been making us stay in the trucks to load ever since covid started.  Places like this yard in Brownsville? Yea, I don't have to interact with anyone down here, either, if I don't want to.  

Trucking is actually a pretty lonely life unless you have a companion traveling with you, hence the reason many truckers have dogs if their company allows it.  Mine doesn't. Mine doesn't allow humans, either, unless they are employed by the company.  So, if one of the boys wanted to go on a trip?  No can do.  I guess I could "cheat" and take one of them with me on a Brownsville trip, but if I were caught I would get fired immediately.  Just their policy and they are rigid about it.  They cite the dangers of hazmat and the possibility of "terrorism" and people wanting to commandeer these trucks to use for nefarious purposes.

Of course, you haven't read about any of that happening any time recently.  I'm not sure it's a completely unfounded fear, but I do think it's a bit overblown to not allow family members to ride with you on a trip that does not require you to go into secure facilities that have security personnel.  You know, such as Cheniere, that has multiple, way overblown layers of security?  A place I am still so happy that I never have to go back to again.  My manager has tried to get me back in there, but the dude at the company that runs the plant said nope, he's not coming back in there. As if my feelings are hurt? NO ONE likes going to that place. 1. Because of the way your are treated by security and 2. Because of the way you are treated by the company that runs the plant.  3. Because it's a very low paying run. It has "no" miles to speak of and you are wasting a lot of time unloading.  The only way it is profitable is if they make you sit there for half a day, waiting on them to get their act together. 

And war.  Russia has entered the Ukraine with military forces.  Now, apparently that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to war, as some "experts" have stated, but I think we all know what Putin is doing. He has indicated he wants the Ukraine back for quite some time now.  I doubt sanctions will do much of anything to thwart his intentions.  He has China covering his back, at least it looks that way.  I don't fear world wars, per se, but if another one happens, we could see nukes being used and the end of our existence as we know it.  No amount of survival preparedness will do any good if nukes are dropped unless you happen to own an underground cave that has it's own air supply and is not dependent on anything above ground.  I don't even know if that will save you, but it sounds like a very dull existence.

I live within 60 miles of Barksdale Air Force Base, I would assume that would be a primary target.  So, walk outside, wait for it to come, and get it over with.  Might sound a bit drastic, but if you get China involved with any of this and partnering with Russia, we will see a war the likes of which this world has never seen.  The US would have to fully engage in it at any point it goes beyond just Russia and Ukraine and then?  A lot of people are going to die. I'm just very curious if Russia has any guarantees and backing from China in any of this.  

I just watch the news as it unfolds....

Hmmm, guess I need to start a business email account as well.  

Getting offa here. Hoping the empty is coming soon.

G'day

 Trip to Brownsville uneventful, thankfully.  I hit Houston about the time the snippets of heavier traffic was going to begin. Eastman - which is the loading plant - took forever to get the truck weighed in.  Waiting for 28 minutes type of forever.  Ridiculous.  They don't have any good excuses and they don't care.  It just adds to the day and the rack operators give me looks when I pull up there with 30 minutes eating up the time frame.  I told the dude right off  - it took half an hour to get weighed in.  Just to unruffle their feathers.  I was still 15 minutes early, but the dude that runs that operation wants you there much earlier than that. 

I can't change things I have no control over, at all and they know that. They can complain to the powers that be about the hang up in getting scaled in, I'm not doing it.  I don't need to be a target at that place, it's my current livelihood.  

Anyway, I'm in Brownsville and there are no empty trailers. It's a good thing I have Wednesday to back up into before vacation, because who knows when an empty will come in? Tomorrow morning? Afternoon? Mid afternoon? Evening?  Completely unpredictable. But, it's worth the wait to get my detention pay and up the ante on my next paycheck.  

Foregone conclusion I will be taking at least some vacation hours to buffer the loss of 5 days of work. But not too much.  I'll be into Saturday and Sunday off, well possibly Friday as well (they sometimes count that for the next paycheck and they sometimes count that for 2 paychecks after that depending on - who knows what), so I really don't need to claim too many vacation hours. Maybe 15.  We get paid a tad bit of money for vacation time.  

I applied for and was accepted for a credit card for the business.  Now that I have both LLC status and an EIN number from the state of Texas, I can apply for lines of credit.  Why do I want the business to have lines of credit running? Because I will probably have to get a loan to expand the park in the future. I need to get some lines of credit going, use those lines of credit and pay them off before the 30 day period is up to begin to establish creditworthiness for the business. 

It only made sense to get it started right away and Capital One - of whom I've already been a customer of for at least a decade now - was not shy to give me a line of credit starting at $2,000.  Not much, albeit, but it's a starting point. I had to list my annual income as 0 - it didn't give an option for projected income so I was at honest about it.  0, lol.  They did a credit check on me and that is, what I suspect, what gave me at least a foot in the door.  I'll buy whatever I need that the card can cover and pay it off before 30 days and do that every month.  

Coughing hasn't ceased but it isn't constant and it isn't that bad. The fatigue, however, is a different story.  I went to bed early last night and slept 9 plus hours.  I was glad to have a later load this morning.  Should I go to the doctor on Wednesday, when I expect to be back at the latest?  Uhhh, maybe.  Spreading Covid around isn't my idea of fun. I don't know that it's Covid, I don't know what it is.  But I could certainly go on vacation in this condition and enjoy myself. Maybe not as much as being 100%, but it's doable.

My concern is whether anyone else is going to get sick because of me.  If that happens and they aren't feeling good, then that might change the whole thing. I would still take the time off, but it would be a staycation.  I could burn off the piles at  the property if I had that much time for sure, lol  Or if the kids get sick, will Maria still watch them? Possibly not.  Can't blame her, just saying if that happens, we ain't going nowhere.  Kids are not in the plans of this vacation, this is an adult trip.  Adult venues and adult atmosphere.  

It's almost midnight, I didn't get done til' 10:45 or so, so I best be getting offa here and sleep time.

G'nite.  

 I only made it 240 miles today before I just had to pull over and sleep for a while.  Not feeling good - at all.  It's not that bad, but it's bad enough to just want to sit home and do nothing.  40 minutes worth of sleep in a rest area and I felt a little better - not that much but enough to get home.  

I read the trip sheet wrong - I do not have tomorrow off, I have to go back to Brownsville.  I decided to say nothing to my dispatcher about it, hopefully I have enough in my to get down there tomorrow, sleep, and get back up. Then I'll be off work for 5 days.  So yea, I'm just going to try and tough it out.  I've got 5 hours before I have to go to bed, then sleep, then get up later than normal - 10:30 appointment to load.  So at least the wake up schedule won't be gruesome.  

