Wednesday  semi-early

I would still be sleeping if it weren't for the loud thunder claps - a lot of them - that hit in rapid succession. Baam, right out of what was a wonderful dream I was in the middle of.  Even worse, we barely got any rain out of it.  

Yesterday evening, Taylor was busy with work and James hadn't even left work.  The oldest kid had open house and so I took both of them. We landed at McDonald's for them for dinner.  I have to admit I caved.  10 piece chicken nuggets, fries and a small milkshake.  It was far too tempting, especially after the fat free, taste free, just free of anything that you would consider a nice meal.

But, that's my current situation and I expect it takes a while of dedicated effort to bring elevated cholesterol levels down. It put myself into this situation, now I have to get myself out of it. I'm not going to sweat one night of eating one meal that is out of the "low cholesterol" category, especially considering how long I've been doing it.  Going out to eat is especially challenging, there are very limited options on say, Applebee's menu.  They have  a chicken breast meal that is nothing but plain chicken breast, broccoli and mashed potatoes, of which I sub for a house salad. 

The open house was nothing to write home about. It was a required meeting forced on the school because it's a "STEM" school and they have to lay out Title 1 objectives and mission.  Then, you go to the kid's room, meet the teacher and then the child reads you a card greeting you to the open house and you get to see what projects he has been working on.  

I was a bit disappointed in the teacher, wholly unsociable with everyone, didn't seem to even want to be there.  Trying to get into a conversation with her, she brushed me off quickly.  She did that with all the parents tho, I was watching her.  I was also rather appalled that the boy was at a desk area by himself.  There is a cluster of 3 small desks that all adjoin together where he sits, but there are no other kids sitting there with him.  The rest of the classroom are the same types of desks, excepting there are 6 at each cluster and there are 6 kids at each cluster.  

I wondered out loud why the teacher had him sitting there alone?  Apparently, I'm guessing here because I could see no other answer, the 3 desk cluster where he sits is the last 3 desks that the classroom could have and apparently this teacher doesn't have a full class, ie: short 2 students.  He's a good kid and he doesn't like to get into trouble, so I knew it wasn't because he's difficult to deal with.  I asked him anyway and he got this look on his face and got very defensive: NO, I don't get into trouble!  I would like to think that a teacher would just move kids in and out of that lone setup on a weekly basis so one child doesn't have to sit there alone all the time.  She doesn't do that.  

No one stayed long, that was the other thing that stood out.  I blame that directly on the teacher.  Parents came in, took a look, no engagement from the teacher excepting those basically forcing themselves into her realm and then left.  I can only hope she is more engaged with the children, I'm not sure why one would want to become a teacher if they can't deal with the parents. 

Out the door, they were serving free nachos.  They were pretty good actually, it was part of the cheat.  Chips covered in cheese, then the option for salsa, pico de gallo and sour cream. Yup, I put all of that on there.  Home after that and back on the "special diet", I haven't even eaten since then.  I even had to change my coffee habit.  I was putting heavy cream in there, now it's fat free powdered creamer.  It's a big adjustment. I used to eat and drink like this long ago.  I figured since I'm forced to do this, I might as well start drinking milk again.  Fat free and very light on the sugars.  It's actually quite good, but then again, I drank skim milk for decades.  

Today. Well, I need to go get some supplies for the boat work to continue.  Allen forced the son to start working on it.  I didn't ask him to do that, he just said yup, he'll be fixing that boat. Allen is gone again but I suspect he's dealing with them via phone or perhaps some sort of wifi driven messaging for the boy doesn't even have a phone atm.  

I am going to spend quality time on the tractor, that's a fact unless the boy has taken it out of there. It was sitting there yesterday.  I have 2 people coming in for the Boogie Woogie event.  It's some sort of music festival that occurs here every year.  You can look it up, lol, it's definitely a thing.  I decided to open up a 3rd lot for anyone needing it since I have had people leaving lately. Another one leaving Saturday.  It sucks and particularly so with the idea that I am getting very few new people calling, except thing one yesterday.

He calls. Yes, I have lots available. Do you have any shade? No, I do have some trees but not really shade trees. He shows up, looks around and leaves, I saw this on the cameras, I was still on the road.  He had stopped, asked someone about shade trees? and decided he didn't like it.  I didn't promise him shade trees or even artificial shade. There are some parks around with mature trees providing shade. My only option for that would be to install RV carports.  I fully intend to do that at this point, I just need the money for it.  

To that end, I am still waiting on a quote from the contractor.  Until I get something from him, I'm stuck.  I knew it would take time to get that quote, hurry up and wait. 

The temps have finally come down.  The storm probably brought that in, it was forecast for quite a while now that temps would start coming down and stay down.  Not going to burn up on that tractor, in other words.  

I watched 10 minutes of news this morning and then shut it off.  Just don't want to hear it.  This was about a report from an investigation the House is doing into the attempted assassination of Trump and the SS failures.  You'd think the SS was a bunch of amateur, armchair agents from what I was listening to.  

Anyway, I'm going to finish my cup of coffee and get out of here.  Lots to do today and I am going to redeem the time. 

G'day

 Tuesday - 7:18 am

So, I was looking at a post from an old friend - we're talking old friend as from the early 80's, high school pals type of thing - he had posted a pic of another old friend that had died maybe 3 years after he graduated high school.  I won't be posting names or anything to keep it private and not trying to judge anyone here, people have all kinds of problems in life and they deal with things differently.  

I asked how he had died?  I mean, it's not a bad question, people pass others ask what happened to them?  I got a Facebook video call from this guy.  I hadn't talked to him in probably 42 years.  We've had a few chats via comments on a post, but not an actual conversation.  He went straight to it and something I had previously guessed when I heard about it.  The dude was at a party playing Russian roullette. 

Meaning, he had a revolver loaded with one round.  He used to do this at parties I attended - rowdy parties with lots of beer and fighting.  He'd do it and challenge others to do it as well.  They got to me one night and I flatly refused.  I thought it was an incredibly stupid thing to do and I made no bones about it.  You want to off yourself, that's your choice, I am not suicidal.  They called me a pus*** and such and I didn't care.  If you don't care whether you live or die, then go right ahead. If you feel you have something to live for, that's probably not a good idea. 

So, this guy was 21 years old, at a drinking party, did his routine and blew his brains out right in front of a crowd of people.  

At the age of 21, I was fully into the mission field and doing God's work, I was both loving it and hating it, but I wasn't drinking and I wasn't engaging in stupid stuff.  I won't go into the mission field now, it's a story that would take days to write out and that wasn't the point of this post. 

We caught up with each other, he invited me to visit him in Canada and ended the call. I finally found out how he ended up back in Canada, he had been deported.  I find that amazingly ridiculous considering what's going on at our southern border right now.  

