So.  I'm up at 5:15 - a little early so I could at least get a cup of coffee in me.  Drive over there, discuss everything,  they bring him out. He (Addler, my Great Dane) looks even worse than he did last night.  They don't know what's wrong with him, but they said I need to take him to my regular care provider (this place closes at 7:00 am). Well, looking like that, indeed.  Not only that but they still had the catheter in him to pump fluid into him and they handed me a huge bag of IV fluid to give to my regular vet along with all the paperwork to give the vet as well.

My vet not opened yet, I just drove straight over there. 40 miles so it took a minute. I get there, there are vehicles in the parking lot but no one waiting at the door.  I just got out, left Addler in the vehicle and stood at the door until they unlocked it. I figured I might have a better chance getting him in - I trust this place, they have always done Addler good. 

Up to the counter, tell them he spent the night in ER, he's clearly not right and they want him to continue the care, can you take him in today?  Behind me? A dozen people with dogs.  Some with numerous dogs.  I don't know how long I would have had to wait, but I was glad that I didn't have to make Addler wait and I was/am very very tired.  Like, today is going to be a wash type of tired, getting nothing done besides getting the dog over there.

I hand them the paperwork, tell them there should be an email from the other place.  She found the email but their internet is down, she couldn't look at it. "I don't know, the internet was down when we came in here today". Yikes.  Addler was sooooo lethargic.  However, when I was leaving? This time he wanted to go home.  Sorry buddy, but you are going to have to stay here. He wouldn't go with the lady, just kept staring at me.  I walked out the door - it gets easier if the owner isn't around.  

I get a call 3 hours later.  They said they had looked at the x-rays the other place took and saw that his prostate was enlarged so much, he could barely pee and that's what's going on with him.  Oh.  She went into detail and said they put a hole - somewhere in there - to drain him.  Well, why didn't the other place see this?  "We were asking the same thing".  Instead of all of these tests and everything they did - and costing a truckload of money - they could have just seen what the problem was on the X-rays, which is the first thing they did???

Well, the said it will take quite a while to drain all of that. It's still morning and they already told me he needs to stay overnight.  See, I would have waited til today to take him in, but he looked so terribly bad, I just felt like I was losing him.  Addler is a special dog, at least to me.  I've lost a lot of dogs in my lifetime - he is 8 and very healthy other than what's happening now. I feel like he's got a couple more years left.  3 if I'm lucky.  The cost of all of this tho....nothing I can afford, I have CareCredit but it's going to ramp up the need to get back to work. I can see grand for all of this at both places combined by the time this is over.

Well what is causing this? They said highly likely due to the fact he's not neutered.  I wanted to get him neutered but I felt as if his age was too old to be putting him through something like that. She said we're going to need to discuss neutering him, but that's not right now. We need to get him better first.  Well, knowing what is wrong and taking the appropriate action, that shouldn't take terribly long.  I don't know what it costs to neuter a Great Dane, but I can tell ya, whatever your little dog cost? It will be 50% again more than that.  

I'm just relieved that they found out what the problem is. This is why I trust these people, they know what they're doing. They are no more or less expensive than anyone else.  

I didn't have to stay, at all. Just told them my name and number, they couldn't look up my file, asked me if he's been here before? Many times.  So that's that - for now.  I am not even going to be doing anything with that situation til tomorrow at the earliest. And if it is decided to neuter him, I have no idea how long they keep a dog for observation.  

But it explains why he had to keep going outside to go pee.  I mean, a lot.  That dog can hold a bladder full longer than most humans. Yet, he was continuously wanting to go out and go pee.  I just didn't notice that it was short time of peeing. I did notice he couldn't even lift his leg, that's how poorly he is feeling.  I had a helluva time getting him into that SUV last night and then this morning getting him back in there to take him to my vet.  He tried, I'll give him credit, but he couldn't lift his @$$ end up that high, much more jump into the thing like he normally does. That dog is heavy!

Yesterday, the dog wanted to go out badly, long before I normally let him out in the morning.  How did he let me know? By laying by the door.  He won't whine, bark, yip, nothing.  He never does.  If he's in pain, you won't know about it - at least not until he shows the obvious signs that emerged last night. 

_________

I feel like I'm half here. I am exhausted.  Bed very late and getting up very early, I am not even going over to the property today. There is a pop- up trailer showing up - there is only one space available, they'll figure it out, tho I sent them an email and told them which lot. These people always call when they arrive "well the email didn't say which lot number".  Yes, it does. I am sent a copy of the automatically generated email, they actually have to choose a lot before they can even register online and it is plainly written in the email.  ???

I have money to collect but that's over the phone - and only if they don't contact me by say..3 this afternoon. Maybe 5.  I don't know, but I can't sleep. I tried when I got home, fell asleep for a short period and then woke right up.  So I'm just sitting here rather - out of it.  

I'm going to scrutinize my finances today and see if I can make it on everything that's coming in. I have a full house of trailers right now, but that's not going to stay that way. I'll have 12 long term in there when all is said and done and the current short stays are gone.  If I could only get more of the short stays to show up on a much more regular basis....

   Pretty strange to walk into your bedroom late at night and this giant dog that has been living with you for many years is not laying in his normal place. Addler is not dead, he's spending the night at an emergency clinic over in Longview. There wasn't anything here open.  This clinic has opposite hours of all the surrounding vets. They are open when they rest are closed. 

Anyway....Addler came in this afternoon panting. Well yes, it was hot out there.  He looked a bit odd and he was walking a bit off, but I just thought it was the heat. It's very hot here daytime right now, over 100 degrees with very high heat indexes.  I don't like to leave him out there in this heat.  

Well, an hour passed and he was still panting.  What? The dog never pants that long, my room is very cool, he stops within a few minutes - normally.  Then came suppertime, the 8 year old fed him.  I came in and saw Addler laying on his bed and a full bowl of dog food.  That is when I knew something is wrong. He doesn't leave his food in the bowl, he consumes it until there is nothing left.  He was lethargic and he was obviously having issues.

Taylor came in and looked at him and came to the same conclusion: there is something wrong with that dog.  So, I started looking up local vets, none of them have after hours. I got on the local gossip facebook page and many of the replies were for the place I went to.  They thought he might have bloat. I didn't think so, I've seen the videos of Danes with bloat  and also the symptoms.  Well, they did x rays and nothing wrong with his stomach, it wasn't flipped over but they said his intestines are full of gas and nothing is moving through them.

I have no idea how it escaped me that he had a tumor on his butt last year and it had to be removed, but I completely forgot about it.  Until I got to a gas station.  So I just called them and they are going to check that out.  The vet that did the surgery said there might be a chance of it coming back. But, he didn't have any symptoms like this when that occurred. He was just constantly licking his butt until it caught my attention.  You know, doing something he doesn't do all the time? 

I mean, it might be something related to that so I had to call.  

I just got home. It's 11:20 pm. I'm a bit wired, trying to just chill and relax a little. I have to be back there by 6:30 am - they close at 7am, so I'm not going to get much sleep tonight but what else is new.  

It is highly likely that I will do nothing at the park tomorrow and right now, I don't even care about that.  I busted my @$$ over there today, tho.  It was hot but I got half of the pipe installed for the hot water. However, I got to the part where the pipe would have to go over where the water line underground is. I want to install a spigot there. 

So I started digging where I remembered the end of it to be.  yeah, I remembered wrong. The pic I had was from a long angle so it wasn't really showing precisely where it ended. Yup, several hours of digging later and I found the end of the pipe with the valve.  I was burning up hot. Covered in mud, dirt, sweat and feeling a wee bit - not so good, I filled the area where the valve is up with water and just said to myself, self? Come back tomorrow to finish this up.  It was late afternoon anyway.  

However....I went over to the new trailer that showed up last night and knocked on the door.  I could hear dogs in there and I heard someone telling the dogs to be quiet. That person, however, never came to the door. I eventually left.  Wasn't sure why they didn't answer but the thought occurred that me looking like some sort of bedraggled homeless person might scare a person from opening their door.  

Well, this evening some people called looking for a lot for the night but said my reservation system was trying to force them to stay 3 nights.  Huh?  I haven't had time to check that, it's been a long day and even longer night. Addler scared me, he was looking really bad.  I've never seen him look or act that way before.  

Well, they showed up, I went over there to collect the money - they paid in cash and I gave them a discount because they were in a camper truck.  You know, those big campers they put in the bed of a truck? These newer things are like mini homes.  Nice people, leaving early.  The people that came in last night are next to them, so I knocked on their door. A guy opened up, said no one was home this morning, I thought better of calling him out on that - why bother, I just want my money -  and he paid up for a week. They are only staying a few weeks for a short work assignment.  

Now, I've got a pop up camper coming in tomorrow for where this camper truck is, lol and yet another person interested in moving into the tent camping site.  I just got through with that conversation with him - writing this post and texting lol.  

Okay, fatigue is finally catching up with me and 5:30 am is going to come early.  Try to get a few hours of sleep anyway.  

 Monday - not-as-early-as-I-wanted

Just too much fitful sleep.  Not so bad I can't get out there and get stuff done, just not near as early as I wanted.  But, if I wake up and it ain't happening, it ain't happening. I went back to sleep and now it's 7:20 am. I'm going to have to start forcing myself out of bed early anyway to get used to getting up for work. So I'll start shooting for 7 am - every day - to start with and eventually move it back to 6. 

