So now my credit score research took me to very disappointing results.  The negative effects of having late payments can and probably will stay on your credit report for 7 years. I don't know where I read 3 years, that's what my first thought about it was after reading it somewhere, but now?  Nahhh.  That's not it at all.  I can't be waiting years to do the things that I need to do.  I'm very close to good range on one of the reporting agencies, not so much on another. 

I dunno, but I can't wait years to do what I want to do.  What caught my attention the other day was all of these properties that are going to be auctioned off by the Sheriff next month at public auction. No reserve, highest bidder wins.  Lots of properties listed, 2 of which were interesting at 21 and 25 acres respectively. But who shows up to these auctions? Probably people with a lot more money than me.  But what's the worse that can happen? I'm out bid or never bid in the first place, who knows, but call it a learning experience and try again the next time. 

Right now, I'm perplexed at the listings themselves.  They have a lot of code in it I don't understand or recognize and there is no real description of these properties excepting for lot size.  No addresses either, just rather vague descriptions of the properties being sold.  I guess I'l have to visit the county courthouse and inquire about how to find out about each individual property that is for sale.  I think there is some sort of book they have that you can look at to find out detailed information. 

It's something I will be devoting some time to until I find out whether it's anything worth doing or if there are too many strings attached, or perhaps properties that have to have something done to them to bring them up to city or county codes.  People don't just give away their properties for no reason  However, some of them say the county v unknown heirs - of a person's name.  In other words,, someone died and their property was never claimed I am assuming.  That's weird. There's a bunch of them listed like that in there. Who knows what kind of treasure trove of a property might be lurking in that list.  Very unknown territory for me.

Credit score woes will drive me to find other means of accomplishing my goals.  I'm so close on my experian score, tho, to the good range.  Just 11 more points.  And more than half of those credit cards haven't reported the zero balance yet. Will it be enough to push my score up? Or will those late mortgage payments from the past continue to haunt me?  Who knows.  I should find out next by next month, I would think, these cards will report it sooner or later and then your credit score is affected by the next update. 

Thoughts that have been filling my mind.  Meanwhile, continue to save save save in a savings account and just keep pushing forward.

Except for today. It's past 10 pm and I'm getting sleepy.  I have plenty to do tomorrow but I'll have as much time as I need to get it done.

Alright.
I made it almost 600 miles yesterday which is pretty good considering the route.  It's laden with small towns and slow speed limits.  Especially on the Texas side.  Got up to the plant, dropped and hooked and got straight out of there.  Had an agenda for today and I needed to be home early enough to get it done.  Cleaning being the big factor, laundry, pack my bag and get ready to go. They're having company over for the week so I offered my room since I'm going to be gone, but I definitely wanted to get it cleaned up in here.

So my agenda is maybe half way done.  I've been going at it since before I got home.  Walmart and other stores, dogs out of food.  And a stop at Waffle House.

I'm still on the diet.  I've been finding ways to stay on it even tho I ran out of food.  You can pretty much order meat anywhere.  Stay away from potatoes and breads and fruits.  Waffle House was a slab of ham, 3 slices of bacon and 2 eggs over easy.  Delicious.  I was lusting after the hash browns being cooked in front of me tho lol.  I'm sure I've lost more weight.  The scale showed 214 earlier and that's mid way through the day.  Before today, at this time of day I would be up as high as 221.  I figure my weight this morning was 207 or possibly even 206 since I was at 208 several days ago.

Not to mention I had to pull the belt another notch tighter starting yesterday.

 It's making me rethink my plants of quitting for Thanksgiving lol, but I doubt I will be able to help myself. Potatoes are my weakness.  When I see them I'm like, ugh.

Okay.  Well this is a real vacation coming up hopefully.  Unlike the 10 days off wondering when I was going back to work. I am becoming much more well-adjusted to being out on the road.  It's like, no biggies - until the last day when I know I'm going to be home.  I was missing my doggies greatly at first, but now, I miss them yes but nothing like it was.  I was a true home-body and just sticking around the house was my thing.

One thing I'm telling my manager is do not stick me back in that other truck I just got out of today.  It's a smoker's truck and I despise that smell. Smells like a giant freaking ashtray. The smell gets into the AC/heat ductwork and it never comes out.  I've sprayed and sprayed into the intake.  It's against company policy to smoke in the trucks but lots of driver do it anyway.  Heck, it's against Federal rules to smoke in the cab of a tractor pulling a hazmat load, but don't tell that to smokers lol.  You aren't allowed to smoke within 25 feet of it and yes, the rules specifically state you aren't allowed to. But whatever. I'm not a tattle tale I just don't want to be subjected to that and I don't see any reason why I should hold my tongue on that particular issue.