Anyway, that was an interesting conversation to say the least. He was lamenting that most of "us" are all dead and gone now.  I haven't kept up with those people, high school years were tumultuous, even scary.  Lots of fighting, gangs, hate, anger, drugs, recipes for disaster and failure.  I would have been a lot better off in life if I had never become involved with any of those people.  If I had followed my "dream" I wouldn't even be thinking about working trucking jobs now or wondering how I'm going to deal with retirement. 

The driver trainer says he wants to work until he's 70.  70?!!  If I'm alive and still working at 70, I want that to be at my own business, not working for someone else.  He'll collect a nice paycheck from the government every month, but what a tradeoff to have to work until that late in life.  

I"m not overly concerned, if some bad scenario happened the worst I would have to do is sell the business/25 acres and that would end any financial problems.  Or the house.  Or both.  The point is to build the business up until it's nicely profitable and then hand it over to those I have chosen to be in my will.  If they sell it, so be it, but by that point, hopefully, it's worth more to keep it and run it.  

As for today? I have Gurdon to go to and then tomorrow is off.  I didn't ask for it off, I don't need or want it off, that's the manager's decision.  Back to work on Thursday with early load and I"ll have to work the weekend for sure.  

It's 13 days until my trip.  I have a lot to figure out before then.  I also have too many empty spaces in my park. I am actively running ads in local facebook selling groups and running boost ads.  

The dryer situation came to a head yesterday.  The repairman received the new motor on Friday, kept telling me he was coming, didn't show up, blah blah blah.  I called Whirlpool to confirm whether they had sent him the motor under warranty? Yes, free of charge.  After that, I started trying to contact him. Phone calls, text messages and Yelp messages, where I found his business to begin with.  

He replied to none of it.  ON texting, you could see where yesterday morning he had read a few of the texts for he had his read receipts on, which tell you that it is "read" by the recipient.  This went on all day long and I finally left him a message:  If I don't hear back from you soon, I'm going to come over there, stop in front of your house, call the police and demand my motor. It doesn't belong to you and I will do whatever it takes to get that motor.  

You see, it got to the point yesterday where I just wanted the motor.  I could find someone else to fix the machine, but not without that expensive motor.  It wasn't 30 minutes after I left that message that he contacted me Yelp and told me he was coming "tomorrow morning" and now he has Yelped me again saying "I'm on my way".  So I'm looking at the cameras over there to see if he actually does it.  Otherwise, I will indeed go over there tonight and I will stand there in front of his house, call the police and let the chips fall where they may. He is NOT getting away with this, that's for sure.  Not if I have anything to do with it.  

What else...I need to get busy with that tractor and I intend to spend a good portion of tomorrow working on it.  If the boy doesn't take it before then, that is. When his family farm needs use of it, he just takes it and that's that.  I can't blame him at the same time I want an entire month's lot rent worth out of it.  So a good 5 or 6 hours tomorrow will get most of the front completely finished.  I also want to get back on the walking trails, there's an area where it's overgrown with tall weeds. I can bush hog them down and clear it out and also a tent camping area that I want to get freshened up just in case.  

Yes, I am facing a lot of empty spots right now, some of that I am sure has to do with the new competitor and his $200 off offer.  I am now offering $100 off and that's as far as I go with it. More than that is a losing proposition and only fruitful if  a potential guest has the intention of moving in and living there indefinitely.  I am getting overnight stays coming in the reservation system, I am not getting hardly any bites on long term.  It sucks, but what am I to do?  I advertise the virtues of my park. I have seen yet another park not too terribly far off that has installed covered parking over all of their spaces.  From the picture, it appears the place is either full or maybe a few empty spots.  

It looks so tacky tho.  That and the cost, it's not cheap. 

I'm just sitting here waiting.  I am not going to leave too early, the other driver has to have time to get in there, unload and get out of there. That and the manager doesn't want 2cd load showing up too early regardless.  I figure to be there around 11:30 am, maybe closer to noon.  It's 2 hours and 20 minutes to drive up there so I just going to leave around 9:15 am.   

I need to fix some errors on my financials, I made some mistakes that I didn't see until I started the process of getting the loan thing started.  I can't move on without fixing that stuff first.  It is not my strong point, doing business paperwork junk.  I am not making enough money to hand it over to a CPA or someone not licensed as a CPA but still has the authority to do a person's accounting.  It's why I have quickbooks. You have to enter the info in correctly, however, for it to be accurate....

I'm looking at how to get a temporary tag to drive the truck back to Texas.  It appears as tho I will have to have the title transferred to me while there to get one and then do the title process here in Texas.  Texas is very expensive doing that, they charge you buyer's fee based on the cost of the vehicle, which is based on their valuations, not based on what the actual vehicle may be worth. In other words, your vehicle could be a pile of trash and they will still value it as in good condition and you will pay a percentage of that.  

It's not really fair, at all, the way they have it set up, but I don't see any such requirements in AZ.  I just don't want to have to drag mom down there, she probably won't much care for that, at all.  AZ issues a non-resident drive out tag, but you have to have the title to do that.  I will probably just show up down there with the title signed over to me and then they can tell me if they can do it then and there or if I have to do such and such.  It will be top priority in case it takes more than a day to do it.  Actually, now that I think of it, I can just call them and ask them what I will need to do instead of waiting for surprises.  I can actually use my house as a resident status if I need to.  

I don't really need more headaches right now, in terms of paperwork lol.

Anyway, I'm going to get busy making lunch for the road and get out of here. 

G'day

Oh, and half an hour later? That repairman still hasn't arrived....

 Sunday - morning

I love that the kids have 2 tv's now to watch.  This means they don't "need" to come in here on a wonderful Sunday morning and disturb my peace.  Oh, they do still watch cartoon network. I was told they weren't watching the satellite at all, but I found that's not true.  What I would really like to do now that I have thought about it for a while is see if there is a much cheaper package that has the cartoons and some of the networks that I like to watch.  

Oh, well I wasn't really intending to start off with that but it's so nice and quiet in here.  

This coming week, temps are going to drop.  We had some nice weather for a while, but that disappeared and we're in the 90's for a high and even was 100 degrees a few days ago.  What this means for me is that when I get back from 1st run loads, I'll actually feel like getting on the tractor and getting some work done.  I got quite a bit accomplished yesterday but there is still plenty to do.  

I'd like to get front completely done and then get a couple hundred pounds of the winter grass seed when the temps are down and are staying down - and - when it's showing it's going to rain for a week straight type of thing.  There was grass growing out there, unfortunately the only way to get rid of the weeds and trees was to run back and forth over it.  That grass will eventually come back. Until then, a nice covering of winter grass will look great and I won't have a weed field to greet people when they're coming in. 

So, I'd like to finish that project before that kid takes that tractor out of there. Unfortunately, tomorrow is 2cd run which means the next day is also second run.  Late days, no time for tractor work. 

