Tuesday - early

Now that I'm finally starting to feel better and as I promised myself, I am starting to get up early. I don't what their start time for orientation is in Oregon, but the thought did cross my mind that they are probably 2 hours behind us. Yup, just checked, 2 hour time difference. Something actually just flat woke me up - it wasn't the dog, in fact it wasn't anything external.  More like something in my brain said: GET UP!

I am still coughing and a bit of fatigue even after sleeping, oh well, life moves on, get used to it.  

The power bill depleted my business checking account to the lowest point it has been in quite a while.  I've got a check out in the vehicle that needs deposited and there are payments coming up soon, as long as the people don't leave of course.

The Quiktrip workers are still gone.  The one is 6 days past due and the other is approaching his due date.  The letter is still sitting on the steps and I am just going to have to wait until they show up.  But, if they think they are just going to leave when they get there, they best hope I'm not around because the instant I see them, I'm going to approach them.  Nobody stays for free.  Not even the NJ people, I say on their @$$ about paying.  

They were arguing with each other yesterday so loudly, I could hear them from 100 feet away. They were inside their trailer with the door shut and the window AC unit right there to drown out the noise and I could still hear them.  I asked the Tent lady if she could hear them inside her unit. "Every day".  I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense.  They can take their arguing away from everyone or they can leave.  I intend on dealing with this today, I will be over there digging out that pedestal. 

The power issue has come to a head.  The machines are starting to not work properly and that is the straw that broke the camel's back.  Time to get with it. I'll get that pedestal all dug out and hand-dug trenched away from it so that I can pick up with the machine where I leave off with a shovel.  This whole thing is probably going to be spread out over several days - fortunately I have several days to get it done.  

The lady from the trucking company is supposed to call this morning and discuss the details of the upcoming trip.  I dunno, but she best be thinking about getting the ticket, they fill planes up anymore and they sell them out.  In fact, they intentionally try to overbook them. I think it's a ridiculous business model to sell more tickets than a plane can hold and then, if everyone shows up, force people out of line to get on the plane and tell them they will have to wait for another flight - but they get away with it. Excepting that now, if it's over 2 hour wait?  They have to pay - but - you have to know your rights and force them to pay right then and there.

That is something they are forced by regulation to do, not something they want to do.  If you are forced to stay overnight, they don't, apparently, have to also pay for a hotel but many of them will.  I can only imagine how much net revenue a full 737 makes.  It must be a pretty good sum to be giving away thousands of dollars in cash and hotel stays.  

I'm not really looking forward to this trip, btw, even tho I do like Oregon.  The trip represents going back to work for a big company and all that that entails.  Living on their schedule.  Letting them dictate what days I work and don't work.  Starting from the bottom at a new company.  Not that there is any place to "work up" to, you're still the last man down on the totem pole.  You have no seniority and who knows how they work vacation when multiple people from the same division ask for time off.  I only know that right off the bat? I'm asking for Memorial Day weekend off and I am getting it whether they want to give it to me or not.

It has already been planned to go with the group of people we play cards with to Las Vegas for a marriage for 2 of them.  If this company says no, I will simply take the truck back to their yard before that weekend, drop it off, take a bus home and bid them adieu.  

I also want to take a short trip back to AZ at the end of this year.  That isn't set in stone and the days I visit aren't necessarily important.  I think I want to visit AZ I should say.  

Yesterday was mom's birthday and I visited on the phone with her for quite a while.  She is insisting I get a living trust will and that she will pay for it.  My brothers already took advantage of her offer. I was going to do this a while back and just got busy and put it out of my mind.  She says that if I leave this world with a "regular" will, you end up having to get attorneys involved for every little thing that happens and it ends up draining the trust considerably and needlessly.

I believe her, I've seen it, I just need to make time for it.  Of course, it doesn't help I'm going back to work. I have no idea, yet, what my work hours will be and I guess I sort of need to get that nailed down pretty quick? Lol.  I know that I can work 5 days a week and have 2 off, but I can work the other 2 if I want to.  I didn't agree, I will take the 2 days off if its' really the way they have it set up and be able to deal with park issues.   That's the whole reason of getting a lower paying job, the exchange is that I can run my business. Otherwise, I might as well go chugging down the road and make the 6 figure income. 

But yeah, no.  No thank you.  Nada. Zip. Zilch.  Bye-bye to those days.  I will tell you right now, I have no qualms telling them directly what we agreed upon before I ever went to orientation for work hours, home time and the fact that I specifically stated I am not going to do OTR or Regional, period.  I only agreed to "occasional" runs to Florida and/or Georgia.  Neither of those 2 states are that far away and I used to make a run that took me through Atlanta once in a while.

Operative words being "once in a while".  Not, every week.  Trust me, I have the cajones to tell them directly about themselves if it comes down to that, but lets hope it doesn't.  I dont' want to have to get in their face, the older I get, the less appealing that kind of confrontation becomes.  It isn't appealing at all, actually, I just know I can go there when backed into the corner that forces me to.  

A man working for the DA's office gave me a subpoena yesterday.  This is for the dude that punched me in the face after the traffic accident.  I said, well when is the court date?  The 18th.  Of what month? This month, of course.  Who gives a subpoena for a court date only a week in advance?  I politely informed the man that I will be out of town, going for job training in Oregon, I can't be there on the 18th.  Ok, well we don't even know if it's going to court yet, the man may yet take a plea deal.

Well that's all nice, fine and dandy but I can't be there if this goes to trial. I didn't bother to say "thanks for giving me advance notice, all of one week!".  So, they are going to have to move the trial date, but I'll just hope this dude takes a plea agreement and not have to show up in court  at all. Not that I'm afraid to go to court and tell my story - this dude punched me out of road rage and that's that.  I don't want him to go to jail, I want him to learn how to control that kind of anger.  Personal counseling is one good way to try to approach that subject.  

But, who knows. The girl got out of the truck after he punched me - which would have been out of her view - and immediately began saying "no he didn't, not heeee didn't" like a child taunting another schoolyard boy after the subject of insurance came up and I said, well he just punched me in the face.

I then called the cops and never did get their information.  The cops got it, of course and that was that.  I didn't really need it since I was the person that caused the accident.  The point of all of this is to wonder whether these people are willing to lie in court as well? He claimed to the cops that I had spit in his face.  Uh, no and the cops didn't believe him either. He was off in front of his pickup with 2 of them almost yelling about how I intentionally ran into him. It's easy to tell from the damage that I was trying to avoid the collision what with only the front right portion of the vehicle hitting his truck versus the whole front end of my vehicle slamming into the rear of his.

Apparently Mother Nature is going to change my plans today. It is raining and in a few hours, it's really going to rain, at least to the forecast and the radar.  If I dig out that pedestal and we get a downpour, that thing will just fill up with water.  This sucks, actually. We desperately need the rain, we just didn't need it today.  There was a small chance of rain tomorrow, not today.  Today showed 4% chance last night.  The forecasters, I'm telling ya. I'm sure it's probably not their fault, but they don't even get it remotely right.  Whatever predictors they are using? Suck.  

I need to get this situation at the shed fixed before I leave. 

Dang. The entie forecast has changed for the week. Chance of rain every day through Saturday, Friday having 56% chance.  

The dog.  He is busy gnawing on a rawhide bone.  He is eating like a man who hasn't eaten in 3 days.  He just consumes as much food as you give him.  I forgot to latch the dog food container yesterday and he was in it, eating directly out of it.  Uhh, no.  He's had 4 cups this morning and probably another 6 cups later on today. 

Well that's enough.  Yup, still following some of the news.  Biden is a walking disaster zone.  Even Democrats are waking up to that reality.  It is becoming clear that many of them don't want him to run for a second term.  It's just going to be voting for Harris by default.  Again, this may actually be an intentional hope, that Biden gets re-elected and then Harris becomes the first female president in US history.  It wouldn't bother me to have a female president, just not her. She takes nothing seriously, she has no real knowledge of anything pertinent to her role as VP, she doesn't really do much of anything besides sitting on TV shows and laughing like a clown at a circus attempting to entertain a crowd.  

Except that the is not entertaining, even in the slightest bit. She is, as far as I"m concerned, worse than Biden.  We don't need either one of them in the WH after next election and I'd take a moderate Democrat over either of the any day. Not that I want a moderate in there, but it would be far better than what we have going on now.  

9/11

 It's important for me to write about what happened on 9/11 every year it comes up.  I can only explain it being because it was such a traumatic, life-altering event for all Americans that changed the way we live our lives after it occurred.

It was 7:00 am.  My best friend called me and said, "are you watching this?!!".  No, what's going on? Turn on the TV. Which channel? ANY CHANNEL!!

He was right.  I turned on the TV and it was CNN with a reporter on top of their own building with the Twin Towers behind him, one of which had been crashed into by a commercial jetliner.  Well what's going on here? He told me a jet liner had crashed into one of the Twin towers. We were listening to their reporting and discussing at the same time what we thought might be happening.

We didn't know what was happening. It seemed odd that a commercial jetliner with skilled pilots would somehow accidentally find it's way into the side of an extremely tall building.  You would see that coming from a long ways off and  you would likely rather crashing into the water nearby than just go crashing into the side of a building like that.  

