Monday - afternoon

Ridiculous nonsense, getting very tired of it.  I'm referring to other drivers encroaching on loading/unloading times.  3rd day in a row, 2 different drivers. This dude today showed up at my appointment time.  I was there earlier than that, but there is no way he should have been there at that time. I dunno, I guess I can just do whatever I want, that's what these people do.  I figure the next time I get a late load and I find out that the driver trainer isn't the first load, I'm just going to show up early regardless.  These people can do it, so can I.  I'll force this issue one way or another.  

The SBA loan center specialist did, indeed, reply to my email. He's still doing it, said he needed to know how many sites I have and how many I want to install.  I sent him all the info he asked for and then he said he'd get started on it.  That is, of course, going to mean I will end up having to do a lot of work.  If I can get a big enough loan to cover everything I want to do, I'll go through the hellish nightmare it is to go through the entire process.  I've never done and SBA loan attempt, it appears to be far more information they want than anything I've gone through previously.

I did, indeed, go for the walk today.  According to "experts", you should walk a minimum of 150 minutes per week.  This is something I can work up to.  I walked 3 days last week and now starting over.  This isn't casual walking, it's a very brisk pace that I keep up for the entire walk.  I'm looking for my energy back, if it's available to get.  Trucking doesn't do much exercise, excepting at the delivery plant I'm walking all ove the place.  The RV park does offer some exercise when mowing,, but I haven't been doing that lately.  

Canceled Cox internet at the house.  I knew they would try to keep me, I just told them their prices are completely outrageous, you heaped on me the last few years, I finally found an alternative and good bye.  The do the retention junk, but I cut her off. I do NOT want your services at all, just turn it off, please and thank you.  But, we see that you are paying $227 per month...she just wasn't getting it, but then again, that's her job, keep trying to make offers.  I didn't want to hear their offers.  I don't want to negotiate, please shut off the service. She eventually did and that was the end of that and an exorbitant monthly fee.  

I'm still thinking of getting rid of satellite at this place, or, maybe just drop a bunch of programming so I can keep the few channels that I do watch.  I've dumped $550 worth of payments in the last month and looking for anything else I can drop.  Satellite is fair game, but I will look to see what their cheapest tier costs and if it has the channels I want.  I'm also going to see if I can find cheaper car insurance - but not until after I get back from the trip. I'll have 2 vehicles to insure.  

The boat.  Well, apparently they got motivated after the discussion with the other guest.  They being the "park host" kids, of which at this point I don't consider that I have a park host.  They don't do anything besides mowing grass occasionally.  Allen's adult kids are lazy, unmotivated and stay in bed until at least 10:00 am every day.  Allen's wife hasn't been around - she left again and is gone, she's the one that actually gets stuff done.  Allen never came back like he said he would and I am just going to tell him there is no longer a park host, thanks for what y'all did, please take the sign down, you are welcome to stay but you'll have to pay lot rent.  

Anyway, the top was off of the motor again this afternoon - it was on it this morning.  I don't really care if they don't want to do the work on it, if not, just say so. I'm not going to get upset about it, I"ll just find someone else.  Which I already did anyway.  

Back to SBA loan, I want 30 more spaces, a pool, hot tub and a covered canopy area for get togethers.  Nothing fancy, just need it.  On a separate venture that will have nothing to do with the RV park, I am going to start doing research on opening up a miniature golf park.  I have plenty of room at the front of the property to build one out.  This is not a high dollar type of operation but it can make decent money.  I'd actually like to do goofy golf, where you have weird contraptions set up that look like giant clown heads, light towers, whatever and attract families.  Our town has much of nothing to do in it and the only gaming venue is leaving town. 

He did not have the right idea and I am sure his demise in the town was the way he structured his building and lack of any appealing things in the building. It was drab and tho it did appeal to a certain sector of gamers, it certainly did not have an appeal to families on budgets that want something to do with their kids that doesn't cost a fortune.  I want to search out the costs of building one out and then start looking into financing for it.  Basically the whole front of the property beyond the RV park could be devoted to it with 9 holes, parking, a small building selling tickets and snacks.  At the right entry prices, I am positive I could get enough people coming in there to make it profitable and worthwhile and I am just outside of city limits.  I have had all kinds of thoughts on things I could do that wouldn't cost a lot, the easiest would be truck parking but I have yet to find any property for lease that is right near an Interstate exit.  

I do not want to buy property for truck parking and I do not want a long term lease.  It's 'let's try this at a reasonable price versus everywhere else charging up to $25 for a truck to park overnight and see what happens' type of thing.  Parking only, nothing else but maybe port a jons on the lot and dumpsters for endless trash.  Recruit some food trucks to go in  there whenever they want to, there are a lot of those around here.  

Walking is apparently already having a positive effect. I don't feel as sluggish as I have been, my sleep still isn't good but allegedly walking can help with that as well.  We'll see, I am doing it for the core purpose of lowering my cholesterol and I am sure that is a long term project, so whatever other benefits I get from it, great!  I will be wanting to get cholesterol checked again in 6 months.  I've been eating much better than anything I've been doing up until now.  Being very picky on the foods I eat and learning about low cholesterol foods.  It turns out, my old diet at a younger age was good for cholesterol, ,I only at that way because I was both poor and I didn't want a high fat/salt-sodium diet.  

Oh, btw, I saw a big doe out in the woods today!  I walked up on it, I must have been downwind of it, it didn't see me until I was almost up on it.  It took off like a jet plane, leaping over downed trees and shrubs and moving very quickly.  

 So this dude is at the loading plant yesterday, loading, didn't care about his actual loading time. Just got ahead of me and oh well, eat s*** and die type of attitude. That man is a piece of work, putting it mildly.

I called the dispatch number and told them about it. It's obvious they are not going to do anything about it.  Well we don't want him doing that...yes but he does it all the time...yes we know that....

So today I left a little early high tailed it up there.  I knew he was going to show up early, I envisioned him being there when I arrived.  

I pull into the scales, get on the phone and ask them to come scale me in. Scales aren't open on Sundays, you have to call security to come do it.  A few minutes later, the security person shows up and a few minutes after that, guess who also shows up?  Yup, that dude that doesn't care about loading or unloading times.  

This is the same guy that threatened to kick my @$$ the first time I called dispatch on him about it and he had to pull out of the loading station - they hadn't started on his truck yet.   I mean, I couldn't deal with it, I got out of the truck and glared back at him. Come kick my @$$ right now......

I didn't bother to look at him today.  I got scaled in, drove to the offload shack, got it hooked up, found the supervisor on the floor, signed off on it and then proceeded to offload.  He showed up shortly after I got there, but I was in the building at the time.  He didn't get out and threaten me.  He's older than me, is probably all of 130 pounds, he can get as mad as he wants.

The mentality of drivers that have been in the company for a long time is pretty crazy.  He's not the first attitude-laden person I have encountered.  I don't think very highly of this company as it stands. This nonsense here, and they tolerate it?  I can tell ya that if that dude had gotten there before me today and I had to wait as long as he had to wait for me? I'd call dispatch and tell them since you don't care when he shows up, you won't care when I show up hours early as well.

If you don't think I would do that, you don't know me.  They are tolerating this stuff from this dude. They have set the standard. If one can do it, everyone can do it.  It's the trucking industry, every man for himself, at least in this current atmosphere.  

___________

911 stuff is starting to pop up everywhere.  3 days off.  Memories flush with the reality of what occurred, those of us that are old enough to remember it and old enough at the time it happened to understand what was happening - well it was a day you'll never forget.  Or even the months after with the skies void of aircraft. 

I dunno if I'll go into that again this year, maybe, but today isn't the day.  

But it got me thinking, best get airfare done and over with. One of my credit card points paid for the trip, it's only one way and it's economy and still $313.  That's probably because it's using points, I've found it for much cheaper paying cash. Those points have been sitting there, use them please.  I will try to use the rest of them on that card for a hotel on the way back.  Nothing I will do now, I will figure out where I'll stop when  I get to AZ.  Leaving 10/7, arriving 10/7.  Staying until - probably Friday tho I think I'll have enough visiting done and over with by Thursday, I expect to be taking 6 days off.  

 If I leave Thursday, I could take 5 days off. I dunno, but I just worked through the weekend and likely going to work through the next. I really am asking the manager to keep me going indefinitely here until departure.  I'm far behind with having had 2 weeks off, I have to try and get caught back up.  I see no path forward for that without just working every day.  

I was discussing this with him and he was like, well let's see where your hours are after the current round. Huh?  I'm not paid by the hour, that's not the issue here. He's talking about my 70 hour work week. I can work 7 days a week with this particular job and keep under 70 hours, well under it in fact.  Whatever.  I'm probably  not getting on their good side reporting this driver showing up whenever he feels like it. And frankly, I'm of the mindset to just go ahead and start doing what that driver does. If they don't care about him showing up early, then I shouldn't have a problem doing that either, right?  I'd love to put that to the test.  I'm pretty sure what I'll hear....

