Since none of those people read this blog - I don't tell a lot of people about this for a variety of reasons I won't go into here - Taylor saw my light on in my bedroom this morning, early, and asked if I was awake? Yes, I replied texting, I woke up coughing.  Which is exactly what happened and what set off the coughing was the fact that the heat wasn't on in the house and cold air was affecting my lungs what with already having respiratory issues going on with allergies.

A person at the birthday party yesterday pointed at one of the trucks in the driveway and said - that's why, right there. I looked, the truck was covered in yellow pollen.  Oh, yes.  It's that time of year and all of that stuff come from pine trees, he said.  I haven't really had allergies since I moved here, that's a rather disappointing turn of events for allergies can and usually do make me feel like I've got a bad chest cold.  I hope this pollen goes away soon and we don't have to suffer forever, I'm definitely not the only person around that is coughing and sniffling all over the place.  

Anyway, she sent me a pic. It was a pregnancy test and yes, it said "pregnant" right on the screen!  Finally, after all of this time she's been trying (surrogate mom thing going on here) she is pregnant and we can get this next chapter of our lives going.  They - the intended couple to receive this baby pretty much immediately after he/she is born - don't know yet, she's going to surprise one of them at his work today after she gets off of her work duties.  He is a bartender and he is going to be shocked and I do wonder how he is going to look, I want to be there for that, even perhaps get a video of it for memory's sake for them. 

I think they have been trying this for 6 or so months now.  Nothing with a doctor, just some home style kit they bought.

Anyway....for some reason the campground software isn't opening up today.  It's just going on a repeating thing saying "initializing".  Fortunately, the only thing I have going in there right now is to close out the 2 day stay - I didn't do that yesterday because they hadn't left yet.  It appeared the man was packing up to go, but I wasn't sticking around for that, it was the youngest' birthday and we needed to go home. I mostly only stopped there yesterday, after church, to get the trash containers out front.  I figure it's Monday morning and maybe a lot of people are trying to connect with the software?  

No matter, if a new reservation comes in, a notice goes to my gmail inbox. I'll just try again later.

I decided to just get out of bed after laying there for a while.  It's like, well, it's early but who cares, get up and get the day going.  I have plenty to do today but it will probably be cut short to go over to the guy's workplace (it's totally fine, we are regulars at Chili's and we also know the GM pretty well, she lives 5 houses down the street and around the corner).  So I'm doing my normal thing sitting here drinking coffee, thinking about the day, deciding what to do first. Which is, take a fresh set of clothing with me because it is highly likely I'm going to get very dirty crawling around in the wet soil - not quite muddy but definitely moist - attempting to connect the pipe and get it into the shed and get this thing going.  I want to get it into the shed - both the laundry drain and the water inlet - today before more rain comes and stops me from making any progress.  

There is a chance of rain going on this week that isn't particularly high, but it's rainy season and the last rain filled both of those trenches up full with rainwater.  I don't need any more of that with those pipes, let's get this thing rolling.  I have all the parts - I think anyway - to get that stuff done and also to plumb the entire inside of the shed - at least for the washer/dryer setup.  Not so much for the bathroom assembly of which I won't even start on until I get the laundromat up and running first.  One thing at a time.  

I now have a Republic Services account online - dumpster/trash company.  They haven't scheduled a dumpster drop off date yet.  That's okay, I have no idea where I want to put the ugly thing.  It has to be at the park, people won't want to walk too far to dump their trash.  So, it's inevitable that having the ugly thing sitting right there? I'm going to have to build a privacy fence/gate around it to mask it.  

Yeah, that isn't happening in the next several weeks.  This is a matter of necessity here, not one of desire.  Too much trash, that's it.  

I found a riding mower and I need to go pick it up.  It's a 40 minute drive.  I've been looking for a while, this is the best thing that has come along.  It's amazing the junk people try to sell at ridiculous prices.  "it smokes badly" listing the price at $500.  It's worthless.  A new engine will cost at least that much.  Another "it needs a new belt, blades, battery and has a flat tire", listing it at $350.  Worthless, look how much money you'll spend getting it going again!  Again and again, people have these old, non-running mowers that need all kinds of work.

I don't even want one of those for free. I don't need another project on my hands. I did offer to take an antique looking trailer off a person's hands for free. They weren't selling it for much, it has a lot of potential.  It's very old but the exterior is in great shape.  I was thinking a glamping setup - but it would cost thousands of dollars to reinvent the interior of the thing, the pics show it's gutted as it stands.  I could park the thing well in the back out of sight until I am ready to do something with it.  

They didn't even respond to my offer lol.  I tried.  Not a priority, but when I see such things it's obvious they just want to get rid of it.  

Oops, today marks the day another tenant needs to pay up. I give them time to contact me - like a day or so.  The only ones so far that have done that is the older couple - who forgot to pay for several days. I thought they were waiting on their SS checks, turns out they had the money they simply forgot about it lol.   The 3 oil field workers are paid for by an outside company and the lady that runs that company is quite efficient and very friendly.  

Money out- money out - money out- this will stop soon enough and money will be coming in and an actual budget can be made.  I think Republic is the last monthly, recurring bill I have left to bombard my business account with. The laundry payments started a few days ago - that is going out of my personal account and will have that switched over. It's a business expense and will affect the monthly income statement for tax purposes.  

Well, my first cuppa is gone and I want to get out of here and get this day started and get some stuff done.  

G'day

 Today the 5 year old turns 6. 

They still want to go to church anyway - it's a lot of fun for them, actually.  Playing with new friends, playing in the giant tube thing, getting treats and learning about the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.  So, even tho I have a cough - I don't think it's a cold, there are serious allergies in this region right now, whatever is in the air has a lot of people sniffling and coughing.  

It got bad enough last night that I went and took a Prednisone - steroids that help reduce coughing.  That along with 1 200 milligram Tylenol and I felt much better. Still a bit of clearing my throat but if it can last through church, I'll be happy to take the kids. 

After church will be a quick visit to the property to see if the 2 night stay people are gone - by then they should be. I never actually met them, they were never there the entire time I have been over there.  I don't care, really, I sent them an email that was never replied to stating that I was charging them the rest of the funds they owed - and yes I did.  That card stays enqueue until I clear the account.  If I don't hear back from them, you're darn tooting they are going to get charged for it, the first email I send them is a confirmation letter and it details what was paid and how much is left outstanding.

It's a very simple process for me, they have it set up like that automatically.  It took a minute to find where to charge them at...I had to watch another of the videos to find the right screen, I hadn't actually had to do that before. Usually, once they arrive, you check them in on the software and it comes up with a screen to charge them the rest of the money.  At the time I had done that, I hadn't seen them and wanted to get their permission. However, permission is implied with the verbiage on the letters. 

I have nothing else coming in for 3 days, which is when lot 11 has a 7 day couple coming in and the other lots have extended visits as well.  I can only hope I might get some overnighters between now and then? It's very possible, lots of people are traveling and some of them just fly by the night and play it by ear.  Meaning ,they find a place to stay as they go versus others that preplan their entire trips to wherever they are going.  

As for that, my park is not a destination park.  Meaning, people go to the park for the park itself and what it has to offer, mine is not one of those.  Many of the longer short term people are staying 5, 6, 7 days because of something going on in the immediate region - such as the square dancing thing coming up.  I have all 3 lots rented for those days.  

Basically, to be a destination park it must have something on it that is unusual that you can't find anywhere else or is next to a large body of water or perhaps hundreds of acres with hiking and atv'ing trails.  I've got 15 acres of hiking trails, yes, you can do that in 20 minutes and then it's over.  I would love to at least have a pond dug out up front, fill it with fish and have something for people to do besides the walking trailis. And obviously my ever-stated desire to get a swimming pool in there.  

I did get some stuff done yesterday, installing some of the boxes for outlets, attempting to drill the hole for the water inlet - that has changed and tho I'm not happy about the change, I have little choice.  I will have to drill holes in the side of the shed itself to allow the water and drainage pipe inside.  Going through the bottom turned out to be near-impossible.  I cut out a hole and then found a lot more wood I would have to go through. It would be very difficult to cut that out - I would have to somehow get under the shed and then I would have to do a lot of hole saw cutting, potentially weakening the structure.  

I mean, shrugs shoulders. Do what I have to do. The shed was intended for amenities and I am making it for amenities regardless of what I have to do.  I will have to install a 1x4 board on each section where the pipe is coming in so that the pipe isn't just hanging on the thing metal sheet of the wall of the shed. 

Of course, I don't have a 1X4 and I will need 2 more 90's now.  This is what I am talking about when I discuss unforeseen hindrances that try to stop progress. It slows progress down, undoubtedly, but it isn't going to stop me.  Again, I will do whatever I have to - I am pretty well entrenched in this project money-wise now, it's going to happen, Lord-willing.  

Not feeling so great isn't going to help, but that isn't going to stop me either. I'm hoping this passes quickly since it appears it's not viral in nature.  

Hopes and dreams aside, it's Sunday and we are going to church. We being the boys and I.  I pass no judgment on anyone else here not going to church.  Not at all, actually.  I'm glad the boys like to go, I asked them a little while ago if they still wanted to go today? YES!! both of them rang out in choreographed perfection.  Incorrect word - choreograph - I can't think of the correct word atm, sorry lol.  Spoken in perfect unison!  

The birthday party is at 3.  I have no intentions of doing much of anything beyond cooking a ham today.  And that is a rather easy thing to do.  Put it in a pan on a rack, put an inch and a half of water in the pan, cover it up tightly and cook it.  I don't think I'll do a glaze today, it will be just the nice, juicy ham with all of it's wonderful taste all by itself. 