I'm giving up on a 65" big screen TV on black friday. I'll be in Phoenix, I can't find anyone that will go to the Walmart here and get one for me.  No one likes black Friday, they don't like being subjected to all of the masses caving in on each other. I get it, but that has never really stopped me.  Last year I showed up 20 minutes after the mob.  There was nothing so important I wanted that I needed to be involved with all of that.  I thought about buying one in Phoenix and shipping it, but I"m afraid it would get destroyed during shipping and shipping something that large would cost a small fortune. 

The only thing I can hope for is that cyber Monday will have some good deals.  I don't have to have this, it's just something I want. Looks like Cyber Monday will have some good deals on 55 inch tv's. Perhaps I'll switch gears and get myself a nice laptop instead.  I could potentially go in Phoenix to get one of those if there's something that is instore pickup only.  My son used to love going on these adventures, perhaps I can motivate him and his wife to go on another one lol.

Ok, I'm 2/3rd's done. I'm shooting to leave for Dallas around 3pm.  It's a 2 hour trip, probably less the way I drive but 2 hours is safe bet to say, especially on a Sunday and less traffic.  Get a good night's sleep, leave my vehicle at the hotel, take a shuttle to the airport, get there early so I have time to deal with any problems, relax after I get past security and start my vacation.  Instead of being up all night on red eyes, I will be getting up a bit early, yes, but no 1 am flight times. 

And with that, I must get on with the day. 

Friday Morning.
Weighed myself after 6 days of not having been on a scale.
I was only down 1 pound.  It was neither surprising or disappointing.
It's better to see it go down or even stay the same than having it go back up.
I ate some big meals out on the road this time. Not carb laden meals, but definitely
some calories involved with it. I suspect this next coming week will be worse for
calories and probably getting kicked out of ketosis. 

Today? I'm headed up to Barnsdall, Oklahoma.  I was unsure whether she was going to send me anywhere so close to departure date, but I'm really going to need this little trip on the paycheck after next.  It's a 2 day trip unfortunately. Last time I took this trip, I made it back within 20 miles of the yard.  Ohhhhh so close but yet so far!  I didn't mind tho. I just went to sleep, stayed in bed much longer than I needed to - but, you have to be off the clock for 10 hours.  But, on that trip, I was bobtailing up there, a mission to get a trailer that was needed for another trip going out.  So I gained time not being slowed down on the way up with a heavy, loaded trailer.  I'm hoping to make it back to Paris tonight.  I don't know if I will, but that's about an hour and 40 minutes out from the yard.  I'm just hoping to get home tomorrow with at least half a day left so I can get some stuff done.

I am leaving on Sunday.  I made that decision yesterday.  I don't want to have to get up so early and then travel all day and then be tired when I get there. I may be tired anyway, but not as much as if I were getting up at 2:30 am to get to Dallas in time to find a parking space to get a shuttle to get to the airport to get through security.  I've done it before, many times, it's just much easier I think to treat a vacation as just that: a time to take it easy, not a time to have to be rushed.  That's the plan, we'll see if it works out lol.  Apparently Southwest's $20 per direction "early" boarding isn't worth it after researching it.  It is likely that there will be people there that take priority for being whatever members and having had purchased higher priced tickets.  I'll just take whatever seat I get, lol, the first leg is to San Antonio. 

We won't be in the air very long before landing again. Not much to see in San Antonio, we won't be there long enough to do anything but shuffle from one gate to another. 

Oh, the reason I have so much time this morning? I woke up early, long before the alarm clock went off. I knew there was no returning to sleep so I didn't really try. Another side effect of this diet is you seem to need less sleep and still feel good the next day.  This will be a 14 hour day so I hope that holds fast all throughout the day. I mean, even if I feel tired this evening, I should be good to get at least the Indian Nation turnpike behind me.  Just a long stretch of highway, a terrible road actually, it's in horrible condition but it's the fastest way up there. Other ways will ad at least 2 hours to the trip.

Meanwhile, I watch with great interest this caravan. Some of which have already arrived in Tijuana.  Democrats spewing their nonsense all over TV were wrong, I believe intentionally wrong.  They said the caravan was made up, blah blah blah. Now they're at our border and apparently a bunch of them have been caught trying to illegally cross the border.  Is it an invasion as Trump said? Of sorts I suppose. It's not a military invasion, but no one in their right mind thought that was what Trump meant when he says that.  Where are all these people going to go if they get in here? Who is going to house and feed them? You already know the answers: American taxpayers.  These people aren't sponsored tho I guess some of them have family members already up here.  I would suspect they aren't here legally either.

Well that's it.  I have a pile of things to do when I get back.  I took it easy yesterday.  It's just the nature of having been out on the road for an extended period. 5 days is my version of an extended period.  Other truckers would say being out a month is extended, well and find for them, I don't live by someone else's clock or hometime happiness.  Some of them don't want to go home for a myriad of reasons.  I do want to go home, I need to go home lol.

