So it's a father and son that pulled in that small 5th wheel last night.  I went over there a while ago to collect rent and they just called me in, the door is open! Ok? I heard a life story and then some.  Not going into all the details, but the reason he chose my park is because they are both broke, he was on the verge of bankruptcy, told his banker/friend that and then this job came along.  

He said he was talking with another friend - who is pretty much wealthy - saying he needed to come down here to work and...well who know what he said to his friend? His friend pulled out $300, handed it to him and wished him well.  That's a nice friend.  

There is much more to their story than this, that's all I really feel like writing about. How much of the story can you believe? Well, I dunno.  Maybe it's all true. Maybe there is exaggeration?  He handed me the cash, the son is a really nice guy and the father is a talker.  I was happy to get the money, they were happy to have a place to stay.  

_________________

That was last night.  Now Saturday - morning - started early but it's getting closer to noon now.  I decided to do all of my laundry - and I do mean all of it including my bedding, dog bedding, all clothing, towels -whatever - before they come home today.  They will undoubtedly have tons of laundry to do and I figured now is the perfect time to do it.  I've still got 3 load to do.  

I also scrubbed down the kitchen and fixing to hang now-cleaned/dried clothes and then go through the refrigerator and throw out old leftovers that have gone beyond any date that I would continue eating them. I was eating that spaghetti sauce for 7 days and almost finished it.  The rest is going in the trash.  Same with the roast, ate all the meat and a lot of the veggies, the rest of that going in the trash as well.  There are no other leftovers in there, I've been eating them.  As I said, my days of endless eating out are over with, at least for now, maybe a once a week outing to Chili's or Applebee's after church.  

It is fiscally irresponsible for me to be eating out when I am facing the finances I am facing and trying to hold off until the middle of September. Actually, the end of September, for if I go for that job, it's at least a couple of weeks before you see your first paycheck. 

I need 2 more long term tenants immediately.  So, to that end, I will run another Facebook ad boost.  The other guy that was going to be coming? I am assuming he found other accommodations, he never showed up.  These other people that wanted me to move their trailer I haven't heard from and I'm not necessarily interested in them coming here anyway.  I just don't have a good feeling about them and I already have "special" people in the park.  You know, the ones who feel like they don't need to follow the clearly written and understandable rules?  Especially the tent lady still taking that dog into the amenities shed. She agreed to not take that dog in there anymore. 

The only factor that diminishes the "severity" of her breaking the rules is that she does it late at night. Still, I have new tenants now that will add to the load there and I have no idea what their schedule is.  They have a water leak problem and they are using the shower in the shed.  It's the idea that she agreed not to have that dog in there - it growls at everyone - and then she just started bringing him in with her again. It makes me want to throw her out, that is my "knee-jerk" reaction.  I didn't act on that impulse, of course, I have had to learn how to just keep my mouth shut in situations that are less than pleasant and give it time to let any emotions cool down and deal with things in a rational manner.  

Apparently the kids are already at each other's throats and they haven't even left yet, lol.  7-1/2 hour drive, I can only hope for their sake that the kids fall asleep and just sort of - stay that way.  I don't envy them, but again, I didn't get to go on a huge adventure checking out all kinds of cool looking attractions and natural wonders (caves).  Jealous? Not really, more like "left out".  But, they were visiting grandma and grandpa on the first leg of the trip and I don't particularly care for them after hearing their rhetoric for a couple of years, they definitely don't care for me.  I'm not one of her subjects and her mouth gets her into trouble - a lot.  

The second leg and where they have been for the majority of this trip is at one of Taylor's relatives' house, people I don't know and so there were obvious reasons for me not to go on this particular trip.  So, that completely mitigates my not going but still, they had a lot of fun and the pics show it.  The downside is what they are facing now, a long drive home.  Frankly, it wouldn't have been good for me to leave anyway considering new people coming in and collecting money and feeling them out to see how long they are staying.  