Keto: I plateaued for a bit but this morning I was down to 212.  That's 20 pounds lost in 2 months or less.  That's not bad.  There is nothing to complain about that at all.  12 more pounds and will hit the 200 mark. I have no intention of cheating today, tomorrow, next week - etc.  It's not easy, but when you see results, it makes it worth the sacrifice of giving up all of those foods - that make you fat.  

I don't know if it will continue on tomorrow with more weight loss, it usually goes in spurts of 5 or 6 pounds dumped and then it fluctuates up and down until the next rather large weight loss is achieved.  It's just the way it works, at least for me. 

I'm dreaming of the day I can slip back into my 34's - jeans that is. They are all in there, begging for me to get skinny enough to dress up in them again.  I'm highly motivated to get out of these 35's. I'm down 3 notches on the belt buckle holes.  I'm not at the 34 range yet, but get rid of another 12 pounds and I bet I'll be really close if not at the point where I can switch.

As it stand, these jeans are loose - very loose - I haven't actually tried 34's on, I just think it prudent to wait a bit longer to ensure I'm not setting myself up for disappointment in trying them on and then finding out I might still be a long ways off. 

Well, it's time to go to church!

G'day.  

 Nothing of great report.

The dumpster is ordered - no indication when it will be delivered but they feel it necessary to charge over $200 to deliver it.  That's a bit ridiculous, but what choice do I have? At this point? None.  It's a dumpster or it's nothing.  The only other dumpster service available is a roll-off service - those are not household waste trash containers, those are more on the construction materials side of things.  

With that, yesterday, another reservation came in for - yesterday and today.  So, not feeling particularly great from having sleepless nights, I decided to go over to the property rather late-ish - both parties said they were coming in late.  Well, the overnighters were there, the people that had just made the reservation an hour earlier? No sign of them. 

The guy in the overnight stay said everything is fine - except - let me show you this. He proceeds to exit his trailer, walk around back and point at the ground underneath the trailer. 

There was a pile of toilet paper mixed with pee and poop on the ground from the previous people. It was absolutely disgusting and unfathomable how anyone could leave a site in that condition.  I have half a mind to charge those people $25 for the cleanup.  I can't - I am tempted to put that in my rules.  It was just absolutely ridiculous.  There is a shovel at the shed - it's outside and plainly visible. Any accidents like that - any decent person should clean up immediately and chuck it in the trash can.  

Well, I apologized profusely, somewhat embarrassed as well considering I had checked the lots earlier that day and did not see that stuff laying there....it kind of gets me thinking that someone pulled through the park, pulled onto an empty lot, dumped their waste and left.  I just have a hard time imagining that the people who were there would do such a thing? They are the folks that wanted to move from lot 2 - a pull through - to lot 14 - the back-in by the dog park.  I am going to flat ask them tho.  Maybe not totally confrontational, but I will ask them if they know anything about the mess that was left over there?  

I shoveled up all of that mess plus gravel and dirt underneath it and put the whole mess into one of the trash containers and then brought some fresh gravel over and dumped on top, smoothing it out, apologized to the people once again and left the park.  If those other people show up? Well, I hope it wasn't too late. People are sleeping fairly early to get up early in the morning for work. Some of those people are up at 2, 3 and 4 am.  I've been there, done that, you have to try and go to sleep at 8 or even later.  

It just makes the case yet again for a video surveillance system and I absolutely intend on having one inside of the shed with a sign out front that indicates that yes, this place is being watched. I'd like to have one aimed down both driveways as well.  Yup, I might as well order the system, it's a done--deal in my mind.  I can't be over there 24-7 and I don't want to have to be.  If I could afford to have a camp host, I would. The older couple are already acting in such a role and I don't wonder if I shouldn't at least give them $100 off per month for their assistance? Can't really afford to, but then again, can I afford not to? It's a question I'll be mulling over in my mind today.  

Keto - I went down to 214 and then back up all over the place as high as 219.  I figured this would happen but now, it's coming steadily back down and sitting right at 215.0 this morning.  My goal is 200 pounds or less before doing any kind of cheat day.  Or not.  Cheating really sets me back - like weeks really.  I'm not sure it's worth it, excepting the cravings for rice, beans, potatoes and pasta come creeping in eventually and I find I must just have an eating spree to get it out of my system. But, then I regret the aftermath...

I finally got some sleep.  It started in the middle of the night - a wave just overcame me and I didn't wake up until around 7:30 - went right back to sleep and finally got up just before 10:00 am.  I don't wonder if I should have just stayed in bed longer - everyone else is.  But it just seems weird to be in bed at that late an hour of day. Yet, I needed that sleep, very much needed that sleep.  

I've got a tent camper coming in sometime today and those people that reserved the lot for 2 days? Go see if they're over there, take a bag of trash out of there and hope it lasts today and tomorrow. If it doesn't, people will just dump the bags of trash on the ground next to the cans.  I don't blame them, I just will have to deal with it.  Our trash cans at home - 1 is empty the other only half full.  I'll use them if I have to. 

I do hope the tent camper contacts me - they will have no idea where to go if they don't.  You likely wouldn't just happen along the tent camp sight.  It's in the trees and in the back of the property.  I mean, if they want to camp in the dirt lot behind the shed, have at it, but that's not my idea of camping and likely not theirs, either.  I think the area I have set aside for tent camping is pretty nice, actually. It's in a stand of pine trees and there is grass growing there. Not grass that I ever planted, it's just naturally growing there, apparently.  A vehicle can drive to within about 75 feet of the camp site.  It's the only tent campsite I can have at the moment, the others are a project for the future.  

There is basically no way to have people camping in the forest in the rear of the property without giving them the ability to drive their camping equipment in there.  I mean, they could, I guess, use a wagon to haul stuff back there, but does anyone really want to?  I don't really think so.  My hundreds of tent camping outings in earlier days have me parking right next to where I was pitching a tent.  Those were not official camping sites, tho, it was just government land where anyone can tent wherever they please for the most part.  

I will have to go out there during a heavy downpour and find out where the "river" of water is coming from that is washing away the gravel and divert it somehow before I can fix that situation.  That is a distant goal for now.  It will cost money that I don't have to spend right now.  So, it's a someday goal that isn't really of all that great importance.  

Other than that? I'm done here.  Get out there and get some stuff done. Hope the pipe is not covered in water...

G'day

 Definitely out of it. Over to Harbor Freight for a pack of various sized hole-saws and over here, to the property.  There was a lot of rain going through here last night so I was pleasantly surprised to see the driveway in good shape. A couple of spots where water is pooling - but small and on the side.  The new gravel held.  It's not a muddy mess there for everyone to have to drive through.

My last remaining ditches next to the shed? 2 of them are full of water.  Those 2 are where I need to connect to pipe.  I'm not working through deep water and I just don't have it it in me today no matter how much I want to continue on  with this.  There is nothing stopping me from installing electrical outlets, standing water aside.  

If I ever get a bobcat out here again, I will take out more of the dirt on the side of the driveway. I can see now where it's still high and needs more removed.  It's far too much to do by hand.  

The sun has not come out yet, plenty cloudy outside I do hope it goes away so the tent camper coming tomorrow will have at least a semi dry experience.  But,  I cannot control the weather and I have pitched a tent in many places that were wet in the past.  It just depends on how much you have that desire to be outdoors and experience nature. Rest assured, there is plenty of nature back there to experience!  

I am sitting here inside the shed with the lamp on. It generates a lot of heat - it's pretty chilly out right now.  Contemplating the next door neighbor - he isn't talking to me at all and hasn't ever since he found out I was building an RV park here and came to the instant conclusion that he would be experiencing theft over there from my guests. 

That, of course, hasn't happened. There are no poor people staying here currently  The workers are obviously making good money judging by both the trailers they pulled in here and definitely the trucks they are driving. 

Regardless, he remains standoffish and distant.  Not my problem, but it would be nice if I could have a little better relationship with neighbors.  The people renting houses on the other side of my property and across the street? I've waved at them several times and the do not wave back.  I take that back, one lady did, once. I had never seen here there before.

It's Friday and all 3 trash cans are full.  They haven't brought the second, large can that I ordered. If they had, it would likely be full and the smaller cans would be empty.  But we still have the weekend to go through and they generate a lot of trash, especially come Sunday mornings.  It's just forcing me to discontinue this service and get that dumpster over here.  

I need 18 more overnights this month to equal the monthly lot rent I'm charging for monthly.  It's still early in the month.  I will have to get out here tomorrow to make up for today's loss of time/progress - hopefully those trenches are empty of water by then.  

Well enough of this.  Maybe I will, after all, at least install the outlets.  

 I watched none of the Murdaug trial for I had no interest in it, but this morning, seeing the judge giving the man his sentence, I did watch for 30 minutes.  I didn't know this dude was apparently apparently a high-profile lawyer from South Carolina who had defended others being accused of exactly what he faced - and has now lost and is sentenced to life in prison.  Murdaugh continued to declare his innocence. The judge said, perhaps you are, perhaps you become a different person after swallowing 30 of (whatever pills). It was interesting. 

I was up most of the night - the storms were making too much noise and I am just plain out of it. I am a very light sleeper - thunder keeps me awake.  I can't sleep now, I'm wide awake, but I wish I could. If so, I would definitely go back to bed.  I feel like today is going to be a useless waste, but I'm going to force myself to go over to the property and try to get something done anyway.  The storms are over with and the sun is going to be shining through the skies a bit later on today - allegedly anyway.