The reporters were commenting the same.  How does this happen?  It was only a few minutes later, on live TV, that I saw the second jet come crashing into the second tower behind the man doing the reporting.  The man was in shock. They flatly stated that there is no guessing about it now, this is a terrorist attack, America is under attack!  

I remember being glued to the radio all day long while working, I think I was doing the telephone book delivery thing at the time.  The job afforded me the ability to simply leave the radio on all day. We heard about the other 2 crashes and "if" they were associated with these first two and then the decree that ALL aircraft flying over US airspace were to be immediately grounded. The only aircraft you saw flying for the next several months were military aircraft.  

I spent as much time on the phone with my friend as I had time for, but work duties called and I had to get going.  We all wanted to know what was going to happen because of this event and who was responsible for it?  Al Qaeda came up immediately with expert analysis.  Bush went to the site of what was left of the buildings that were now downed and made a very emotional declaration that "I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear ALL of us soon!".  

It was, of course, many years later that justice was served to Osama Bin Laden. 

The Department of Homeland Security was born out of this catastrophic event and our lives were forever changed.  An airplane crash in New York after this event happened caused wide spread panic at first, people believing we were under attack again.  It was a horrible crash that took many lives but it wasn't an attack. Airlines had to be bailed out by the federal government, the economy and stock market took a temporary nose dive but it all came back eventually.  

These were different times in America.  There may have been political division, but nothing like what we're seeing today.  They may have been moral challenges, but nothing compared to the culture rot and moral degrade we are now experiencing as social media has basically become a venue for wokeness, DEI, cancel culture, hate, anger and rage of people being spoken against one another. We are an extremely divided nation now and I have no idea - beyond God - what could possibly bring us back to what we once were.

I do believe America will have a reckoning sooner or later with the decisions that have been made concerning life and liberty.  But, as we look back upon the events of 9/11, there is still a glimmer of hope that perhaps, somehow, we can all find a way to come back together and not look at one another as our enemies. 

 Monday - morning/early

The sting of paying $2,500 in electric bills has now been concluded.  It threw me off to begin with, trying to make the payment and the site telling me to choose and amount between $1 and $1,000.  The bills were over that amount on both of them. Anyway, it took 4 payments to get it covered. Just weird.  I've made larger payments than a grand on other things with my banking account, it certainly isn't the bank making this requirement and therefore, awfully strange that they would make you go through all of that to pay them? 

My last week of "freedom".  Being chained down to some trucking corporation and living life on their schedule isn't exactly appealing to me.  Especially now.  After today, the high temps will be in the 80's.  Not the 90's and certainly not the 100's.  It will be nice to work out there.  That's what I'm saying.  Getting out in the coolness of the day and working isn't such an incredibly ridiculous chore anymore. Beautiful weather will mean more cheery people that aren't all grumpy about how hot it is.  I don't blame anyone, I've been there too.  It's been a miserable summer. Far too many days reaching over the 100 degree point with high humidity and high dew point numbers.

And here I am, at the beginning of this having to go back to work? Ugh.  Not only that, but if I can keep the park full/mostly-full and people paying, my profits will go well back up with AC units not working so hard and compressors staying on so long to keep RV's cool inside.  

Lot 3 is the only available lot right now and it's slated to have an overnighter showing up today.  I'd fill that sucker up with a long term and block out the campground software on it if I could get someone to move in there on long term basis.  

After getting some great sleep for a while, that went away.  Now, I'm back to waking up at odd hours of the night.  Yes, some of it is the dog, but he's starting to settle down during the night and not do so much moving around.  It's just me.  Probably the times that I am going through, facing this job and endless days sitting in a truck.  I'm going to need a bit of a mental adjustment towards it and find some way to find it more appealing.  Otherwise, going to work every day is just going to be a chore,  a drag, an endless repetition of something I hate doing.  

It'll make me appreciate my RV park and all that entails even more.  And it will motivate me to get that money saved so I can get the down payment and get rolling with installing double the amount of spaces.  I really want at least 20 more, but that will mean a larger septic system and the cost of those goes way up.  

I could easily live off of 36 spaces.  Where will I get the long term for it? Dunno, a challenge to face and a bridge to be crossed if/when I get there.  I think I will get a lot of the Interstate construction workers which should start rolling in around 2025.  I've been told our town is going to be a hotspot for oil/gas work next year.  Just need to keep my eye on the prize, the finish line, the ending where you say, I made it!  

BTW, 36 spaces is around $7,200 per month net revenue after everything is paid.  It is - at least - half of the gross income from that many spots.  Figure a part time employee to help with that many spaces keeping them clean, tidy and mowed.  Pay someone 2 grand a month for a part time job, plus electric and water and park expenses. Even if it was $4,500 per month coming into my personal coffers, I'd be good.

I'll have to discuss this semi-frequently to keep my eyes on the end goal.  And I am hoping beyond hope that these people aren't lying or mischaracterizing or overexaggerating the home time.  It's "mostly" home every day.  I had it clarified - twice - now.  What does home "most days" mean to you? I'm thinking and bluntly asking.  You leave no stone uncovered in the trucking industry, you flatly ask the questions that need to be asked because if you don't, you'll find a snake under one of those stones you didn't turn over at the beginning.  

The pay, home time, type of trucks, which runs from where to where have all been spelled out.  These are all older trucks and they are not automatics, thankfully. 15 and 18 speeds -- neither of which I have driven anytime in the last 6 years but they aren't that difficult to figure out.  It's just more switches on the shifter. Whereas a 10 speed has one switch, an 18 speed has 2.  One is range shifting, the other is splitting.  Since I am not going to be hauling more than 80k gross, I will be skip-shifting a lot.  You don't need 18 speed for 80k, you need it for heavier loads where you have to go through all the gears to get the thing to roll.  

So, basically, you start out in 3rd gear, skip to 5th, to 7th, etc.  Or 5th to 8th, whatever works, really. You can tell by the RPM's and the sound of the engine what is working.  Once you figure it out, it stays the same when you're loaded.  When you're empty, you can skip even more gears. I didn't ask what their trucks are set at, I guess I should have.  I don't want to be going 60 in a 70 zone.  

As with the previous job, the routes are all the same. Once you learn them, it's a done deal, just becomes automatic.  The only real difference from this one and the last one is I will have to "occasionally" load the truck - never did that with cryo, - and usually always have to offload.  As long as they train me sufficiently, I have no problems with that either way.  I'll be taking a notebook with me to write all the instructions down on paper. 

One thing I've found in life, when you are handed a set of written instructions, they are usually incomplete.  They usually gloss over something important or aren't clear on something.   The author might be thinking in terms of something he's done 1,000 times and doesn't realize that he's taking for granted steps that are left out that need to be included.  I haven't done it a 1,000 times and it's probably the most stressful part of getting a new trucking job: just learning the ropes.  

Well, I need to get over there, mow at least half the lots and see about tearing into the drywall.  I'm going to wait til' tomorrow or the next day on the ditch witch. 

 Sunday - afternoon

Lol.  I did a system restore this morning to try and get back what was deleted somehow with the tabs I had opened on my computer. Some of them were websites that may be difficult to find again. Well, after an hour and a half, this thing was still doing the restore.  When I finally got back home after going to church, the property and elsewhere, it was done with the system restore, but still didn't restore the old tabs.

So yes, church this morning.  And afterwards, looking for these "lost" guests that haven't been at their lot in at least a week now. Not just from my observations, but from reports from people who are nosy and look around at what's going on.  I don't mind nosy, actually, as long as it's not getting in people's face type of nosy.  They haven't seen anyone there "in a long time either".  

I left a printed notice on the one that is now 4 days overdue on rent, as well as a second email.  

Just tried to pay the electric bills.  It's not due until tomorrow but I fear I will get too busy tomorrow to remember it.  Well, I couldn't do it.  It came back with a statement saying that I can't go over $1,000.  I dunno why, my bank certainly doesn't put that kind of limit on online purchases, I know that from experience.  I'll have to call them tomorrow and find out how, exactly, I am supposed to pay the bill.

The dog.  Woke me up 7 or 8 times last  night shaking his head, flapping his ears and making a lot of noise.  I would guess he must have something going on inside his ears, I just happen to have ear cleaner and will be using it today.  Now? He's outside chasing the Shepherd mix mutt all over the yard.  She stops, he tries to mount her, she says no and that's that, lol. I don't remember if the female is fixed or not, I'm guessing the Dane doesn't care, he's still young and ....well let's leave that to the imagination.  

 Tomorrow? Yes, it's either get with the ditch witch or get the lots mowed or other things.  I'm feeling better, albeit still coughing.  I've got stuff to get done before I leave for Oregon and it will likely take all week to get everything I want done, done. The wire is taking high priority, but so is making sure the lots are cut down.  It rained, the grass came back to life and sprouted up quickly.  

Now? Just going to relax the rest of the day.  It's mid-afternoon. I plan on getting up earlier tomorrow morning to try and get in line with whatever schedule they have going for orientation but I will guess and assume it's 8:00 am start time and get up accordingly for that.  

I think that's it. Nothing to wordy today. 

 So, basically, the shed and trailers are overloading the main breaker.  That's the definitive conclusion after the dude said he went through the whole machine and I thought, hmmm, I wonder if it's this internal breaker thing built into these circuit breakers that is out? Because it wasn't showing it tripped.