Fat.  I dunno, but I'm battling this weight nonsense.  One day it's 22, the next it's 217, then it's 223?!!!  It's not like I'm eating sugar and fat one day and nothing the next.  It's a steady, constant diet of more salads than anything and low or non fat everything else.  If there is beef or pork involved with a meal, it's eating a small portion of it and if I'm still hungry, then I have to fix something else.  Usually a quick sandwich made with keto bread and low/non fat ingredients.  

I just don't understand the weight fluctuation, haven't experienced anything like that before.  

Meanwhile, my initial applications are almost done for the SBA loan help center.  After I get that going, they'll start trying to match me with a bank/s and probably/undoubtedly a lot more paperwork. Gag.  This guy has done several RV parks so at least he knows the nuances of getting a loan for one and what I need to produce to secure the loan.  Since the pool is out, that ...well that isn't going to bring the amount down that much since I want to install covered parking.  

I am finding covered rv carports for much cheaper now that I've started looking. It's DIY but the cost savings is substantial. 3 grand for a 20x40 which is 8 grand installed.  I'm assuming installation is nothing more than sinking posts into the ground, cementing them in place and then building the structure on top of it.  It's still 30 grand for 10 of them.  Go for the gusto and get 20 of them.  I can include a price for all of it in the bid for a loan.  Amazon has $46,232.87 for 15 of them including shipping, tax and 2 year warranty plan on each one.  The warranty is $129 a piece.  

That's just a preliminary search that I am not engaging in today, it's Sunday, I'm finally going to church and enjoy a nice day off.  I worked yesterday outside and it was blazing hot.  Tomorrow, the trade off for a late start is - a late start. That's Kamala Harris style speaking.  Except this has meaning: I don't have to get up at 5:30 am, I can get up at 7:30 am instead.  I like to be at the loading plant between 11:30 and noonish on the second load day.  Tuesday I'll be there around noonish as well.  2 hours later than the first load appointment time, plenty of time for them to deliver the product and get out of there. If I show up and they are still there...it's not like I showed up AT their loading time or that I am going to somehow get in front of them. If they want to complain, they can and I'll explain the same thing to the manager.

Right now? I need this job. The hours mostly work out for me - I wish I could get early load every time but I understand that's not possible and it's home daily with a very rare day where I stay out because of a truck problem.  The pay is ok, not great but not bad either and mostly good for the amount of hours I have to work.  I can't see many scenarios where I would ever go back to OTR again.  The money is great and that's the only thing good about it.  

Today is the first day of Fall, I just remembered. Looked it up a few weeks ago and here we are.  So, having a 91 degree day isn't all that Fallish, but it's a comin'!

Time to get ready for church. 

G'day

 Saturday - mid afternoon

Goodness, I've not attended to my blog in the last several days.  Just busy.

Allen came back yesterday so I went over today and we had a discussion about his kids, their lack of motivation and the fact that stuff isn't getting done in a timely manner, if at all.  Not my deal, my deal was with you. If you can get them to do the stuff, great, if not then we're going to have to do something else - like you paying rent. 

Allen was barking out orders to them this morning, especially the dude.  Fix this, fix that, btw you ARE going to fix the boat (I told him I was going to pull it out of there, he said no, he's going to fix it.  The discussion went on: I'm willing to pay him, this isn't a park related thing), mow the grass once a week, etc.  I'm guessing he'll move on, but that's just a guess.  He hasn't been brought up in a home where they don't teach a work ethic, I do know in life you can become overwhelmed by everything, shut down and just do nothing. 

Been there, done that.  Something has to kick your @$$, basically, to get you back in gear.  I don't think Allen barking orders at him will do that, but it will get him to either working or he can leave, either or.  They certainly got busy right away as soon as he showed up tho.  He's only staying until tomorrow so I have no idea if that effect will continue on, but I do know that I will be letting Allen know whether they are doing as agreed - or not.

Now that I seemingly and finally have something going there, let's discuss the upgrades.

No, I haven't heard anything back from the contractor but he did ask for the legal name of the park yesterday so I'm hoping that means he's working on it.  They are busy people, I do know that, but to stay busy, you have to make bids and quotes.  

I have decided against an in ground pool.  It's way too expensive and the upside to it isn't that much, I don't think. Some people like pools, a lot don't use them.  A hot tub, however, is a completely different story. 1st off, it's much cheaper, especially if you get a used one that is still in good shape. There is relatively little to install.  A water line and 220 volt for the pumps and the heat.  I will very likely install a pool, but it will be an above ground version with a deck built around it, much cheaper.  And I won't do it until next year, no point in it now, we're going into cooler season very soon. 

No, what I have determined that is an upsell that people really want is covered RV parking.  These are park fillers.  People will pay more for a lot with a cover over it and they will be happy to do so. Of all the things I have been studying and watching, the covered parking is the best upsell there is available, over pools, spas, club houses, etc.  Another upsell is having park wide BBQ's.  That takes a lot of time tho and it's also not particularly cheap to feed that many people. Once in a  while is ok, Allen was doing it frequently but with people bringing food to help out.  

Anyway, I've been looking at pricing on these covers and they aren't cheap.  I'd like to find some that are maybe DIY kits, haven't gotten that far yet. This stuff would have to be baked into the loan, I don't have that much money laying around and even if I did, I wouldn't want to put it all on one thing and just not have any cash available.  I can say I've put a lot of thought into how to get people in there.  If I add lots and can't keep the place full, there is no point in it.

I also have a major competitor now who is doing a lot of advertising and also is offering $200 off first month's rent.  So,  countered with $100 off and did a Facebook boost ad.  I have had no responses to it yet, but it hasn't been 24 hours yet either.  I feel like if I could just write an ad with "Covered RV parking!" and hype that up, I could actually steal people, so to speak, from other nearby parks.  So that's where I'm at in my thinking about all of this.  The contractor gave me a look the other day and said - "don't get into too deep".  He was obviously talking about spending too much money.  I agree and it further confirmed that an expensive in ground pool is not necessarily that great idea.  

I won't even do a mortgage if the monthly payment is too high.  I am not going to jeopardize losing the property over mega-high payments. But, presuming I can get a decent monthly payment on a 30 year loan, I'm definitely going to go for it now that I have a clearer path forward.  I can see going $2,000 or thereabouts per month, maybe a bit higher since the income will hopefully be there. But I would base it on being partially full, not completely full all the time.  You just can't do it that way, people leave and sometimes it takes time to fill the spots back up.  I think right now I'm going to have trouble because of this new player in town, tho I feel like I have made a decent counter to his ads. Besides boost I'm also going to post it in all the local selling groups.  