I do want to see how the driveway looks after I did all of that work to it.  This is the first deluge that has occurred since using the Bobcat to shovel up a lot of dirt and move it elsewhere, digging out a semi-deep angled notch in the side of the driveway for water to travel along.  I had the new gravel dumped to the side of that in hopes that the water will not affect it and more-so, that it actually drained nicely and I don't have a standing water issue.

If there is a standing water issue, it will be there for days, no worries on when I get over there today.  I spent a lot of time trying to alleviate that problem is all I can say about that.  

I have an overnighter coming in today - they said they wouldn't be there til late.  So far, I've heard no complaints from people about late shows coming in after dark.  There is a tent camper coming tomorrow, I'll hope the sunshine today will help dry things out a bit.  I asked the late shows today to keep it as quiet as possible - they are on their way from point A to point B and chose my place as a stopover - likely for the price.  It's cheap and people are looking for cheap.

I have several theories about the "cheap" factor -why these people are looking for cheap places to stay even tho many of them are driving 200k worth of pickup and 5th wheel being pulled behind them. One is simply that they spent a lot of their retirement on the setup and have to watch every penny. But, a lot of them sell their homes and that really isn't a part of the overall picture for them.

Another is just the way they were brought up.  Older generations definitely are looking to save a penny/dime/quarter/dollar wherever they can.  I've been doing the same thing lately.  I don't know but whatever the case, I have thought about putting up a billboard some 50 miles down the Interstate in either direction and see if I could get some stragglers that  are traveling and don't really have a place to stop.  I don't know how effective bill boards are for such purposes, but I've seen them for RV parks throughout the years.  It's one of those things where you place the ad on the board well out, showing the exact miles it is to the park and what the park offers and how much it costs.  Try to do that without getting too wordy - people are driving, even if they look, you just can't have too much on it. 

I've only considered it tho.  I would have to drive the Interstate a long ways in either direction to see where an optimal place would be to put an ad up.  I could especially target those small campers for the Hipcamp area. That area isn't solely for people using the Hipcamp app, it's just what I am calling it for it fits the description of what I want to do with it perfectly. 

Somehow, I need to draw in more of the travelers - the shed project is part of that picture but more advertising is likely a part of it as well.  Or not.  Kind of wishy washy, I've spent money on ads and some of it - especially Facebook - brought in customers.  There are probably keywords for my website that I am missing that would help for people looking for a place to stop in advance. 

________

Well, I figured but now confirmed that Taylor was wide awake for the storm event last night too.  She can't sleep through such things either and she will just stand there looking at the weather app and watch the news people going over maps of the region showing what is hitting where. If we are talking potential tornadic activity, they will do a live broadcast on it until the threat passes.  

I didn't hear anything from the older couple, I assume/hope everything is ok over there.  Especially that new shed.  Hopefully mounting it to the plywood was enough to keep it from flying around again.  I think I'd be freaking out if I were staying in an RV and there was news of tornadoes in the area.....

I really wish I had the area up front cleared out and graveled. I could put trucks in there overnight for a small fee.  There are trucks driving on that road all the time, it's nothing new and there are small yards where drivers are parking their rigs.  The area is far enough away from the RV park portion that the noise wouldn't bother anyone.  I continue to look for ways to make money off of this thing. I have other ideas....

I'm going to be taking a couple grand out of the business account here soon - later this month probably - to keep the personal account full enough that I don't have to start looking for work yet.  I haven't taken anything but $100 out for personal use and of that, I have only spent $20.  I figure after I collect the rents this month, I will have enough cash in that account to be able to justify/warrant taking out that much money.  I can't go back to trucking yet, I've got too much to do.  And anyway, that was the point of starting a business - earn money.  Just a bit hesitant atm to take anything out until I ensure that I have all my expenses covered.  Expenses are covered, even the new payment for the washer/dryer set, but you know, how much is left over?  I'm not taking more than what the monthly revenue will allow. 

As for now? I am getting offa here, going over there and taking a look.  Perhaps get myself motivated to get something done.

G'day. 

 So I got over to the property today and before I got there, I was notified by the old couple that the shed had been blown over and that they had picked it back up. Thank you.

Getting over there? It was damaged.  Nothing I can't fix but a bit disappointing.  I worked out some of the kinks in it, put the piece of plywood on the ground where I intended to have the water heater, leveled it and then moved the shed onto the wood. I then screwed the shed down to the wood.

I might need to weigh the floor down with something, that plywood is fairly heavy but there are tornadic conditions to hit us tonight.  

I dunno, but I went into the shed, sat down on a chair I finally remembered to bring with me - brought a box fan too - sat down and started figuring out plumbing and wiring.  Getting up frequently to measure things out.  After a lot of time thinking, writing, measuring and going over my notes, I headed to Lowe's. 

My feet are aching from standing on that concrete floor in that place. I can't imagine working there, you'd have to have some pretty comfy shoes with inserts to be able to stand all day on that hard floor surface.

Yes, I was there over 3 hours.Plumbing, then a different part of plumbing, over to water heaters, appliances, back to plumbing, over to roofing, electrical and plumbing again.  Much of it was plumbing, trying to figure out exactly what I needed and = just trying to find the fittings! It takes forever. There are a LOT of fittings in that store and on 2 particular aisles, there are hundreds and hundreds of them.  People go through them and put stuff back where it doesn't belong, it's just very tedious. 

Plus, trying to find stuff I had no idea where to find it.  An employee there took up my plight to an extent and started telling me where he thinks certain things would be at.  The vent stack to go on the roof was stumping me. I was in several different places all over the store looking for what I needed and could find it. I found other types of vent stacks, but not the one I needed.

This guy started looking all over the place for me.  He eventually came back with the right one. I was almost shocked. He spent a lot of time looking for it, but sure enough, he had the thing I needed. It just went on forever.  I don't need to be making 20 trips to Lowe's.  If it's 3 hours, it's 3 hours.  A pro could probably be in and out of there in 30 minutes - I'm not a pro! lol 

Everything I got today doesn't actually finish the shed.  It should be enough to run conduit from the ground to the box, conduit from the box to the water heater shed, conduit to inside the shed.  It is all kinds of fittings and different sizes of pipe for the water heater both coming into and going out of it and to the washer hookup. It is also the drain line, the T, the P trap and the pipe for the drain line plus the drain vent.  It is all the electrical connections I will need for the AC, dryer, water heater, general 110 outlets, light switch, light and the range/oven - which I don't have and that will have to be another day.  In fact, that will be last.  I also got more 4 inch SDR35 sewer pipe, 1 inch shc40 pvc, 3/4 CVPC and 1/2 inch CVPC pipe.  A ground rod for the breaker box as well.

I did not get the wire or the clamp for the ground rod - I was done by the time I got to that. I was ready to go home, actually.  I will have to go back to Lowe's for that but I figure by the time i get to that, I will have other things I either forgot or missed or just plain didn't know about that I will need.  

It is inevitable. 

That's my day so far.  I doubt I will go back out there. The trash is turning into a problem out there nad I guess I'm going to just have to bite the bullet and get a dumpster. $160 per month it's just really expensive.  It's emptied once a week, I guess I can't really complain about it, I just don't want to keep adding on expenditures.  But my new residential can is already filled to the top, the smaller one I have is full and there is a 55 gallon can that is empty. But it's only Thursday, the trash man doesn't come until Monday morning.  

To that end, I have contacted the other company - I just need this dealt with.  Trash is not something I want to have to deal with every single day.  I am getting a new quote on a dumpster - if it's higher than before I will simply try to get them to bring it back down.  I guess $40 per week isn't terrible for so much trash.  I'm not really complaining, I just want it dealt with even if it costs me more money.  Almost 3 times as much money, but I have no choice. Republic is the only player in my area that does dumpsters, no one else does them. I've looked.

Well, tomorrow I will be over there attempting to get this stuff done. At least starting on it. It will be preceded by a trip to Harbor Freight - I need a hole saw and I don't want to pay Lowe's prices for on. Basically a one-time use and I will likely never need to use it again.  

Ohhhh myyyy - the thunder finally arrived.  It's been raining on and off all day, but they've been telling us about heavy storms all day - that never materialized. And a level 4 threat of tornadoes.  Tonight, apparently, that threat is going to be real - according to them. It was supposed to be real earlier today, fortunately that never materialized.  

The brain power needed to think through all of that both at the property and at Lowe's has done me in for today.  I am not doing any more work and besides, it's almost 4: 00 pm.  

_+______

This'll light another fire under my feet: the washer/dryer payments start on the 7th.  $214 per month, doesn't sound like much but tack that on to everything else.  I'll need an average of 3 loads per day being washed to make it pay for itself.  That's not a lofty goal.  Actually, it's a fractional amount less than 2-1/2 loads per day at $3 per load including washer and dryer.  That's my initial thought for charging per load, I need to get to a laundromat and see what the real, current pricing is for a regular machine. It's probably around there somewhere.  I won't charge more than the laundromat - but if it's $3.50 per load even better. 

 Thursday. Morning.

Rained half the night, expected but it will be muddy in the area I am trying to work in over there.  The shed is finished excepting getting a piece of plywood for the flooring - I think we have some here at the house.  It took me around 3-1/2 hours to finish that shed yesterday.  I got over there and carefully examined the thing - once again - trying to figure out what I had done wrong in the assembly of it.