 Let's discuss the boat.  These people occupying the trailer are Allen's kids. They are highly unmotivated.  Hence one is living out of a pickup truck and the other floating around all over the place.  I was done with it yesterday. Boat sitting there, them doing nothing more than the initial cleaning. There was a small group of us talking and I said I'm just going to pull it out of there, you apparently don't want to do the work.  This was going to be paid, btw, not "free" work for the lot rent.  

Another dude was standing there that works on motorcycles - 2 cycle stuff in other words - and starts asking all kinds of questions.  It could be the carburetors, especially since it's been sitting for 3 years.  Etc etc etc.  Yup.  I know the carbs are likely the culprit, whatever, I'm taking the boat home.  This conversation went on a while, but this guy said, nope, don't take it home, give me about 7 days and I will figure out what it will need and we can order everything.  

Well, that's better than what I currently have - which is a boat mechanic that .... anyway, he isn't doing the work he said he'd do, I'm shut about him, who knows what's going on inside his head, maybe he's got issues.  The girl as well.  This isn't my problem nor is it my place to judge them, they can do whatever.  

HOWEVER.  The situation with the park?  The free lot rent is going away. I haven't told Allen that yet, he was going to come home "every 2 weeks",  he was supposed to come back last weekend, then this weekend, I have heard nothing from him.  I'm going to contact him when the let rent is due and they can deal with it. Or take the trailer out of there, I'm not going to let this go on forever.  If the other guy doesn't work on the boat either, well, I guess I'm just going to do the work myself at the house - excepting the carb work.  

That's that and this is the end of this entry.  I am going to bed soon, it's getting late.       

 Sunday - early

It is 2 days until the Presidential debate.  I will be watching it for the entertainment value.  I believe Trump is going to rip Harris a new one, she is clueless when it comes to policy and the debates I saw her engaging in when it was up on a stage in 2020? She was abysmal.  Harris has done zero press conferences since she was installed (not elected) by the DNC as the new candidate after they got rid of "sharp as a tack" Biden (those were Harris' words).  I'm sure they are prepping her for this debate and if she has anyone that has any idea what they are doing to help her, they will go after Trump's weaknesses.  

However, she is incapable of delivering any kind of quality performance on the debate stage.  Trump has a tendency to start name calling, but I've seen in recent times he's dumped that trait.  I would like him to continue on with that, not getting into stupid name calling, getting out of the race junk he has been doing with her - that's not helpful.  Whether she's Indian, black or both is irrelevant. Hammer on policy. She is entirely weak on it and her intended policy is garbage that most Americans will reject if they hear it without all the glitz and sparkling mirages they put it up as.  

Anyway, it's Sunday and I'm doing okay. Sleep wasn't great but it wasn't horrible either.  I only made it 20 minutes walking yesterday - my legs started hurting, specifically: my leg muscles are hollering at me to stop it!  No, senior, we are going to keep going and going with it. Y'all down there will get toned up and won't be bothered by it anymore once I work y'all out enough.  That's my lecture to my leg muscles for today, they might as well get used to it.  Now that I've started, I don't want to stop.  I've also started light weight-lifting back up.  My arm isn't hurting as much as it was, my arm muscles have paid for it.  I've lost a lot of muscle mass in the last few years and I just want to try and put at least a little back on.

Couple that with a low fat diet - now anyway.  A complete change from what I was doing, that's for sure.  Keep it going for a few months and hopefully some noticeable changes will occur.  I'm still trying to do Keto, well it's more like a low carb diet for I am cutting out as much fat as I can.  But yes, still doing low carb, just not eating a lot of sugary stuff is most of it and still cutting out potatoes and pasta. For now.  Lots more salad these days as well.

I'm looking at a newish scam for SS, they're trying to tell you that your SS number has been "temporarily suspended", blah blah blah. Scams are pretty easy to spot nowadays, I keep up with it because they keep getting better at it, but it's still fairly obvious in most cases.  Their English is getting better but you can still spot the sentence structure and/or the use of certain words that English speakers wouldn't use in such sentences.  That or just telling you something like this one,, where your SS number is "suspended". Bunk,, that should be an obvious sign right there.  The government might suspend benefits if you are in some sort of trouble with them, but your actual number? 

Got me to thinking about the fact that in only 17 months, I will qualify for SS payments.  I'm not necessarily planning on taking it at 62, then again, I'm not.. not..considering it.  We'll see how this RV park stuff goes.  If I can expand it and keep it full, I won't need SS.  

As for SBA loans, I am just going to bypass all this internet stuff and go back in old email, find the application sent to me from an SBA government center over in Longview that helps people apply for them and see if I can get anywhere with that.  I want to find out what kind of interest rate I can get.  You still have to go through a bank, but the government backs up a certain amount of the loan to "guarantee" it.  So the bank has less exposure to risk. I really want around 175k.  More if I could qualify.  More spots, more amenities, more appeal.  It takes money to do all of that, even if you want to do the work yourself.  Which I don't.  

I'm amping myself up for the prospect of going through all of that again, is the point.  I could pretty much cite the costs of each phase of the project by memory.  I only need 1, maybe 2 days of dozer work.  It's just simple stuff: level it out. 18 grand for septic system plus the sewer line run to each site.  Around 35k worth of electrical junk.  Maybe 7k worth of water line.  At least 30k worth of gravel.  

A pool setup - expensive.  In ground anyway.  Above ground much less but not exactly preferable.  Hot tub much cheaper.  

I don't want to go into all of that right now, I'm fixing to leave here, but I am getting it back into my brain again to get myself excited, motivated and ready for whatever to get that money.  

AS for now? Going to make a sandwich and get out of here.

G'day

 Saturday - early

I've got work keeping me busy until Wednesday. I don't know what then, more work presumably.  Need it, don't want it, will take it.  

Meanwhile, on the "let's save some money" front... I just got billed by Cox cable, $227.  That's just internet, nothing else.  Unbelievable.  This gateway device I just had sent over there is the premium one and it's $60 per month, unlimited data and up to 66 devices can connect to it.  I'm just going to give it another day - well Monday - before I cancel.  Their happiness is important and access to the internet is obviously important, however, spending that much money every month on internet? No thank you.  It's been going on for a while.

Cox at some point a few years ago i think it was, decided that unlimited internet pricing would go up. And up. And up.  I had few options, not really any options tbh.  ATT lines in that neighborhood are totally screwed up and they won't fix them. I know this because I went through hell with them. I eventually had the price knocked down to $17 per month but the service was worthless so I ditched it altogether.  "We have no plans currently to upgrade in your neighborhood".  Once ATT was knocked out, there was no real competition.  

Not until Verizon came out with their version of an internet portal - which I tried at my park and they were charging me $500 per month for.  Then along came T Mobile.  An aggressive campaign to win over customers, they certainly won me over.  Say good bye to Cox cable!

That'll dump over $160 per month in expenses right there.  Then I was discussing the satellite over here.  The kids don't watch it anymore, they are stuck on YouTube and Netflix.  I hardly watch it now, I just want access to certain news channels but it appears I can get them with a cheap subscription to one of various apps I can install on my smart tv.  Any of the old movies or shows I like to watch? I'm just buy the whole seasons of certain western shows and star trek, the rest of it is bunk. The satellite channels show the same movies over and over and over.  

What I really dislike is this thing that both satellite companies do with agreeing to bring the price back down and then after a few months, they add a charge, then another, raise the prices and think I should have to eat it.  Well la de dah.  I am finding I don't even need it now.  I've been weaning myself off of it for it's not cheap and a complete waste of money now that I am hardly watching it. 

I don't know how much the one over here is right now, I think's it in the $130 range, the one in AZ is $177.  Per month, that is. I can't dump the one in Phoenix but I can switch back to Directv and get the price back down to somewhere around $120.  

That's it.  I didn't even turn the news on this morning.  It's the same old stuff. Orange man bad, Walz and Harris for the win! At least if you watch any of the legacy media outlets.  Most media you see on tv is controlled by the left and far left.  Even Fox news is managed by democrats, a thing that if you tell a leftist that, they start laughing as if what you're saying is false.  Well look it up yourself then.  They've slowly been bringing on left and far left commentators and "reporters" to their lineups.  

In all of that, you wonder who is actually telling the whole story and which ones are cutting pieces of truth out that are highly relevant to any given story. I'd say most all of them do that.  We are long and far gone from we report, you decide.  They think we are all too stupid to do that and they should be able to set the narrative for us.

Anyway, I am going to try and get out of the truck after returning today - Lord willing of course - and go back in the woods and do the walking thing again.  It is so much nicer to walk in the woods than traipsing around on concrete or asphalt in the city.  Seriously.  I see the same things over and over going around in huge circles, but I'll take that over people gawking at you wondering what you are doing in "their" neighborhood or if I'm walking a giant Great Dane, wanting to take pics with the dog and all of that stuff.  

With that, I must be out of here. It's 6:10 am and it's almost time to leave. 

G'day

 Friday - early

I dunno what it was, I think the neighbor's dogs, but I woke up at 11:00 pm last night and it was a long, long time before I could finally get back to sleep.  I'm going to have to figure something out here because this is getting ridiculous.  Like, maybe I should just get up and do something until I get sleepy again and then try to go back to sleep.  