I dunno, but I am doing the best I can with the circumstances I am facing.  I'm not going to reduce my monthly rent prices beyond giving a first month discount. The new guy's rates aren't any better than mine and my 50 amp price is $25 cheaper per month.  I just need the necessary amenities that will draw people in.  So, I'm also looking for hot tubs. If one is popular and not enough? I can put 2 in.  I don't really care except I think it's going to have to be have a cover over it and that may be a bit pricey.  I feel like, at least at this point, that I don't have to go all out with super nice stuff.  I can go all out with cheaper stuff that does the same thing. Won't look "resort style", I never claimed to be operating a resort.  If people don't like it, go somewhere else. I can't and won't be able to please everyone, I knew this going into this deal. But I do need more than what I have right now.  

What I am really relieved about is getting the adult kids of Allen dealt with. I didn't deal with them, Allen did as he should have to begin with. They had no accountability until I got tired of it and texted Allen who then started cranking on them - they are living for free there, this deal between him and them was they did a certain amount of work around the property.  Now, I'm just going to text Allen - this and that needs done, please contact your kids, thank you.  

That pretty much covers the last several days.  I was out there today on the tractor plowing down small trees and brush with the bucket and then mulching them with the bush hogger.  I got quite a bit done.  I'm trying to get the front completely tidied up so I can just have some grass in there.  It's already looking much better but there is more to do. It got way too hot and I just ended up quitting for the day. It's 92 degrees out right now, which with all the humidity, is ridiculous.  It was the first day I had an opportunity to use the tractor since the kid brought it back.  I guess I could go over there this evening for a couple hours before the sun goes down? Maybe. 

The kid did not, however, bring the box blade he said he had and that was a bummer. The driveway is getting messed up again and I need to blade it.  The driveway is a constant PITA and if I get the loan, the cost of fixing it will be baked into the cost of adding lots, the contractor already agreed to that.  It needs a dozer to get it smooth, a trench on the hill side of it and then add some gravel.  He wanted me to do it like he did the RV park driveway - but that's way too expensive.  You're talking 20k at least just worth of rocks.  I think that if I get a drainage ditch put in and have a crossover for the whatever to drain into, this problem will be eliminated.  

I don't remember what I've posted about trucking, but the situation with another driver turned into an argument several days ago. That problem has allegedly been fixed, I dunno, I'm off this weekend and driving trucks is the furthest thing from my mind right now. I need to print out a couple of applications for the SBA loan and get started on that. 

In fact, I'm going to do that right now.  

 Thursday - early

It's days like this when I wish I wasn't working.  I woke up a couple times last night but it was short lived and I was out of it otherwise all night long.  I had the feeling that I could have slept at least a couple of more hours and I would have happily tried.  This never happens on days off.  

I made it 27 minutes yesterday, I was going to keep going but my legs were on fire. I'm referring to brisk walking and just keeping up a fast pace to where I'm breathing heavily.  It's a good walk, but I can only go so long before the legs just say no more, thank you, you need to quit and I do, indeed quit.

I'm still waiting on the motor to show up to fix the dryer and I'm still waiting on the contractor to come up with a quote.  I figure that might take a while, so I'm not going to get too amped up about that yet.  I kind of think once I get that paperwork in to the SBA helper, the requests are going to start pouring in for even more paperwork to be filled out and a lot of information. I may be spending most of my free time trying to come up with all of that info.

Tbe 3rd T Mobile Gateway device showed up a few days ago, I finally got a chance to set it up yesterday.  It's not plug and play. You have to download their app to set it up.  For some reason, I only have 2 bars of service showing on the thing, the last - 3 - have all showed 3 bars.  I got it set up and it is working.  

Yesterday..at the plant in Gurdon...

I show up at the scale, get my paperwork and then the dude says, you're going to have wait time.  It was obvious what he meant and sure enough, when I got over to the delivery shack, there he was again.  Sitting there unloading hours before his offload time and during mine.  I'm not going to say I let it slide this time, I parked the truck, walked over there and asked him curtly: What are you doing here?  Excuse me? Why are you here right now?  It turned into an argument this time and his calloused, selfish statements about his right to show up before I should be showing up got me riled up.  

He said "what law is there saying that I can't be here right now?". Then he looked at his watch, "it's before 10:00 am so I can be here". I decided before this devolved into something much worse to walk away from him, letting him know that I was going to be contacting Mitch.  He said it doesn't matter, go ahead and call Mitch. I texted him and a few hours later I got a call back. He dealt with it and that driver got his @$$ handed to him. I'm not making friends at work beyond the driver trainer.  We talk in text all the time, the rest of these people? Well, the head mechanic is pretty cool I've spent hours talking with him.  But it's like this company draws the people with the worst attitudes.  I suppose being stuck in junk equipment all the time might add to it but it certainly wouldn't be the root cause of it.

I have no idea, but if this dude shows up again trying to butt in line, there is going to be a serious problem now that management has allegedly dealt with him.  I'm not going to just sit there and continue to take it.  Oh, and this dude yesterday? I said what if I just start doing the same thing to you?  He laughed, I get up really early, you can try... well obviously not early enough to be out of my way.  However, the manager has a much different take. They don't want us there before our load times, certainly not 5 hours before it.  The loading plant is our customer and they want us there around the correct time for some sort of statistical purposes.  

Anyway, the kids are swarming around me and so, it's time to get offa here.  My goal today is get the trucking stuff done early if possible, get back to the property, do the 30 minute walk and then get on the tractor for a couple of hours.  I want to work on the front and get as much cleared out as possible.  Just before the kid takes it away again...sporadic I guess at best. 

G'day

 Tuesday mid-afternoon

I slept so poorly last night, it was a real struggle to get out of that truck at the Park this afternoon and get heading towards the trails.  A force sheer will to overcome that fatigue and just get it over with. I can't give into constant excuses. Going a few days without doing it is okay, but then I feel like I'd need to go 4 days in a row after that. Today is day 1.  It is warm and extremely muggy out there.  It isn't pleasant walking conditions on top of the desire to simply go home and relax.  

Social Security sent me a yearly statement of how much I will get, depending on what age I retire.  At 62, it $1,565 and goes up from there to age 70 where it's $2,756.  Ridiculous.  No wonder people complain about it all the time.  I'm sure you can  live off of that kind of money, but it's a pretty frugal existence I would imagine without having anything else saved up.  

This is why I started this RV park and it's why I'm looking at getting into some serious debt and hope it pays off.  But honestly?  Upgrade that park to 40 spaces with a pool, a spa, a doggy park and amenities shed and that property is worth around 600k or more at current market prices.  

When I say serious debt, however, I'm not talking a million dollars. I'm talking putting the property into it, the extra lots which I figure is going to cost around 120k - just guessing off of what they charged me for Phase 1 and factoring in inflation - and a pool setup with spa? No clue. 70k?  That's 250k, which is not a huge loan in my view.  Shouldn't be a huge payment, either, no more than 2 grand per month anyway.  It's kind of a deal breaker, tho, if I can't get a pool and a hot tub in there.  The only alternative would be to put covered parking over many, most or all lots.  That is highly popular I have noticed at the parks that install them. I don't think they look particularly good and they are expensive.  