I hadn't done anything wrong, it turns out.  I always, carefully, follow instructions on things like this because if you get one little thing wrong, it usually affects the entire setup. What was actually wrong?

There are 3 piece of angle iron that come with the kit.  When you look at the various pics they have to show you how to assemble everything, the angle is facing outwards.  There are multiple pics with it showing these pieces all facing outwards, yes I had my glasses on! lmao

Well, I started thinking, if those were turned nwards, I wonder if the holes would line up? So, I took one off - lots of screws of course holding it in there, turned it around and put a couple of screws in to hold it in place. Walaah. The instructions were wrong..  I ended up turning all 3 around and after that, the assembly worked perfectly and yes, I will take the time to contact the manufacturer and tell them that their instruction booklet is wrong and will lead people far astray. 

That roof will simply not go on there with those 3 pieces assembled the way the instructions show it.  I will be interested to see if the other identical shed will also have the same, faulted instructions in it? One would assume so.

As I stated previously, this whole project seems to be easy enough from the surface.  But complications invariably arise and usually take up way too much time for the imposition provided from whatever that complication may be.  I suspect there will be more.  

Anyway, today I can cut a piece of plywood, get it over there, level off the area, put the plywood down, bring the shed and put it on top of it,  screw it onto the wood and then hopefully, put the water heater in there and get busy with the tasks of putting the rest of this stuff together.  I'm simply going to drill a hole in the side of the shed, get some flexible conduit and run it to the breaker box.  I don't need to worry about the shed moving from wind or something, a 40 gallon heater will hold that thing down quite nicely.

BUT, just in case, I want the flexible stuff.  Actually, I probably should plumb it first.  It will probably need moved around to do that and I don't need to be disconnecting wiring that I just installed.....and yes, I have the wiring, more than I needed for it.  I didn't know how far it would be and I wanted extra, as stated above, for flexibility.  

Even after paying $700 for gravel and other expenditures, my business account is moving up, ,not down.  Yesterday was $1,700 and change worth of deposits.  The next few weeks, there will be more.  I intend on paying myself after I get everyone's rent and get the electric bill paid up - it's $500.  If you think that is high, wait until it shows around $1,700 for one month.  That will be a typical summertime bill if not higher.  Around 3 grand more receipts to be collected and then I'm going to take around 2 grand out of it.  That will keep me floating for a while longer.  Yes, it will be reported, it will show it as a paycheck to myself on quickbooks and a note in the checking account.  I'm not trying to evade the tax man here.  That's a really bad idea....

And I will pay the accountant whatever fee out of the business account as well. Plus, I have quite a bit of money coming in this month beyond the lot rents in terms of people staying for several nights at a time. The campground software only collects the first night's stay, the rest is collected when they show up. I simply go in the system and prompt it to charge the card for the rest of it.  

Which reminds me. HipCamp wants me to post a pic of the tent camping site before they will show it as an option.  They want a pic of each individual site to go with each lot listed.  And this one needs a pic, definitely. It's in the woods and it's a nice area.  Actually a couple of pics.  I put a fire ring there and some firewood for the incoming guest tomorrow. Looks like the rain will be gone by then - but - the severity factor for today has been raised from 1 to 4 - it's a 1-5 scale. Now they are predicting severe storms and tornadoes are "likely".  Wonderful!  We always just love those forecasts!  Gag. 

I'm not in a hurry to go over there today. Not with this weather.  I'm going to go, yes, just not a big hurry. I need to cut that piece of plywood out back before I leave here.  I actually can go over and start installing the electrical boxes if nothing else. I keep saying that - yes - and I keep finding myself bogged down with other stuff.  It's okay, tho. I continue to add outlets.  If I'm going to wire up surveillance cameras, where are they going to get their power from?  An outlet that wouldn't exist, of course, if I hadn't thought about it now.  2 of those indoors and I want an outdoor outlet that I can lock up next to the shed.  That's for my use - only.  That shed is actually going to be loaded up with outlets now that I have thought of everything - or I hope everything anyway.  

2 outlets near the ceiling, an outlet up high were the AC is going to go, an outlet for washing machine, 2 outlets for dryers (future use if needed, an extra one), an oven outlet, a 110 outlet near the oven, an outdoor outlet,  2 switches and wiring to the ceiling for lights, a hidden outlet in case I change my mind about having one in the bathroom. Is that all of it? I feel like I'm forgetting something. There's the outdoor stuff for Hipcampers but I wasn't including that or the hookup for the water heater - that's direct wired from the heater to the box/circuit breaker. 

I guess the day isn't getting any younger, it's that tornado watch with threat level 4 that is sort of making me wonder if I really want to go over there, lol.  I'm in a "hurry" to get this done, but not that much of a hurry.  I don't live in an RV and I can stay in the house if a tornado pops up.  We have had them in the area recently, but none here in town or even right outside of town -where my park is.  One could continue to pray in that direction - please Lord, keep us all safe! Thank you Jesus!

Yes, there will be a "major" trip to Lowe's coming up here, but I want to figure out most everything I need and get rid of these endless trip over there.  It's about 6 or 7 miles each way - just wasting gas.  My vehicle isn't exactly a fuel economical SUV. In fact, it's what these climate change people are targeting in letting out the air in the tires in major cities.  You come out to go to work - your tires are flat.  They allegedly don't damage the tire by puncturing it with something, they "just" let the air out.  These people don't think too much, apparently, about the potential consequences of their actions. Certainly in Texas, where homeowners tend to shoot intruders first and then ask questions later - and mostly get away with it. 

In fact, there's a lot going on in the news now that I watched a bit of it yesterday, that is interesting. Good riddance to mayor Lightfoot!  She is blaming her black skin color for the loss in the primary.  No, ma'am, your incompetence is what go you fired. But these people always have to pull out the race card. They can't possibly admit that they were ineffective leaders.  Democrats in that city primarried her out of the democrat side and of course republicans also got rid of her.  Now there is a democrat who is allegedly a "defund the police" idiot and a Republican running.  

These people apparently haven't quite figured out that defunding the police isn't the answer. Get rid of the police and see a huge uptick in crime.  Get rid of cash bail - same effect. It's these woke people - there aren't really that many of them compared to the rest of the populace - that are given huge platforms by stupid media types to broadcast their delusions to everyone. You are to agree with them without any objections.  The pinnacle of totalitarianism, if they could get rid of the Constitution and gun owners, we would be just another CCP, NK, Cuba, etc.  I feel alot of these people are being controlled by foreign entities - a lot of it being the Chinese Communist Party.  They're buying up our farms, land, businesses, etc.  And we are just letting them do it.  

I am resolved that at some point, this nation is either going to go full Commie or there is going to be a huge civil war and who knows what will happen. In my view, unless God intervenes, it is inevitable.  Biden is again declaring a ban to "assault weapons" "come hell or high water".  I'm afraid you are definitely in for hell if you think you are going to be attempting to take away tens of millions of legally purchased and owned guns from citizens.  The declaration always begs the question: WHO, exactly, is going to come get them?  

I won't go into that again, it just sits there as a roadblock to their intentions. Even if they could get such laws passed or somehow make it an EO, they still have the formidable task of forcing Americans to give up their guns.  

Well, the rain has stopped, actually, even tho the radar shows the entire region covered with rain and severe storms, I'm going over to the property and see if I can get anything done over there. Well, cut that wood first, but you know, try to get something done.

G'day.

 Wasted tired. 

As normal, I woke up in the middle of the night.  And then? I couldn't get back to sleep.  I laid there at least 4 hours wide awake. I know, I should have gotten up and done something, I just didn't want to.  My mind wasn't full of anything, either. 

After that, I had this weird dream where I was put in charge of offerings for a church - I don't know what church, where or even who the people were.  For some reason, I didn't deposit the offerings but I didn't do anything with them either. They just sat in a book somewhere. Then finally, a person spoke up and said something like "when are you going to deposit some money into the account? I haven't seen anything going in there in a long time".  

Then this dude accused me of stealing money from the offerings, called some government agency and "reported me" to them.  Said  I was using the money to take time off from work.  

There is only one time in my life where I was in control of counting offerings and then giving it to the person to deposit it.  It was probably a 6 month gig.  I never stole a dime from that offering plate and trust me, I was completely broke at the time, while I was a volunteer missionary. I went 3 full months without any money at all, not even a single dollar bill during that time.  Somehow, the leader of the group got wind that I was counting the offering and immediately suspected me of stealing from it. He didn't actually say that, but it was glaringly obvious.  

He removed me from that position and put two other people in my place.  

That's what memory that dream brought up.  Dreams can be so strange.  There are things you find yourself doing in some of them that if you wake up from it, you think: I would never do that!  As for the dream, I didn't even have the bank account number to make the deposit and was asking, when someone gives me the account number to deposit it to, I will deposit it! But that didn't explain why I didn't ask for that number before. Yet, I knew in the dream that I didn't intend on taking any of it for myself?  

Anyway, I am so tired right now I don't know if I'm going to be capable of doing anything today.  I am stuck on that shed and it was starting to annoy me yesterday afternoon. There are 2 pieces that go on the top of it for the roof. They attach to either side of the shed and are like a giant v, sloping down, I would assume for rain runoff.  But the holes don't align with holes on the front piece. I'd have to severally angle them in to make them align and you can tell from the pics in the instruction book it isn't supposed to be like that.

I have gone over every single point of the instructions from the beginning to where I'm at now and can't figure it out.  I am not going to waste much more time with it, tho, I will just drill new holes if I have to.  Everything else is lining up exactly where it should be.  Perplexed, it was hot yesterday afternoon when I got to that point and must have wasted half an hour trying to figure it out. I ran out of water and decided to go get some and take a break.

