3 days off slowly coming to a close.  

My thoughts today have been on the Lord since we went to church but also things going on at the business.  It is all perplexing to me sometimes when I don't know what to do next and I just sit here thinking about it. 

It is always interesting to see a church all but completely fill up for Christian holidays.  You wonder what motivated these people to go to church that otherwise don't normally go?  I'm not bashing them, perhaps they'll get something out of today's message, it's very likely the message these people would expect to hear on an Easter Sunday.  

Went to the park for a short, eyeballing things.  Someone moved my 16 foot stick of wood onto a pad. Why? No clue.  There is a man coming in today for a 3 week stint on that pad, tho he paid for 4 and I told him as such.  

I think I'm going to move the motorcoach out of where it's at and let an older couple come in that wants the spot.  It will cement the need to go ahead and rent the mini-ex and dig out a trench, install the wiring and put in a new breaker box - which I already have both - and get "extra" power out there.  I can put 3 lots on that.  If I have 2 trailers and the entire shed on the other one without it blowing the main breaker, then I can put 3 on the other one. The only reason I say 3 is that I will hook up an additional 30 amp outlet to be able to plug in the coach while it's being worked on.  

In other words, turn on the AC, for I don't expect to really get going on that project until summertime.  120 amp board will sufficiently handle 3 30 amp outlets, maybe even a 4th.  But, that would probably overload the circuit it's being fed through, so 3 will be where it stands and the 3rd will only be on when someone is working in the coach.  I've dumped the money into that coach, I can't turn back now.  It'll be a project, probably cost a few grand, in the end it will be nice, liveable and rented monthly and a caveat that will have to be in writing that I will have access to inspect the inside of it on a monthly basis.  

That thing can be made nice by getting rid of the old setup and completely redoing it.  A new sink/countertop, a new shower and a new toilet setup.  New carpet, a sofa couch, a new bed mattress and it will be good.  Well, I say new: new to that thing anyway.  I will be able to rent it, I'm just not going to do anyone any favors.  Same thing I wanted as before, this time with a down payment, proof of employment and background check.  I'll probably get rid of propane in it and switch to all electric.  I can run a cord for the refrigerator to an outlet and a range top.  No oven. New microwave as well.  

This will take place of building cabins, for now anyway.  I can just about guarantee if I make the place nice enough in there, I can rent it on a monthly basis.  

Meanwhile, I'll rent the space to someone else, get the new electrical setup back there and not have to worry about power issues.  

So, that means I need to come up with a date to do this and take that day off.  I suppose I could wait until I have a random day off, as long as it isn't going to be forever. Of course, that means also hoping the rental company has a mini ex available on that day.  I will have to hand dig the pedestal out, however, that doesn't need to be done the day I'm trenching. Just leave enough extra wire poking out of the ground and get to that when I get to it.  

I'm almost convinced as well to just rent a tractor whenever I need one.  The only thing is, if I need rippers on the box, I can't get one of those from the local rental place, that's a huge drawback.  Talking 30 miles to the next nearest place.  Ok, admittedly I could use a tractor out there, if I owned one, frequently.  

______________

Close to bedtime.  It was a nice day.  I decided to take the dog to the woods and let him run free for a bit.  He loves it there, I think all dogs love it back there.  I'm getting back into the habit of walking, something I sort of let up on because of running a park and driving trucks.  Fact of the matter is, I'm over there pretty much every day, there is no good reason not to take a stroll through the woods, it's only 15 minutes for the trip I make around, it gets the heart pumping and I need the exercise.  I'd rather take the dog, but when I come back from a run, I am not really in the mood to go home, get the dog and then go back there.

I've got early run tomorrow and Tuesday, late run Wednesday and Thursday, early run Friday and Saturday.  Oh, well that's good. I was just thinking earlier how it would be good to work 6 days, off Sunday and then work whatever.  Of course, that is subject to change as always and also subject to whether the truck and trailer .... stay in working condition.  

I've got very little funds in the personal account, but, I don't need to worry about that until tomorrow.  Nothing would go through until Monday night.  I have that money coming in tomorrow and tho I want to use it for  - well I haven't decided yet - some of it can go to keeping me off of taking any more funds out of the business account and tide me over til payday and then, see what we've got.

Yes, I talked to the older couple, he apparently wants to do some work.  That means, at least to me, that they want money off of their rent.  Considering it's an alternate spot, I could make that happen if the man actually puts some hours in.  I don't even know what's fair anymore, apparently it's "fair" to pay fast food workers $20 per hour.  You know that there are people with college degrees that make that kind of money. Just crazy, it's all socialism headed straight towards communism.  I fear these people will eventually get their way. 

Or will they? Not anything I want to go into depth here, but I will say there are plenty of armed Americans that probably won't go down without a fight.  Who knows.  I don't know what to think, I may just feel the situation out and see what he wants to do  and perhaps see what he thinks is reasonable.  She asked if the walking trails need attention? Yup.  As well as other things.  I could use the help, I just don't want to actually pay anything, taking money off the rent is much easier.  I won't count those chickens, however, until they hatch. 

Tomorrow I will be disconnecting everything and just move it about 100 feet out of there and into an "alternate, alternate" spot, so to speak.  Clean it up and get it ready for them.  If they don't pan out, it will be open and I will find someone to take it.  

And an odd situation that started this morning.  A man who paid up a month in advance for a 3 week stay - I've written about this previously - called today saying he can't make it.  A few hours later, he texted from another phone saying he's coming. Then called and saying opposite.  And then I texted him - are you coming or are you wanting your money back?  I would have given him 75% of his money back he paid in advance for a reason: to hold the spot.  I have turned several people away......

So then he calls yet again, this time saying "we're here", whoever "we" are, I only knew about him. It's just a 3 week stint so no worries.  Just some of the stuff that happens in this business can be bewildering, people act strangely sometimes.  I know in these instances they are finding somewhere "better" but not telling you that.  Hence the money up front. You pay in advance, you are going to lose some or all of it depending on the circumstances.  

I'm also not sweating it now.  Those farmers moved in a while back, they said they were staying a month.  Or longer. Who knows. But it dawned on me that they paid cash, I forgot to write down the day the moved in and I didn't know how I was going to figure that one out. He had handed me a card so I went through 40 days worth of phone calls, nothing. Then the same on text messages.  My only hope left was the camera.  Did it record them coming in?  Yes! The 4th.  So, I have no idea whether they are staying or going, but at least I am at ease that I know the day they moved in. I have records of overnighters and short stays, I have  a book I keep long term stays recorded in.  

Anyway, enough of this.  5:30 am comes early and I want to go to bed a little earlier than usual - tho - I slept really well last night, thank you Lord.

 Sunday  mid-morning

I just posted Saturday's post - today lol

We went to the Easter Egg Hunt.  The 3 of us sat down at an empty stretch of tables, like 3 tables all pushed together to make probably 20 seats worth.  The boys went to play in the bounce house, I just sat there and just looked at everyone and everything going on.  I have made no effort to try and make friends at this church and still have my reservations about it.  So I just don't go through the effort/energy/mental stuff to do it.  I have friends, lots of friends.  Both here and at home.  

Anyway, after about half an hour, a large group of people sat down at the table.  They left us 2 seats without bothering to ask if any of them were taken.  After a while, one of the boys got up for a second and this group of people immediately stuffed a little girl in his seat, again, not bothering to ask, just take the damn seat and who cares? 

I got up and moved our stuff to the table behind us.  These are church people acting exactly like church people do.  Selfish and self-centered.  I just looked at the people after reseating, they didn't give a damn.  Of course not, this is the way churches act out.  This is why I am not involved in a church.  I volunteered for decades at various churches and on the mission field. I don't regret the mission field at all, the rest of it?  

After quite a while, they announced that all the kids come over to the wall right next to where we were seating.  A lot of kids crammed into the space and then this lady comes and stands with her back right in my face.  Basically, her butt in my face.  I mean, it would have been nice if it had at least been a nice butt to look at, lol, but I digress.  

In both instances, I was very tempted to say something, in fact, they were bite- your-tongues moments.  I don't want to start trouble at church, but then again, how can these people be so rude?  They walk around in their little bubbles, oblivious to everything going on around them and not caring that their actions are negatively affecting other people. 

Whatever the case, it was time to line up over at the very large field where there were thousands of eggs all over the place.  I put these people out of my mind, we came to do the Easter egg "hunt", not get into frivolous altercations with idiots.  After seeing how it panned out last year, I gave both boys the same instructions.  They were at different grade levels of where they would run the same field picking up eggs. I assume they do this so that the younger kids can still get something without the older kids barreling over them and taking everything in sight.

The instructions were simple: Run across the field away from all the people that are going to be crowded together and start picking up eggs over there. By the time the crowd gets to you, you will have an nice amount of eggs in there. Note these are not real eggs, they are the plastic ones that either have candy or toys in them.  It was a bit difficult to watch both boys, they were far apart. I stuck with the younger one, the older knew what to do and he did, indeed, carry out my instructions.

The younger? He ran clear across the field and was just in his own world.  It took him a minute, standing there, before he finally started picking up eggs. I then went and located the older boy, about 100 feet away. He was quite busy filling up his rather large bucket.  By the time the crowd caught up to him, he had a full bucket.  The younger didn't get so many, about half full, he just was doing it his way.  Which is fine.  It was fun, really.  I just ended up putting those people out of my mind, it's why I sit alone at church instead of seeking people out.  I care, but I don't want to be subjected to their foolishness.  I may yet go to one of the adult groups someday, but not today.  