I don't care how tired I am after work today, I'm forcing myself to do 25-30 minute walk around the back 15.  It's one full loop, then a smaller loop and then finish a partial full loop.  That's 25 minutes. To make it 30, well, backtrack I guess going the other direction after I get done with the partial small loop.  

Lol, I'm watching Fox News atm and Joel Osteen is coming up.  That guy is a wolf in sheep's clothing and all of conservative/Christian America knows it.  I could go into a list of things, but who cares.  I'm not sure I want to hear anything he has to say, but I might subject myself to a little bit of it to find out why Fox bothered to bring this man on.

As for everything else?  You know, I got onto an SBA list and these people called me.  I don't trust anyone anymore, if YOU are calling ME, I want your full name, business address, etc. THEN< I can look it up and call them back independently.  These scammers have gotten so good at what they do know - which is lying to you to get your personal info - that seems to be the only way to be sure that you aren't being scammed into giving a hoard of personal info that will give them the ability to open accounts in your name and then you being the person responsible for their theft.

So, these people text me, I ask for that info and then they want to call me. No, thank you, I will look up your info later and call you back.  So what do they do? Call me anyway. I reminded the lady of what I had said in the text, she got snippety with me and I unfortunately gave her a huge dose of it right back.  I'm just sick of scammers.  They have infiltrated everything, everywhere. Even local Facebook groups are spammed continuously with their crap.  They try to get you to make a partial payment up front for services they are going to render.  Around here? Constant and I do mean constant ads for air duct cleaning.  I ban one from my group and another pops up. And another, and another. It's daily.  And it's in all the other local groups.  They just don't do a very good job clearing out that stuff. I find that in my group, once you clear out all the scam junk, there isn't even that much legitimate stuff in there.

But, it gives the reader less to have to filter through to get to the real stuff.

Well, I just realized it's almost time to go. Was just getting started lol.

G'day

 Losing track of time here.

Today was easy.  Drive to the washout, got that done quickly, over to the plant, no waiting there either and home by 12:40.  That's a good day.  Remember, time doesn't mean anything towards my pay-unless it's an extended wait at a plant and it's the plant's fault.  If the day takes 6 hours, it pays the same as a day taking 9.  So, the faster it gets over with, the quicker I get home.

Annnnd, someone dumped half a household worth of junk in my dumpster a few days ago.  It is at the point where if that kid doesn't bring that tractor back soon, I"m just going to pay the dumpster service company the $204 it costs for them to move it 100 feet and be done with it.  People wanting to steal the use of my dumpster will actually have to drive into the north end of the RV park to engage in their activity of trespassing and theft of services. Oh how I would love to catch these people in the act.  

The money spent is the money saved. It's not free to me for them to overload my dumpster.  

And now? I am on a cholesterol kick.  Meaning, I have to completely redefine my entire eating habits.  I'm looking at fat and cholesterol counts on everything now.  It isn't something I want to do, it is something I am motivated to do for preservation of life.  I did not go for a walk today, I was plain too tired.  My sleep comes and goes. When it goes, I'm able to work and then go home.  I am promising myself to do it tomorrow regardless of how I feel.  If I completely change my eating habits and couple it with frequent walking, I think it should come down, yes?  

Going to be eating more salads and berries and such and less meat.  

Anyway, I'm winding this day down, it's getting late.  I completely spaced the blogging until just now, figured I could throw down a few words and get ready for bed.

 Tuesday - near 8:00 am

I got a late start today.  Not late for work, it's the second load, I normally get up a couple hours earlier than departure time for the second load. First load? Not even, lol.  I get up, have a few minutes coffee time, make lunch and leave.  I would go ahead and get my butt out of here, but it's a waste of time.  This particular other driver can get himself up early enough to be at the plant loading on Sundays but the rest of the time?  He's at least an hour late.  And there's nothing I can say about it. For example, if I show up there today at 11:30 am, which is pretty much when I want to get there and he's just got there and started unloading? My "official" offload time isn't until 2.  

The other guy is no better.  

They got that boat cleaned up pretty good.  It could use another round of cleaning with a hand scrub-down with degreaser to get some of the stubborn stuff off, but it's not bad.  That thing was dirty, I can attest to that.  When I got back yesterday, they were asking me "what are you doing right now?".  Uhh, I dunno, you tell me?  They needed a ride to the store. Their pickup isn't running and they have no money to fix it.  I took them up there, tho after I did I thought, I should have driven another mile down the road to a better place.  Next time.

When I was leaving, the dude said he's going to start on the motor.  So, hopefully, he got that going.  He's going to take the carbs apart and clean them out - and replace stuff as necessary.  I've been convinced those carburetors need cleaning since I got the boat. None of the people I had working on it would do it, they said it doesn't need it.  How can it not need it when it's been sitting so long? I asked.  I mean, I was paying those people to do the work...

They had tried to put the canopy up.  I said nope, the frame is twisted, hence I have that replacement one over there.  Oh, that's why we can't get it to go all the way open! Lol

Yes, I'm very interested in getting that thing going now that I have started on it.  

For  whatever reason, I have no work tomorrow and then a load going out one Thursday.  I asked the manager to keep me working through next weekend when I saw this.  Like, I don't want any days off.  If you're keeping the other guys going, that's nice, but keep me going as well.  I've had half a mind to start looking for another job as I'm getting tired of constant break downs.  Newer equipment would be nice.  I doubt I'd find much of anything with the hours I have now, tho.  

So, I'm watching news that Biden blaming Netanyahu for the deaths of the hostages that were reported, killed execution style.  This administration is inept and beyond incompetent.  Biden apparently still wants a cease fire.  Are you serious? Do you blame Israel for saying no thanks?  The world that likes the reassurance of a strong America is yearning for the days of the US having a President that has a backbone. The world the likes us pandering to terrorists? They love us right now.  These people that were just murdered - hostages - were just innocent civilians as far as I know it.  

Whatever anyone thinks, that's fine, but I believe from the Word that the Jews are God's chosen people.  That's what it says.  People will argue that "these" people, for some reason, aren't the same.  Israel is the land where Jesus was born, lived, crucified and rose from the dead.   Moses, King David, Samuel, Ezekiel, Elijah, a long list of names of people who were servants of the Lord and did His bidding, that roamed the lands of Israel.  I believe when you are taking a stand against Israel, you are also taking a side against the Lord.  

That's where I'll leave that. 

Ugh.  Took longer than I thought to make lunch and coffee for the road. 

Time to leave.

G'day

 Monday - 8:00 am

Work today, but late load.  Not only that, but I already went down and cleaned out the trailer on the last load that was cancelled, so I don't have to do that today.  Just drive straight to the plant.  Yeah, I can't leave here until around 9:30 at the earliest.  

I was reading a story written by a communist, I mean Californian that had moved to Texas because her brother moved here and she didn't want to be away from him.  I read this hit piece, where this person moved her whole family here but in a huge, leftist run city (Houston) and her dismay with literally everything.  

She complained that "literally every person I met was obsessed with politics".  Huh?  The whole nation is obsessed with politics right now, at least for people who pay attention to it.  There are plenty of people everywhere that don't pay attention to politics, which is alarming for they seem to be living in a bubble of how our country is rapidly changing in ways that they probably wouldn't want it to - if they were paying attention. I know from a personal example that some people don't want to hear about politics at all.  They don't care and a lot of these people also don't vote.  Not even in local elections.  

She lived in Texas all of 4 months and declared how dismal the state is. She proclaimed that she had talked to people that have lived here for 10, 20 and more years who said it took years (italics hers) to adjust to Texas.  I'll agree with that.  It took me a long time to adjust to living out here, but that's because I moved to a small town which is infinitely different type of living than moving from one big city to another.  Once I adapted, I found that I love it here far more than my home state except for one thing: No mountains around here.  The nearest mountain range is hundreds of miles away.  That is one of the few things I miss.  

She even said they went to San Antonio Riverwalk and were "disappointed" with how little there was to do there. ??? Are you serious? The more I read this nonsense, the more suspicious I became.  This is either a Texan that wants Californians to stay in California or more likely, a Californian who has political ties regardless of her declaration that she does not and is trying to stop people from leaving the state by the droves.  There is a mass exodus of business leaving California and even more shutting down  shops, stores, service business, you name it and going bankrupt or out of business entirely.  Or, the large franchise restaurants who are significantly scaling back operations in California, or shutting it down entirely.

Californians brought this upon themselves and are continuing to do so with unbelievable taxation and social issues such as the legislature voting on giving illegals 150k  as down payment money on a house with zero down and zero percent interest.

Fancy that, they are giving people who are here illegally more latitude to live their lives without the "bother" of having to pay for anything than the citizens who live here.  How many of those loans do you suspect will go into default?  Can you imagine the tidal wave of people from around the world, not just south America, who are going to come up through the Mexican border, cross illegally and head straight for Anywhere, California?  It's like a giant welcome sign: Move here! How is California going to pay for this? The last I saw, they were in a budget crisis. Well duhhh, you have multiple policies such as this one that are freebies and giveaways to people who don't do anything and are taxing the last pennies out of business and then, raising the minimum wage to an unsustainable level ... which had immediate effect in restaurants saying no thanks and shutting down operations. 