Whatever the case, I'm on my first cuppa, get a second and then get out of here. Still good hours of not-so-ridiculous heat left to be able to get stuff done.  I just really want to get the little trench done for the water line, get the line installed and get that over with.  That will take hours - at least.  I have the ditch started, it was just so hot out there the other day that I gave up on it.  

Trump.  I'm going there.  Don't really care what anyone thinks.  All of these indictments and "investigations" are being led by Trump-hating DA's and DOJ "officials".  Meanwhile, the growing amount of evidence against Biden and the inability of the media or anyone on the left to say much of anything is astounding.  But I grow weary of politics. It never changes.  One side fights against the other and it gets old reading it - I mostly don't even watch TV news outlets anymore, a bit but not much.  Today, however, will be different with Hunter Biden's close friend set to testify before Congress and some pretty incredible testimony predicted.  

I don't know where they got these predictions, but if any of it is true, it makes Joe Biden out to be compromised to the point I would call him a traitor.  We'll see. I'll have my ear buds on listening to it. 

I don't have much this morning, I've already talked myself out with current situations.  It's just time to get this stuff done, over with and behind me.  

We are under "Excessive Heat Warning" Yup.  The temps are over 100 this week for 5 days in a row, one day at 103  That's pretty warm for this area.  Must be climate change! Lol.  Oh, and let's shut down more power plants right when the highest demand for electricity is hitting us!  I think I read somewhere that they're saying this will be the hottest July on record.  People around here think that August is the hottest month - it never is. It's either June or July.  If you look at predicted temps for next month, it's hot but not near as hot as it is right now.

Interestingly, the new AC system in this house has brought the cost down by $60.  We are under the plan that keeps the price the same year round, so that is quite amazing.  

Anyway, my first cup is over with and it's not going to be more than a couple more hours before the heat starts getting up there, I need to get over there and get stuff done.

G'day

 The 9 day stay pulled in a few minutes ago. Itty bitty trailer, that thing doesn't look 20 feet long lol.  Not going to change my pricing, I'm the cheapest in town for daily stay rate, by far.  I lowered it enough to still make good profit off of it - if I can get enough coming in on short stays - yet still way lower than anyone else. I think the nearest competitor is $30 and then everyone else is higher.  

The people that "registered" over the phone - meaning they didn't put any stake in their game via putting up the first night deposit - are coming tonight.  I write notes when people call now, I get too many calls and I have to be able to remember what the content of the call is.  And what the phone number is.  I have a lot of phone calls on my phone, remembering who is who on there? Not without noting it - on paper, thanks. I have a giant, 160 sheet, lined paper notepad that I keep track of everything.  My campworks keeps track of guests coming and going. My cardpointe keeps track of credit card payments. but I'm old school - I have a pad that I write down when the people showed up, how much they paid, what lot they're in, how long they are staying, etc. 

Would I want to do that with 30 or more lots? Hmm. Depends. If it were mostly long term, that's pretty easy. You have a monthly payment.  That's it. Most people will pay up or contact you about paying up when it's due. I have no problems, however, making phone calls, texting or showing up at their door step on the day it's due if I haven't heard from them.  I am in business, them paying me is what I am business for.  Giving them a place to park and all the stuff that goes along with it is what they are paying for.  

I could run everything through my campground software and there is a place for notes on it. However. I would be getting charged a fee for every payment.  The credit card software can do automated payments as well.  I haven't tried that. I can look up any given person that has already paid via credit card and their information is on file.  

I think I'll just wait to get with those people, but the other guy that came in I want to run his credit card and get that paid up.  Paid. Once I go get the other people's payment, I'll have all lots filled up  - for one night lol. The purple people are supposed to leave tomorrow morning so that lot is empty until the overnight stay on the 6th.  I can only dream that perhaps someone will come along that needs a temporary stay. But if not, I'm sitting in a much better financial position now than I was a week ago and especially on the 1st I'll be collecting a good chunk of money as well.  

That will pay that high electric bill and allow me to finally pay myself again at least 2 grand.  Plus, providing she pays, I'll get more money on the 1cd, the 10th and other dates for payments due.  It's back to - gee, I can collect money again instead of looking at 5 and 6 empty lots and more people saying they are leaving.  

But, I have sealed my fate and I will have to get the other electrical setup up and going before the 6th.  So, I'm setting the alarm clock early tomorrow and if I sleep, I sleep, if I don't sleep well, I'm going to at least try to force my @$$ out of bed and get over there and get priority stuff done.  That's finishing the RV, digging up the water line and installing another spigot.  That will eat up the hours before it starts getting ridiculously hot.  In fact, I doubt I will get all of that done before the heat sets in and I'll just say no thank you and quit for the day. Well, quit outdoors anyway, I can do other stuff that needs finished in the shed.  

I will get it done.  And I looked up trencher machine rates in Longview, they are the same or even higher.  I just really thing $200 for a trencher is a bit steep but what choice do I have? I am not going to try and dig a trench that far with a shovel, that is a non-happening event.  

Because I couldn't take this person in long term, I texted them I couldn't get them a spot until the 7th. They replied they found another place. That's unfortunate, but I was pretty well settled that it wouldn't be right to just cancel a reservation so that someone else could take it.  It'll leave 2 lots open after they leave.  I have a few others that are interested, nothing concrete yet.  

That's enough.  I'm going to bed at 10 and hopefully can get enough sleep to get me going tomorrow morning. 

 I was interested in Groendyke Transport - until we got to the inward facing camera with microphones part.  Been there, done that twice and won't do it again.  The idea that these people sitting in an office cubicle somewhere can hear everything you're saying.  For what reason?  I don't really care what the reason is, but I would like to know how they justify listening to you.  I get why they think they must watch you, but I've been driving since long before cameras were even a thing, I just don't do it.  You can keep your job.  

But I'll tell all you weirdos what, if you - and you includes the CEO/President on down the chain - will wear a microphone that is on for 12 hours a day, every day, then I'll come drive for you. See? It's "you must have something to hide" or "you are doing something wrong while driving" crap until you turn the tables on them and tell them to put themselves under the exact same working conditions that you expect from your drivers.  I want to hear all of your personal conversations with your spouse, boy/girlfriend, everything.  That's exactly what they have access to when they put these inward facing cameras in a truck.  

"Oh, well the loading or offloading company requires it". Yes, because y'all have allowed yourselves to be railroaded into complying with excessive, ridiculous demands from companies that don't have any stock/stake in the trucking company at all. You want to know why you are begging for drivers? I'll guarantee you you are losing X percentage of us right off the bat with these cameras.  And now, they have AI technology!  They can tell if you're eating, drinking, smoking, if your seat belt is on, they even detect if you appear fatigued.  There are almost 100 parameters the AI in my previous truck could detect. 

I covered the entire thing up with tape and didn't care what the company thought of it.  Talking to Groendyke drivers in the scale house, they said but you'll get fired! Great, fire me!  There is a line that is crossed into dictating to drivers how they are going to literally live their lives and these cameras easily cross that line and go well beyond it.  If drivers want a company to allow to monitor literally everything they are doing, good for them! I don't care!  5 year olds get less scrutiny in their own homes than a truck driver does that is subjected to inward facing cameras.  

_______________________

That's my rant for the day, moving on.  I was looking at trucking jobs and some of them have it listed right on their ad: "Inward and outward facing camera".  They never tell you that those things also have a microphone.  ALL of them have them.  If it is an inward facing camera, 100% guaranteed there is also a microphone listening to all  of your phone conversations (that's perfectly legal as long as you are doing it with voice command), whatever your personal habits are, etc.  

Sunday - morning.  I was toying with the idea of buying my own truck and hauling local loads, such as materials such as gravel, dirt and sand.  But, you are married to a truck when you buy one. You can't just quit the job and walk away from it, once you buy a truck you are locked into the payments and good luck selling the thing.  You'll have to drive until you pay the thing off. If I had to do it all over again, I would get my own truck. But, being near 60 years old and trying to work a small business, I don't have time for that.  I'm still planning on going with the company I have agreed to unless I find something better.  

I still need to ask them a few more pointed questions that I keep forgetting, need to write them down and ask them next time they call. They are calling at least once a week to ensure I am "still going to work for us".  

But, I'm definitely still looking at thousands of trucking jobs.  Most of them are OTR and I just say to myself, nope.  Great home time! Home every 2 to 3 weeks! Would these people like to only go home every 2 to 3 weeks?  You will make $2,500 per week! Yes and you will live in that truck and have no social life and start to lose your mind after you've been in it long enough.  Even most regional jobs tell you home every 2 weeks. How is that regional?  

Whatever the case, besides church today, I have no plans to do anything unless something comes up at the park.  There are allegedly 2 trailers coming in today.  I need do nothing beyond charging the remaind of the bill for the one staying 9 days.  The system automatically charges their card for the first night and then has a total listed for the remainder of the stay.  In this case, it automatically gives them the discounted weekly rate for 7 of those days and then regular nightly rate for the other 2.  

The other one allegedly coming in didn't make an online reservation because they are allegedly going to be long term - well "short, long-term". Like a month or so.  I don't trust that those people will show up - until they actually show up.  I want them to show up, or not, I could get that actual long-term person in there instead.  Either way, I have determined from experienced RV park owners/managers that they don't think it's right to cancel a one-nighter to bring in a long term.  It doesn't really matter now and I have determined that I really need to run another line over there with a separate panel. It will cost some money but I'll get that money back quickly as long as the park stays full. 