This is the damaged shed, btw, that they replaced for free and  let me keep that one.  I figured I could just put the water heater in that one and nothing else.  It is damaged, most of it is scraped up and unsightly looking.  There are dings in it but nothing to stop me from putting it together.  All the hardware appears to be there as well.  Plus, the metal is thin enough that even if there was damage to any of the panels, I could probably just force it back into shape.

I do not feel bad, at all, about getting the other one for free. First, I left it in the box after seeing the damage and just decided they could have it back.  I paid for new, I want it to look new.  Second, it is damaged and definitely could use a paint job.  But I'm not going to fool with it, just put it together and put it to use. It will be behind the shed anyway.  

I guess I will go over there today before it starts raining and see if I can get the rest of it together. It's holding me up from placing the water heater where I need it, which is holding me up from running wiring.  Ok, I could run the wiring for everything else, but I wanted this done first.  I'd really like to get the other one put together, too, so I can have a place to store my tools.  

I do need to go to the bank and deposit a check with 3 lot rents on it.  And look at my book and see who owes what, when.  Quickbooks is basically doing my accounting for me.  I everything that goes into or out of the business checking accounting automatically gets entered into quickbooks. It's much easier than I thought it would be.  But starting today, since it's the first of March, I'm going to start keeping a paper version of books of everything.  

And yes, it's supposed to rain this afternoon, the forecast has actually stayed the same about that since yesterday. 

Keto.  My size 35 waist pants are falling off my butt now.  When I started this adventure at 232 pounds, naked, my pants were very tight and I was facing either going to 36 or doing something drastic.  I felt the need to do something drastic.  If this continues, I will be back in 34's soon enough.  My belt as well. It was on the last hole before having to get another belt.  

It's now down 3 holes. That's probably a better sign of fat loss than looking at the scale every morning.  It's quite motivating and keeps me focused on making good food choices even when I'm with people - who aren't making good food choices. I'm not judging them, it's just sometimes tempting to eat the pastas, the potatoes, the rice or the cheesecake dessert. But, so far, I haven't given in to it excepting the one, planned cheat day for my birthday 3 weeks ago.

Frankly, that was a huge mistake looking back. I should have just stayed on the diet. It took a week and a half or so to get back down to where I was before I spent that day eating whatever I wanted.  I have a goal to get down to 200 pounds before I do another cheat day - that will be a while.  Or, I could also just do a goal of getting back, comfortably, into size 34's. But it appears I'll hit 34 long before 200 pounds so I probably won't do that and yes, I have all of my 34 pants still.  I fully intended to get back there, I just didn't know when I was going to do it. 

The funny thing is this dude that runs commercials all over the internet including Facebook. He has a program that is defined as "cross-carb".  He goes on and on with technical terms and then he tells you - "Keto doesn't work!" I've written on his comments a few times now that Keto does, indeed work and works very well. It's just a hard diet to follow - but then again, all of them are. If you are on most any diet, you aren't going to be able to eat pizza and eat sugar filled foods. I don't care what you're doing, you'll never lose weight.  

Anyway. I had several calls yesterday about long term. This happens at the end of any given month.  No, sorry. Something might open up soon tho.  I have my 3 short terms and it's going to stay that way for awhile until I decide whether or not it's going to bring in the income those lots need to. And I can't get an adequate picture of that until the shed is completed.  Hence the reason I changed my mind and deciding to go out there today. Tired or not, this work needs to get done.  

I feel like I need to step it up even more than I have been doing in terms of getting work done.  Because these long term people aren't staying forever.  Some of them have said they will be there "a long time" - it is a gas line project in Shreveport that apparently is going to take years to complete.  But others are only there for 3 or 4 months.  I'd like to get all of this stuff done, up and operational to see if my theory is true: people will come once all of that stuff is in place.

That plus the Hipcamp area.  I did spread grass seed all over the place back there yesterday. I was hemming and hawing about it - should I spread it or not? But then I thought, well, if I don't like it, once summer comes, it will all die out anyway.  The point of indecision is whether I am really going to want grass back there or do I want gravel?  My thoughts then said, no, I want a mix of both.  Gravel pads and grass everything else.  The vehicles can make a rut through the grass where they travel through and then I can put gravel there as well. 

Grass. That's going to be a tough one. Come the end of rye grass season, I am going to have to put down Bermuda grass or something similar. It's going to be expensive and far more work.  You don't just throw that seed out, you have to - if you want it to turn out good anyway - aerate the ground and put mulch down as well.  If I go the seed route anyway.  I don't have the money for sod - I wish I did, but that would be truckloads of it.  Just can't do it, not with my current finances. I'm going to pay myself this month for the first time - yes it will be out of the business bank account and yes it will be listed as a paycheck for me.  Appropriate taxes will be taken? Yes, after I go to an accountant and figure out how this is going to work. I'll need to get to that accountant this month and let them decide how to keep my taxes down to as low as possible. 

There is another corporation setup that apparently will reduce my tax burden much more than this LLC setup.  

Anyway, it's 9:00 am and I guess I best get my tired @$$ up out of this chair and get out there. Highly likely there will be a nap this afternoon.  Pretty much guaranteed, really.  It will be raining and I will just take the time to get a 45 minute nap in.  

To be honest, I've been thinking about going back to work quite a lot, since I feel like I will have to.  On the road again.....just can't wait to never be on the road again - lyrics changed lmao.  I'm going to call this banker when I'm a bit clearer minded and see if there is any hope for a construction loan. That will basically determine whether I can just ride this out or have to go back to work. If back to work, I will begin working on paying down debt.  

But, that's not right now. That shed has to be completed first and a few other things. Mostly it's the shed tho, it's a major undertaking, really. Thinking about all of the stuff I have to do, it's almost overwhelming because much of it is stuff I've never done before.  Or haven't done in decades. Giant learning curve. The flip side is saving thousands and thousands of dollars for paying contractors to do it for me.  I don't have that kind of money now and even if I did, these contractors are just too busy, you can't even get them out there to give a quote.

I've tried.

Unless someone else comes along, my next RV short term isn't coming until the 9th.  Yes, I hope some stragglers fall into the place needing an overnight stay.  I have a tent camper coming in on Friday.  I am going to get a fire ring back there and a pile of wood. That's about it tho. I need more picnic tables. Not in the budget, but I do need at least 2 more right now, make that 3.  That's almost $500.  

 Tuesday - morning.

After watching numerous videos of various installation techniques last night, I feel more confident about what I am going to be doing.  However, going over the list this morning? I need more information from the shed itself before going on a buying spree. There are no large ticket items I will be getting, the only thing like that left is the shower stall, toilet and oven.  I'm not buying any of that right now. I am going to continue to search for a cheaper version of a shower stall until I find one.  If I am forced into buying a $400 thing, then so beit. That's probably not that bad considering the price of everything else.  I just don't want to spend that much money on anything right now.  

I just got a notice that I'm "almost all out of data" according to Verizon.  I have this final month of them left and I haven't switched everyone over.  I will correct that about the time I am out of data, it will be removed from the park and sent back to Verizon or taken back to the store.  If I need another T-Mobile unit to better cover everything, so beit. That's still only $100 per month for 2 of them with unlimited data versus 1 at $175 per month with limited data.

Back to the drawing board, I don't know what size pipe the water heater needs. The washer instructions say 3/4 fittings "only" (meaning no 1/2 inch such as the videos I watched suggested) so one would assume that one would use 3/4 inch pipe as well.

However....I haven't opened the water heater box yet nor have I read it's instructions. The only logical thing to do before spending money on items that I may have to return (Lowe's is good about that, anything I end up not needing I simply return with no questions), is put up the water heater shed and put the water heater in there.  And probably will need a sheet of plywood for a floor and a pan for the water heater.  Tho, I'm not really concerned about a water heater that rusts through and starts leaking - it will be outdoors. 

So, I have to go over and put at least one of those sheds together today.  Both of them preferably.  But the one for the heater for sure.  Then I can figure out A: how much wire I will need to run to the breaker box and B: what size and what length of pipe to run to the water heater and then back out of it to the washer and dryer assembly. Yes, the dry takes water for a steam setting it has to eliminate wrinkles, I guess.  

I won't know any of that until I remove the water heater from it's box and I don't want to do that until it's ready to go inside the shed.  Get it in there in it's permanent resting home and out of the way.  There isn't any point to wasting yet another trip to Lowe's until I know what I will need for that setup as well. I'm kind of tired of making endless trips to Lowe's....let's try to get most of it done in one, fell swoop. 

I will also have to cut holes in the shed for cold water in, hot water out - definitely not doing that until I know exactly where I want them cut.  I may end up having to put the water heater in the shed, figuring out everything and then removing it temporarily to get it out of the way.  I say "may", it's more like "will have to". It isn't terribly heavy when it's empty, thankfully. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Thursday, I don't want it sitting in the rain, thanks. 

I'm a bit tired again today. Another night where I was awake for several hours in the middle of the night. I really hate having sleep issues.  If I remember, regardless of how well/bad I sleep tonight, I am getting up early and going to the church prayer meeting. It starts at 7:00 am - which means getting up at 6:00 am to shower and have morning coffee.  I am trying to get back into the idea of not just going through life randomly, but having a purpose that is according to God's will. 