The kitchen is now spic and span, laundry is on-going, I do need to go over there while laundry is doing it's thing and check the bathroom and stuff. You know, people blowing up in the toilet and not cleaning it after being done? I should be cleaning it on a daily basis anyway.  I'm going to replace the soft cushion toilet seat - what the toilet came with - for a hard one that cleans easier and doesn't hide - poop to be blunt - in little crevices and hard to clean out.  

No new reservations.  I neither expect nor not expect them. I just hope they come in.  A few are better than none.  The 17 days worth coming up definitely helps, but more would be better.  

Time to go to the property. See what, if anything, is up.

G'day

 I've been feeding Addler (my Great Dane) Iams Minichunks Chicken kibble for many years now . It was something like $25 per 30 pound bag when I first started him on it.  It kept going up until it hit $32 and then it stayed there for a while. Then, inflation hit. It jumped up to $41 per bag and now it's up to $46.  Yes, I went to Walmart, Target, Chewy, Amazon, all of them looking at pricing.  It's getting out of hand.  I don't know how they justify raising the price that high, I'm sure they'll cite inflation and high cost of everything, but a $14 jump in price in a short period of time?  

Anyway, I'm down to the last bag. I had it on auto-ship with Chewy and ended up with 5 extra bags laying around, shipping far too many for the amount the dog actually eats.  So I've had quite a reprieve from having to buy his food.  But this is getting ridiculous.  Sigh, I'll keep buying it but if it goes up much higher, I'm going to have to consider putting him on something different.  

_________

Went back to the property, sprayed 8 gallons of weed killer in areas that desperately needed it - especially my septic system, gag.  3 to 5 foot tall weeds growing over there! I sprayed almost 2 whole gallons just on that area alone.  Got some of the areas where I had already tilled and the weeds were coming back.  

I'm in kind of a dilemma. I've got 6 lots that were tilled.  Just let them go?  Buy 6 pallets of sod and just do them?  Higher price, by far, per pallet when buying less than truckload.  Or wait until it rains?

___________

Friday - morning.  I was informed last night that it will "probably be Saturday", citing the lack of motivation or desire to have to drive 7-1/2 hours with screaming kids fighting with each other.  I already knew this was coming, didn't know it would happen so soon. They were going on outings to fun places every day for .. a week? ... in a row and yesterday, kablaaaaam!  That was over and done with.  The kids were at each other's throats, whining, etc.  It is highly predictable aftermath after having had gone full tilt for so long, there is going to be a crash at the end where you are just doing what every one does - much of nothing, basic life, sitting around, the extreme adventure, the excitement of going to wonderful places is done, over with and gone. 

I wouldn't have wanted to go on that trip unless it were in my vehicle, which can comfortably seat 6 people without scrunching kids/people in. 2 front seats, 2 second row, 2 back row.  Or, if the kids all want to sit together, 3 back row and 1 middle row.  

Anyway...the new tenant did, indeed, show up last night.  He called several times. I had just left, in fact, when he arrived.  I missed him by maybe 5 minutes.  "Well, do you want to come back so I can pay?"

No, I replied, I just left there, I was hot and sweaty, I'm home cooling down. Pick whichever lot you want.  I think they think it strange that I don't just assign them a lot.  I don't care what lot they take, if there is a reservation for that particular lot, the reservation can be moved to another lot. Happens all the time in the RV park industry and people don't necessarily pick a particular lot, they just input one so they can make the reservation.  

There are people coming the end of next week.  Those lots are reserved already, no one can make a fresh reservation on them.  I have 2 lots available for long term right now after this newbie arrived and another one will be leaving - soon.  No idea when, he doesn't know, he was thinking he should have already left.  The longer he stays, the lower the refund.  I agreed to let him pay for a month and give him pro-rated refund.  So, now that the month is whittling away, the refund will be fairly small if he does, indeed leave before the end of the month. 

The heat is apparently making some of those RV's uncomfortable in midday, even with 2 ac units on the roof.  This is why I have such high electric bills - those ac's compressors are running all day long currently.  I'm still waiting to see what the next electric bill will be, it will by force of issue have to be lower than last month. Fewer RV's for one and 5 days, I think it was at the property, without power.  It should be less than a grand.  Hopefully a lot less, but I like to prepare myself psychologically for a high bill.