Well it's that time, to get out of here. Take the dogs to the other house, get to the yard and get this ball rolling. 

So a trailer finally showed up yesterday at 3:50 pm.  My only goal was to make it north of Houston. I knew that driving through there at night virtually guarantees sailing right through it, there might be some traffic - all major cities have traffic 24 hours a day - but nothing that would slow me down. I also figured that the 610 West/North loop would be flowing good. It's the best hazmat route around downtown - IF it's not congested.  I wanted to stop at the Love's in Cleveland, to fuel and take the 30 minute break. But, nahh.

It was listed as full on the trucking app several times, it was late and I blew past it. I got up to a small truckstop 50 miles up the road, it was full, amazingly. I've never seen that place full.  I was going to spend the night there, yawning, tired, past midnight.  I did go to sleep but 20 minutes later a very noisy truck came rolling through ever so slowly, as if the driver wanted to wake every one up.  That 20 minute nap was all I needed.  I got up and drove the rest of the 130 miles out, arrived at the yard at 2:30 am and went to bed in the yard. I had no desire to do all the paperwork and everything else at that hour of the night.

It  was cold. 25 degrees. I got up at 9:45 am, a yard full of drivers. I struck up a conversation with one of them and the next thing you know there was a crowd.  I had things I wanted to do, but it was adult conversation and not to pay myself on the back, but I can keep a party going when I want to.

Anyway, I finally left there and headed home.  But I stopped to get something to eat first.  Interestingly, you can get food a restaurants for keto. It's not sold as such, you leave out the potatoes and anything with high carbs and you're fine.  I just felt like talking. The waitress there knows me well, I had to call her off my usual lol. But we started talking buying properties and houses.  Nice interaction. After that, to the other house to get my dogs. But, same thing, sat there and talked for over an hour.

I literally wouldn't have done any of that if I had known I was getting sent out tomorrow.  With all the trucks sitting in the yard, I figured I wouldn't actually go out again until after I get back from Phoenix. I'm not complaining, tho. It's an overnight trip and there's "almost" no likelihood it will tak me beyond Saturday. This is trucking, you never know what's going to happen. But it's up to Barnsdall Oklaohoma. You drive up there, switch trailers, and leave in 15 minutes.  You can make it back a good 3/4 of the way before running out of hours.  That puts me getting back to the yard sometime mid morning Saturday, which gives me the rest of Saturday to get home, get my stuff ready and figure out what I'm going to do for going to Dallas. Do I stay at a hotel the night before on Sunday and get free parking? Or leave early Monday morning?

I have no clue right now, lol. I'm in a funk right now. I have been gone 5 days and I just want to relax and do nothing. I suspect that's not going to last, as I'm trying to motivate myself.  Just that it's going on 4 pm already and I haven't even been home an hour.  I least want to make some dinner and get food for the short trip ready.

__________________

I'm changing some of my thinking about flying.  No late night flights.  You don't recover from that for a couple of days.  Early flights - like what I'm doing - is fine but getting up too early to get there is not fine. It's the same effect, the day is ruined.  Sleepy, tired, cranky. What's the point. It's a vacation. I didn't have the option before, I do now.  Money was always the issue.  I am still cheap as far as airfare is concerned. Not just the cost of the ticket, either, the cost of all the "extra" fees. Who'd thunk that taking a bag with you was "extra"? Lmao.  Southwest airlines still has 2 free checked bags and their price for where I am going was far cheaper than anyone else's when taking those extra fees into consideration.

But see? I don't want to get up at 3 am to get to the airport.  So, I found a hotel/parking/shuttle deal and it will add to my trip, not take away from it.  I'll leave out of here sometime late Sunday afternoon, arrive at the hotel, check in, do whatever I want to, get up at Get up at 5:30 am, get there at 6, check in, get through security crap and be there much earlier than I want or need to be, but that's the breaks in airport security. You could get in within minutes, you could be pulled aside and given hell.

I've had both.  Some dude running his gloved hands down my crotch and ass area, feeling me out like we were going to have sex. Freaking nasty.  Whatever. You deal with it or you don't fly, that's the end of the story. I can't drive there, it's too far, takes too much time.  Apple maps has it listed at 16 hours and 48 minutes. Take at least 2 hours off that the way I drive and it's still a long, long drive.

I already drive for a living. I like flying, tho flying nowadays is nothing like the memories of flying in the 70's and 80's.  Planes were never fully packed like they are now.  And now, I'm reading about the fact that airlines are packing so many seats into these planes, that the seats don't match up with the windows.

________________________

I've come to the conclusion that tho these people here may want to lose weight, they aren't that serious about it. It started out ok, we had a plan, but after a couple of weeks, I was handling this stuff doing the cooking and much of the buying.  I bought a bunch of stuff before I left, we had discussions about making it.  I'll eat what's leftover, if there isn't anything, I'll just make more. I had all the recipes printed out and laying there.