So the end result of this? Please, go ahead and continue to say how miserable it is living here in Texas!  Arizona went through a few decades of this, Californians coming over in mass volume and then starting to take over politics (the politics this lady says they are disinterested in as a whole in her community) so they can start their insane antics there all over again.  

In case you haven't noticed, communism is rapidly taking over the mentality of most leftists.  They won't admit to it, they might not even see it. For those that do, they explain it away. It will be so much better than - every single historical account of it you can find - and none of that stuff will happen!  Imagine leftists getting control of the House, Senate and WH this election year.  They're going to substantially alter the make-up of the Supreme Court, which they currently hate because there are more conservative justices than communist on it,  They have several ideas, including impeaching 2 of the most prominent conservative justices, putting in term limits, enacting some sort of code of ethics determined by them (there is a reason we have a separation of powers), likely expand the size of the court (numbers of justices) so they can install a vast majority of leftists and basically, be able to bypass the Constitution. 

They desperately want to do away with semi-automatic weapons. That is what Biden said, it wasn't just "assault" weapons, it expanded to all semi-auto weapons.  If they can control the SCOTUS, they can control the country. It's the last "wild card" left that they cannot control and therefore they despise it.  Imagine a panel of activist judges just ruling however they feel and dismissing the intent or even the wording of the Constitution?

___________

I went off into that because of the direction this nation is turning with people that are completely oblivious to what is going on around them. That lady's version of it is exactly what I'm talking about.  The results of Stalin, Marx and other notable Socialists/communists be damned, they "know" it will never turn out that way. But, we already see the left wanting to censor the right.  Robert Reich wants Elon Musk arrested and imprisoned simply because he took over Twitter and turned it into a platform where people can speak their minds. We found out from Zuckerberg recently that the Biden administration did, indeed, pressure Facebook to censor certain things coming from the right about Covid and the Hunter laptop story.  

I could go on, I paid close attention to the Obama, Trump and Biden years.  Trump is no patron saint, he's more near the middle than anything, but at least there's some patriotism and a love of flag and country in him. I dunno about God, he says things that allude to God but I think he needs Jesus.  I think he has a pew-warmer version of religion, not a personal relationship with Jesus. I'm not judging him, he just needs to "see the light", the real light.  

The end result for me? I am preparing myself for a Harris win.  If she wins, we are in for a hell of a ride - a nightmarish ride IMO - but a ride never-the-less.  There is a reason they won't allow her to speak about her policy, if she starts explaining it to her constituency, they might have second thoughts about it.  I'm also preparing myself for the possibility of Congress being completely controlled by lefitsts.  They are targeting those evil rich people, they must pay their "fair share", whatever that is in their minds.  Go ahead and tax the earth out of them and see what happens.  It won't have the results they think it will. 

AS for today? Well, I'm headed to work soon. I'm contemplating getting pretty stringent on basic rules at the park that people are completely ignoring.  There are hundreds of cigarette butts laying around all over the place, I got tired of picking them up.  I am going to start that up again but this time? I'm going to tell every last person there that if they continue to just throw cigarette butts all over the place? They can leave.  I'm tired of it, it is very unsightly and it's going to stop one way or the other. A few days ago, a chain smoker was standing there talking to me, he got done with his cigarette and just flipped it away.  

Actually, I think I will just post a huge sign about it. Not sure of the wording yet but I'll think of it and just print one for temporary use.   Found a trailer leaking water, contacted that guy about it.  Noticed several lots that need mowing that aren't being mowed. I won't just eat the rent if they aren't going to work. Allen is basically gone, has been gone the last going on 3 weeks and a lot of nothing is getting done.  His kids are adults and they are lazy.  So, I will mow that stuff myself and then tell Allen about it.  And the fact that there really is no park host there now, please take that sign down.  If his wife were there, I'd be good with that. Apparently she doesn't want to do the motor coach even tho they say she is going to do it - nothing is happening.  

Yup, I'm getting irritated with some of the things going on over there and I've said something about it, not like I'm just waiting until I'm ready to explode. I've let people know in no uncertain terms about the cigarettes, some people just don't give a s***.   I feel like those people? Can leave.  Or change their attitudes.  

The oldest and grandma are leaving today. The tension between her and I have seemed to dissipate.  It's mostly the situation where she starts drinking and then starts getting rude and even insulting.  But that appears to have stopped.  I was even invited to come up to visit with the family if they move to Hot Springs as they are talking about doing.  Hot Springs is a short drive from Gurdon.  I could facilitate getting the kids up there for their scheduled visits, she wouldn't have to drive clear to us to get them. There is a large parking lot right next to the highway where trucks park all the time, just drop them off there, into her vehicle and move on.  It's a near 4 hour drive down here from where they're at currently. 

I like Hot Springs, btw, the vacation we took there was great - excluding the nasty hotel we stayed at that charges exorbitant prices.  Everything else was fun.

This one is going on long. I did put in an application to start and SBA loan, so far? nothing, but it's only Monday. I don't figure to start seeing any results until sometime today. My credit score isn't the greatest what with all of this credit card debt. I am not late on any payments, but the higher the ratio of debt, the lower your score goes.  Credit is a very weird thing, where you can make all of your payments on time for years and still have a lower than wanted credit score for a myriad of other reasons.  I have collateral, lots of it, to use, if they want that I will provide it.  I want about 175k to build out 20 more lots, install a pool and hot tub and perhaps install covered parking for at least a few of the new lots that will be created.  

I'm waiting for the tractor to reappear so I can contact the garbage company that I want to move the dumpster.  Last week, someone came along from the time I left Tuesday morning and the time I came back Tuesday afternoon and literally loaded up the dumpster from a little over half full to overflowing.  That isn't anyone in the park. There were diapers bags and empty plastic bags of diapers - no one in the park has a baby.  I could have gone through the trash and found out who, I'm sure, but that's kind of disgusting so I decided not to.  People say to put a lock on it, put up a camera, etc. but moving it much closer to the park is the best answer.  

The entire post sounds a bit...negative. I'm not in a bad mood.  Walmart deli gave me 24 wings yesterday for the price of 12.  Why? No clue, didn't ask the lady to do it.  She just started unloading the entire pan into a container and handed it to me.  I thanked her for it - I can only figure that they must have been getting old and they needed to change them out.  I'm having some of that for lunch, no way I'm eating that many in one sitting.  I do hope to have an easy work day.  I don't know why, but I have Wednesday off and then work Thursday and Friday with nothing beyond that.  I really don't know why the manager isn't giving me more work, I do my job quite well but admittedly was off for quite a while.  

If they wanted rid of me, just say so.  I'll go straight to - when are you sending someone to pick up the truck? rather than start attempting to argue about why they might want to get rid of me. I don't really care at this point, the corporate world sucks, there is no loyalty to employees anymore, especially in the trucking industry and that apathy goes both ways now. This company has serious issues as it stands.  For reasons I have gone into great detail in previous posts, not worth going into now.

I think I'll end this one. Yes, the trash trailer is finally gone. Someone took it for free.  The guest claimed he didn't know it was that bad when he got it, even tho he described it when he was going to move it into my park.  Lied about that description, btw.  As for everything else?  It's a beautiful day, lol.

G'day

 Saturday - late morning

Because it's supposed to start raining, not much is going to get done today. I suppose i could focus on business paperwork issues and reconciling receipts, what fun!

However, I did find out how much to register the boat online.  Was just looking because I was curious if they were going to try to back charge me for previous years that it wasn't registered - it wasn't being used, waste of money. Fortunately, no.  Didn't pay the fee, just looked, next will be to find out how much to register the boat trailer.  

I don't feel the need to pay for all of that until that boat is ready to go.  That might be a while.  No clue, really, depends on how motivated the boat mechanic is, which so far? Doesn't appear to be highly motivated.  But, who knows, he's probably broke since he isn't working, I'm not asking him to do the work for free.  I've got most everything it needs. Probably gonna have to buy some hardware and who knows if he'll find parts that need replaced on the motor, etc.  

If he sees things that could use an upgrade and don't cost a fortune, I will entertain that as well.  It doesn't have a sonar for fishing, tho I think those are pretty expensive.  Just get everything working is really what I want.  Lights, motor, trolling motor, etc. \

Still planning on going home for probably 6 days.  Home state anyway, I don't consider myself an Arizonan anymore, I have interest in the state but the entire Phoenix metro area is for -- well I don't even know if the birds like it there.  October is the intended month, the exact day I haven't pinned down yet. I have been informed that I will be asked to do work of some sort, I assume stuff mom can't do on her own.  I'll probably go on  monday, leave on a Friday morning and be back the next day.  I mean, a person who loves driving might could get it done in less time, me? No thanks.  Maybe 700 miles the first day and then finish up the other 600 the next.  Take the next day off after that for recovery and then go back to work. 