The ones that look nice start at 6k plus and go well up from there. I've seen a park that just opened up recently, they started installing what looks to be home made version of it, just pipe for the stands and I guess galvanized for the roofs and they have filled that park up. It is extremely ugly looking.  People want the shade is the point and if they are long term, the protection they provide from the elements - sun and rain - eating away at their roofs. 

It isn't likely that I won't have any of them if a loan were to go through.  At least put 10 of them up at an elevated price and see what happens.  

No word from the contractor yet, tho I don't expect I'll get a quote particularly fast.  It's going to be a process and no, I have no guarantees of getting the loan but it's all I have right now.  Waiting for eternity isn't helpful and isn't conducive towards expansion.  If I were to get a higher interest loan, if interest rates ever come down, I can refinance it at some point.  

Here's what I can do if a pool won't be financed: Get a good, used hot tub, poor a cement slab somewhere and at least have that.  I've seen RV parks who have put put above ground pools and built wood decking all around it at a fraction of the cost of a built in pool.  Not as nice, but it's something.  I can get a good used hot tub for around 4 or 5k.  Hook up a water line to it, run the 220 volt and walaah, you have an instant recreational spot.  

Anyway, I have a lot of irons in the fire atm, just waiting on replies.

Meanwhile, I did, indeed, send Allen a text last night. I had had enough. I am not giving away free lot rent for next to no work being done at all.  "So.  You never came back, Renee has been gone quite a while. The grass is getting mowed every several weeks but there is no trimming so the stuff around the driveways is a foot tall.  My agreement was with you, not your kids. Nothing against them but they are highly unmotivated.  So it's up to you. I don't have park hosts and necessary work isn't getting done here. If you want to pay lot rent then I'm fine either way it and I'll go another route".  I guess I missed a word at the end there.

The point was made. You want to keep your situation, do something about this.  And he did.  I came back from the run today and all of the grass was mowed and trimmed. This should be done every week. There was a lot of texting back and forth after that message, of course, but I'm not going into all of that.  I got results and that's what matters.  The kids were saying they need weed killer for the grass.  Yes, but that doesn't preclude the need to trim the damn grass.  What, are you going to just mow the grass and leave the stuff around the pads up?  It looked stupid, I should have taken pics of it.  Like grass half mowed.  What on earth. 

So, I hope to have that under control, but now I'm going to just tell him every week - the grass needs mowed (if it does. indeed, need it).   

One of the other drivers that's been trying to cut in front of me lately finally got it right today. He didn't show up until 11:30 am.  I should have been out of there long before then, but they were transferring product from the kettle to the cooling unit, I had to wait.  Over an hour.

Diet. I'm actually still doing a version of Keto, with a lot less meat and mostly getting rid of as much fats as possible.  I dunno what to tell ya, I was down to 217 and then this morning right back up to 220. Makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.  I didn't eat that much yesterday so I guess I have to rack it up to going 3 days without the walking?  

So, let's see what happens when I walk 5 days in a row.  I just have to do it regardless of what's going on.  I check my weight every morning so maybe after 3 days I'll see it go back down? Or what?  No clue.  My legs are aching from today, they will probably be aching tomorrow as well.

 Monday - 8 am

Amazingly enough, the boy did exactly what he said he would do. He is a person of his word.  I guess I can call him a man, he's only 18, baby face but his work ethic is stellar. Probably better than many men 20 years his elder.  Anyway, he brought the tractor back.  I didn't see when he pulled in, must have been night time and the camera didn't pick it up. I can see the truck and trailer on the lot, I'm hoping he brought the box blade. I need it badly, the driveway is messed up again. 

The driveway basically needs to be paved. Well out of my affordability zone right now, it could use a couple of truckloads of gravel at least.  If the price of gravel was reasonable....I could put cheaper gravel down I guess, it's not my RV park driveway, it's the main driveway that both park guests and gas well employees drive on.

I might look into that since there is a tractor to spread it out with.  

I have the house to myself, hence I'm sort of moving slowly. Like, no kids and no adults either. Everyone went off to work, it's like my Sunday.  Because yes, I did work yesterday, the entire weekend for that  matter. I didn't really want today off, but since I have it...

I have lots to do.  If he brought the box blade I'll get with that today.  I need to fix the drain in the sink in the shed and I have a leaking faucet on one of the lots. Meaning a trip to Lowe's at the very least. The dryer repair guy has been "missing" for 3 days now. I just found his actual text number (it was going through Yelp up until now), if he doesn't reply, I'm going to dispute the charge...

He finally texted back. They didn't have the right motor and he'll have to order it. I just supplied him with the phone number and the reference number to order the part direct from Whirlpool, hence we get the right motor and not have to have a broken machine sitting in there forever.  Ok, so hopefully he does that for people are depending on this stuff.  Some people don't want to go to a laundromat, others just don't drive.  

And then there's this T Mobile fiasco. It's such a long story and just too exasperating to go into all of it.  So, after hours of being on the phone with these people that don't know how their own system works, I have a separate account for the third one and it should be arriving today or tomorrow.  I have 2 of these internet Gateway devices now already that I have to return.  Why? I have no idea why they would just keep sending this stuff out and not just transfer over the info to the device.  The idea that these people can't control their own devices in such a manner... I'm waiting for them to send labels to send them back, this problem wasn't created by me and I refuse to pay for the shipping.  Not that they would do that anyway, but I wouldn't even know where to send them back to...

I skipped walking this weekend. Not because I wanted to, things just getting in the way. I will be trying to do 45 minutes today to at least start getting caught up.  Well...I said I'd do at least 3 days a week, so I hit that goal last week. Then on Friday, I was 11 minutes into it when I saw a trailer pulling in and abandoned the walk.  

I'm losing weight and tho my diet has changed substantially, I would like to think the walking is also helping out.  I'm finally below the 220 mark for the first time in quite a while.  However, the "sacrifices" in choices of food has been pretty tough to deal with.  For example, last night was bacon-ranch pasta.  I couldn't eat any of it. Wonderfully delicious, I can't eat bacon or regular fat filled dressings.  Loaded with both, I had to do a hard pass on it.  

So, I had to pull out some plain old chicken and make some bland food for dinner instead.  

I haven't heard anything more from the loan dude, but then again, he did ask me for a written quote, which I asked of the contractor, who said yes, but that's all I've heard.  There is yet another  RV park going up.  They are popping up all over the place like hotcakes.  They're not down the street and around the corner, they are in/near neighboring towns, they pose a threat to my business.  1st would be travelers and second would be long term who is trying to decide where they want to live.  

I've had problems with this contractor getting stuff done, I may have to find someone else.  I'll just have to contact him again and ask if he got anywhere with a quote for me.  I need a pool quote too, now that I think of it.  I dunno, never thought that this was going to be a fast process.  But, I need to get the steps taken that I need to get done to start walking through all of this. It is very clear to me that I need amenities that make my park stand out plus more spaces to make the park viable.  If I want to add a cabin with 100 amp service, I already have 2 panels on the meters that can do that. 