You have to be motivated to lose weight.  Someone else can't do all the work for you.  That's basically what I've been doing and I'm done with that as of today.  I'll make food for myself and they can eat whatever they're going to eat.

But I'm starting to get signs that it's possibly time to think about moving on.  I never thought this would be anything permanent, kept that on the shelf in my brain.  Relationships, all kinds of them, are complicated things. People change their minds about other people.  They think one thing one day, a year later they might think something different.  I have never thought that whatever happens here, that they might not see things differently.

The spark of the interaction is all but gone. I try to get it there, but their matching it isn't there, like it used to be.  Conversations are becoming void of any detail.  Not on my part.  Texting/messaging isn't what it was.  You just see the signs. Those are a few of  the things. I've been around awhile.  I'll see how this goes in the next coming months but if things continue to go the way they are, I will be moving on.  To where, I don't know.

I have crazy ideas. I don't want marriage. I don't want FWB.  I don't want any of that. I just like to live with people. It's been my life, it's nothing I'm going to somehow break myself of in my mid 50's. I could see a large property with cattle and a small farming operation.  Something with it's own water supply.  Something that is as off the grid as you can be and still be connected to society.  And having people there to run all of that.  Not a cult, not a thing to start conspiracy theories, not a thing to do strange things, just a thing to live a simple life.  To enjoy being in the company and presence of other people.

The internet can serve a purpose, but it appears to me that it's the end all. As if technology has replaced thinking, analyizing,  interpersonal - real life, in person - relationships.

I've spent a lot of time trying to define my goals.  Land? Rentals? What?  Land is the thing that appeals to me.  Rentals is the thing that brings in money. I dunno yet. My credit score jump 38 points and I am hoping after all these credit card companies report, it will launch into "good" range.  I'm almost there.

I get to these points in life and I spend too much time mulling on what to do next.  Usually, tho, I know what I can do. I just take too long to act on it.  Right now? Naw, I have no clue.  Keep saving money,  yes, but as far as living here or not? Moving or not? Where would I move to? I haven't got a clue why they are acting they way they are.

Okay, I'm ready to go home. I"ve been here since Sunday, it's now Wednesday morning. I'm at another company paid hotel but I'm about to leave here. There is never any good reason to show up at that yard too early, they never have a trailer coming in before 10:00 am.  The dogs are out of food at the other house, I had to ask my friends to please take a bagful from my room over there to tide them over.  Adler is not a light eater. The dog is pure muscle and his eating habits reflect that. 

I'm not tired of making money for doing nothing, but at some point, it gets into my head that it's time to get out of here.  I'll have 48 hours of detention pay and that is plenty, plus the detention play at the plant plus 2 hours worth of breakdown pay - which pays the same as detention pay per hour. 

That's plenty.  I want to get home and start getting ready to go to Phoenix.  I'll have several stops to make while there as I have contacted friends and family in advance and have at least 3 days planned out. Probably all of them will be consumed, in reality, but the 3 are definitive dates.  I'll have the freedom of having a vehicle to travel around old stomping grounds. I'd almost like to run  up to the mountains, but I think that's probably not in the cards. 

I could stay here another day without it affecting my plans or my next paycheck. As long as I get it turned in by Thursday, this pile of cash goes to next paycheck.  I want that money for this trip.  I don't need the money, I just want it in my checking account and having the peace of mind of extra cash just in case.  I'm likely going to take the people that run my house over there out on a bit of a shopping spree.  They have done very well with that place and have taken care of it very nicely.  I  have given them free rent months several times this year - tho that by their request.

She has had a surgery and couldn't work for a couple of months. 

The closer I get to the date to leave, the more it's getting into my brain that maybe I shouldn't abandon this diet.  We are going off of it after 12 weeks, I really think I"m going to want to continue with it.  Thanksgiving is turkey, I can eat all the turkey I want.  No potatoes, breads of my mom's famous coleslaw but everything else.  Ok, even if I continue with this? I'm going to have a small pile of her coleslaw!

Well, I'm leaving the hotel, I'm hoping to be heading home today.

In my view, a bizarre situation.  I'm sitting around in Brownsville Texas over a trailer that has a problem with it that might take a mechanic 30 minutes to fix unless more serious problems are found. Add a few hours to that if they have to order the part.  Or longer if Brownsville doesn't have the parts.

Instead, there was an email bickering back and forth about fixing the thing.  What I found out today is when one of our trailers has an issue, they - the plant - demand that we fix it, show them proof that we fixed it and nothing less will do.  But, apparently, when one of their trailers is broken, who cares?!!  So my manager is forcing the issue.  They will fix that trailer and that's that.  We aren't taking it anywhere.

