Yes, it's my 3rd update today.  Meh, it's my blog and I will write when I feel like it, lol.  One lot paid the full price today via cashapp (knew it was due but I didn't have to ask them for it and they've told me repeatedly they are happy at my park), the second payment was going over there and emptying out the washer and dryer coin catchers, taking those home, counting them and adding it to coins that Taylor gave to me (I paypaled her the total), which came out to $370 and then collected $260 from the New Jersey people. 

That's $1,080 for today, which usually don't collect that much in one day excepting on the 1st.  NJ people owe more than what they paid, but I'll take it over nothing. That pays for the electricity they have used and including the shed shower/toilet and then some.  I know she gets her disability on the 28th, I will be asking her again for money on that date.  

The tiller dude finally responded to my text. He won't be available until 8:00 pm to give me the tiller, lol.  I don't have much choice, get it at night or don't get the thing.  Go out there tomorrow and bake my butt off in the heat operating the thing.  It's only a mile away from here, I"m getting it tonight.  I'm half tempted to go get the riding mower out of the other shop and take it to him.  It won't be until sometime next week before that shop even looks at the thing.  

The kids are having all kinds of fun on their vacation. I was sent pics and play by play on their daily activities.  I didn't know Branson had so much things for families to do there.  They want to a Titanic mock up, apparently.  Then over to some sort of water park today.  They've been busy every day.  I can't imagine how tired they will all be whenever they get back. It was originally going to be Thursday, now they're saying Friday or Saturday.   Vacations. Usually you aren't resting and relaxing, you're go go go instead.  That's exactly what they're doing.  

I got a little jealous of the water park stuff, I love those places. But otherwise, it would cost a lot of money to do what they are doing going into all of those places with entry fees and high food/drink rates, I couldn't really afford that right now.  

I have stopped stressing over getting new people into the park. They will come - or they won't. I have Facebook and Google updated frequently enough.  Im going to start asking people to give Google reviews again, even if they don't do it - which most won't - I need to at least try.  Even if they just enter how many stars they want to give without an actual, worded review, that's better than nothing. It's been stuck at 4 forever.  

These people keep calling me, I keep forgetting to ask how many days a week they want me driving.  I'm basically hired. I asked them why it will take so long?  They only have a few trainers and they can only do so many drivers at once.  Ok, I was just curious.  Must not be a drastic issue if they can wait 2 months.  They keep warning me that if it slows down, I'll have to take loads to Georgia or Florida.  Ok?  I flat told the man that I don't mind doing that,  just don't want to be an OTR driver and out on the road for weeks at a time.  

I'm not pulling any punches on that one, if they want me staying out for even a week, I'm not really interested.  He assured me that wouldn't be the case and probably wouldn't have to go to Georgia or Florida very often.  Good, because I very much despise driving through Atlanta.  I do wonder what it's going to be like to climb into a truck after being off for a year.  I then thought, it will be like yesterday.  It's all second nature to me.  I've spent too many decades in a truck to really "forget" anything.  Maybe a bit rusty on shifting - and thankfully they have manuals only, I despise auto trannys in trucks.  

So that's it.  It's 7:30, just waiting for this dude to text me so I can go get the machine and get that over with. It can come home and be parked in the driveway overnight, I'm not going back to the park again today.  I'm trying to conserve fuel, I've been over there twice today already.  Another thing I completely forgot when I was at lowe's was a new valve for the leaking faucet.  I need to fix that tomorrow. It's just a waste of money, water leaks can cost you a lot of money on a water bill even if it is a slow leak.  

 So, the terminal manager didn't call and the tiller man didn't answer the questions: How much is the bill and what forms of payment do you take? He said he was going home to get some rest, I'll just wait until he's rested and can deal with it.

Why the terminal manager didn't call, I have no idea.  I won't take it as any kind of signal just yet. The power may still be out over there, he may have gotten busy with something, who knows what. I do expect that if he isn't going to call at all today, the recruiter will be calling me in short order to let me know.  She has a very bubbly personality, very upbeat, outgoing, half glass full type of person.  

BTW, the FDA has approved a new drug that apparently significantly helps people with dementia and more importantly: Alzheimer's.  I take great interest in the studies and information that comes up with Alzheimer's because of my immediate and extended family having had it, with 3 people that have died from complications from it.  

Of course I hope I don't get any form of dementia, but with my family lines being filled with it, it's something I need to take seriously.  My dad, his dad and an aunt that I know of.  Fasting allegedly helps, I do fast here and there. And when I say fast, I mean a water only thing that goes on at least 24 hours, sometimes up to 3 days.  It sounds horrible and yes, the first day can be tough.  But by the time you get to the 3rd day, it gets easier.  I thought about fasting today since no one is home and it's easier to do, but, I've had my coffee with creamer.  

Oh wow.  A new carburetor and this dude is only charging me $109.22?  Wow again! That's a great price!  I just looked up the cost of a carburetor - they are less than $20.  I should have looked that up before taking it to him, these small engines usually have the carburetors as the culprit.  But, for that price I'm not going to sweat it too much.  The comfort of taking it to a person is that they will figure it out and they won't try to get it back to you until they get it fixed correctly.  I usually hate trying to start buying stuff and figuring such things out on my own, sometimes you just start wasting a lot of money.  

That isn't the case with the riding mower. That thing runs great.  If I would have known he fixes those too, I would have taken it to him first.  If this tiller runs good and stays that way, I will be bringing the 4 wheeler in there as well.  Perhaps he can figure out why it starts acting like it's running out of gas - when it isn't running out of gas.  

So the terminal manager called. Sounds like a real nice guy, you can tell older gentleman.  It's pretty much the same type of setup as my last job, less pay but home even more often.  There is the possibility of runs going to Florida and Georgia if the local stuff slows down. He said that means being out a night or two here and there.  No problem there. It's more money anyway and doesn't mean I'll be running all over the place.  The reason it can be a daily thing is because you load one day and then deliver the next.  

Looking at the map and the locations of these plants, a person could easily load and deliver in the same day.  

But if you look at the situation, the loading plant is about 150 miles from my house.  So, go load and come home.  5 to 6 hours of driving and probably a couple hours loading means a ...

Well he called again. This time he offered me the mileage pay and what the job would entail. Pretty  much the same as the previous job excepting it's not cryo.  It is hazmat but nothing explosive.  The plant loads you, you offload at the other end.  He was discussing pressurizations so I went into detail my experience with it.  Cryo will build pressure over time and the amount of pressure is specifically related to what kind of trailer it is - vacuum sealed or attic insulation sealed - what the outside temps are and how hot the stuff was when it was loaded.

This stuff doesn't build pressure.  Turns out he was just referring to the pressure you need to build up to offload and that you have to keep your eye on it.  Yes, I am well acquainted with such.  If you over-pressurize a cryo trailer, the automatic safety pop-offs will start rising and releasing product. It's something that you don't want to happen, ever.  

Okay, I don't want to discuss that all day long, it's a couple months off.  Now, I just need people to move into my park to facilitate me being able to stave off working for 2 months - that or find something else that works.  Very possible in that amount of time I could find something even more appealing.  

Well toodlooh.  Speaking of money, one of the tenants just sent cashapp for a month's worth of rent.  Didn't even have to ask the for it, they like it at my park and said they will be there for probably 3 more months.  I have coins Taylor stuff into the wraps I need to go cash in as well. That was vacation money, tho I suspect they aren't having to spend much visiting their relatives, all of whom are very well off.  Plus I have laundry room coins, those things are getting full. I can go over, hook up the trailer, empty those things, come home,  wrap them and then take it all to the bank. 

 That never happens. To the point that yes, I did grab my handgun and then went to the door. 

A person, ringing the doorbell after 8: 00 am? No one comes over there that early.  I don't know this person, I don't know if they have ill intent and I have no idea what they want.  I didn't show the handgun, of course, no need to escalate something that may just be an innocent request or selling something, tho we do have a sign up saying no solicitors.  

The man wanted to know if we wanted our lawn mowed.  The problem? There was no mower in sight, no pickup truck, nothing.  I always wonder if the person is just seeing if anyone is home so that they can try to break in.  It's happened before, the reason we got the Nest doorbell and a broad angle camera that shows the entire yard and the street.  The point? I'm not going to lose my life to some person that may have other than my best interests in my mind.  The lawn does need mowed, I plan on doing it in the next few days.  

Anyway, Tuesday: Morning.  I was already awake, long before that.  Another sleepless night as it stands.  Like, maybe 4 hours.  Not like I didn't try to sleep.  It makes me feel like s*** the next day after spending 8 or 9 hours in bed and getting half the sleep I need.  

I invited the tent lady to go in and take a look at the coach yesterday.  She did so after she got off of work and declared she wants the thing and not to bother putting a sofa in there, they'll need to put a bed there. Yes, I said a sofa-bed, not just a sofa.  But whatever, they can do whatever they like with it as long as they don't trash the thing.  No, they aren't being allowed in there until they have the money to pay the first month up front, plus I need to put together a contract. I'll have to do some searching online for something that has the appropriate legaleze and then add my own specifics to it.  