I woke up at around 7:00 am, totally out of it, I just decided to go back to sleep for another hour and a half.  I got some good sleep last night, finally. 

With that, I realized tomorrow is the first and if I wait until the first to pay the rather large property tax bill, it's going to get even larger.  I had to pay the convenience fee of $44, the flip side is paying a much larger fee they will attach as of tomorrow, added onto the fees they already added onto the situation.  My hands were tied, I tried to go in on Friday, I didn't realize they were closed for Easter.  

So, as of now, the property tax is paid and I have until February of next year to come up with the next ridiculous amount. If they try to raise it again, I'm going to have a hearing on it. No lawyer, I'll just do it myself.  $2,700 and change for property taxes on a valuation of $179k is nothing short of outrageous, in my view. We are not some prime property area, their coffers being dried up by the shut down of the rather large coal fired generating plant is not my concern.  Now? The place I used to load out of over in Longview, Texas Eastman, is going to invest another billion plus dollars in building a new addition to their already sprawling plant.

It's in our county so any tax revenues will go to the county. Perhaps that will make these county and school district officials happy.  I'd love to run for one of those positions, I don't want that kind of scrutiny.  Texas lawmakers may indeed do something about property taxes, wait and see. Homestead exemption is the only alternative I have and it's just not in the cards right now - having to build a house.  Actually would love to live over there in a nice house.  It has been discussed, albeit not at length. 

Well, the idea of buying land and building a house on it has been discussed, it was only until recently that we had a conversation about building a house on my property.  It would be building it on the rear 15 acres. Basically, divide the land legally and have 2 properties. One with the RV park and the other for doing with whatever we please.  It would be costly tho.  We would have to have power lines run all the way back there, install a septic system and either have well water or run a line back there from the front as well.  That doesn't include clearing the pad for the house and building the house. I could easily see 200k in a development like that.  

It would take 2 more telephone poles, maybe 3. They'd have to stretch a line clear over the gas easement, but it could be done.  They have one of the lines of my property stretched a very long way.  I haven't measured it but it looks to be at least 200 feet between the poles.  I actually think I could get a loan on it - with a decent down payment of course.  Land also as collateral since it's apparently worth far more than I paid for it.  It's something I have considered but I fear that getting property split up like that is probably pretty costly.  Plus having to add an easement addendum to it - guaranteeing access to rear of property through the front and through the gas easement.  The gas easement has no right to stop me from going across that land or attempting to say I can't add my own access binder to the property description and legal definitions.

Regardless, I did finally find the keys to the coach in the coach. She had them hanging on a hook on the wall in her bedroom. I haven't gone back there, that whole thing is pretty gross right now, there are still lots of bugs in there.  I'm going to gut it, now that I have gotten that far in my thinking with it.  The bathroom, the shower stall, the kitchen area and start all over with used stuff to replace it. Much nicer used stuff. And gain access to the areas where all those bugs and rodents are/were and be able to clean all of that up and then bleach it and sanitize it.  Meanwhile, some people wanted to move into that space, I haven't called them back.  

I don't know if I want another trailer there. I have a guy in a trailer next to the coach, I'm thinking of my options here. Mostly, the electricity setup.  Wondering if I just keep it to one person living back there instead of 2 units, if I would still have to add the electrical line I have been telling myself I need to do and soon before summer heat hits. 

I have also been arguing with myself the actual need for a tractor.  I can rent tractors, I can get one with teeth in it albeit from a neighboring town and having to haul the thing a much longer distance. I need a mini ex for the electrical line and dig a trench for the pipe to go across the driveway, I wouldn't be buying a mini ex anyway.  So, the need for a tractor boils down to the driveway and clearing land for new lots to be added.  

My mind is full of stuff right now.  I'm just waiting to see what my next paycheck is going to be before making any decisions, but I think buying an expensive, brand new tractor is not in the cards and not a good business decision. I don't want a new one anyway, I wanted to see if the dealer had any used ones. Yes, but they are asking ridiculous price for it.  I mean, you might as well buy a brand new one for that much money.

Today - church in queue. I haven't been since 3 Sundays ago, the boys haven't been since 4 Sundays ago.  They went to grandma's and then work has gotten in the way of my taking them or me going.  The ministry worker that runs the children's ministry actually told me they were missing us.  That was a nice offering at least.  

After church, go to the property and decide on this motor coach.  Move it or just leave it. Yes, it would be more money.  Hard to turn down money right now.  Still, I have the income of 15 lots going and that's a fairly nice chunk of change, especially this time of year when electric bills are low and not eating up my profits.  I've been hinting at installing meters and the word is getting around.  Conserve electricity where you can or expect changes.  People may move, I don't know, that's on them.  I don't see the need to pay $150 and higher per lot on electric charges during summer months.  

I think my job earnings are going to dictate my next business decisions and that's why I'm sitting on that money I received earlier this week. Have to be able to work out a business budget, there is a major point in that decision that has to be included in the plan I would like to implement and that is: how much will I be making now?  Net pay. 

Well, I need to take a shower before church and time is running out.

G'day

 Saturday mid-morning

The tractor situation has not changed. I'm not budging and neither are they.  My best bet, I think, would be to find financing to buy a used one on the market from private seller. If a dealership had something reasonable, I would certainly consider it but now that I've contacted Kubota and they have the same pricing, I'm out of there.  There's just no way I'm going to be able to justify to myself paying $425 per month for 7 years.  That's too long.  It is zero interest financing at least, if they could bring it down to around $300 I would go for it.  

Holy Saturday, the church has an Easter egg "hunt" going on at noon.  It's 7,000 eggs and they just lay them out in a big field next to the church. The kids line up, they run out when the word go is yelled and I can guarantee you that in less than 5 minutes, all 7,000 eggs will be picked up and hauled off.  It's one of those things where you need to be there a bit early, definitely not late.  They also provide lunch, probably hot dogs, chips and a drink.  I mean, it's free so I'm not going to complain about it. The kids haven't been in church in nearly a month now.  Just hasn't worked out with me working and 2 Sundays in a row, they were up in Arkansas with their grandparents.  

We did have a card night last night at a friend's house who just had a baby girl.  That was fun, even the kids were behaving for once.  

Oh, the taxes.  Yeah, they were closed yesterday.  I was going to pay online until I saw a $44 "convenience fee".  Screw that fee, I have until Monday and I intend on going in on Monday and paying via check in person. That eliminates that fee.  However, if they find that they can't be open on Monday either, I will just have to eat the fee and pay it online. 

I also already have the money to pay the electric bill which amounted to somewhere around $840 and change, if I recall correctly. Not bad.  It's about as low as it's going to go with that many units in there.  I stand to collect another 4 grand in the next 12 days or so, that will get my business finances pointed in a different direction than what it was.  Basically, the money needs to sit in there for high electric bills are coming.  On the 7th, I will also be finding out about my new pay rate via looking at a paycheck.  

Called planning ahead, last summer I had no idea that the electric bill would go as high as $2,500 in a single month.  Get some money set aside for that so it doesn't catch me by surprise.  I still want to install meters tho.  I've got last month's bill low and probably this month won't be crazy, May will start to see an increase in the bill and then comes June and there it is: super-high electric bills that will carry on for many months.  This is pretty much why I won't get into a high monthly payment for a tractor.  

 Friday - mid morning

I sent in all my paperwork including the receipt for the hotel stay.  I'm not eating that, I was forced out of the truck because it was inside the shop and they wouldn't let me stay in it or run it - it was in the 40's that night.  I also asked for break down pay. She just texted me and gave me the amount they would pay for breakdown, I am satisfied with it.  I mean, it should be more, but I say that comparing it to my previous job.  It's enough and makes me feel better for having to sit in that shop trucker area which was full of flies, uncomfortable and just drove me batty after sitting in there all day long.  

So now that I'm caught up on paperwork, I need to head up to the tax assessor's office and pay the taxes and then off to the park to get a few things done over there.  I'm not going to make it an intense day of work, but I will endeavor to knock a few things off the list.  It is only Friday and originally I was slated to work today.  I did not take that load, thankfully.  I would have been out til around 2 am last night if they had continued to try to get me to do it.  In fact, it would be right about now I would be leaving the park in the semi to go deliver it - have to take a 10 hour break - I wouldn't have been back until around 5.\

I'm not sorry, I'm tired of working and 3 days off may not help the paychecks, it will help my sanity.  Get to sleep in as well.  

I contacted another tractor company via facebook messaging, that's their deal not mine.  I answered a bunch of their questions once a person got on there. Then they asked me where I wanted my payment, I had told them how much the other company had decided they wanted per month and I just wasn't comfortable with it.  I replied, well why don't you just tell me what you have to offer?  This person got testy with me for finally asking a question back.  No, sir, I am not going to "negotiate against myself".  He went off telling me how his implements were commercial grade, yada yada yada, not going to be able to give a better deal.

Huh?  I replied lol, I simply asked what you have, you get testy.  This reveals what it would be like to do business with you. Have a nice day and life. Goodbye. I'm not even thinking about doing business with some company where the salesperson starts off the relationship in that manner. He could have simply said he couldn't offer a better deal, not get in my face, it took a millisecond for me to determine that I want nothing to do with this company, I will contact one in Longview for comparison shopping.  