I did more study on these Sweet Gum trees.  They actually sell a machine that picks up the Sweet Gum balls - which are the nuisance part of the tree that everyone hates.  It's what I wanted to find out - is there something invented to pick them up? Yes, it's over $500 but it means I can keep at least some of them up and not have to worry to much about getting the balls up off the ground.  

Some strange stuff going on on the roadways today.  I caught glimpse out of my peripheral of a vehicle swerving in and out of traffic.  When I actually looked in the mirror, he was swerving over to an exit lane - passed a car, came zooming up to me and then passed me on the shoulder. He was going at least 100 mph.  Yes I honked at his stupid @$$, wth was he driving like that?  He stuck his arm out the window and flipped me off - weaved in and out of traffic ahead of me, flipping all of those people off as well.  I doubt they caught him, but I called 911 on his @$$. This was highway 59, not the Daytona Speedway, he was driving extremely erratically and dangerously.  

On another note, I was coming up on a vehicle so I got out in the passing lane to pass him, which I did. There was a truck in the passing lane - well behind me.  This is what some truckers do nowadays, they'll just sit out there in that passing lane and apparently trying to intimidate anyone from pulling out and slowing them down. But he was hundreds of feet back when I pulled out there.  So, I pull back over after passing the vehicle and what does this truck do?  He passes me and then cuts back in front of me - with maybe 2 feet between our bumper. I promise you I did not cut this dude off, at all.  It's funny, now that I think of it, these people doing this stuff? It's going to get flagged on this new artificial intelligence camera to the company.  They could, if they felt so inclined, turn that guy in.  

I doubt they will, but if that driver had tapped on his brakes, I would have rear ended him - but - the camera would have shown what actually happened.  So maybe I can give the camera a little bit of kudos. Not just that it's constantly videoing, but when something like that happens, it flags it and sends an 8 second video alert to the employer.  I'm not out there to start trouble with anyone, believe me. I"m just doing my job, working and trying to get the day over with - safe and sound like everyone else.  

And then another incident on the 610 West loop freeway in Houston.  I was coming up on this car - which was in the next lane over - apparently it didn't like being stuck behind traffic and just - cut right out in front of me. I'm used to this, it  happens 100 times a day.  I just let it go.  I was stuck behind this driver for a while as they were going slower than I was, but eventually, traffic cleared so I got over into another lane - where he cut me off again. I am still inclined to let it go, stuff like this can never end well, so I went over another lane where he tried to cut me off a third time.

Now, I'm wondering if this dude is trying to collect insurance money, for there was no legitimate reason for him to cut me off the second or third time.  Whatever the case, I came up beside the dude before he could cut me off and if he was going to ram the side of my truck, good luck with that.  After that, I got ahead of him and thought nothing more about it - until 10 minutes later he comes racing up beside me - but kept on going.  I'm just waiting for my company to tell me about someone that called in about a rude truck driver and then I will direct them to take a look at the video.  

Anyway, the day is over, thankfully.  And no big deal about tomorrow not being off from a home standpoint, I was going to go set the rest of those piles on fire. Turns out it's going to rain for the next several days, including tomorrow morning, not exactly favorable burning conditions.  I'll make enough money in these 2 brownsville trips to cover the week and then take vacation hours for the next pay period.  I'm hoping to feel better by Thursday as I really don't want to cancel this trip.  Not at all. 

 Hmm, been a few days since I last posted.  

Well, yesterday - Friday, I was off, we have too many drivers once again - I went out to the property after seeing Taylor, James and the 7 year old off. They were going to Longview and I had the 4 year old.  Daddy and mommy day with the 7 year old is what they were calling it - well his name is Phoenix but that's neither here nor there to strangers reading this post lol.

I decided to go over to the property and test the trackhoe operator's theory that he has the piles packed so tight, that if you get a hot enough fire going, the fresh trees will burn up anyway.  Well I knew that would be true, I just wondered how hard it would be to get a fire going.  I brought one of those ez light fire logs that burn regardless. Just put a lighter to it and in a minute it's started burning without anything else. 

So I got that log going after stuffing it in the pile as far as I could get it without starving it of air and lit it.  It took quite a while to get anything else going, but eventually I had a small fire going.  I kind of wrote it off, this probably isn't going to work. The 4 year old was practically begging me to take him to Waffle House, so we went there for breakfast and came back about and hour later.  

The fire was going much better.  I started adding dried wood to it and building it up.  Yes, there is dried out wood out there as well.  I just kept adding wood and twigs to it for a while until the fire really started going good.  I was more amazed at how well and long the 4 year old was engaged with this fire activity and staying interested in it than I was at whether this fire was going to get up and go. But eventually he got bored so I put him in the vehicle, found some Minecraft kid's videos for him and that kept him heartily entertained after that.

Well the fire started to take off and so did the smoke - it was billowing out and wafting all over the place, I called the county volunteer fire department and let them know there is a controlled burn going on and if anyone calls, well, this is what it is.  They said thanks for letting them know and if it gets out of control or something happens, to please call them.  Yes of course, thank you.

After that, the heat started building up and I knew I was getting some good hot coals - this is a very large pile of wood even tho it was the smallest one of them all. There are 7 other piles to go.  Anyway, Brandon - a friend of James and really my friend now as well - heard the call since he's a volunteer fire fighter/first responder and ended up coming out.  

By the time he got out there there was no stopping this fire without dousing it with a lot of water.  Not that I wanted it out, at least not at that point, but you could feel the heat 30 feet away from it.  He asked at some point if I wanted to put it out.  Well, I thought and then responded, probably, this is going to take all night long.  Yes, the fire and heat had burned out the core/center of the pile but there was still plenty to go.

So, he got his truck into position. About that time, James and Taylor and Phoenix showed up - I had been out there for many hours.  They started dousing the flames and pretty much emptied out the tank. Brandon thought it was done and over with, I knew better but kept my mouth shut, lol.  I could tell from the smoke that there were still hot embers under there even tho they had sprayed a lot of water onto that thing.  

We all eventually left, but Brandon went back later and sent a pic to James - it was all on fire again.  But, these piles are along way off from anything, it's just dirt around them.  And it had just rained the previous night.  I wasn't concerned about it, but they - fire people - were.  In the end they decided to just let it burn out. I haven't seen what's left of the pile but since they let it burn, I'd have to guess a lot of it is gone.  