My 3 endeavors to reduce monthly expenses has so far only resulted in one of them actually coming to pass: I dropped Verizon and am on T Mobile now, the savings is around $175. It would be more but I decided on a service upgrade and insurance on the phones.  The shed IS paid off, but that apparently is going to be a battle.  The internet isn't going away, it's just that it will be reduced to $60 per month instead of the around $225-$240 I'm currently paying.  I'll still be saving a substantial amount of money once I get all of this stuff hashed out.

I'm trying to figure out if I want to try to get an SBA loan. It's kind of a ridiculous process that is even more involved than a house mortgage, so I've heard and the paperwork definitely makes it appear that way. They do, indeed, have loans for business upgrades tho.  It's probably the best or one of the best routes to take, I just balk at the amount of junk I"ll have to go through in order to get it done and even then, there are no guarantees and beyond that, the interest rates.  I'd want enough to cover 15 more lots, a pool and a hot tub.  Around 175k if I don't do any of the work and farm it out to contractors.  I would need to get those 15 lots filled up relatively quickly after they are created in order to cover the mortgage. Actually, they would want to add my current mortgage to it so another 60k.  

Alright, forget this. I just did the online junk you have to fill out - pages and pages of it, to get an SBA loan process started.  I have no idea whether I will get any offers.  I've heard business credit has dried up considerably in this inflation/high interest rate atmosphere the government has artificially created.  But, I'm going to try.  It would be 20 lots instead of 15.  If I'm going to go for it, might as well get as much as I can out of it, just have to get a bit bigger septic system to handle 20. 

There is far more I'd like to do with the property, one thing at a time.  I would just pay the same contractor to do the additional lots.  I don't see myself doing the same quality job as they did plus a warranty.  Septic warranty will run out in a couple of months, besides having to have it pumped out occasionally I don't see a huge problem occuring with it unless the aerator pump might burn out or something. Solid concrete tanks, those aren't going to be breaking anytime soon. 

I'd also like a BBQ hut, a covered hangout area, another large shed for equipment and tools, etc.  I'd have to add another washer and dryer to cover additional people.  

I dunno, but I am getting offa here. Stuff I need to get done.  

 Friday - 7:30 am

I unceremoniously knocked on the door.  A man answered. I think I know who he is, but I have never met him before.  He comes out after several minutes, they were all sleeping.  We're talking 10:00 am, so I don't really have a problem with my asking to speak with them.  It's Allen's son, nice guy, probably in his 30's I'm guessing, no shirt on, but said are you B? Yes. I finally get to meet you!

I haven't been hiding myself, I thought, I'm here almost every single day.   I mean, they can do whatever they want, I just know I want minimum amount of hours done in a month to consider the free rent setup.  And that includes mowing.  In fact, if they did nothing else, the mowing is top priority.  They did fix the mower again.  This time it was a linkage for the steering that broke, I ordered the new parts and they eventually installed them.  Allen isn't coming back until next weekend, he'll have been gone quite a while and one wonders if the man is going to want to do anything.  

Anyway, I took the man over to the freshly parked boat of which he started to uncouple the hitch rigth away. Well that's a good sign, I thought.  Seemed to be a pretty intelligent person, went to school for boat mechanics and said that he's been fixing everything but boats since he got out.  Well, here's a boat! And it needs work. I suppose I should back up and say yes, we got the boat out of it's parking place. James helped out, thankfully, there was a lot to move.  

I filled the tires up, still in good shape they just had been sitting for quite a while, drove it over there, backed it in behind their trailer - lots of room back there, parked it as much out of sight as possible and that was that.  I was there probably 3 hours.  I showed him all the things that need installed/fixed and then the next door neighbor came out. Another cool dude with a good head on his shoulders, his boat was parked out there s well. Much nicer thing than mine, but I'm not complaining.  Mine isn't horrible, it just needs that engine working properly.  

Well, the neighbor is taking his boat to the ocean somewhere near Corpus Cristi, he tried to move the engine up - it has a tilt motor and a motor that moves it straight up or down.  The one moving it up and down? Wasn't working. They spent 2 hours trying to figure it out and eventually got to a relay in the engine area.  He also gave me a $350 battery.  Yup, I didn't ask for it, he said he replaced it with a new one thinking it was bad, only to find out the problem the boat was experiencing was not battery related and it's fully charged and holding a charge.

I wasn't going to turn it down lol.  It was hot out there. In terms of extremely high humidity. It's the stand-there-and-sweat type of sauna style.  I had had enough after 3 hours and everyone else was heading inside as well. C'ya!  The first order of business on that boat is to clean it, it's really quite dirty. 

As for the junk trailer? Supposed it's gone.  I dunno, I'll find out when I go over there in a while, I have to work today but it's the second load unfortunately.  I saw yet another ad in the local gossip group, this time it was specifying that they need someone that can pull a 5th wheel and they had numerous replies.  On one of them, the lady - who is the daughter of the man living in the other trailer - told everyone that she had it covered now, thank you!  

Yes, thank you.  Get that pile of trash off of my property. I do hope whoever hauled it was successful, it's missing an entire axle worth of wheels and tires.  A cop sees that and I can imagine them thinking, what the h*** is this? I was worried about pulling my boat over there and the tires on my trailer are in new condition.  They have hardly been used at all since I replaced them and they don't look dry rotted.  

Load today, deliver tomorrow and then Sunday off and then?  I assume I'm working for a while without stopping.  I wish I could leave right now.....I'd get down to the wash and that would be taken care of but then I'd get to the plant and I'd be sitting there for at least an hour and a half if not longer. 

Making a payment for the mortgage online, the lender has a statement saying my home is worth $149,000, lmao.  Zillow says it's worth $312,000.  So which one is true? Neither, probably. It's worth far more than 149k, but is it worth the 312k zillow says it's worth?  Zillow range is 275 to 344 so I guess they take the median amount.  I just find it humorous that the bank comes up with a number that is far below what would be considered market value, especially in that market where there are few houses available for sale than there are buyers wanting to get into a house.

However, the current analysis I've read is that housing prices are so high now, it's pricing people out of the market for first time home buyers.  I feel their pain. I was in my 30's before I finally bought a pile of junk mobile home, I got it because it was on it's own property and not in an HOA. I fixed it up and then..it burned down.  It now has a beautiful manufactured home on it, it needs some stuff done to it but it's in good shape.  The neighborhood isn't the greatest, but my property is well taken care of.  I would really like to get rid of it tho.  Water conservation efforts have ramped up to the point you are allowed X amount of water per month (I don't remember what it is) and if you go over that, you are penalized along with the regular bill.

Meanwhile, they keep building more houses in the region - the Phoenix metro area is a sprawling layout of a lot of smaller towns surrounding it and it's probably 100 miles worth of cities from the furthest east point to the furthest west point.  So, how do you justify building more housing without enough water supply to cover it? I have no idea.  The area is still in a drought and has been seemingly forever.  They have been creative in building plants to treat waste water and reuse it for the hundreds of golf courses, landscaping along city streets and even cooling the nuclear power plant.  But once it gets to the point you are water rationing, what is the rationale of also approving more housing construction permits?  I don't get it.  

Anyway, a typical water bill is around $225 now. 

There.  While I was thinking of it, just ordered another T Mobile gateway device to be delivered to the house in a couple of days.  The last one they sent, the thing didn't have a sim card and T Mobile refused to send one without me being able to receive a text message on a Tmobile powered device, which I didn't have at the time. No problem now, although they aren't supposed to be sending out those devices without the sim card to begin with.  My internet bill over there is around $225 per month, it's outrageous.  This thing will cost $60 a month and there we go, another huge bill being shrunk down to a more acceptable amount. 

My battle with Tower Loan? No idea.  I sent a message to them on their form and haven't heard back. Shocking.  

 Thursday, not particularly early

Day off, I'm fixing to go outside and try to get that boat out from all the stuff in front of it. I've put it off because it's going to be a major chore, but now knowing the guy at the park is a certified boat mechanic, I'm going to get that thing out and over there.  It's unregistered but at least it's covered under my existing insurance.  It's 4 miles, I can hope that I don't encounter any law enforcement on the way.  The license plate and the entire holder is missing as well.  No clue on that one.  It had  a license plate on it.  

The tires are half flat but now I have a portable pump so that's not going to be an issue either.  

I am, of course, going to also inquire about getting that trash trailer out of there.  The man is supposed to get it out today, actually yesterday but the person that showed up didn't realize it was a 5th wheel - the ad they placed to have someone move it didn't specify what kind of trailer is it - so he allegedly found someone else to move it.  We'll see.  

There isn't much else going on. The specialists haven't called.  I am not on the cholesterol medicine, I will have to call the nurse practitioner and ask if there's something else that is available.  Money supply has dipped since taking 2 weeks off.  Expected but not ideal.  Looking at loans frequently, there are some options but the payments are pretty steep.  The current credit card payments would offset alot of it but the best deals are shorter terms and much higher payments.  I just don't think I want to try to handle even more amount in payments right now.  

That's just getting rid of credit card debt and having an actual pay off date for it. It's almost September, I'm wondering if perhaps waiting until after the election will have any impact on the fed and the interest rate? It is likely going to depend on who is going to win the WH and right now? That's pretty much up in the air. Trump was an easy win, IMO anyway, against Biden, but the left has pumped Harris up as some sort of miracle worker, a person they previously disdained for the most part. Amazing how quickly they change their stance depending on who it is and  if that person helps advance their causes. 