He ended the "conversation" by saying "Testy because I shot you straight, that tells me what it would be like to have you as a customer."  He shot nothing straight, I wanted pricing and he declares he's "not going to negotiate against myself"?  I'm glad we got that over with up front.  At least the John Deere dude is amiable and tho he won't bring his price down, he didn't get upset about me telling him that's really a lot higher than I want to be at.  

 Thursday night

I am finally home.

The ending of the ordeal at the TA truckstop did not go without a hitch.  When I got there yesterday and we got past all of this nonsense with stripped wheel studs, I also brought up the fact that I need a new fuel cap for one of the fuel tanks.  It started leaking and I do not want fuel leaking out of the top of the tank, of which the tank was quite wet with diesel.  I brought this up at least 3 if not 4 or 5 times yesterday to cement into their minds that since I have to wait overnight, I want that fuel cap replaced as well.  

So it was today, near the end of this ordeal that I casually mentioned the fuel cap. The manager looked at me funny.  Fuel cap? Yes, fuel cap, I discussed this with them last night several times.  I know nothing about it.  That always irritates me when an employee dismisses your query with "I don't know anything" therefore, it doesn't affect them and yes, you are screwed.  I firmly responded that the discussion about a new fuel cap had gone to the point where they were going to measure it and would also ask Napa - this morning - about one.  It wasn't a figment of my imagination.

10 minutes later, a manager asked me about this fuel cap and acknowledged that it has been mentioned but for some reason the information hadn't been transferred between shifts.  

I looked her squarely in the eyes and said: Yes, well it was written down on paperwork, I saw them do it.  She replied that the paperwork had been "lost".  In my mind, this wasn't some person being honest, this was a person trying to cover their  and their employee's asses.  Be honest about it and I will be far more forgiving. Start lying to me and you are likely going to piss me off.  I became pissed, I had been there 25 hours at that point and I was in no mood for bs.  I was ready to leave, actually and didn't care about the damned fuel cap at that point, I would get one in Lufkin at the Peterbilt dealership.

But, that takes time and I had already spent enough damned time at this place, they should have dealt with this. Let me tell you here, that they had to send someone clear to Texarcana after they had exhausted all other resources to a place they hated to do any business with.  This is because, as they described it: the people that work there are assholes.  Their words, not mine.  I was not amused but I could believe that a place that has the parts are also full of people in perpetual bad moods. I have had my dealings with them in the parts industry in the past.  

You play their game to get what you need, no matter how foul they may be.  The point is that there is also a Peterbilt dealership in Texarcana and they could have also stopped for the fuel cap. Yes, it's important to not have fuel leaking, DOT doesn't much care for that.  It looks worse than the leak is, it doesn't take much diesel fuel to make the appearance of a major leak.  

I blew that cap off.  The wheel studs were coming, that place had all 10 of them, I was more than ready to get out of that place and leave it far behind. That lady disappeared and then they both came out 5 minutes later: we have a fuel cap coming.  I immediately asked how long? Because at that point, the studs were there, the mechanic had been banging on them for quite a while to get them seated and he was working on tightening down the lugnuts.  I was ready to leave that place.  "About 45 minutes" and "probably about the time the mechanic is finishing up with your wheels".  

I agreed to it.  What's a few more minutes to get everything dealt with? Well, a lot in my mind at that point but it was important to get that issue behind me as well. So, they got the wheels done but then decided to check the rest of the lugs on the rest of the trailer.  I did not ask nor did I want them to do that. What, find more problems? I want to go home, thank you, not spend another 24 hours at that miserable place.  TA's have gotten rid of their Country Pride restaurants at all or most of their truck stops and replaced them with things like Taco Bell and Subway.  It's the wave of the "future" to get rid of old style diners and trucker's seating at traditional restaurants and replace them with garbage food.  

So, I couldn't go sit down and have a nice meal to eat there and that takes away the allure of many of these places that are otherwise hell holes.  

Anyway, the lady finally arrived, she was on her way home. Where I was at is 45 miles from Texarcana, how far out of town does she live?  Anyway, I was glad she brought it, the mechanic "installed" it, it's just a fuel cap lol, tho there is a chain and a pair of "arms" that go down in the tank, when you take the cap off, the arms keep the cap from falling or going anywhere.  He adjusted the brakes and then?  I got the Hercules out of there.  

2 hours later, back at the park and I wasted no time getting out of there. I will deal with issues tomorrow.  

I was amazed the kids were still awake when I got home, it was far past their bedtime.  I learned that they are off today, Monday and Tuesday for Easter break. It is unbelievable the amount of time kids get off of school. 

Oh, there was a silver lining in all of this nonsense - remember, I only went to have 2 tires repaired. Not go through eternal hellfire trying to get wheel studs replaced.  

You see, the dispatcher was asking me all day long about "going down there after it's fixed".  Sure, unless it gets too late. It was getting too late. I would be arriving at the washout right about now, 9:30 pm. They said they would do a call out if I needed it. Then, I would arrive at the plant around 10:30 or later, sit there for at least an hour and then an hour and 40 minutes back to the yard.  We're talking 1 am junk here.  

So then, she said, well can you load tomorrow and bring it up here to El Dorado and drop it?  I reluctantly agreed. That is a very long day. I replied "you must be having logistic problems, so I will do it". or something like that.  It wasn't until I was about to leave the TA that she texted and said she had found someone to load today. THANK GOD ALMIGHTY. 

I mean that sincerely, thank the good Lord, I have had enough.  I don't know what I'm going to get paid for sitting around for 26 hours, but they are going to pay me and they are going to reimburse my hotel.  I couldn't stay in the truck last night, they wouldn't let me because it's in the shop and I couldn't have the truck running - because it's in....the....shop. 

I have 3 full days off now instead of 2 and I desperately needed them, thank you.  This was day 12 of being out on the road on a daily basis plus the fact I spent the night on the road, so to speak, done, toast, ready for a break and stuff needing to be done at the park.  Lots of stuff. Mowing, the post, the security system to name a few and the things that are on the top of the list.  

Enough. I am going to bed soon and I am going to relax for a few.  

 Thursday morning

It’s almost 9:00 am and they are just starting on finding parts after calling them to see where they’re at with this. They have to go to Napa to see if they have the parts and if they don’t, they have to go to some trailer shop in texarcana which will take significantly much more time. 

It’s not like I’m checking out if this hotel before checkout time at 11. And then I’ll head over to the restaurant to blow some more time off of the clock. 

After all the talking, the salesman hasn’t taken the price down at all and instead offers a pile of rubbish thing that would be all but useless to me. No bucket, no box and no brush attachment. So I’m not impressed and I’m not getting in over my head on payments. 

The dispatcher just called and asked what’s going on. I told her the same thing as I mentioned above. So she is going to have the head mechanic start making calls, see if he can motivate them to get their asses in gear. As I figured, they still want me to go get that load today. 

I replied that it depends on when they get me out of here. Cause’ at this point, I’m thinking it’s going to be quite a while before that trailer is fixed. 

-——————-

Left the hotel, over at the restaurant. Decent food, horrible coffee, waitress has  very sour attitude. I was polite, respectful and courteous, some people are just that way.  

Whatever. Will be walking the half mile back to the truck and start asking questions if they haven’t made any progress. Perhaps leave the trailer there and one of their local drivers can get it when they finish? But they probably won’t allow me to drop the trailer there and the company probably doesn’t want to have to interrupt yet another driver to deal with this. 

Meanwhile, after even more discussion with the dealer, I am not going to be able to do business with them. I told them I would think about it. That’s where it’s left. 7 years of payments that high just doesn’t set well with me. Maybe if the park income was double what it is now. 

______\___________

Many hours later. 3:30 pm to be precise, they sent a person to texarcana to search for the parts This person found them and is heading back here now. A mechanic coming on duty at 4, I hope to be out of here by 6. 

Enough. I get more worn out doing this stuff than actually working. 

 Thursday - evening - iPhone entry 

I was beating the tires on the trailer with a hammer this morning and one of them reported back with a “I am half flat” thud. I figured I could make it to a truck stop and I figured right. Filled the tire up to 105 pounds and hoped it would hold until I had more time to deal with it. 

A few hours later at the plant in Gurdon. Got out of the truck sitting on the scale and saw …a flat tire. This was a different tire on the trailer, I had checked all of them, it was perfectly fine this morning. It had a large metal spike in it. So the ordeal begins. 

I unloaded the truck, had agreement that I can drive it to the Loves 20 miles away and that is exactly what I did. When I got in there, they told me 4 HOURS before they could get to it. Screw that. 

I drove a few more miles to the TA truck stop where they got right on it. Fixed both tires and then tried to put them back on….

3 of the studs that the lugs screw onto were completely stripped. They tried screwing new lugnuts back onto it anyway, no go. They then discussed among themselves about whether they could put the wheels back on with 3 of 10 lugnuts not tightened and said nope. We cannot put those wheels back on there. 

Further, the Napa is now closed so we can’t get parts today. 

Yup. I’m stuck in Prescott, Arkansas until who knows when tomorrow, for they don’t know if the Napa will have the parts and  if they don’t, they’ll have to go to a trailer shop in Texarkana. It is likely I’ll be stuck here well into tomorrow before it’s repaired. 