Sure enough.  I flipped it a couple of times, turned the dryer on and walaah.  The machine pumping out hot air.  That seals it.  Time to get busy - Monday, the rental shop closes early on Saturdays and not open on Sundays - and dig that trench. It rained quite a lot last night, hopefully enough to moisten the soil enough to not have to spend hours and hours with that machine trying to dig out a trench. I have no choice at this point.  The real thing that is interesting is that replacing that main breaker is as expensive as buying and entire panel with a new breaker in it plus several other breakers included.

Why. 

Anyway, another 125 amp panel just running the 2 trailers will take the load off of that main breaker and we will be back to normal.  It can run the shed, it just can't run the shed and the trailers at the same time. If everything comes on all at once, which I'm assuming is the real issue - the water heater, the dryer, the ac in the shed and the 2 trailers - you have an overload.  Well, at least the breaker is doing what it was designed to do. But I kick myself for not just installing a 200 amp panel.  

But, I was only figuring the shed and maybe a couple of 120 volt outlets for 20 amp only, not 2 trailers running 30 amp.  Chalk it up to the fact I am not an electrician and lack of knowing the future.  So, I'll fix it, get it over with, be done with it.  The cooler temps, at least, will reduce the amount of time AC compressors will be on, at least.  

I got the camera off the tree today, brought it home, we plugged it in (we being James and I, he wanted to see as well) and....found a bunch of old videos and pics it had taken from 2 years ago. The memory card was full.  Gag.  It didn't take any pics of anything at the dumpster. So, he deleted what was on the card and I will take it back and try again.  However, the dumpster is not even half full, it's Saturday and that usually means it's filled up - excepting for the last 2 weeks since I've had the camera up.  

I was going to replace the deck belt for the riding mower yesterday at Tractor Supply - none of the belts they had showed anything for my brand.  This time, I'm going up there and measuring it - they have a  belt measuring device, and simply buy one that is the same length. I need the mower back in service.  

The shower stall leak - no idea, didn't get to that and no new puddles on the floor, people aren't really using it that much.  

The dog - I gave him another dose of pain meds and antibiotics, after today I will stop the pain meds but I'll finish the antibiotics out until they're gone. He has been outside a couple of hours and apparently not whining at the door. He has to get used to me being gone and being left outside at times when no one is home.  Sorry, doggy, that's just life around here.  

 Saturday - morning

The last time a service person was supposed to come out to look at the dryer, it wasn't something that happened within a few days.  Just throwing that out there, because the dryer apparently isn't pumping out heat.  The panel works, the switch does what it's supposed to do, it turns on, the barrel spins but no heat.  It's under warranty until February, I believe.  

But having said that, what good is a warranty where you have to wait weeks for service?  I now have a useless dryer sitting in there as reported by the family that uses it on a daily basis.  They have a 4 year old who has issues at night soiling the bed, fairly normal for that age, so they do laundry every single day.  I said I would get a service ticket running on it, but it might be a while before they even get out there, much less fix it.

Well, he offered to take a look.  Dryers are not particularly complex machines and I know a lot of people that will take the entire thing apart, fix it and put it back together again.  I have no desire to mess with it.  I have enough on my plate, if they want to look at it, fine. He's mechanically inclined, I know that for a fact.  So, he is attempting to figure out what's wrong with it. It's likely either the heating element or the thermocoupler. It just tells the machine that the barrel is overheated and it therefore, it's going to fry itself and stop a potential fire.  

Those are the only 2, real things I can think of. Neither of them are particularly expensive and there is a huge appliance parts company over in Longview that basically carries "everything" to repair all things appliances.  I'd eat the cost and warranty be damned if that's all it is.  Washing machines, I likely wouldn't let them start messing with that. Lots of components can go wrong, some of them expensive, don't want the warranty voided.  I don't even know the terms of these machines as far as working on them myself, but probably there is a clause saying if you do any repairs, you void the warranty.  

The family is highly motivated, apparently, to get it running simply because of the fact that they have that little boy and the issues that arise daily.  The other alternative is to buy a cheap dryer, move the coin op one out of the way and there ya go.  I mean, I just found one that "works great" for $50. It's just a matter of convenience, those machines aren't making me any money.  Maybe after I get them paid off they will.  

Whatever the case, I am going to remember to take that notice with me today and leave it on the doorstep of the now 3-day late guest who apparently is nowhere to be found.  Oh how I wish I would have written their phone numbers down, I usually do or I put them in my phone.  Why I forgot with them no clue.  From now on, any long term guests will have their phone number posted in the credit card data so I can easily access along with my note book I have for everyone. 

I still have this issue with the shower stall to fix and I may at least go get the drywall out of the way today and look at what's going on. Probably nothing serious, but the fact that it's leaking at all is serious enough. You start getting black mold and you end up having to tear down the drywall altogether and chuck it.  No, I don't see any evidence of black mold.  The shower was getting quite a bit of use, not so much atm.  

The dog wanted to go out early this morning.  He isn't like Addler was. Addler wouldn't even "say" anything.  This one? He started whining and making little noises to let me know it was time for him to do his duty. Which is fine, I'd rather a dog let me know what's going on, actually.  He's conked out on the floor atm.  I figure to give him pain meds through today and that will be it.  I've got a bottle of them but I really don't think he needs pain meds that long?  I've never actually given a dog pain meds for a foot injury, the vet insisted so I just said fine.  

 I bring the dog in to feed him.  I make him lay down on his bed.  Fill the bowl up and call him over to eat.  Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.  Dog bed getting covered in blood.  Carpet covered with bloody paw prints.  Out! 

He cut himself on something in the back yard.  Who knows what or where, hopefully won't happen twice.  This was not a cut on the paw pads, but in the cavity behind it.  It was a large cut, but I figured it would eventually stop bleeding. Got some peroxide to clean it out.  An hour later and it's still bleeding. Gag.  I run over to the park, unload some stuff that was filling the SUV up, had a conversation with a new person, then tried to leave before being flagged down by someone else, finally got out of there and home.

The bleeding had increased since I left, not gone down.  I ended up taking him to my vet at the animal hospital.  
The man put some staples in there, cleaned it up nicely, gave me some antibiotics and pain meds to give him, we came home. Shoved those pills down his throat and now? I guess the pain medicine must be making him drowsy because he's out on Addler's old bed.  Oh, also picked up Addler's ashes that have been ready forever.  

He's fine, there is no more bleeding, they put some bandages around it anyway to keep the puss off the flooring and such, told me to take it off tomorrow.  

That's been my quite unproductive day today.  Well, I did go to the bank when I was coming back from the park, I don't like carrying around hundred dollar bills. It's one thing to lose a dollar bill, quite another to lost a $100.  

That's it, really.  Instead of figuring out the problem with the shower stall, this is all that I have gotten done and now that it's late afternoon, I'm not going to bother with it. I'll either do it tomorrow or head over Monday to cut out some drywall and see what needs to be replaced.  

I also checked the lot where the man is past due on his rent, the QuikTrip worker. Not there.  Someone told me today they haven't seen anyone over there at all in a while.  I agree, I don't see them over there either.  They may have left town and just didn't say anything about it. I did print out a letter for the guy, but I forgot to take it over with everything that was going on.  I also reset the outside camera, that thing hasn't been recording anything and it's getting annoying.  It seems to have worked at least.  

That's enough for now. The dog is fine.  

 Friday - morning

The laptop is on it's last leg.  It takes forever to start up, it's slow, I could try setting default and I may do that, but it's something like 6 years old and unfortunately, it's time to replace it. I found one at Best Buy for $157.  No frills, I don't need frills,  I just need to be able to do the park on it.  Bring up the campground software so I can process credit cards on-property.  I don't need a gaming computer and a cheap thing might tide me over until I can get something a little better.  

The battery doesn't last very long on it either.  Start using it and in 30 minutes the battery is down to 60% or less.  Takes hours to charge it back up.  The computer actually gave a warning about it being an "older" laptop.  That doesn't matter to me, usability does.  

10 day countdown to Oregon.  I'll just leave that there,

Mayor Adams of New York.  New York is a sanctuary city!  Now, New York city will be destroyed! Lmao.  Just like the Defund The Police nonsense, these people are completely clueless.  Did they think they would be immune to the effects of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people illegally crossing the border?  "21,00 New Migrant Students Enroll in NYC" is one of the headlines as they grapple with the overwhelming results of an open border. 

Biden wants to keep them in Texas.  This is what I heard in the news yesterday, some action that will force them to stay in Texas replete with ankle monitors. The Biden era can't end soon enough.  

It's amazing how many people on the internet that are Democrats are now embracing Communism.  Point out the historical failures of every single Communist nation and they will all dismiss it.  They hate capitalism because of the "abuses" the owners of companies/corporations and landlords dump on the people that work for them or live on their properties.  In other words, these people are poor, broke, have no desire to work and want society to pay for them. They don't care about the consequences to America for they only see from the bottom up.  

Or something like that.  

My 80 or so bug bites are - making themselves known in terms of itching.  Ridiculous on my part, to forget a basic staple of hiking in those particular woods: bug spray on my clothing.  