Agenda today? I still have that leaking water spigot to fix.  I have the parts now, including a new shut off valve in case it happens again, I won't have to shut off the water to the entire park for an hour.  I really don't have much choice in that. Once the water is off, then I can cut the line and install the valve. Unfortunately, you have to give that glue time to dry and set.  You can't just turn full pressure back on and expect that fitting is going to be good to go.  It'll be good to go alright, blasting right back off the pipe you just glued it to.  It's an inconvenience but what am I to do? Sit there and watch dollar bills dripping onto the ground? I should have already done that but I've gotten distracted with weeds. There is still the entire area behind the back-in sites to mow down.

Don't know if I'm going to do all of that with a push mower.  Take half a day.  Yet, the weeds are growing quickly and over a foot tall already.  Well, a foot and a half tall. As it stands, when I went back over there last night, I mosied on over to the septic system. The weeds have taken it over and are as high as 5 feet tall. I'm hoping by this morning they are looking like they are dying off. If they had to work on that system right now? They'd have a rather large undertaking moving giant weeds out of the way to get at it. No thanks, I'll deal with it, whatever that takes. I was a little apprehensive about snakes being in the midst of all of that. Fortunately didn't see any.  

I'm going to have to get the boots on, a pair of gloves and pull a lot of that out of there, but I want it dead first so there isn't any resurgence. I think some of those giant things are going to be hard to pull, tho, I may have to cut them down with a chain saw or something.  It's kind of a priority - if that system fails they can't get at it.  

Every morning now, apparently. The WiFi goes out on the main router.  It's not even hot outside.  The other router is working, I know because I just checked the cameras.  I don't get it, unless there is just too many people on the network and it can't handle all of it. But, that doesn't make sense if the other router is working off of the same network?  So that sort of narrows it down to something wrong with the device itself.  Which means I need to be over there when it's not working so tech support can do whatever they do with them.  As I said, I've racked my brains and done the research to try and find something else, there is nothing affordable and it is what it is.  It seems that resetting the device works, so I told the people that contacted me to go over and shut it off, leave it off a minute and then turn it back on.

No, obviously, I'm not over there.  I went to bed early last night and actually slept, with only a very bad dream waking me up in the middle of the night.  I was so tired,  I just went straight back to sleep.  I'm glad they aren't coming back today, I'll have another night/morning without kids making all kinds of noise.  It's basically many nights in a row where I didn't sleep worth a petunia's smelly leaves and then finally, getting some sleep, you bet I'm going to take advantage of it.  

Now that I think of it, I don't know what waiting another day is going to do for a trip back here? If those kids are cranky, it makes little difference where they're at, lol.  I'll just enjoy another day of freedom fro the bs, especially from the youngest one that starts trouble ... for the fun of starting trouble . 

Well, the day isn't getting any younger. I need to go get a new chainsaw chain and fuel. I have put off cutting trees up and I need to fix that. The chains on both saws are so dull they are hardly cutting through anything, but especially not wanting to cut through dense wood.  The problem? Those chains aren't cheap anymore.  They're in the $30 range, which is simply outrageous.  A year ago they were less than $20?  I'm not even referring to trees over the walking trails, there are small trees that snapped, fell over and need cutting from that same-said storm.  I move them out of the way, yes, but they are unsightly.  Cut them up into firewood sized logs and be done with it.  

Wait. I have that brand new 20" chainsaw from Walmart. Never been used. I brought it home for James to use but he went out and bought an electric thing. Whatever, I'm of the 2 stroke, much more power fan club. IT will have a brand new chain on it, no need to go buy a chain, yayyy! Still need 2 stroke fuel, probably better off buying a 2 gallon can, buy the oil and mix my own much cheaper than the ridiculous price they are charging for pre-mixed fuel.  

Look, everything is being affected by inflation. They say inflation is coming down, well if that's true, the price of everything is not coming down with it and actually still going up. 