See, a dude at the shop in the yard I've been hanging out at came out, stuck a wrong sized bolt in the hole and put silicone on it.  Lol.  Mexicans fix things that way when they don't have the right parts, I've seen it in action for decades now.  I called my shop mechanic and explained what they did, we both laughed.  Yea, no.  So hours later I contacted my manager, what are we doing?  Just hang tight.  Okay.  Hours later after that,  I found out that this plant is going to have the trailer brought down to their facility in Mexico to have it fixed.  Lol.  I mean, talk about wasting money.

First off, that plant has to pay me the $25 per hour I'm making sitting around doing nothing. Second, they have to cover the hotel bills.  3rd, they still have to fix the blooming trailer anyway, why not just hire a mechanic to come out and fix it? I don't have the answers to that, apparently this is the way things have always been done, so beit, I don't care, I'm coming home hopefully tomorrow nad amking bank off this run with all this detention pay.  They'll take 20 hours out for the hotel stay. We have no choice in that now after the merge to the new company.  If you don't take the company provided hotel, they are still going to take out 10 hours of pay per 24, there is no reason to sit in a truck all night long when you can be basking the glory of a nice hotel. 

But even after that, I"m estimating almost a thousand dollars worth of sitting-around-doing-nothing pay plus the normal pay for this trip plus the stop pay and we're at around $1,700.  That's 4 days, that's $425 per day. Thanks, I'll take that!

It's my version of cold here.  And supposedly it is or was snowing where I live, as reported earlier.  It's going to be in the high 20's there tonight, it's going to be in the high 30's here tonight.  I'm on the Mexican border, I can only wonder if this is a clue of how winter is going to go? Lots of people are thinking this is going to be an unusually cold winter. Well unusual or not, it's already too cold for me!  Lol.  I'm glad I got my fresh cord of wood, when I get back, I'll be making a nice, hot fire and sitting around it enjoying the warmth of it's glo.  I'm thinking I need to start getting back into reading books, so I might do that while sitting out there enjoying a day off. 

The question is, what book? Lol.  Fiction? Non fiction? What topic? I used to love reading Science Fiction books when I was a kid.  I think I'd like a mature version of it now?  Maybe.  Or maybe something to expand my knowledge. Maybe there are interesting books on accounting out there. Although I can't possibly fathom how you can make accounting an interesting topic lol. 

Anyway, this trip went far beyond anything I imagined. I don't need another run to make up for "only" a 2 day run.  I have a ton of detention time on my last trip as well.  My next paycheck will be healthy at only 2 trips, but both trips having some substantial detention pay. The rumor that they were doing away with detention didn't pan out.  At least not on these 2 runs. These runs, tho, are the only runs I know of that really give you the choice sitting around pay.  None of the rest even come close. In the perfect world,  a trailer will show up around 11am tomorrow or noon and I can drive it out and be be home tomorrow night. Anything later than that? No, I'll drive but not until 2 or 3 am.  It will put me out til Thursday, but it's still in time to get this run in to payroll for next paycheck.  \

Oh! Dinner!  I told myself all day long if I was spending another night, I'm going to have a nice, thick, juicy steak at Texas Roadhouse and rest assured, I did! No dinner rolls, but the fare was excellent.  A fat filled, rare Ribeye with mushrooms and broccoli.  And then I asked for a fried Jalapeno pepper.  The pepper was so good with the steak, I had them bring me another, of which they brought 2 more : ).  I tasty, worth the extra money, didn't do anything to overload my carb intake for the day, I'm good thanks. 

Oh wait! Ok, another driver showed up at the yard down here today. Like around 5 pm. He got out and looked at me strange.  Why you've lost weight!  Well yes I have, I'm down close to 20 pounds. (actually, I probably am at 20 pounds now, I haven't been on a scale in 4 days and the weight has been steadily coming off).  That was pretty cool actually. 

Well anyway, enough for this one.

Hmm. I was looking at the mirror this morning - vain I know but I"m really hoping to actually start seeing results rather than looking on a scale or seeing pant size shrink and finally, I can see a difference.  I haven't weighed myself in days cause' I haven't been near a scale. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised when I get home and get on it, morning time before I do anything.  If I weigh myself during the day, it's going to be a false, higher reading.

I don't make that stuff up, I've been doing research about this diet, which some say 12 weeks max and then go off of it and others saying it raises your cholesterol count.  I can definitely see the cholesterol thing, considering what you are eating.  Perhaps that's why others are saying 12 weeks and then probably go on a cholesterol dumping diet.

