What is there left to say?
I will be leaving within the hour.
I hope to be able to make an entry from the property.
Nervous about that one!
We'll see.
A long time has passed since this situation first began.
A lot of time, energy and money dumped into it.
Hopefully, it will pay off.

G'day.

ben

Just spent several hours on the "final countdown" to tomorrow morning.
I have a couple of hours worth of stuff left to go.  I was REALLY freaking out when I was
told I would have to make a trip to the Intel plant at 2:00 this afternoon.  NOOOOO.
I pretty much talked my way out of it by calling the salesman on the account and asking him to please take this delivery, that I was calling in a favor - I have stayed WAY late on several occasions because of his customer.

He started out with how I am the delivery driver, this that and the other thing.  But, I remained calm and just slowly talked him into it.  I might just be getting off of work right now if I had had to make that run.  I told him I normally don't care if I have to stay late, not normally an issue, but just this once can you please cover this for me?  So, yes, I got out of it and got out of there.  Headed to several different stores.  First up was Petco, I wanted to get a tag for Sophie, the new doggy.  Put my cell phone number on it.  In case she gets away from me up there, at least have something on her that gives more than just the option to call the pound.  Yes, I am also putting on her license today.  Plus she has yet another ID tag that has the number of the rescue that I got her from.

No, I don't want her to run away, yes, I am facing a very real possibility that she will somehow manage to do just that.  I have 2 different collars on her and ID's on both collars at this point.  She's a sneaky doggy. She will run herself out and then try to find her way back.

PetSmart, however, wanted $9.50 for one of those things!! Unbelievable.  I just left.  I went to Walmart after that and found a machine in there that does it for $5.  More reasonable, more like it.  Then off to other parts of Walmart to get the rest of what I need.  Of course, I forgot something: ice.

Oh well, get it at the local convenience store later, right now, I need to go out and water everything, including filling up the fish ponds. One of the pumps failed yesterday, bad timing on that.  Just what I don't need, a $50 expense.  No choice, ordered one online, going to be several days before it gets here, like sometime next week.  The water? Going to get a bit foul, I think, by then.

I've still got the wiring party to do as well, going to get to that pretty quick here as well, while there is still daylight.

Lots to do, really, best get to it.

Later.

Final Day

Ugh.  I should have taken today off, now that I think about it.
I have a LOT to get done today and I am afraid I might get to all of it.
It really has a lot to do with how early - or - late - I get off of work.
If I get off at normal time, I can probably get to all of it and have it done by evening.
If I get off late, then I am going to have to pick and choose what is going to get done,
and what is not.
2 priorities, though: Get another electrical adapter and switch the wiring on the pigtail.

After that, it's anyone's guess.  The electrical adapter is at Camping World and the pigtail
will probably take anywhere from half an hour to an hour to get done.  The guy wants brake
lights on the trailer and I don't really blame him.  I will be following him, yes, but I understand
a bit of apprehension when brake lights don't work and also the potential for getting pulled
over and getting a ticket.

Ooops, one other huge priority: water the plants well.  Top off the ponds.  Ask Mark to keep an eye on that stuff.  Okay, I have to realllllly hope that that Intel situation and the contractor there isn't going to call us at 2:00 pm demanding materials to be sent out there.  If they do, that is going to be something that will take away hours that otherwise I could be using to get stuff done.

Well that's it.  There are other things on  my mind, but, this situation is sort of taking the stage in my life and will be that way until sometime late tomorrow morning (Lord willing and hopefully) that it's up there, parked, leveled and ready to use.  It will be interesting to see how well this guy can maneuver that trailer up on mom's property considering the space to maneuver it - is pretty tight.  There is only one place it can really go and that is in a stand of trees with just enough space to put that trailer in there.  I am very glad I did not opt to buy a much longer trailer, I was looking at a 35 footer and there was also a 40 footer that I had been looking at when I was looking to buy this thing.  I don't think either of them would make it in there, honestly.