I tried to get them to put it back together for the trailer is empty and could easily make the 70 miles to our yard. I understand, tho, they can be held liable for any accidents and so they refused. 

I qualified for a loan at the local John Deere outlet. They quoted me 2 prices and payment plans for 2 tractors, but the loan length was far too long at 84 months and payments higher than I want. It is an interest free loan, yes but I’m not willing to get into eternal payments. Maybe 4 or 5 years but 7? No thank you and I told them as such. I want used at a much lower price, that’s what I want. I don’t need to be getting into 35k worth of tractor. 

So I have texted them back my desires and they can either accommodate for me or not.

My dear mom sent me more money today. Totally out of the blue. It is almost enough for another septic system. 

It’s what I need first before considering expanding the park, I’m going to sit on the money for awhile, however and ponder this situation. I will also have to install another 200 amp electrical setup with meter as well. However, I can set it up myself only paying an electrician to hook the lines up from the power pole. Which also poses the need for the power company to install yet another telephone pole. Now, they will do this and no money up front, but it’s 2 month lead time. 

Just not there, yet, it will cost many thousands of dollars more than just a septic system to install more lots just because I will need the setup for electricity plus buy under ground cable, pipe, pedestals, gravel and whatever else I’m not thinking of. I would actually want to set up electrical first since there is a long lead time for pole installation. 

I may just hold the money and save towards down payment for a loan. 

Anyway, I decided to stay at a  nearby hotel. Pretty spartan but it’s not a dive and better than sitting in that truck for at least 14 hours if not more. I’m guessing they’ll still want me to drive clear to lufkin tomorrow if this thing is fixed in time to make it down there. They’re not going to care that I’ll be wearing same clothes for 2 days and all the rest of my dislikings for having to tolerate junk equipment. 

What I could really kick myself about is not bringing my laptop. I was going to start bringing it because I get so many calls for spots and I really need to see my reservation software to make sure I’m not giving bad info and having more people show up than I have lots available. 

I have nothing with me except a coat, a charging cord and the tablet. This room has, amazingly enough, an excellent satellite lineup including HBO. 

Well, I can only do so much of this in a phone before I get tired of trying to type out the words with one finger so I’ll end this here. 

 Wednesday - mid morning

The late load lasts 2 days. Going to fetch the glue from Lufkin and going to deliver the load in Gurdon. Well, all of the loads last 2 days, that's nothing new, it's just that I have to wait to leave to head up there.

I contacted the other driver a while ago, no reply.  My appointment time is 2 pm, but I'd like to be there around 11:30 am - if - he- is- going - to - be there.  He gets up late, he starts late and he makes multiple stops to use the restroom on the way up there.  That's all well and fine for him, it isn't for me. If he wants to be late, then take late loads for crying out loud.  A bit ridiculous.  

I suspect the reason he isn't replying - which he normally does within a few minutes - is because he has yet another late start which will push my day further and further back.  At this point, any late loads for me will have me asking him if I can just go up there super-early, get it over with and be gone before he even arrives.  I don't want late loads and I don't know why the dispatcher has put us on the same delivery days.  We are usually staggered so we can both have late loads.  I would be 35 minutes out from the plant right now if I were the early delivery...

I just applied for and was approved for a tractor loan with John Deere.  This does not mean I am getting a tractor.  It means I have been approved for financing for a tractor.  I am not taking the first thing they come up with, in fact, I want something used that is cheaper and lower payments.  I don't need brand new and I don't really want brand new.  It's probably like buying a new car, it loses thousands of dollars worth of "value" the instant you pull it off the dealer lot.  

I was looking around all over the place for financing, but it was mostly AG companies and they wanted me to be in the farming business. I altered the input to note that I want a "compact tractor", is what they call them now that I did enough looking around, that changed the google results.  There is a local John Deere dealership, it's a pretty big place with all kinds of different sized tractors out there. I don't know if they have used, I will be finding out.  

He finally contacted me back: 10:30 ish.  See?  He wants me to get there early on his late days so he can get done earlier but he won't accommodate for me. He should be arriving there at the latest 9:30 am, 9 even better. Instead, he isn't even arriving at the appointment time.  IF he wanted to do unto me as he would have do unto himself, as the Bible says it.  I find it odd in life that people demand things out of you that they are unwilling to enact, perform, engage in themselves.  This is what I call the actual definition of real life "privilege". It's not the color of your skin, it's your view and outlook on things.  

He's a real nice guy, don't get me wrong, but this hypocrisy is a bit much to swallow.  

Anyway, I'm going to get busy with getting out of here in about 10 minutes, leave the house by 9, leave the yard no later than 9:30 and be up there no later than 11:40 am.  I don't know what else to do for I don't know how long it's going to take him to unload. It depends on the temperature of the glue. It could be 45 minutes, it could be 3 hours depending on that variable alone.  

I have the park mostly filled up.  There is a 4 nighter staying in the overnight spot I keep open.  There are back over nighters coming on and off for the next 2-1/2 weeks.  It basically equates to a full month's lot rent for the intended lot.  I have a 3 weeker coming in for the open back in spot on Sunday.  The back in lot is available tonight butis taken for 5 days with various people after that.  People are traveling now, it's time to head north out of winter.  Yes, you heard that right, people love it up north during the summer time where the day time temps are much better than pretty much anywhere in the south.  

They'll plan their trips home -- or if full timers they'll plan their trips to whatever RV park they are intending to stay at - and reserve spots accordingly along the way. Many of them will not travel over 300 miles a day and a lot of those wont' even go that far. They are no hurry, which if you're retired, why be in a hurry anyway?  

Back to the tractor, the payments are going to have to be low which means they will have to give longer terms, like 5 years or something.  I will be out of the shed payments in 7 months, I think it is, it's either 7 or 6. The hard part is summer, when people are turning on AC units and leaving them on all day long at the coldest setting. That is what I surmise they are doing, anyway, simply by walking by their units and hearing the compressors going constantly.  It's "free" electricity. 

If this job pans out for pay, that will change eventually. I will install meters and I will target the people using excessive amounts of electricity. They will either pay for the excess or they can leave. I would rather have the lot empty than only making, say $50 off the lot per month. What good is that? I'm not here to do people favors.  People that conserve electricity won't even be approached, it's the hoarders, the people that don't give a damn, those are the ones that need to pay.  

Well, I guess I better get started on leaving. It's kind of a process where I double check I have everything, make a lunch, get some ice water and fill a thermos with coffee.

G'day

 It is interesting how my park's name is starting to get a - good - reputation and people are starting to call from all over wanting a space.  I have turned away a lot of people lately and unfortunately.  The stinger was telling that lady I couldn't take her 3 employees who would have taken up 3 lots for an extended period of time because I just don't have the space.  

What really gets to me is I tell people this and then bam, 3 people will up and leave unexpectedly and without notice.  Or, they tell you the day they are leaving, "btw, we are leaving today, I am being reassigned" or other such things.  

The farmers? I have no idea whether they will stay or go. They paid for a month and that was that.  They are there but whether they are going to stay longer? The family I also don't know about. They keep saying they are buying property - but they keep getting hung up on paperwork or whatever the title company is griping about.  

So, I can't tell people yes this lot is leaving so you can come without actually having that lot cleared out.  I can base short term on that, people staying 3 nights will need to leave the next morning for yes, there is someone coming in.  Not too many have tried to extend their stay in those circumstances, some have tried and I have been able to accommodate them. But, if someone else already made a reservation 2 months in advance, they are going to want their space they already paid for and I will tell the current short term that yes, you are going to need to leave today, so sorry, so sad, too late, too bad.  

No, I don't really talk to customers like that lmao.  

BTW, referring to the min-ex in the last post, those things have blades on them.  The worst of the driveway could be bladed and worked until the ridges and holes are gone.  I really could get my use out of a day's worth of a mini ex.  But, I won't even think about doing that until I get my next paycheck and see if what I am thinking it's going to be actually plays out.  My manager hasn't said the request he put in to have my pay increased was rejected, he had to ask a senior management person for approval.  But, it's my manager's pool of money he has to work with, so approval shouldn't be terribly difficult and I'd like to hope by now we have that squared away. 

What I am saying here is that I am not putting the mini ex on credit to pay for it. I hate credit at this point, I have over-used it and I am really trying hard not to use any credit at all for anything.  I was considering it for the property tax but that has worked out, albeit I haven't gone in to pay the second bill.  That's because I was super busy today and just didn't have time for it.  Hopefully I will be able to tomorrow.  Whatever the case, I just need it done by the end of this week.  

Meh. I was going to go to bed and I got tricked in my mind into writing another post.  But yea, it's time to get offa here.  

 Monday - evening

Another almost 3 hour offload.  Temp of product was at 50 degrees. Anything under 60 is going to take a long, long time to get out of the tanker.  The other driver was talking to the people at the production plant, they are going to try to see if they can start keeping the temp around 65 degrees.  This would be fantastic. At 65 degrees, I can unload that thing in less than an hour, maybe even 45 minutes.  

I dunno, but I just ended up going to sleep for quite a while after I was sure the pressure was good.  

I was in a fog this morning when I woke up and I could have slept for several more hours.  It's this habit I got into during the year off where as if I didn't sleep well that night, ie: awake for hours in the middle of the night, I would just sleep in until I was rested.  I tend to sleep much better in the mornings than at night, amazingly enough.  

