Another long day in the books.  Drive from Brownsville back to the yard was uneventful. Well, uneventful if you don't call getting cut off 100 times per day - at least and that is no exaggeration whatsoever - uneventful.  I didn't see any major accidents for once, that was a good thing!  

Tomorrow, they are allegedly coming to install the septic system.  I say allegedly because who knows for sure?  The underground utilities company called me today asking me about an address that isn't mine. Uhh, no, that's not my property. Well, are you having a septic system installed tomorrow?

Why yes, yes I am!  After giving him the correct address, he found the place and presumably he did his job and left.  I forwarded that information to the contractor and also forwarded the information that the city had installed the water meter, he can come and hook it up, please and thank (this work has already been paid for, they just couldn't hook it up because there was no meter to hook it up to).  

I do have to work tomorrow, but the load time isn't until 2:30 pm (ugh).  So, I will go over to the property in the morning and see what they are doing. It's still quite hot out, I assume they will be there early and try to get done before the heat of the afternoon hits.  I will also try loading the trailer and seeing if I can make it back to the bridge construction site.  Well, I dunno if I'll do that or not - it's going to be a very long day and I will have to drive until well after midnight if I want to make it down there tomorrow - well the wee hours of the next day.  

The senior manager of the oil and gas company responded to a recent email I sent. I'm kind of getting tired of them ignoring my requests.  I demanded they fix the road, it's on my property and they are subject to my rules for above ground operations.  Well, I say that, I'm not sure that would hold up in court, who knows.  The man again went into "you bought the property as-is" and talking down to me, as if he sold me the property.

Uh, no, if they wanted unfettered access to the well site, they could have bought the property when it was for sale. Of course, that isn't the way these oil and gas companies operate. They are well-known as cheapskates who won't spend any more money than they possibly have to, all the while sucking out millions of dollars worth of product out of the ground that lies underneath your property.  I am, however, a very persistent person. They are coming on to my property on a daily basis, and tho they have the right to do so, they aren't going to just get away with tearing up the driveway every time it rains because they are too damn cheap to bring in fresh gravel.  

He did make an offer: We will pay for half the gravel if you pay for the other half. We will spread the rock and do all the work.  I thought about that for a minute and thought, that is probably the best offer I am going to get from these people.  I chose to ignore his condescending attitude and replied, ok, please send me a number, how much is this going to cost?  

If my calculations are correct - I use an online gravel calculator - and if it costs $25 per ton, just averaging it between the various prices I have seen - then my part of it would be 5 grand.  If that is true, then it's a go.  Do the entire driveway, be sure that the entryway is a bit thicker and let's get it done.  Even if it were a bit more I'd still send them a check.  In fact, if they get decent pricing, I'd ask them to have all of it hauled out there, not only for the existing driveway, but for the rest of my project and I'd pay the difference. I don't want different types of rock on the driveway and the RV site, I want all of it the same.  Of course, they may not be interested in doing that, but I will find out if, again, my calculations are correct.  

I think my RV site will cost more tho.  They will probably want to put larger base rock down first and then cover it with the smaller gravel.  

I really can't go there too much more right now.  It just starts getting to the point where I'm getting a bit exasperated over things I have no control over.  The fact of the matter is, however, that I am almost there.  You see, I never have received a quote on gravel, but that's because we didn't know how long the driveway would end up being after it was all said and done.  

I will be calling the local supplier of gravel tomorrow and getting a price per ton. There's only one supplier in the county that handles large orders, the rest is either in Shreveport or Longview.   It's the only way I can make a good guesstimate of what all of this will cost me and at least give me the peace of having a number in my head instead of sitting here doing guess work.  The oil and gas company manager hasn't responded, tho I suspect it will be a while before I get a price.  

I think I'll wait on doing the interior of the new shed until I see how much it's going to cost for the septic and the gravel.  It can wait if necessary.  It WILL wait if necessary.  It's not a priority and if it comes down to it, it will just have a couple of vending machines in it, perhaps a washer and dryer and the wifi equipment.  The bathroom can wait.  I don't have any utilities priced to run power to it and it will need a separate meter, I guess.  This electrician is doing things differently than what I had envisioned.  

I have nothing else.  I'm getting worn out. Drive, drive, drive and while doing that, talking on the phone with various people about this and that and the other thing concerning the property.  I'm not 20/30 years old.  This stuff wears me out.  I think I'd like  a vacation about now that just sits in a very nice hotel, in peace and quiet, alone and just relaxing and reading.  I love vacations with the folks here, don't get me wrong, but they are go go go vacations.  I haven't been in a hotel in a while, I think the next Brownsville run that they are telling me no empties until the next afternoon? I will go to my favorite - the Marriott Residence Inn - and enjoy an overnight there.  It isn't a vacation, but it is a nice time to just sit alone, think about things and no interruptions.  I really like Marriott Residence Inns!  

I guess bedtime is calling. Not particularly late but I want to get up relatively early and get out to the property and talk to the contractor.  He's next to impossible to get a hold of and you really don't get any idea of what's going on unless you are there, in front of him, asking questions and getting his thoughts.  I'm small potatoes stuff, not big contracts, he works me in.  I'm thankful for that and the quality of the work, but I need more info.  

Nite. 

 Haven't been through a day like that in a long time.

Two nights ago, we all went over to one of their group house' to play cards.  

Got home late - around midnight - got to bed even later - but then I got up at 10 am while everyone else still asleep, took Addler and went over to the property.  Unloaded all of that lumber on that trailer and walaah. 

The 4 wheeler pulled it up that steep hill with relative ease.  

But, after all of that, I wanted to take the dog home and get some cold water.  I had only brought a small cup of ice water with me, figuring I was only going to be out there for a little while with the dog. He was getting over heated as well, time to take him home.  

Well, when I got home, I saw that James truck was gone. Curious, I pulled up Life 360 and saw that he was - heading to my property.  It might have been the live video I had posted with an excerpt in it titled: I really could use some help out here! - that did it, lol, I dunno, but I got my ice water and headed straight back over there.

For close to 5 hours, we worked on clearing enough trees out of the way to get that trailer back in  there.  It was over 100 degrees and it wasn't light work by any stretch of the imagination.  Cutting down trees and then dragging them into whatever holes in the woods we could find for them.  They'll have to be dragged back out at some later date - when the burn ban is lifted  - put them on a pile and burn them up.  That will be another one of "those" days.  

It's just so hot out and I'm not in particularly great shape.  Keep doing stuff like this and eventually I might get back to good shape, right now, it's just not all that good.  While all of these experts tell you that cardio workouts aren't going to cause you to lose weight - and mostly they won't - they ignore the fact the doing such workouts do for the internal portions of your body.  Your cardiovascular system specifically and this kind of stuff will help bring down my cholesterol, along with being careful about what I eat and drink and doing the intermittent fasting, which has been scientifically proven not only to help lose weight, but also bring cholesterol levels down.

However, I don't feel so bad knowing that James was also out there with me and he was also feeling it by the end of the day.  In fact, he disappeared into his bedroom for pretty much the rest of the day and night. I did the same, taking a shower and laying in bed all the way from yesterday late afternoon until - now.  

So now what? Well, it's Sunday and I"ll be headed out in half an hour. But, the next day off, I will head straight back over there, load all that lumber up on the trailer and hopefully make it back to the bridge site.  Getting that trailer out of there is going to be a wonder as it will have to be backed all the way out, unless I decide to cut down a bunch of trees right there where the bridge goes so I can back into a hole and pull out.

It's not out of the question, as I want a trailer made through there anyway.  And it's only small trees, nothing like what we were doing yesterday.  Some big, tall trees had to come down, unfortunately, but necessary.  Now, a pickup could make it back in there and that's a good thing. I did call the mulcher guy yesterday in vain hopes of him coming out to knock all the rest of what I want done, out, but he's busy.  

He's always busy, his rates are very good and he does good work.  There is some touch up work to be done on existing trails, a road to be built, an old trail that needs cleared out and another trail that needs to be made.  None of the above involves taking out any large or even medium sized trees. Well, there might be one medium sized tree that needs come down, the rest are nothing but small trees that need cleared anyway.  

Anyway, I've done all of this work up til now - days worth - just trying to get the materials back in there. No work on the bridge site or bridge itself has been accomplished.  But, it's getting there, just far more work involved than I could have possibly imagined to make it happen.  

Get the materials out there and then start cutting down more trees. These are the trees next to the creek on both sides that the machine couldn't get at, the hill was too steep and he was afraid of rolling over.  I don't blame him, but I have a new chainsaw to deal with it.  After that, I can dig out the post hole, put the posts in, and then dump the cement in there.  I'll have to bring those bags of that stuff down on the back of the 4 wheeler.  No trailer, just make 3 or 4 trips. Yes, I need a good, solid, small utility trailer that the 4 wheeler can better handle, but that's just not in the budget right now and I am very happy to hopefully be able to get that trailer up in there, get the stuff back there and finally get this portion of it over with!