The New Jersey people, as I will refer to them from now on, said they sold whatever and they will have the money for me today.  Today is the end of the line.  They will either pay something, at least a month's rent, or they will leave.  If they need help leaving, I will accommodate them on that.  Hook it up, drag it out of there, drop it wherever and be done with it. Sounds cruel? Yes until you understand that they had money and blew it on other things. 

You don't necessarily expect that kind of behavior from the older generation.  It's the young people that think other material things take precedence over the roof over their head.  A stark wake up call will change that.  I just sent them a message...priorities will be shifted - their priorities.  I'm not going to continue to pay for their electricity to have AC running in that thing.  It's not free to me.  I'll eat whatever they have used to get them out of there if it's going to come down to that.  "You can't get blood out of a turnip"....

The tiller man texted last night and informed me my tilling holiday will be over as of today.  It was a joke I made after I took it in there and he informed me the new carb won't come until Friday.  It came yesterday and he expects to have the thing running this morning.  Yes, I will go get the thing and yes, I will pick up where I left off.  Heat and all.  I have plenty of iced down water and sugar free gatorades over there plus a hose to pour cold water over my head if need be.  If nothing else, the inside of the shed is cool, cool enough to bring internal body temps down if you sit in there long enough.  

So, unless there is another issue with that thing that he didn't know about, it should purr like a kitten and be ready for me to get with the program.  The trucking company that wants to hire me  has a terminal manager that told the recruiter to tell me he's going to be calling me at 10:00 am.  I don't know what he wants, probably just to feel me out and see if it's a good fit.  They incur no small expense in flying people to Oregon, paying them a daily wage while the person is in training plus housing and feeding them. I am responsible for nothing beyond showing up if this goes through.  I'm still telling myself I can't make it until mid-September on my current finances.  

No,, but if these people show up that say they are, I have a fighting chance.  It currently takes around 5 or 6 lots to pay the bills what with the high electric usage and then anything after that is profit.  I currently only have 8 units in there with one of them leaving shortly.  That's why I'm in a predicament.  Bills don't care how much money you have or don't have.  The odds of being able to hold out that long increase, of course, with any new guests coming in long term. 

I did get a reservation for 9 days yesterday.  It was almost shocking, I am not getting much over night stuff.  It's worth a few hundred dollars as long as they actually show up.  I stick with my ads. The system will automatically give them the weekly discount and charge them the daily rate for the rest.  It's not a bad system, I just don't have much usage of it lately.  If I could get a lot more overnight stuff going, this problem would go away.  

I'm not sure what it is, but I am guessing the overnights aren't coming because a lot of those people are at their summer destinations.  They don't want to be in a hot, humid environment, they want to be up north in the areas where it's nice and cool right now. Texas and Arizona heat are apparently making the national news rounds right now, tho in reality, it's really nothing much different than any other summer. It's hot, who wants to be in the heat? 

Once the temps finally come down later on this year, I will be heavily advertising the fact that we have beautiful weather, nice temperatures, come visit our region!  I'm still learning the ropes, folks and all of these factors are things I really didn't take into consideration when I started up.  I naively thought the place would fill up and that would be that.  Well, after a few months, it actually did, but not with overnighters, it was with long term, it was people coming for work.  Then, a lot of those left, being sent off to other places.  And now, I'm struggling to get new people in there. 

If I can get the RV rented soon, that will help immensely.  That's a nice increase of cash flow that will help the bottom line get boosted.  It is likely in the future, I will be acquiring more units and take more control of my income by having more guaranteed income from park-owned units.  I didn't put that thing in the park name yesterday, that apparently requires a lot more paperwork.  I was trying to get it done before you get hit with "heavy fines" or some such verbiage they used in the paperwork I was reading yesterday.  It's title only, I didn't do registration, pointless to do so.  Let the new owners pay for that. 

On another note, I've been trying to find news of the Pirkey power plant.  Slated this year to be shut down, Swepco unequivocally stated the reason is because of the high cost to do an EPA-forced upgrade that they say is not feasible to do on such an old plant. The stories I have read have this plant listed as a high output plant.  There is nothing wrong with the plant.  You know, it's likely once they shut a plant down, they will never fire it back up again regardless.  And new plants cost many trainloads of money and years to build  The costs are so excessive because of the "clean energy" and "climate control" s***, I don't think many or any new plants are being built anywhere.  I can find nothing in the news but something from February stating that a state senator from this area is pleading with the state agency that is over these plants to stop the closure of the plant.

I just stand in awe of the - stupidity - of our current regime leader in the WH.  He doesn't appear to give 2 cents worth of concern about the fact that shutting down all of these plants is putting extensive pressure on the existing power grid to keep everyone with power.  

Well, here we go.  The tiller is ready.  He doesn't stay in his shop, he likes to do his work at night. I don't think he has ac in there, just big fans and apparently a swamp cooler  Lol, sorry folks, swamp coolers just don't work here.  It might cool a little bit.  The point being I have to make an appointment with him to get the thing.  But I have this 10:00 am appointment with this terminal manager I'm waiting on before I do anything else.  Plus, I'm sitting here with foggy brain.

He just texted and said he worked through the night to fix it.  Uhh, I hope that doesn't mean some huge bill attached with it?  I just asked him what the bill is and what form of payments he'll take.  I kind of get that this dude is a cash only person, but we'll see.  

I think that's about it.  I haven't watched or read any news yet today. It's sometimes frightening to turn on the news, the absurdity of what you see going on nowadays sort of makes you wonder if you aren't in an Alice in Wonderland script and this is just a vivid dream.  The push for socialism/communism has turned into an all out battle. As far as I'm concerned, wokeism is a part of that push as well as inclusivity, diversion and equity social justice junk.  The fact that the Supreme court got rid of affirmative action in Harvard's acceptance policy...and the woke people went crazy....if the SCOTUS hadn't ruled as they have in several recent decisions, we would be well on our way to the next step: get rid of the guns.

They are actively trying to do that as well, such as the new law in Illinois.  If Trump hadn't loaded the court up with conservative (for the most part anyway) justices, this nation would be screwed. Just look at what Biden's pick has been saying?  She's a racist, that's my conclusion with specific statements from her that led to that conclusion.  Really, the battle comes down to who wins the White House. There are also 33 Senate seats up for election and all 435 House seats are up.  I wonder what the pulse of the common American is right now? Are people sick of Biden policy? Do they like what's going on in Congress?  How is this next election going to turn out?  I don't stay up at night thinking about that, but it will be very interesting to see how the next election turns out.

With that, I'm done with this one.

G'day

 Whatever I published earlier, I"m moved on.  It's been a day and I only went over to the park to get the odometer reading off of the motorcoach.  Well, I turned it on as well. Almost shocking the batteries are in perfect condition and cranked that thing over easily.  It's something I want to do at least monthly in turning it on, getting the oil pumped through the system and get the batteries charged up.

Over to the courthouse, no issues just a lot of paperwork to fill out. But, after half an hour and standing at the window for a while, that issue is dealt with.  They will be sending me a new title in the mail "8 to 14 weeks".  Unlike Arizona, which will print you out a new title while you're standing there unless they've changed it since I left. Whatever, it's done and over with, I need not worry about that now. 

Still, it was quite motivating to fire that thing up.  Yes, it has an exhaust leak and yes, it probably needs a new carburetor, but still. A thing that old just firing up like that.  I idled it for a while to make sure I had the batteries recharged. 

Over to the sign shop. Middle of the day? Closed.  Off to lunch at 11:30 am, I decided to go visit my favorite haunt, Chili's. Lots of friends there and hadn't been there in many weeks.  Great service, great conversation including with the GM who I asked if I could get confirmation on chips and salsa next month for the wedding vows.  No problems there.  

Back to the sign shop. opened, but the sign had the wrong phone number on it? Oh well, he said he'd have it fixed by tomorrow.  I've done lots of business there, the man has my phone number, not sure how he got it wrong, but it wasn't an issue.  Over to Lowe's for a "bow rake", I call it a steel rake. Actually, I went to Harbor Freight first but their sale price? Not sale priced.  I wasn't going to argue with them....

After that, to Kroger's, where I got into a - situation - with their sale-priced crab legs.  It's a long story and 5 people.  At the end of the it, I got the sale price without having to drive 2 towns over. I was told 3 times it was at "service counters only". This Kroger's doesn't have a meat service counter.  Why, I don't know.

I checked the ad. No mention of service counters.  I called the Longview store since that's where the regional manager is based out of.  I got an assistant manager telling me he's on vacation, what can I do to help you? Nothing, I'm at the Marshall store. Well what seems to be the issue? It told him in detail and he just says, well, I'm not over there, I can't do anything about it.

No duhhh. I knew that before he asked, he tried to deflect to the "service counter only" but I wasn't buying it.  If that's true, best have it listed on your ad  

I went back to the meat section again, scrutinizing the sign.  It had THREE different prices on there. Trust me, you don't want to buy this stuff at normal prices. It would have cost me $400 to get what I got today at regular pricing and yes, it IS regular pricing, I check it frequently when I go in there.  

The meat man escorted me up to the counter, had a clerk input her credentials, they scanned the stuff put in the sale price and walaah. Yes, I would have driven over to Longview, but these people kept referring to a "policy" that was listed nowhere. If there are conditions to ads, they always have an asterisk and fine print at the bottom. No such thing here.