September 18th. That's the date the trucking company just told me over the phone is my orientation date.  Can  I last that long? Well, I'll find out.  Take out upcoming, outgoing bill payments but also factor in upcoming, incoming lot payments, including this new person plus 2 short stays that add up to some money? Maybe.  Get a couple more long term in there and definitely.  We're getting close to the end of the month, it might be worth taking out another small-fee Facebook ad.  Even if it could net only one long term, it would be well worth it.

Time to get out of here. 

G'day.  

 I'm getting complaints that the internet isn't working at the park.  It doesn't line up with the fact that I can hook up to my cameras through the internet and it works fine.  That's the one in the shed, the other one I have had 2 complaints it isn't working. I can't hook to the from anywhere but there. I will be going over today and calling T Mobile and see if their support can figure out what's wrong, the signal is definitely good and it's been working all of this time....

______________

Went over there and checked both units. Both have good signal and both are working.  I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Verizon to see if per chance they might have come up with an unlimited data plan.  Now, they're telling me I can't get service at either location, lmao. 

I have a standing order opened with Starlink. That's where you paid their $99 deposit and you get in line. Their site says that for my area that they are "targeting your area this year" but no time frame. I don't have over 7 grand to run lines for the cable internet and there is nothing else available besides Hughes - which have consistently bad reviews on the service. 

There is nothing else available that I can afford and now shrugging shoulders. T Mobile Gateway works every time I try to look through the cameras.  No WiFi, no camera.  It words most of the time, I can't do anything else right now, they'll have to live with it, get their own provider or find another place to live.  It his highly reported in the RV park industry that many park have poor WiFi - this coming from RV'ers - and that if you want reliable service, you need to get your own.  Starlink has special RV internet, it costs a small fortune but if you really must have internet, that is what I would do. 

It's not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but what else am I to do? It's sort of like the grass, I have to wait until I can do something different.  

Right now, I'm drenched in sweat.  I mowed the large area across from the shed and also behind and beside the shed.  Weeds are ugly. Cut weeds are a lot less ugly.  But it doesn't take long to start sweating profusely in this heat. \

Came home to change and get lunch.  No eating out for a while now.  Eating at home...buy a roast and I can eat off of it for days. Buy a whole chicken and the same result.  A bag of lunchmeat is around $10 and provide probably 5 or 6 sandwiches worth. You can barely get a meal for $10 anywhere.  I take that back, Applebee's has a lunch menu and there are $9.99 options on there.  Fast food maybe.

In other words, eat at home.  

I'm resolved to wait until after the next rain to till the rest of the ground and I'm resolved that internet will probably stay the same as it currently is for some time to come.  

Anything else? Of course, there is always something. I bought the parts yesterday to try and fix the water line on the RV, have yet to tackle that problem.  

It is also wonderful to see overnighters coming in.  I don't count on that income at all. It's whatever I have coming in at the moment from whoever is there that is the only thing I can realistically count.  But, I had a 9 day stay and now I have a 7 day stay coming in.  This is real money and helps pay the bills. And this dude is coming in tonight, or so he said. He's made enough calls, I can at least hope that he's actually showing up.  It's at the first month discounted rate - that money is better than no money.  Plus it's a small trailer so it won't use as much electricity.  

Finally cooled off, go to the park and see if I can find everything to put the water line back together. Everything being that near $80 tool you have to have an the clamps.  I have everything else ready to go. 

 Completely forgot about the doggies outside, they are baking hot. Addler is laying in his bed panting heavily.  Well, it's the worst of the heat and so, they are now inside.  Try not to forget again.  He'll cool off quickly in my room, it's nicely chilled in here.

 Well....

The tiller worked, not great but good enough to spin the blades.  I went to work with it. Quickly found out the ground is much too dry to be tilling it.  I spent an inordinate amount of time with it and got maybe 30 feet in 45 minutes? I can't even imagine how many weeks it would take to till the rest of it at that pace.  I stopped.  When I realized the futility of it, it was time out.  It wasn't going anything near this slow pace when I was tilling right after rains. 