Oh, and I had two offers for help out of that video beyond James.  Hey, I'll take whatever help I can get.  Even a person that really can't do much? I can give them a pair of large clippers and they can start cutting down all of these hanging vines all over the place.  Just get them cut as far as they can reach up, that will be fine. It's more like a jungle back in there with all of those thick vines all over the place.  Plus, they can pick up the small sticks and debris off of the trails and just pile it up for me to come later and haul off to a burn area and get rid of it.  

There's a lot of minutia that pretty much anyway that wants to help out can do. The other guy? Well, he could probably help me put that bridge together.  Plus I have a dog park to put together, however.....

I don't see myself putting a dog park up until I get the land flat and level.  It's all little hilly stuff right now and I really want it nice and flat so I can plant grass in it.  That's something I'd like to get done soon, so renting that dozer may not be too far off into the future. It will include an entire day of flattening the entire front 7 acres minus what they already did for the RV pads/site. It will get rid of all of those weeds and then I can plant grass seed - well - if it's going to rain anyway.  

Mom wants to help pay for the materials for the dog park, I ain't turning anything down.  Her name will have a spot on any list of people that helped build the park, she put in a substantial amount of money, all spent on the property and building.  I've wasted none of it, mother would not approve of that, lol.  It helped me get through this idea of more steps to the preparation of the RV park than I knew about.  Without those extra steps, I'd have another 23 grand sitting in the bank right now.  I figure the materials are going to cost around $1,000 - ball park. Fencing, posts, gates, grass, a dog clean up station.

You've seen them. Just a post with a trash can and plastic bags you slip your hand into to pick up dog poop. YOUR dog's poop. I'll had a small shovel to it to people that cant fathom the idea of doing that by hand.  

What's left? A lot.  The sign is being held up by the supply chain issues, they can't find the special board they use to paint the sign with.  Their normal supplier is out.  I didn't know until I pressed them what was holding that up.  I may spend $30 and have a temporary sign put out there that I can move up to the highway when they get the sign finished.  Insurance, doing whatever i'm going to do with the interior of the new shed-building, plant grass on the RV sites, install drainage pipe, etc, long list.  Walking trails are not far from done, but certainly still work left to do.

Anyway, it's about time to head out.

Happy Sunday. 

 Yeah. This dude texts me after 7:00 am telling me they are "loading the trailer".  Okay.  The lunacy with this seller went on literally all day long. The terms, in his mind, on every call, kept changing.  I kept having to bring him back to what we had agreed on.  He kept forgetting - every....single.....time....it got to the ridiculous realm.  

After 6 of these calls? I was aghast.  He wanted me to go up to the bank to get him cash.  He originally wanted the first month's payment but said any payment including check would be fine, so I gave the workers a check for $220 this morning - after they handed me a bill for $4,400.  They didn't speak much English and tho I can speak some Spanish.  

But he called me at the end of the day saying he couldn't possibly take a check? What the Hercules Wonder Woman Sniffing Crack S*** is this?!! I kept my cool, I'm getting a great deal and the end product was very good.  This was several phone calls while he figured out what he was doing.  He didn't actually figure out what he was doing after he made the final call on that round, he thought he had figured it out.  

"Well, they will follow you up to the bank to get cash".  I'm just done with this, succumbed to the idea that this dude has no clue what he is doing on the financial end and agreed to it.  We drove all the way to the bank - 5 miles the wrong direction for that crew - we were still at the property dealing with stuff, lots of stuff to deal with atm - so I didn't have far to go to get to them.  I have left out a LOT of stuff here with this dude and his antics, just way too much to go into.  

So these guys follow me to the bank. I get out $220, they hand me a piece of paper that says "Paid in full" with the description of the work they had done and the amount it cost, the ENTIRE amount, lmao.  Yup, I just paid that sucker in full! LOL! No, I wouldn't try to do that but I thought it was funny. I handed them the cash and left, quickly, because they were counting it as I was leaving and I knew they were going to be like, wait, bruh, there's only $220 here. 

That's because it became obvious these workers had no clue that this was a credit deal and that I didn't have to pay them the full amount.  

I immediately called this guy after I left the parking lot, I figured I would try a "different" approach: Umm, I gave them the cash, $220, I don't think they understand that this deal is on credit.

The man on the other end, this same dude with this ridiculousness going on ALL... DAY....LONG....just start profusely apologizing.  I mean, like 50 times, he just apologized over and over and over.  I'm soooo sorry. I'm sorrrrrrrry.  Yeah, I didn't need to give them anything. No money, just "thanks for the great work!".  They did great work as far as I can see.  I just replied "I have no idea how you are working this".  Because at that point, I didn't.  He apologized - profusely I might add - many more times after that.  I didn't ask him for an apology, but I can tell ya, this dude needs someone with a bit better mind for that kind of stuff to run his operation. He can go catch alligators and bullfrogs.  

I mean, it's done.  That's all I can say. He texted me a pic of a check he's sending me to replace the money I gave those workers.  Just, wow, lol.  

Anyway.

I went over there this morning before they arrived with the boys and the dog in tow. We went for a good walk, they wanted to go and Addler has been cooped up in this house and back yard.  I took the 5 year old back home and then we were going to go back to spend the day working there.  This 7 year old.  Gag.  He not only broke two controllers for game systems, he also used his Nintendo Switch to purchase $50 worth of junk - on my account - yesterday.  Anyway, it started pouring rain.  I knew it was a high chance of rain today. So, I headed to the City water department instead.  

I ended up giving them $2,175 to get water service started. Yes, you read that right: TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS.  A $675 "water tap fee".  So, they charge you to tap into their system even tho they had nothing to do with the contractor who actually did the work.  Then, because it's a "Commercial" operation, they want $1,500 deposit. I'll never get that money back, unless I sell the park and get out of it.  Astonishing, they never said anything about that when I had originally gone in there. The things you find out -because you didn't know and you didn't know and they aren't volunteering any information.  

I just want the water on to check the lines for leaks!  I may have it shut right back off after it's pressured up and left on for a few weeks.  I don't need water over there right now and I don't need a service for something I'm not using.  Just the leaks, folks, just the leaks! I want a secure line that has no issues and the only way to find that out is to pressurize it with water.  

Anyway, after that, I went to the contractor's office and wrote 2 checks that amounted to 43 grand and left there, went to a truckstop that has food, got the boy something and some drinks, back to the property and then started working on this trailer situation. 

That was an hours long ordeal.  

I first took the tarp I had over everything, put that on the ground and then carried all 12 bags of the quickcrete off the trailer, put it on the tarp and then covered it up.  Rain, don't need to lose money on damaged product.  I figured getting rid of 960 pounds of weight off of that trailer would help?  Yeah, the 4 wheeler still struggled with it.  

I then got out a very heavy-duty tow strap, it comes replete with a hitch that goes into your receiver on your vehicle.  You hook the hook end up to your vehicle and you figure out how to loop it around whatever you're pulling.  I was going to pull that entire thing out of there, trailer attached to 4 wheeler - with the front brake set on the 4 wheeler.  Why the brake? Cause the trailer locking cap wouldn't come down on the ball on the 4 wheeler.  Yes, the 4 wheeler has a ball hitch on it.  Without it locked, that trailer could pop off of that 4 wheeler and the 4 wheeler would go careening down that hill and probably be destroyed.  

So I put the SUV in gear and it pulled the whole mess without any problems.  Unfortunately, the trailer was heading towards some small trees. So, I cranked the steering wheel hard left and headed 90 degrees off.  Yeah, it's a heavy duty trailer, it just laughed at me.  You think YOU are going to pull ME sideways? Yes, I DO! We had this argument, back and forth, as I was getting out of the SUV, going to the 4 wheeler, pulling up, back to the SUV - I did this many, many times over.  I finally gave up. Cut down all 5 trees.  Yup.  The property has thousands more, a few small trees isn't going to hurt me.  

Well, it kinda did, that 10 foot tall pine tree was so beautiful.  I got that thing pulled up on level ground, dropped the trailer, pulled the ATV out, pulled the SUV back and hooked up and yes, I drove it down the steep hill. Then the fun really began. 

Why? Because this SUV has some feature - maybe ABS system tho it never showed up on the screen - that shuts off the power to the rear wheels after it starts spinning too much.  Well, first things' first.  I hooked the trailer back up to the ATV and attempted to pull it through the trail way.  Didn't get very far and gave up.  I had exhausted several hours just getting to that point and I was ready to quit.  It became obvious I need a much smaller trailer to do my business around the property with the ATV. Just was hoping I didn't have to spend even more money on another piece of equipment.  

I left the ATV hooked to the trailer - it's not stuck or anything, I just was done with it - got in the SUV, told the boy to hold on and started reversing up the hill - no room to turn around down there.  This was 15 minutes of getting up to whatever point and then having the wheels stop turning - extremely irritating.  I don't know if there's a way to shut that garbage off, but I will definitely be researching it.  I like to thought I'd never get out of there and really thought I'd end up having to have help come and pull me up out of there. 

But, eventually, I got out of it.  We left, noting the progress on the shed and taking another pic of it. I went to both Harbor Freight and Lowe's and found nothing that would work for what I need.  This isn't a want, it's a need. I need something that an SUV can pull, a utility trailer for a utility vehicle.  