I haven't gotten anything done at the property today.  It was all of these stops and so much time wasted at a few of them.  I'm not going over there today now at all, I went and got the odometer reading, that's the end of it. 

The tent lady expressed interest in buying the RV. I figured she would sooner or later.  I told her I'm still working on it, but it has a brand new AC unit on it and I also gave her the price it would cost her monthly to get into and a breakdown of where the money is going.  IF this happens. I will draw up my own contract about payments, including how much goes to lot rent and how much goes to the purchase price of the rv. And the stipulation it won't leave the park until it's paid for.  

Further, that I have right to inspect the interior on a monthly basis.  Some states afford you that privilege by law, I don't care about that, agree to it in advance, in writing with your signature.  

I really don't know why people would question me if I'm actually going to do that?  I'm protecting an asset.  They can't have it without paying for it and it's in writing, with their agreement to all of the stipulations by signing on the line.  It will also say they are responsible for any repairs except the ac unit, which is under warranty for 2 years.  

Whatever the case, Im home, the dogs were panting heavily, it's hot outside. I let them both in to cool off.   In fact, they can stay in until this evening and cools down a bit. 

I think that's all for now.  

 The tent lady is interested in the coach.  I could sell it to her on payments as was my plan to sell it on payments anyway.  Basically, she pays the normal lot rent and then money on top of that towards paying for the coach.  I'd like to see her be at her job for a while before doing that, tho any money paid will be non-refundable.  You pay, you keep. You don't pay, you go away.  Pretty much something that would have to be written into a contract, signed and notarized by both parties in the agreement.  

I'm looking at 25 months at the moment.  Yes, that's a long time but I just got done with car payments that went on for 60 months.  So, nothing new there in the finance world.  The other stipulation is that the thing does not leave the park until it's paid for and rest assured, the engine will be disabled to ensure such never happens.  They won't have the title anyway.  It's just the same as the bank who just sent me the title to my vehicle with no liens on it, I paid it off, it's mine.  

I feel like I have to write these things out for some people to be able to grasp how this concept works.  The bank - or me - owns the vehicle until it is completely paid off.  If I had stopped paying before the last payment on my vehicle, guess what happens? Yup, they send a company out to legally steal it, impound it and then it gets sold at auction.  Sometimes the bank puts it up for sale first, the point being you have to pay the thing off entirely before the bank is no longer on your back about it or has any interest in the vehicle.  

The only difference I am going to make is I won't charge interest.  Instead, I'll just jack the price up - a bit, not ridiculous - to make some money off of it eventually. That's the whole point of being in business, buy things at one price and sell them at another. Yes, I know my situation is the hospitality industry but it is now expanding.  

Monday - morning. Not particularly early, either. I woke up early but nothing was registering with me.  My sleep has been sporadic for many months now.  Last night it wasn't so great, up at 3:00 am and back to sleep maybe by 5.  When that happens and I am not forced into having to get up for anything? I'm sleeping in.  If I had a job, yes, I would force my @$$ out of bed and go do whatever it is.  

Speaking of jobs, this company called me back a few minutes ago. "Some good news and some bad news, I'll give the bad news first".  My mind instantly went through a whole range of potential scenarios where maybe there was something on my record? No, there is a speeding ticket but that was more than 3 years ago. I listed the accident and the ticket that came with it, no sense in trying to hide that. I detailed my exit from the previous company.  My CDL is current and my med card is also current. 

When you're filling out an application for a trucking job, you go through a whole field of permissions that you must acknowledge and sign.  They do all kinds of checking on you. Much of this is required by the feds or it's required by their insurance carrier.  Criminal background, civil background, DL checks, other trucking specific checks, it's pretty inclusive.  So, they know all about me now.  My fears were alleviated quickly. 

The bad news? A storm went through their El Dorado facility - which is what I would be based out of in Arkansas, not terribly far from here (not close either, but I don't have to stay at that facility, I can take the truck home, which would be parked over at the property) - and knocked the power out .The manager who wanted to call me and apparently get a feel for where I'm coming from ended up in a hotel and told the recruiter to inform me he'll be calling tomorrow at 10:00 am.  

That wasn't terribly bad news.  I guess the good news was he's calling tomorrow.  Ok, let's just say I am relieved that they went through everything and found nothing that would stop them from hiring me.  This will apply to most companies unless a company is specifically looking for a clean driving record, of which I cannot presently say that I have.  Shrugs shoulders, s*** happens, life happens, I had an accident, live and learn.  Move on.  

I did call a lawyer about this dude smashing me in the face during that accident stop, but they turned out to be accident injury lawyers, not the kind I need apparently.  I don't really want to end up in court over this, a call from a lawyer - you punched my client in the face, we want X amount of money.  Not terribly much, but he had no legitimate reason to punch me either.  It was sore for a few days, it was red on the outside and bruised on the inside.  Nothing terrible, that isn't the point.  

I suspect his going to jail was enough to give him a wake-up call - you can't just go around hitting people. I hadn't been punched since my teenage years.  I don't go around looking for fights, I'm getting a bit old for that, don't you think?  I specifically told the DA I didn't want him going to jail, actually just want an apology.  That will likely never happen.  Even if it doesn't, I am not going to demand the man spend time in a jail cell.  If he does it again to someone else, well, that's on him and yes, he'll probably end up in jail for a bit.  I'm more of the community service and possibly some counseling.  

Anyway, today?  I have to go get the sign, go to Walmart for Taylor's meds (she has to have an inhaler or she can't breath, basically), over to the court house to get the title transferred over into my name and over to Kroger's.  Kroger's is sort of a priority.  Taylor being pregnant, she has certain things that she wants to eat that can't be denied.  One of them is crab.  Kroger's is having a $7.99 per pound sale on it . Last week? It was $23.99 per pound.  Even when I was making great money I didn't pay that much for it.  

After that I can go to the property and start trying to find where the water leak originates from and see what it's going to take to fix it.  It's a big leak, unless it's in an inaccessible area, it should be easy to find.  I dunno about how easy to fix.  I want that done before anything else.  Or at least find the problem and see what kind of headache I may have in fixing it.  It will be fixed, one way or the other.  It's plumbing, plumbing can be a pain but it's not rocket science. 

I got a call from a lender saying that my D&B (Dunn&Bradstreet) score had gone up to 70.  I had no idea what that meant so I went to D&B to see. I started an account with them as soon as I found out you need one with them for any bank to really look at you for a loan.  Out of a 1 to 5 rating, 1 being the best and 5 being the worst, that puts me at 2.  It's an outlook they provide to determine whether you will pay back any loans you may get or if you'll declare bankruptcy or otherwise just walk away from it.  

Uhhh?  I know they don't know this, but I have so much money wrapped up into this thing, walking away from it would be stupidity defined.  It's easily a $400k property at this point.  Ok, maybe 350k.  Definitely somewhere in that neighborhood. Land prices have skyrocketed over the last few years, going rate is around 10k per acre and that's lowball now.  There's 250k worth of land, maybe subtract a bit for that gas operation - but probably not since no one else does it.  Then you have getting close to 200k wrapped up in the RV park portion.  

Hence, I think it a conservative figure to call it 400k.  Would anyone pay that much for it? I have no idea.  That other RV park is still up for sale, they haven't managed to sell it yet.  They brought the price down from 1.2 million to 1 million. It's 40 acres, has a building on it, a pond and I think 38 spaces.  That isn't much for a million. They turned down 750k for it.  Which is odd since the operation sits idle and has never been opened for business. 

I dread when they open. They are not close to town, really, but they are a threat to my business.  I don't have the financial wherewithal to compete with a person that spends that much money on a property and then presumably will add important upgrades.  Nothing I can do, but I'm watching for an opening sooner or later and also will be inspecting what kind of advertising they will do.  

Oh, well the person that called with the D&B upgrade left a message stating they can give me a loan for up to 500k because of the upgrade and etc, so forth and so on.  

Tempting, but when people call me like that, I don't trust them. FAR too many scams going on nowadays with everything. And hold on to your hats with the AI scams where the AI can speak exactly the same as any given loved one.  It can trick you into thinking you are talking to that person.  

 

Made it to church. Really liked the message, glad I went.  It was a challenging message, I'm not saying I liked it because it strokes the flesh/ego. 

Off to the property afterward, the people at lot 14 were all over the idea of getting at me and getting into an extended conversation.  Nice folks, they are buying property but, as usual, it's taking forever to close.  There weren't too many complaints, but they said the shed smells like cigarettes. I don't smoke cigarettes, James hasn't been in there in 2 weeks.  She said they may be at my place until October.  

Sounds about right. They have 3 closings to do - long story not worth going into.  Then they have to get utilities run to the intended RV site.  Yup, you're going to wait probably 2 months for the power company to get out there. They said it isn't Swepco and named the name of the company - Upshur. Yup, it'll be even longer than Swepco. She replied they told her 12 weeks.  Well, they can't start the utility request until they get the property they are going to end up with.

Ok, ok. Short version of the story:  They bought a property that is out in the middle of a rancher's property that surrounds it. Hundreds of acres surrounding this 6 acre situation. The lady that owned it wouldn't sell to the rancher after she listed it for sale, lmao.  Bad blood there, who knows, obviously a story and I would love to hear it. 