I was given "advice" later on from James who had talked to the fire chief who told James to tell me that I should let the contractor do the burning since you have no water out there.  Because if something happens and you are the one that started the fires, you will get the ticket.  I looked at James, uhh, well, that depends on this contractor. If he doesn't get out there soon and get this going I am going to do it myself.  I don't But hey, I could have the city turn on the water, I guess, tho I'd have to run 800 feet of line to get to the further back pile and a garden hose isn't exactly a real threat to a very hot fire.  

Still, the fact that the nearest trees are at least 50 feet away make this idea that something is going to happen a moot point to me.  I wondered how much this fine would be, if it's only a few hundred dollars I don't really care. In the name of progress I'll get it done. Note that I won't get a fine if nothing happens, it's only if the fire somehow spreads.  

Anyway, I am in Brownsville atm, but I am already under a trailer.  So I'm leaving relatively early in the morning, around 5:15  when I can get on the clock, it's almost 8:00 pm right now.  I have Monday off, the drive back tomorrow - should be a piece of cake.  Sunday drives are the best as far as traffic goes.  I always say that, but it's true.   

And yes I had thoughts of going out early Monday morning and setting all 7 of those piles on fire and get this part of it behind me so they can get out there and blade the soil, but there is a 46% percent chance of rain and that is in the morning. Unless that changes, I doubt I will even try.  

Now, as for the next run they wanted to send me on.......She - my dispatcher - sends me today's run, which was fine.  And then after that, sends me a run leaving Monday to West Virginia. Remember, we are leaving for vacation on Thursday.  I immediately wrote her back and said, well, you've got me leaving at noon for West Virginia, that's late for getting me back in 3 days.  And there are times when it takes 4 days.  

Of course, she wanted to be argumentative about it - I've never seen it take anyone 4 days. I doubt that's true, at all. I've had it take 4 days on many occasions when something went wrong either in traffic, or stuck at the loading plant half a day or had a break down.  I don't know who she thinks she's trying to kid, but she figured out quick I wasn't backing down. I wasn't going to argue with her. If she wasn't going to change it, I was just going to go over her head to my manager.  She then offered to see if she could switch the load with someone else.  

That's really what she should have said in the first place.  Of all the dispatchers we've gone through at this company, this one is the most rigid.  She doesn't want anyone attempting to change "her" plans.  But when it comes to my personal life and I have already received the permission to have the days off, I'm not going to have her messing around with it.  There is no guarantee I would get back the third day and it would be night time getting back even if I did.  She still doesn't understand what she's doing, they never send out a West Virginia run that late in the day.  It's always an earlier load time so the load can get delivered the next day and the customer is happy.  I told her that once, but she apparently didn't learn anything from it, perhaps the customer no longer cares, I don't know. 

I do know they've told me in the past they want it there in the afternoon the next day after it leaves the loading plant.  

Anyway, I got a run going back down here on Tuesday instead. That may, actually, jeopardize my vacation, but not that much.  Yes, we are leaving on Thursday, but not until after James gets off work.  We are driving there and have a late check-in and then have 2 full days and a third partial to enjoy whatever activities there are to do a the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Apparently there is quite a bit to see and do?  I dunno, it's just a getaway from home.  The kids aren't coming - thankfully, this is more an adult themed trip and the dogs/cats/fish have someone to come over and tend to them.  

The only thing that is distressing me right now? I now have chest congestion and a cough.  I will probably go to the doctor on Monday if it persists and get checked out. They will undoubtedly want to do a covid test - and tho I don't have to allow it, I would probably go ahead and get it done.  I don't need to be walking around San Antonio spreading the Omnicron or whatever I might have.  But, this is also the time of year for colds and flu. 

I have no fever. My sense of smell and taste are intact.  I can deal with a coughing cold on a vacation as long as I have some drugs to deal with the coughing.  Which I already have but will need more of.  But if I have Covid, I won't knowingly go around spreading it everywhere. The trip would have to be canceled and my work would make me stay home for 10 days, at least.  Oh, I also have steriods left over from last coughing cold. Those usually work pretty well, tho on the last thing I had, which I believe was Covid, it didn't work that well. And that was a shot in the butt type of steriods, not the pills I have.  If a shot doesn't work, foregone conclusion pills won't either.  

This Covid stuff is pretty strange.  Regardless, if it is just a chest cold, I will need some strong enough medicine to stop the coughing, because nowadays? If you're out in public coughing? People give you some pretty strange looks.  Like - HE MUST HAVE COVID!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! Lmao

Just go into your local Walmart or supermarket with a cough and look around while you're coughing. You ARE going to get some people giving you some pretty interesting looks, lol.  

Well, the property is in a holding pattern right now until the cleared trees are gone.  I'm not moving forward with anything until that is done and over with and the get the dozer out there and blade the soil and then, see if we need to do some leveling, which I believe we will and wasn't included in the price.  I never-the-less want it at least somewhat level, not too much incline.  A little is okay.  It's probably going to cost far more than I anticipated and I'm just going to have to deal with it.  But I still think the best thing is to simply dig out a pond and there is all the soil they will need.  Kill 2 birds with one stone and keep costs down as much as possible.  

However, my LLC is up and going.  I can now open a checking account in the business name and do other legal stuff that I couldn't do before getting this business status.  It's a good thing I'm still working a full time job, this "small" stuff adds up.  $500 here, $1,000 there. None of it coming out of the funds I have set aside for the park, I'm paying out of my paychecks for these things that aren't too terribly expensive.  Still plenty of decisions that will have to be made, it's on step at a time. I have a solid idea of what my end decisions will be on important things, but, my mind is open and I still look for input, especially from park owners and managers that have been there, done that and understand what works and what doesn't.  

I think I'm going to start a fund and save for the coin op or credit carp op laundry machines.  Those will probably be a bit pricey and I'd like to not have to pay for that out of the park funds. Just do it out of paychecks.  This is the one of the main reasons I knew I'd have to keep working, even after the park is up and running. 

It's near my bedtime and I'm getting sleepy, getting up 4:45 am and driving all day today. Time to go to sleep.

G'nite. 

 8 nights from now, we'll be headed to San Antonio for a nice little mini-vacation.  No kids, no trucks and I'm not driving.  Should be fun.  

Tomorrow, I'll be home from this Oklahoma trip and wil be going over to the property again to check to see if they are doing anything.  I suspect they won't be, they were waiting for it to rain to lift the burn ban.  Well, it's raining where I'm at and it's definitely going to be raining in my town, if not already.  