There's more, but it's getting late and my full time job calls me.  Another Oklahoma run tomorrow.  I have only been getting sent to Brownsville and Oklahoma for - 2 months now?  I dunno.  There is good and bad here. Good is I am not on the road 3 or more days at a time. Bad is the paychecks aren't as good.  Right now? I'm saying nothing about it.  This bridge thing - okay it's a lot more than I expected to even get the materials to the jobsite.  Literally I could have quite a bit of progress on actually building the bridge by now!  

But I also have a doggy park to build.  The materials are about $600 plus whatever entry way I'm going to put in plus dog cleanup station.  Yes, I'm building that one myself.  It's pretty simple affair - time permitting.  Time is everything.  I have been spending a lot more of my free time working over there and it's going to stay that way for as long as I can see into the future. There is a lot to do.  The weeds out there are irritating me to no end.  I have nothing, yet, to deal with it.  You look at the pics I just posted on my Facebook, for those that have access anyway, there are weeds everywhere. 

Frustrating, I need to deal with it, yet I need a solid answer to it, not a patchwork of paying exorbitant fees to have someone come out and do it for me.  I have no problem doing it myself, I just don't have the machinery to do it with.  I'm thinking rent the bulldozer for a couple of days - ask for 2 days off here in the near future - level all of that ground while destroying all of that vegetation and then plant a lot of grass seed. 

Yup, that's going to wait until fall.  I think anyway, that idea could change, but fall is when I can plant rye grass and rye grass grows easily . I won't have this park going before fall, folks, that's a fact. There is just too much to do and just waiting on the power company will take us into October - probably, my crystal ball is also a bit rusty - as well.  

Anyway, it's bed time and I still haven't found the trailer I need. I want that ordered and on it's way.   I guess not tonight, so I will stop at Home Depot in Longview after this next trip - so on Friday - and see if they have anything.  And try Facebook marketplace, maybe someone has something for sale.  It's a recession, people tend to sell off stuff during a recession.  

G'nite. 

 Although it isn't really going to change anything at this point, I do wish this contractor would have told me all the things he has to do in order to build a park, for I didn't know about a couple of these phases that cost a boatload of money.  I'm at 43 grand owed for what they have done up until now, which doesn't include the 12 grand already paid to clear the trees, 5 grand for the pedestals and whatever else I'm forgetting.  Oh, $3,200 for the water tap.  

I might have thought twice about even doing all of this or would have at least thought about alternate methods of funding if I had known these extra costs.  I'm not upset or anything, it just would have been good to know.  This contractor knows what he's doing but he's not a real good communicator.  He's pretty much full blooded redneck and in some ways that's good and in others, a bit lacking.  

Anyway.  They are allegedly coming tomorrow morning - which isn't that long from now lol, I just got home from Brownsville and it's almost 11:00 pm - to build the office building. I say allegedly because there is a 54% chance of rain tomorrow and tho we really do need the rain? I don't need it to happen tomorrow.  This dude asked me for information to get a loan on this project - I didn't want to spend even more of my cash that needs to go to finishing up the septic and gravel - and he didn't expect me to get the loan because I am "from out of state".  He is based in Louisiana, I'm in Texas.  

I wondered what difference that would make, who cares what state I'm in and he's in?  Maybe some obscure rules I don't know about.  So, about half and hour later he calls back and says I'm the first one that he was ever able to get through a loan for out of state/Texas.  I had informed him I have good credit?  What's the big deal?  Anyway, the only down payment is the first month's payment and that's only $219.  

I hope they don't report it to the credit bureaus, I don't need it and it may actually hurt my chances for getting another personal loan of the size I may end up needing.  It's only a year's worth of payments and it's over and done with.  This is a far cry from anything else I found anywhere.  Rest assured, I made lots of phone calls, texts and facebook inquiries plus visiting places that sell them.  I held out so long because I balked at the cost of a shell of a building with nothing but flooring installed inside. I'll have to add electric, water and sewer plus drywall, fixtures and whatever I want in there.  

Is that a do it yourself project, you ask? It could be if I had the time for it, I know how to do all of that stuff.  I may not be an expert but I can put out a decent end-result.  Well, I've never laid granite tile on floors, that's what I would like for the bathroom/shower.  The problem? All the spare time - I don't have! 

Yet, to pay someone will be in the thousands of dollars range just for the labor.  So I dunno yet.  I just want it there and get that portion of it out of the way.  I want one bathroom with a decent shower, a washer-dryer set, a soda machine and probably a candy/junk food vending machine.  And a locked room for the wifi equipment.  I will put a cord or two of pre-packaged firewood out front of it with a camera on it and guests can buy it on the credit card they will have on file.  I wouldn't mind putting an ice machine in there, but I think that a bit much for only 14 lots worth of people.  There will be cameras with a view of the entrance and anything outside. I dunno if it's kosher to put a camera inside, but I'd like to be able to see the vending machines and the door to the locked room for the equipment.  The laundry room will be enclosed and have a key pad lock.  Guests that want to use it will simply pay an extra fee at the registration online and get the code.  

It's a thing of convenience more than a thing of money making. I just want, for now, the machines to be able to pay for themselves.  Vending machines may or may not be a good idea, who knows, but I will buy them outright and stock them myself.  

The advice coming to me from a few sides is to rent out to long term.  I may do that if it looks as tho my hope of having overnighters and several-dayer's coming and going doesn't work out.  It may be that the only way to work it without having a full time staff is to have long term until I can expand the park and be able to quit my job.  Then I can be there daily and run the place.  Right now? I'm trying to automate most of this, hence the reason I want security cameras wherever it's prudent to have them.  You go into a Walmart and you'll see more cameras on the ceiling than you do at a casino.  Convenience stores - really all kinds of places both public and private have cameras everywhere.  

I'm just saying that for the people that think that is a bad thing.  It's not a bad thing when you aren't there. I want to be able to see what's going on in "public" areas. I don't want a view of the lots and the people on them, that would be freaky. But I do want a view of the driveway and whoever is coming and going.  

Anyway, I guess I best be off to bed.  I don't know what time they are going to call telling me they are coming. The guy said "around 10".  What if it rains? I wondered, he knows about the rain but that's not stopping him?  I need to get that trailer and 4 wheeler off that hill. I'm going to try to drag the whole setup out of there with my SUV.  I really need some help with it, but James will be at work and a few other people are also going to be at work. Other than calling a tow truck to winch it out of there (which is a possibility), I have to try to do it myself.  My SUV is large and heavy, I have no concerns about that trailer pulling that thing down the hill, but I need to be able to see what's going on behind me.  

I guess my bad, but I haven't really spent a lot of energy trying to make new friends in this area.  I know a few people but not that many, really.  I have lots of friends, they just don't live anywhere near here.  Even more of them dying off : (  People I have known for decades, just going away. I know it's the normal cycle of life, but it seems odd so many of them in such a short period of time?  Yet, one of my best friends is almost 90, you couldn't tell it by listening to him.  His mind is sharp and he's still pretty agile for his age.  

I only threw that in there because if I had invested the time and energy to make more friends, I could just call someone to come help me.  I mean, the 7 year old isn't going to be able to help me with any of that. He loves going over there, but yea, the best he's going to be able to do is record it on video.  I'm home so late I don't even know what's going on with anyone tomorrow. But, rest assured, with cooler temps, Addler is going over there with me : )  

Regardless, I'm going to hook the strap to the trailer and to the hitch on my SUV and try to pull it straight back.  The 4 wheeler is the loose goose here, what will it do? Stay straight or try to stray sideways?  It doesn't have to go a long way to get to a level area where I can drop the trailer and pull the 4 wheeler off of it and hook the SUV back up to it. 

If it's raining or the ground is wet, I am not taking it down that hill. It will have to wait until  the ground dries up.  It's pretty steep and my SUV is not a 4 wheel drive.  I can just see the tow bill of having to pull the thing out from the bottom of that hill. It's at least 200 feet down.  Oh! Well the other thought I had was to take that quick crete off of the trailer - it's 800 pounds worth - and see if the 4 wheeler will back it up without all that weight on there.  It was trying to push it back, it just couldn't do it.  No wait, it's almost 1,000 pounds worth.  I bet if I took that stuff off of there the 4 wheeler could get back up or even go down the hill without my feeling like I'm risking my life lol.

Anyway, g'nite. 

 Sometimes I write a post, get distracted and then never hit the "publish" button. Such is the case with the last entry that is just going to sit there in draft form for infinity and beyond! Lmao.

Anyway, I did go to Lowe's get all the stuff (most of it anyway) needed for the bridge project yesterday (Sunday).  It was then that I realized just how terribly out of shape I am. Lifting 12, 80-pound bags of quickrete about killed me.  Lifting a cartload of 14 and 16 foot long boards was also no small feat.  And then, loading it onto the trailer....but....a young dude came out - huge, with rippling arm muscles and said don't worry about it, I'll get this.  

I replied simply, thank you! You are way better shape than I!  But I still ended up loading the 80 pound bags onto the trailer while he was loading the wood.  

Over to McDonald's, a place I almost never eat at but my tag-along wanted to eat and it was what he wanted so I just said fine and got a Big Mac.  Over to the property.  My "plan" was a stupid one, now that I look back on it.  A bit more thinking about that and I would have never gotten myself into that mess.  