Anyway, it's Tuesday morning, at the hotel and about to leave here. I can't sit around here all day not knowing if a trailer comes in, but since the border doesn't open until morning time, it's a safe bet a trailer isn't going to be coming in until 10 am at the earliest.  And even that is up in the air.  I may be sitting in the truck again all day long and from what I heard, there are other drivers there waiting as well.  But if a trailer comes in , I want it and I want to get home today if possible.  I've got stuff I need to get done at home that has come up since I left and I'm running out of diet food. 

Tho, this morning hotel breakfast they had sausage and eggs at least.  Throw some grated cheese on top and it was keto friendly.  Oh how I want to eat some potatoes!  When I go off this diet, that is the first thing I'm doing, eating some form of potatoes and knowing how my mind works, it will probably be french fries, a big pile of them with a heap of ketchup. I mean seriously, in the Keto FB group I'm in, a lot of those people have a cheat day every week, every other week, or every month. They claim they are still losing weight.  I haven't done that yet, but if I were, the cheat would either be a Dairy Queen blizzard or a pile of McDonald's fries. Not to mention they have their BBQ sandwich again, once a year they have it for like a month. 

Well. Rene texted me saying they have enough dog food to last through to day and then that's it.  Gag.  I must make it back. That or ask Taylor to run some dog food over there, I just dumped a bag into the container at my house.  Getting back today preferable tho.  Or tomorrow morning at the latest. Gonna have to pick this up later on, I need to get moving out of here. 

So I sat at that yard in Brownsville alllllllllll day long.  A buddy - well an acquaintance but he's cool - co-driver is down there as well.  Well he was.  I was en-queue for the next trailer coming in, but he's slated to go on vacation tomorrow. We were talking about it and I said, well, looks like you'll have to start your vacation on Wednesday.  He took off for a store that has limited truck parking, I just stayed in the yard. He contacted me a few hours later - would it be okay if I took the next trailer that came in? Sure, I replied, hoping that someday if I needed it, someone would do me a favor as well. They are going to Padre Island - which is like 30 miles from here.

I asked him why he just didn't stay down here? Well he's got to go home and get his wife, pack his things, etc etc.  I get it. Just weird. They live 560 miles from here, he could have just brought his wife down. The company doesn't allow riders, even your own family, but no one would have found out.  It's a dumb rule, really.  Lots of companies now are allowing not only riders but pets.  But he could have just driven the tractor over there without a trailer.  I'll drive the tractor anywhere a car goes excepting like through drive through windows.  No place is off limits tho, no tractor, mine is just a big car. Lol

Anyway, a trailer came in and the dude got out and asked me in Spanish - hardly anyone speaks English down here - if I was taking that trailer. No, I replied in my version of Spanish, another driver will come get it, he's just down the road.

I was glad I made the switch.  He came, got the trailer and doing whatever, I think biding his time for a 10 hour break to be up so he has full hours to get back.  Another trailer pulled in several hours later, I was ready to rock and roll, only had 4 and a half hours left but enough to get some distance between here and wherever I end up at. 

The reason I'm glad is because the next trailer that came in today, and the only other trailer coming in today - had a problem.  See, I do intensive pretrip inspections on everything, but especially the equipment coming up from Mexico.  They steal the tires - they'll take brand new ones off and swap them with bald tires. They'll steal the lights, the brass caps on the outlets for the Ethylene - no limit really. When I say "they" I just mean whoever is doing this nonsense down there.  The drivers? Making extra money selling off new tires?  Scrapping the bronze?  Selling the lights or putting them on their own equipment? Or just thieves from who knows where? I have no idea.  I don't really care, it's not my problem, it's part of the deal, the plant in Mexico has to pay for any damage or missing parts or screwed up tires.

Heck, a driver told me the other day they actually took tires off the empty trailer and just - left them off, leaving only 1 tire per per dual.  We don't mess around with that.  If there is something wrong, it has to be fixed before we drive it off the yard unless it's something that's ok to drive to the TA truck stop, which is 50 miles away.

Well, this is a fitting that connects 2 airlines to the hub on the wheel on the trailer.  It was just hanging there.  I thought about that for 2 seconds.  Pass by a Texas State Trooper and he sees that? Instant ticket.  I sent a pic to our mechanic and then called him.  I mean, I wasn't going to pull the thing like that, besides being in violation, it's obvious that all the oil has leaked out of that hub and the bearings are drying up. The next thing that will happen is either a fire from overheating or the wheels will just rip off of there.  No thanks. Between my manager and the mechanic, they were like, no.  Thank you!

Now, I'm staying at a La Quinta, company paid. Might as well, they are automatically taking off 10 hours of accumulated detention pay.  The thing is? The America's Best Value Inn, just down the street from the yard here is just as nice as this place.  It's a lot cheaper but who am I to say anything. They actually tried to get me into the Marriott at first but they were all booked up. I've been there, down here, and it's very nice.  I don't care tho, anything to get out of that truck. I was sitting in it all day long. I would have gotten my own room at my own expense if they hadn't, it was 6 pm when I found out this trailer was screwed up and I wasn't going anywhere tonight.  I'll be here until probably at least 10 am, tho this hotel's checkout time is 12pm.  I just don't think they'll have a trailer in there too early from previous experience.