Well, even if it doesn't, the New Jersey people will pay for it with their next payment. They are allegedly getting their monthly money on the 2cd. The man asked if I had any work he could do, he's trying to find a job. Nope, not in the position for it currently. Wish I could afford it, but even having him do work in exchange for lot rent won't work right now. I need the money.  

I could, however, see if he would help do the trenching and forgive the $120 they owe for the current month.  I offered them a reduced rate to move them behind the shed.  They are only using 1 window ac unit and a freezer.  They will probably get a refrigerator here sooner or later, that doesn't really draw a lot of amperage.  

It was very nice to see that there are dual inlet sewer connectors.  I won't need to add another sewer Y and accompanying fittings.  That's around $75 worth of fittings I won't need, getting a $13 fitting instead.  And saving all of that work...

I will need another panel and Ill probably go  with the same thing I put on the shed, 125 amp.  I will run both of those units off of it and take a lot of load off of the shed circuit and the the west side circuit.  I'm pretty much decided to go ahead and do this.  I'm going to need to dig down to the water line that I have capped - actually I think I put a valve on it. I hope I did so I don't have to shut the entire park off once again.  But, if I didn't, I'll just put another valve in and eliminate that problem from that point forward.  

I'm going to put the panel somewhere near where I have the one mounted on the shed. That way, I don't have to buy more wire for my rv - it can be disconnected from the shed and rerouted to the new panel.  

The trencher is $200 per day. So, I can rent it in the evening and then use it early morning.  It's going to be 102 tomorrow and over 100 several days after that. We're in the high humidity and super high dew point range right now.  Electricity will no longer be a concern with that shed and the only other factor is the sewage.  

It's a plan.  I am not 100% committed to it right now, I need to think about it today.  If it works, I have another lot paying and another pull through available.  I'll need to go over there and look at the New Jersey people sewer line.  I'm not really interested in buying them a new sewer hose if theirs isn't compatible with the intended, dual-setup.  But, at the same time, it's money and they don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. 

Of course, they need to pay their bill....

First point of order is to get the RV hot water going and get a connector for the propane so they can cook in there.  

I honestly need another shed for all of my tools. I have that "extra" one that was damaged when they shipped it, but it's much too small.  I need something like a 10X10 walk in type of thing.  I didn't say I was ordering one today, it's out of budget but it's really something I'm going to need as soon as I can afford one.  Far too many tools, chainsaws, extension cords, fittings, etc to put in that tiny little shed.  I have a few things in the other shed but that is mainly dedicated to housing the water heater.  

All of this is why I'm getting a job.  I hate the idea but I've mentally prepared myself for the daily grind.  I don't particularly want to be away from home for 2 or 3 weeks in orientation....most trucking companies will keep you at least 5 days.  In this case, it's orientation week and the training on the type of trailer I will be hauling. Loading and unloading.  They say it takes at least a week to learn the loading/offloading.  Somehow, I doubt it will take me that long to catch on. I'll have to find someone on-call to go over and deal with any issues.  I suppose I could ask the NJ people - not sure about that.  

I'm discounting what the purple people owe so I can get them out of there.  Fixed incomes are fickle.  You have X amount, in this case, to pay whatever park you are moving to and you have to pay the extra days beyond what they paid for the lot they are staying at in my park. They are allegedly leaving tomorrow and promise to pay before they leave. Their money doesn't come in until tomorrow and they can't move into another park until they get it.  I figure I'll let them pay $15 per extra day instead of the $25.  It pays for the electricity, helps them out a bit and I have that lot freed up.  

Here's the thing. If these people that didn't pay anything but "reserved" a lot over the phone show up today, that will kick my butt into high gear to mitigate the upcoming situation with too many trailers and not enough lots. It's only 1 day's worth, but everything I'm seeing? It's not right to cancel someone out like that.  All respondents in an RV managing group I am in said they would never cancel out a 1 night stay in order to let a  long term in.  Just not good business practice. I agree, I'm just kind of under pressure right now to get as much money flowing in as I can.  But, that shouldn't and won't take precedence over doing the right thing.  

Phone notifications flying off the hook, there is a new person in there taking a shower.  I tend to look at them - looking at the stuff I have in there.  Tools and such, under the table mostly but there is some of James stuff still in there, I am going to box that up and bring it home.  Pretty expensive equipment, I don't want any of it disappearing. I have been lucky so far that even the poor people aren't thieves.  

This is why I need a much larger equipment shed. I simply don't have room for everything in the small one and I have to keep a lot of it in the amenities shed.  I don't know, but if I could find one cheap enough, I'd buy it.  But they aren't cheap and are pretty much $600 and up . That stuff will just have to stay where it is for now.  The shed is always locked unless I'm there and there is a camera. 

I am going to go take a look at this million dollar RV park that is under contract.  The pics of it are showing it unfinished. No gravel, nothing, just the dirt work has been done for the lots.  They surely didn't sell that place for that much money unfinished.  I want to see if they've added anything to it.  I dunno if the property is gated/open or what.  They have plenty of room to add more spaces and to put in whatever amenities they want to dump more money into it that they want.  

I'll just try to reassure myself that even if they are able to take away a bit of clientele, they aren't going to get everyone because of the location.  I'm just going to have to up the ante at my place and get more stuff in there.  It will take time, the things I want are expensive.  And if I put in 15 more spaces, I will invariably have to add another laundry room. Or find a way to add several machines to the current setup.  Like, having 3 washers and dryers in there. There is room for that, but I don't have it set up for it. I would have to tear out drywall to install more pipe and electrical outlets.  

I dunno, not a bridge I need to cross right now. I'm getting good experience right now in learning how to deal with all of this on a smaller scale basis.  Really had no idea what i was doing and I learned quickly that - I had no idea what I was doing.  I'm getting better at it.  I could have told the guy yesterday that no, I can't have you staying longer, but then that money walks out the door.  I'll get the situation mitigated and have another lot to boot.  

Well, this is getting long. Time to take a shower and get ready for church.

G'day.  

 So, with the guy asking to stay additional time, I got the same amount from him for 13 days as I would for someone moving in long-term with my $100 discounted ad rate. Now, if I could get people doing this all the time, my financial problems wouldn't even exist.  But, as long time readers probably know, it simply hasn't been happening that way.  This is what I was erroneously basing my income off of for the 14 lots initially.

Like, the park would instantly fill up with people for overnight stuff and I would be living in paradise. If my 14 lots were constantly full with short term - whether a few nights or at my weekly rate - I would have no need to go back to trucking. This is a fact.  My net income would be around 5k per month.  It was a pipe dream, I soon found out and not sure why I thought I could just "instantly" fill up a park. There are SO many factors to getting a park full, as I found out the hard way.  

And now, I am going to have even more competition when that new, 36 spot park opens.  My discussions with that other park owner 20 miles away, however, had him thinking that they can't really compete with me unless they go "crazy ridiculous" with the amenities. Well, I found out the people buying the park have multiple parks already, they know what they need to do. Paying a million dollars? I figure they're going to go crazy with the amenities. 

But, with that much of an investment for only 36 spaces, they are going to have to have high rates to make any net revenues off of it. The payment as it stands will be somewhere around 5 grand a month.  That's no upgrades, just a plain jane park.  Now, you start adding pools, clubhouses, restrooms, etc and you have a lot more invested.  The only way you really jack up the income is to add more spaces.  I really don't think that many people are going to want to rent at a park that is way out of the way for higher than everyone else near town prices without some serious amenities.  

You know, I mentioned "luring them in" a while back and people jumped on my case about using the "wrong" word and appealing is the appropriate word. Uh no, it's not.  You are literally trying to lure people away from other parks by offering amenities that will be so appealing, they can't resist. That is, IF they have the money to spend on such things. 

I used lure and appealing correctly in the same sentence, thank you.  

The focus when I get this job and start paying down debt will be to add another septic system, add more rv spots and build cabins.  Actually, more like tiny homes on wheels. If you keep it on wheels, you don't have to pay state taxes.  What's the difference? Technically? I guess it's not a permanent foundation, considered a vehicle that can be moved.  Reality? Ridiculous.  

James just happens to have a 20 something foot long trailer in the back of the front portion of my property.  It's just the frame and axles with wheels. The structure is gone - it was a travel trailer at one point.  You start from the frame up, you can build a tiny home that never has to be moved anywhere.  Get a set of plans for it - easier to let some engineer who knows what they are doing than trying to guess work it.  James could build the thing. I could probably do the electrical if I have a schematic.  And the plumbing for that matter.  

The goal with this job is to get debt paid down but at the same time start investing in upgrades and the very first upgrade that has to happen is another septic system. At 7 grand, it will take a while to save up that kind of money. It's another 15 or more spots worth.  Get me 30 spots in that place, get it filled up or mostly filled up and I can quit trucking.  I can quit corporate life. I can quit being treated like an animal by abusive management. I dunno, this company I'm going with here - if i can last that long financially - sounds decent.  It's a smaller company but they've been around a long time.  They flat out admitted they have older trucks.  Do you have a automatic transmission only on your CDL? No, I don't like automatic transmissions in trucks.