Okay, it's time to leave for work.  Off to the races!

ben

Moving Trailers

It took a while to move those 2 trailers around.
It was hot.
Crank one up on the truck, move it out, crank it back down, crank the other one up - repeat repeat.
But it is done.  Filled up the fuel tank on his truck - a crew cab Ford pickup with 8 foot bed, big long thing with a diesel engine and we parted ways.  The wiring on the pigtail on my trailer is hooked up wrong, hence the reason brake lights weren't working.
Will have to do that tomorrow after work, along with several other things.  He is coming over at 5:30 am Saturday to hook up to the thing and haul it out of here, meaning I have to have everything complete by tomorrow night.  Which shouldn't be a problem - shouldn't, lol.

Time for bed.  Need some good sleep tonight for what's to come tomorrow.

G'nite.

ben

2 days and counting.
Lots to do.  Completely spaced out getting insurance on the trailer.
It's a 1986 model and I only paid $2,500 for it, so hopefully fire insurance on the thing won't cost too much.  I'm not really sure what kind of insurance I can get on it, but I will try to find out today through my auto insurance broker.
They should be able to tack a policy onto my existing policy without too much added expense.  But who knows.  Fire and theft insurance, now that I think about it.

Anyway, Mark will be working on the thing today.  He was complaining how hot it is in there.  I showed him to close the bathroom door and yes, the front half of the trailer will cool down very nicely.  Like in the mid 70's.  It's just getting hot here now, plain and simple.  It will not get up into the 100's up where the thing is going.  If it ever does, then look out down here, cause' the temp difference is at least 20 degrees.

So, still a bit left to go here.  I was making a list and though what is left to buy isn't expensive, per-se, there is still much that I had forgotten.  Thing that I don't want to do without, frankly.  But, if I forget something or even several things, no biggies.

Salesman coming over at 4:00 or so to move around the trailers today.

Which is cool, that gives me tomorrow to do whatever finishing touches before the trip Saturday morning.

Time for work : )

G'day.

ben

Just a few more things here.  My replacement Verizon Hot Spot mobile broadband router.  Jury is out.  Was working at a jobsite yesterday and then just quit.  It was working at another place today where it had NEVER worked before and I had tried at least a dozen times at that location.  I'm still not convinced, but Saturday will be the tell all for me.

Zimmerman.  I had wondered, when this shooting occurred a while back, how everyone in the news media and hence, everyone with an opinion, could possibly jump to the conclusion that Zimmerman committed murder, not  an act of self defense.  Do we know all the facts? I remember a local talk show trio - not just one host but a threesome of them - declaring him guilty.  Really?  Now, some very interesting, new facts have come out.  That Zimmerman had 2 black eyes.  A broken nose.  A laceration to his head.  That Trayvon had bloodied knuckles.

I'm not going to sit here and say this situation should have ended the way it did.  If the 911 operator really told him to stay away from the kid, maybe that's what should have happened and Zimmerman should have just waited for the police to come.  But, when you look at the newly released evidence, it certainly should at the very least, sway people's opinion back to a neutral position.  Oh, he might really have acted in self defense.

I was not going to take the dogs up with me to move the trailer up there this weekend, but I have since changed my mind.  The new doggy can be roped to a tree and the Danes can run free.  They won't run off or if they start to, they will come back when I call them.  The new doggy, not yet.  She IS settling down, but I think she would still just take off and not even blink an eye if I called her to come back.  She's a sweet girl, though, very nice doggy, glad I got her.

I'm Not Going To Say That............

...............I regret not doing the bedroom with carpet, but it certainly would have been nicer.  I thought the carpet cleaner would get it looking pretty good, it really did nothing for the appearance of it.  That carpet was filthy.  At least I got it clean if nothing else.  I CAN say that I would have been REALLY unhappy if I had not replaced the rest of the carpet in the thing.

I went to Walmart today and bought a bunch of stuff for it. Toiletries - all of them I will need.  Kitchen stuff: plastic wrap; aluminum foil; a new cutting knife; paper towels; stuff like that.