So, being forced up at 5:30 am every day regardless? Well, you'd think after enough sleepless night your body would force you to sleep well at least once in a while. Yes, true but too many nights where I'm awake for 2 hours and nothing I can do about it.  

Anyway, I have the late load tomorrow morning and this time? I'm glad.  I won't have to get out of bed until 8:00 am, leave the house by 8:30, leave the yard by 8:50.  Hmm, that isn't early enough, strike that. 

8:00.  Leave the yard by 8.  Umm, no.  Let me think here, lol.  Yes, I think if I leave by 8 that should work out okay.  Or if I am sleepy just sleep in. I'm just trying to to end up getting home too terribly late.  The appointment time isn't until noon, but the other driver said he'd be at the plant loading by around 9:00 am.  I am working off of that.  Give that an hour load time, if I leave here by 8, I'm in nacogodches by 9:30, half an hour at the washout, 35 minutes over to the plant and I'm at the plant by around 10:40 am-ish.  

That's good enough. If I'm out of there by the latest noon I'm home before 2 pm.  So, if I were home by 3 that wouldn't hurt my feelings either.  It's the idea of getting up later and perhaps getting better sleep that is appealing after all of these days in a row getting up at 5:30 am.  

The dispatcher asked me today via text message: Hey Ben, are you working this weekend?  I thought, are you kidding? I'll have been working 14 days in a row and you want me to just continue on with working?  I flatly but nicely said no thanks, I will have been working 2 straight weeks, have missed church twice, I need a couple days  of down time.  Oh forget it, I was just reminded that this weekend you should have off. Yes, the manager knows what I want in terms of time off. At least every other weekend.  The other driver won't be working either, I guess their local drivers or OTR drivers will be taking care of it. 

I'm not sure I plan on doing anything this coming weekend. I just want the time off.  She loaded my table up with 3 more loads for next weekend beyond the 2 loads that were already in there for this week.  4 more days and I get a couple of days off.  

I just got a call from someone needing to stay for 3 weeks.  I offered him the monthly deal and he took it. Weekly rate he would have paid $50 more for 3 weeks over the monthly rate for 4.  The nature of the business, people coming and going and trying to stay on top of it and keep the lots filled up.  I've got the pull through lot loaded up for 11 days out of the next 23 days, I'd like to get some more in there, tho just 4 more days and it takes care of an entire month of lot rent for a month.  

Well, I'm beat.  I did see in the news today that an appeals court lowered Trump's bond money to 175m.  That's also ridiculous but not near as unbelievable as $450m.  They say he defrauded businesses by overvaluing his properties.  I listened to the real estate experts - lots of them - explaining the erroneous factors the judge used to come to his conclusions and the judge heard this stuff in his court room.  This judge cannot seriously be doing what he thinks is the "right thing" here.  I just think he's another Trump hater and using the bench to exact pain from a political opponent.  Yes, I do think these people are pawns for the Democrat party.  Especially this Leticia whatever her name is person.  

They must be terribly afraid that Trump is going to win the next election, they absurd declarations and accusations about another Trump presidency coming from them are surreal.  It's like living on a different planet, where do these people come up with this stuff?  

April 8th draws near. We will have a partial eclipse here, I am informed, to see the full eclipse we would have to drive about 60 miles down the road. No thank you.  Partial is fine, I am more interested in the 2 tailed comet that will be flying by.  No, it's not 2 tailed, apparently 2 horned. Well whatever, that would interest me far more than an eclipse.

The coach. Well, the glue traps are catching massive amounts of.....cockroaches.  So not only were they living with rats in their filth, they also invited in a cockroach infestation.  I'll be bombing the thing yet again soon.  I keep forgetting to do it for it's just not a priority right now. It's going to need work and money dumped into it.  In fact, I'm considering ripping the kitchen counter out with the sink and installing a regular house version that would look much nicer than the thing in there plus give me access to clean out the infestation underneath it and generally have a nicer unit.   

That wouldn't cost that much money, I see those things listed all the time on the cheap.  Same with the shower, would like to tear that out and put in a nicer thing, that one is old and ugly.  Basically, redo some of it, not all of it and have a nice unit I could rent out.  I might just save up the money and pay James to do it for me.  He does good work.  He gives attention to detail and doesn't try to bypass necessary steps to make sure the finished product is not only going to look good but is also going to work correctly.  He'll do stuff like that for pay and I don't mind paying him if I have the money to do so.  The thing has a brand new ac unit on it, I'm kinda stuck with it now.  

Well, besides just taking that ac off of there and getting rid of the thing, but who is going to want a rat infested, cockroach filled thing? Well, if I can get all of that out of there, no one need know.  Just clean it all up and start over.  New carpet, a good used sofa couch, maybe re-do the kitchen and bathroom, nothing terribly major.  

It's going to be a project and since funds are tight, that isn't a project I am going to start right now, hence no hurry.  Well, I want that bug infestation and rats out of there now, not later. Rats can chew up wiring, tear things apart, they are very destructive little ugly creatures.  Throw out the mattress she undoubtedly destroyed, I'm not going to bother keeping things that people that live like that were using.  It's probably disgusting, I wouldn't sleep on it and I don't want to think about having others  sleep on it either.  

Look, if my next paycheck is as good as it should be per the mananger's statement about my pay-per-load, I will no long have financial issues. Well, maybe at first I will trying to get caught up but after that I will be good to go.  Money will be saved to invest in this business.  I do not have stocks or 401k anymore, I got out of that to pay for the RV park.  

Oh, the tractor.  Haven't gotten into that yet.  Just depends on monthly payments, really. Need, yes, getting one? No idea yet.  I did qualify for a small, $6,000 business loan but the payback is a grand a month.  Yup, they take $250 or something near that every week for 6 months.  That's a really short payback scenario and I don't know if I can do that.  But, I could get a used tractor and hopefully some attachments with that kind of loan and the good news is the payments don't go on forever.  

Who knows, but the driveway is quickly getting back into horrid condition yet again, it's been raining all over again and no, I didn't put a drain pipe across the driveway. I haven't had time for it and frankly, it's likely going to take a mini-ex to do it. Mini-ex rental is ..... near $500 per day : )

Now, I could do the driveway crossovers and I could dig the trench from lot 1 to the shed with it, thereby getting some use out of it other than just a 25 foot wide crossover.  In fact, I could do a couple of places on the driveway with drainage and get it draining from where the trench on the side of the driveway ends and where it really needs a good sized pipe to drain into a culvert, through the pipe and over to the other side.  The only good thing about a rental like that, is, it would be a lot cheaper for me to do it that way than to pay someone to do it for me. Trust me, that would probably cost a couple of grand at least to pay a contractor to come in and do it for me.  

Let me just say here that I will be needing to do that trench from lot 1 to the shed pretty soon.  By the end of April anyway, before the heat starts hitting. That or do away with "alternate sites".  Nope.  They make me money, I have a long term back there now and he says he's going to be there awhile and no, he doesn't want a regular lot now that he's back there.  I know because I offered it to him.  This is all in reference to the lack of sufficient power getting pumped back there from current setup to provide for both the shed and 2 trailers. I would put the 2 trailers on it's on panel and take it off of the shed power.  

This would eliminate the problem back there when ac units are pumping away all day long in the summer heat.  I already have everything...but...the....trench.  It's about 175 feet of digging, I can tell ya that isn't happening with a shovel.  Not me, no way and no thank you.  I can use a ditch witch, but if I need a mini-ex for the driveway? I'll just get it all prepped and get it all done in one day with the mini instead of a trenching machine.  There are other things I could do with the mini ex as well if I had time left over after doing all of that - tho I doubt there will be time.  I'm pretty good at digging trenches with those things.  I could probably dig out all of what I need in a couple of hours.  But, you have to lay the pipe and back fill it and lay the electrical line and backfill all of that so you add more hours to the process.

Well, I'm done here.  I'm going to go to be around 10:00 pm and set the alarm for 7:30 am  instead of 5:30 am : )

G'nite.  

 Sunday - early

AS the continued work load continues on, I find myself getting into the "I don't want to go to work" rut.  A person needs time off here and there.  14 straight days of working, which is what this will be if it goes all the way through Friday, is too much. Not that I don't need the money, but I'm at an age where I just don't have it in me.  Especially the getting up early part, I got quite used to sleeping in on nights when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.

I did that for a year and I was well enough rested.  Now? there are time I feel like a walking zombie.  Besides taking sleeping pills, what does one do to get their sleep back? This started a long time ago after the first divorce and the church split.  I went through depression, sleeplessness and then finally got some sleep back and over time, it improved but never actually returned to normal, where you sleep 7 or 8 straight hours without waking up.  

I just don't want to take sleeping pills, I don't feel like drugs are always the answer to all of life's problems.  I'm not against medicinal drugs, don't get me wrong, but taking something for every last thing I don't think is helpful.  

Anyway, my doggy bags on the second order came in. The other box of "bags" is going to be sent back to them and they are refunding my money.  Or if they don't refund my money, I will dispute it with Ebay and they will take care of it.  I don't know how those people thought a person isn't going to notice that you ordered and paid for 10 boxes of bags and you only receive 1.  