Good, because we only have manual transmissions.  I'm all good with that.  They're going to have to give me a few minutes of "gee, I haven't driven a truck in a while, let me get reacquainted with shifting" when doing any driving test.  Pre trips are easy.  None of it is hard. The hardest part I think is just learning loading and unloading a new type of product that I haven't dealt with before. This is a hazmat tanker job.  

Anyway, I'm a lot more upbeat now that I will have some money coming in. It was a dry period for a while there and it totally sucked.  I hope not to have to go through that again, at least not that bad.  You get 6 empty lots in such a small park? You're kind of screwed. You don't take a paycheck for a month or more and you wonder if it's going to last forever. You start to second guess yourself. Was this a bad idea?  It's hard to imagine that all it took was re-wording everything? Was that the only reason or is it just happenstance that I wrote that ad and people started calling at the same time? It could be a bit of both.   

And the more that I think about it, it seems to me that my area is more of a "seasonal" thing with travelers - not the  long term people.  It's nice in my area for the most part in the winter. Yes, it can get very cold and even snow and ice, but for the most part, it's pretty darn good weather.  It will be something I will be heavily advertising once we get back to the cooler season.  Perhaps Hipcamp could come into play in decent weather.  Dunno, that's pretty much off the table for now.  I rode the trails today, too hot to walk that stuff. Lots of downed trees, growing weeds, it's bad.  It will need the mulcher man back and I won't even bother with that until weed growing season is done and over with.  It's not cheap and no one is using the trails now anyway. 

I'm learning.  I've been an employee all my life, this kind of thinking is all new to me and it's taking quite a bit of time for me to understand how this works and what makes it work.  What comes naturally to someone in the business for 20 years .... they don't think in terms of not knowing the things that they have learned to the point it is second nature to them, so they don't really think to give you the parts about certain situations that you don't know about.  And then you strain your brain, why don't I understand this? Or why isn't this working?

Well whatever. It's bedtime.  

 I always love when an entire post just goes poof! and disappears into the clear, blue cyberspace. Doesn't happen much anymore, but I guess I didn't double check before shutting down the laptop.

A few things. The purple people went to the hospital last night. I got a notification for around 1am and saw an ambulance coming through looking for the spot.  I found out this morning that his lack of insulin caused to have - whatever it's called - event and ended up in the ER and after, in the ICU.  Supposedly they are moving out Monday, he has a job in Longview he is starting and they will have to move closer to it.  They are waiting on government checks to pay for their lot rent and be able to move into another park.  These people paid the 7 days in advance initially.  

The 7 day stay people showed up early - and parked in the wrong lot.  They didn't bother to stop at the shed, so I ended up walking down there and asking them if they are so and so?  Yes  Ok, y'all were supposed to park at lot 5, but it's no big deal.

The reason they took 7 is because the dude in lot 6 had his pickup parked in lot 5.  So I knocked on his door and informed him I have 2 more coming tomorrow, you can park there today if you like but please have it parked elsewhere tomorrow.  The people at lot 7 said they want to extend their stay - from 7 days to 13.  It's hard to tell people no, especially when you have been in a dry spell, so I just said, ok.  I need the money. 

Well, that in turn created other problems on down the road.  If they are staying in that lot, then the people that are coming for that lot will need to be relocated to a different lot.  The issue?  Well, at first I thought there wasn't an issue excepting there is a person wanting to move in - like right away.  I'd rather have the long term. So, I figured when the purple people leave, there will be a space for her to park her trailer.  But I remembered that another couple is coming tomorrow - the don't have an online reservation, they are allegedly going to stay for a month or more.  

Things start getting complicated when people who are leaving - don't leave. The dude at lot 10 said he was leaving but I had to find out by contacting him myself that he is working for another company but at the same job site (those oil field sites can have multiple companies working in them) and that he's staying for another couple of months. Is that ok or do I need to find another place? Uhh, it's ok, I said immediately. I'll take the 2 or 3 months over whoever that I don't know how long they're staying. Just seems a silly idea to ask someone to leave because you want someone else to take their place?

So, to take this person in and still have enough spaces would mean opening up another space.  But after I started scrutinizing it, there are 2 trailers coming in on the 7th, I think. Even without this new long term coming in, I still have an issue with too many units and not enough spaces.  

My mind drifted back to the idea of moving the New Jersey people back behind the shed.  They are only using 20 amp, 110 volt service.  Can I run an outlet out there off of the shed and still be safe on that circuit or do I need to run a line from lot 1?  If I have to run a line from lot 1 (which I should do anyway), I'll need to rent a $200 trencher and buy things I don't necessarily want to have to purchase right now.

Namely, a small breaker panel for the new service and wire to run the 20 amp service off of it.  I'll have to build some sort of frame to mount the thing to - I can't do it on the shed now, I have no access to the inside to install a cross board for the screws to dig into.  I don't necessarily think it would be terribly difficult to install, but it's so hot outside.  So, we're talking renting a machine, buying a panel and whatever I can find to install it on, a circuit breaker and wiring.  We're at $350 easily.  I have the direct bury line, if I didn't have that, add another almost $300 to that price.  

Can I afford $350 right now? Uhh, if the place fills up with 17 spots because of it, yes. The extra lot rent will pay for it and the the next month start making some money off of it.  

There is one thing that could change that will change all of this: if the people that didn't make an "official" reservation don't show up tomorrow.  They called on the phone, asked questions, said they'd like to make a reservation. But, they didn't pay anything so you know sometimes people are no shows if they think they found "something better".  

It still makes no sense for me to pass up moving the New Jersey people back there with my RV and have an extra pull through. Their trailer looks to be about 22 feet long.  If I run a wire from lot 1, I won't have to worry about overloading the west side circuit.  I will have to think about whether the septic system can handle 17 units when it was vocalized it's good for 14.  

I think that's what the state mandates?  I don't think they really care if I put extra stuff on it, as witnessed when I asked about putting a washing machine and shower/toilet setup on it as well. Nope, it'll handle it.  

The electrical load is what I'm concerned about mostly.  I'll price everything out, if I can do it for $350 I'm probably going to get with it and get it done - early.  It's way too hot out there, I just get heat sick when I'm out there doing anything. I will likely do nothing tomorrow and then Monday, I'm going to set the alarm at 6:00 am get, up, drink my coffee and try to be out there by 7:00 am.  I can install the hot water setup for my RV and then start thinking about this other setup.  

I was mowing more weeds today and it just took it all out of me. The temps are rising, tomorrow slated to be 100, Monday 101 and Tuesday 102.  

Yup, from the answers I'm getting, I will have to run that underground line off of lot 1 or risk circuit breakers tripping or even the main, west side, 200 amp breaker tripping.  I don't want to move those people over behind the shed and then find out it's not going to work. I know it's "only" 20 amp service, but I'm asking a lot on that circuit and there will be yet another RV in there tomorrow.  

Fortunately, if they do show, it's only 1 AC on 30 amp.  But during the daytime, there are a lot of AC units running continuously on that circuit.  10 of them I can think of right now, including the shed and my RV.  

I guess I could just plug another window unit into the shed and see what happens. That and a small freezer are all that the New Jersey people are running.  

___________

Tomorrow is Sunday, but I'm seriously thinking of getting up early and getting some work done over there before the heat of the day hits. Church doesn't start until 11:00 am.  I don't know if I will succeed in getting up that early, depends on my sleep. I'd like to make a dent in what needs to be done with my RV hot water setup. That's really all I'm trying to accomplish, but it's quite a bit of work.  

If not tomorrow, definitely going to hit it Monday.  Early. Force my @$$ out of bed early, 6:00 am, get my mind into working mode and get over there and put in some good hours before that 100 degree mark hits.  Long before that hits.  

Just finish the trench at least?  I'm not going too deep, not even a foot. It's only to protect it from being stepped into/run over.  

I dunno, but it's getting close to bedtime. 

 I'm not going to wait.  We were supposed to be cooking crab tonight, but instead, they are going to a thing that is for "the family" - 3 families I think - but I'm not invited.  It "used" to be that I was family, I haven't heard that in a while and I've seen completely different going on in the last several months.  So whatever.  I live here, that's it at this point.  

Anyway, crab out the window, it can wait until tomorrow I guess, I'll go get myself something to eat.  Probably some keto friendly, blackened salmon at Applebee's.  Yup, I'm feeling dissed and that's fine, I will get over it but I will also adjust my view of where I am living and what I am doing here. It always happens this way anyway.  I've been watching stuff like this going on my entire adult life, nothing new under the sun.

Well wait, I have a turkey in there that needs to be cooked. It's finally thawed and it needs to get into the oven tomorrow.  It appears from online info anyway, that you can keep thawed crab in the fridge for several days before it starts going south.  

Anyway, let's steer away from that subject, kind of aggravated right now.  Whatever this person is doing - a lady that announced a get together for "family" and since I am not involved with it, I no longer consider myself a part of this family - I got some stuff done today.

After I determined that I was going to just use the already existent water heater that is sitting right there for hot water in the motor coach, I went over to measure and figure out the fittings and pipe I will need. I already have a 10 foot stick of 1/2 inch pipe.  Lowe's, got the pipe, the fittings and left. Back to the property, started digging the trench. 

It was sooo hot out there, I was sweating profusely quickly and not in the mood for it.  I worked on that for a while before I decided I would do something else - which is mow the Hipcamp area.  It's not really that anymore, but it's what I will refer to it as to delineate what I am referring to.  It was overgrown with weeds, I went to a lot of trouble to clear that area so I decided to get the push mower and get busy. 