I bought a plastic container that I figured would hold enough dog food that if I filled it up, it would last at least several weekends worth.  I was not wrong. That small thing actually can handle a 40 pound bag of food, though I put about 2/3rd's of a bag in it.  I also scored a nice, 100 foot extension cord today.  I've asked Mark to do one of his infamous clean jobs.  That guy can really clean.  If, for example, he cleans a vacuum cleaner, that doesn't mean just emptying out the container that receives the dirt.  In his mind, that means taking the entire thing apart and doing a clean, clean job on it.  That's how he cleans EVERYTHING.

Anyway, the salesman changed the parameters on me and he is coming tomorrow to jockey the trailers around instead of on Friday.  Which isn't that big of a deal, especially now that I have a long enough cord to reach the outlet.  Point being on Friday, since we aren't moving it on that day, I am going to want to be in it, looking around, feeling it out, what else does it need?  What else can I AFFORD right now, lol.

I still have left a trip to the dollar store and maybe Anna's linens if I can't find cheap throw rugs at the dollar store.  I forgot to buy a fan for it today as well.  Good thing I still have 2 full days left to go.  I have 4X8's to level it with.  It will be parked on a hill, one side of the trailer is going to have to have it's wheels on top of boards to level it.  I bought coffee and creamer, I wouldn't mind stocking it with some canned and dry goods as well.  I got the dog's food bowls - cheap ones - and I will be taking a 5 gallon, plastic bucket for their water, just like they have here.  Just happen to have 4 of those.  I will be taking 2 of them.  One for water and the other to empty out the waste water holding tank.

My mother has her ways of doing things when it comes to that, I will have mine.  I am not going to haul off to the outhouse in the middle of the night if I need to go.  The toilet works just fine, thank you and I will not be using it enough to have to haul much waste very often.  Just dump it into the outhouse hole and that's that.

That's enough of that situation for now.  Tomorrow get the trailer in the front of the driveway and ready to be hooked up to and hauled up there.  I will have to ask Mark to look after things when I am not here.  More specifically and importantly: my plants and my fish.  In the hot summer, you have to water the plants either every day or every other day, every day is best.  The fish obviously want to be fed every day as well. Feeding the fish is no big deal. Watering the entire sides and back of the property also no big deal: turn on the valves and let it go for 15 or so minutes and that's it.  I did not finish hooking back up the drip system out front, so that is going to have to be done by hand.

I am planning on going up to the property, when I do go, on Friday afternoons and be there at early evening.  Then have a full Saturday to spend up there and either leave on Sunday morning or at the latest Sunday afternoon. I still have that to work out.  I am definitely not going to be spending every weekend up there, but I do intend on spending enough of them up there to have made all this effort, time and money spent worth it.  3 day weekends are a foregone conclusion that I will be up there unless something is going on down here that I need to be here.  Memorial day is coming up soon.  That's a Monday, so I will probably leave early Saturday that weekend and miss church, yes, but go up there and stay until Monday late morning.

The heat is already here, the AC in the house is already costing me a lot of money.  Much earlier than normal.  The temps are 10 degrees above normal for this time of the year.  It will be paramount at this point that tenants pay the rent on time and if they don't, they will not be getting a notice from me, I will be visiting with them personally.  Just can't afford late pays or people that start going downhill with it. So far, it's all good.  This trailer, however, has cost me some money, much more than just paying for it.  Fortunately, I am at the end of that road or at least very near it.  Definitely, the expensive stuff is over with.  There are only a few issues with it that do not have to be fixed right now, save it for the future when I have more money to deal with it.

I do have one caveat:  I am about to make the final payment on the other trailer.  I will ask Mark to clean it up real nice and then I will try to sell it for what I paid for it. I haven't dumped any money into it, well very little anyway.  It's in decent condition.  It has some issues, but I bought it with those issues.  Nothing huge but still.  I might sell it on payments, but would be very cautious about it.  I have had trouble with making the payments on some months and I wonder what would happen with a person in an even lessor financial condition than I am.  The point: I need that money, really, for backup.  If something goes foul, I need something to make up for it.  Next month I am paying down the second 401k loan to zero balance since it's almost there.  But I would REALLY rather NOT have to use retirement money to pay for anything.  Yet, in the reality of life, if my back's against a wall, I will do whatever I have to do to make life work.