Anyway, I'm just sitting here drinking my coffee and enjoying a house to myself, but alas, I need to get done with this and get moving.  I hate going to Lowe's but I need 2 separate parts from there.  I haven't watched any politics in a couple of days. Well I take that back, I took a look at the second attempted assassination of Trump.  The tolerant left, right? The left claims the first assassin was a Trump supporter which turned out to be completely false and now they are saying this one is, too.

So, someone who supports someone wants to kill them?  Makes perfect sense to me....The man looks old and somewhat frail - I turned the news on to see what's up, they've got a pic of him sitting in a police cruiser looking out. He'll probably spend the rest of his life in prison, was it worth it?  He's lucky SS didn't kill him, there were shots fired, I just haven't seen the details of it yet - again, I haven't been watching the news that much, it gets old.  The constant mud slinging is sickening and revolting to me and I can only handle so much of it.  

There was something else, tho....Well there's the trip coming up. I need to figure out how I'm going to get that truck legal to drive back here.  I have plenty of time, but I want it dealt with in advance, I don't want to have to be doing that on the trip unless that's the only way it can be done, ie: having to go into AZ MVD and get a temporary trip permit or something.  I certainly don't want to pay registration in AZ and then have to pay it again in Texas. Texas is also going to charge me a buyer's fee, whatever they deem the truck is worth, they assess a purchase fee against it to title it in my name.  Texas is pretty expensive in that regard.  

The trip ate up 24,000 points in cc perks.  I mean, the ticket was over $300 1 way.  I had to leave out of a local airport, driving to Dallas or Fort Worth to fly out would mean I would have to get a ride back there when I return....my friend works in Longview, hopefully when I get back she can just drop me off at the airport. They charge no parking fees at all. The last time, that vehicle sat there 3 weeks before I cam back for it, that was the trip to Oregon and that nightmarish orientation crap.  

Alright, my excuses have run out.  I need to get going.

G'day

 Sunday  mid-afternoon

No church today, it was working today and yesterday. 2cd weekend in a row but I did ask for it.  Oddly, he's given me tomorrow/Monday off. Umm, if I have to work through the weekend, why would I want a weekday off?  I may actually work through next weekend as well. I need to get caught up.

 A man that had great influence on my Christian life passed away yesterday.  I may end up writing an entire post about how my contact with him came about and the entire scenario that unfolded afterwards. But, to shorten it to a few words? I was standing out on the tarmac of a small airport, washing an airplane, listening to a Christian radio station and heard an advertisement about a revival in a tent, come one come all!  There is just too much to this story to even begin to go into it here.  But, I ended up going to that meeting and then several more after it and then? Ended up on the mission field for 5 years.                

Yes, I'll have to simply write an entire post about that and broadcast it as such.  I don't feel like doing that right now, I got up at 5:30 am and just now got home at a little after 3 pm.  

They've done nothing more with the boat, so I'm hoping the other dude will come through and do what he said he'll do. If he doesn't, it's coming home, I'll do what I can.  The other guy predicated his statement with "I'll need 7-10 days" to figure out what's wrong with it.  I'm going to have to contact Allen and inform him if his kids don't step it up with the stuff they are supposed to be doing for free lot rent, he'll have to start paying.  I'd rather have an empty lot than giving away freebies to people who aren't motivated in life.  Their lack is not my problem excepting it's affecting my bottom line.  They aren't paying, I want results or I want them to pay - or I want them gone.  

On another note, I was sitting at a table last night playing a game of Skip Bo.  A married couple were in a bad mood and they were in a bad mood last week as well.  Well, let's focus this: the lady was in a very bad mood last week and last night after asking why she isn't talking, she just gave me a look and wouldn't answer. I found out today that everyone (read: other ladies in the group) is concerned about her, but she won't open up.  I asked her last night how she's doing and it was a very short and very curt, frankly.  I was trying to engage in friendly conversation, I knew this wasn't going anywhere and wouldn't end well if I continued on so I just stopped and let it go.  

But, beyond that, there's one thing I have noticed in social situations that has greatly annoyed me for many decades now.  You can sit there and watch certain individuals doing a lot of talking and everyone is listening to them, but when you throw in a comment about it, it's as if you hadn't spoken a single word.  They turn their heads, act as if you hadn't said anything, don't want to hear anything you have to say - but yet - they want your total attention.

When I start seeing this now, I just stop talking.  If they are that in love with the sound of their own voices, let them babble on and on and on without a care of anyone else. It's disconcerting, however, to have people that you would otherwise hold in high esteem acting out like this.  As if the entire world revolves around them and anything anyone else has to say beyond their circle is irrelevant and useless. 

It's a pinnacle of disrespect that I find obnoxious.  I'm not referring to me only, I have been watching this with whoever, wherever, situations I am involved with and you just see people blankly staring into outer space.  I observed this for an elongated period last night.  2 of them going on and on, but when anyone attempting to say anything, they just ignored them.  Remember, this is a card game, we are all sitting around a table, there are 7 or 8 of us.  

It doesn't have to be any particular situation, however.  It can be anywhere, doing anything.  I sometimes get the urge to confront people on this.  I tend to speak my mind when I want to, but there are constraints.  Not that I don't hear other people out, I just don't use a lot of filters.  I just want to ask them why they are so self-absorbed that they think that they should be the only one/s speaking and everyone else? Shut the hell up.  

If I'm going to give you my attention and respect to hear everything you're saying? You better darn well give me some of that back.  And if you don't, you are going to get met with silence or, if I'm in that mood, I'm going to call you out on it.  You (whoever you are, not anyone in particular) are not God and you don't sit on a throne.  You are just another person like the rest of us. Take yourself off of your self-made throne and get back down to earth where the rest of us are.

As for the loan, nothing yet. As for the dryer, the guy left 2 days ago with the thing completely disassembled on the floor and I have been trying to get a hold of him for 2 days.  I'm going to give him until tomorrow morning to at least reply to me. If he does not, I will call my credit card company, dispute the amount charged and then find someone else.  I would like to hope that even if the thing is disassembled, a pro can still fix it and put it back together.  

The tractor is suppose to "appear" tomorrow morning.  If it does and if he brings the box blade with it, I'm going to spend several hours fixing the driveway once again.  If it doesn't, I have things to repair over there. 

The next Gateway is coming from T Mobile. I have gone through a fair amount of hell with them about this situation and I'm simply not going to go into all of that right now.  Basically, you can only have 2 Gateway internet devices on one account.  When I tried to get one for the Phoenix house some time ago - April - they cancelled the shed gateway without bothering to tell me and I have had nothing but trouble since then.  These people don't know their heads from their - other end.  It was quite an exasperating day yesterday attempting to figure out what's going on with this and finally having someone tell me there's too many devices on the account and that's why.