I got most of it done, but I was getting very, very hot.  Like, go inside the shed, plop down on a chair in front of the AC unit hot and try to cool down.  

That didn't work and it was getting late, I came home with the boy and then found out that today was the day for this "family" thing. I didn't know until a few minutes ago that I wasn't a part of this deal. Note that not that long ago, anything going on at any of these people's homes, I was a part of.  I'm just feeling like I need to reassess my living arrangements and whether  I am even still welcome here.  It may be that I am being given "subtle" hints to go find a new place to live. 

I don't want to act rashly, but I have been observing this for a while now, as stated.  It may be a "taken for granted" situation where people just look at the status-quo and think that person is fine with whatever, but that's not me.  I haven't much posted about this because I wasn't sure if this was the case. But now? Yeah, it's getting pretty evident that the mood is shifting.  

I just don't know how far it goes.  Like, get out shifting or, oh well, you're here and whatever shifting or - who knows what.  

I'm being informed the person that called all of this together is going to "inform us of something" and then head back to their home, near Dallas.  Whatever. I'm feeling pretty put-off at the moment and I'm not going to even ask whatever it is that she said to them.  

I suppose I could just go back on the road and live in a truck again.  I am not going back to Arizona, I hate it there, tho I do love the mountains I don't want to live at my house and I despise the place.  It's just another giant city that has slowly turned towards democrat/progressive politics, replete with gangs, crime, big city angst, neighbors that don't know or care to talk to their next door neighbors, etc.  

Whatever the case, even more calls today. I hope to get some of these people in there. One is from the city 30 miles away, another is looking for a place for her mom - I don't know what that's about - and others.  Fill my park up, that's what I want, that's what I need. 

I'm going to get off of here and try to cool myself off both physically from baking out in the heat and internally. 

 TCAS worked. Well, I assume it was TCAS that directed the Allegiant flight to go up and the Gulfstream jet to go down.  I've learned a few things watching various aircraft disaster shows and the ensuing investigations they do after the fact.  This was the near "nose to nose" collision, as the news described it would have been if the pilots hadn't immediately responded to TCAS instructions.  From what I have seen in those shows, TCAS takes precedence over any ATC instructions.  This became the point of an investigation in an air crash disaster where TCAS gave instructions for a plane to immediate go up, but the ATC gave them instructions to go down.

The aircraft collided mid-air killing everyone on board both planes. But the description of the event that was reported yesterday sounded fairly - terrifying.  The passengers all got to go home in the end, that's the important part.  You don't, however, expect a plane to suddenly take a nose dive or start nosing way up, they said the flight attendants fell on the floor and were apparently injured.  I tried not to think of all of these air crash disaster shows I've watched when I flew to Phoenix and back, lol.

Kudos to the skilled pilots for saving a lot of lives.  

________________________

So, I figured out where the water heater goes - and obviously (at least to me since I'm the one attempting to find the thing) and there isn't one there.  I have now found a tankless heater online and will be finding some way to install one of those things instead.  It's the best I can do, I'm not going to put a tank heater in there, there's nowhere to put one.  Trust me, the cubby hole where the propane water tank used to be will not fit a 5 gallon water heater in there, lol.  I will probably have to run a 20 amp line off the shed to run the thing.  Fortunately, they only come on when the water gets turned on, saving electricity and really don't need to have a lot of use. 2 showers a day and some dishes.   

 The propane is something that may turn out to be much easier than originally anticipated.  Well, anyway, I'm going to find a low priced water heater and the hose for the propane tank shouldn't be terribly expensive and then hopefully, I'm done with any expenses for that thing.   Basically, I can unhook the line going into the regulator on the built-in tank, find a hose with a fitting that can screw into the hose that has a regulator on it and screws into a propane tank, walaah.  Probably $30 worth of parts.  She said she'd buy her own tank.  

So, we're narrowing this stuff down and trying to get it taken care of. Fortunately, they can still take showers in the shed.  Just need to get the propane going so they can cook on the stove top.  The oven was filled with pots and pans, something that she very much liked.  

What else....I need to check lots today and clean up any messes.  I will have a full park at least temporarily soon, some of the lots haven't been used in weeks.  One of them has rocks and branches that the boy threw onto them while cleaning out the freshly-tilled ground.  So just some basic clean-up but it shouldn't take much. Maybe get the chain saw going if I can find the adjusting tool....been a while since I've seen that.  

The boys got with it yesterday and cleaned out a lot of the weeds around the septic system. Considering the size of those weeds, I was impressed.  The people in the purple thing are leaving this morning.  Their AC broke and they are staying in that thing without any cooling. Unbelievable. I would rather sit outside than in a hot vehicle like that.  In fact, I would just head over to the shed and cool off in there. But, I don't really like people hanging out in the shed, tho I never said anything to them about it.  It's something I would allow temporarily since they are leaving anyway.  

I have plans just need to execute them.  Getting the RV finished is a top priority, just because I want it over with and yes, I don't want to listen to people complaining.

I've got 200 feet of direct bury wire.  That's done and paid for, been sitting there for months. The length should be enough to go from number 1 lot to the rear of the shed, where I can install a second, small electrical panel.  The only drawback is I will have to trench through the lot and then through the driveway.  I'll have to measure that and make sure 200 feet is enough, but it should be.  A decent tankless water heater is 240 volts and requires a 60 amp breaker.  I don't think I want to put that kind of load on the already well-loaded shed setup.  I can put the entire RV on a separate panel on a separate circuit.  The drawback is $200 to rent a ditchwitch. That seems expensive for an hour's worth of use.  I doubt it will take long to trench it.  I might call a few places in Longview and see how much they charge.  

They make 110 volt tankless heaters but from reading the reviews, they are not that great.  If the water output of the sink and shower are slow, then I might work okay - and save me a lot of money.  It might just be that I do that for now and if they don't like it - well - there's always the shower in the shed.  The water output of both the shower and the sink are quite low, they do that intentionally so you don't fill up the holding tanks too fast.  It's just that if I do put one of those in there, they also have to turn the thing on and off when they want to use it. 

So what happens if they turn it on and forget to turn it off? Do those things have an auto-shut-off? or just that the water heats up to a certain temp and it shuts off because it isn't moving through it? The plus side is they have remote controls, you aren't flipping switches on and off.  

Since the thing isn't going to move anywhere, I'm sitting here thinking, hmm, my shed water heater is only a few feet away from that RV.  Instead of spending a lot of money on a water heater, why not just put a tee into the hot water outlet and run a pipe over there?  Just put a flexible hose somewhere so it can move with the rv going up and down with people walking around in it or getting in and out.  

This is so simple and there isn't a huge demand on that water heater as it is.  It's just half inch cpvc line, I can insulate any of it that is above ground, spend $30 or $40 on line and parts -well maybe a little more to get a flexible line - attach it to the RV, walaah, we're done.  I don't know why I didn't think of this right off the bat. 

Anyway, outta here. Got to get over there before the purple people leave, they owe another day's rent. 

G'day

 Hot water was coming out of the faucet.  I couldn't find a water heater anywhere in that thing.  So I don't know.  The propane line, a new water hose, a sewer hose and a few other minor things and I"m calling it good.  She was fine with the toilet setup.  In fact, she declared emphatically more than once "I want it".  Not in soft tones, it was definitely saying this is something I need in my life.  

I informed her I wasn't charging her any interest - the price tag for that old thing is high enough as it stands, but I've got it down to 22 months of payments.  That's not bad.  Just short of 2 years, she'll have to keep working of course, but she seems motivated. 

She also said her brother could get SS benefits if he had an address he could use, can we use yours? Of course.  Please.  Get some money, get a better lifestyle going.  I completely broke her taking that $325 off of her card, I know that because I tried to run it and it declined.  She called her sister to look it up and it was 20 cents short. They fixed that and the payment went through.

I'm not trying to break her bank, but I do want the money.  She will be easier to deal with than more picky people.  The water hose I have hooked up to the thing now is definitely not going to work. It's one of those cheap hoses I bought to water a long time ago and it looks like it's ready to burst under the pressure.  I'll spend another $100 or so on the thing and tack it onto the bill.  I just wish the ac would have worked and I didn't get laden down with $1,700 worth of debt.  A little bit ridiculous.  

The new guy is here, he has this small trailer with 2 ac's mounted on the roof. Never seen anything like it.  As if that thing actually needs 2 roof mounted ac units.  Oh well.  I'm just taking $400 per month and be glad that I've got another lot rented out.  I have 15 lots in reality now that I am going to leave the old rv behind the shed and no, they have no problem with it. A lot of privacy back there, actually.  

I didn't tell her I may end up moving the other people back there as well

It's $200 per day for the trencher.  That's a lot.  I think it is anyway.  It'll probably take me a couple hours or less to trench the ditch.  I'll immediately run the line and just leave it dangling on either end, backfilling it right away so I don't have an open trench running for people to trip into it and - sue me.  

Yes, I do plan on doing it.  I don't know when, but soon.  I want that old trailer out of there and it can sit next to my RV.  I can run the electric for bother rv's off of that side of the park and equalize it out to 2 different circuits.  I just think I'm asking alot out of the current cirbuit what with also have the shed on it.  As I say, I know what I'm doing now.  

It will open up another lot and if/when all lots are full at any given time, there are the dollar signs racking up.  