I'm not going to worry about it, if we get a Harris presidency, it's because this nation deserves it. I don't mean that in a good way.  I'm reading more and more stories of migrant gangs creating chaos and fear in the places they are dwelling.  We let them in, now we get to pay for it. And a host of other stances that harris is allegedly taking, who knows? She has yet to have an official press conference or sit down. Supposedly that's going to happen tonight.  I'll watch it just to see where she "officially" stands on some of the more hot-button issues.

They are still screaming a recession coming, they have been doing that for years now.  It's just nothing I want to prepare for if it's just a bunch of fear-mongering.  I mean, always be prepared for any kind of major event that will affect people's minds in storming grocery stores and emptying the shelves. But beyond that?  One thing for sure: People have to have a place to live. So I don't really fear a recession at my park excepting people's ability to pay their rent.  

I'm watching my newest competitor with interest.  He bought an existing park and added about 20 spaces to it, very close together. I don't recall seeing meters on them, but this dude is definitely all about metering his sites (electricity).  It's such a competitive market here, I'm going to be interested in seeing how he makes that work. I have given it considerable thought, I think a person could make it work by lowering the rent rate, giving away $50 worth of "free" electricity and having guests pay any overage. 

Meters are a hard thing to tackle.  If I put them in, people will leave. Even with reduced rent and a minimal amount of free electricity, the electric gobblers will look for "greener pastures" where they can their AC's turned all the way down to the coldest setting and blast electric heat continuously in the winter months.  So, how does that work out in the end, if I did get meters installed and switched over?  Well, keep that trucking job for sure! lol.  If, and that's a big if, but if I could keep the park full, I would keep a lot more of the incoming revenue instead of giving it to the power company.  

I stand undecided on the situation.  A couple thousand dollars worth of meters and then having to install them.  

I dunno, but I'ma drink the last of this cuppa and get busy unearthing that boat. 

G'day

 Wednesday - late afternoon

I would go into the nonsense with Tower Loan Company, it should be called Tower Loan Incompetence, ignorance at your service!  But I am quite done with them for right now.  Meh, I'll go into it I guess.  Ooh, I know what I'll do, just copy and paste the review I left about them here: 

"This is one of the most incompetent "loan companies" in existence.  I bought a 12X20 shed that was built on my property and financed by Tower Loan through the shed company. No experience with them, I just said fine.  

The shed was bought from a company operating in Louisiana, I live just across the border in Texas.  After a short amount of time of making auto payments, they decided they would switch the account to a Texas based address without letting either me or the bank know.  The autopay was declined, of course, because of errant information they were supplying.

I knew nothing about this until they finally sent me a letter.  You are behind on your payments. I wondered how I could be behind on  my payments with autopay set up?  BTW, they charge you a convenience fee to use autopay!  Almost $3 every time.  I called the number immediately and a long argument ensued.  They could not understand the fact that my bank informed me the info on the account had changed and they would not approve payments unless I verified it.  

I ended up making 2 payments that month, one the normal autopay which I had had the bank restart and an extra payment to make up for the "missing" on, plus they charged me a $40 late fee plus they reported this situation to the credit bureau, even tho all of this was their fault.

Fast forward to last month.  I just figured I'd pay this loan off and never do business with them again.  On the normal day of my payment last month, the final amount was taken out plus a separate convenience fee and I thought, thank goodness this is over with. Or was it?

The next day, I received a text from Tower Loan saying I am late on my payment.  Here we go again, except THIS time, they actually HAD taken the payment.  I called these people yet again. I was informed I hadn't made a payment at all. This would be funny if it weren't true.  Instead, it is maddening to deal with such moronic incompetence. As if I'm lying about the draft THEY made through autopay.  I spent quite a bit of time today on the phone and they came back with: You missed a payment and that has to be made up.  The lady didn't want to hear anything else even tho I told her I had made that payment up PLUS paid and $40 fee.  I have the proof, my bank statement shows in May of 2023 I made the normal autopay AND the extra payment.  

But do they want to hear this? No.  I am now told they are having staffing trouble and the manager of the store dealing with me will call me back on Monday. Today is WEDNESDAY.  
There is one thing for certain: I am NOT paying them another dime.  They will have to take me to court and I will produce the bank statements of every payment including the make-up payment with the $40 fee.
And let me tell you this. There is no corporate number for this company. You cannot call their headquarters - well you might be able to if you use one of these online search companies and pay a fee for it.  Who knows.  They are located in Flowood, Mississippi which is near Jackson. If they weren't that far away, I would just go visit them and deal with this in person.  

Since I can't, I sent them a note which is then directed back to where? The store that you deal with and in this case, a manager who isn't available until next week.  

And I will remain true to my word, I have the evidence, they are not getting another penny from me and I would suggest you never do business with this shady company.  "

  There we go.  That adequately sums up the entire misfortune of having had done business with them.  Now, on another note and related to my property, I have had an excellent go with Affirm.  Even issues that need resolved they deal with in a timely manner, I financed my coin op laundry machines through them and have subsequently financed smaller purchases as well.

I am entirely too reliant on  credit, or so I was anyway. I have cut the use of it back to near nothing. I few things here and there, the trolling motor and batteries the latest. 

And here is the hopefully good news: I just found out today that the son of the park host is a certified boat mechanic.  He has been staying at the park!  I am digging that boat out of there tomorrow and getting that thing over there.  If he can fix the motor plus do the rest of the stuff, I'll gladly pay him to do so.  This might mean I could get the motor fixed as well. Whatever the bleep is wrong with it. A short recap: It fires up, it runs great, you turn it off in the lake somewhere and.....it doesn't want to start back up.  

Yup, I have no work tomorrow I want to get that boat over there sooner than later.  

That was what I was going to start this blog with but that Tower Loan crap...unbelievable.  

I've determined that unless the rain stops me - it's supposed to rain tomorrow and we need it badly - I'm getting that boat out of the depths of the blockages it faces to get out of there and haul it to the property. 

Just spent over an hour looking for a kitten.  It's not my kitten, I don't want kittens, or puppies for that matter.  There is a feral cat that had kittens underneath my trailer and unfortunately, that is where they are living.  That is going to change soon enough.  The trailer is loading sno-cone high with branches/tree debris from a James outing doing work on a property.  My trailer has been tied up for quite a while and there have been a couple of occasions I could have used it.

No worries, not upset about it, just going to get that stuff burned and off the trailer.  

Oh, well the kitten turned out to be hanging out in the front right wheel well of a pickup truck.  I grabbed the thing out of there and the end of that ... problem. 

Other than that, I am done here. Going to go vegetate in front of the tv and watch reruns of some old show - probably Star Trek.  

 Monday  semi-early

I actually slept for once.  In saying that I simply mean I got 8 hours of sleep.  I don't typically get that much even tho I always go to bed in time for 7-1/2 hours to 8 or more.  I have no work today and my tractor plans have been thwarted.

Apparently the farm needs the tractor for some sort of work that it is best able to deal with. C'est la vie. However, when they are done with it, they are going to bring it back. Out of the blue yesterday, the boy calls and asks where's the key? I had forgotten to leave it at his trailer and it was in my vehicle. He was over there and needed to load it up.  "I can bring it back, we just have to do some work with it"

Upon arrival, a lady came walking up I had never seen before and I thought this might the overnighters that showed up.  "I'm with him".  Turns out it's the grandma and she owns that particular tractor. I found out the farm was started by her parent's parents many moons ago. A total of 700 plus acres, they've got all kinds of equipment.  And was appreciative for the new tire. So, I was going to do tractor work today, I would, in fact, be out there right now using it while it's still relatively cool outside.

I wasn't terribly unhappy however after the boy said he could bring it back and  do the work. "I can't pay you anything".  Oh it's ok, I need something to do!  He thinks I just want the land cleared out. Well yes, but I have plans which include adding at least 15 more lots. I"ve kind of come to the conclusion that if I ever want to go the tiny home route? I have plenty of land up front.  There's probably 3 acres up there if not a bit more.  It would need some leveling and such.  

However, I am going to try to find out how these other places afford all of these tiny homes. Does a bank finance them? Does the seller have their own financing? I doubt they're paying cash.  Not the nature of the business.  So much I could do if I could get financing on decent terms.  It is  coming down, I've noticed. 

Credit Karma has several offers now for 50k at 13% interest range. That sound high? Well, when it was just showing 25 to 30% interest range, it's a lot better.  In fact, CK has those offers on there and they are guaranteed.  It means they believe I can get any one of those loans so much so that they are willing to pay me $50 if I don't get it.  That's not that much money, but it means that they really, really think I will be approved. I have no idea how they come to these conclusions, but whenever anything says "outstanding" chances of approval? I will get that loan or card if I really want it.