There isn't any real chance of rain around here for a while.  I don't even know what I'm going to do about grass now.  I think when you get to a point like this, you put on the brakes and you don't do anything until a clear picture/answer unfolds.  I'm going to keep looking around for a tractor for rent with a tiller attachment or a plow - disc assembly.  But I'm not going to waste as much money as that sod is going to cost until I have this right. That ground is hard and that is not ideal or even mediocre conditions for planting grass.  It's dried out, I would have to spend a lot of time and money in water just getting the ground moistened up enough to even think about doing that.

So I'm just putting it on hold.  I don't care if it stays on hold until it's time to plant rye grass. 

These people staying for a week showed up today.  It was pretty interesting the thing they were driving. A very old coach painted deep purple.  They paid the $150 and then I listened to their life story. They are poor, basically broke tho she gets disability.  He's going to look for a job,, they want to stay and asked if I could work with them on paying lot rent a couple of days late.  

Don't be confused here, I did collect what they owed me for the next week, but they are talking about staying long term.  Yes, I can wait a couple of days for the lot rent, I replied and they were happy about that.  

The guy that called several times last week wanting to come? Is coming tomorrow.  That helps.  Things might be starting to look up a bit.  A couple more and I'd be sitting in a much better place.

I easily found the water leak on the RV.  Just went inside, went to the approximate location where it was coming outside, found a panel, opened up and walaah. There is a water line going to the shower that came off of the fitting completely. I'm not saying it is going to be an easy fix, but it shouldn't be impossible. Just a very tight space to work with.  

Over to the sign shop, showed up there right as they were leaving? It was 12:30.  Weird. I did, of course, completely forget the stop at Walmart I need to make, oh well. 

Home - let the dogs in, quite hot outside then over to the property, deal with some things and then back home. 

I'm disappointed with the grass situation but I feel like it's out of my hands.  Realistically, I could water all of the remaining lots and get the soil loosened up. Just not interested in the water bill that will come the next month . 

Well. And now received payment from the tent people for 8 days past due and the next 7 days.  See? These people worked out.  I gave them a chance, they flew with it, she found a job and now I think I am comfortable in selling the RV to them.  She's lasted long enough at the new job to determine that they must like her work well enough to keep her around.  She has a really good attitude as well.  I'm very happy for them and I certainly hope the good things happening in their lives continues.  It is probably very much nicer in that air conditioned shed all day long than this ridiculous heat as well.  More reason for her to be motivated to succeed. 

I'm going to bed early. If I'm to stay up half the night, I might as well get whatever sleep I can before then. 

 I've watched series on serial killers and what motivates them, but it's still a foreign phenomenon to me . What would possess a man to just go out an indiscriminately kill strangers they don't even know?  This Gilgo situation is fascinating in that respect.  They expanded the investigation to South Carolina and put up on a map a series of murders that are unsolved that they apparently believe was his doings.  

Trump-DeSantis.  That's all it is in the Republican primary.  The rest of them in the pool have little to no chance of winning the primary.  I don't really care what people think about my views on this in terms of coming out and bashing Trump supporters, calling them a threat to democracy, domestic terrorists, a cult and all the rest of it: I'm voting Trump in the primary.  DeSantis isn't the man for the job right now, IMO. 

And I find it suspicious that the mainstream/legacy media is pushing for DeSantis. These are people that are far left progressives that have no say in what goes on in the Republican party. If they are pushing for a certain candidate, there must be some reason - and not likely a good one - that they want this.  Trump has been through everything, they are pushing to throw him in jail, if you want to solidify a base of supporters, just take the actions that the DOJ and other "government entities" have taken against Trump and continue on with new charges as you go along. 

What I like about Trump is his stance on the world stage. He is not for new wars and he isn't a pushover.  I like his stance with the EPA and other governmental agencies.  I loved when he forced any new bills to remove 2 existing laws before they could implement a new one.  His take on spending - not so great.  But with everything else he did, I'm fine with him.  Maybe Desantis is the man for another election, I'd like to find out why the left is pushing for him so hard before I want to step onto his side.  