It's as much strain as I dare put on that septic system.  Those aerobic sprinklers must be getting some use tho, what with this laundry setup - but I did get the ok from the company that installed it to add it onto the system. And so far, nothing. 

Now it's crunch time.  Add up everything coming in in the next week and see if I'm going to make it to the next month.  I think so.....maybe.....lol.  I'll get another $325 from her in 2 weeks. Provided she can do that of course.  She's already moving in, it's nice and cool in there.  That AC doensn't have a lot of cubic footage it needs to cool and isn't straining it at all.  

Next time I buy one of those things, however, I'm going to have them run everything, including the ac for at least half an hour and see what happens.  I feel like I got ripped off with it being sold as an rv with a functioning ac unit.  

I'm just sitting in the shed waiting for the new guy to show up. He has the money, I'm sure of that.  He wanted to go into town to open up bank accounts, get supplies etc so I just told him  ok, go ahead and do your thing we can meet up later.  

Anyway, I need to go to Lowe's and get the rest of her stuff.  That is probably going to be a longer than shorter visit to that store trying to find the things I need to fix small stuff.

 No sleeping for me.

Thursday - morning

I woke up at 3:00 am and I was awake for hours.  I got back to sleep maybe around 6 am.  The kids had other ideas, however.  They started yelling, laughing very loudly and making  a lot of noise early.  It was so loud that I wouldn't have tolerated it even if it were the middle of the day.  Yup, I went out there and silenced them with one sentence. I have heard nothing from them since.

It's not like I don't need to get moving, but if I'm wiped out, I'm not getting anything done.  I need to go see if that guy actually showed up last night and I need to get over there and get to looking for a water heater on the rv.  I'm going to have to dig up the water line in back of the shed and install a water spigot, I determined they can just stay back there and they didn't seem to care about that, in fact, liking the idea.  The only thing I don't know and haven't checked is if WiFi reaches back there. 

Yes, the shed is right there, but the router is in the front window to get it pumping the signal out of that metal structure.  Anyway, I'm going to have to buy a sewer hose, an adapter line for the propane and hopefully find a water heater in there - somewhere.  If I can get all of that done, I'm done with that thing. They are apparently getting their own bed for the front for one of them to sleep on, I'll guess that would be the brother.  The back bedroom has a very nice curtain that is original equipment, or so it appears and is in excellent condition.  

I'm basically giving them a chance to get into something. They won't get this opportunity from anyone else, or not very likely to happen anyway.  No credit, no real, permanent address, just got into town a month and a half ago, other things - just didn't add up to creditworthiness.  But, since they will have to keep the RV in the park, there isn't a lot of exposure to risk beyond the fact that if it came down to it, I would have to take them to court for default and get them legally removed if they weren't to leave on their own.  I don't wish that upon them, obviously.  

Since the man at lot 10 isn't leaving any time soon - something it would have been nice if he had told me once he found out - I will have to cancel an overnight reservation.  I see no other way out of it. Wait, well I forgot, I need to chat with the people in the purple thing and find out their intentions.  If they are leaving, then I don't have to cancel.  I don't know what they're doing. They aren't working, that's for sure, I don't know where they get their money - or their groceries for that matter.  I'll determine my course of action with the overnighter after I talk with them.  Their intended stay isn't for another 11 days, if I cancel tomorrow, they have quite a bit of time to find other accommodations.  

Someone called me last night asking directly how much I charge for lot rent. Then "does it include all bills?".  Then they hung up on me.  Suspicious.  I think some of these calls are coming from other parks to find out how much I'm charging and adjust their rates accordingly.  

I've adjust wording to match other parks with "the best park in town" and "best rates in town", but I've also added "best location in town" - for it truly is.  I'm closest to the hospital and most of the medical buildings, supermarkets, etc. One park has "I have been in the business for many years, I know how parks should be operated" - yet he has a sardine can style setup and total gravel lot.  It looks ridiculous from my perspective.  

In other words, I have ramped up the rhetoric.  It's all true, I'm not making anything up, but it's much more - enhanced? - lol than anything I have posted so far.  

Now, I have a lot more money coming in if everyone shows up plus the beginning of the month coming up, I should be able to pay myself a couple thousand dollars even after paying the ridiculously high electric bill and stave off the creditors for a while longer.  No, I'm not in default on anything, I'm just saying I hopefully don't have to worry about finances for a while.  

I don't know if it was changing the wording on the Google business site, Facebook, Facebook ads - no idea, but something worked.  As I have said many times, I am new to this, have never owned a business before and well, I'm learning.  It could be I'm getting calls because other parks are full as well? The one I went to yesterday was crammed full of rv's. I'm thinking of having someone call them and see what their rates are, they aren't posted online.  I'd call myself, but I have a distinctive voice - or so I have been told repeatedly - and I don't know if these people have called me in disguise asking about my rates as well.  

I don't really get the idea of not posting your rates excepting to say that perhaps that's how they get people in.  They lowball.  Cut their rates just enough to eliminate the competition out of any given person's mind as to who has the lowest rates.  After taking a tour of all of the parks in the area, most of them now do not have their prices listed.  Scratching my head still, I can guess but I just don't know the point of it.  My research suggests people want it right up front: how much it's going to cost per night, week or month and what amenities are available.  

There were only 3 other parks out of all of them in this area that have their price listed. The 2 major parks owned by the same company are what I usually base my rates off of.  

Well whatever.  It's time to get moving.  The 8 year old wants to work, allegedly. I don't want the other 2 with me today. If the 8 year is going to work, that's what he's going for, otherwise, he can stay home.  I don't need the constant distractions to getting stuff done. Show him exactly what I want done - which I already have in mind - and then let him get with it.  Otherwise, I have to go through that RV and see if I can get all of this figured out so they can move in - tho I think they want to move in whether everything is working or not.  I'll be going to Lowe's today to get a sewer hose and I will have to alter the paperwork to reflect spending more money on it.  I want them to pay for all of this stuff, not me.  

Doesn't sound fair? Well, I'm not charging them interest, saving them a truckload of money. They would probably get an interest rate in the high 20's if they were even given the opportunity to get a line of credit to buy a used RV.  It's nothing different than going to a used car lot. They jack the price way up and they charge you a ton of interest. If you make all the payments, you have paid double or more what you would have paid if you could have gone to a private seller or a new car dealer. It's a racket and I'm trying my best to keep some standard of ethics in my business dealings. 

Anyway, time to go!

G'day

 So, my advertising will take a twist.  I visited one of the "main" competitors today.  It's a small plot of land with as many spaces as they could cram in there. And when I saw crammed, I mean crammed.  The RV's are so close together they barely fit into the intended lots.  It's got 30 rv's in there, I can only assume they are charging less to get more in.  They make their money off of quantity, not quality.  Lots of RV parks do this and older ones especially are all made the same way: a giant sardine can style setup.

There was literally nothing appealing about the place at all.  It isn't close or convenient to anything in town.  The nearest grocery store is something like 5 miles away.  It's right next to a busy highway, lots of road noise.  But, there are people that will take a lower price over any amenities and that's fine, they can stay there. But my next ad will refer to the fact that I have much larger spaces than "anyone else in town" because as far as I can see it, that's definitely true.  

They probably lose their @$$ during the summer with high electric bills and mitigate it with decreased utility expenditures during fall, winter and spring.  I don't have that luxury at the moment, I need people in there but I'm not going to drastically decrease the price. There will be very little profit in it and I might as well leave them empty.  

I texted tent lady today but she is at work and when she's there, I've found that she has limited time to respond to anything.  All well and fine, let's see what she says later on.  

The trucking company called yet again today.  I answered with the name of my park - I didn't recognize the number.  This time it wasn't the recruiter, it was the person that does the background checks.  He wanted a tax return showing my income for the time I've had the park.  Uhh, sorry. I spent from the time I quit trucking until January getting things ready and then I opened on the 1st of January (I think? No, I think I opened the last week of December but there was no business because it was very bad weather and frigid outside). I don't have a tax return yet for this operation.

Ok, we'll find a way to work around it. They have to do - whatever - to please the FMCSA.  That's the federal government arm that basically dictates drivers' lives.  They want an explanation of why I haven't worked for the past year.  I've worked, I just haven't worked at what you think I should have been working at.  They make it difficult for employers to hire anyone that hasn't been driving recently, I knew that I just didn't know the details of how they make it difficult, now I know.  

Well, when I was looking at this other RV park, I was also looking at a trucking yard filled with semi-tractors.  Lots of them. Like, I wonder if they're hiring?  I saw no sign out there but I'll be looking them up to see if they have any ads for drivers. If they don't, I'll just call them.  

Good news....the man coming from Georgia just called, he said he crossed the Louisiana state line from Mississippi and would be there - I told him 3-1/2 hours lol.  Maybe 4, depends on traffic and how fast he is driving. He's coming in today and will be paying tomorrow.  He says he doesn't like to pay with credit cards because another park charged him for a full month's rent even after he told them he was leaving and gave him advance notice.  They told him they would refund the money - but they never did.  

Okay.  Ad posted for the RV park lots available with new ad and just a post on my business Facebook about the coach being for sale.  If it comes to it, I will post the coach for sale - installment loan only and staying at the park - on Marketplace.  I'm giving her the benefit of a doubt.   