Right now? I have no idea what the Lord wants me to do.  I say that a bit sheepishly, I got into this business dramatics and really didn't seek Him about it like I should have.  I need His blessing upon this whole venture. Before I call the banker about an appraisal and potential loan, I'm definitely praying about it first.  Should I even be considering a giant loan? Will it turn out to be profitable?  What should I do next?  My goad was to have this as my retirement income.  But was it God's will for me?  

A little late in the day to be asking that question now that I'm fully entrenched in this matter. Whatever is next, I want to be led by the Lord, not by my mind or my wants/needs/desires.  God is perfectly capable of taking care of all of my needs "according to His riches in glory", as the Bible clearly states.  I've been in dire need of food or basic necessities and I've seen the providing hand of the Lord. Some of it was quite amazing.  Tales from the past...won't go into that right now. I will just say that once you are making good money? It's real easy to get your focus off of the Lord - it's kind of a snare/trap.  Well, it can be anyway.  There is nothing wrong with having some amount of wealth, as long as it doesn't divert your attention and heart from the Lord. 

"The LOVE of money is the root of all evil". Worldly people who don't know the Bible always try to tell Christians "money is the root of all evil". That isn't what the bible says. It says, again: "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil".  If money were evil, we would all be going to hell.  You can have wealth - and you can give it away.  Why not keep it? You can keep it - but you can also help people with it.  That's the heart of the Lord: giving.  And...giving without expecting anything in return. And also...giving without pomp and circumstance. Don't give for recognition and accolades from friends, family or the general public.  Give because you have the heart of the Lord to give.

I'll get off the soapbox - I was talking to myself with that anyway. I tend to remind myself of what God says about how we're to live our lives and compare it to how I am currently living it.  I'll just say this: poor people I have met, especially in Mexico, are some of the happiest people on earth.  They don't care about what's going to happen to their money because they don't have much to begin with.  They aren't laden with the "cares of this life" that wealth can and usually does bring.  

Now then.  I have hardly been watching the news in the last week or so.  I've been busy.  Between the property, home - such as cooking dinner or being with family - or sitting here in my room trying to comprehend how to do whatever next or going to stores, I just haven't been paying that much attention.  I look at the news app here and there.  I'm finding it to be - wonderful.  I don't have to escape politics altogether, but my engagement in discussing it is next to nothing now.  I still do a bit, but not much.  I just know that the "conspiracy theories" about the Wuhan lab are now being admitted to not being conspiracies after all.  That the real reason - which many of my like-minded advocates already knew - was to derail Trump's campaign to win the presidency.  

It was an anti-Trump move by the media to laugh and say no, there was no conspiracy! People believed it, of course.  

Anyway, I am going to have another cup of coffee and get over to the property and start the process of putting together the shed.  

Editing: I'm not sure if I posted this yesterday, I don't think I did. But there is a lady that reserved a tent spot on Roverpass - which is another campground platform online and one that I am set up with.  I only have one tent spot working right now and it's only been used once.  I'm going to put a fire ring back there before her arrival next month, I think it was on the 3rd and also getting another trash can for back there. I had one back there already, but Mark decided to use it for picking up leaves when he was working with me and then I just kept it up there for general trash.  I really need one back there as well.  Anyway, I will get everything set up for her and hope that she enjoys it. She is bringing a border Collie with her as well.  

G'day. 

 I don't know why I didn't think of this before.  Why not accept Hipcampers in whatever they are driving at the RV sites that are available?  I mean, yes, I had them listed for regular RV's, but now? I changed to accepting anything and charging less if they are only using 20 amp outlet.  If it's money in my pocket, come on!  

Disconcerting?  I was going through a preview of the site and it said no water, electricity or sewer at the sites. This is their default setting and I hadn't seen it before - just now actually. There are many pages of script for a Hipcamp park owner to go through, apparently I hadn't scrolled through all of it. Well, that's all changed now and I hope that means I'll start getting more of them in. 

After Lowe's this morning, I spent many hours attempting to nail down exactly what I need to get the laundry going.  It's more than you would think.  For me, it is almost mind-boggling trying to identify everything needed and then get it all written down on paper.  I will be sitting here for however long now that I just got home looking up endless information on installation of this, that and the other thing. 

When you move into a new home, hooking up washing machine and dryer are a matter of connecting the hoses to the existing outlets and plugging it in. In this case, it's the entire thing from the ground up.   

This stuff wears me out much faster than physical labor.  

Lowe's doesn't sell the type of paneling you would need to create your own shower stall.  They have paneling, but not for water applications.  The cheapest shower they had there that is complete (minus faucets, non of them have faucets) is a 30 inch end wall set - that's pretty small - for $299 or a 60 in for $369.  This would be a setup where I would just install a shower curtain, forget the expensive glass and keep it simple.  

They have corner setups but they are much more expensive, even for little itty bitty ones.  

___________

Several hours spent watching videos. Although I knew that drain pipes in a house need vented, I did not know that every drain needs  vent on it. Toilet, sinks, shower, etc.  There are height levels for the washer drain box and P - trap. I had completely forgotten about the need for a P trap for the washer drain.  Actually, it seems that I had it stuck in my brain that it doesn't need one.  Yeah, well once the smell and bugs and flies come in through there then you will remember lmao.  

The dryer wiring was as I had already figure, as well as the water heater and an oven outlet.  However, I thought dryer's needed 50 amp, they only need 30 as well as the water heater. Only the oven will need a 50 amp breaker. It means I already have the outlets for the water heater and the dryer.  I'm running an oven outlet because I will get one in there sooner or later.  

Water line is pretty easy, I figured it would be but I had to check, lol. I had to check everything excepting I didn't get into the toilet installation nor the shower stall installation. I'm not doing that first so I don't need to worry about that. 

There is also detailed instructions that came with the dryer and the washer.  I have been looking at that as well.  I only want to double check the dryer amp requirements for it has a steam setting that you can steam your clothing.  It has a water inlet as well. It may mean it need more amps for the steam, I don't know, haven't gotten that far but I will before I leave the house tomorrow morning to get the rest of the stuff I need for getting the water heater, dryer and washer installed.  

I need to get the wiring from the ground into the box. The will require some conduit and fittings.  I just want it in there, I am not hooking it up yet for it will just be in the way. No, it isn't energized and I won't be energizing it until I get everything in there first.  

There is a lot to do but I had to get my head in order first. Meaning I needed to understand how everything is going to go.  

Well, there's more but I'm burnt out on all this mental stuff. It's almost 9:00 pm and it's time to relax.  

 Monday - morning - not that early.

I was out of it this morning when I initially woke up at 5:30 am.  I just went back to sleep.  Not that I was planning on getting up that early, but a few days in a row of kids waking me up? Well they are in school today and no running around and making all kinds of noise. 

I have a list of things to start on/do today. I am writing lists on paper now. This is old-school versus using the phone with notes.  I like the phone with notes, don't get me wrong, I have passwords and other easily forgettable information on there.  But writing things down? This is what I did my whole life before getting a smart phone.

I just started doing it but I am so much more comfortable and at ease with it. Yes, it means carrying around a notebook, so what? The list is 13 lines long and doesn't even have everything.  Lol.  Of course it would rain today - when there was no mention of rain in the forecast.  

I think I have 20 plus tabs - there's more looking at it lol - for sites looking for a shower stall that won't break the already broken bank. The only thing I found was a site called Alibaba, which I was suspect of at first and then found out it is Chinese. No thanks. FB Marketplace, Lowe's, Craigslist, Home Depot, Google searches with all kinds of results, random websites, a place in Dallas that sells them cheaper - but not cheap.  I'm looking at a glass enclosure for $175. That doesn't include the base.  Most of the stuff being sold are not "kits", they are pieces.

You buy the base, everything is sold separately You buy the glass, the base is sold separately.  You find a kit? It's a grand and I don't think it even includes the faucets.  I was hoping to have a grand at most left for everything.  

I'm just going to see what's available at Lowe's this morning and see if I can buy a base and just sheets of that wall stuff they sell - whatever it's called.  Not buying it today, just need to look.  There are bases for sale on FB Marketplace. 

Lot 11 and 14 were no shows.  They paid one night's stay at the point of reserving the lots.  They lose that money. Industry wide standard.  Parks do this because if people stand nothing to lose, they will make multiple reservations where they "think" they'd like to stay and then make up their minds once they get close.  That day they picked and may not show up might also be a day where someone else was looking.  If you don't charge them, you are definitely out that money.  

I have plenty of reservations in the system for March, but there haven't been any new ones in a few days.  I need more on the short term lots.  I only need a few hundred dollars more of reservations before it equals long term and - they won't use as much electricity as long term since most of them aren't showing up until mid to late afternoon.  With a noon checkout time - if it's just one day - that means you are only seeing 9 or 10 hours worth of electric use versus a long term that is 24 hours worth and some of them are definitely leaving the lights on and AC units on.  

This just strengthens the case to either up the lot rent or meter the lots.  I will likely just up the lot rent to everyone that has their AC units on all day long while not there and if those units compressors are working all the time. You can hear it. When the compressor kicks in or is already on.  I will just stand outside of these trailers and listen for a while. No one's home so it's not creepy or anything.  See if/when the compressor shuts off and when it kicks back in. The money wasted is the money saved.  

Those people will see a $50 per month (at least) increase in their lot rent. If they don't like it, they can certainly try to find some place else cheaper. I'm not sure what the notice time is, probably 30 days.  RV parks are treated much differently than pretty much everything else - much looser on the restrictions and rules imposed.  Hotel in nature - hotels can charge whatever they want whenever they want. In fact, they change their rates throughout the week, I've seen this endlessly. I just don't know if that can translate over to someone who is already staying there.