No, I'm not jumping on that just yet, tho if I could pay off all my credit cards my score would go back to skyscraper heights and then I would qualify for even better financing.  The thing I'm looking for is even lower interest rates and thereby making it a smaller monthly payment. Right now? If I took one of those loans, I would lose about $200 in payments.  Great, but what if they come down even more and I could save $400 or more per month? Who knows.  I've basically got a mortgage payment in credit card monthly bills.  It's high, it's something I've been wanting to deal with, just waiting until I can get the right deal. Not going to wait forever, I'm looking at a 4 year loan that has about the same what I'm paying now. Or 5 or 6 year loans which reduce the payment. 

Anyhoo, I have decided I am not taking the prostate medicine. It doesn't cure anything, it's only relief.  I haven't even tried it.  I'm just not on the bandwagon of endless medications that make you feel worse than the symptoms it's treating.  I will not take that cholesterol medicine. I am going to look into seeing if there are any other treatments.  That stuff was too much and that antibiotic? Never again.  I have no control over how my body is going to react to various medications.  I am, instead, going to pursue this degenerative bone situation in my lower back.

After some reading, it appears if that is most likely the source of the pain. It has diminished greatly by no other reason than...nothing.  I don't know why it has done that. My big focus is losing weight to take stress off of that area and everywhere else for that matter.  I've been on the diet for a while now, the weight is coming off slowly but the fat is definitely coming off.  It seems to me that getting rid of 30 pounds would give my back and entire body significant relief. I have yet to hear back from the specialist. 

Well, not "hear back", I haven't received a phone call from them at all.  Are they that busy? Do they make everyone wait for next to forever? If you need a specialist, there must be a reason for it, right? Like, you need relief from something, please get the process started.

BTW, I did not want today off and I have no idea why he gave it to me. I am working tomorrow and then there's nothing in the tablet after that. I need to work and keep busy with it for a while.  

That's it. Sort of.  The newest person showed up yesterday as well as an overnighter. Another overnighter never showed - tho they paid.  I don't have any more overnight reservations until the end of next month, unfortunately.  I am not going to hold lots that long, I will rent one out if that opportunity arises.  Right now, I am getting calls for tiny homes or some place to live. I don't have anything available, sorry.  My coach will be available - sometime in the future but no idea when. Those people are gone and I"m not letting anyone else in it.  And if/when it does get rentable, well no.  I'm not going to rent it. It's going to be a payment plan to purchase it. This time, I will get proof of ability to pay and show me they have a job with a paycheck or government payment or whatever.

OHH! That reminds me, that man gets his money today. I'm hop over there and get in his face. Have that thing out of here...today. It's that or leave.  I don't care which at this point.  Maybe one of his friends will move it if he pays them. I don't know where he would move it to (and I don't care, I want the thing off my property).  The frame would be worth something, but you have to tear everything off of it. The amount you get out of it is not worth the time or energy. 

I don't know how that is going to end, honestly.  I will try to have a professional demeanor about me, that's all I can say. He's pushed this so far, however, it's really starting to annoy me.  It's not like today will be the first day I've been on his doorstep asking him to get rid of that trailer and replace those windows as he promised.  So, today, I will likely issue him a warning: fix this situation or you will be trespassed from the property, as granted by law.  Texas law on this situation is pretty good for owners of RV parks - once I found the correct law including direct reference to RV parks in the statute.  

As for today?  I don't know.  I'm not particularly motivated at this point.  The tractor usage was my plan and now...well there are other things I can do out there I guess.  I want to measure the amount of available room back there and see how many lots I can get in there without cramming them in too close together.

That sardine can, brand new rv park that was being built the next town north of here has opened. There was one trailer in it yesterday, it was amazingly ridiculous.  The lot is so small, as I had mentioned before, there is no breathing space around the trailer.  It's old style antics to cram as many lots in on a small space as you possibly can. People don't like that.  The only way they're filling that place up is if they give highly discounted rates. I doubt that place will affect me at all, I'm 30 miles away, I just comment on it because of the setup.  

The other place on the other side of town? Well I'm going to go back there today now that I have permission to enter the property and see what it has. From the satellite view, the lots were crammed into together. That and the video they have in their ad. But, sometimes appearances on videos aren't realistic, hence I want to see with my own eyes.  I can say that looking at the video, it appears that the lots are maybe 15 feet apart?  I dunno how he thinks tiny homes are going to appealing to anyone wanting to buy one on a lot that small. You have no room for a yard or anything, really. 

Ok,, I see what he's doing now.  He has "RV's for rent and in park financing available".  This guy has 4 other small parks.  He must have money, I don't.  Advantage - him, not me.  I think renting RV's is a bad idea now that I've done the research. Much better to sell them on payments and get a decent down payment in case they trash the thing.  The biggest complaint I've seen from park owners renting them is that people that rent them? Know nothing about RV's, how they operate, the do's and the dont's.  

That is significant for RV's are unique in how everything is done inside of them.  I read too many horror stores of people breaking things that were costly repairs because they had no idea what they were doing - even after being walked through and shown how to operate all of it.  

I like the idea of tiny homes - a long as the person moving in already owns the home and they are responsible for everything beyond a lot and power, sewer and water.  But, I'll be doing more research on it.  I want an RV park, not a mobile home looking thing.  

There are all kinds of financing options, tbh, SBA loans are popular. They require a lot of paperwork and the same kind of thing you go through with a house mortgage application.  Endless emails, phone calls and text messages.  I haven't really wanted to go through that again.  It just gets maddening after it goes on every day for several weeks in a row.  

I'm not going to concern myself with that today, it's just nothing I want to deal with right now. I'm working towards getting the motivation up to tackle it sooner or later.  As it stands, I'm giving the boy 2 months free rent - IF - he brings that tractor back AND he does the work. That is the deal and it is non-negotiable.  I made myself clear to him. Fortunately, he has a good head on his shoulders, he understands things that people 3 times his age have trouble comprehending for unknown reasons.  

Well, my motivation levels are high right now to deal with this dude and his trashed trailer. Going to head over there and get this done.

G'day

 Sunday - early

Cooking food for lunch today, I am sitting here waiting for the salmon patties to be thoroughly cooked and then? I can leave. Actually, it's about 25 minutes until my normal departure time.

With those people gone, I just have one more situation to deal with. I have confronted the man several times now, it's getting old.  So, the next thing is to tell him to use his money he's getting in a few days and get rid of that trailer.  I'll see what he says about that before I start discussing his departure from the park. If he says no, or he says yes but doesn't do it, I will tell him to leave. Immediately.  Go...somewhere...else.

Anyway, it's Sunday, don't particularly feel like working and I definitely don't feel like going through the rigarmoroo of attempting to get a security guard to the scales.  The plant isn't opened on Sundays for the logging trucks so the scales are closed as well.  Sometimes they show up in 5 minutes, one time they didn't show up for 2 hours : )

Lots of tractor work left to do, but I have tomorrow off so I will endeavor to get up early, go over there and put 4 or 5 hours on the machine. If the tires hold out, that is.   It would be nicer if it wasn't so hot outside, it just makes it difficult to stay out there in the glaring sun, heat and humidity attempting to get stuff done on that thing.  

Allen? No word from him. I guess he's staying down there another week before coming back up.  I am definitely suspicious that there are marital issues for the lady has moved back in now that he's gone.  I will be looking to see if she does it again when he shows back up.

Well, I guess I'm not very talkative this morning. Kind of tired.  Think I'll just get my lunch packed up and get out of here early.

G'day

 Saturday - early

So, it's 5 something am and I'm out in the kitchen putting hot water into the thermos. I like to do that before dumping coffee into it so you don't lose a lot of heat from the coffee in transferring it to the thermos.  Suddenly, there is talking behind me.  I probably jumped several feet.  Scared the s*** out of me!  The 7 year old.  What are you doing out of bed? You know it's only 5:30?  I'm going to watch TV! 

So, this kid can't get out of bed for school - trust me, mama has issues with getting him up every day - but he can race out of bed to watch tv on Saturday mornings?  It's the mindset, I know.  Monday-Friday it's getting up for school and he hates school, but Saturday? FREEEEEE dayyyyyy!

I slept poorly.  I had just fallen asleep when one of the phones dinged.  Kids! Turning the ringers on when I keep them turned off, gag.  

Ok, now both  of them are up.  Well whatever. I got up early to be able to drink some coffee and relax and that's what I'm doing. I don't want to get to the washout before 8:00 am.  

So, RFK has dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.  This may very well be a game changer.  He had more republicans supporting him than democrats, according to the stats anyway. We'll see the change in the polls, I don't put much credence in them but they are fun to watch and see people lose their ever-loving minds over them.  Trump is losing now! ... they say.  I know, they say it's a scientific method to come up with say, 1,000 registered voters to use them as a pulse for how the entire nation is going to vote, I don't believe it.  

Number 1, I have looked into polls and found them "sampling" more democrats than republicans.  Well, isn't the number of dems and republicans about the same percentage?  So what sense does that make?  Or the way they word the polls.  It's designed to come up with the results they want them to come up with, depending on who is doing it.  But but but...they say. Anyway, the dems are already having a meltdown.  You know they will bash and excoriate RFK and they have already started doing so.  Surprise, not. 