The dog is outside.  He does not like me putting him out the back door and leaving him out there. Too bad, so sad, get used to it. I'm not going to babysit his pee/poop rituals. I've said NO! very firmly at the door when he starts whining and yelping. He doesn't like that at all.  If he wants to stand at the door, that's his choice, but he's not going to do so making all of that noise. 

He is doing well for the most part.  The kids like him, the adults like him, he gets along with everyone, just one of the cat is clearly unhappy with the dog's presence.  Just had to go scold him for yelping, barking and making noise at the door. Unacceptable!  

Finances are "hanging in there".  Collecting another $400 yesterday for lot 11 was helpful, now I just need to catch up with these 2 people that came in last month. One of them is 2 days past due.  I am going to print up a notice to leave on the door if they aren't there again.  I have received no reply to the email I sent.  

Well, shower and shave later, it's time to go over there and get some of that drywall removed so I can assess the water leakage problem.  

 104 degrees today, real-feel: hell.

These people called, said they were coming up from Livingston, wanted a long term spot.  Fine.  I got some stuff done and then waited on them. For quite a while.  They didn't follow my instructions and ended up on the wrong time of town.  Then, they came back and blasted right by on the highway - I had gone up there to wait for them.  

When we finally got them into the park, they wanted to talk...and talk....and talk.  I'm standing in the direct sunlight, it's hellish temps, I want to get them set up and go.  I don't even know how long I was out there yapping away, what else could I do besides be rude I guess and tell them have a nice day.  

Well, that's over with anyway.  I did receive the 1st month's rent, which really helps right now.  So, I guess enduring that ridiculous heat was worth it.  I've got one available lot right now, but I know 2 more are opening up soon.  It's a never-ending cycle of people coming and going.  

The trucking company called - again - twice this week now - going over the details of the agreement. She threw in there the trips to Georgia and Florida.  I corrected her - in a nice way - yes, the man told me I was mostly going to be doing the local run and occasionally trips to Georgia and Florida. Yes, that sounds right to me, she replied.

I want to let them know that I am not going to be spending endless nights on the road, here and there I can deal with but not all the time.  If they try that, I'll remind them of our agreement and if they continue, I will just quit.  That's not my first choice, I'm going to work to get some money in my coffers, not fly to Oregon, stay there 2 weeks, come back and quit.  

___________

Night time

Went to collect from one of the Quik Trip workers, in fact was looking for the dude all day long and went over there tonight to collect, but as of 9:00 pm they still hadn't shown up.  Dumb me forgot to write down his phone number, so I sent him an email indicating he's past due for payment.  Please call me at my number left in the email.  Nothing else I can do beyond going to the QuikTrip and seeing if they are there.

But that would seem a bit tacky and I don't get that either of those people are shady, they're just working and probably don't realize it's been a month already.  I'm going over early tomorrow morning and see if I can catch them before they leave? Or did they leave town again? No clue.  

What I did find was the leak that has been reported in the shower room. I tried twice to find this leaking they were talking about to no avail.  I had the shower on for quite a while.  Tonight? I walked into the bathroom and walaah. There was a huge puddle on the floor.  It took a few seconds to figure out where it's coming from. Someone has jacked the shower head around and apparently it's leaking in the wall behind it. So, I'm going to have to cut out a piece of the drywall to gain access to it.  I should have thought of this when James was doing the drywall.  I mean, shouldn't be a big deal, just would have been easier to leave an access panel to that and behind the faucet handles.  

So, I'll work on that tomorrow and see if I can rectify the problem.  

Beyond that is the New Jersey people. This morning I was talking with her and she told me her boyfriend had taken her phone, car, money, everything and just left.  She had blood on her face.  She asked for a ride so I gave her one. I flat out asked her if this dude was hitting her? She readily admitted it and then started making excuses for him.  

I have read countless experts saying it's hard for a woman to get out of an abusive relationship, especially if it's a longer term relationship. I'd say 7 years is pretty long.  But I don't take kindly to men hitting women simply because they are unhappy in the relationship.  If it's that bad, leave.  And don't steal all of her stuff.  Well, we were near my house, actually, turning to go take the dog home - I took him for about a 20 minute walk this morning - lo and behold, the man was sitting at a gas station.  She wanted me to take her over there, so I did. 

Is that okay? She's asking me if it's ok for her to go see this dude and subject herself to more of this abuse.  What am I going to say beyond what I had already said to her? Nothing, it's her life, if she wants to continue in it, I can do nothing about it.  One caveat, tho, if I see that dude hitting her, all bets are off.  I'm not going to act like nothing's happening when some dude is doing that to any woman.

Whatever.  I really don't need that guy in the park knowing how he's acting.  What if he starts trouble with someone else in the park?  

I'm trying to get my mind into work mode. It's getting closer and it will be go, go, go all over again. That's what trucking is, whether it's local, regional or OTR, you are either on the move or contemplating being on the move.  I'm going to have an adjustment period in getting my mind back into that mode.  

Anyway, there is now only one spot available and I am going to rent it long term if someone comes along.  There's always people leaving at some point, there is no reason to keep it open for non-existent over-nighters.  Who wants to come to Texas as hot as it is?  I would expect it might pick up after it cools off, who knows, I'm not taking chances with that.  I'll take "guaranteed" income with long term at lower monthly revenues than uncertain income with short stays.  There is only one overnight stay on the system and that's for December 19th, I think it was.  They made that reservation like 6 months ago. 

Nothing else for now.  Time to hit the sack.  

 Thursday - morning

The dog is settling in more and more as each day passes.  Last night, he decided he wanted to sleep on Addler's bed and he decided he wasn't going to wake me up all night long.  I'm just hoping to get him into a routine before I leave.  It's not going to be fun here when I do leave, but the dog has also taken a liking to James.  In fact, the dog will probably think James is the leader of the pack by the time I get back lol. 

It's going to get up to 104 degrees today. That's the real temperature, not the real feel.  Meaning exceedingly hot. I finally figured out why the circuit breaker keeps tripping on the shed.  Heat.  Not just the heat generated by the current going through the breakers, but the heat of the sun baking down on the box. It's in the direct sunlight all day long....

I wasn't even looking for that information, I was looking at something else when it popped up on my computer.  It makes perfect sense, for what the thing was doing was perplexing.  The power shuts off to the trailer and the coach but only happens when it gets really hot out.  Like what it's going to get today.  So, unless I find a way to at least temporarily shade that box, it's going to start popping off again this afternoon.  

Anyway, my finances are going to survive this month - I think anyway - just going to be tight.  No restaurants, no nothing, just stay home and eat.  It's this giant electric bill that's really forcing the issue with finances.  I can't wait until next week, it's going to start cooling off - I don't mean cool temps, exactly, just a lot cooler than it is now. Up to 15 degrees cooler.  That box won't be getting too hot, the breakers won't be shutting off and the amount of electricity being used will start to go back down.  I expect another high bill next month, but hopefully not as high as this one was.  

If everything goes to plan, I will start collecting paychecks before the next electric bill is due after this month.  The pressure - hopefully anyway - will be removed in wondering if I'm going to make it.  And frankly, I'm going to be pretty aggressive on saving money and paying down debt.  That means pretty frugal living even with a lot more money coming in, because it's going to go straight back out or stay in the checking account.  If the park checking account can stay untouched beyond the bills automatically coming out of it, I can save up enough money for an expansion loan in about 10 months.  

Well, I mean a 20% down payment saved up.  

I have bug bite humps all over my left leg.  It's crazy. About 75 bites on the foot area alone and then probably 20 more on the entire leg.  That should do it.  Meaning, not forgetting to both take with me and use OFF insect repellant.  Just spray it on my boots when I go for a hike and it's all good. Don't do it and I get - whatever it is - on me and in my shoes and it's a pretty uncomfortable time after that for many days.  

 Wednesday - Morning

I meant to post yesterday or even Monday after the day was done but something got in my way, sort of demanded my attention constantly. That something is the new Great Dane dog.  His name is currently Obito.  It's a Japanese name with a cool meaning, but I have never liked dog names that are long than 2 syllables.  I feel like dog names should be short and sweet so that when you need to call them, it's a voice command that comes out quickly. It's also just a strange name, at least to me.  I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I drove the 170 miles straight through to Hubbard, Texas where we met up at a Cefco gas station.  I arrived 20 minutes before she did - she actually saved me 89 miles of driving each way, I was thankful for that. She being the lady that had to part with her beloved doggy.  Getting divorced, the man took off to Kansas leaving the dogs, kids, home and her in the dust.  That's pretty lame from my point of view, but I don't have the whole story, so I'll just have to leave my judgments alone on that one.

It took all of maybe 2 minutes to figure out that that long drive was absolutely worth it.  The dog took to me instantly.  She told his story: Housebroken (yes, so far we haven't had any accidents at all), kennel trained (haven't tried that yet but she did give me his kennel, unless there are issues I doubt I will use it), trained in basic obedience commands - very well in fact: sit, down, come, stay.  I was impressed with the stay command, as much as you can tell he wants to come running to you, if you tell him to stay, he's not moving.