Most people aren't going to challenge the legality of it anyway. They'll just leave if they don't like it, but I will give them a 30 day notice if I don't do anything else in research.  Maybe by then a lot of this brain-racking stuff will be done with and I can devote more energies to it.  Right now, it's enough to figure out everything for the shed.  

Well, unfortunately, it's almost 10:00 am already.  Just a late start for me today. Still plenty of time to get stuff done.

G'day. 

 A fairly long day.  The boys woke me up this morning - a forbidden thing to do on a Sunday morning, they are not supposed to make noise if they wake up before everyone else - which they always do - and are to either quietly play in their bedroom or sit on the couch and watch tv.  They did neither.  Arguing, yelling, going at it with each other - pretty much what brothers do. 

So, I finally got up, went out there and told them I wasn't sure I was taking them to church today because of it.  

I was rather irritated at that particular point in time and wanted nothing to do with those kids.  

Took a shower, got some coffee in me and then had them profusely apologizing to me.  So I ended up taking them.

Well, the service only lasted an hour but I stayed another 2 hours for a Church 101 thing the pastor does with whosoever will. Usually new attendees but long time people show up as well.  They had free pizza both for the boys in the children's ministry room and for the adults. I had pizza toppings - my diet forbids eating any pizza dough unless it's the low carb kind.  

It was interesting albeit nothing I didn't already know. Basic tenets of Christian faith, I mostly went to see if I could meet new people. The pastor was perplexed when I said I had been going for 6 months.  

And let the problems begin!  First, I receive a complaint about a person parking their pickup truck in the grass. Yup, definite no-no.  I texted that person hours ago - when I drove through the park, it was still parked there.  Yup.  I didn't have time to deal with it, if they are going to openly defy me, it may turn ugly.  How on earth do you park on grass? And they are leaving deep ruts there as well.

Then I got a complaint about a person blaring music at midnight last night. That is a definite no-no and is clearly written in the rules.  The person said they went over and banged on their door to tell them to turn it down - which that person did.  

Then I visited the trash area.  It was overflowing - that's because I haven't received the other container yet, tho the people who piled it up could have put it in a 3rd container I have out there?  But that's not the problem. Someone put a clothes basket full of household garbage in it - not in a plastic bag.  So I had to pick the stuff out of there and put into a giant plastic bag - I keep lots of those handy.  

My rules are going to be changing. Well, they are going to be added to.  In fact, writing this reminded me and I have already updated them, printing them out and will be distributing them to every site.  I am turning business down now, I can afford to lose a person that gets mad if they don't want to live by the rules.  

We spend so much time at church, then getting the trash to the curb, then going to Kroger's for dinner items, well, the day was mostly over.  Kids to school, parents to work and me to the park in the morning.  

I am not letting up on my determination to get this stuff done.  Well, I need to go to Lowe's first now that I have the trailer hitched up to the SUV and get the remaining pipe I need and then back to the park. I'll install that pipe first just to get it over with.  Then a gamut of things that I have already reflected on in previous posts - but the sheds are up there on the priority list.  

I've been bombarded by texts from the people at lot 2. They really want lot 14.  They're decent people and I would rather have 2 pull throughs available.  So they moved over there today.  It's a lot more space. They said they'd be there til June, it isn't permanent.  

I'm considering getting more involved in church activities. Note that I didn't say anything about volunteering, I'm not ready for that yet.  Just that the pastor clarified their schedule.  The Lord's Supper is, of course, about breaking bread but it is also a potluck meal.  They believe when you take Communion, it is a part of a broader experience of eating dinner together.  So they have that twice a week.  I don't know about eating a potluck - that is usually a lot of carb filled stuff but perhaps I could find something, but I do want to take Communion. They don't do it during church services because of their belief that it should include a meal. 

And there are a LOT more groups than what the weekly flyer suggests.  There is also Wednesday morning prayer - it's at 7:00 am, I could probably make that.  Unless I go back to trucking of course.  Just thinking about it for the moment.  I'm just pondering right now.  A stress releaser? Some place to go to get my mind off this business.  I go home and I get to work on things related to business. I leave the house and 90% of the time if not more it's business related.  

I know small business owners are inundated with work, especially the first year and when they first start up, but life can't just be about business.  But yes, everything that needs to be done? It can get a bit overwhelming. It will subside over time when I get certain things done and won't have to do them again.  It's why I'm really pushing myself to get this shed over and done with.  It's the biggest thing right now.  The older couple volunteered to help put more baling wire on the dog park fencing. I completely forgot about it after I started thinking about how to get more business in.  

They're a real help. If I had more lots and income, I would give them a reduced rate.  Just out of the question right now by force of income - or lack of sufficient.  

 It doesn't seem to take long for things to develop.  The people that were supposed to stay 2 nights? No shows and no contact. I have received no email, text or phone calls from them. They're out 1 night's stay.  I won't charge them the 2cd night - I think. I'm going to review the industry standard once again but I think it's make them pay one night non-refundable and then the second/subsequent nights aren't charged until they arrive.  I will close their account and call it good.

The other people coming for one night at lot 11 haven't shown up yet, but it's only 2:15. They are likely just traveling through and planned their trip so they could stop wherever they wanted to. In this case, my park which is the cheapest around in this entire region for a decent park. There are sh**holes that most people want nothing to do with. 

I have 3 trash cans out there now. 1 is the garbage company's trash can - they are supposed to bring another one and the other 2 are much smaller personal cans.  The big one is full, the second biggest one is full but the 3rd one is empty. So I'm hoping it will last through tomorrow and I can drag it all out there Sunday afternoon for Monday morning pickup. 

I measured the hip camp lots.  I knew I had some space, but now I know how much space.  Well there's 2 ways I could do it. One is parallel parking on either side and at the end.  This will give me maximum space and realistically, small vehicles, I could probably get 7 of them in there without crowding.  I plan on doing 5 to start with.  Remember, I already had the bobcat rented for the shed project, it cost me nothing more but some fuel to finish out that lot after having had started it with the mini-ex - which I also primarily rented for the shed project.  

Therefore, the only real money involved here will be to run electric for 20 amp service for the 5 lots.  The wiring will probably cost a bit, the outlets are cheap and a couple of circuit breakers.  I'll put up "Lot 1" signage and mark the lots, but I'm pretty much sold on the parallel parking.  On the east side that means I can have 2 50 foot long lots and on the west side, 2 48 foot long lots.  On the south side, it's about 41 feet. It's actually much longer but there is 41 feet of fairly level space, the rest is a pretty steep grade.  

I'm getting my plan together in my mind, just want to resolve any lingering questions on how I'm going to do this before I start working on it.  

After I get the shed done it won't take long to set up those lots. But I do need to remind myself to get a couple of 50 pound bags of grass seed tomorrow and spread it behind lot 14 and all over the Hipcamp area.  

Right now, for the month of March,  I have $725 worth of overnight/short term bookings enqueue. I need that to go up at by at least $475 to make it worth having those lots available.  Much more would be nice, at 80% occupancy I could leave trucking.  But I'm not counting chickens I don't even have the eggs for, much less to hatch.  Same with HipCamp. Who knows if this will pay off? But you never know until you try.

And as far as the shed goers? I'm pretty much tired of having to trek into the woods to find a place to go to the bathroom. If the toilet never got used by anyone else, it would definitely get it's use from me and the boys.  I don't know what it is about those kids, but every - and I do mean every - time we go over there, one of them has to take a dump.  Why didn't you do that at the house?  We just left there!  Well I didn't know I had to go!! I will highly likely put a small desk in that shed as well.  There will be some space left to put one in and if enough space, I may put a couple of comfy chairs in there as well.

Nothing fancy, of course, an used, definitely - cheap. 

The contractor. That texting went well beyond what I posted in the last post.  He quoted me $6,800 on the smallest septic system he can provide. Gag. That's a lot of money for sewage.  I mean, yes, I spent far more on the Park sewer system as it stands, but this was just to get 4 or 5 more RV lots.  Well, it is what it is.  We also discussed his park he built.  They haven't sold it yet. They were offered $700,000 for it and they turned it down. They have it listed for 1.2 million.  38 lots on 40 acres with a pond and a party barn.  I dunno folks, I don't make up the prices to buy RV lots. Another one I saw today is a 14 space facility listed at $699.000.  See if I could get that much money for my 14 space park? I would be seriously tempted to sell it, take the money and go build another park somewhere else.  Get another 20-40 acres and do it all over again.  

One of his partners in that endeavor is also a banker. He told me to call him for an appraisal or he could probably just give me a ballpark over the phone.  Ok! He then said I could probably get financed for expanding the park through him as well. OK!! He's on my list of things to do Monday, he gave me his phone number and I hope he gives me some sort of good word to the man.  I paid all my bills to this contractor immediately after they completed each phase.  I mean, drive up there and pay them in person type of stuff.  I made sure I stayed in his good graces because I knew I would probably need his services again.  So, there is a beacon of hope there, at least, for a sizeable loan - somewhere in the 250-300k range. If I can't get at least 200k I probably won't do it.  I need enough for at least 14 more spaces, a mid-sized swimming pool and I would like some sort of clubhouse structure.  Nothing fancy, again, just something where people can hang out, an office, rentable party space for locals.  

Don't want to get too involved with thinking about that right now, I need a "yes" or "we will look into it but it sounds good" or something like that before I start seriously planning a phase 2. I have phase 2 in my mind already as it stands. 