_______________

Enough politics, but I am watching it more now since we are basically in the Presidential election cycle.  A lot of things can happen between now and November of next year, I like to follow along with it and watch the developments.  I'd like to see Biden gone. Even if a democrat wins, it's an "anything but Biden" election cycle much like the left treated Trump in the last election. I continue to watch him muddling through press conferences, getting angry, definitely not all there...anyone that would dump their bias and just watch all the times he goes off in these tangents where he is mumbling stuff that is unintelligible should be able to come to grips with the point: there is no way this man can last another 4 years after this coming year is up.  And frankly, he can subject himself to mental acuity testing or whatever they call it just like they demanded with Trump....oh, he probably already has been subjected to that, they just aren't telling us the results.

Now then. I slept like - not so good last night.  I think some of this is stressing over finances.  That job offer may be too far out.  I just had a couple call me and tell me they need to stay for a week. Yes! They're coming in today.  Plus the other people coming in for 9 days 2 Sundays from now, it all adds up.  It helps me last longer before I have to throw in the towel and take whatever I can find for a trucking job.  

The tiller. I got that thing last night.  Like I posted, the man didn't even show up until 8:30, which apparently are the beginning of his prime hours for working. It's very warm inside his building, that may have something to do with it. No AC, just fans and what looks to be a swamp cooler.  It's a big building, keeping that place cool would cost a fortune in electricity.  

Anyway, I brought it home - I wasn't going to drive over to the property with it, no sense in it.  Fired it up, put it on the run setting that he had marked on it, ran on low idle. I was instantly a bit nervous.  Uhh, this isn't going to work. Moved the lever over to the middle and it instantly went into high idle mode - the only mode that thing will work in.  If it stays running like that, it will finish the job.  

Yes, I'm going to get out there in this wicked heat and do at least a couple hours of it.  Iced down Gatorades and water, keep hydrated, work until I can't take it.  The humidity is something I have never really gotten used to.  You can just stand there and start sweating profusely without having to do anything.  Wish me luck, lol.

I have no idea when the folks are coming home.  I will brace myself for cranky kids who just spent 8, 9 or 10 days (depending on when they get home but it is probably going to be Saturday which is 10 days) having a blast doing whatever they wanted and now coming back to reality and the "boring" home life.  In fact, I don't know that I want to even be here for that.  I didn't get to go on a vacation and I don't really feel like I want to hear people complaining about stuff simply because party time is over and they want to crank on people. Whether that's kids or adults.....I'm not saying the adults will be that way, but they will tire quickly of the kid' crankiness, that is guaranteed.  

Wherever the snakes went - I look for them frequently - I have no idea. They're back there somewhere, I just haven't been able to find them.  I don't like snakes, but if they're the kind that eats rodents AND they are non-venomous AND they aren't water snakes that will eat my fish, then I'll leave them alone. But I must see these creatures for myself and have them identified before I can say, oh, they're perfect!  I would love it King snakes would move in, they not only eat rodents, they also eat other snakes. Yup, just swallow them whole. Get rid of the Copperhead population.  

I can now fairly confidently identify cottonmouth, copperhead, king, rat, plain belly watersnakes, some garter snakes and a few other species after having been in a snake ID group for quite some time.  Any snake I don't know what it is, I can take a pic, put it in that group and usually within a few minutes, get a positive ID on it. I don't want copperheads in our back yard, I will kill them and think nothing of it, cottonmouths as well but I've only seen them over at the property.  

Keto.  I think the test strips just don't work that well with me anymore because I must be in a condition they call "fat adapted", which means there isn't a lot of free flowing ketones now because my body/system understands what's going on and uses the ketones more efficiently.  Whatever the case, I'm dropping weight again and fat.  Anytime I feel tempted to go off on a cheating binge, I just think about this last time I did that and how long it has taken to even start getting back to where I was before the cheating started.

This probably isn't the greatest day to be out in the heat. There is an "excessive heat warning" with heat index values up to 115 degrees.  If that's dry heat, I can deal with it. When you're talking the humidity which is what makes it feel much hotter than it is? I won't last long out there.  Shrugs shoulders, get done what I can.

With that, I bid you a good day. 

 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