Yes, it would be rather difficult to do the dirt work with those giant piles of trees sitting all over the place.  That stuff has to go.  It would be at least 15 truck loads if not many more to haul it off, I ain't paying for that. Mother Nature and fire can get rid of it and that's that.  I suppose the wood will be too wet to burn tomorrow.  They aren't asking me to do it, they will do it, I just want to lol. I like fire and big bon fires are fine. GIANT bon fires even more fun. SEVERAL giant bon fires and the entire community is going to be calling the fire department. Hence the reason you call them first and tell them what you're doing, so that when the calls come pouring in, they can simply tell them it's a controlled burn.

I don't always carry my firearm out of the vehicle with me when I'm over there, but from now on? Oh yes.  That next door neighbor dog came running over to my property yesterday morning, growling, hissing, barking, snarling it's teeth at me, very aggressive stance.  I was lucky my dogs were in the vehicle, foregone conclusion that the dog would have attacked my dogs. I'm not actually that much concerned about Addler - he can take care of himself - easily. He's much larger than that dog, he is very agile and he has muscles protruding on his legs, but, chest, everything.  He has had his share of run ins with other dogs.  

But I don't want to go there.  I would rather the owners deal with their dog and if they don't and if it does attack me or my dogs, I'm going to shoot the thing and be done with it.  That may sound cold, but you weren't standing out there yesterday, unexpectedly having an encounter with this beast.  He's not a small dog, he also has rippling muscles all over his body, tho I'm still confident Addler could defend himself and Aspyn is a scrapper, she would be all over that thing as well. She might have some serious flaws, but not protecting the pack isn't one of them.  

So, I guess I'm going to have to contact the county about taking the giant, dead, rotting tree down.  Supposedly it's on the county easement and if that's true, then yes, they need to come deal with it before it falls over the street and potentially hurts or kills someone.  

I've heard nothing about the LLC, I have no idea how long Texas takes to issue that stuff. I'd like to get it done with so I can go open a bank account in it's name and transfer most of the money over to that account.  

I must be having delusions of grandeur.  I keep thinking about the expansions I would like to do with the place over time - and I am nowhere near even opening the place yet.  Some rental cabins, glamping tents, all kinds of things. Turn the entire property into a money making venue, not just the front 7-1/2 acres.  

But right now? I want the surveyor out there to definitively paint a line up the side of that house next door as to where the property line is and then I want to get a person in there to put up a barbed wire fence.  That guy tears up the front of the driveway every time he backs that truck into it.  Their property is a mess.  The house is old and needs a lot of work, the garage looks like it's about to cave in.  But the dog yesterday crossed my line.  

I'd do a better fence but barbed wire is cheap and it sets the boundary, which is all I want to do for now.  From the street all the way back to where the trees start - and the barbed wire fence starts for the property behind that house. There are several properties on that side that border mine, but they appear to all be owned by the same person. Said person lives in a ritzy neighborhood south of For Worth.  He has done nothing with the 2 properties that abut mine and it would be interesting to see if, some day, he'd be interested in selling them. He has no interest in using them and that house - he doesn't maintain at all.  

Anyway, that truck being parked there is starting to bother me.  It's an eyesore. He parks it right at the driveway entrance or close to it, right where campers would be pulling in.  This is junk that people don't necessarily want to see coming off the road to park for the night or several days.  Or however long, really.  

I was reading a post by a man on one of the RV park owner sites who said that "rv campgrounds are not retirement plans! You'll have to work hard and harder than any job you've ever had to do!".  Ohh? I don't know what kind of jobs he has had, but trucking can eat up to 16 hours in any given day.  I was at 12-1/2 today.  Yeah, no fam, that campground would be a piece of cake compared to the ridiculous nonsense I have to put up with now. 

He then went off on to how you aren't going to get rich!  Yea, I don't plan on getting rich off of one park, I plan on paying my bills and being able to save money and have a decent lifestyle, pretty much like I have now but without the trucking junk involved with it.  I can see how you could get rich if you started buying up parks or building more.  I really do want to build a parking lot place for overnighters.  Very few amenities, just a place along the Interstate.  But I'd also like to do something like that for truck parking.  No amenities besides maybe some port-a-jons, just pay your fee and stay up to 24 hours.  

I can see it's going to take months to get this contractor's part of it done over with.  I expected that. Just a slower pace than I'd like to get this stuff done with and I'd like to get the money spent and out of my account.  

Whatever the case, I'm getting sleepy. Time for bed.  2 hours to the yard tomorrow morning and then back home.  And from what I saw on the group text today, we've slowed down again.  Okay, it's more like they have again acquired more drivers than they need.  So it may be that there is a day off between runs again.  I dunno, but I have chest congestion sinking into my lungs and not feeling all that great. I'll be happy to get this run over with and get home tomorrow.

 So I was going to buy a new phone today.  My phone's camera is total garbage.  But, I wasn't going to get sucked into another "deal" like what happened last time and I got reamed in the end.  So we sat at Verizon wireless and he did his math, went to the back room and then came back saying I'd get the $300 discount "after you give your phone today".  Yeah, no, that's not going to happen. 

The really strange part is that they wouldn't - or said they couldn't - take full payment for the phone instead of this monthly payment garbage.  I just said thanks for your time, no thanks for the offer.

I'll buy one off of Amazon or Ebay before I fall for this sucker deal.  Really tired of the scams these phone companies play with people. It's just suck you out of as much money as they possibly can. They didn't offer another deal as I got up and walked out of there.  And I didn't care. Yes, I want a newer phone with better video capabilities, but no thanks, I'm not going to get into elongated payments.  

I also asked after he told me no, they can't accept full payment for the phone that if I decided to pay it off after 30 days, they would still revoke the $300 credit.  The whole thing just reeked of scam, I couldn't get out of there fast enough as this information came rolling out of this guy's mouth, who couldn't convince me as hard as he tried to take the deal.  They could give a counter-offer- but none was given.  So, I am guessing I will have to switch back to ATT for a new customer deal that usually far exceeds any existing customer offers. 

Over to the property early this morning.  Kids talking in the living room woke me up.  What can I say, I"m a light sleeper.  It was pretty much all done as far as the big trees go.  There's a couple more I want out of there - the tops had been broken off and useless to me.  No big deal, it was trees I wanted saved, but not damaged.  The dude got a couple of pine trees nicked on the trunks, one especially bad, that was disappointing.  He could have nicked any of those other trees I wanted to save and I wouldn't have cared, but the pine trees kind of got to me a little.  

I'll be calling out a tree expert to see if they can be saved. 20 years worth of growth isn't replaced overnight with a sap.  In fact, I want someone to inspect all of the trees and determine if anymore of it should come down.  But it was amazing to be able to see the entire quarter mile plus of the property from front to end. Giant piles of plucked forestry, that stuff needs .