Excited? Yes, but not getting too carried away with it yet.  I have been cranking away on it and on the property for days and days now.  The wind storm REALLY messed some things up on the property and I have been working to clean it up and straighten it back out.  Not much fun, really, but a necessity to keep the place looking nice.

My Butterfly Koi - which has grown about 8 inches since I got him to a whopping 12 inches - came up to me a bit ago while I was cleaning out the pump and actually let me touch him!  Talk about knowing the hand that feeds you!

I just got done reading a report on some research that said that 8.5 million adults had sleep-walked in the last year.  I find it intriguing cause' as a kid, I did a whole lot of sleep walking.  The report said that if a person was going to fall down some stairs or something dangerous, then yes, wake them up.

There were many times I would wake up in the basement.  To get there from my bedroom, I had to walk across the house, down a flight of stairs, around a landing, down another flight of stairs, around another landing and another short set of stairs, back across the house, open the basement door, walk down yet another flight of stairs, across a 20 foot entry way and then another flight of stairs.  I walked down stairs so many times without ever falling while sleep walking I guess I don't  necessarily agree  with that particular portion of the study.

It was strange, though. Waking up under the piano; the dinner table; the kitchen floor; in the attic; the bathroom; all over the house.  Even stranger that my parents never knew I was doing it.  I had to walk right past their bedroom to go anywhere from my bedroom.  There are a couple of times I can remember doing the sleep walking.  Your eyes are opened but honey, the lights ain't on.  I remember it as if it were a dream, though, not while it was happening.

Well, whatever, speaking of sleep, I didn't do so well in that department last night and just got done with an hour nap.  I am undecided on small church group tonight, if I don't wake up a bit more than what I am now by then, I probably won't go.

With that, I am out the door.  I have some stuff to get done today on the trailer - namely the roof.  Just need to get the old screws and stuff that are still up there, off of there from when I was replacing the roof vents.  Make sure everything is hunkered down and ready to go up there.  Then back inside the thing to sit there for a while and think of what I need and write it down.  I have a list, but it's not finished yet and I am running out of time here!! lol

Later.

ben

Spent a couple of hours after working putting trim - wall and floor - in the trailer.  Just a bit of that left to go and call it done.
My oldest brother finally emailed me back.
He said he was waiting to tell me whether he could be there or not.  He apparently does not go up to that cabin every weekend.  I think his work gives him overtime if he wants it and at the rate of pay I am guessing he is making, that is probably hard to turn down.  But, he said it looks as though he can go.

I wish I could get a job there!  Pension and 401k?!!

Oh well.  Don't get me started on retirement stuff.  That thing sits in my mind all the time.

Gonna start writing up the list tonight - like right after this entry. What do I need.  Gears will be cranking: what will I need that I am not remembering?  Foregone conclusion I will forget something - or several somethings - but I would rather remember as much as possible so it can all get into the trailer and not have to haul a bunch of stuff up there.

Dunno why the lights didn't work on that other guy's truck, I patched a line and juiced it, brake lights came on.  No clue.  Not going to worry about that one at this point.  Down to the nitty gritty.

I was engaging in a "family" wide email started by my dad.  I responded to him and replied all and then was informed that I and one other should start the plans to get a family reunion going in North Carolina.  Good ole' rich uncle Bob.  Great guy, actually.  He didn't used to be.  Money seemed to be his god at one point in life and arrogance his companion.  From what I can tell, he has gotten over all of that.  Well, whatever, I have no means to start or engage in much less GET to a reunion in North Carolina.  I missed the last 2 because of budget constraints.  My cousin then jumped in and said we should have one in Australia, where she is currently living!

Lol.  Would LOVE to go to Australia.  What the rest of my family lines doesn't understand is that a person in my position - not exactly rich - can't just make plans to go jetting across the country or the world for that matter in a couple months notice.  It would have to be more like NEXT YEAR for me to be thinking about saving up enough money to make such a trip.

That's it for today.