I dunno, but this is better than trying to get another run after this one to get some more money on my next paycheck.  I'll have at least 25 hours of detention pay on this trip, that's worth a chunk of change.  The reason it's better is that work has slowed down and there wasn't much of a chance of a good run before Thursday anyway.

Well whatever.  I'm enjoying my night here, probably be headed back tomorrow. 

Sunday not a fun day, lol.
I got to the plant and there was the first truck, still sitting at the rack.  I noticed the line going into it was covered with white frost.  Something's wrong obviously.  The driver came up to my truck, introduced himself - he's new - and then proceeded to tell me the plant's ethylene pump is frozen.  He'd been there for a couple of hours already. We sat there and talked for quite a while and then the third of our trucks came in.  I issued a warning on text that if anyone else is coming, you might as well wait cause' its going to be hours before they get to you.  Well, the 4th truck didn't heed the warning and came in a little later as well.  I never saw the 5th truck, I'll guess they didn't want to sit half a day at the plant.  I was already there.  After almost 6 hours, they got the truck in front of me loaded and then got me loaded.

Leaving there, I got 60 miles down the road and kablaam.  1 trailer tire blew up and damaged the tire next to it.  I gave up on getting to Brownsville when that happened, no way that is happening at all.  It didn't take as long as I expected it to considering I was in a small town.  But not that small.  Small by Phoenix standards lol.  Nacadogches, Texas was the place and turns out there was a truck tire shop down the road. They sent out a truck, put 2 new tires on the trailer. 2 hours gone and pouring rain. I felt sorry for the guy changing the tires but at least he had a rain coat on.  It was Sunday, he wanted to go home lol.

Drove out another 400 miles before running out of hours, making it to Kingsville Texas.  Slept rather well, which was nice, got the truck fired up, filled up with fuel and got down there to - no trailers.  No biggies, I wasn't going to be able to make it home today anyway, not with having to drive 130 miles this morning just to finish up getting here, not to mention I'm on the 14 hour clock, starting at around 7 am,  it's already noon.  If it's late afternoon before they get there with trailers as is predicted, I will have very little time left on the 14 hour clock.  But I'd still head out of here . Cleveland Texas is 400 miles from here and it's north of Houston.  That's actually doable if a trailer shows up before 3 pm.

Anyway, it's a rainy day.  No hotel since they expect trailers here later on. Still doing the diet, I have enough food to last me through tomorrow so no worries there.  The Love's Travel Center I was at last night didn't have a scale. Some of them do, some of them don't.  I wanted to weigh myself this morning.

And quite strange.  I just tried to get on Facebook on my notebook here and it said something is wrong.  I tried on Google and then Internet Explorer. Same messages.  Got on my Iphone and the same thing. Facebook is down? !!!  Weird.  I've never seen the whole thing go crashing down.  Doesn't matter, I am either going to watch a movie on free date on Directv or take a nap.  I haven't decided which lol.  I slept pretty good last night but a nap is always good if you expect to be driving, which I do at least a little.  But this free streaming!  I have access to every channel that I already get at home. 

Well, nap time won! lol

Long day.  Started with the firewood - good workout tho.  I unloaded at least half of that trailer.  I didn't have to, payment included unloading but I figured I need the exercise.  Then finding recipes, then to Kroger's.  Amazingly busy.  I guess we're close to Thanksgiving?  Not that close tho.  Just a little less than two weeks from now. Never-the-less, the store wasn't only packed with customers, it was packed with employees of all levels including the store manager going around asking everyone if they found everything.

I found 2 ladies and asked them about mushroom powder.  I know, never heard of it, right?  I hadn't either.  There's a lot of ingredients they use to keep carbs low in these recipes that I have never heard of before, or have heard of but never tried. Some of it? I'll never try again, either, lol.  I wanted to make sure I got everything on that list. I was there a while. This keto diet is rather pricey as well as time consuming.  Lots of meat, lots of expensive ingredients.  Tho, in  many cases, once you buy the more pricey ingredients, you have enough to last a while.  But meat isn't particularly cheap. 

Got home from that, unloaded everything, carried it all. I was getting no help from the other adults - they got off the diet and did a binge drinking night. They were stone-faced drunk last night. I mean, falling on the floor, puking in the sink drunk.  And were regretting it today.  I did - no such thing lol.  So anyway, I got all this stuff in here - there's enough to cook for the entire week - but no way I was going to make all of that today.  I had to figure out what to eat for the next 2 days. So, I cooked the whole chicken, that turned out delicious.  It wasn't what was for dinner tonight, but I did, of course, have to try it.  I decided to make 2 lunches and 2 dinners, and have Atkins drinks for breakfast. High fat, low carbs. 