I did hear back from the contractor - it usually takes hours at least before you get any kind of reply from him. It's just the way it is with him, it's no better with any of the other contractors in these parts.  But they are planning on burning the tree piles and doing dirt work.  Dirt work would be a dozer blading off the entire thing, getting the rest of the small stuff up that the trackhoe didn't get and smoothing it out.  After that I can put stakes in the ground and run strings from one side to the other and see if it's even close to level.  

I can also run 10 foot strings between stakes and see what the drop is. If it's an inch or less, it's fine. Over an inch and you need to get some dirt.  Optimally I would have a surveyor come out, but I don't want to spend the money on it, at least not yet.  It's a simple enough thing to find out if it's level or how far out it is. What a surveyor can do, tho, is put stakes in all over the place that show how much it needs to go up - or down - to level;. It's just that you pay them hundreds of dollars per hour for that. I'll try my method first and see how it looks.  

The point is that I don't have unlimited, deep pockets for this project.  I need to keep costs down where it's okay to keep them down and spend the money where I need to spend the money.  

Anyway, it's starting to get late - my version of it lol. I've got a run to Oklahoma tomorrow which is perfect, I can be back on Thursday morning and maybe get a 2 day run that would have me back Saturday night.  I just want to be around because something finally got done and perhaps, if I'm lucky, they'll drop a dozer over there and start doing that work as well.  It's a bit perplexing why I can't get him to give me a quote on a pond.  I've tried 3 times now.  I dunno, but I'm not getting pushy with him, he's got all the cards, I just have the money.  

 I had to reconvince myself of the Sweetgum trees after hearing more ridicule of them. Look up pics of them, they aren't bad looking trees!  Yes they drop these things, the same as the oak trees in our back yard do. I'm not leaving up thousands of them, just some here and there.  Something to give the look of trees over nothing.

Yes, there are tall trees on either perimeter of the intended RV park but that wasn't good enough for me and frankly, The few trees I'm leaving up IN the park aren't either. It was just too hard to try to calculate where the trees would need to be left up.  I will plant pines in the future.  

Well actually there is a long list of evergreens that grow well out in these parts, there will be a mix of them.  

_________________

Started this one before I left for Brownsville.  I actually should still be down there, but the driver that left before me yesterday didn't make it down there until today, for unknown reasons.  I would have liked the detention pay, frankly, but it's whatever.  I will guess the other driver had some sort of mechanical or breakdown issue.  They don't want or like us taking more than the same day you get the trailer loaded to get down there.  There has to be a legitimate reason so I'll give the dude a pass on that one.  

I have tomorrow off - I didn't ask for it but I don't have enough hours to go on any trip anywhere.  

I'm guessing the property is done as far as trees go.  Tho I might have something to say about it, it was dark when I got back today. No way to see if everything is done that I want done involving the trees.  There are lots of sticks sticking up out of the ground, things that trackhoe couldn't get out.  I'm assuming they are going to bring a dozer to finish the job.  I haven't heard from the owner of the company about anything yet, so I will wait.  I'm paying a premium to have that land cleared, I want it cleared before the check is written.  I also want a dozer to smooth out the surface and give me some idea whether I need to have any leveling going on.  

But I want it level, or pretty close to it.  I don't need people complaining on the internet that the lots aren't level.  They think it's too much to push a button, apparently, for automatic levelers to do the job for them.  Okay, there are older rigs where you have to get out and use a lug wrench to extend the jacks.  Whatever, I've had RV's, I know the struggle, I never complained about it all over social media.  I just leveled the thing, got it over with and enjoyed my stay.  

I'm not going to worry about it if it's close, but if it's too far off then dirt is going to need to be hauled in and I know just where to get that dirt: the rear of the property and digging a pond.  How much is this going to cost? I have no idea.  Hauling dirt in isn't part of the land clearing.  It might be another 20 grand for all I know.  I'm prepared to take out another loan near the end of this, if need be, to finish everything.  Well when I say 20 grand, I mean digging out a pond and moving the dirt, not just bringing dirt in.  

That much money isn't part of my plan.  But doing the vital parts of the project half-@$$ed would be foolishness in my view.  Sure, I can put up a temporary laundry room and office type thing, but the lots? Those are permanent.  And if they are at some extreme angle, people simply won't want to come. They will write their rancid reviews and if you build it, they won't come.  

Tomorrow morning, I'll load the dogs in the SUV and head over there.  Dogs can run all over the place and I can inspect what's been done.  After that, I have a new desk that needs to be put together.  That was an 8 day fiasco trying to get the thing delivered here....I want to get the thing out of the boxes and make sure nothing is damaged.  

And tonight I booked the hotel for our San Antonio trip.  I spent a good deal of time looking for a hotel that has an indoor pool - we like pools but it's a bit cool to be swimming outdoors even if it's a heated pool.  We also like to hang out next to the pool and have a good time.  Indoor pools aren't that many in San Antonio on the riverwalk, at least not that I found. There are some, but the other criteria was to have a room with a bedroom and a sofa couch.  That way we don't have to get 2 rooms, save money.  

There might be more, but I found 3 places of interest. The Marriott Rivercenter, the Drury Inn and a Home2 Suites by Hilton.  The Home2 suites look - tacky to my anyway, don't like the whole ambience of the rooms or the rest of the hotel. It was a draw between Drury and Marriott. But, I'm a big fan of Marriott's, never been to a Drury and the Marriott has a half inside and half outside pool. Yes, believe it.  It's one big pool that goes underneath the window wall that separates it.  This was of great appeal to Taylor and I thought it nice as well.

So, this morning, I tried to reserve one of the rooms that has the separate bedroom and living room with sofa couch.  Yea, no.  Several sites including the Marriott site itself didn't have any available, whereas they did a few days ago.  I wasn't trying to procrastinate, it was just a tough decision to try and figure out where to stay and hopefully end up with something beyond decent, something nice. I don't get vacations often and spending a bit of money on it isn't of great concern to me, at least not in my current situation. 

So I got home tonight and sat down at the computer and started looking. It's a fact that different booking hotels buy up X amount of rooms. If one booking site doesn't have any, it doesn't mean another won't.  And so it was, Booking.com had one and I jumped on that immediately.  Paid for it with my Bank Of America credit card - I am going to use my accumulated points to pay for part of it.  Around $600 worth of it. We're 3 nights there, it's not exactly cheap and the taxes are unbelievable.  Over $200 just in room taxes?!!All of these major cities add on exorbitant hotel taxes. You're paying for their pet projects.

But whatever, that is nothing new, just that amount was a bit breathtaking.  The 24th-27th, something I'm looking forward to.  