So why didn't these people tell me this at the get-go?  Why did I have to spend countless hours on the phone? I told them I wanted a separate account for the Arizona house, which they said they would do, but they didn't.  It actually comes down to your SS number and only 2 can be attached to it, not separate addresses some 1,300 miles apart. The policy makes no sense to me. Charge more if you like, I would be happy to pay it over what I'm paying now.

I have started a separate account with my business name and address, which they said they would "happily" do, without giving an explanation of why all of these people before these 2 at the end informed me of this policy.  

What's even more ludicrous is that they can't/won't just use the device you already have.  I have 2 of them now, 2 "extra" Gateway devices because these people somehow can't just transfer it over.  Why? And what am I supposed to do with this junk?  Send them back. Well send me a damn label then?!!  Oh, we didn't do that on the first one? NO.

Oh! And yet another brand new RV park opening up.  About 45 miles away.  This is getting into the insanity department.  There is going to be so much competition, I am either going to have to get that swimming pool and spa or I'm going to have to switch to a mobile home park. Or a mix of RV's and mobile homes.  My dream will not evaporate, it will just take a different look. I don't really want to do a mobile home park for a variety of reasons, but if I have to - I have to.  I do believe a swimming pool and a spa will bring people in from all over the place.  

And I heard back from the insurer: "You may not believe this, but a pool doesn't really add that much to the policy as long as you have all of the safety equipment and measures in place".  Well that's good news. I don't think people are drowning all the time in swimming pools and when they do, it's all over the news.  People do, however, slip and injure themselves, many times out of stupidity, which is why you need to have cameras.  

I could put up a used hot tub for "cheap" and have it going quickly.  A water supply and 220 volt is all I need and that is readily available where I intend on putting it.  Well and a cement pad, preferably.  On that huge lot 1 where most of it is getting used for nothing, I have decided that facilities are going to be put there. What kind of facility, I hadn't determined but a hot tub and a pool would fit in there nicely, I think.  

Well whatever. I've been going all day long and I'm ready to go lay down in my bed and watch something on the tube.

 Friday - early

Went to bed wayyy early last night. And slept fairly decently considering.  

I have heard nothing back from the SBA loan helper and the part for the dryer hasn't arrived. They thought they had one in Shreveport, they had to end up ordering it from Little Rock.  I would like to hope it arrives today and get that thing up and running again.  

I'm working the entire weekend - by choice.  I'm going for another 6 days next month, I need to make up for it somehow and that's only going to happen with working weekends.  I found out the reason Wednesday was off is because they weren't loading anyone on Wednesday.  I thought that strange for the plant in Gurdon has been going through that glue pretty fast.  I go in there and both the giant tanks are usually at least half empty.  Enough room for many more truckloads.  

BTW, Trump is now saying he also wants no tax on overtime.  I can tell ya from a lot of experience that the overtime taxation is outrageous, more than regular tax, I don't know the formula for it, I just know that when you have a lot of it, you think, ohhhh, but the taxes!  Why don't we get rid of all excessive taxes and just force the federal government to "live within it's means"?  Citizens are struggling to make ends meet while the government doesn't give a s*** and spends, spends, spends, creating money literally out of the thin blue air and telling us "we know better than you".  

If there is one tax that needs to go, I have endlessly harped on this particular one, it's property taxes.  Get rid of that and you get rid of at least one way the government can't simply come along and take your land or home.  They'll never get rid of all of those mechanisms, but a person that has paid off their house or land and still be exposed to losing it for high taxes? That is total bs. Find another way to fund schools and counties.  

If Trump is elected, I have to wonder if he'd be able to get those proposals through tho. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime and what was the other one? Democrats are in love with taxation and even citizens will tell you they don't mind pay more.  What...if that's true, go ahead and voluntarily write them a check and leave the rest of us alone.  

We got quite a bit of rain a couple of days ago and it shows already. The grass greened right up.  Looks nice again.  I can't say that I am having much luck getting the offspring of Allen to do much of anything. I hardly ever see them outside of the trailer and I see lots of grass that either needs mowed or trimmed.  

Well, I guess it's time to get ready to get out of here. Work/driving calls.

G'day

 Thursday - early

I would have to say that Trump did somewhat poorly in that debate.  Talking about people eating dogs wasn't particularly helpful. Regardless of whether it's true or not, the internet blew up mocking him saying such things.  As if people don't eat dogs, especially from South America. There are numerous areas in the world where dog meat is considered a delicacy, it is entirely possible - whether it's likely or not is up in the air - that people coming up from there are eating dogs.  I've had dog meat - unknowingly at the time I was eating it - it was quite tasty but had a rather odd texture to it.  

The moderators, especially the dude, were playing fact checkers and also engaging in the debate. Entirely expected, along with the fact they weren't fact checking or debating Harris.  It was completely lopsided and they were forcing Trump to go into the defensive, I'm sure that was their plan and coordinated it with ABC in advance. You don't have to believe me, you just watch the debate and you can see for yourself.  

Trump would have recognized what they were doing early on and he should have just started ignoring their questions at that point and start hammering on Harris communist/socialist policy and calling her out on numerous things most Americans don't agree with, some of which she is now not saying - in order to get elected of course.  If America votes her in, we will get what we asked for and it isn't going to be pretty.

So, I don't really blame Trump for the performance, excepting going off into things that were immaterial and irrelevant.  I think they were getting into his head and that's why he was getting flustered. There were some moments when Trump was also occupying space in harris brain, you could tell by the fluctuations in her voice.  Overall, the debate was a waste of time for it was planned as an attack on Trump and that's what we saw.  

I had yesterday off and I did much of nothing the entire morning. It was raining and it was a very pleasant time to just stay in bed, binge watch a Netflix series I had never heard of about a man who becomes President after the capital building is basically blown to pieces with the president, VP and almost the entirety of Congress as well as SCOTUS inside and killed. It was a great show - until they got more into politics and an obvious anti-gun message.  They could at least try not to be so obvious and blatant about it. So I don't know if I will watch any more of that, we're already deep into ridiculous political times.

I had a guy come over to fix the dryer at the park yesterday.  I had no idea what was wrong with it and it took him quite a while to figure it out.  He said the motor is getting very hot when it's running and that's what's causing it to shut itself off. I was a bit taken back by that. That dryer is only a year old and the motor is already bad in it? It's a $300 price tag, ridiculous for a newish machine.

Anyway, I have to get ready to go, maybe finish this one up later.

G'day

 I've seen enough commentary about the debate. Harris is going to win! Trump is going to win! Whatever.  I have my choice and I decided that long ago, I don't need a debate to help make up my mind.  You are either going to vote for far left, progressive/communist policy or you are going to vote for a more sane approach to governance.  Harris is completely out of her league, as far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't want to vote for her even if I were a democrat.  If she wins and actually enacts some of this absurd nonsense she wants to do, I don't believe these people that installed her are going to be secretly happy about their choice. They might continue to prop her up on the world stage, but behind closed doors they are likely going to find that they aren't terribly happy with her.