The family decided to take it upon themselves to mow 3 lawns plus the doggy park and edging.  I didn't ask them to do that, the rain has caused grass to grow at a crazy rate.  I still don't see any of the seed I put down coming up, but then again, it may be that those smaller blades of grass are actually Bermuda grass that sprang up quickly.  

The AC on the truck is still screwed and they finally admitted that it will have to be brought in and half the panels on dashboard area will have to be taken off to get at the evaporator to find out what's going on.  I can tell ya what's going on.  Either the coils are full of dirt and just need cleaned out or there is something clogging the system up and again, needs cleaned out. There's plenty of freon in the system, that isn't the cause of this problem.  

So, I have to "look forward" to taking that thing up there and switching out trucks. You don't do all of that work in a few hours, that's at least a day right there and if they have to order parts, that may drag it on for several days.  The plus side to that is when I do it, I'm going to ask for another trailer as well.

The one I now have takes hours to unload.  One of the problems is it isn't rated to pressure up more than 30 pounds. You go over that and the pop off valve lifts and just lets the air right back out.  I'm used to previous trailers and pumping them up to 36, 37 pounds which makes a huge difference.  The other problem isn't trailer related, the product is cold and it gets thick and just doesn't move that fast.  Regardless, I was up there 3-1/2 hours offloading that truck yesterday.  That's just too long.  A long offload is 2 hours, anything over that is ridiculous.  

Tomorrow, Monday, I will be going up there and paying this ridiculous property tax.  Just kiss that money goodbye I guess.  

I'm watching this Trump drama with this bigoted DA or whatever her title is.  He has until tomorrow to secure a $454m bond. He has stated he has come up with the money.  Is this whole situation that has occurred with Judge Ergeron making his decision before the trial even started just?  Is this how we want to see citizens being treated?  When you look at the case and you see the banks that did business with Trump saying they are happy and would lend again and real estate experts saying Ergeron greatly unvalued his properties using flawed basis for coming up with that decision, do you think that this decision for almost half a billion dollars was a good one? 

I know Trump haters will say yesss!  Be careful what you wish for.  

Meanwhile, the IRS sent me a large package yesterday.  I was really not liking to see that, I wondered what was in it while I was opening it up.  Am I being audited?  See, I woke up at 3:30 am today and that stuff came into my head and that's why I couldn't go back to sleep and finally just got up out of bed super early and sitting here drinking coffee and pondering things.  

But, it wasn't anything terrible.  It is a packet of papers with envelopes to send in quarterly payments for this year - 2024 - with estimated taxes.  I was thinking about the fact that last year? I did take some money out of the business account, no doubt, but it was somewhere around 12k.  That and trucking income was it.  I actually will probably be in poverty rate with the income I had.  It was surviving off of loans that kept me going.  My tax burden will not be very high.  I don't know what taxation is on "poverty" rate, probably not much.  

Now, if this raise is what I think it will be in terms of paychecks, I won't be taking any money out of the business account or certainly very little and I won't be paying any income taxes on it. That's the goal anyway.  We'll see next paycheck, this is when the promised pay increase will start showing on my checks, at least according to the manager. That will be April 7th.  

Since Intuit has all of my business info, I am going to use Turbo Tax to do my taxes for 2023.  I haven't quite gotten that far with it yet....

Oh well.  Let's get Sunday work over with.  It's no use leaving early, I can't get there before 8:00 am, if I do, I just wait for they won't show up until 8. And on Sunday, you have to call them and they will tell you, yes, we'll come - at 8, lol.  

G'day

 Friday - night

I wish I could tell everyone that calls that I have a spot for them. Especially the lady that called today asking if I have 3 spots available for long term? Business looking for space for employees.  I wish I could have told her yes, for those are the types of people you really want for long term. They stay a long time and no issues. 

No, I can't take 3 right now. 2?  Well, I might be able to in a week.  Ok, well they aren't coming until the 28th.  I can get back to you in a few hours? I was driving, no access to a computer. Sure!  Well, 30 minutes later I get a text: we found a spot.  The RV industry. Get them in when they call or lose them. I couldn't take them in I knew that. You know, people come and go, maybe some are leaving in the next week? I couldn't tell ya.  Maybe on lot is, for they were only staying 2 weeks. But as it happens often, people say they are leaving and then end up staying much longer.

The park is full.  But it's not going to stay that way.  I've also had to turn away lots of overnighters.  If I'm full, I'm full.  One asked, well do you have anything that has 30 amp hookup? I did but it's that motorcoach and I don't know what she did with the keys to it.  I could move it out of the way and have a spot there.  Anyway, I didn't tell them that, they asked if I had any recommendations so I gave them the name of a competitor across town.  

I've come to the determination that I absolutely need a tractor with several different attachments.  It's just a necessity with land.  It's that or endlessly rent one at near $400 per pop.  I don't know about getting into payments right now, but the driveway is messed up again with all this fresh rain.  I wouldn't rent their tractor again, their box doesn't have teeth and I won't waste my time and money with another stint without those teeth on there to tear up the soil.  I don't know what I'm going to do about this need, if anything, but it's been raised up to a "top priority" situation.  

Work again tomorrow.  This is going to continue on for another week, when i will - tell them - I am taking 2 days off for that weekend.  I'll have missed 2 weeks straight of church, the kids going on 4 weeks.  And time off.  I don't mind this job that much, it's light on hours at anywhere from 6-1/2 to 8-1/2 on a typical day, but it's still work and I get up at 5:30 am for it.  

This paycheck was absolutely pathetic.  I mean, so small it was a kick in the teeth type of thing.  The work I am doing now is allegedly going on the new pay scale.  We'll see.  I've been patient waiting on this, but my patience is wearing thin. I have a couple leads on new jobs.  I wasn't really looking, they just come through either social media, text message or my inbox.  One of them claims a local job and yes, I am researching that one.  

Well it's getting late. I am tired and I want to go to bed early. Gurdon in the am, hopefully a uneventful day, meaning nothing weird, wild and highly time consuming occurs. 

 Thursday - mid afternoon

Pretty typical day going to Gurdon and back. Product was a bit warmer so it came out faster, I was done about 35 minutes earlier than what it has taken for the last 3 loads up there.  

The only thing of note was when the other driver contacted me.  The company hired a new driver and my driver trainer - who is the "other" driver - said he's an early bird the other day.  When I hear that, I think: this dude is going to play games trying to get there earlier than the first load  - when he's been given the second load.  My guess was correct.

He already delivered before the trainer the other day, but since it didn't affect him, he didn't say anything about it. However, today?  The driver trainer pulls into the trailer washout facility and lo and behold, there is this new driver in the office, getting his paperwork so he can go get the trailer washed out.  The driver trainer just drove straight to the washout area and bypassed the office. You don't have to do the paperwork first, lmao. 

This new driver became infuriated.  He immediately called the manager to complain about what the driver trainer had done.  He apparently was raising his voice with the manager over the phone, so the manager just said "we can talk later when you cool down a bit".  Then, the driver trainer called the manager to inform him of what happened, the manager said yup, he already called. The early load goes to the senior drivers. Lol, I've bee there since September and I'm already a "senior driver".  That's because people don't stay at this company for very long and if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you will understand why people quit and I don't feel like going into all of that right now.

In fact, the last guy that was pulling this stunt frequently, cutting in front of other drivers on appointment times, he also quit.  I'm not shocked at all if/when people quit.  

I thought it was hilarious the newbie was getting all kinds of angry because of circumstances created by his own selfishness.  I'm guessing he won't last long, either.  I don't know how the company keeps up with the schedule from the plant with people coming and going like that. 

The lady texted me yet again - 3 piles of poop she said she found at the doggy park today.  It makes me just want to shut the damn thing down, take down the fencing and be done with it. It's really annoying that people just don't give a damn and let their dogs s*** all over the place and they can't be bothered to clean it up.  Unbelievable. 

The new people that moved in yesterday didn't stay in the trailer last night. I know this because there were no vehicles parked in front of the thing either early this morning or this afternoon when I got home. Was trying to collect rent.  I'm not worried about it tho,

________

Night time. It's been raining on and off since I got home.  The new people called back. You can tell they are well up there in age.  Nice sounding, hopefully that pans out.  The man is ex-military, Marines.  

Anyway, it's time to relax, take in some show - I think I'm going to start watching Shogun, it looks interesting and the Japanese are of a great curiosity to me (not in a bad way) - just really interesting culture.  

G'nite. 

 Wednesday - night

Mostly won't write entries in the morning if I'm off to work on any given day, there's just too much to do and usually don't have enough time to write anything.  I'm not saying that is going to be a strict rule I'm putting myself to. 

It's 8:24 pm and we just got home maybe 15 minutes ago.  Baseball for the youngest alternating with soccer with the older child, that's 3 days a week right there plus a guitar practice plus games on the weekends.  This is what they are just now plunging themselves into.  An hour long practice went over 1-1/2 hours.  Too long for those kids, they lose interest quickly.  

I'd like to give the coach some advice, but that probably wouldn't go over too well so I'll keep it zipped.  He should be doing stations and keep all the kids active continuously instead of having a batter at the plate with a bunch of kids in the field standing around picking their noses doing nothing and getting bored.  I spent a lot of time perfecting that craft, keeping kids involved and focused.  You have 3 or 4 stations depending on how many coaches you have - or just parents willing to volunteer - and you move them around.  An intense hour of that non-stop and they are good to go.  