Anyway....I put the desk purchase on a credit card I haven't really been using.  That charged the account a few days ago and then yesterday? My credit score on TransUnion took a 72 point hit. I was like, what?  Why?  I have no clue. I could have put it on another card and nothing like that would have happened.  I don't understand that, at all, I'll just pay the thing back down and see what happens. But what was perplexing is that it was only a few days between putting the charge on the card and the extreme hit.  We're not even close to the end of the month?  

And my new mortgage account hit s well, 10 points tho, not 72.  My old mortgage holder has yet to post that it's paid off.  Maybe that's it, I have far too much credit showing on my accounts because - Midland Mortgage - won't post it paid off for 2 months.  Yes, that has to be it.  I think? lol

What else is going on.  School reunion in May.  Flight, hotel, whatever.  Obviously if I'm going back for whatever reason, I'm going to see friends and family.  Just thoughts floating through my mind.  Wondering where I'll be at with this park project.  Many of us from that school graduation year are already deceased.  I've watched them through the years dying of cancer, murder, car accidents.  I feel rather blessed that I've actually made it this far considering they life I've lead. 

I'm motivated. That's what it is.  To get out of this trucking grind. I find it more and more distasteful as time goes on.  Long, long days and now these cameras that scrutinize your every driving move. Yes, the inward facing camera isn't a factor, but the one facing outward - is.  When someone cuts you off - which is 25/50/100/more times per day, it sends  notification to the company.  Or if you're approaching a green light and it turns yellow - at a point where you won't be stopped in time so you blow the red light or you slam on your brakes and still end up in the middle of the intersection. You get dinged either way.  

I figure the company is going to dump a lot of drivers - even tho they can't afford to get rid of any of them - that's the way this company works.  I'll probably be one of them because I don't give a damn about that thing telling me how to drive.  It doesn't take a LOT of things into consideration which I don't feel like going into here.  Maybe a future post, not this one, it's getting late and I feel blessed that I got the room we wanted done today and we are good to go. A family friend is going to come over and take of the dogs, the boys are also going to be taken care of, we are good to go.   

 I'm totally psyched tho. Not about the vacation, that is going to be good, I'm sure, but no, it's about the property.  It's in the beginning stages, yes, but it has begun.  It might take time, sure, but it's actually started.  And I have the LLC application into the state, the fees all paid.  I just wish I could translate all of this excitement to get this project over and done with into driving the truck and making the money I need to make to cover these smaller expenses without digging into savings.  

It's a thing that truckers understand because we live it.  It's not that we're special, it's just that we are sick of the endless bs thrown at us.  And now, they have made it even more difficult for people to get into the profession. The government must be begging for the new era of self-driving trucks.  Besides highway safety, there will be whole new chains of bureaucracy and politicians and states wanting their piece of the pie.  But they want to get rid of human drivers, that's a fact.  There are always unintended consequences to such broad sweeping reforms, I can predict a few of them but there will be stuff no one saw that will occur and leave these idiots running the show scratching their heads.  

Whatever the case, it's bedtime.  

Up early - 4:00 AM - got out of Brownsville and headed up.  Day kind of dragged on, I wanted to see if they had actually gotten out there and what they had gotten done.  When I arrived at the yard, I figured my manager would have some "words" for me about my driving.  It's impossible ot drive a tractor trailer rig, going 68 mph on highways that are posted at 70 and 75 to not have cars and trucks cutting you off all day long and having this artificial intelligence garbage "tattle-taling" on me.  I can't control other drivers. 

I'm "supposed" to slow down when they cut me off like that, but for what purpose? They are going way faster than me, they may leave little space between vehicles but it doesn't last and they are down the highway.  I did have one guy in Houston who apparently didn't like the lane I was in come zipping around me and brake checking me.  I am pretty sure most people know nothing about these "dash cams" that are more like robotic drivers. I may not like them, but they aren't real good for people playing games in traffic, either.  

After brake-checking me, he put his arm out the window, pointed to me to pull over and then flipped me off.  He then brake-checked me again and then I simply started pointing at the camera.  Note there was very little traffic on the Beltway, like hardly any at all. I wasn't holding up any traffic, at all.  I don't bow to the will of other drivers.  They can call my company and complain if they like, I don't care.  I do care about safety and do not  like going back and forth in lanes on busy freeways with the type of material I'm hauling. Well I don't like doing it whatever I'm hauling.  

Anyway, my manager said nothing about my driving, instead he started talking about his upcoming vacation - starting tomorrow- and how drunk he was going to get. He is going with friends to some destination and he is buying himself a bottle of some high end whiskey that I had never heard of before and the name now escapes me.  Have fun! 

Off and out of the yard - after dropping the trailer and hooking up to another one that I will be taking up to Oklahoma tomorrow - I boogied over to the property.  It was a pleasant view to see a swath of trees that had been uprooted and laying over.  I looked far down there - the giant trackhoe was piling trees up onto a giant pile.  I mean, this pile is 20 feet tall and at least 15 feet wide if not 20.  I marveled at the site of it.  I was glad I had left up some trees along the driveway, now seeing how it actually looks.  They may be Sweetgum trees - people laugh around these parts I can tell ya, the guy operating the trackhoe thought it was funny as well - but this is old growth. I can plant pines and wait until - after I'm passed on - for them to be big enough to actually provide shade and beauty.  

I guess one could pay to have larger trees planted - at quite the premium.  I got back in the SUV and drove down the driveway looking at the progress.  I kind of kicked myself for not leaving some trees at the back in the middle.  There are trees around the perimeter but I didn't know how I was going to set everything up so I just had them take out everything.  It's okay tho, there are plenty of trees around. 

The back portion was almost done.  He didn't do the very rear where I had changed my mind, I think I had originally told the company owner I didn't want that stuff taken down, so this guy - didn't. Kudos for following instructions, but my desires have changed and I want that stuff down. It's not that much and the underbrush stuff I wanted to use as a natural barrier to blocking the view of the gas well stuff - is quite ugly.  There are some trees that can stay up but most of it needs to come on down, please.  

I have pics posted on Facebook.  He said he thinks he can finish on Monday.  Well good, I thought, I am doing Oklahoma tomorrow, back early Saturday I can go out there and check what's been done and see if there's anything I missed that I would rather have down before he is done and the opportunity -and the money along with it - vanishes.  Oh, he isn't working the weekend.  

The only thing I really wasn't happy about is he had nicked some of the trees I want up, including a couple of mature pines.  I'm going to have to look up online and see if I can fix them somehow or if they are eventually doomed.  I'm not going to get mad at them, all of the trees I want up are surrounded by trees I want - down.  It appears there are methods to save the tree, I will check into that soon enough. Tho I did see one method where you simply put the bark back on and duct tape it.  I don't think it was a troll post, lol.  