So, these folks bought the property and the rancher offered to give them 6 acres of property elsewhere that he owns in exchange for that property.  They agreed after seeing it, declaring that it was better property than the one they bought.  It's a long process just to get one property closed, lol.  I'm glad they'll be there a while, I can't really afford more people leaving right now.  I already have at least one more being sent somewhere else and if he leaves before the full month is up, I'll have to pro-rate a refund to him. 

After that conversation, I went into the shed.  Yes, heavy cigarette smell, I contacted the person I know who is doing it and asker her to please stop smoking in there.  I have received no reply, but the message is conveyed.  

Off to Applebee's. Yes I'm staying away from restaurants but this is just a thing I have been doing on Sundays, tho admittedly haven't been there in 3 weeks.  That was cut short with the oncoming storm whose intensity grew significantly into a severe thunderstorm warning.  That little dog of theirs goes crazy in thunderstorms, needed to get home and put her in their bedroom before the thunder reached us.  Wolf down food and left.  Kind of unfortunate.  My one restaurant outing of the week and I had to hurry up and leave.  

_________

Storm didn't even hit yet, a little rain but the worst of it yet to come and the power has gone out 4 times now.  I can tell you that after going 7 days without power not that long ago, I really don't want to do that again.  Like, do I need to run over to the park, hook up the trailer, go to where I have generator stored, push that thing up on the trailer and drag it home?  I seriously hope not.  

But I have this down now.  Run a heavy duty extension cord through my window, plug everything in including the AC unit and I can live normally. In my room, anyway.  

.....riding this one out. The power came back on and so, I'll just hope it stays on. Other people in town saying their power is still out.  

 The people that took off to New Jersey showed up yesterday.  The storyline is that they got into a minor accident, didn't have insurance on their vehicle (they were at fault), had the truck impounded and the police allegedly took all of their possessions including their ID's as well.  I've heard of vehicles being impounded for no insurance, I have never heard of police taking your ID and personal possessions and not giving them back unless you are being arrested.  Sounded sketchy to me.  Like, something is being left out in this story.  None of my business, really. What is my business is getting them to pay me or getting them out of there.

I unplugged their rig after finding out they weren't even in town, not anywhere near town and unknown return date.  I checked my notes, they pulled their rv in there on the 14th of last month, were supposed to pay on the 28th, instead, they took off and then get themselves into this predicament. We're at the 16th of July now, so that thing has been parked there over a month.  The only reason I didn't move it is because I have empty lots.  If all the other lots were full or booked, I would have moved that thing behind the shed and end of story.  I could have legally had it towed to an impound yard. 

So, we had a discussion yesterday, she said she would come up with money in the next 2 days.  Later on, she sent me a pic of a huge DeWalt cordless collection that is likely worth serious money that she is attempting to sell.  Where did she get it? I thought but didn't ask. Her father passed away recently, which is the reason she said she went to NJ, perhaps it was his stuff?  I have no idea.  I just know I have been patient long enough.  If they had money to pay for fuel to drive to NJ, they had money to pay me. She gets disability every month as well. She is clearly disabled, she has severe arthritis, she can barely use her hands/fingers at all. 

I have my own financial stresses right now and paying for someone's electricity to run their AC unit and other stuff isn't part of my plan to get the ship righted.  So, she has until tomorrow. After that, I'm going to ask her to move the thing off of my property - or - perhaps allow them to move it behind the shed. No electricity, just a place to park it. If they don't have money to pay me, they don't have money to move it to another RV park.  I'm assuming she gets her monthly payment on the 28th, but that's 12 days from now and I'm just not going to allow this to continue on.  I don't mean to sound harsh, but the idea that they had money and blew it without giving me anything doesn't set right with me.

Now.  Another guy called yesterday. It was a lengthy conversation, I will talk with people if they want to talk and try to set them at ease that my park IS the place they want to come to.  He says tentatively leaving where he's at on Wednesday but not 100% certain yet on the departure date.  He is also a pipeline worker, so it's definitely a long-term thing. I dunno, there have been a few of these types of conversations lately but nothing has come of it. I do have new, long-term in there but that was a "do you have a space?" and then "we're coming today after work".  And they did, lol. 

In terms of location, the plot of land I was looking at a long time ago for my park would have been better.  It is on the other side of town and before anyone gets to the other rv parks on that road.  Well, this was a side street off the highway and you had to drive back quite a ways. I would be getting a lot more of the pipeline workers than what I'm getting. It's several miles closer to Shreveport. 

I don't regret not buying that property, I just wish I could have found something over there that would have worked.  The reason I don't regret it is because the property is located next to the airport and right were small planes do their run-ups.  It gets very noisy and the noise goes on for a while.  

If I had property that was out of city limits and near an Interstate exit, I would definitely put something in there for RV's.  It's the way people like it, apparently, in wanting to get off the Interstate and not have to drive far.  This is why my focus switched to long term, begrudgingly so. Much more money to be made off of short term than long term.  But, I'm 2-1/2 miles off the Interstate and people just don't think it's so great to drive that far.  They would, apparently, rather listen to highway noise all day and night long.  I-20 through there is very busy and lots of constant noise. Especially from trucks using their engine brakes.  

It will be something that I will be looking at in the future, if I go back into trucking, get my debt paid down, get the amenities I want in the current park and get some more people in there.  The idea of putting in more spaces hasn't left, it's just on hold.  I figure when they start converting US59 into an Interstate in my area, I'm going to be full and will be able to charge more to boot.  That's a guess, but it's a pretty good one.  You have people staying locally, not people having to drive clear to Shreveport, which makes any decent park in the area a good bet that they are going to fill up if they aren't already. 

Another model I have seen are parks filling up with these little housing units.  They look like they are about the same size as my shed, but they are actual housing units, not converted sheds. One park is full of those things, owned by the park and they appear to be rented out.  I will likely have to consider doing things that I originally was opposed to in order to get the business I need in there.  I'm not going to stay stuck on a business model that isn't working.  It does, however, take money in order to accomplish such things.  

I just don't want the place to look trashy.  That's all I ask of myself, is not lower standards of a good looking, clean park.  I keep that place clean, picking up trash all the time.  I shouldn't have to pick up after adults, but we all know that people throw trash around like the earth is a giant trash can and there is little you can do about it.  It isn't usually a lot of trash, I just bite my tongue and pick it up for the sake of appearances.  

People drive through all the time looking at the place.  I don't know if they're potential customers or if they're competitors or just curiosity, but I both see them when I'm there and on the camera.  

Apparently my tiller won't be done until Friday, my  next focus is the RV. A water leak that needs to be fixed, carpet installed and whatever else I find that needs addressed.  I want to get it fixed and rented out or sold.  I'm not going to fix the engine at this point in time, it isn't going anywhere. If I need to move it, it will start and move, it just doesn't run that great.  The only priority is get it fixed and get it rented.  At the right price, I should be able to get someone in it quickly  

I have no idea the actual source of the water leak, it will probably be a pain in the @$$ to get at and oh well.  It is coming out from above a cubby hole accessible from the outside.  I don't know, but I'll take whatever I have to take apart to get at it and hope no damage is done in the process.  It has to be fixed, that's all I know.  I figure I can easily get $550 a month for the thing, just get it rented and get some money coming in from it. I like the idea of selling it better, but that may not be feasible.  People wanting to move into something that old may not have a lot of down payment money available and I will insist on a down payment, non-refundable.  

Whatever the case, at least right now, it appears going back on the road is inevitable, hence looking for a job, putting inquiries and seeing what I can come up with. I can tell ya, if the "right" job were to come to me, I would take it right now without hesitation and do the grass later.  Like, even wait until cool weather and just put rye grass down again. That stuff doesn't come back after planting it, it dies out and you have to start over every year.  The good thing about rye grass is it's easy to grow. You don't have to till anything, you just wait until there is forecast of rain for a week or so, spread the seed and eventually, watch it grow. It's also cheap compared to any summer grass. I was and stand astonished at the high price of bermuda and other grass seed.  $300 plus per 50 pound bag? 

75% chance of rain this afternoon. I wasn't planning on doing anything anyway. Well, I'm trying to get myself to get into the shower and get ready for church. No kids to motivate me to do that here, but I need to go anyway. It's only an hour and I usually get something out of the message.  I then go to the park, check everything and then either go to Applebee's for lunch or go home and cook something.  Right now, I'm staying away from restaurants of any kind.  It's pricey and I don't need my finances eaten up for something I already have in the refrigerator.  

Yes, I'm definitely going to church now that I think about it.  It's that or sit around the house all day long, alone.  Not that that's a bad thing, but it's good to get out and socialize a bit.  Or at least have some kind of human interaction.  

With that, it's off to the shower.

G'day

 I made the mistake of going back to the Park yesterday at around 7:30 pm and mowing the doggy park.  I just wanted it done.  I can't be having my park looking like some weed kingdom.  

I am calling it a mistake because I feel like hell this morning. My head is aching and unless I am going through another Keto flu, it is highly likely because I spent so much time in this heat.  It's not a riding mower, it is self propelled but you still have to push and pull it in frequently and you are on your feet, walking the entire time with heavy boots on.

I don't walk through tall grass/weeds with tennis shoes on, there may be snakes. It also ruins the shoes by getting that green substance on them.  