The plan was too hook the trailer up to the 4-wheeler - which it did, it has a ball hitch on it - and then drive it down the road into the basin to the bridge project site.  The problem? That 4 wheeler is definitely no match for that trailer!  That trailer is made out of heavy duty angle stock and it heavy enough empty,  but loaded? I barely started down that hill and realized this was a huge mistake.  The trailer started pushing the 4 wheeler down the hill even with the front brake on.  I mashed the rear brake down as well and it barely stopped it from moving forward.

It dawned on me that if I try to drive that thing down the hill? It's going to end up killing or severly injuring me, that 4 wheeler is no match for the weight of that trailer.  I was starting to sh** bricks, to be honest, when it kept moving even with the front brake on. That's disk brakes on that thing.  

Getting the thing stopped with the rear brakes was fine, but how was I going to get off the thing? I can't hold the rear brakes forever......

I turned the front wheels sideways, set the front parking brake and that did it.  Got 4X4's off the trailer and blocked all 4 wheels on the trailer and then.....figured I could drop the trailer and pull my SUV down there.  But no, after attempting to drop the trailer and seeing that I wouldn't be able to get it hooked to the SUV, I decided to leave the landing gear on the ground but still hooked to the 4 wheeler and then I would have to get James and come back with his 4X4 truck and a chain and pull the trailer backwards out of there.  

Then, use either his truck or my SUV to take it down the hill. After that, hook it back up to the 4 wheeler and tote it back to the bridge site.  I planned on leaving the trailer with all the materials on it there.  Well, anyway, for those that know me and have my Facebook as a friend, the kid made a video of this fiasco while it was unfolding. He had no idea how serious the situation was.  I had him standing behind everything before I even started down the hill as a precaution.  He was never in danger, thankfully.  

We went home after that. I was exhausted and burnt out. Seriously fatigued.  The heat and all that lifting did me in. I did not ask James to go back yesterday, I was too out of it.  I'll see if he will come out there the next time I'm off and he's home. He'll do it, it's a challenge if nothing else and his 4 wheel drive truck would be better suited to taking it down that hill than my SUV/. But oh yea, if it comes down to it, I will drive that trailer down there with my SUV. I"m not concerned about that, it's getting back up the hill I have my doubts about lol.  It's a pretty steep hill.  

There is another way back there on another trail, but the trail isn't wide enough in some areas for a trailer that wide to fit.  The hill is not as steep getting to the trail and not as long.  

Fortunately, the trailer and 4 wheeler are far enough down in the back of the property that no one drive around the top can see it.  There is some money sitting on that trailer worth of wood and new construction tools that I didn't have that I will need to be able to do that project.  

Ok, enough of that.  The shed building - they call them sheds but they are buildings - said he wanted to come out today and build it.  I can't, I replied - much to my dismay I had to turn it down because I was coming down here today, Brownsville.  I said I would probably be back on Wednesday and he said he would call me on Tuesday - tomorrow.

Yeah, well there aren't any empties down here so I don't know if I'll be home tomorrow and if I do make it back, I have no idea whether they are sending me out the next day or not.  This is the huge drawback to having to continue to work a very-much full time job while trying to put this project together.  They want me there before starting the project.  They will have it done the same day.  

I absent-mindedly scratch this ridiculous nonsense all over my body from these sand fleas that bit my entire torso, arms and back and they instantly start bleeding.  I have it going now in the sleeper, sitting here wiping it off trying to get it to stop.

Anyway, I contacted the sign maker once again today. They just didn't do what they said they were going to so I just wrote them off.  If you weren't interested in doing my project, why lead me on? Just say so and I would have moved on.  I have been trying to support local business here while putting this project together. Obviously, I had to find someone local to do the dirtwork and install, but signs? I can have those made anywhere.  Same with buildings.  They wrote back and said they had just finished the same project they had been working on when I contacted them 23 days ago.  A stained glass work, it took them awhile. According to her, anyway.  I just replied, well, you said you were going to send me a pic of the proposed sign over 3 weeks ago. 

I want my sign out there, soon.  Now, actually, but whatever, let's get it done! There is a sign company in my town, I will go there.  I'm giving them one more chance.  They said they wanted the work so I'll just see what happens. 

I'm waiting on the address maker to get back to me.  I hope it doesn't really take 10 days to do that, but it probably will, lol.  

The entire front portion of the property needs bush hogged.  I don't want to pay someone the high fee it will cost to do 7 acres.  I've got to figure something out.  My resistance to getting into any more debt is stopping me, at least for now, from buying something on credit and payments.  A riding mower would at least cut down the 500 linear feet that was cut out by the dozer, I will be getting one of those. But the rest of it?  Really need a farm tractor with the bush hog attachment.  

I dunno, it's a real headache for me.  They'll charge at least $500 to bush hog it - a contractor/side hustle person.  

There's so much to do and think about.  It just kind of fries my mind at times.  

I need rest.

G'nite. 

Been a minute since I last posted.  I didn't realize I hadn't in so long, lol.  Vacation long over - we were in the middle of it the last post I put up, I got sand fleas, apparently, while on the beach and I have at least 100 welts all over my arms, torso, back and a little on my legs.  Yea, that stuff hit and I was so itchy, it was crazy.  Today it's starting to wear down, benedryl has helped that immensely.  Sleeplessness was the norm for a few nights tho, only last night did I finally sleep well.

There's been some activity at the property. They finished all the utility set up at the pads.  They also put in this funny looking setup for the meters, big thing looked like something out of the Minecraft game. The waiting game is on for that, it will be a while before the power company does their thing and gets power strung to it.

I called the address company-  they give addresses to properties that don't have one - and got that rolling. They said up to 10 business days.  I would have done it sooner but their restrictions dictated a building or a power meter setup plus a driveway before they will give one.  Well, I have the meter setup- they told me I didn't have to have power to it yet.

After all the calling around, I was going to pull the trigger on a building and get that going.  Just need it on the property and need to get the interior set up on it and get whatever I want in it.  But, this morning I was looking again on Facebook Marketplace.  I contacted a person over in Louisiana - the state line isn't that far from me even tho I'm in Texas.  

The man contacted me back later on and we talked on the phone for quite a while. He does not order pre made buildings from a factory. I builds them on site.  With much heavier duty materials, much longer lasting setup.  He says they build 5 of them per day.  Those things really aren't that much, which is why I balked at the pricing and hence, the reason I kept on looking.  I was at  $6,500 ish range for a 12X16 with another company, the cheapest I had found and what I was going to just eat it and get it. 

This dude? 12X20 for $4,100. The cheapest 12X20's I saw were in the 10 to 12k range.  I did a lot of looking, this stuff isn't cheap even tho there isn't that much materials involved with it.  

I was immediately sold on this guy's product.  He was the first one that could go down a list of things that are wrong with the factory build stuff and the cheap materials they are using and he knew outright those lots selling manufactured stuff were far more expensive than his setups.  Look, at that price? I'm good. No down payment and low monthly payments.  I'm trying to keep as much cash as possible, but a building was not an option, I have to have one.  

Oh, and the water department at the city told me they wouldn't turn on the water without an address.  Period.  It was the day after the contractor got the electrical done and got that meter setup going. Hence the fact that I am finally getting a street address, much needed, has been much needed and there was little I could do about it. I was holding out on a building because I really didn't want to pay that much money for one.  I could have put a building up to get an address without any power setup.

Next, I found online a "thing" you attach to the back of your 4 wheeler that you drag behind it. It has tines on it and it digs up the roots of weeds.  I want to try that before I go pulling the trigger on some expensive piece of machinery that I really don't want to get into payments on right now.

Tractor Supply in town supposedly has one, I'm going over there tomorrow to see. I have the rest of today - Saturday - off and all of tomorrow off.  I intend on hooking up the trailer and going to Lowe's and getting the materials for the bridge.

OH!!! My AC on my vehicle!  I took the SUV over to a garage after trying 2 other places to take it to - they were booked up for a week and called others.  This guy put a vacuum on the system, got the air out and then filled it with freon. Walaaaah.  It works! NO $1,700 worth of labor to fix it. The other shop? Were they lying to me? I don't know.  The charge was $181 with this guy and so far, I have ice cold air on both air conditioners in the vehicle. It's a Ford Expedition EL - it's the long version, it has to have 2 AC systems to cool it.  

Anyway, I'm being called by family to do something, I'll write more later.  

 I guess tehcnically it's day 3 of vacation. It was only going to be day 2, but we left Wednesday evening so we could get here and be here early for a day full of fun for yesterday.

It was a late night, not getting to be until 1:30 am.  

Yesterday, we didn't even go to the beach, lol.  We ended up at Moody Gardens. We had come here last time we came to Galveston and it was fun then. This time, with the kids, it was even more fun.  Well, backtracking, at first the kids were extremely pouty and mom was not having it. "Next vacation there will be NO kids".  She regretted almost instantly having had brought them.

Fortunately, the kids mood got much better as the day wore on.  I think it was just that we had been out so late the night before. We didn't get up particularly early, but still.