The New Jersey people gave me $25 today.  Well, they're trying.  Many places wouldn't allow such leeway, I'm seeing if they'll be able to come up with the money either here and there making payments or just come up with the money out of her monthly disability. I have no idea how much money she gets.  

________

I'm all of a sudden getting inundated with requests.  With the guy coming in today, the 2 short term guests staying 7 and 9 days respectively and now another guy coming in Sunday, I will be temporarily full.  In fact, I have a scheduling glitch.  An overnighter that I won't have any place to put - but they aren't coming for another 9 days.  I am going to contact that guy that is leaving and ask if he has an update on his departure date. I also have another guy that wants to move in.  This all just came up out of the blue.  Literally. Out-of-the-blue. I haven't seen anything like this for quite a while.  

Well. That is a pleasing turn of events.  This takes a lot of pressure off of me for paying bills until I can get the trucking job.  I'll cancel overnighters for long term as long as the overnighters get a good time frame to make other arrangements.  That's the RV park industry and it's nothing new.  I don't have a problem with it, I'm more interested in long term renters that are going to stick around a while than a one night stay that leaves the lot empty.  I've completely converted my thinking to long term. I'd have all long term if I could and be done with it. 

I've thrown Hipcamp out the window. It didn't pan out.  I never ran the power out there, I ran ads with the ability to get power out there and I didn't get any nibbles at that.  As tent camping, maybe it's just not the time of year for that, way too hot.  Maybe this region just isn't the kind of place hippers want to come to. 

I haven't exactly thrown tent camping out the window, but I would say, however, this isn't exactly the time of year to be tent camping.  Near 100 degree days, it does cool down at night fairly decently.  Maybe I'll try to pick that back up in the fall when it cools down during the daytime as well.  I'll have the mulcher guy come back out and spend half a day cleaning out the trails.  Yes, after I get another trucking job to pay for it.  I did get an inquiry for a weekend deal for some dude that wants to have a bunch of friends with several tents. I do have a cleared out area that the weeds haven't overtaken back there.  I told him I'd let him take the site for free in exchange for a Google review.  

You mean you won't charge anything? No.  Just trying to get the word out.  I could have lots of camping back there if there was any interest.  

I'm not sure if this dude showed up tonight or not. The outdoor camera is rather fickle in picking up passing vehicles. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.  

Oh, the dude that has been saying he is leaving? Yeah, he's not leaving.  I contacted him, he replied that he started working for a different company on the same job and that he's staying for several more months and then asked if he needs to find a new place? Uh, no?  I don't throw people out to bring in more, especially if they're staying awhile? lol.  So, unless someone is leaving that I don't know about, I'm going to have to cancel an overnighter.

However.  The people in the purple camper. I have no idea what they are doing, their week is over with tomorrow. Well, okay, they're good through the next morning when they would have to leave.  I'll be over there discussing their intentions.  They can stay and pay or leave.  The only thing I know is, that dude is not out looking for a job. They don't go anywhere. If they do, I don't see it and trust me, I'm looking.  

There is the idea that the New Jersey people need to be moved behind the shed.  I don't know if the shed power can take the strain.  I could run another line from lot 14 and power it tho. I have the line, it's been sitting there for a while, it was intended for HipCamp, I could put this - rather old and worn out stuff - in the back.  Park it next to my old rv, install another sewer outlet and call it good.  It's really a workable idea, I think.

In fact, I'm going to serious consider it.  I don't need to dig a deep trench like I had to for the sewer line running over there. A simple trenching machine rental for the 4 hours would easily do it.  In fact, remove my RV from the shed power and put it and this other thing on a separate system. I have plenty of water supply and my sewer system will be good. I have enough people that spend so little time in their rv's on a daily basis that these 2 units added to the system aren't going to overload it.  And I'm quite confident of my sewer line work now, if it were going to back up, it would have done it a long time ago.  Plus, I know what I'm doing with attaching another line to 14.  It's the closest electrical outlet that I can hook aluminum, underground wiring up to. Lot 1 is too far away.  Well, I'd have to measure it, maybe, but it doesn't matter which of them I take it off of.  

I've had no signs of overload on the electrical system for everything I am asking out of it.  All 14 lots can have AC units running continually plus the shed and it just does it's thing.  However.  If I run the line off lot 1, I place less load on the west side lot electrical system. It's 2 separate systems.  Actually, I'm sure I could run it off of lot 1 and that would make more sense.

I could have this done pretty quick. I have the line, rent the machine, get it over to behind the shed, put up a small panel with 8 outlets, now I have ample power for the rear of the shed and not drawing off of the shed power.  

I am new to this industry.  Business comes and goes.  I'm looking for those long term that are actually - long term. Like, we're here for a year. Or better, they aren't here just for work, they are here to live here in this area.  I'll tell ya what, those 3 oil field workers that showed up 5 months ago and show no signs of going anywhere have been a monthly boon to my bottom line.  I still want to approach the older guy about another $25 per month for his brand new, 3 AC covered 5th wheel. He easily spent 100k on that thing.  

My mind is working overtime again.  How do I get all of these people in here at the same time?  I need money, folks, I need to pay my bills.  I've been working with empty lots for a while, when the opportunity arises itself to provide some decent income, I'm going to think of ways to get this thing rolling.  

It's getting late. Need to go to bed. I can think all this stuff through tomorrow.

 Wednesday- morning

Time to go over there and install that carpet.  Well, I left the water pressure on on that thing yesterday, kind of wonder if I should have done that.  I guess I'll find out soon enough.  If it can hold pressure this long it's good to go.  The park doesn't have a lack of good water pressure, I can tell ya that for sure.

Now, just an aside here: Hunter Biden.  Do you think this plea bargain is fair?  Do you think if there were no politics in this situation or if his father was a Republican politician, the same thing would happen?  The more the Bidens are being investigated, the more it appears that Joe Biden is corrupted.  That he's for sale to the highest bidder from whatever country and that his priorities are skewed.  

If the House wasn't controlled by Republicans, none of this investigation would be going on and it would be life as normal for them.  Will Biden be impeached? Uhh, it is a good possibility since the House is controlled by republicans, tho I have heard that not all Republicans agree with it - yet.  McCarthy has changed course on his stance, drawing a line and saying if it's crossed, then he'll push for impeachment. The line is allegedly if the parties involved stop answering questions. I'm thinking this thing is headed towards impeachment, yes.

Would he be removed? Not likely.  Senate controlled by Democrats with the VP having the decisive vote, it won't happen.  I don't even think Manchin would cross the aisle, even if he thought Biden should be removed.  When is the last time you have seen McConnell doing any interviews with any news outlets or saying anything publicly that was worth noting in the media?  It's been a couple of months as far as I can remember.  IMO, McConnell is a RINO. 

Whatever.  I can understand why some people want nothing to do with politics.  When you look at the broad scope of it, most senators and representatives are extremely selfish, self-serving and get into Congress to line their pockets with cash, not just Biden.  

___________

Installment loan contract printed.  Includes caveat the motor coach will not be removed from the premises until the coach is fully paid for.  Most of the money I will "make" off of this thing will be lot rent.  25 month agreement.  Longer than I wanted but I'm not going to eat anything.  It's not really that long in terms of the world of financing tho.  

Well, I have 3 kids in-tow atm as Taylor is at a previous employer doing some work for them.  They miss her, she hasn't been there in years now, but they have decided they will just cut her a check for coming in and making diagrams for proposed new contracts.  That's going to work without being employed by the employer, sort of. I would love that.  You know, drive when I want to and come home when I want to? Lmao, yea that doesn't happen in the trucking world.  

Anyway, I need to get moving.

G'day

 Why does a relatively simple-looking job turn into an all day affair?  Ridiculous.  I put the setup together that I had gotten from Lowe's, only to have one of the shark bite fittings leak. They aren't supposed to do that, obviously and it's the first one I've used thus far that popped a leak on it.  I ended up taking the man at Lowe's suggestion and driving clear to Longview to a mobile home supply repair and parts shop that did, indeed, have the parts I needed.  

And then, it was quite the job to try and install that mess into that tight space.  It took forever.  When I finally got it in there correctly, I held my breath, turn the water on and .... nothing! Which is exactly what I wanted. Nothing to happen. No leaks anywhere that I can see.  I sat there for quite a while, just hoping that nothing would pop off and start leaking again.  

Nothing did, I tried all the outlets, everything working, I was happy with it, time to move onto other things in that rv.  

They want to move in tomorrow and have the money to make it happen. They being the tent people. Which means I need to come up with a total price and a contract that the will, indeed, sign.  She actually has half the first month's payment, this is what I offered her - twice monthly payments.  So, that is my job this evening, seeing what I can find that has all the legaleze, add my caveats to it and get them to sign it.  

If they don't sign it - they aren't getting it, plain and simple.  I want them to understand that I am not going to be responsible for any repairs after they take possession of the unit.  The AC is brand new, the most expensive thing in that unit, they are good there and there is plenty of hot season left.  Whether furnace works, who knows. Does the propane stove and oven work? Who knows.  I haven't gotten that far. One thing at a time with me and I also get diverted to doing other things.  

I also took the New Jersey people to the hospital today.  She has rheumatoid arthritis and you can see the pain in her face. Her hands are basically fused together.  Most people would just go to a doctor, but poor people go to a hospital.  I don't know if they have any kind of insurance.  She was going to go the other day but whoever she had taking her never showed up to the point that she hunted me down and very politely asked if I could take her.  Of course, what am I going to say? I'm too busy? I thought about offering a ride back but just left it alone and then, later on, messaged her that if she needs a ride, I could, indeed, come get her.  Oh, anyway, this lady is in so much pain that she actually wakes up screaming at night.  