My Verizon business credit card came in today as well. As with the AMEX card, I will be using it in a limited fashion and paying it off monthly.  The idea, of course, is to build up business credit score. 

I did force myself to go back over. Someone had dumped a bag of trash on top of an already full trash can instead of putting it into a completely empty trash can next to it. ??? I just don't understand people but I am not saying anything about it to anyone, it's not worth it. I'll just deal with it and bite my tongue.  

But while I was over there, it dawned on me to go ahead and measure out the area for Hipcamp, I'm glad I did. It gives me some perspective.  There is ample room for pickups and even medium sized trailers in there. Just no sewer connection or water.  And no 50 or 30 amp electrical service. I'm not trying to drag that crowd in there unless they are just looking for a spot to stay overnight on the cheap. I've been trying to decide what to charge. I was thinking $12 per night, but that is too cheap. I'm going with at least $15. That gives them a 20 amp electrical connection, access to fresh water if they want to fill up their tank on the way in with a "community spigot" and access to the shed with all that will have in it. I think that's more than  a fair deal and should hopefully bring some people in.  I'm going to heavily advertise it, that's for sure.  

Well that's enough.  I am going to log into quickbooks and start scanning more receipts. Fun, fun.

 All of that stuff is done.  I'm burnt out and I'm taking the rest of today and all of Sunday off.  The only thing I'm going to do is go back over there and deal with trash.  

The Hipcamp area is much larger than I originally was going to do it, but it needed enough room for vehicles pulling trailers to be able to maneuver in and out of there.  I think I succeeded - by far - in that regard.  I am rather pleased with the outcome. It's not perfect, but it's definitely going to work.  

Now, there is still a lot of work to do, of course.  I have to go buy more sewer and water pipe for one thing, install it and then I will end up backfilling the rest of that by  hand. Work on it for an hour a day and I'll have it finished in a few days after I start the process. I see no need to wear myself out with what's left for backfilling, it's next to the shed, it's caution-taped off, it isn't in anyone's way and most of it you can't even see from the park to begin with.

I just won't rent that machine again for near $400 for what would be 30 minutes work if that on it and then return it.  

The idea of just planting grass back there is solid.  A natural appeal, that's what hipcampers like for the most part anyway.  A lot cheaper and I will have to mow grass elsewhere as it stands.  That's another expenditure I have been dreading.  A new riding mower isn't cheap, a used one isn't terrible but they always seem to need some kind of work done to it. I don't need or want someone else's project, they can fix it and then sell it.  Or not, but I won't be buying it.

Lot 14 is as done as it's going to get.  I'm not buying another $700 load of gravel but I did scoop some of the new stuff up from the driveway - where it wasn't bad when it rains - and put it over on that pad.  The people that paid for that site never showed up and never called.  Standard policy for the industry - if you aren't showing up, call and tell us. If you don't call or email, you will be charged one night's rental. They had a 2 day stay going.  I don't know, maybe they got hung up somewhere and couldn't make it and perhaps are coming today? If that is the case - a legitimate excuse anyway - it'll just be a one night's charge.

There is another one showing up today and has paid for the night as well. Just one night stay.  After that, I have nothing until the 9th of next month.  I am hoping there will be some overnighters that pop up out of nowhere and reserve spaces.  I am letting the folks on the pull through back into 14 and that will free up a pull through lot.  I'll have 2 pull throughs for overnight stays and one back in - for now.  Until I figure this out - meaning how many of these short term spaces do I really need? ... I'm leaving it like that.  I may figure it out quick, money is a thing and I don't want to leave any on the table if it doesn't pan out to have 3 of them.

Monday I'll go buy the rest of the pipe and then I'll start figuring out the electrical and how I want to bring the drain for the washer and the water for the washer into the building.  I will have another inlet for water at the other end of the shed.  It's going to take some figuring and I'll probably be standing in the plumbing and electrical aisles at Lowe's for quite a while trying to figure what I need to do. It may sound easy enough, but it really isn't lol. A pro that does it all the time would instantaneously know what to get for what applications - I am no pro.  

I'm going to install all of the electrical outlet boxes first, run the wire that I bought for it and then figure out how much more wiring I will need. I am adding a lot more outlets than I originally anticipated.  2 light switches - bathroom and main room, 2 ceiling light fixtures, a 4 outlet setup at the kitchen area, 2 electric dryer hookups, another double set up for 2 washers and an outlet near where the window AC unit is going to go.  I think that's it.  Well I guess an oven also has a 30 amp or 50 amp outlet I'll need to install for that as well.  There will be no electricity in the bathroom. Or, I will run the wiring but won't install an outlet.  I may change my mind and if I do, I don't want ot have to fish wire through walls.  

I'll have to get some insulation and then I'm going to have to frame and drywall the shower area - after I install a shower stall.  Toilet first too, might as well get the hard stuff done first before framing.  Framing is relatively easy, I can also hang drywall, I'm not the greatest at texturing.  

A new kitchen base counter with counter top and sink are well into the $600 plus tax range. 

No thank you.  I will look outside of the area on both craigslist and facebook.  Dallas, for example. Yes, I'll drive to Dallas to save hundreds of dollars. Bigger cities? You can frequently find people who are remodeling their homes that are selling the old stuff cheap.  Take the trailer, pick it up, spend a bit in gas and time but save a ton of money.  And if I have to do that, I'll see if I can find a used bathroom vanity. NO used toilets, tho, they are $100 for base model and that is what I am getting - new.  I just can't and won't deal with a "used toilet".  

Shower stall is also going to be a bit pricey.  It's time to start looking around and see what I can find on the cheap. I don't need expensive, fancy stuff, I need base model, cheap stuff, new or used.  I won't be able to get away without a shower or a toilet, I could save the kitchen for later - tho I really don't want to.  The first priority is to get laundry going. I have most of the stuff already. I need to build the small shed and put the water heater in it and get water lines going to and from it.  So that just reminded me that I need to do a T off of the underground line and run it to the heater.  I'm glad I just thought of that.  

I think I'll build that shed Monday, get the water heater in it and go from there. I want that shed built, it's just laying there in a box and vulnerable. There is no-one driving back there, yet, I just want to build it before anything happens to it. As it stands, I came very close to running over both of them with the Bobcat, gag.  

Maybe I'll build both of them Monday - if you can indeed build 2 of them in 1 day.  I'll need the other one for my tools.  Yes, I think it's prudent to get that out of the way and get it done before anything happens to them. After that I can figure out the water line to the water heater and the washing machine. That 'should' be relatively easy.  Yeah, we all know how that ends up going.

The hardest part is going to be electrical.  I know it, I can feel it and I am just going to face it last.  It's important to get water and drain lines installed first - electrical wiring can be routed around it.  I'm sitting here planning this as I go along, writing this entry.  I have to have a plan and I usually make one and at least try to stick to it.  Sheds, water heater, water line, drain line.  

So, anyway, I can spend today and tomorrow searching for the things I need, and work on paperwork/billing/inputting expenses and sales.  Well, I don't really have to do sales if it's done with credit card online.  That gets deposited automatically into my bank and then Quickbooks automatically adds it to my "paperwork". Pretty cool, actually, for $15 per month.  I just have more receipts for various things going back months that I am working on getting into the system.  It's quite tedious, at least for me.  

I've accomplished a lot in the past 3 days, I'm fairly proud of myself.  It has been a lot of hard work, a lot of physical labor and yes, there's more to go but still, I got a lot done.  

I'm tired. I feel like I could just fall asleep, sitting here in my computer chair. The contractor that built the park just contacted me out of the blue asking what I am charging? I don't know why he was asking that - perhaps for his own park that they may end up having to operate because no one is buying it/not for that much money. I told him my current rates and said I would be raising them eventually, but for right now I'm just trying to get on the map.  

He's a nice guy, he just doesn't communicate very well - he tries to carry too many hats in the company.  He gets so many calls and texts, he says by the end of the day, he's got over 100 missed calls/text messages.  I can understand not getting back to everyone right away - or even at all.  But I did ask him to throw out a number for a house sized septic system.  He hasn't responded lol.  Oh well, I'll keep asking him until I get a number. No, I can't get one right now. It's a goal.  More RV lots is a goal.  Hipcamping is no longer a goal, it's spend more money but get it done.  I'm trying to spend no more than a thousand more dollars on that setup, which is why I need all of that stuff cheap.  

Frankly, as much as I don't want to, the kitchen area may have to be put on hold for a while.  Hipcampers will come as long as I have a toilet and a shower, the kitchen is an added bonus.  I don't know if it's really mandatory. I did some looking on Hipcamp and saw places that were offering a basic kitchen.  I suppose I could just start out with an oven with stove top. No, that won't work. You can't clean the pots/pans/utensils without a sink.  However, instead of having a base cabinet with a kitchen sink, now that I think of it, I could just have an oven, a small countertop only and a utility sink.  Have pots/pans hanging from hooks on the wall instead of cabinets.  Keep kitchen utensils all in one, revolving-style can. We have one, they work great.  This would cut down 

They are calling it a "rugged tub" and I am looking at the whole setup for $116. That's substantially cheaper than buying a base cabinet, plus a counter top, plus a sink and faucet. Unless I think of something even better, this is probably what I'm going to do.  I'm looking at used electric ovens for $200, one of them as it an actual store and giving a warranty. 

Looks like Home Depot has a complete "industrial" shower - it is glass and it doesn't look shoddy - for $339. But that's just initial searching.  ` 

I've got too much on my mind, time to de-stress.