I spent 10 years doing that and much of it I still remember, what I've forgotten I would quickly get back.  

As for today, it started early as most of them do.  I have 1 run I'm currently on and 4 more in the tablet.  There is only one run that starts late, I don't remember which day, not really interested in late starts but since all the rest of them are early, I won't complain too much.  

I ordered off of Ebay a 10 box set of dog poop bags for the doggy park.  The ad says 10 boxes, the boxes are 200 count, it should have said 2,000 bags.  Instead, it says 6,000.  Honest error there, no biggies. However, they shipped me one single box of 200. I paid $47, I want all of it.  However,  Ebay didn't have a return tab available yet since they just arrived, I started a return. They can have their single box back, I want my money back.  

We'll see how that goes, meanwhile I can't keep waiting, the doggy park ran out of bags yesterday.  So, Chewy it was.  Better price than anything on Ebay anyway, excepting this set of bags.

I finally got to the front yard today. It was just too much.  You know, pushing a lawn mower is good exercise.  

I'm tired, therefore not terribly chatty right now.  A person called today saying that they were at the park, can we move in?  I was driving, I didn't have my laptop with me and I had no idea if I could accept a full timer in today or not.  Long conversation - they wanted to chat, I didn't feel like it but I obliged.  A few hours later, they are at the park again, they want in! Lol, I told her I was at Kroger's, I'd be at my computer in 20 minutes.

Well, they are still sitting at the park.  Haven't seen anyone so determined to move in like that before.  I got home, checked, saw that I could get them in, I have a 2 week stay leaving before I'll need a second lot available and I really hate turning long term away, I try to "figure it out" if it's at all possible.  I call her back, she says great, where do we pay? I'll get the money later, I'm busy atm, you can just go ahead and move in. 

It wasn't 15 minutes? later and there was a travel trailer being pulled in and they were backing it into lot 9.  

Yesterday.  Up to Gurdon, 2 hours to unload - it's this trailer, I can't do anything about it, it's going to take at least an hour and 45 minutes every time and there's nothing I can do about it.  Hope I get into a different trailer sooner or later. 

Down to El Dorado.  The lead mechanic is like, well we'll take a look and see how long it's going to take.  Oh? The manager said he just wanted me to switch trucks.  But, if you think you can get it done today....2 of them jumped right on it while basically telling me to go somewhere and come back in an hour.  They have a driver's lounge, I went in there, no one else around thankfully, and took a nap.  

They did a lot more than what I had asked for.  The oil leak was from a plug that had come out of the side of the fuel pump. The plug was wedged on top of something up against the engine block, the mechanic found it and just put it back in.  He said if he hadn't been able to find it, they wouldn't have been able to fix that yesterday.  Anyway, oil change, oil leak, AC, giant pin that hold the front end assembly together, light, hood cable, annual inspection, new windshield wiper blades and more and they were done.  

2 of them had jumped all over it and got it done pretty quickly considering the amount of work they had done.  I was happy to not have to switch trucks, especially after they told me "yes, that truck can go, but it's pretty bad inside, it hasn't been cleaned out".  The mechanics are cool people, we hit it right off.  Once I came back from my hour respite, we talked for quite a bit longer than that while they were working on the truck.  It was after 6:00 pm when I got back and even tho it was late and I started early, I was happy to get it over with and not have to go up there again, at least not for now.

They also recommended using an ozone generator to get rid of cigarette smoke smell inside of the camper.  We got onto that discussion somehow. They said they use them all the time and the work miracles, especially on cigarette smoke smell.  They were surprised I even knew what it was, I just said well I've been researching the best way to get the smell out and I read about it on an RV group Facebook forum.

Well, it's getting late and I want to head off to bed.  I made lunch for tomorrow, definitely don't want to deal with that at 6:00 am.  

Oh, and Medieval Times is set for next month.  It's a field trip for the school.  I already have the day scheduled off for it.  The 9 year old is going on a school bus, I have to drive over there, the only drawback to it.  But still, it's highly rated and people say it's a lot of fun.  Mom and dad couldn't go, they are both busy and asked if I wanted to? 154 miles, 2 hours and 15 minute drive.  

It's in Dallas.  I don't miss big cities anymore, but they do have offerings you don't find elsewhere.  Like, once in a while, a big city is fine.  Living in them? I doubt I'll ever go back to that unless I am somehow forced to do so.  Of course, if I had started an RV park 35 years ago when I first started thinking about it, in Phoenix metro area, I'd be a very rich man right now.  

I'm seeing more and more RV park construction all over the place.  Sorry, I don't really think there is that big of a demand for it. There IS demand, but not THAT much.  I still marvel at how I ended up with the property I have now that I initially rejected.  

Uhh, yeah, I was going to bed.

G'nite. 

 Monday - afternoon

The oldest was in a very bad mood this morning.  Out of character and amazingly, the roles were reversed. The youngest was as happy as a bug in a rug, of which he normally is difficult to wake up, slow to get out of bed and often times moody. 

So much for a total of 9 days off for them.  

The alarm went off this morning and I was in a very deep sleep.  I could have slept for several more hours.  Took a while to get into the swing of things, but I was good to go by the time I got to the washout.  

The plant, however, a different story.  There was a crane service there that had blocked the loading bay with a bunch of scaffolding stuff and they had parked their vehicles in such a way that made it difficult to back in there while avoiding their trucks and trailer.  It took a while for them to get a forklift out there and and move that scaffolding stuff, why they would put that junk in an active loading bay? No idea.

The loader was in a bad mood, very visibly scowling and not having a good day. I said a quick prayer for him instead of condemning him.  I was sitting there an hour and 10 minutes before he even started loading the truck.  But, I was out of there in about 2 hours, nothing to really complain about, I just go in there with the hope that I might have a quick load and get out.  It was 2:00 by the time I got home, not terribly late.

I texted the dispatcher about the truck needing repaired after I looked at how much work they dumped in there.  12 consecutive days worth of work, I am not going to drive that long without getting the thing fixed.  My manager called 2 minutes later after that text.  We have 25 something or another and you can just get into that truck while they fix yours.

These people have no clue how much trouble it is to switch trucks.  Or the huge inconvenience it is to do so. MOST drivers in the trucking industry despise slip-seating, which is the practice of a trucking company to not have assigned trucks for the drivers and they are constantly moving from one truck to another.  This is a little different, switching temporarily to get my truck fixed, so much for sitting around and waiting for them to do it. 

As much as I hate the sound of that, I hate the sound of switching trucks even more.  So I'm supposed to drive over there after delivery tomorrow, it will add hours to  the trip. It adds another hour and forty-five minutes to the drive time, plus switching stuff out between trucks, plus discussing with the lead mechanic what's wrong with it and please fix it all and fix it correctly this time.  The AC, specifically, was given what amounts to a band-aid last time and called it good.  

But I can't keep driving this truck like this, so I just have to suck-it-up-buttercup and take it over there.  

____________

Many hours later.  I am considering getting up even earlier than normal to get up to Gurdon early enough to get out of there - earlier than normal - and get moving towards El Dorado. I really would like not to have tomorrow drag on literally ALL day long concerning work factor.  

 Sunday - early

20 minutes until departure time.  I don't much care for delivery on Sundays for it takes a while to get security to the scale to open up the scale, print my weight and then I can go offload - and then come back and wait again.  

It has rained so much that when I got back to the park yesterday, I drove through the park instead of down the main driveway, turned around and backed into my spot versus driving to the end of the driveway and potentially getting stuck.  

I've got 2 more runs scheduled after this and then on Friday, if they are available, I need them to fix this truck.  

The latest report on the many ways the government went wrong with their approach to Covid 19 is out and the governments from Feds to local governments basically blasted for their approach.  We all knew this.  No, we didn't all know this.  The government is always right!.. people blasted anyone that spoke a differing opinion, qualified doctors with a different view of it were silenced and we were all silenced on social medial, most notably Facebook, for saying anything different than what Lord Fauci had to say about it. 

It was an unprecedented and outrageous period of time where the spectacle of governments with unfettered "emergency powers" told everyone to stay home, shut down business, wear masks, shut down schools, etc. We were called conspiracy theorists and lunatics at the time for saying something different.  Well here we are, and now they predict that the effect on school children will have impact on society for decades to come. 

Meanwhile, we have an illegal "immigrant",  more properly titled illegal alien, who was the cause of a Sheriff deputy death was let go because "no speaka" and didn't understand what they were trying to tell him to do.  If you went to Guatemala, where this man is from and the police were trying to arrest you and you resisted, do you think you'd be walking a free man out of the jail house after causing an officer's death?

Yeah, I think not. And here comes the conspiracy theories again, at least what leftists say: WHO, exactly is coming across the border that has escaped capture and roaming free on the streets of America?  We already know some crazy Venezuelan gang is running loose in our nation.  But talk of terrorists cell groups isn't exactly conspiracy theories when you start looking at the startling amount of "gotaways", they call them.

Back to reality. The kids came home, the grandparents with them, of course.  The kids wouldn't leave me alone but I knew that would happen. 

Well, time to go. I can hear the rain dripping off the roof onto the window ac unit in my room.  

G'day.  

 Saturday - early

Got up, took a shower and then realized - check the damn tablet.  Did they pull another cancellation on me? The answer is, no, I just looked for I just got out of the bathroom. 