Today is the day those coach dwellers leave.  I have no idea whether they will do so voluntarily or if they are going to be jackasses about it and attempt some legal maneuver.  Such as, we're here, you can't make us leave. No, I can't physically force you to leave, but the county sheriff's department will force you out of there, off my property and trespass you. I only have this faint feeling of it because the lady has played this game for a long time at other places, I found out.  She was thrown out of the hotel she was staying in, she owed them a couple thousand dollars.  

The thing that makes me want to get rid of them is that they aren't doing a damn thing about their situation. It's called work. Work can suck, it can be good - depends on where you're working and what you're doing - but it's a necessary thing in life if you don't want to be homeless.  Those kids are perfectly capable of getting jobs as is she.  They're just leeches feeding off the good graces of people who try to help others out in need.  These are the type of people that I just can't deal with.  Whatever got into their minds to tell them they can just free load their entire lives?  Doesn't work with me. Especially a 17 year old and a 20 something.  There are plenty of jobs in town, they don't pay a lot but it's a helluva lot better than nothing. 

And this other dude.  Who brought that disgusting trailer in. I"m just going to wait until the 26th now, that is when he gets paid from the government.  I'm going to go pound on his door and tell him to sit there and order a tow truck or someone to get that thing off of my property.  I'll wait.  You don't believe me? I'll sit right there and tell him to either do that or get off of my property. If I have to deal with a pile of junk trailer, at least it won't be with him around.  The other trailer that is being stored there? That family finally paid for 3 months worth of storage fees. 

I don't want the thing stored there, they just haven't been able to sell it yet. They've had people over there looking at it. It's fairly nice trailer, newer, in decent condition, dunno if they're asking too much for it or what.  

Anyway, I need to get moving.  Time to leave in 5 minutes.

G'day.

 In other news, the people that paid for a lot for the month at the beginning of this month - but never showed, were over there a few minutes ago.  3 lots available, they didn't know which one they wanted.  Said they would let me know in a couple of days.  I didn't particularly care for that idea, but didn't say anything.  What if someone calls and wants one of the empty lots?  

And sure enough, immediately after that call, a man called in looking for a lot.  He said he had showed up "a couple of years ago I think" but you weren't open yet.  Umm, well maybe I don't remember, I opened the park at the beginning of last year.  So now, I had this guy wanting the back in lot and I have no clue what these other people want.  Long discussion and I told him I'd find out right away about what lot these other people want.

I called them, no answer. Texted - I have a person that wants the back in lot, but you have first dibs on it.  Do you think you'll want that one?  I am not going to be holding up lots for people even if they paid for it.  Make up your mind, please, I have a business to run. I obviously don't say that to people, that would probably be considered as rude, lol.  

They texted back one word: No. I didn't figure they'd want it because they allegedly bought a giant 5th wheel. It will fit in the lot easily, but there isn't a lot of parking space in front if the thing is a 42' long model.  So, I called this other dude back:  They don't want it. The guy paid over the phone and I'm very happy.  Now I'm back down to 1 lot not rented and I'm leaving that open for overnight use.  

I'm happy because I have to pay the guy for the damage done to his truck by that workamper. He finally had it fixed at a cost of $275. That's actually quite reasonable, I was expecting much more than that. I am very happy to have that man and his wife gone.  The drama queens of the century (until the next ones come along anyway), it was a ridiculous atmosphere he was creating with lies, accusations and verbal confrontations.  Which reminds me, I need to get that check sent out.  

Tomorrow I have the early load. Very thankful for that, I don't like getting up that early but I even more dislike getting done late in the day on the second load.  It leaves a good portion of the afternoon available for whatever instead of getting back at 5:00 pm or whatever and having nothing left.  As it stands I was awake at 5:00 am this morning anyways. 

Electric bill showed up.  Around $1,900.  That's not bad, actually. Not compared to last year with a bill of over $2,500.  I mean, it's "Ouch!" high, but it's not slam your finger with a hammer high.  I'll take whatever blessings I can get when I get them and thank God for them. We had some cool days this last billing period, many of them actually, which was amazing in itself for being the middle of the summer.  I assume that's what is at play in a lower bill.  It could also be people that were here last year that are no longer might have had AC problems and drawing a huge amount of electricity or just setting the AC at the lowest temp and leaving it there 24 hours a day.  

Oh! And Cigna.  They sent me a letter. After further review, we have determined that the scan will be paid for.  Yes! $800 I don't have to pay! Well, I paid $300 already but I fully expect that money to be refunded.  I'll give them a little time, if they don't send it then I'll be contacting them. This is the facility I got the scan at, not Cigna. 

 More than I expected, I thought I was going in there to hear about the cat scan.

Nope.  Took me to a bathroom, said pee into this giant funnel, urinate completely out if you can and leave it there.

Ok?  

Next, we are going to take a blood draw to test PSA levels.  I know what that means, they are looking for cancer.  That scared me a little but I was assured they do this with everyone in such circumstances.  Not that I had a choice.  I tend to get a little dizzy with blood draws like that, I turned me head and just didn't watch it.  I was fine, actually and amazingly for me. That's the second time in a couple of weeks a blood draw didn't have me feeling like I was about to pass out.

Next? Ultrasound to see how much of my bladder emptied out.  This including pulling my pants and underwear down right there for the lady to see. I thought that a bit strange, I guess she does that all day long and didn't phase her at all.  I was wondering why she brought some sort of lubricant in, I was thinking, no way do they need to do a "prostate exam" after getting a cat scan? So, I accepted that as a much better alternative, the ultrasound a much better deal, regardless of the semi-nakedness.  I wasn't particularly caring for all of this.

After that and only a few minutes later, the doc came in.  The scan showed nothing abnormal except some sort of degeneration of the lower back, I am assuming the spine.  Didn't know that. I don't have any pain there.  Strange.  He said he would forward it to my doc and then it can be addressed by a specialist.  How do they address that?  Whatever. That's for another day, I haven't even heard back from the specialist about my arm.  

He said the PSA results would be back Monday. So, if I don't hear from you that a good sign, yes? Yes, we'll have you back in 3 months to examine you again.  

He asked if I was taking the medication and I flatly said no, giving my reasoning and offering that I might cut the pill up and take a third of it to see what will happen. He was fine with that and said it will likely offer relief.

However, there are no kidney stones and the mystery of why I was experiencing pain was not solved.  The cat scan was on that kidney and my pelvic area, if there was something there, it would have showed it.  The pain has rescinded quite a lot but it's not completely gone.  I don't really know what to do about that now except take the medication and see if that is the reason? I don't think so, I think we are dealing with 2 separate problems here.  Urination was slowing for a while, that is just an issue older guys get a lot.  It doesn't necessarily mean cancer, it just means you have an enlarged prostate and if it gets too big? Guess what? They cut it out of there.  

Yeah, I don't want to do that if at all possible.

I have no idea what to think but I do know I might be worrying a little bit until after Monday.  I don't want to hear from the doctor, putting it mildly.

I ended up going to IHOP again, third time there in a couple of weeks time, I might as well enjoy a nice breakfast.   It was nice even with 3 young kids screaming and making all kinds of noise at a table not far from me, the parents doing nothing about it.  Yeah, no one is going to tell me you can't quiet kids down if you want to. It was very loud, but I did my best to tune it out. 

After that, over to the park.  I went to Home Depot before IHOP and picked up 4 bottles of wasp spray. I walked all over the area where the ground hornets had been at, I only saw a couple of them and yes, I sprayed them. That did not arouse any other hornets. I was kicking piles of brush attempting to find out where they moved to. Wherever it is, it is nowhere in that particular area.  I doubt they moved far, tho.  I am guessing moving the tractor around will eventually get them all riled up again if I happen to run over their new nesting spot. I am ready to kill every last one of them with a fresh bottle of spray. 

Home. I was going to get on the tractor but the doc office did something psychological to me to the extend I decided to go home instead of doing tractor work.  

I have things I need to get done, but instead, I think I will get a glass of ice cold unsweetened tea, of which I add Monkfruit sweetener to - calorie free stuff - and just relax for a while.  I could still go back to the property if my mind changes about that.  I did go over and check the tires on the tractor, they are all holding air.  

I am pretty happy with the progress I've made on both the front and back. Still plenty to go but I have cleared out a lot of land. I'm more than half done, at least and can safely say that without hesitation.

Tomorrow, the coach people need to leave.  I am quite serious about it and if they ask for time extension, it will be denied. They've had 2-1/2 weeks to find a place, I am very tired of hearing that generator on all the time.  I can't imagine the gasoline bill that has been created to keep that thing running.  I just know they need to leave and I will address them directly if they think they are going to stay.  Get out or I will call the Sheriff and have you removed from the property.

Let's hope it doesn't have to go that far, I just hope they will leave peacefully. For where? I don't know, probably another city where they have shelters and programs for homeless. There are none in our town, I know this because the people in the local gossip group answer that question frequently for someone trying to find shelter.  I know that Shreveport has them and Longview as well.  I mean, if the young people wanted to work, they could have figured that out by now.  They have access to transportation via the lady that is already living in the park. 

Anyway, I'm getting offa here.