4-1/2 hours away from the debate.

Trucking.  One of the other drivers was there, of course, when I arrived. He was supposed to show up at 6am and be out of my way, instead, he didn't show up until almost 8.  It was only 15 minutes waiting, but still, he shouldn't be there at all.  He then informed me he had to take the trailer in because the safety pop-off valve is "leaking".  It's a valve that when a certain level of air pressure is reached, it lifts and start letting it out.  

I checked the plate on his trailer, he pop off is set to 30 psi, he is trying to take it up to 40 psi.  Well, you can cancel your trip to the yard to get it "fixed", they are just going to tell you it's only rated to 30 psi and it's doing it's job precisely the way it was designed to.  He had lots of ruined tires on the trailer as well, now I have found the person that is trashing everything.  I couldn't believe he was pulling that thing with tires like that.  If he were to get pulled over for an inspection, they would simply put that trailer out of service and it wouldn't be moving from there until a tire truck showed up to replace the bad tires, they were that bad. 

On the way home? I got stuck behind an entire house being moved down the highway. It was huge and it was taking up both lanes, there was no way to get around it.  I was thankful I was only a few miles outside of my town, they weren't pulling over to let traffic pass, there was no place for it to pull over.  Got to town and they turned onto the loop, which is my normal route, but no way I was being stuck behind that thing like that, I went through town, with all the lights and still beat it.  The pilot truck had made it through the light, the rest of the caravan had not. This dude was trying to stop traffic even tho the carvan was stuck at the light behind him. Lol, I came up on him and he moved over. 

Walk today.  Was great.  I was on the phone trying to get service for the dryer which has stopped working.  Well, it turns on, runs for about 2 minutes and then turns off.  I was on the phone the entire walking session, then to the shed to get the serial number off of it, then to the grocery store before the phone call was finally over. What was the end result? We don't have authorized Whirlpool technicians in your area.  You'll have to find one for us.  In other words, even tho the thing is under warranty, I highly likely won't be able to use the warranty because whoever I do find to fix it? They aren't going to be "factory authorized".  

I haven't even started looking, that was maybe an hour ago and I am relaxing before delving into the arena of local appliance techs who can actually fix the machine.  I will end up paying for it out of pocket.  Had I known this before purchasing these units, I would have bought a different brand.  

The walking is getting easier on my legs.  I am also feeling better.  Sleep last night was nice too, but that could have just been a one off.  It happens.  We'll see. Just not counting the chickens before they hatch, if I start getting a lot of nights worth of good sleep, then I can start chalking it up to the exercise.  I also went to the store and bought a bunch of low fat/cholesterol stuff, tho I completely forgot to get more salad fixings.

No worries, I am not working tomorrow, I guess it's back to the regular schedule.  No, that isn't the regular schedule, if I want to keep working, I will have to work another Sunday.  Mixed feelings but if the work is available, I'm going to do it.  I need money and it's not happening by not working when I can. 

I did, indeed, receive a reply from the loan specialist. He charges no fees - yes well it is a government funded agency that is there solely to help people fill out SBA loan requests and try to help people get them passed through the system and eventually approved.  He said the pool may be a problem, some banks don't want to lend for that. I haven't responded to him yet, but it's fine, not a deal breaker, but if it is, I want to try and get financing for rental units instead.  

 Tuesday - early

Today is the presidential debate.  I have doubts there will be another one.  I have doubts Harris will say anything of substance about her policy, she will instead either engage in speaking endless words that have no substance or meaning or she will attack Trump. 

If Trump is smart and has a decent memory, he can hammer on her previous statements - not that long ago - about intended policy, she is basically a Marxist Communist in her approach to the economy and all things pertaining to citizens.  Also Trump: Please, please please stop with the name calling. Hammer on policy, your policy versus hers and the outcomes of both sides. That is my personal request to former President Donald Trump who will undoubtedly not see this post, lmao. I think him pounding on her Indian/black ancestry was fairly stupid. 

You aren't going to win over any voters by pulling the race card. Democrats have done that endlessly and people are finally waking up to it.  It serves no useful purpose, as with Democrats who are still calling all of the Republican party a bunch of racists, bigots, misogynists, "white nationalists", "radical right", etc.  I would be considered radical right just for my views, but when you assess people with that label, people start thinking mass murderers, people who will go kill innocent victims in crowds, starting civil wars, violence in other words.  Yeah, I am none of that.  

I would love for us to move into a different era, where you don't have both sides focused on name calling and denigration, this from politicians is what I'm referring to. If politicians would take a different tone, the gullible would follow right along.  I say gullible because there are people on both sides that believe every word that comes out of the mouths of DC mouths and think not for themselves.  If the likes of Pelosi and Biden say "Trump is a threat to our democracy!" you'll see democrats coming out immediately declaring the entire lot of us are a "Threat to democracy!".  Well, honeys, if we were such threats, considering the numbers of us, don't you think whatever we intended to do would have already been done? Again, Pelosi is one of the most divisive figures in any recent times.  

_______

Up to Gurdon, offload, back to the yard, do the 30 minute walk and go home, hopefully.  A bunch of other stuff laced in with that. The dryer isn't working, I need a tech to come out and fix it.  I think it may be a thermal fuse, but who knows?  

Well, my ear is being buzzed by child voices telling me about being grounded.  One of them took a toy to bed, handed it to the other, etc, they aren't supposed to have toys in bed. That doesn't promote sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I actually got 7 hours of beautiful sleep last night.  Amazing how much better I feel when I get a decent amount of quality sleep.  I only woke up once and I went right back to sleep.  If this could only happen every night...

I probably won't hear from the SBA loan help dude for a bit, he was on vacation when he returned my email.  I, uhh, am going to try, I guess.  Unless he says I don't have a chance, then I'll abandon it.  If he says my chances are good, I will have to pray over it.  I have very little debt on the property - but at the same time  - the income isn't enough to live off of. Meager existence I guess, it's just not what I envision, it's not in my plan, my goal is enough and then some to live comfortably, help people, go on an occasional vacation, get the things I need and not worry about money.  

I'm not worried about money now - but that's only because I am working the trucking job. Without that, I would have gone into bankruptcy.  But that wouldn't work with that property, I would have to sell it and pay off my debt.  

Well, about time to get going. I'm watching the news - have been watching very little of it. Trump is apparently advocating for no taxation on SS payments. That will appeal to a large swath of the voting public. If I were a Trump hater and heard that, I would take a second look, lol.  I don't think seniors should pay property taxes, either.  

Anyway, I'm going to probably be listening to the commentators today - on both sides - to see what kind of reality they are currently living in and what kind of things they have to say about tonight's debate.

Other than that?
G'day. 

 

 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.