Mood Gardens is really a fascinating place.  My favorite is the Rainforest Pyramid.  This is a glass pyramid - well probably plastic but whatever - and it's full of exotic animals and the typical type of things you would see in a real rainforest. It's not a cheap imitation, they really do a great job of it.  It was hot in there, yes, well more like muggy, I made the mistake of spending the day in blue jeans.

Anyway, we spent the whole day there and then ended up at the Rainforest Cafe - I hadn't been in ages. They gave us one of the better seats in the house - not by request it just happened that way - with 2 giant primates making gestures and noises above us and occasionally going off on rants lol.  

After that? Yea, it was getting late enough, it was a long day and we decided to go home and call it a day.  

Today we are spending the whole day at the beach.  The older child was very unhappy with our decision to go to Moody Gardens instead of the beach yesterday - tho he got over it after seeing how much fun the place was - but today? Yea we couldn't do that again and don't want to anyway.  That was a bit of a pricey day yesterday, today is just eat at Denny's and spend the rest of the day at the beach.  We need to get there before the crowds hit - it's Friday and I'm sure there are going to be hoards of people heading over here from Houston if nothing else.  

I'll tell ya, if I lived anywhere near here, I would definitely want to do an Air BNB house as well.  Any destination spot is a cash cow.  And the beach is definitely a destination spot.  I know, I'm always thinking about ways to make some money, but hey, it's part of life. I'm not obsessed with money, I'm just wanting to get retirement set up . 

Speaking of that, the pedestals and the power, water and sewer lines are all in.  The septic system - not yet and apparently the contractor wants paid for this portion of the project before moving on to the next.  Ok. I get it, make sure you aren't doing the work for nothing, a lot of construction projects are "pay as you go" stuff. Contractors have to pay their employees, etc.  But, I'm not there and told him I would be back Monday.  "Have fun!".  Yes, we are!

My SUV? I took it to another shop before we left.  This dude at the other place was really playing me on and I was tired of it and very tired of driving a very hot vehicle.  I normally get into my SUV to cool down, not heat up.  Driving to or from work when it's in the heat of the day has gotten very old.  I can do it, especially with a nice big cup of ice water, yes, but it's certainly not my first choice. 

That's about it for now.  The animules are being watched by some of their friends that live in town, Addler is being well taken care of. I'm sure he's not happy we are gone for 4 days but oh well.  At least they'll show him some attention when they show up.

Time for Denny's and then the beach.

G'day

 I really don't want to sit down here for however long - tomorrow mid-afternoon I'm being told - waiting on an empty trailer. I'd rather go home and get my vacation started.  Detention pay being almost nothing compared to what it was before this new and improved change - basically screwing drivers, my way or the highway attitude, I don't mind coming down here, drop and hook, but waiting? No thanks.  I don't have a choice unless I rebel and just tell them I'm bob-tailing back up. 

Tho I won't do that for the first 24 hours, after that, I will probably push the issue.  For now, they are saying you are only getting the first day's worth of detention, that after 10 hours is up and after that? You are screwed, you can wait down here however long it takes and you aren't getting any more money.  Nope. I won't sit here for nothing at all.  The company shouldn't expect me to, either.  

A bill that I really didn't want to start incurring this early in the game will now have to start coming in on a monthly basis.  I have to have the water turned on at the property in order to test the lines.  You can't install all of that water line and just say ho-dee-ho, if it's works, it's a go if it doesn't, so so soooo!  It has to be under pressure to test everything and make sure there are no leaks and that all the hydrants work.  

That is what they're calling the outlets at the RV pads, hydrants.  I really want to be back there to see what they have done, document it with pictures and get it recorded for history's sake. 1, because I want to have it documented where, exactly, all of these lines are running and 2, to try and understand if this is something I could do myself in the future.  The water and sewer lines, yes, easily. The power line, I don't know. But I took a pic of the huge roll this morning now I know what size and kind of wire is needed to run along the driveway, I assume also to each individual pedestal, but see, I don't know that for sure. 

It will really suck if they get that all done and cover it up before I get back.  But, I'm hopeful the ditches will remain open, the hope based on the fact that they really need to be able to visually inspect the entire water line from the street to every single outlet to ensure there are no leaks anywhere.  It's time to get some insurance protection in case of any damage either weather or man caused.  I can't get RV park insurance yet, they will want to see pics of everything they are insuring and then they give a quote.  

It's also time to think about getting the building out there.  That's going to be a down payment and a monthly payment for at least 36 months. I really would rather wait a while, but I also can't get a street address until I get that building on there.  I need a street address for the park to start showing in Google searches. I can find the park in the specific name search, but it doesn't show up in a general search of the town.  

It just seems too early to be doing that.  Maybe I will wait, I dunno.  Hard to judge all of this.  The power poles will hold everything up and it seems a waste of money to be paying for a building knowing it's at least months before the park can even be opened for a soft opening.  I'm just going to have to think about this for a while, because the building is just a shell and will need the insulation, flooring, electrical .... everything - done inside of it after it's placed. OK, thinking about that little detail makes me think I need to get it there sooner than later.  

But then, how big of a building do I need?  Do I want room for at least one bathroom with a shower, plus a laundry room with at least one of each machine, plus an area for vending machines, plus the necessary, but admittedly very small space needed for wifi equipment? And speaking of wifi, when do I decide to have that installed?  These decisions will be forced down my throat soon enough and I will have to make them, one by one.  But yes, I think I need to get that building out there soon so I can get someone to start the process of building the interior.  Or, I can do some or all of the work myself.  

Yes, I have so much time to do stuff like that! lol.  

I think the family is fixing to see far less of me than it already is-n't.  I don't have unlimited funds and it will costs thousands of dollars to pay someone to do the work for me.  Right about now, I'm wishing I had kept that breaker panel and all of the breakers it had in it that I acquired at my old job for free. I don't really have anyone to help me with any of this. I can probably find people to pay as helpers - maybe. The town is suffering from "I-don't-want-to-work-itis" and local business practically begging people to work for them.  This first version of a park is going to have to be mostly automated.  I just can't be there all the time and if I can't find any paid help, it's going to be a tough sell to get people in there without any oversight beyond video surveillance.  

The whole thing is a dilemma I haven't fully figured out yet.  But there is definitely going to be 24 hour, recorded video surveillance out there, it's the only way I can have peace of mind that if anything goes wrong - thieves, vandals, problems with guests, I have some way of seeing what is happening or what happened and at least know what's going on.  There isn't a lot of theft in the area, fortunately, hopefully it stays that way.  

I'm kind of lost right now with all of this.  I guess the size of the building will be determined by the size of the monthly payment.  For I will be covering it out of paychecks for quite a while. I don't see much other options besides an even much-softer opening with no electricity.  Most rigs have generators, but they are noisy and most rv parks don't allow them. However, if I see too much money going out the window without any income being generated, I will see about opening the park without electricity and just charge a reduced rate.  A greatly reduced rate, just try to cover expenses until the power poles are installed.  Like, $15-$20 per night. People won't like the idea of not having power, the rate will have to be low enough that they can see running a generator with $4 per gallon fuel all night long.  

Cancel that idea. Gasoline is so expensive right now, I'd have to be charging $10 per day for it to be worth it for anyone to come stay.  No, the park won't open until the electricity is available.  

Well it's getting late. I didn't get out of the loading plant until 12:32 this afternoon.  I just don't have to worry about getting up early, there are no empties, the driver that loaded earlier than me got the only empty that was available.  

Ugh, my mind is just wandering around all over the place with this park setup business. 

Well anyway, I'll be going into the water department on Wednesday - if I get home early enough, again, I have no idea when I'm going to be leaving here tomorrow - and get the water service started.  I mean, maybe I can start it up and then shut it off again until I need it?  Depends on start up fees.  Of course, who knows if it's a good idea to charge up the lines with water and then have the water pressure removed from them.  I don't know.  

Well, I think I'll lay down and ponder this stuff. Long day, lots of driving, ready for bed.

G'nite

 It dawned on me a few minutes ago that after this run today - Brownsville - I will be off work for quite a while.  This was planned.  I need to check with this wonderful dispatcher to make sure she didn't somehow "forget".  I do have all of the text messages pertaining to this vacation in case the selective memory hits.  She has been starting trouble with and having meltdowns with several other drivers.

I try to avoid such nonsense with her.  The closest thing I've had lately is her attempting to tell me DOT rules and regulations and my telling her she has no clue what she is talking about - which she literally doesn't. Besides not being a particularly good dispatcher, she also has only fragments of knowledge about trucking and the rules pertaining to trucking and that because I and other drivers have taken the time to attempt to educate her.  

This is why I believe all dispatchers should have previously had "driver" as one of their job titles. To understand the complexities and nuances of driving trucks, you have to have been exposed to it in such a way that you are directly affected by it and the only way that happens is if you have been a driver yourself.  To these know-nothings, it's all magical fairy-dust that falls from the sky.  They tell you where to go and you push a button and it mysteriously happens. If these people were to spend just a week sitting in the passenger seat of a truck with a busy driver, their whole attitude towards us would undoubtedly change.  