Anyway, the second time around did me in.  I came home and took a cool shower to clean up and cool off and drank a lot of water and tea.  But the damage was done. 

Now, someone has texted me saying the wifi is having issues.  I was going to wait until later, maybe start feeling a little better, before going over there.  I'll have to reset the device. They said it hasn't been working right since Wednesday, which is odd because I hooked up to it 2 days ago to access internet to run 2 credit cards through. Had no issues besides an old laptop that takes it's sweet old time even getting started up.  

It might be too hot for that thing. It's outside. Well, it's inside a plastic container but it's in the open.  The sun beats down on it.  I just figured I'd leave it like that and see what happens when I first installed it. It's had no problems until now.  Still, I wonder if maybe someone kicked the extension cord or something and moved it around inside there. 

It has to be face the right direction or it won't pick up the signal and it won't deliver internet.  It has it's own nuances that you have to figure out as you go along.  I do have the other router, but it's in the shed, doubtful it reaches the entire park.  It would, however, reach the people that are saying the other one isn't working. They are maybe 100 feet away. The routers have something like a 300 foot range.  Anyway, I will be going over there and checking it out...in a few. 

Funny how people just don't say anything about something going wrong.  I haven't heard any complaints from anyone else. They either have their own wifi or they just aren't saying anything about it?  No idea.  

I'm down 7 pounds in  a fast hurry.  It just plummeted and has stayed there.  No clue.  Ketosis hit and there it went.  About time, I was packing on the fat. It comes on fast. Even without eating any sugar and very few carbs - this was before I finally got back into ketosis - the fat was piling on.  It's crazy, the older you get the easier you gain weight? At a younger age, eating the way I am now, ketosis or not, I would have dumped the extra pounds quickly.  

It probably helps that I'm working outside a lot and quite a bit of physical exertion.  I have other areas that need mowed - I was just getting the lots, the triangle, some of it by meters and the doggy park done.  If I were to do the rest of it, there's probably half a day's worth anyway.  I may do it, too, because once those weeds get too big, the mower won't plow them down.  The stems get too thick and tough. You can mow over the top of them but it won't destroy them.  They will just stand back up and keep on growing.  

So, I will have to get that done. I don't know about today, but definitely soon.  

I also hooked up water to the rv yesterday.  The faucets were all working, but the toilet was a continuous flush.  They had installed a valve to open and close to shut off the water instead of fixing or replacing the toilet. Kind of dumb, IMO.  Fix it correctly, dang. Then I got outside to make sure there were no visible leaks.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well. There was a huge leak coming out of the rear passenger side. Shrugs shoulders. As long as I can get to the leak, I can fix it. Even if it's a bad water pump - those are expensive - I can bypass it. It doesn't need a pump, it's running off of city water pressure.  Pumps are only if you don't have a water connection and need water pressure.

Not saying it's the pump, but that would be the worse-case scenario.  I know, I just said fixing or replacing the toilet is what they should have done and now saying to bypass a pump, not the same. The toilet you are using daily, probably several times a day.  The pump? No need at all for it. I assume it's road days  are over with, tho a person could fix the problems with the engine if they really wanted to.  It's definitely a blown exhaust manifold gasket and probably carburetor needs replaced along with fresh fuel. It handles very well driving down the road.  Smooth ride, it doesn't wander all over the place. 

Still looking at jobs.  There is another one, it's not hazmat but it's local, home every day.  I have a list of fuel hauling companies that I have compiled over time. I am going to look at all of those.  I dunno if they offer training, but if any of them do, I would be very tempted to go that route. 

However.....this job where I'm home every day. It means that it must not be long runs and that it's a "short" day, at least by trucker standards.  The pay is low enough to warrant not much miles.  It would still be enough to live off of, especially coupled with park income.  

Alright. Enough doodling around. Time to go over there and check out the router. 

G'day

 I'm sorry but I'm absolute toast.  I mowed, mowed some more, then the thing ran out of gas. Refilled it and then? It wouldn't run.  This is getting ridiculous.  I pulled the spark plug out, it was in bad condition. Ran up to Auto Zone, got a new one, put that thing in there, took a few tries but it eventually fired up and didn't have a problem with it again. 

Got a call from a hazmat tanker company.  We went through the normal stuff, told me it was OTR. I don't turn it down immediately, I like to hear them out.  But, apparently, a new screen showed up on her computer and said, OHHH! We have a home daily position! 

Wait, what? She offered that after I informed her I don't know the type of tanker work she is referring to, I'd have to be trained, I only did cryogenic hauling.  But I have to tell you before I go into this any further, it's only $1,000 to $1,200 per week.  It's a short run, you do it every day? I'm not sure if it's a 7 day a week gig, I was very hot at that point, standing in the direct sunlight, had to turn the mower off to hear her.  

I don't want to work 7 days a week regardless of how short the run is, unless it's a very short run. I'm going to fill out this particular, entire application.  This is something I would be very interested in and even would consider starting right now if they mandated it.  

I'm just sitting here trying to cool off. I pretty much over-did it.  But, I kept getting lots done and thought, just one more.  And then at the last lot, the entry way triangle. Well, I'll just do that too.  It is the first thing you see when you get up to the RV park portion and I like to keep it looking decent.  

And then, after that, the area besides the last rv on the other side - chock full of weeds.  There were no weeds there before the winter grass died.  I got a good portion of that done and then it hit me.  Yup, it's time to stop right now, go get a cold drink, sit in the ac in the shed.  And that's exactly what I did. But after sitting there a while, I decided I'm done for the day.  

I'll think about going over and starting on the RV tomorrow morning.  Now that the park doesn't look like an overridden weed haven....but there's still the dog park to do and I want that done as well. 

_______________

Just decided to go ahead and fill out that application. So much personal information the feds require any given company to ask of any potential employee, it's a bit much.  I want to see if my accident is going to hinder me from getting a decent job.  But if it's possible, I don't want to pass up the opportunity for something that gets me home when I want to - daily is good. 

The house smelled soooo good when I came in this afternoon. I have that roast in the crock pot and it smells delicious. Couple more hours before I can eat that.  I dropped 4 pounds being out in that sun. Water weight, I'm sure but more interesting is that I am now in full fledged ketosis.  I don't know what I've been eating that has been keeping me out of it. 

____________

They called back already and basically offered me a job. It would entail flying to Oregon and staying there up to 3 weeks with orientation and then learning how to do the particular tanker work I would be doing. I was informed the plant loads but I have to unload.  I don't care about unloading as long as I have sufficient training to understand what I am doing.  You want to know everything about whatever product you are hauling when it comes to hazmat.  

This would not be cryo stuff, but I don't care about that either. They apparently didn't care about my traffic accident and said I had amply discussed my departure from previous company that that didn't phase them either.  The only drawback? They don't have the opening until September.  I don't know if I have enough finances to last that long.  I can definitely get into August, but September?  Well, I tentatively accepted the offer and will have to grind through my finances and see if I can make it. 

It's a no brainer if I could fill the park up with long term or get it to at least 12 spots worth of them.   I can't really do anything more than I've already done, I don't think anyway, in order to get more people in there besides dropping prices even more.  Yeah, no.  Well, I take that back. I'll see with my next electric bill. It should be well down with less people in there and 5 days of the power being shut off due to that wicked storm. 

If I could get some people in there at maybe another $25 per month deduction I might see if I can go that route.  It's not impossible that the park could fill up.  It's such a fickle market and I just don't have crystal balls to see into the near future.  People move here all the time for various reasons.  There was a nurse that said she'd be coming in the next month or 2 if she gets the gig. There was another lady wanting to move a tiny house in, but it was still under construction and she said months before it would be ready. There's been all kinds of things, I just haven't seen a lot of it actually coming in. 

Well, I'm not dead set on that job. I may need to find something sooner. Perhaps there is something even better out there, who knows. But I have my foot in the door for something if nothing else comes my way that has the same appeal as getting home every day.  And probably not very long days, either.  I have ample space to park a truck at my property and no concern about thieves or vandals getting into it.  My Hipcamp area is turning into an overflow parking area as it stands. 

Hipcamp fizzled out, I don't know how you get those kinds of people in to a place.  It may be that it's a seasonal thing and right now, east Texas is not a good season for much of anything considering the heat.  Haven't really thought about Hipcamp until just now. It's up and running on there, I get very few calls about it and even fewer people showing up from it.  I dunno if a kitchen is a necessity to get people in for that.  I am not thinking about putting that kitchen in there right now, no, it's just the thought.  I did the right thing by installing a shower, bathroom and laundry. People want access to that stuff.  I've had several trailers in there with non-working water and people being forced to take showers in my facility.  

Anyway, I'm worn out.  Went to the store for horseradish for the beautiful roast, it was quite delicious.  But now I'm just laid out doing much of nothing. Taylor posted pics of their outing with the kids to the zoo up there today.  I'm missing the fun, but I wouldn't have wanted to go. Just personal issues with the people they went to see which I have already gone into.

Well, I think I will keep looking at jobs.  Just focusing on local stuff right now.  

 Friday morning - early

Decided to get the roast in the crock pot early. Small roast, I picked it up many days ago, yes it's still good lol, I smelled it and it still looks great.  Glad I bought a small one now that the folks are gone, I'll have dinners for the next several days.  Not really looking to do a lot of cooking but also not looking to spend money at restaurants.  In fact, I've been doing quite well staying away from any restaurants at all.  