Anyway, this old guy was going on about these trees.  I asked him about removing the roots, if they don't come out, can these trees grow back? Yes, he replied and then compared them to giant weeds.  Anything left in the ground can regrow. I thought that after seeing new growth on a tree that I had stripped down to the ground. There were several new branches growing out of it.  Yup, just like a weed.  He gave me instructions on how to get the Sweetgums I am leaving up to branch out and have a fuller look to them. Yes, well these trees were all densely packed together and had nothing but the tops - canopies - able to get any of the precious sunlight or even room to grow branches.  This was a thick, dense forest of mostly small trees.  

But the roots are what led me to the conclusion that I had to pay someone to go out there and do the job, versus trying to use that little Bobcat. It had a heck of a time trying to get the roots out.  That giant trackhoe has no problem pulling the entire mess out of the ground.  

This project on this contractor's end is probably going to drag out for a while. They are busier than I even knew and they have crews - but there are spread out and working all over the place.  The best I can do is just keep texting the dude. This guy said he can't even call the owner, he doesn't answer even for his own employees.  I get it, the dude is busy. He is out looking for new work as well as overseeing current projects. I don't know if he's spreading himself too thin. I just know I will have to keep after him to keep things moving along.  

I don't expect this project to be finished by summer. When I say that, I mean everything in place, not just utilities and the things this company is going to do.  But I can see that getting the septic installed and the electric is going to take a while. I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself on water tap installation and electric - but  hey - it's done and it's there.  They aren't charging me anything extra for that power pole installation, it's just there.  I told them what I intend on doing, I guess they expect to make a good profit off of it, win-win.  

I can remain hopeful of a summer opening, of course.  But I'm not going to have a meltdown if it doesn't happen.  I've watched parks being built taking a few years to go up.  And I want things done right, I don't want half-@$$ed anything that is permanent in nature.  But, I can have shed style laundry room, I  no longer see a problem with that since it is temporary, serves the purpose and if someone doesn't like it, oh well. Bathhouse the same. Cabin shed setup at best.  A permanent shower setup will be a cabin appearance, as well as a laundry room. I have lots of plans for the property. Plans are more than goals in my view. They are things that will be done at some point or another.  Not, might be done if I can.  

The money is out there. I just don't want any substantial loans right now.  Let's just get done what I can with what I have - or if I have to get a small personal loan to finish things off, that's fine as well.  But I won't be in a debt-hole to start off with.  Land payment, sure, already paying that. A little more for my house payment in Phoenix, okay.  Anything more than that? Sparingly, like, exactly what I need and no more and make sacrifices if necessary.  

Oh, I spent the entire day at the yard in Brownsville yesterday.  They only brought in one empty at around 11:00 am and the other driver got that one.  I thought another was coming right after - but it didn't show up until around 8:00 pm last night. I did get my LLC application started and paid for.  These are all the steps along the way.  It might take a minute for all of that to get done.  I'm not having power or water turned on until I'm informed they need it to do the install. Cause', after that, there are monthly fees regardless of whether you are using the utility or not.  

I also got approval for a vacation from dispatch for the end of this month. We want to go to the Riverwalk in San Antonio.  I have tens of thousands of points on my credit cards and after consideration, found one property that we want because it has an indoor pool, is close to the river walk and has a separate bedroom and living room.  I just can't sleep in the same room with other people if those other people snore.  It's not a judgment, lol, it just keeps me awake.  I snore, everyone in this house snores. Even the 7 year old snores - not very loud but it's there.    It is what it is, but my sleeping environment has to be "perfect" or sleep just doesn't happen.  Having a separate room should eliminate that problem.  

If I have to be honest about this, my own snoring has awakened me.  Lol.  

Well, it's a quarter of 9, not terribly late and I have a 9:00 am load appointment, but I think this old man is going to crawl into bed, watch a bit of tv and go to sleep.

 By far the worst I've ever seen this yard.  Brownsville, Texas drop yard that is. It has been raining so much down here that the yard is nothing but a giant mud pit.  There are barricades up in the back portion where you have to go to turn around, it's that bad.  Many of the parking spots back there are just feet deep worth of mud, nothing you would want to back a semi trailer into and get that mud all caked up in and around everything under the tandems.  

It was definitely the first time I had ever seen barricades in the middle of the yard, unbelievable. These people need to fix this permanently by paving the entire yard.  They already tried putting gravel down, it worked for a while - but now this. It was dark or I would have taken some pics of that nonsense, maybe tomorrow morning when I have to go back over there to wait.  

Very unwanted situation also hit me when I entered the yard and there were no empties there> I say there because that yard is so horrible I came up to the truck stop to spend the night.  I wanted an empty there this time so I could hook to it and be out of there first thing in the morning after required 10 hour break. Yes I like detention pay money but sometimes going home is better.  

I want to see if they actually started today and see how much they got done.  I would have gotten back to the yard by around 3:30 pm and hoofed it over to the property by 4:10 and see what they have gotten done.  I don't suspect it's going to take them too long to clear that stuff out of there with that giant machine and if they have an experienced operator at the helm.  

And I'd like to get those lots officially marked out for them to start the project of installing the utilities including the septic system.  Well, the septic system is subject to the State of Texas whims and run through the county fire department.  That probably doesn't happen overnight, they have to get permit to do anything and undoubtedly the fire marshall or someone from that department has to come out and inspect the proposed location of the vaults.  

Well, it's getting late. I was looking at resort style hotels in San Antonio. We still want to vacation at the River Walk.  Just that James work was screwing with him and playing games with his hours and they thought he'd have to find another job.  The hours are apparently back on track tho I have no idea how long that is going to last, I had put off vacation until they figured out his job situation. If he was going to change jobs, he wouldn't be able to get off.  As it stands, he has 4 day work week so we are planning a 3 night stay.

Just trying to find a very nice hotel that has a nice indoor pool that is also close to the River Walk that also has one room with a separate bedroom and a sofa bed. No sense in paying for 2 rooms if we don't have to.  I don't know, but I think I found a hotel that has all of that, I need to call the hotel and make sure what I'm seeing is actually what is reality. 

Yawn, tired, g'nite.  

This guy really doesn't communicate too much lol.  I went over to the property today - and it was a really beautiful day, took the dogs with me - to see if they had shown up yet to start this project.  