Anyway, they are allegedly starting that installation of the utilities today.  Which, in my mind, would mean they are out there right now. It's daylights, it's 7:40 am and it's still relatively cool outside.  It's summer in east Texas and like most other places in the south/southwest, it gets hot during the day.  High 90's/low 100's slated for the next 15 days.  That translates into higher heat indexes/real-feel.  I'm leaving for work early to see if they're out there and discuss with the electrician adding an outlet for my small building I'm going to have to get.  That was not previously discussed.  I'll need 220 outlet capability in case I want to install a washer/dryer setup.  

I definitely want to put in a soda machine and possibly a candy/chips vending machine.  These are money makers with fairly small amount of effort. The products have to be purchased at the Sam's club 2 towns over, but since I go there all the time for work anyway, that's not going to add anything to the slate of financial outlets in fuel expenditure, just the cost of purchasing the soda.  The caveat for a vending machines is that it must have a cooling unit in it.  There will be no air conditioning for the contents to remain cool and not melting or otherwise being exposed to extreme heat.  I dunno if those machines come with cooling or not?  No research on that has been done, it's kind of low on the priority list right now. 

A nice visit from Taylor's folks that ended yesterday morning. I was there for one whole day of it, 2 nights ago and all of yesterday morning.  Nice people. I let them use my room/bed and i stayed on a fold down couch in the boy's bedroom. I was gone the first night and decided to just let them stay in there. Much easier than having them at a hotel and much cheaper.  I know well the costs of lodging, just paid off the Air BNB house we are using for Galveston.  It made more sense and actually much cheaper than local hotels which at this time of year are running near $300 per night range for even mediocre accommodations.  I know this because we stayed there 3 years ago and the hotel we stayed at was not a 3 plus star hotel but yes, it was near $300 per night if I recall correctly.  The house is much cheaper, has 3 bedrooms, looks really nice inside from the pics and is close to the beach.  We are going for the beach, not for the place to stay.  

We can also cook there which reduces the amount of restaurant expenditures.  

Looking forward to some time off. Yes, I know, I had 12 days off last month, but that was all sickness and there was certainly  no fun, joy or entertainment in that.  I really like Galveston beach, the water is not freezing cold and it's just plain fun.  At least it was last time.  

I just need some time off, not sick and extra days not on vacation that I can spend at the property to get some work done.  I will be buying the bridge materials and at least start the construction.  It will probably take a while to finish that. Days off here and there and whether I'm even motivated depending on if I can get out there in the morning time and get work done before the extreme heat hits.  Oh, I "think" my utility trailer will fit back there.  If it doesn't, get out the chain saw! lol 

Purchase of a piece of equipment to hack down the weeds will wait until I pay the bill for utility installation.  I really don't want to spend any money until I get the final bill for that.  See what's left over, what I can afford to do without a loan and get that done and then, if absolutely necessary, which it probably will be, get a loan just before opening the park up - like within 2 months at most - get the final items on the list done and get some revenue (hopefully) coming in.  That's the current plan which is subject to change!  If you were to go back to where I started this venture and my thoughts, ideas and plans then and compare them with what is actually happening now? Yea, 2 different animals. Not completely different, but definitely some substantial differences.  

I went back and forth about using the existing driveway. I didn't want to at first, but after seeing how much everything else was going to cost? It became a no-brainer within the last few months that I would have to use it to be able to afford everything else.  I was going to build the park close to the road. But, after all the trees came down, that became problematic. Way too much of a grade/slope and far too much money to haul dirt in to level it out, the project is now about 450 from the roadway.  And other things that have changed.  The things that have remained the same are the walking trails, the desire to install a doggy running area, tent camp grounds and wifi.  I think a bathroom is going to have to wait.  

It will be a drawback for some campers that want access to a regular bathroom and full sized shower, but I don't think it's in the cards right now.  The only way I can do that is if the building I get is big enough to install one along with everything else.  I mean, it isn't completely off the list, it just is something I have determined that can wait if finances for it become an issue.  We'll see.  What I'm figuring at this point is that when I pay off the utility installation, I'll have just enough to install the gravel and possibly do the dog park and after that? It's all going to have to be another loan.  

Of course, there is really nothing stopping me from opening up a park without wifi, dog park, etc. If the utilities are in and the pads are done, I am wondering aloud, why not?  Google reviews be damned, the park has some offerings that are rather unique and the walking trails are the biggest thing in that department.  I still have some work to do but it's about the cheapest thing I've had done and it's benefited me, personally, as I love to walk my dog back there and the occasional accompanying children. It's been hot and they get over heated too fast so I haven't been taking them that much.  I get hot, too, but living in AZ for most of my life has at least taught me how to mitigate the heat and keep cool enough as to not enter into heat exhaustion territory.  Even Addler gets overheated and I don't really like to have him exposed to it too long.  

Anyway, it's about time to leave the house, go over there and hopefully....see them out there working!

G'day

 Pool party last night, we stayed up rather late - 1:30 am - before going to bed.  They had some friends over and after the pool we were playing a card game that, well, you can't finish the game in one night's worth of play.   

Anyway, 7:30 am rolled around and it was time to get up and go.  I just can't go out to the property in 100 degree heat with a heat index of 108 or higher, it's either get out there early or don't go at all.  

So, a couple brisk-paced hikes around the permiter of the rear of the property took me 20 minutes and then off to the front of the property where I used marking paint to put arrows on the ground for a proposed route for the telephone poles/lines.  I will not be able to be there tomorrow morning, I'm going to call and leave a message today with the engineer.  He can go out there and look at my arrows without me and come up with a plan - or - if he has to have me out there, it's going to be later on in the week.  Maybe not even until next week.  

I was also wondering if my utility trailer could be pulled to the rear of the property with my ATV instead of going out and buying a small trailer for the ATV. I'm all over keeping costs down right now as the costs of the utilities mount and my finances are dwindling.  

Having said that, I still need to have the mulcher dude come out for one more day of clearing more trails and cleaning up an existing one that he missed.  I had shown it to him but it just slipped his mind.  No biggies, but there is also a road I want put in there and a couple of the camp sites I want made a bit larger.  It might not even be a full day's worth of work, but I'm budgeting 8 hours for 8 it. In fact, I can assert it's probably half a day's work - he charges by the hour but I think he has a half day minimum. Can't blame him, the cost of fuel to bring his equipment out there and the time spent I would very likely have a minimum as well.

The other thing I absolutely need is some sort of machine to keep the trails cleared.  I'm thinking just get a riding mower for now and hope that it won't get stuck or otherwise be useless back there, but some of the trails are starting to get covered with weeds and I just can't have that.  

It would be nice if Mother Nature could turn the temp down over there. Yea, it's summer in Texas, probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Well anyway, the reason I am hoping my trailer can make it back there is to be able to haul all the materials I need to build that bridge.  I have a shopping list, I need to get up to Lowe's and price everything out.  I found a particular video on YouTube showing how to build a bridge that will handle the weight of a 4 wheeler. It's 4X4's and 2X6's mostly.  About 5 feet wide with safety rails.  

I have other ideas that I am going to implement in the future. I have so much space that installing a single vehicle wash rack isn't out of the question and wouldn't cost much to put up. At least not my version of one.  

I have determined that however it has to happen, I need wifi out there.  I need to be able to monitor the property remotely, there is too much money going into that setup and I have been reading of park owners suffering vandalism at the hands of kids taking their various off road vehicles onto their land and tearing up their property.  Well, not even just kids, adults too.  Put a camera on the entrance driveway and one on whatever small building I end up with to house the wifi equipment and whatever else.  I wouldn't mind putting a soda machine in there as well as a snack vending machine.  I'm not sure about a washer dryer set up yet.  Maybe not at the start.  I've got to pick my money making schemes wisely.  A vending machine is going to sam's club, buying the snacks and drinks and taking it to the property. A washer/dryer will require the outlets, water supply and drain. 

I don't necessarily think my septic system is going to be big enough to handle all of the RV's AND a washer setup, but then again, today's modern machines don't really use that much water.  

Amazingly, it's almost 10:00 am and I'm still the only one in the house that is awake lol.  

No idea what I'm going to do today, what I needed to get done is .... done.

G'day.  

 So, finally, this coming week, they are going to install everything. It was detailed as one trackhoe with a large bucket on it digging a wide enough trench to put the sewer lines, water lines and electrical all in the same trench.  I've never really heard of or seen any contractors doing this before so I was a little iffy about that.  Water and electricity don't mix and in all the years I went to job sites delivering pipe, they always put sewer lines in a separate trench away from the water.  

But, who am I to say anything? It will definitely be easy enough to find the utilities if there's ever any problem, I'm sure it saves on labor costs only having to dig one trench, so there it is.

I stopped by the property on the way home this morning from the Oklahoma run and determined that they probably should move the telephone pole to a different location and go straight back with however many poles they think it needs.  Probably 3 of them doing it that way, otherwise it will have to be 4.  I doubt there is any savings tho going the 3 route since the original pole would have to be moved.  Okay, I said I have determined they probably should move the pole to a different location, I actually am not decided and I'm going to have to go out there and stand there for a while and just look at it and think about future projects that I may entail for the front portion and whether those poles would be in the way of that. 