Sleep fairly typical. Wake up in the middle of the night, lay there awake for however long, finally get back to sleep.  Need that to change, but I don't have any idea how to change it.  

The amenities shed is getting fairly constant use now.  The toilet, the shower stall and the laundry. When I say constant, I'm talking day time hours and some night hours, tho last night it went late.  I had to mute the phone for the endless notifications coming through.  These people that came in yesterday for an overnight stay went immediately to the shed and started doing laundry. She was in there this morning continuing on with it.  Their water lines are leaking on their trailer, they are also doing all of their bathroom breaks in there.

But even without them, there is a steady stream of people doing laundry and using the facilities.  I say this because I went to a lot of work and expense to get that thing up and running.  Long time readers already know this but I thought I'd revisit the issue momentarily to thank God that that project is almost done.  Some of the people that are long term in the park would have never come if that facility wasn't there. Just trying to justify to myself the rather large amount of money that was dumped into the thing. 

As it stands, if the bathroom facility keeps getting that kind of use, it may warrant installing another, much smaller toilet room. Not a shower, nothing in it really, just a toilet.  I've got a place for it and I've got the sewer T'ed off the main line right there.  I'm not saying it would be an "easy" project, but it is doable. However, at this point? I am done with that thing for now.  I need a long break from working on that shed.  Well, take that back, I have some painting left to do but not very much.  

Today's agenda hasn't changed from what I declared it to be last night.  Mow, mow, mow.  Possibly get started on the carpet in the RV, depending on how long I have to mow or, more likely, how long I last mowing before the heat gets to me.  We have another of an endless chain of heat advisories, saying that heat indexes will go up as high as 109 today. It was very hot yesterday, I don't doubt it will be very hot today.

I am giving up on Maria.  She never showed, she isn't saying anything, I'll just find someone else or get a bucket of water and cleaners and do it myself.  Just something I don't want to do. There are cleaning companies around and just people doing side work that I can get to do it for me.  I have - hopefully - a minimum amount more of money left getting things done in there before I can rent it out.  Holding my breath about hooking a water line up to it and pressuring it up...

Well, excepting, of course, having the title switched into my name.  That window will run out next week, I am forced to pay it.  Hate the idea, but what choice do I have, especially if I am going to want to sell it on payments?  No choice in the matter.  I am hemming and hawing back and forth about renting or selling it.  Selling it takes the pressure off of me to fix whatever may go bad.  Renting it leaves it open into perpetuity.  I think, really, selling it is the best idea. If I could get someone to make a decent down payment plus make the monthly payments, it would be a boon to my bank account over just renting it. 

I'll make that decision when I get to it, which hopefully won't be too much longer.  It needs to be useable before I either try selling it or definitely renting it.  Ill get it occupied one way or another, I'm pretty confident of that.  There are far too many people looking for housing that is affordable in my area.  With utilities and wifi included, it is a no brainer, at least to me.  I hope I don't find out differently! lol

Ok, it's time to get off my @$$ and get over there.  My coffee break time is over.  My dinner is in the crockpot, probably come home for lunch and whoa. Forgot, I need to get over to the sign place before I go to the property.  I tried to go the other day but didn't know they close at 4:00. Anyway, I intend on getting a large portion of grass/weeds cut down today.

G'day

 Home alone.  The folks - all of them - left about an hour ago.  I left here - the house - for the park before the left.  Money talks, I need it badly and I will take whatever I can get.  

I need a couple more people in here immediately, really.  Tomorrow will be likely be split in getting the weeds cut down with the hand mower and either attempting to finish the painting in the shed or get that carpet installed in the motorhome.  

The great state of Texas is going to charge me a percentage fee of what I paid for  the motorhome to get the title in my name. This is an expense I could do without right now, but if I don't get it done within 21 days of having it signed over (they put the date on it), I have to go back and try to get the original owners to write me another bill of sale.  I know this because I was in there today getting my registration renewed on my SUV. It's just one thing after another. 

I'm going to have to focus on getting that thing ready to rent out or sell. Quick.  The money would be useful. I just don't feel good about a park full of weeds.  At least cut the damned things down even if it is with a push mower and will take me far longer to do than doing it with the riding mower.  

Anyway, it's an odd feeling being in this house alone. Well, not totally alone. My buddy Addler is with me and their dog and their cats as well. And can't forget about the fish!  Still, I just find myself pulling down the handgun, ensuring it's loaded and ready to pop.  It is highly likely nothing will happen.  It's just me, I guess.  They will be gone for a week at least and may stay even longer.  This vacation is in lieu of Taylor's original vacation.

She was going to take the kids with her to visit an old friend in Florida, but that family had some serious medical issues arise and it just isn't prudent for her to go there. Instead, it's his mother they're going to and then her relatives - I think - they will visit in Missouri. 

So what am I going to do alone for an entire week? Nothing different than I normally do.  The park is the main center of my attention right now, there is still much to get done, tho thankfully I can say the shed is just short of being done, at least for now.  I only need finish painting and then James is going to do whatever else he thought he needed to do in there and then I can get his tools out of there.  

Lol, they are texting me their whereabouts.  Like, they still have a long way to go.  Maybe the kids will sleep and spare them the irritation of the 2 fighting with each other, bickering, are we there yet, etc. 

One thing is for certain, I will have peace and quiet. It's summer, the kids have been in our faces every day that they have been home.  It gets old. They get bored so they start picking on each other or come asking us "what should I do now?".  I don't know, you're a kid, use your imagination, go figure it out! But I've been taking the older one to the property and yes, he actually will work. He's motivated to get certain toys he wants.  It's better than sitting around the house all day long getting bored out of their minds.  

We painted today and yes, he doesn't mind actually working. 2 days in a row he was picking up sticks and rocks on the freshly tilled lots.  It's a good beginning of learning a work ethic.  I don't think the kids in this house are going to grow up feeling entitled for much of anything.  It's much more of an old school upbringing and preparing them for the life that is fast coming at them.  They turn 18 quick.  It seems like a long time but it passes quickly.  It's refreshing to see versus all of this nonsense going on with younger generations now.  

I've been looking at trucking jobs every day for at least a week now.  Probably longer, I dunno, I've been pretty busy.  I've filled out inquiries on several of them.  Mostly hazmat stuff since it pays more.  You'd be surprised at how many truck drivers want nothing to do with hazmat.  I can admit I was afraid of it when I first started - morbidly afraid. Like, I think it's going to blow up while I'm driving down the road.

Irrational fear, but real fear.  The other issue with hazmat is the myth that is endlessly repeated about how hard it is to get your hazmat endorsement. Sure, you have to do some study but it's really not that hard.  It really annoyed me that I had fallen for that myth for so many years, where I could have been making so much more money.  It was a challenge to get that endorsement and another challenge to get it renewed last time I had to do my license - it's good until I turn 62.  And my medical is good for 2 years.  

Well, I'll find something eventually. I don't know what or how long I'll have to be out on the road in between home stops - or whether I can find a good local job - but I will find something.  There is only one way that I could extend my time off from trucking and that's if my park filled up in the next 2 weeks and I was getting 14 payments - well hopefully 15  with that RV - paying every month.  I'm just trying to make it until the middle of next month, when James and Taylor renew their wedding vows.

Pretty much a wedding in itself, people coming in from all over the country.  If I get a job now, the only way I could be home for that if it's not a local job is if I stipulate that I will be home for the weekend - the entire weekend - that the wedding is planned.  

But I can't go back to work just yet anyway.  Get that RV going, the grass done and that's the last of my excuses. There's other things that really need to be done, but there is no money for it.  Things that will just have to wait.  Eventually, I wouldn't mind having asphalt put in the main driveway for the first 800 feet.  I'm tired of dealing with pot holes and water damage from rain.  

Okay. I'm preparing myself to try and get up early tomorrow morning.  It's much easier to mow in the early morning hours when it's still relatively cool - at least compared to what the temp will get tomorrow afternoon.  I've been getting up early anyway, I just haven't been leaving too early.  

Enough.  Really want to run up to the store for Keto treats. I ran out yesterday, lol.

 I finally got another long term tenant in. They liked the place instantly and said they would be staying a "long time".  This very much fine by me.  I need several more of them to come in here.  Here - I'm at the property, I'm very unmotivated today.  I'm trying, folks, but it just isn't in me for some reason.  

The tiller is at one shop and the riding mower is at another.  I think that's what deflated me today.  I'm sitting here in limbo thinking, ok, do I get more paint? Go into the RV and start cutting carpet? Sit here and mope because I can't finish this tilling job? What?  

Anyway, these people just called out of the blue, said they would move in "tonight" - which was yesterday and sure enough. They showed up with 2 trucks that are probably worth around $150k and a very long 5th wheel trailer with numerous slideouts.  I marvel at the amount of money people spend on such things, but then again, it is there home. Some of them live in them full time and have no house anywhere else.  The lady is pregnant.  What a bad time of year to be heavy with child, it was hot yesterday and it's hot again today.