I figure it's probably heavy duty meds to ease that kind of pain.  I'd like her to go deal with it next time before it gets to the screaming stage. 

I figured out that if I get all the money I am owed in, providing no one but that dude that is leaving, leaves, I should be good next month.  

Wait. I don't know if the people in the purple coach are staying or going. They only paid for a week.  I haven't seen them leave that thing besides going to the bathroom since they arrived. They only have that coach and the man has a bicycle.  He was going to go find work, but from what I've seen, they aren't doing anything but hanging out inside that thing.  None of my business excepting if they're staying, which they alluded to, they are going to need the finances to pay for the lot.  I don't care if they pay in increments or monthly all at once or what, but their week is going to be up soon and I will be visiting them.

It won't be shocking if they move to one of the cheaper parks.  Not that I want them to, of course.

The trucking company called again today.  After chit chatting, are we still good for this job? Yes.  I don't have any reason to tell them anything else unless I find something better.  They haven't spent anything on me other than paying a recruiter, which is their problem and expense long before I ever came along.  Apparently I passed their department's background checks.  Again. I have no qualms telling them that I've found something better, if that does, indeed, become the case. As it stands, I'll have to spend up to 3 weeks in Oregon.  Not necessarily the worst thing in the world, I guess. 

She asked me how long I figured I would work for them? Probably 2 to 3 years.  No telling for sure, I need to pay down some debt and get at least 15 more spaces in there plus upgrades.  And I want it done in time for the new Interstate they will start building through here in a couple of years.  You can't stay for 5? Uhh, probably not.  She went on with that for awhile before she began laughing. 2 years is great! Lol, ok!

I'm taking a pay cut doing this job. And once again, I forgot to ask her about the daily schedule, how many hours a day I will likely spend doing this job and does it require 7 days a week?  I keep forgetting because she keeps calling at the most inopportune times. She called while I was in the middle of putting the new line assembly together in the RV.  The RV - I"m going to set it at 25 months worth of payments. They can, of course, get up and walk away from it if they decide they want to, but I keep the RV and they get nothing.   

Anyway, if it's only 8 hours a day, it won't be a pay cut per se.  Just a lot less hours than what I was doing before.  Which would be very fine by me, as long as I can pay at least $1,500 per month on my debt load on top of everything else.  In fact, just let the profits from the business sit in the business account.  If I do that, I don't pay any taxes on it.  No income tax if there is no income, lol.  

 Saturday, a 7 day stay coming in and Sunday, a 9 day stay.  The man from Georgia called again, I had written him off, figured he'd found a different place to hang his hat.  Not so.  He started telling me about the managers of the park he is currently in, I had to chuckle. It wasn't actually funny, but it was so non-sensical that it just came off like something you would hear at a comedy show.   Overbearing, intrusive, threatening.  I get that parks have rules and guests should at least make an attempt to adhere to them, but getting angry and having temper tantrums serves no useful purpose and will get you a bad reputation. 

Ok, I will say that if the same person has been informed of the same violation repeatedly and it's a serious violation, I can see a person's temper raising a bit.  There is probably more to the story than he is telling me.  Unless he's really bad, I doubt I'd have a problem with him.  Most people will comply after you tell them once, the tent lady being a bit different in bringing that dog in my shed after telling her I don't want that dog in my shed.  I told the New Jersey people to get that tarp off of their unit, it makes it look trashy even tho they had it very nicely laid out on it and securely tightened down. 

It was supposed to be a temporary thing, I put my foot down after they came back and informed them they need to take that off of there.  

Anyway, he says "within the next week, they haven't given me a confirmed date yet, but I will be leaving here, do you still have lots available?". The answer, of course, is yes.

These other people contacted me again from the town about 50 miles north of here.  Well, we can't come until August now because we can't find anyone to move our trailer.  Well I can find someone for you, it will cost you around $300, but that's what everyone charges.  I made it clear that I am not moving their trailer for free (and really, I don't want to).  I also suggested a person that does it for a living and charges $3 per mile.  But there is probably a minimum he charges since the mileage won't be that much.  He would probably be able to crank that slide-out back in, but that will undoubtedly be an extra fee. 

I had another guy call, but it was obvious he didn't like my price.  I think the cheapest place is $350 per month but it's trailer trash at it's finest.  You can see piles of junk laying outside of people's trailers, something I couldn't stand.  No one will get away with that in my park, or not for long anyway. I will have them clean it up or I will have them leaving.  It's as simple as that.  Regardless, I am not lowering my prices any more than they already are, I'll give out specials but just money off the first month's rent. After that, they pull full price and I'll think nothing of it.

Just saw my current electric bills. The highest electric bills I have ever seen. And the reason I haven't paid myself anything.  It's extraordinarily high, but it's been quite hot and people don't care what temp they set their ac's at all day long.  Many of the units the compressors are on all day and they say it is just ok, ie: barely keeping it cool.  But I think what is "shocking" about is the fact that power was off 5 full days, so I figured the bill wouldn't be quite so bad.  

I was quite wrong.  I had this feeling the bill would be high, hence I didn't pay myself.  What I would like after the first full year is up is to have the bill equalized so that you pay the same amount every month.  That would bring it down quite a bit and I'd rather just have the same bill than this stuff where it's all over the place. Next month/August will be bad as well. What can I do?  If I install power meters and charge separately - even if I lowed my monthly rent rate - they will just leave for the parks that don't meter it. Which is all of them around here.  

Even if they don't equalize it for business - or especially an RV park - I can equalize it myself. Take a year's worth of bills, divide by 12 and there it is.  My shed probably isn't help anything with the power bill, but instead of paying the machines off early, I am just going to allocate that money towards the power bills instead.  My machine payment is a set amount and it won't go on forever.  I really need to find someone in the business that can come out and change the pricing on one of the machines. I want $3 per load instead of the $2.50 it's currently at.  My prices are lower than the laundromats, but not by design.  They came set that way.

Well, anyway, the only way I'm going to get that RV ready to sell is to keep working on it, get this water thing done and over with and start looking at other things.  

Oh, I forgot.  The power company raised their rates.  Everyone locally was complaining about their bill going way up.  Ours went down, but that's because they installed a brand new central AC unit which is much more efficient than the old thing that was in there.  People were getting angry, however, because they raised the rate yet the power goes out at every little storm.  Like, if we're going to pay that much, keep the damn power on.

And I can see a lot of potential along 43 for more outages. There are a large number of trees where the power line is buried in the branches, large trees that can easily topple the lines/poles once again.  In several places, the tree branches are pushing the power lines down.  They don't trim those trees? We're in for more power outages.  

And the guy calling from Oregon asking if I know of a water truck delivery service.  Telling me they are going to be working on the shutdown of the Pirkey power plant.  Yup, it's toast.  I don't know if they shut it down yet or not, but it's definitely going to be shut down and soon. These people are going to take up to 2 years to complete the entire shut down process, whatever that entails.  The significance is obviously that the power grid, which authorities say is already getting pushed to the limits, isn't getting any better by shutting down these evil, coal-fired plants.  And the WH - telling us that they are pushing to get rid of gas water heaters, dryers and stoves.  Or force manufacturers to make costly upgrades to them to make them environmentally acceptable. 

If a Republican gets into office, all of this nonsense will be wiped off the board only to have it come back with whoever the next, progressive/communist president will be.  California basically dictating to the nation what climate change policies will be enacted.  It's unbelievable.  However, who knows if Biden will serve out his term? By force of age and cognitive decline or the ever-growing pile of evidence against him concerning Burisma and his son.  I watch this with amazement, for if democrats went by the same logic they used with Trump, Joe Biden would not only be impeached, he would be labeled a traitor.  

Whatever the case, I don't really want any kids with me today. I want to get stuff done and they are a hindrance often-times to progress. I have to give them phones to play with to keep them engaged.  Well, mom's home today, no schedule and they can stay home and do whatever.  

Yes, the more I think of it, the more I am selling to myself the idea that I need to get the rate changed for the dryer in the shed.  It's at $1.00 and that's just not flying. With the AC, water heater and the dryer, I don't even know if I'm breaking even, I have no way of knowing how much power that shed is using.  It wasn't intended to be a money maker anyway, but I want to break even in there.  

The only good thing is that the worst of summer will be over in maybe a month and a half? A month?  The worst of the heat I should say.  I intend on installing one of those heat exchange boxes (whatever they call them) that allows the heated air from the dryer to go into the shed for winter.  That way, the place is heated by virtue of the dryer instead of paying even more to heat the shed.  

The park is slowly - ever so slowly - filling back up. There is only 1 more person that is leaving - sooner or later. I thought he'd already been gone by now.  I won't owe him anything for pro-rated return of money for days not used. It's almost the end of the month.  

Well, enough. I'll just wait until I get payments in before paying those electric bills. And then I will pay myself something.  I don't know how much, but it will be something.  My business finances are low because so many people left.  I got partial payments from some of them that stayed for another week after telling me they are leaving, but it was nothing near the full lot rent amount.  

There is really no way to live off of this income.. I need double the spaces and keep them full or mostly full.  The income off of each lot isn't high and I need enough lots to make it add up to a decent salary.