No one there.  Drove to the back and walked to the west side, to the rear of the place.  There is a nice stand of pine trees over there. There are stands of them in various places but this one I really like.  But that area isn't for me.  It's where I want to put some tent camping sites.  But this time, I was really honing in on how I could get people back there without even using the easement up the hill.

I'd rather not use it because it's a very good drop off there.  Would be a very steep drive for anyone to drive their vehicle back in there.  I don't really envision cars driving back there even on a better road setup, it's got to be pickups only. 

Anyway, I want to start with two of them back there and another one further up, sort of off to the side of the gas well operation, but in another stand of pine trees.  I plan on making a trip to the local state park at Caddo Lake to see what they offer for tent sites.  What I mean is, what do they do for the tents? Just an open area? Some kind of platform?  Like if it rains and water is running through, something that elevates them off the ground? 

I never tent camped like that but I'm taking it campsites put some sort of platform in and some of them put in sand pits.  These will be primitive sites. There will be nothing offered beyond a campfire pit, a picnic table and a place to park the vehicle beyond the tent site.  It's a very beautiful, serene, peaceful area.  

Addler was so happy to be back there that he was tromping around all over the place, making all kinds of noise. I had to call both dogs over and make them sit and be still.  I wanted to hear whatever sounds there were to hear.  Nothing but nature, I was hoping.  The breeze flowing through the trees. This is exactly what my version of tent camping is.  

The property is a real gem and the price tag on it was even better.  My overlooking it at the get go was only because I found places I thought were better.  Well, one of them I still really wish I could have gotten, but I see now that what I have is much better. Much more land, city water, internet is right there, close to the city yet definitely not the city feel at all.

I  tracked what I thought would be a good road to build into that area back to where the well site is and then, found a much better approach to driving back there than anything I had seen before.  I mean, it has to be cleared but it's not that much that has to be moved out of the way.  I plan on spending some time with this contractor back there and showing him what I want done in terms of trails, a road, leveling some camp sites.  I expect at least 5 grand more added to the price tag.  So beit.  These are must haves in my view.

Back to the vehicle, but I was looking at the other above ground pipe setup.  They just repainted all of it.  They don't ask permission, lol, that's all their stuff, I just see it after the fact.  They also completely cleared out the corner that was overgrown the last time I saw it - which was not too long ago.  See, I like them taking care of that stuff. Less for me to do or pay someone else to do.  

Stopped again and listened to the sounds.  The cattle rancher was out there so the cows were howling, that's what I call it anyway. It's beyond mooing, they start making a lot of loud noises when someone they know comes along and they figure they're bringing them food.  That didn't last long.

The only real, annoying noise is the train.  Most trains fly through the tracks, you hear them a couple of minutes at most and that's that.  This trains?  It honks every couple of seconds.  2 short blasts.  Wouldn't be a big deal but it must be traveling really slow because you can hear it for 15 minutes.  I've heard it a couple of times out there and today was one of those times.  It just went on for so long.  

Still, the noise people must be hearing at all of these sites right next to Interstates and major highways is constant and loud.  So a bit of annoyance here and there? I'm not going to worry about it.  The only way to get out of all of the noises altogether is to go well out of town and well off the beaten trail and then? Good luck getting people out there unless it's its own destination spot that has plenty of stuff to do.  

Well, off to make a donation.  A person's mobile home burned down yesterday and they needed help and were asking for donations. I remembered when my house burned down and all the help I got.  I had to do something.  The post was just asking for stuff, I just wanted to give money. Yes, they will need other stuff - there were pictures of the house while it was burning down form the local fire department, total loss.  So I went to the bank and yes, they had an official account set up for it.  

Dollar General, Kroger's, an oil change place and then Chili's later, I texted the contractor.  When is the start up date?  I need to know.  I need a date.  I mean, yes, if weather is bad such as it has been I can see it. But give me a date so I have something to latch onto, not these endless generalities.  It took a while to get an answer.  Tomorrow.  Followed by "wanted to make sure it was dry". 

So, tomorrow, they are going to be out there dealing with all of that stuff.  I will be heading down to Brownsville, unfortunately, I'd rather be home for the beginning of this.  But he understands my ribbons, that's pretty easy, the rest of the stuff comes out and they will put it in huge piles. It will dry out and eventually can burn it. That stuff can go down at the other end where I'm not going to be doing anything for a while with the land.  

The day of reckoning is coming.  I will have to make decisions.  My mind is all over the place.  If I have to sacrifice one thing for another - keeping costs down and trying to make money versus getting into a lot of debt - there are things I think I can compromise on, in my own mind if with no one else.  A simple barn shed that costs a few thousand dollars (or less) can work for laundry.  People want laundry.  I can see it.  They don't want to have to wait at a laundromat, they want to be able to just do it wherever they are staying.  

Perhaps the same setup for a single bathhouse if I can do nothing more.  Just a small shed thing with a full bathroom including shower in it.  

Or no bathhouse to start with and let's get this going.  In my mind, walking trails and a pond are more important. 

I'm going to wait on some of these decisions to see what I have left after the basic stuff is installed, paid for and over with.  Well, I guess just the price tag, whether it's done or not, so I can figure out what I have left over and what I can do without spending anything more than what I have left and leaving some working capital.  What I'm kind of not knowing right now is the cost of the driveways and the pads.  I'm guessing another 20 - 25 grand.  That's going to eat up a lot and I will still have wifi after all of that to install.  

Yes, I will take out another small, personal loan - if I absolutely have to - but right now, my thinking is to get whatever I can get going - going. Save up as much of the income as possible and expand.  After everything is all said and done - whether I get a pool loan or not is unknown at this point, no decision on that yet - the next priority will be to double the number of sites.

I'm not feeble minded, I'm just trying to figure out what I really should have based on the information I have before starting this endeavor up..  14 sites won't be much, but if I can fill them up it will be more than enough.  People will come - I think - if the right amenities are in place.  WiFi is one of the highest if not the highest priorities and I want that to be right regardless of start up expense.  If you have good WiFi, you will get the reviews to back it up.  If you have bad WiFi, you will get those kinds of reviews to cast a pall over your operation.  It's really that important to many of the people that come into those places.

It's rather perplexing to me, because if I were full time RV'ing, I would just have what I have now as a truck driver: unlimited Verizon with unlimited Hotspot.  I wouldn't rely on the campsite for it.  But if there is one complaint that stands out above all the rest of it, its the idea of a campground having bad wifi.  And even worse, if  a campground claims on their website they have good wifi - but you get there and it sucks. 

Okay, I have an early rise tomorrow.  My mind is refilled with thoughts again now that the construction is finally going to begin.  This has been a long road and it's not even half over yet.