He's a European Dane, they have a different facial appearance than their American counter parts.  If you are interested, just do an image search of both kinds of Danes and you will see what I am talking about. He's skinny, which is typical of a 2 year old Dane whose body has outgrown it's ability to keep up with the pace, they grow fast.  He will start filling out in the next year.  Filling out as in lots of muscle and just looking like a mature Great Dane.  The lady obviously took great care of the dog and gave me all of his comfort cuddle toys and other things that make him feel secure.  It was obviously not her first desire to get rid of the dog and I truly felt for her.  

I filled up at the Cefco, this trip also had another purpose such as the trip I made a while back to get a travel trailer that was 122 miles away: see how I do driving. In the mindset of a trucker, I just drove straight through without stopping coming back as I had done going done.  345 miles round trip with probably a 40 minute stop. 

The dog was understandably distressed.  I just took him from his mama.  I separated him from his pack.  He was up and down and up and down, but he kept coming to my side after we came home.  He was up and down all night long, waking me up numerous times, but again, I understood why so I was patient with him.  Day 2, I took him to the property.  I was going to walk him around the woods on the leash.  I didn't want to let him run free, even tho she said they let him off the leash whenever they were in a place where they could do so.  I let him out of the back of the SUV - he jumps in and out easily with no hesitation - and he took off running with the leash on him.  I just thought, ok, I  guess we get to test it.  

So I let him get far enough away before I called him back and he came running right back.  I took the leash off and kept doing it for a while before I was comfortable with the idea that this dog isn't going anywhere.  Which is impressive considering I had been his new owner for less than 24 hours.  Not impressive on my part, I had nothing to do with his training, impressive on his part that he had been trained on so many things, I give the lady credit for going to the trouble of teaching the dog the basic things all dogs should know.  

I haven't really tried to walk him on a leash yet since it was the property I took him to.   The lady said he loves getting into water.  I'll have to find a lake where I am allowed to let him off the leash and see what happens.  Nothing like a Dane swimming through the water lol.  

So it's still early, he was getting up and down, I figured he needed to go out and do his duty.  We started working on leaving him in my room and outside yesterday.  He starts to whine and make a lot of noise and I need that corrected before I leave for Oregon.  That's only 12 days away but at the rate we're going, it shouldn't be a huge issue.  They feed him a brand of dog food I had never heard of before, Rachel Ray's.  It is actually a bit cheaper than the Iams I was feeding Addler.  I don't have any of that food, of course, but I still have Iams left so he is happily chomping that down.  

The dog is adapting quickly, that's about it for that for now. I forgot to say that the dog was free, including everything she gave me for him.  I did offer money, just because the dog is Champion blood lines and all the stuff she was giving me.  She refused.  She said that she had had quite a lot of people contacting her about it after running ads but none of them had Dane experience.  It's probably a breed thing for lots of dogs, but Dane owners typically want another Dane owner in the case of transferring ownership of a dog.  It's mostly their size.  One person had contacted her and she said they asked if there is anything they need to know about having a Great Dane?  She just said no thank you, lol.  This is my 6th Dane. I am easing the dog into my way of doing things.  

This giant electric bill is due on the 11th.  I've collected quite a lot of money but some of it isn't showing yet.  That's a good thing because otherwise, I'm a bit screwed.  I have a couple of payments due before then as well.  It's just that I've got less than what I added up the other day for receipts.  But, there is a payment coming through cashapp that didn't post yet and some payments coming through the credit card processing that also haven't shown up, thankfully.  

I need to get a couple more lots rented out.  I may do a Facebook ad boost which targets potential renters.  

I woke up with a seriously itching foot.  I looked at it, covered with insect bite bumps.  Like 30 of them.  I must have stepped into something on the walk yesterday.  I keep forgetting to put on OFF to keep bugs from getting onto my flesh and biting me all over.  It is pretty unpleasant when they get all over your body. At least it was contained to one sock on one foot.  You could tell, the bumps end where the sock ended up my leg, lol. 

For some reason, the trash company tried to collect $100 more than owed last week.  I was going to call them but just didn't get to it. The auto-pay declined it for being over what the agreed amount was.  Well, the auto pay came through again, this time the agreed upon amount.  It's something I'd like to switch to another company, this company is high priced. Other companies in the region don't service our area saying there isn't enough business. A group of us came together on the local gossip page to get enough people to get them to start service but so far, they won't do it.  

We have Biden pushing for mask mandates again - no thank you. Aren't Americans tired of the government pushing us all around yet? Shutting down business, making kids stay at home, trashing our economy, surely we learned from the last round of this that masks and stay-at-home mandates not only don't work, but do significant damage to our society?  Real experts saying that Covid is here to stay and that masks will not stop the spread of it. Of course they won't, did they the last time? 

There. Ordered 40 pounds of his food, which is $10 per bag cheaper than Iams.  I'll take the savings and keep the dog on his regular diet.  If the food gives him problems down the road, I'll switch him over to Iams, I just balk at the idea of Iams raising the price of their dog food so much  in such a short period of time. Sorry folks, it's dog food, not rib eye steak.  

And for today? Well, I dunno yet.  I need to do some mowing, keep people happy.  I'm not doing that trenching until it rains enough to soften up the soil quite a lot. Even if the machine can trench in hard soil, it will take so much longer than necessary.  I've got until the end of next week to get it done before I fly off to Oregon.  Time is not on my side, but the trenching part of it with the machine won't take but a  couple of hours? I'm not sure, really.  I did the last trench with a mini-ex and that was pretty easy. But that machine costs a lot more to rent per day.  

So I guess I'll just mow some grass and then see about getting new belts for the riding mower. One of them popped off, it was old and falling apart.  There are 2 belts under there that I can see and the other one needs replaced as well.  

 So here I am, Monday morning and also Labor Day trying to make up my mind about this dog.  I should have left an hour ago.  It's still early, just that if I was going to go, I wanted to leave earlier than later to get it over with before the entire day is completely gone.  

I'm giving myself half an hour to make up my mind, after that, it's going to be a no if I haven't.  I want the dog but I don't want the dog. That probably doesn't make any sense to anyone but me.  

I'm trying to objectively think this through.  I am leaving in 2 weeks for Oregon, will be gone a minimum of 2 weeks according to them, maybe long depending on how long it takes to learn the truck and then back to drive at least 5 days a week.  It's the 2 week gap that concerns me. A dog new to the house and I'm already going to be gone for 2 weeks, I just don't see how we would navigate through that if the dog has any issues that need to be weaned out of it.  

The worst part right now is, I'm still not better yet, I'm getting there but this illness has kicked my butt.  I'm sitting here feeling like I need to go back to bed.  I'm fairly well talking myself out of this.  I think the only way I might do this today is if the lady would meet me half way.  I might contact her and tell her that. "Still not feeling well, can't drive 440 miles today, I can only do this if you can meet half way.  Otherwise, I'm very sorry and I hope the dog will get into a new home after you put it into the dane shelter".  

Meanwhile, I've collected quite a bit of money in the last several days.  None of it is showing in my bank accounts because of the weekend and today is a national holiday, meaning it will show up Wednesday morning.  It's a good thing, because if I had to live off of what I have in there right now, I would be totally screwed lol.  

There is also supposed to be a 4th new person show up for long term today.  I've collected all 3 of the new term people, plus the 3 people that were leaving didn't leave so that check is sitting on my desk, plus another that made a cashapp payment.  Add all of that up plus a house rent payment that is also sitting in there waiting to show up and 3 more payments before the electric bill is due and I should be in good shape.  

__________

Alright, I just texted her asking if she can meet halfway.  She offered to do that last week but then backed off of it.  

And I also got a call from one of the drivers from my old job. They lost the Brownsville account at the beginning of this year.  Ouch. That was the bread and butter of that division.  There were at least 2 trucks going down and 2 trucks coming back up every day and often times more.  This kept us busy.  I'm even more glad I got out of it now.  The guy I was talking to is getting shifted around from one division to another trying to keep busy.  I've done those other types of chemicals, they'll keep you on the road way too much.

It turns out that the plant that used the ethylene in Mexico to make the HDPE pipe finally got a plant that used to run it to them via pipeline rebuilt.  It blew up many years ago.  Now, there are no trucks running for ethylene at all.  It's a major blow to that division.  It just made it all so much more clear the decision to simply stay out of trucking for as long as I did and still, getting back into it, thinking maybe 2 years at best or until 62 and collect whatever I can get out of SS. Coupled with rv park income, I'll be doing just fine without waiting until I'm 67 to start collecting full benefits out of SS. 

So yes, I turn 62 3 Februarys from now.  Which is 2 years, 5 months.  Oops, okay, more like 2-1/2 years.  I don't even want to work that long, whenever I can get myself into a position to get a loan I can double the size of the park and live comfortably off of the income.  

Anyway, brought up old memories talking to that driver.  Most of the memories driving down to and being in Brownsville, Texas.  That and going to the Oklahoma plant.  He said the Oklahoma plant also shuts down a lot and when that happens, they have nothing to do unless they agree to switch to LNG or some other cryogenic chemical.  

Well, the 8 year old is begging me to go get the dog.  The lady agreed to Hubbard Texas, which shaves off like 65 miles each way, so 130 miles of driving.  

I'll let y'all know later what I decide. lol.  

 Sunday - evening

Loud, crazy sounding screaming this morning. One of the kids yelling his lungs out. We all rushed to the bedroom to find....the youngest having a meltdown because the oldest hit him in the nose with a piece of cardboard.  You would have thought the boy was in his death throes with that screaming, it was that bad.