I have real-time access to that information being around Taylor and she is quite pregnant. She has lost a lot of body fat and actually losing weight but her belly has gotten very large, lol.  Apparently that's the best part of pregnancy, losing fat and weight for her.  Plus breast milk after the fact also helping with weight loss.  Still, the discomfort of having all of that bulge and weight on the belly....

________-

Late. Sitting at the park. We painted today, got most of it done.  I have some floor level edging to do and have to pull out the laundry machines to get behind them.  I don't think I"ll do the ceiling at this point in time, it just looks white and  that's fine for now. The tiller repair guy said it needs a new carburetor but it won't cost that much, which is also fine as long as he can get it running smoothly and at full throttle, that's the speed it needs to be at for the tilling to work.  

I am not, unfortunately, going to be able to wait until the riding mower is fixed to do the grass/weeds. It's getting too tall and unsightly. I'll have to come out tomorrow and deal with some of that. I don't normally do it all in one day, especially having to do it with a push mower.  

I came to collect from the new long term tenants and also an older couple who don't like navigating campground software online. The guy went into a long story about how some dude smashed his side mirror into his new trailer and then took off. Then told me about the water leak he had last time he was in here. 2 grandkids in tow, I felt for him. "I'm just trying to spend time with my grandkids".  I get that.  I don't normally get into long conversations with guests unless they initiate it, then I can talk for a while lol.  

Anyway, the sun is going down I'm half tempted to at least mow the doggy park. 

 

 Lol. Forced my butt out of bed, shave, shower, get dressed, coffee and fixin' to leave and what happens? It starts pouring rain. Lol. I dunno if that means I won't get to do more tilling today or not, but I postponed my departure.  I'm not getting soaking wet just to walk out to the vehicle.  I can paint or work inside the RV if not tilling, I just have my mind set on tilling cause' it's overcast again and working outside without the full sun baking down on you is advantageous.  

In fact, it was so dark when I woke up this morning what with dark, overcast skies, I didn't realize what time it actually was.  First night out of many that I was able to sleep without the itching factor. Didn't even have to take Benadryl. 

Bud Light.  Still watching this tragedy of errors from AH corporate making stupid commercials that are angering their customer - or now-former -  base even more.  Now, Mulvaney - the trans activist that Bud Light made a special beer can with "her" - actually his - face on it, has moved to Peru so he can feel "safer".  What is board of directors doing about this, because the CEO clearly doesn't have a clue?  Most people probably don't care if you want to be a trans person, they just don't want it crammed down their throats. And more importantly, this issue of pushing puberty blockers and other transitioning medications on to minors.  Or having school systems help the student hide all of this from their parents.  

Anyway, I have no idea whether Maria is going to come and clean out that thing, so if she doesn't do it in the next couple of days, I will find someone else to do it.  I don't have time to scrub the entire interior of that thing. I will if I have to, but I have lots of other things going on that need my attention more than that.  It isn't particularly dirty, it just has a musty smell from being left closed for so long and a freshening-up in there is necessary.  

I hate to open the windows because as soon as you do that, the mud daubers and wasps find their way in there. I never leave the windows of my SUV down because of that reason, having learned the hard way.  

I've got a slew of trucking companies that I have picked out as potential, first wave of applications.  After that, it's all regional or OTR.  Regional sounds interesting, but they won't get you home more often than once a week.  It's just the way it is.  There is a local company that runs this area that has you home every night, but the pay is a bit low.  I think you're making 70k per year, it's a bit less than I really want to get for having to sacrifice my personal life to drive a damn truck.  

At the same time, I don't want to be driving all over the United States.  I know what happens.  They will send you everywhere but anything close to your home.  At my age and life experience, I would just tell them to either send me home "as agreed" or I will drive the truck to the nearest terminal to my home park it, unload my stuff out of it and sayonara.  If you don't believe that, just ask Werner. They hired me in the 90's to drive their blue trucks and promised X amount of home time on X schedule.  

It didn't happen and I was pushing being out on the road a month.  There were other factors as well, but that was the major one.  They finally sent me on a trip home.  I got the trailer unloaded, went to the yard, handed in the keys, locks and other junk they assign you and left that company permanently.  I'd do it without hesitation again if I were pushed that far. 

If I can just find something local, I'm really going to try to get in with one of these fuel haulers. But I'd have to be trained and a lot of them don't appear to do the training. They want people who know how to do it right off the bat. Which begs the question, if no one wants to train you, how do you learn?  You have to learn the routine and nuances of loading the truck yourself.  It doesn't look complicated but there is methodology to it that you must know.  I've seen the videos of drivers driving off the loading dock without having had unhooked the lines.

The lines burst, some sort of lever comes flying down which automatically shuts the fuel off. The loading station is destroyed and has to have a lot of repairs, but there is minimal gasoline spillage.  I'm sure they won't be inviting you back to their facility again after such an event, either.  

Well, the rain has stopped, the youngest kid is screaming - he does that a lot for attention and to get his way - and I don't want to sit around listening to this nonsense. Not when I can go to the property, put on bluetooth ear buds, play music and work a machine. Or if it's too wet, start painting.  Any way about it, I'm outta here.

G'day.

 I don't know if it was just sweating my @$$ off all day or what, but at least at the moment and pretty much the entire day outside, I haven't been itching at all. Like it just when whoosh! and disappeared.  My painting ambitions went right out the window. Not a big priority. The ugliness of the lots IS a priority.

So, I fired up that tiller machine and went to work.  I got 3 lots done - it takes hours, it's not fast work - and then the thing quit on me. I looked down at it, the carburetor was half hanging off of it.  It's not a new machine by any stretch of the imagination. That put a dent in my progress as I had to go find a gasket for the carburetor and replace the missing screw.  

No gasket available at 3 different places,  I bought gasket material and cut my own out.  Got it back together, not sure if I got something wrong, it kind of choked, sputtered but finally got moving. 2 lots later and I quit. It was after 5, I was drenched in sweat, not feeling particularly good, but felt good to get some of this stuff done.  I've got 6 lots done and 1 partially done.  Basically 8 to go, the partial one was only one pass, that particular lot will take probably 6 or 7 passes over it to do all of it.

Just diligently working to try and get all of this stuff done, over with and behind me.  

Maria was a no show. She was going to clean the thing out. I have a couple practically begging me to let them rent the thing.  I couldn't give them a definitive answer when it's going to be done, I want it cleaned up and the carpet and sofa in there.  I think I will invite them up to take a look at it.  I don't know what their situation is, but they want to be near our town desperately for some odd reason versus the even smaller town that they are in. 

The nearest big city around here, at least my version of one, is 157 miles away - Dallas.  Houston is 240 miles.  All the towns around here are tiny little things.  I don't consider Shreveport or Longview a big city by any stretch of the imagination.  

Anyway, I think tomorrow I will break the day up into a couple of sectors.  Install the carpet in the RV and then do some more tilling?  I need to feel like I'm working on the RV as well, I need the money that thing can generate.  It's almost guaranteed that if I advertise that thing in the local gossip group, someone or several someones will be asking about it.  It's a place to live, it's near the town - ok they call it a city, I just think a place that only has 22,000 or so citizens is a town, lol - there's plenty of jobs in that town - albeit low paying, that's what some people's mentality is.  

In reality, if I get started on that RV tomorrow, the lot tilling will take a backseat and I will work on that thing all day long?  It's just the way I do things. It's a double whammy as far as I see it. The park is kind of a turn off in it's appearance, so I don't wonder if that's why I'm not getting more long term but the RV is a money generator. They are both money generators, which one should take precedence?  Hence, since I don't have the answer to that, I will work on both of them simultaneously.  

I have a heat headache, gag.  Just sitting in my cool bedroom drinking lots of fluids right now, trying to rehydrate. 

I don't know what's going on with Keto.  I've been doing it for a couple of weeks now? And still not in ketosis.  I have found the real fat loss really begins once ketosis is reached.  I don't know if I need to do a water fast for a couple of days or what.  My weight came down 10 pounds but I never checked if I was in ketosis. I noticed the scale moving back up even tho I really haven't been eating a lot lately.  Salads, some meats, cheeses.  Lots of salads.  Today I've eaten a very small bowl of spaghetti sauce - no noodles - and a slim jim.  

I'm fixing to eat a salad, maybe put some chicken on it.  

I take that back. There are 2 parties interested in renting out that RV.  I'm getting bad vibes on one of the couples, there is too much desperation.  Like, what's the whole/real story here? I'm trying to get it out of them. 

Well whatever. I just remembered that I saw one of the spigots at one of the empty lots leaking today. I think I have the parts already to fix it.  It's a slow leak, but you know how a leak going on 24 hours a day can equate to a lot of water and a high water bill.  

I haven't heard back from the people stranded in New Jersey.  I haven't even thought about it today until just now.  They're "supposed" to be getting a brother to come over and hand over some money.  I dunno, but I unplugged the thing, I'm not going to have the thing being cooled with no one living in it or paying for the electricity.  Senseless waste of electricity.  

Enough. It's only 9 but I'm super tired.  Going to sleep early. 

Tuesday - morning

Groggy.  Benadryl makes me feel that way.  It makes you sleepy but that still doesn't equate into sleeping all night long.  Definitely feeling groggy right now.  I'm trying to wake up so I can go get some work done.  The itching has subsided some, actually right now I don't feel any itching but that's the work of the antihistamine in Benadryl.  