Apparently it's St. Patrick's day, the news just informed me. I rarely turn on the tv in these early morning hours before work, but wanted to see the headlines.  It's just another excuse for people to get rip-roaring drunk on green beer.  No thank you.  

So, I should be going for the next - 6 days? I think is what's in there.  After that, I want to take the truck up there and have them fix everything.  It will be a get-up-early day, get up there early and hope they can get it done quickly.  But I figure several hours at least, so I will take my laptop for entertainment and online work purposes.  

It's supposed to rain again today around 1ish-2ish.  Good for the grass seed? Sure if it isn't already washed out lol. 

I dunno, my head is a bit foggy this morning, I'll move on with this one and do some more later.  

Time to go anyway.

G'day 

 Friday - late morning

It rained half the night last night and we're talking a major downpour.  My pond was at least 5 inches below the top and now it's completely full and obviously was running over the sides of it.  Nice, fresh rainwater for the fish and the dogs! Yes, the dogs drink out of it.  In fact, they like it so much I don't even put a bucket of fresh water out there anymore, they just drink straight from the pond.  

Anyway, I slept in.  Til about 9:00 am. 2 days off that I didn't expect, rainy days are good days to sleep in and just enjoy the luxury of not being forced to do something that you probably didn't want to do anyway. I will be back to trucking tomorrow morning- unless they pull another trick on me.  I just checked the tablet, it's all still the same after they changed it to drop the last load.

With the check from the AG loan company, I can go pay the rest of the property taxes.  I might do that today just to get it over with.  I was expecting to have to pay myself a grand or so out of it, it appears I won't have to do that and I will get another paycheck before I run out of money in the personal account.  Now, that paycheck probably won't be so much, but hopefully it will be enough to hold me over until the new pay scale is put into place and I can start making some decent money and not living paycheck-to-paycheck.  

I guess that's not an absolute, I always have money in the business checking account to pay myself with when it becomes absolutely necessary.

Today? Well, I got the monitor and I hooked it up here, at my desk at the house to make sure it works. It's bigger than the old one so I'm just going to keep the new one here and take the old one over to use for the surveillance system.  I still don't get why I must have a monitor. The system has an app for my phone, which I installed but it wouldn't let me get past a certain point in the setup stage without being able to take a pic of a QR code.  I guess it's a safeguard to keep anyone else from accessing it, just think it's more than needed. I already had to verify the account by confirming the email account was mine.  

Then there's that pole that I just left there to - rot, lol.  I stopped because the people that came in for a couple of weeks need relative quiet to do their work-from-home job and I was going to be making a lot of noise cutting the board and putting in the screws. The workaround is to move the posts to the shed, get the setup completed there and then install the post into the ground.  

Yeah, that means hooking up the trailer to move it over there or carrying those posts all the way to the shed.  

 I'm afraid it rained too hard and too long last night for the grass seed. Meaning flowing water probably carried a lot of it away.  I "wanted" a light rain to get everything wet but no flooding.  Rest assured there was a lot of water flowing through both sides and that isn't good. However, I do expect the seed that ended up in the existing grass to be able to do something other than flow away and seed the area behind the west side trailers.  I guess I'll have bermuda grass out there!  Lol.  

Nope, I'm not going to sit around watering the stuff. It's too much time and work involved. If it grows, it grows, if it doesn't, it doesn't and another summer of mostly barren lots with no grass and a lot of dirt.  Not idea, not even close, I'm just not that motivated to be walking around all day long watering everything.  It's going to rain again later on today and tomorrow forecast even more.  Give it 7 days or so and see if anything comes of it and make a decision then.

I've got a 2 night stay coming in today sometime, I will have 2 lots open tho even with that 2 night stay.  I've run the Facebook boost ad and it only netted a couple of calls from people saying they were interested and even 2 of them showing up at the park, but didn't convert into anyone moving in. Disappointing at best.  I'm undecided as to whether I should run another ad.  Google is actually the best resource for new customers, but running ads through them is expensive.  I can say throwing away $20 for a Facebook ad, I can't see throwing away $100 or more on Google and potentially getting nothing out of it.

It may just be a dry season for people moving into the area.  It may be that I'm being undercut by someone, somewhere, potentially that new park.  I haven't check other's rates in about a month so i guess it's about time to go through all of that and see who is doing what.  I will not lower my rates any lower than they already are, I don't care if I don't get anyone new at all.  It's not worth being in business to just barely be scrape by.  People will have those AC's cranking  - they already are actually but the temps aren't that high - and summer is coming.  I'll face up to $2,500 per month electric bills. I'd rather have less people in the park than more who aren't paying enough to make a decent profit.  It's just my thinking for right now.  I know I'm one of the cheapest in the area.  

I'll probably keep it there for a while, brand recognition is what I am shooting for. In other words, I need to be around for a couple of years or even longer to get that recognition.  Word of mouth helps and I am getting a much larger share of the overnighters than I was getting last year.  It just takes time and now - hopefully - that I am set to get more money for the trucking job - I can deal with that.  

My goal at this point is to save up 20 grand in the business account for a down payment on a loan. Or more, maybe, depending on how much of a loan I want to get.  The other option I have discussed endlessly: just start building out as the money is saved up for each phase of the expansion.  I have no idea about that right now, I'm just trying to get this ship on the right financial track.  

And it's raining again.  The forecast? Showed no rain until much later on today, lol.  Now it's showing a medium to heavy rainfall going on until around 1.

So, that gives me the excuse to not deal with that pole today. I really don't want to do that right now and I certainly won't do it out in the rain.

As for right now? I guess I'll start working on bookkeeping. 

 Wait, one more thing today! 

I gave that giant dog a bath!  

It is 80 degrees outside, that dog smells HORRIBLE.  It was FAR past due time, I just haven't done it because it's been too cold.  NOT TODAY!! 

It is actually the first bath I've ever given him.

I give him an A+ for his participation.

Instead of fighting me about it, he just stood there the entire time while I soaked him nicely with water all over and then scrubbed him down with shampoo.  Washed it all off and the let him run free as the driven wind to shake it all off. 

Of course, the animal immediately started rolling in the grass, which I made him stop doing.  

He will be getting bathed once a week now that better weather, or at warmer weather I should say, is finally here.  We have thunder storms coming tonight so I dunno if that's "better" by any standard. 

 I'm being entirely too wordy today, but I just had to mention this.  I was trying to put the surveillance system together, right? And I needed a monitor for the system. So I found one on Marketplace and the guy is bringing it over and selling me the cord as well (those are never included unless you're buying brand new then they have one in the box) for $5 which is cheap. 

Okay, so I have to go to the bank to get cash out. I pulled out the mail from the mailbox on the way to my vehicle and lo and behold:  A letter from the AG lender for my property.  It's a non-profit, once a year they send out checks to everyone for whatever is "left over"  after all expenses are paid. It was $614!  This couldn't have come at a better time!  

I took that check up there, deposited it, got out the cash and now I'm sitting pretty enough with enough cash in the personal account to last until my next paycheck. I won't need to take any money out of the business account this month for personal paycheck! yayyy!  That turns this property tax nonsense into a completely doable situation. I'm still going to wait until my next paycheck anyway, just to ensure I have money laying around in case "something" happens, but I'm not sweating this now.  The entire bill will be paid by the end of the month and that will be that. Over with until the beginning of next year....

IF I can save $300 per month out of business account for this junk, I won't be caught red handed the beginning of next year.  I KNEW this was going to happen this time around, there was not a lot I could do about it - well I could have started working a job sooner I guess.  What's done is done, let's move on.  In fact, I knew I was going to be screwed for money quite a while before I actually ran out.  I mentioned in this blog that I expected to run out of money in September of last year and that's why I went looking for a job.  It's exactly what happened. That first paycheck I got was quite healthy for it included a 2,500 mile drive and weeks worth of work. 

It came at the exact time I absolutely needed it.  Just like this check today, I knew it was coming sooner or later, they do this every year.  I just didn't know when. Today was THE day I needed that check, even tho I wasn't exactly expecting that blessing to be sitting in our mailbox, it was indeed there, and I think it's a good time to thank the Good Lord for taking care of my needs.  Thank you Jesus!  Amen and amen.  

I'm just sitting here waiting on this guy to show up, I need to run over to the park and collect some money from overnighters.  These seniors - like much older than me in their late 70's and 80's - like to pay for everything in cash.  The generation they grew up with, I have no problem with that except it makes me have to drive over there after I was already there today.  I guess I could finish setting up the surveillance system if/when this dude shows up. 

What else...well, we've been enjoying a quiet house since Sunday.  It will continue on until sometime Saturday, but probably mid to late afternoon.  Unless they change it yet again, I will be going down to Lufkin to load on Saturday. So, tomorrow is off.  The dude just texted me he's on his way over, I think I will just finish up that project tomorrow instead of today.  Don't really feel like it at this point.  I don't hate going to the park, per se, at the same time I'm not a fan of multiple trips per day.  Sometimes it's necessary, if I don't go get that money from these overnighters, their stay will be free.  I saw the rig they drove in with their new 4 door pickup and a very nice bumper pull trailer, they have money lol.  

Ok enough for now.  I'm just a little bit excited about this pay raise.  Things will start to get much better in the financial department.