Turns out the youngest had hit the oldest (he admitted to it) first with something and the oldest said no thanks, I'm hitting you back.  Even exchange, no real pain, the boy was just trying to get the oldest into trouble.  

I was tempted to leave them home and go to church alone.  I don't think behavior like that should be rewarded. But, the middle child was crying profusely when I said I will probably go to church without them - he had nothing to do with the situation and wasn't even in the room when this nonsense occurred.

So, I ended up taking all 3 of them.  After church, a run over to the park to get payment from the new tenant.  He wasn't home, so I texted him that I needed to meet up with him when he was free.  He texted back a picture of a badly damaged train that had derailed in a little town called Gibsland in Louisiana.  You can look it up, it's in the local news there.  

Turns out he is one of the rail workers that were going to come in. You know, the ones that never confirmed? Glad I didn't bother to save available lots for them. This guy is a straggler.  Sounds like a nice guy and everything, not the rail boss that had originally called.  If he wants some friends in there, I will have more lots available soon enough.  The 2 QT workers should be leaving soon, or by the end of the month. Actually, the first one that came in is either due to make another payment or leave on the 8th. The other came in on the 15th.  

I have another person coming in tomorrow. The park is currently full, but the ends tomorrow after the 2 overnighters leave.  I wonder if this other person is also a rail worker. Whatever the case, this one says he's going to be home at 7:20 so I'm going over to collect in an hour.  

Left there, since the oldest is visiting, I took them to Applebee's.  While there, the folks here (at the house) decided to run over to Shreveport and visit a casino.  We got home and then decided to go see that Megalodon movie. Kids loved it, it wasn't bad in terms of action, adventure and suspense.  I like Jason Stathom and didn't know he was in that movie, so that made it a bit better for me.

Now home.  Tomorrow is up in the air. I'm really undecided on getting another dog, tomorrow is the last day to get that one I showed a pic of on Facebook. After tomorrow, he's going into a Dane shelter which will find a foster home for him until they find a forever home for him.  

__________________

Off to a Mexican food restaurant. Not my deal, I was along for the ride.  Grandma is here and was buying.  Wasn't really that hungry but what the heck, might as well. 

After that, over to the park.  The man is brand new to RV's and didn't understand how the sewer line hooks up to the sewer hose.  You need an adapter.  I took him to his next door neighbor's and showed him what it looks like. You need one of those right there. It screws into the sewer line.  

Well, how do you dump it, is it these valves right here?  Yes.  Which one? Both. Open the black water first - that's your toilet junk, drain that out, close the valve and then open the grey water valve to clean out your sewer hose.  Make sure you close both valves after you are done or you are likely going to get sewer flies into your brand new trailer and you are not going to like that experience.  

So, he said twice what I told him to make sure he had it right.  Of course, for the 4th time this week, my laptop was doing yet another update.  It's so irritating. How many updates does the blooming thing need?  It takes it forever to complete an update, up to an hour before I can use the computer again. I gave up on it and told him I would take his card info over the phone when I got home and use my desktop computer.

I really need a new laptop, I just am not spending money on things right now if I don't absolutely have to. The problem is, I use that laptop frequently to process credit cards.  It's a must have. Many people don't want to give that kind of information over the phone.  I don't blame them, I just said I would do it with this guy in the hopes he wouldn't object.  Anyway, I'm hoping I can keep the laptop going long enough to get the new job, get some paychecks rolling in and find another one not to expensive.  I only use it for my business and for surfing the internet if I"m away from the house and writing in my blog. It doesn't have to be anything fancy.  

Oh, this new pedestal I installed. It's a different brand and the cover that flips up and down over the outlets is also different - and far better.  It closes all the way and has a big opening at the bottom.  My regular ones have a big flap but it just stays at a preset "closed" setting that is still semi-open.  It's at an angle.  I haven't had any problems with rain getting into the things but I can see the design of this other one is much better. 

The big question I still haven't answered: Do I go get the dog tomorrow? Am I ready for another dog?  What if it needs a lot of training?  Etc.  Just about guaranteed a new dog coming from another home is going to have some kinds of issues that will need to be trained out of them.  They usually do not have any leash training much less being under voice command.  That takes a lot of time and patience, but I do it with all new dogs.  Is it out of the chew everything up stage.  Is it a barker.  Does it jump fences.  Is it house trained (this one supposedly is).  

Is it going to be a joy or a headache. Or both. Is it worth driving 440 miles round trip for.  I've checked all the Danes closer by, none of them had that appeal to me that I am looking for.  You know when a dog clicks, it just says, yup, we are a good match. This one does that for me. He looks nothing like Addler, I really am not sure I want another dog that looks like Addler, tho I do love Harlequin markings on their coats. Pretty unique and beautiful.  

Well, it's my bedtime, offa here.  

 Once again, my park is full. Temporarily of course.  The 3rd person in 3 days came in and took lot 7 just now.  I know because he called me, I can't for the life of my get that camera to start taking short videos of moving events and sending me the notifications. The other one does it, that one refuses to.  I was going to reset it today and totally forgot about it.

The stuff with replacing that pedestal and picking up cigarette butts and dog poop all over the place sort of moved that out of mind.  It's back in my mind now and when I go over there to collect rent I am going to see if I can execute a reset through some sort of method it says to stand in front of it and - whatever.  I can't find a 'reset to default' option anywhere.  

People were complaining about a portion of the dog park where those people that left dogs' were pooping and she wasn't cleaning it up. It was rather disgusting, there was a lot of poop over there.  I used a flat shovel with a bucket with a trash can liner in it and walked around the entire park looking for piles of dog dung and any cigarette butts. 

I don't get people throwing their cigarettes on the ground when they're done, either.  Why, just why?  That drunkard that was fired had 50 of them on the ground, I picked every last one of them up.  But they were everywhere, not just his lot.  Whatever, I guess the joys of owning an RV park, people who don't give a s*** and you just have to deal with it. Except, when I see someone doing it. Then it's, excuse me? They give you that sheepish look when they realize they just did that in front of the owner of the park.  Do I need to provide cigarette butt disposal canisters all over the place?  

No, that won't change their shi*** behavior and it will just be a waste of money. I don't have a trash can in the dog park, I'll fix that in case it helps anyone decide to pick up their dog's waste.  A cigarette disposal won't be of any use in there, I never find cigarette butts in there, thankfully.  The dog dung is cleaned up - every last pile that I could find.  100 plus cigarette butts, picked up. Any trash I could find, gone.  

I just eat my pride, I'd rather have a clean park than a big ego.  Like, I ain't picking up people's dogs' s***.  Well, do that and you have a sh**** park, literally.  Bad image. Same with cigarette butts. I find an inordinate amount of them around the shed, so maybe I'll put a cigarette receptacle over there and at least give it a try.

I have no idea what those things cost. About a 3 foot high thing that has a tube going almost the entire verticle length of it with a basin at the bottom.  People put their cigs in there, it consumes them, all gone.  

Some sort of trash can with a foot pedal to open it - trying to make this as painless as possible for people - at least give it a try and see what happens. It does make sense that I should have a dog dung trash can in the park. It's just that I have a large trash can at the shed right next to the park so I just figured people could through the stuff in there. And some do.  Well, I found an outdoor cigarette receptacle cheap.  Found an outdoor trash can with foot pedal and removable bucket inside of it for cheap as well.  

Now then, when my 2, 3-day stays leave Monday morning, I'll have 2 lots available... but....there is allegedly yet another long term coming in Monday as well.  That'll leave one lot open for overnighters - for now.  I'll rent that sucker out to long term if someone comes along as well and forget about overnighters.  And anyway, I have 2 more people leaving sometime this month, they were only here for a month and then leaving.  Doing all the wiring for the new Quick Trip that's being built a few miles away.  I pretty much figure after their month is up, they're moving on, that's how they were discussing it, that's what they do. Go from one new Quick Trip to another installing all the camera wiring and cash register wiring, technical stuff. 

My whole focus is long term. I don't get enough short term to make it worth even leaving one lot open.  Well, a few months there have been a couple of lots breaking even with long term paying lots.  The only advantage right now is putting less of a draw on the power system.  The lots stay empty long enough to have a couple of less units constantly working the circuits.  Now, these circuits have proven so far that they can handle the constant load of 16 units.  The shed has been the only compromised issue where if everything is all running at once, it overheats the 125 amp breaker and it eventually shuts off. 

That would be the next big project, running another line over there.  

These people that just arrived called and said they need to go home and get more of their stuff, do we wait around for you? No.  I'll catch up with you later or tomorrow.  I'm not feeling so great right now, it can wait. People aren't parking their rigs to do what? Take off?  Run over a pedestal I guess. But, they came in the correct way and it's daylight so I'm pretty confident that won't happen - during daylight hours anyway.  

Yes, I'm still waking up coughing and snot running out my nose. This has been going on for a while now.  Like, how much longer am I going to have to deal with this? Probably doesn't help going out there and working.  Yet, when I'm outside, in the sun, working and sweating? I feel much better.  It's afterward and I'm toast.  

Anyway, no dog today.  Everything just took too much time. I don't know if that dog is going to slip out of my hands or not, I'll have to text the lady and find out.