Presumably, Maria is either already over there cleaning or on her way over there.  This was her stated intentions as of last night.  Deep clean the unit and get that musty smell out of it, hopefully.  

Disney. No, not the woke stuff going on with it.  Just the experience of going to the park and making memories.  Disneyland used to be a favorite destination point long ago, before the age of people being able to make reservations for the rides and the restaurants came into existence.  That's right.  People reserve rides well in advance of coming to the park.  You will find on certain days restaurants there that are booked the entire day, you can't just walk in, sit down and enjoy a meal.

I was reading about this and wondered what Walt Disney would have done or how he would feel about the guest experience in this digital age.  I've been to Disneyland when it's so crowded, you can barely move without bumping into someone else.  Not exactly the experience you wanted and waiting an hour or longer in line to get on a ride.  I've found at large parks regardless of which one it is, if you go during inclement weather, the place will be virtually empty.

Some rides may be shut down because of it, but you will find a much more enjoyable, peaceful and calming experience than with the place so full of people you can't move around much more get on a ride and experience it.  

I think I need a break from this park existence.  What's going to happen isn't really a break, just more work.  Instead, I will be going to a job locally or driving OTR or regional and not particularly enjoying the "experience", I already know what that lifestyle is all about.  This dude from the hazmat tanker group wrote another useless email yesterday telling me I needed to fill out the full application before they will do anything.  Answering questions is apparently not even on their horizon.

I wrote them back with specific questions and have heard nothing back from them.  Keep your job, I'll find something else.  It's OTR and it apparently involves going into Canada. That would be interesting, I will admit, but the rest of it? No thank you. And working for a company that feels their need to have you fill out an extensive application before they will answer questions raises red flags for me.

My agenda for today? Waking up to start with. Perhaps this coffee will drag my foggy brain out of that phase.  I want to paint the interior of the shed.  Or get a very good start on it anyway.  Like, get the first coat on and out of the way. I figure even with that thick stuff it's going to take 2 coats when applying it to raw drywall that's never been painted.  I just need that project done, over and behind me.  Rather tired of it, it's been going on for a while now.  It's been a real learning experience, lots of things I didn't know how to do before engaging in that "activity" I now have an idea of how to go about it. Seemingly useless information since I doubt I will ever even think about doing something like that again,

Give it time and I may change my mind on it. Small cabins are in hot demand, I could easily rent them.  I get lots of call for them.  Long term stuff, not overnighters. But they cost 10k to build.  Or more.  We're also in the middle of hot inflation and the prices of everything go up frequently.  I know because of the numerous trips I was making to Lowe's. I say 10k in building it myself.  You build the deck, the walls, install the windows, doors, shower, toilet, etc and you have a lot of money tied up into it. 

Now.  The alternative is to build "primitive" cabins that don't have bathrooms or showers, you just rent them and make sure they understand that bathroom facilities are in the shed. But, I have a project and that's this motorhome. I have to make it work.  I have to get it finished and someone moved in and living in it.  And so I will.   After Maria gets done in there today, I will endeavor to install that new carpet and then see if I can get the propane stove going.  The refrigerator works and I need to hook up water to it and see what happens.  

I've been attempting to determine which route to take, rent it or sell it on payments.  It seems the best idea is to sell it on payments with a decent down payment and make the person occupying it responsible for any repairs.  I hope the holding tanks work with no leaks......I won't pay someone to fix that stuff, I'll get under there and fix whatever it is myself, regardless of how much irritation there may be in dealing with it.  

Anyway, time to get offa  here.  

 Monday.

Got up early. AC repair guy was supposed to show up at 8:00 am.  A storm hit early and thunder woke up. So, there it is 5:30 AM and eventually got back to sleep, but at 7:30 it was time to boogie.

Got my coffee, got over there before 8 and ... nothing. Dude didn't show up but eventually called.  He didn't show because of the storm, however, he didn't bother to tell me he wasn't showing. Not the end of the world but I could have stayed in bed much longer.  I was up half the night itching all over again. Benadryl works - a  little - but my entire feet are just giant itching machines.  

Keeping my hands off of them, yes, but it doesn't stop the almost agony of intense need to itch the life out of them and get some relief.  

I'm so tired right now.  It's like, I may just go back to sleep for a while.  

Anyway, the guy finally showed up and gave me the news I figured it would be: it isn't putting out cold enough air and isn't drawing enough amperage. It's old, worn out and there's no fixing this thing.  It wasn't shocking or even surprising, I figured this is what i would be told.  He also said they had the cover on backwards.  Great.  It means that there wasn't enough air getting to the thing where it needed it and probably over heated it many times over.

He did say the thing was probably 20 plus years old.  

He quoted me a price much higher than I expected.  Rock, meet hard place.  What am I going to do? Not fix it and be stuck with a unit I can't rent out?  He had a replacement unit on his truck, said he could get a new one on there in no time.  So, that's what I did.  It's going to be a situation where I'm going to check everything out, get fixed whatever else needs fixing and get the thing rented out. If there is no water heater in there - we both came to the conclusion the propane version of one had been removed - I will rent it with the idea that there is a shower with hot water in the bathroom.  Just means I'll rent it cheaper than I want.  

I actually think at this point my idea of selling it on payments to someone is a better idea.  I don't want the headache of continual problems with this thing, tho admittedly the AC was the big ticket item.  The electrical outlets work, it only really needs (as far as I know) the new carpet installed, a couch (cheap) and a deep cleaning. I haven't hooked up water to it yet, that will be the next dive into the deep unknown.

However, if it has water leaks, I can fix those myself.  I can install a watered down version of a water heater as well.  Just a lower wattage version of an inline that is installed at each outlet you want hot water in. I don't know how much they cost and right now, I don't have to have hot water in there since it's in shed. It would definitely be nice, tho.  I also need to make sure the oven and stove top work - they are propane fired. A person renting or buying it would have to refill the tank themselves.  

Well, the thing is nice and cool in there now and the unit isn't staying on all the time so it's not drawing a lot of power.  I'll either be back over there later today after I get a nap or tomorrow morning. Hoping this itching will start to subside so I can get some sleep.  

Meanwhile, the tent lady supposedly has a job and is working.  I'll just go to the tobacco junction and find out, I can smoke a nice cigar.  The other low income people left quite a while back - like late last month and I haven't seen them.  Their trailer is there but they aren't.

Well, that's been updated.  They drove their old pickup to New Jersey for whatever reason I have no clue and informed me today their truck broke down.  Mind you, they were supposed to pay the lot rent 12 days ago.  They haven't been there, the window ac unit is blasting away, I was getting irritated.  She says they are stranded in NJ, but, that trailer is their only home.

People's decisions to do certain things often times bewilders me.  If you are poor and broke, why are you driving clear to New Jersey? That's 1,400 miles from here.  She said she could have her brother come tow it out of there. Well, honey, you've been sucking down electricity all this time - I thought but did not say to her.  I did say well, your ac is on and it's running up the electric bill.  You can leave the trailer there if you pay it up.

She claimed her brother would come and pay up.  It's a full month's rent owed at this point and that's back payment. I dunno, but their lack of good decision making isn't my problem. Me paying the bills and trying to make a profit is.  But yes, if they can't come up with the money I want that thing out of there.  I'm not trying to be heartless but they've  had ample time - more than I gave the tent people - to pay up. She claimed she had the money on the 28th when it was due but they left town for Oklahoma where they're from. 

No, they didn't move the trailer out of my park.  

Enough. I need to get over there and start painting that shed and now I'll have to find someone to figure out what's wrong with the riding mower. It runs perfectly fine, the PTO works great but the thing refuses to go into gear.  Yes, I took things apart to see if I could find the problem. The drive belt is on. The key in the wheel is not busted.  The linkage is good the tranny. The only thing I could see left is the transmission itself.  I read that the system can get air into it and needs purged. I tried to follow instructions how to purge it, but I'm not sure I was doing it correctly.  I've exhausted the limits of my knowledge, I'm not taking a transmission apart.  

I still have the push mower and I did start trying to cut everything down, but everything is wet and not behaving. I'll have to wait until the rains pass and everything dries up.  I've got plenty to do without all of that, it's just that the rains have pushed weeds up everywhere and I want them all cut down.  There's too much to spray week killer on it. I have to have a nice, dense layer of grass.  So that's next.  Grass. After the shed is painted I'll get with the grass and then if I can get that done I'll get with finding a new trucking job.  

It is what it is.  I've succumbed to the reality that I will be sitting in a driver's seat of a truck and running long days. Unless something drastic - drastically good that is - happens and soon to change that, I have no choice.  I'm running out of money and I have a lot of debt.  If I could fill the park up then I wouldn't be in quite the bind I'm in now.   I could take guesses why I can't fill the park up - time of year, not much transient work going on right now, the lack of grass is a turn off, who knows.  But it only makes sense to have the park looking as good as possible.  

Frankly, I need cash inflow to deal with a lot of stuff I can't deal with right now.  I want a dozer out there to plow up the entire front portion of the property, smooth it out and get something other than giant weeds growing there. That may just have to wait until winter, tho.  Blade it and spread rye grass seed everywhere.  

Okay, I said enough several paragraphs up, lol. Time to get a little sleep and see if I can get some energy going.