The power company requires a 30 foot easement for the poles.  Now, I guess I could go out and buy my own poles, install them and then have them wire them up.  I don't think they could require an easement with that setup.  However, I'm not necessarily flush with money now that installation costs have gone way up and I suspect I can get a payment plan from the power company instead of having to dish out a bnch of cash all at once.  

I really have no idea how the power company will treat this. Will it be pay up front for all of it? A payment plan? Or do they install them for free and expect the return in power usage payments will eventually pay for it? A person "in the know" suggested the latter is true.  I don't know, but I will definitely be asking questions.  

One thing is for certain: I won't be able to meet with him on Monday.  I will be on my way to Brownsville.  So, I'm going out there tomorrow morning - when it's much cooler outside - and mark the potential routes for poles and I will take pics so I can discuss with him over the phone while he's out there. Unless he requires me to be out there, then it will have to be canceled and moved to another date.  

I think  I can say thankfully, I have the rest of today off which is more than half the day and all of tomorrow off.  I don't know how that happens when a driver quits and the work he was doing is now available.  But, I think we had too many drivers to begin with.  Well, obviously we do or they would have had me working.  Oh wait. Forgot, I looked at my 70 hour clock this morning, I might have had enough left to do an Oklahoma, but definitely not enough to do a Brownsville run.  

Any new drivers they bring in to our division are not local drivers. They have to either recruit them as OTR drivers or the driver has to move to our area.  I can say that with authority because other local tanker operations going into the same loading plant cannot find local drivers either.  They are all hired. One company hasn't been able to find a local driver for over 2 years.  My days of OTR are, hopefully anyway, over as far as having to be out on the road for weeks at a time.  

Another driver who is quitting said I should apply with a local oil/saltwater hauling company.  They're 2 cities over from me and have openings for local work, home every day.  However, I suspect it's night work and I'm definitely not good with that.  

Well, I don't want to go on too long with this, I need a haircut and go grocery shopping.

G'day

 It just seems  repetitious to keep writing the same things over and over, so I haven't been posting. 

However.

Things ramping up at work. People are quitting - make that drivers - are quitting over the pay reduction otherwise known as the near-elimination of detention pay.  One left today and 2 more are leaving soon with 4 more saying they are looking for a new job.

There aren't that many drivers in our division and we are all very well experienced, seasoned drivers that can handle the heat, whatever may come at us.  The loss of these people will be very difficult to replace.  

I have my own plan which includes various things but will likely end in my quitting as well. I have given it some serious thought and I just can't sit around with people taking away our money because they say so and no other reason given.  Trust me, drivers have been asking why and there is nothing being given back.  I personally am not going to take a demotion in pay without being told why I am going to get less pay for doing the same thing I have been doing for almost 5 year nows. 

Yeah, that's not going to fly with me.  As much as I hate having to find a new job, my next day off I'm going to start looking.  In fact, I have a good lead and it's 90k a year as well, home every night.  

The other development is the electrician finally called and said I need to get the power company to run poles and lines over to the site.  I thought we were going underground? That's what Randy (contractor) said?  

Uhh, no, this is too far from the street, it will cost a fortune to run line underground.  You can get Swepco (the local power company) to install power poles and run overhead lines for much cheapr.

Are you serious? I thought. After all this time, this dude is just now telling me this? WTH.  Do you remember, if you read this blog at all, how long it took the power company to come out and do the first power pole?  2 months? Longer?  That really irked me.  This guy could have told me this stuff a long, long time ago, it would have already been done.  

So it's going to be months before I can even get a soft opening going.  

Yeah, not a happy camper. It's so hot out right now I do wonder about anyone coming anyways.  I mean, it's ridiculously hot out, 105 with a real feel of 112?  

I'll get over it.  Work is more pressing at this point and what to do about it.  I won't quit until I have exhausted all other channels first, which includes talking to the genius that came up with this plan and the same genius who decided that billing the customer for detention pay was a bad idea (the customer had been getting billed for it for decades, literally).  This customer has 13 trailers to work with but can't get 2 of them back up to the border in time for drivers to fetch them and leave.  

Hence, I was the only driver that went down yesterday because there was only 1 of those trailers in our yard yesterday morning.  

I have no idea what's going to happen, I'm just playing this by ear.

I have a run to Oklahoma tomorrow.  The man that left today will create a gap and if others leave they will also create gaps and I will be very busy, I guess.  The company gave me 9 hours of detention pay after being down there 29 hours, I'm still waiting on that verdict, for I am not sitting down there for free. 9 hours is NOT paying me for sitting there over a day's span of time.  It is likely that if this situation doesn't stop and they force us to do this, I will find another job, get sent down to Brownsville, there will be no empties and I will drive back up to Longview bobtail - tractor only, no trailer - and they can go jump off as many cliffs as they like.  

There is no good reason for any of this except corporate greed.  You can't take away pay from the people that make it happen and expect no consequences. It's not like the market is filled with drivers looking for work right now.....

Oh. Well the electrician is going to install everything, I just have to get the power to the pads.  I have heard nothing from the contractor who the electrician is working for, I have tried to contact him several times.  The permit is likely not approved yet, but even if it is, he is very busy. I'm kind of a side job, tho I'm not getting side job prices.  

So, the whole thing gets pricier. Spending lots of money and getting nothing back out of it, yet.  Getting a loan right now is also going to be more difficult. Recession looming, banks cutting back and "notice of adverse action" was put forth by Credit Karma - they sent a notice to everyone that you will likely get some of those now, but it won't affect your credit score. 

In other words, lenders are getting fearful of borrowers not being able to repay because of economic conditions.  I'd say rightfully so.  I am not regretting not taking out a loan before now and I am still not going to try to take one out - I have no idea how much I need and I don't want more than I need.  Or less.  If loans become impossible, I'll just have to find some way to get the funds and get it done.  

I haven't heard back from the auto shop about the part for the AC - and I don't care now.  Next chance I get, the vehicle is going into a different shop.  I am so sick of driving around in this heat in a hot vehicle.  Especially considering I have the money to fix that damn thing.  Just need someone to FIX it.  GAG. 

Happy for an Oklahoma run, work all day tomorrow but have most of Saturday off.  

With that? It's bed time. 

Well, after looking at my credit accounts, I can safely say I need to stop spending money on "stuff".  And I will be starting  - actually about a week ago.  

Regardless.  I'm not going to go into too many specifics since this is on the open internet, but another driver came to me this morning while I was sitting in my truck, as I'm doing now, waiting on an empty trailer.  He gets the first one that comes in, I get the second - which isn't slated to be here until mid to late afternoon (and if it gets too late, they are SOL for me getting back there before tomorrow morning).  

He uhh - wants to hand me something.  I was a bit shocked considering what "it" was.  Not really, thanks. 

Then, after he had just started asking me, the police show up.  A lot of police show up. They are looking at me, sitting in my truck. Uhh, dude, what did you do?  Well I didn't kill anyone, he says.  Well that's good! geeze, didn't expect that kind of response.  "They're here for me".  

Police come to my truck, look at me and say, are you __________________ insert name here?  No, that's him.  I wasn't trying to out him, but since he was standing right there and he wasn't trying to run or hide, it seemed the thing to do at the time and he knew they were coming for him.  

My curiosity is more than piqued at this point, I'm involved in this to some degree now, what is going on? One of the police takes me aside and tells me that he had called the suicide hotline.  Oh dang! Yup, when people say they are ready to kill themselves, they call us to come intervene.  Yeah, sounds about right to me.  At least try to talk to the person and see if they can get him/her into some counseling, take him in for evaluation.  I'm not going to go into details of his history since that would give all of this away.  

And I'm not really going to say much more about it here.  Just the whole thing took me by surprise. Cops asking me if I knew anything about this? No, I talked to him earlier he didn't say anything about wanting to do anything like that!  Driver contacted me later - he told the police he was alright, tho they grilled him for quite a while - but at the end of it, the police said they can't force him to go get an evaluation.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you go so far as to call a suicide hot line and tell them you are ready to kill yourself, you are 1: in serious trouble and need immediate help and 2; you need counseling, or even a psychologist to examine you and help you deal with whatever it is that's eating you. You are obviously crying out for help.  You look at people and you can't tell that's going on inside of them.  I talked to him earlier he seemed perfectly normal.  He was in the truck stop waiting for his number to be called to take a shower. 

Okay, IMHO, you really need Jesus.  People ignore God until they - need God.  They don't think they need God and shun Him and even attempt to mock Him, but in the end, even on people's death beds (I've seen it personally) - many people who said no thanks to the Lord change their tune at some point in their lives.  Money, fame, power, earthly happiness - none of that takes the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father God and the Holy Spirit.  It just doesn't, regardless of what anyone thinks.  But, when you say that kind of thing to people who think that way, the say stop shoving religion down our throats. Well sir, if you think that little bit of a statement is shoving religion down your throat, I can see why you are distressed.

Anyway, I hope the man finds help, I encouraged him to see a counselor at the very least and that's about all I can do.  

On another note, another person I know is considering becoming a surrogate mother for a couple that can't have babies.  She already has kids and doesn't want anymore, but says she is fine with carrying the baby until birth, it's the responsibility afterwards that she doesn't want to deal with.  I can understand that, kids are a handful and they take up a lot of time, energy and money.  The young ones need constant supervision and can't really do much of anything for themselves.  They get a little older and they can start dealing with things themselves but still need a lot of supervision.  Teen years I suppose they are at the point - you hope anyway - they can deal with most things themselves and don't need endless supervision. The DO need some supervision, just not constant or even near constant.  