 Okayyyyy.......

I get there and this old curmudgeon - that's about a fitting as it gets for his demeanor - is standing there waiting on me.  He's the kind that likes to me crude jokes and lots of cussing.  He's joking, but it kinda gets old.  Still, he helped me hold the pedestal up and such while I was installing it. 

Laying belly down in the dirt? Not so much fun but at least it wasn't boiling hot out there.  I went around to whoever was home and and let them know the power is going to be out for 30 minutes to an hour and got busy. Took the panels off the new pedestal, unscrewed the lugs, went and turned the power off. 

Checked the power to make sure it was off with a multimeter. There isn't any way in the town of Hades that I am going to touch electrical wires that thick without being absolutely certain the power is off.  It wasn't hard work, per se, just a PITA.  Especially laying belly down in the dirt digging out more of the dirt. This pedestal is a different brand and the thing goes lower into the ground.  

Once the power was off, unscrewed all the lugs, pulled out the lines, pulled out the damaged pedestal, put in the new one, hooked it all up, walaah.  The test wasn't nerve-wracking, ie: turning the power back on.  I knew I had those lines in there correctly and tho it was a different brand, the setup was exactly the same.  

Power on, ac units back on, no one complaining about power issues, done.

Done, at least, until just now.  Some over nighters are saying their plug has issues.  Yup, they're on the other side of the park, the side I wasn't messing with.  They're screwed.  It's just a plug, the one that plugs into the pedestal. They go bad.  If you're drawing a lot of juice through them constantly, they get hot and eventually they start coming apart.  The prongs start loosening up and the next thing you know?  No power.  They asked if there was an rv mechanic and I said yes, but he doesn't work weekends and since this is a holiday weekend, I'm positive he isn't working.

I then offered that it isn't that hard to put a new plug on there. It really isn't, lol.  Cut the old one off, splice the cable cover back a few inches, strip the ends, feed it through the insert, hook it up to the new one. tighten down the collar, you're done.  I didn't offer to do the work, exactly, I just said it's not that difficult.  But they alluded to the idea of me doing it for them.  So I told them to find a new plug, Lowe's has them.

No plug at Lowe's, out of stock.  Ok, try longview Lowes, Home Depot and there's a RV dealer with a parts room at it.  So, they are heading over there now and I just said, well, if you need help, contact me when you get back. 

__________

Well that problem took care of itself.  I mean, I did tell them it's an easy fix. And when you get a new plug, it's pretty self-explanatory.  The only thing you have to make sure of is that you get the right wire on the right connecter.  If you can do that, you have it mastered.  So when they got back with it, they figured it out all by themselves.  I don't have to go over and fool with it, but if I had had to, I would have charged them $20 for my time.  That's a far cry cheaper than the RV mobile mechanic they wanted to come out.  And now they have their AC working again - it's pretty warm out there right now.  

I think if you're going to live in an RV, you should learn basic maintenance and repairs.  Even if you have lots of money, there isn't always a tech available.  If you need a new AC, yup, get a pro.  If you need a new plug, sewer line, adapter, whatever - it's a simple fix, the hardest part is just going to get the part.  

Anyway, I have a new tenant coming soon here, I'm probably going to head back over there and make sure they get settled in. And pay, lol.  And hit another family up for their pay.  I went over and knocked this morning, it's hard to tell if they're home or not since they have 2 vehicles. One of them was there, their main ride was gone.  

I'm looking at the weather app. We are still well above average high temps. We've got 2, 100 degree days coming up but before and after mid 90's.  We should be in the high 80's this time of year going by the average temps they have listed.  And we are in a drought.  It is amazing how much rain we get much of the year but come 2 / 3 months of summer and it the rain just disappears.  

Well, I'm going to rest a bit - still coughing at night and losing sleep - and then go over there and see if they're around. Also, the 3 people that I have been commenting on whether they are staying or going. Well they're obviously staying but their company hasn't sent the monthly check yet.  Check the mail box and see if it's in there, ask one of the 3 night stays permission to run the credit card for the amount owing, clean the toilet and the shower stall and call it a day.  

 Saturday - early

I had no choice but to wait until this morning to do the pedestal install.  Just the convenience factor for guests, who will undoubtedly be inconvenienced anyway, but at least not in the heat of the day.  I will be heading over there soon to get with it.  Knock on doors, give a second warning, go shut the power off and install that thing.

As of right now, except for lot 7, the park is full plus 2 behind the shed equaling 15 lots occupied. Lot 7 is slated for a long term coming in today.  My checkin time isn't until 2 pm, thankfully, if they show up earlier than that, they'll just have to wait if I don't have it done already.  

Which I better.  This job, as I have stated in previous posts, should be relatively easy.  I'm sure getting the bent up pedestal out of there will be a pain because it will have to slide up the lines. You can't bend those lines to get them out of there, they are far to thick.  They have a little leeway, but definitely not that much.  

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time here, I want to get out there before it starts getting hot.  It was baking hot yesterday being out in the direct sunlight in the afternoon and I don't want to repeat that today.  

I'm safe until it hits around 11:00 am and then it starts heating up.  

So, with that, and getting my second cuppa, I'm out of here.  

 Sitting at the park waiting on the delievery. Supposedly it's on its way over here.  

The people that moved in 2 months ago were hooking up their truck when I arrived.  ?Ya'll leaving? Yes, I got reassigned.  I get that that happens, but they weren't going to say anything at all.  Just leave, lol.  It's ok, their dogs go around defecating everywhere but they act like it isn't their dogs doing it.  In other words, they sit there and watch them poop but refuse to clean it up.  To that end, I'm very happy they are leaving.  

It opens up a lot.  So I called the people with the student that wants to move in and said I have a lot available today.  No, I didn't say that to them, I texted them that. Their mailbox was full, they didn't answer the phone.  I have had no reply.  I do whatever I can to keep people on the hook.  If they show up early, I'm still on the hook with this pedestal.  If they don't, there is no immediate rush on it.  But, get it done is the motto for today, whatever happens, that lot is unusable in it's current condition.  

I want it ready for whatever.  I've got a person moving in tomorrow and that student moving in Monday if they don't come sooner.  But since these people left today, that still leaves 2 empty lots.  I also have a 2-3 nighters coming in tonight.  Anyway, I pretty much try not to turn anyone down, if there's the possibility a lot is going to be open, I"m telling people it's available.  The calls just aren't frequent enough to think, well, I"ll turn this person down because these people may or may not leave.  I'll work it out somehow.

As it stands, I have the one monthers that are probably leaving this month as well, which is why I'm hot on the trailer to get whoever I can in here whenever they are calling for a spot.  

So, anyway, I'm going to go to Lot 7 in a minute and take the panels off. That's a 5 minute job, nothing that's going to hold me up for replacing the thing if it arrived, say, right now. Just get busy and get it done.  

But, I do want it ready, so off to the races!

 Friday - morning

If I am going by the website, the pedestal hasn't even shipped yet.  I only know it's being shipped UPS.  No tracking number, the email they sent with the updated information only had UPS ground on it, the delivery date left blank and no idea when it's going to show up. To hear the dude on the phone, it's either coming today or Monday at the latest. Monday? Doesn't help me.

What I need to do is go over there and see if the 4 day stay showed up last night. For some reason, the outdoor camera is not sending me notifications or taking clips of vehicles driving by.  So, if UPS showed up, I wouldn't know it.  These Arlow cameras suck, basically.  I'm stuck with them for now, I don't have money to be buying expensive Ring or Nest cameras. 

The long term did, indeed, show up yesterday.  I had to set everything up for her, she knows nothing about trailers and just owns one, lol.  It took her about 15 tries to get the trailer back to where I wanted it. I say where I wanted it because she had no clue.  Well, I do have a clue.  I had her back up onto a couple of boards on the driver's side and then looked at a bubble.  It was near level.  After she put her slide out, it was perfectly level.  In other words, a big slideout pulls down the side it's on and fortunately for me, it was on the side that needed to come down a bit.  

The only thing that sucked? Her sewer valve isn't working. It's just open.  I took the cap of the line and yes, "stuff" starting pouring out.  I got the sewer line on it as fast as possible but a lot of that stuff ended up on the ground.  I ended up hosing it down - quite a bit and getting it to thin out. Then I went to the shed and got a gallon of bleach and poured almost the entire gallon along where the sludge was.  Well, no visible sludge after hosing everything down, but you know the bugs will know where it's at and the smell will come back.  I think most people would rather smell bleach than poop and the bugs won't have anything to do with it.

I still need to collect from her, but it's pretty safe to say that driving a new chevy pickup and a newer 32 foot bumper pull trailer, paying lot rent shouldn't be an issue. She has an absolutely beautiful German Shepherd puppy, 7 months old.  The dog was going crazy, but it had been pent up in that truck for quite a while.  

I guess I'll go over there and see if I can get that damn camera to work correctly, reset the thing and hope it starts working again.  It would be wonderful if the pedestal was sitting there on lot 7.  That's what I have on the address.  My street address and "Lot 7".  If the thing shows up today, it's going in today.  I care about tenants not having power temporarily, there is no way around it.  Go knock on doors, let them know what's about to happen, offer apologies and get with it.  I could say half an hour and then it turns into hours.  So I don't really know what to tell them, it could be a few minutes it could be quite a while.  

I can't have an entire lot just sitting there doing nothing because of a jacked up pedestal, that's what I know. It's money down the drain, I have that lot slated for a long term coming in tomorrow, just need to get it done.  

It's really kind of taking over everything in my mind right now, it's just lost money and a lost, semi-permanent camper.  I simply can't afford to lose those, those are my lifeblood, it's what the revised business model revolves around.  I have another showing up on Monday, but on Monday, 2 more lots are opened up.  RV'ers want their lot when they say they want it and if they go somewhere else? You aren't going to see them again, especially long term. They get somewhere, they set up, they don't want to go through all of that again.  

I'm going to start asking for google reviews from people again.  It's one of the major hangups I have, it's only 6 of them on there, I need dozens more.  I gave up on it for a while, but it's just too important. People look for them and they want to see a lot of them. Half a dozen simply doesn't cut it. Once people leaving, I'm sending them a link to review the park. Unsolicited, yes, just send it, ask them if they could take a minute to review it, if they do, great, if they don't, keep sending them out. Google generates a link to send, it's painless.  Even if they just want to give stars only and no written review.  

And I have no idea how this dude at a park south of the Interstate is getting what he's getting there.  I was discussing it with the 2 bigger park owner.  He is charging $425 PLUS electricity.  How is he getting that?  His park is a sardine can style setup with people basically on top of each other.  Even the major competitors don't have meters at their lots? She was saying she is considering doing so, tho.  

I can add meters to my pedestals, I've had that confirmed by an industry expert.  But I have enough trouble getting people in there as it stands.  The only thing I think that is getting people in there right now is the fact that I am charging less than everyone. I didn't know what else to do and so that's what I did..  It hurts the bottom line, but if you have no bottom line that is even worse.  Last month average $156 per lot for electricity.  Which means some of those trailers are sucking up huge amounts of power right now, well beyond that.  I can assess that because not every lot is filled up.  

Anyway, I'm getting the nerves hitting.  I need to get over there and just see if that pedestal by some miracle showed up and try to fix that camera. 

G'day

 Thursday morning

Because staying up half the night snotting and coughing are my idea of fun. Not.

I've got a permanent coming in today.  Well, one can hope they are going follow through with their word and actually come through.  If they don't show up, the pressure to get lot 7 fixed is gone, at least for now.  I'd prefer they show up and keep the pressure on.  I have no idea where that pedestal is, they haven't updated their site nor have they sent the email they said they were with shipping information.  

I says and has said: "Not yet shipped".  Rather frustrating. If the thing shows up by tomorrow, I will have that pedestal installed in time for the other long term coming in. This isn't really something I'm going to tell them about unless it comes to the point that I have no choice.  I spoke with the larger park(s) yesterday, they have available spaces if I can't make this happen.  I've got a back up plan for that person if it absolutely has to go that route.  

I got some sleep, but certainly not enough.  At 4:30 am I just said screw it and was awake.  

In my rather exhausted state of existence, I went ahead and pulled the 14 pound brisket out of the refrigerator, cut it in half, spent 20 minutes trimming the fat off of it - that's a lot of work! - made a homemade rub, got it all covered up with the rub and rubbed in, foil-wrapped, in the oven at 275 degees and check it about 4 hours from now and see where it's at.  At around 175 internal temp, pull the brisket out, open up the foil and put it back in until internal temp is between 195 to 205 degrees, however long it takes to be able to stick a toothpick into with the same resistance you would have with a cake.

Oven cooking brisket is, in reality, brisket sacrilege, but I have no energy to be standing out side with the smoker all day long, checking the temp, putting in wood and chips and keeping it at a correct temp.  The problem with oven cooking it is you don't get that nice bark on it and you don't have the smoked flavor. Still, it should turn out tasty, just not smoked-flavor tasty.  

If/when I get back to working, I want to get a pellet smoker.  Much easier and same, smoked flavor with far less PITA.  You just fill a hopper full of the pellets, set the thing at whatever temp you want and walaah.  It's smoking without constantly tending to it. 

Now, for today. A lady is allegedly moving in today.  She said she had someone to haul it to my park and that she would be following behind in her car and expect an arrival sometime this afternoon. I've got her covered for a lot and I've also got the 2 overnighters covered.  I do not have the other guy coming in for long term covered until I get that pedestal replaced. Crossing fingers and hoping to the good God in Heaven, our Creator - Praise his Holy Name! - that it arrives no later than tomorrow and I don't run into any problems installing it.

I have enough motivation to get over there when she arrives and ensure that she is moving into one of the lots I want her RV to be moved into.  After that?  Nothing.  Nothing before that either.  It's just one of those days - weeks - I write off to being sick and getting whatever I must get done, done and the rest of it? Can wait.  Things like renting a trencher and installing another 125 amp panel. Priced that out yesterday, it's $70 for the panel and the circuit breakers I'll need. Add I think it was $280 for the machine I've got $350 plus tax into that project.  

I just wonder if there is ever going to be an end to this? I think I have everything covered and then bam!!! something that would be considered - abnormal - pops up. You don't expect people to run over your pedestals.  You think you might get away with the electrical panel the way it is set up - but you know there is the possibility you might have to go a step further with it.  

Then there's grass.  Foregone conclusion that it's just going to be more rye/winter grass coming in the fall. I'm not spending money I don't have on summer grass, summer is going to be over soon enough and just wasting money.  I'll spend around $300 on grass seed for winter grass and when it all comes in, I'll be good until March or April, which is when I will pull the trigger and get the Bermuda.

That is the time to do it, not June.  After the last predicted frost.  You wait long enough to ensure your grass won't be killed off by frost but you don't wait so long as to have high temperatures that get so high, you aren't going to be able to keep the seed or even the sod alive.  And, you hope you can get it done during a week or more of predicted rainfall.  

I don't know why, but I had just short of a panic attack last night about going back to work.  I'm not so opposed to the idea that it's akin to going to a funeral, I just guess I've been off of working for a large trucking company/corporation for so long, I've gotten used to the idea of not being pushed around and manipulated all the time.  I was informed they expect 5 days a week, but if you want to work more, you can.  

No thank you.  5 days is enough for me. I need more info  about a typical work day, but it sounded like it's 8 to 10 hours.  That's in line with a local job just working 8 hour shifts.  I don't want to work more than that and more importantly, I don't need to work more than that. If I can get away with just having the net income from the park sit in the checking account and grow over time, I will. Come up with a down payment for a loan - a 20% down payment - and that should make a lender happier than, apparently, having a piece of property that is currently worth in the neighborhood of 250k plus a park that ups that ante to a total of at least 400k - and only wanting about 150k loan.  

But, let's not count our chickens before the eggs are hatched. I have no idea, in reality, how much I will see as a paycheck after taxes and health insurance. The point is to cover monthly bills and pay down debt. 

I am still having these dam*** sinus headaches.  Not fun.

Anyway, enough of this, just going to go back to bed and lay down again for a while. 

 Wednesday - semi-early morning

11 hours of sleep.  I woke up once and was awake for an hour, but it's 12 hours since I went to bed.  Just the result of being sick and finally getting some sleep instead of being awake off and on coughing half the night.  That doesn't mean I feel good from getting all of that sleep. Quite to the contrary, my mind is muddled and groggy feeling which it normally is after getting far too much sleep.

Whatever. Undecided whether I should try to get anything done today.  I guess I'll figure that out in an hour or so when I start waking up a bit better.  

____________

Mid afternoon

I went over to the property and dug that thing out of there. The pedestal that is. It was not sitting well with me.  If I have a deadline on the thing, at least get it ready to go.  I got down to where the power lines go into the thing and that was enough. Take the panels off when ready to replace. Take off the panels, remove the circuit breakers and at least have an actual position of a starting point where I'm not starting from scratch.

After that and still feeling like crud, I decided to go for a walk on Addler's old stomping grounds.  That dog used to gallop through there, stopping here and there to sniff or pee on things.  It made me feel better going for that walk.  It's actual science now that getting out doors is beneficial to people that are sick versus laying in a bed constantly . 

I went to the bridge - he hated that bridge lol - and just stared off into the woods for a while.  Snakes long gone, their den opening was covered with cobwebs.  The stream just barely enough water to keep it wet.  A few pools of water, which I thought crazy.  The last few years during summer, the water dried up completely.  It hasn't rained here in quite a while.  It wasn't a brisk walk, just slow and mind full of different things.  

Sort of looking forward to orientation in Oregon. I only say it that way because of how I am feeling currently. It's still 3 weeks off to the departure date, I hope to be fine by then and deal with 2 to 3 weeks of orientation and training with relative ease.  

As of now, the dog is tentative for Saturday.  It will be an all day affair driving clear over there and back, hopefully with a "new" Great Dane dog.  I dunno what's going to happen, but that's on the calendar as of now.  

I am fortunate that today, the temps are well down and there isn't as much strain on the shed power panel.  I was in the shed and the ac had cycled off and didn't come back on while I was in there. Note that I'm not trying to keep it cold in there, just cool at most, tolerable is more like it.  

I didn't accomplish anything else today and considering how I'm feeling, I'll take it without self-condemnation.