I think it very noble of her to offer that to these people. I did suggest that she really thinks about it, maternal instincts can be very strong and maybe the person wants the baby after all.  But, she says she has given it consideration for a long, long time now and this is the first real opportunity for her to do so for someone.  She knows these people so they would stay in contact throughout the child's life.  It isn't a surrogate mother for some random people.  

And then there's little old me.  No word on the SUV, the ATV or the property.  Lol.  I'm calling the shop today to ask again if they have the part yet?  And if not, can they track it or find out what's going on? Cause' I'm spoiled and I really don't like driving hot vehicles in summer temperatures.  Feels like you're in a sweat box with the high temps and high humidity.  

Since the ATV shop never called back, I'll assume they had to order a new master cylinder. I'm not calling them today, I've had enough excitement for one day and I'm facing driving late into the night.  I will text the contractor again to see where we're at with the septic permit.  It's a bit after noon and I think I'll take a nap and try to prepare myself for the drive that's coming regardless of when it gets here - unless it's night time and then I'll just leave out tomorrow morning.  

Yes, I have been watching the latest mass shooting. Gruesome, horrifying and heart-breaking.  I guessed yesterday that someone knew about this man being unstable and afterwards? yup, the man was known to be unstable and no-one did anything about it.  That is where the breakdown is, IMO.  If someone has guns or if someone is talking about killing people or whatever it is that indicates this person is capable of carrying out such a gruesome thing, someone should probably say something.  Just like the dude today.  Should he be carrying guns in his state of mind? IMO, absolutely NOT. That doesn't mean he would go off on a killing spree, but no one wants him to shoot himself, either.  If you aren't going to say something to authorities, convince or at least try to convince the person to seek help. Offer the person help to find help. DO SOMETHING as a caring human being.  Gun control laws have no or very little effect on people intent on doing what the man did yesterday at that 4th of July parade near Chicago.  

That's my little rant, I'm not going to spend any more time on that subject.  I am going to get offa here and take nap.

G'day

Happy Independence Day! 

While half the country is not celebrating it and scorning America for it's latest affliction that has been imposed on the people, Constitutional Rights being stripped away (so they say), ie: abortion, the rest of us will remember the sacrifices and hardship endured that we could finally come to the day where we were no longer under the King's control, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we became a -free society.  

We officially declared our Independence. I have no idea what abortion "rights" has to do with that.  The abortion debate rages with more fervency than I've seen in quite a long time. The tables have been turned, but not really.  Sort of.  People are complaining about living in a state where they can't abort their "fetuses" and that they don't have the wherewithal to drive to another state to get one.

And now, telling "all men" they won't have sex with them until the men "fix it".  So, there goes the need for abortions, just get women to stop having sex with men! These people fixed this dilemma without realizing it!  

I do give praise, glory and honor unto the Lord of Hosts for  at least a step in the right direction towards changing this nation back to some semblance of what it was, abortion-wise, before Roe.  MOST states made it illegal.  Or with severe restrictions.  Life is a gift, not a nuisance to be discarded of.  

Anyway, I'll be driving all day long so there is that. 

In fact, it's a later load time at 10:30 am so when I say I'll be driving all day, it's literally going to be driving pretty much all day.  No, I'm not feeling sorry for myself, lol, if anything, I'm motivated right now to get some work done to make up for the 12 day loss being sick and try to get my money back up to where it was and then some.

The costs of this project are escalating and I don't even know if I'll have enough to finish the basic construction setup, much more everything else that has to be done after that.  

Not to mention I have a large AC bill coming up soon - whenever they get that part in - and the ATV, who knows how much that will cost. 

Yup, I'm going to start tightening up on spending. Like, big time.  If she could keep me working like this and cut back on going out to eat and things that aren't necessary such as that, I can get my finances back up so that when this construction part is over, at least I'll still have some money in the bank.

Foregone conclusion I'll have to take out some size of a personal loan, a bridge I won't be crossing until we get much closer to some semblance of opening day.  Speaking of bridges....and something to cut down the weeds/growth....as I said, I still have a lot to go here and I'm really thinking about what I need to do for cutting the weeds back.  I dunno yet, but soon.  Before everything on those trails grows up to the point I'll have to pay a bushhog to come out yet again.  Might as well own the machinery and do it myself instead of paying exorbitant fees to someone else. 

My mind is swirling around how to pay for everything and not go into a massive amount of debt. There are just things I have to have for this park.  Weed mitigation being one of them, other things as well.  A sign, wifi, a small building, nothing fancy or huge to start with.  I can get one with a small down payment and monthly payments and that's probably the route I will go and hope I start bringing in money pretty quickly to cover expenses.  I need an accountant to help set up the tax stuff, I'll need to pay the website designer to finish the job - etc etc etc.  

Anyway, I'm leaving early for work. Take  a drive by the property.  Why? To look and keep the dream alive.

G'day

 In the world of trucking, it's the drivers that are always give, give, give and it's the companies that are always take take take.  

But in my world, getting older, I am not really taking a lot of that is a given, I want the company to be as flexible as they require me to be in working any days regardless of weekday, weekend, weather conditions, holidays, this that and the other thing.

To preface this little story, the trailer I was pulling up from Brownsville the other day had bad landing gear on it. I tried taking it to a TA truckstop and I tried fixing it myself. I found it to be junk landing gear that needed to be replaced. Well, the dispatcher was having a small cow, not a big one, but a small version of one in stating that "I need you for the holiday weekend starting Thursday".  During this ordeal, she stated that fully 3 times and I said yes, I"m available, no worries, I just need to be able to get out from under this trailer, I'll try to make that happen when I get back to the yard.

So, yesterday, she sent me a Oklahoma run. No biggies, I just had a Brownsville run, I can deal with it.  While doing that run yesterday, it was brought to my attention about some folks coming over on Sunday and hoping I would be there.  I've been off for so long being sick, I really can't just ask for time off, I need to take whatever they are going to give me.

But, I went ahead and asked to be given a second Oklahoma run in a row for tomorrow (Saturday) so I could be back in time on Sunday to be available for a - personal reason - no need to tell my company my personal plans.  We are doing a pool party is the gist of it.  The dispatcher came back and said, well I have you being dispatched on Sunday.  

Huh? I thought you said you needed me all weekend long? (this is a very short version of the story, I just don't want to go into all of the details, too much).  She was getting way over-dramatic about this, like, heading into full blown meltdown territory and I simply wasn't going to do that with her.  I succumbed to the fact that she wasn't going to give me what I wanted and I didn't complain about it. But, what had happened to needing me the entire weekend? The drivers that said they wanted off for the 4th changed their minds and decided they needed to work.

My dispatcher hadn't told me about that little detail, hence my confusion.  She started going off which is when I ended the conversation.  "You aren't hearing what I'm saying and so I'm ending this discussion. Not worth arguing over have a good day".  She didn't reply to that so I just blew the whole thing off. As I said, drivers are expected to give up their entire lives, sacrifices at the gods of the transportation industry who demand you give them every inch but are pretty uncompromising when you want or need something.

Note I did say want something. Is there something wrong with wanting to do something that might have come up at the last minute?  They certainly have no qualms contacting me on a day off and saying, oh by the way, we need you to go to such and such a place and also btw, can you come to the yard now and leave?  Anymore? If I'm in the middle of doing something? No.  I'm busy, sorry, you'll have to find someone else.  Now, if I'm not truly busy, I will likely say ok  Mostly to stay in their good graces. But I'll put my foot down if I'm doing some pre-planned thing with people.  

Anyway, I got to the casino truck stop, decided I wanted to go into the casino and have dinner at Chili's, hadn't played blackjack in quite a while so I went to a table with this rather .... fiesty - dealer, won $110, gave her a tip and left.  Dinner was great, lol, paid for by the casino.  I didn't want to play too much, I end up staying far too long and they have casinos set up so you have no idea the time of day it is.  No clocks and no sunlight or lack there of comes into those places, or very little anyway, by design.  

So, I drove back to the yard, got in my  hot vehicle - they still don't have the part to fix the AC - and drove home. On the way home, she contacts me.  I'm giving you the Oklahoma run for tomorrow per your request. Note that I had completely blown it off and expected to have tomorrow off and work Sunday.  Just flat gave up on it, she wants to do things her way, I have no control over that and my manager is still "out of service".  

Thank you! and I appreciate it!  I offered her I could work Monday - the 4th of July - as well if needed.  Didn't hear anything back on that one, but I am certainly willing to make sacrifices if they budge a little on their end.  

That's it. It isn't even noon yet, I have basically the whole day to lounge around and take it easy.  Doggy was happy to see me, very happy lol.  Kids are gone til next Friday so we're just enjoying some peace and quiet around here.  If I am home the 4th, it will be the first one in quite a while where their friends aren't celebrating it with us. That's a long story and rather personal, so I won't go into it, but we'll just call it an extreme falling out that occurred late last year.  

Y'all have a good day.