So, baked that, made jalapeno poppers to go with dinner and then got out old stuff that needed to get eaten for lunches.  I'm definitely not into throwing any of this stuff out.  So, 2 days worth of eating is accomplished. If I go into a third day, I'm just going to have to get food somewhere and strip it of the carb stuff - bread usually - and just eat the meat and hopefully some veggies at least.  Taking lots of string cheese tho.  Maybe I should take a bar of cream cheese. That has enough fat to last an entire day's worth. I'll figure it out.  The only way I want detention pay on this trip is if it's at least 10 hours after they take 10 hours off.  It really would be better right now if I didn't get detention on this trip and hopefully get at least a 1 day trip after this one to get on the next paycheck. 

I have money saved for the trip tho.  I'm not paying for hotels, airfare is already paid, I'll be taking a few Uber trips and the rest in mom's pickup.  I'm not worried but there is also Christmas coming up and I don't want to dig into business/land savings for that. 

As for diet, I switched to my old size 34's and now they are starting to get loose. That's no joke. I still have a gut going but apparently it's shrinking.  I just look at myself in the mirror and really don't see it, but the scale and my pant size tell a different story. My face also pulling back in instead of that "fat" look.  That was annoying me. Something I always told myself, if I ever get the fat face going, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get my thin looking face back.  Getting there. 

Tonight's dinner wasn't exactly a keto meal.  Deer steaks. When talking keto, fatter is better. Deer meat is extremely lean. Probably high 90 percent range.  But James cooked it - first put it in apple juice and let it sit overnight and all day.  Then Montreal Steak seasoning. It was oh so wonderful.  The jalapeno poppers filled cream cheese and cheddar cheese made up for the lack of fat in the steaks - hopefully.  I may be eating a fat filled diet, but it's still small on the calories. Never anything over 1,500 and usually more like 1,000.

I just don't have the energy like I do when eating carbs.  I won't be doing this diet forever.  I'll probably be switching back and forth.  Low calorie carb diet shouldn't really make me gain a lot of weight. They key, I think, is irrelevant of what diet or non diet I might be doing, to limit to a bare minimum if not eliminate it forever, eating at truck stops and junk food restaurants.  You know the names of those places, I don't need to put up a list. 

But, I'm going to try and get down to my goal weight before going off of this thing.  A couple more months maybe? Hard to tell really.  I just feel good that I've been moving all day long with some still to go - laundry almost done.  It all burns calories. I'm really hoping it won't be too terribly much longer before I get down to 200 and then....below.  If I ever make it back down to the 180's - a weight I haven't been at in many years now -  I will be elated.  But if I can only make to the 190's I'll still be happy. 

Well, the day is winding down.  I don't have the first load in the morning thank God.  It's the second load, meaning an extra hour and a half of sleep before having to get up versus the 3:30 am rise.  I was lucky that there is another Mapleton run going out and that is always the first run by the plant's request.  I could have taken it but I didn't want to be out 3 days.   This Brownsville run doesn't pay quite as much but it's 85% guaranteed to be a 2 day run 

Okay. The only other thing. Possibly TMI. My butt hurts bad.  They cauterized it after they cut the giant mole off.  I could smell my burning flesh, I knew I'd be paying for it and - yeah. Sitting down is a literal pain in the ass, lmao. 

Well another day off.  I guess.  I don't need tomorrow off tho, this paycheck totally sucked and I need to get back on track.  The Illinois run was worth a chunk of change yes, but I need another one at least and a short run to make it a good paycheck.  The fact that this truck breaking down was none of my doings is what is fueling my current feeling about finding a new job on top of everything else. But, during that time I was not feeling well at all on this Keto diet so it kind of, sort of equalizes it.

Speaking of diets, I lost no more weight today.  Which is fine, because the mirror is actually starting to show a change.  In other words, I can actually see change, which I really hadn't until this morning.  My belly is definitely shrinking.  And I slipped into size 34's this morning.  I tried that last week but I still staying in 35's, but now I'm back in 34's cause 35's just aren't staying on me.  34's are just a tad tight when sitting down, but other than that they fit fine.

My firewood didn't show up yesterday, it was pouring rain and the guy asked if he could bring it sometime today.  Knowing that, I put a couple of huge logs over that fire last night hoping there would still be some good coals this morning to get another fire going. I have no small wood now, it's all just big logs. There are twigs laying all over the property from the trees, I've been cleaning those up quite a lot lately.  Anyway, there was quite a bit of smoking coming out of what was left of the 2 giant logs last night, flipping them over there was bright red coals.

And walaah.  And hour and a half later, it finally fired up the hot coals and even soaking wet wood is quickly dried out and burning.  It's cool outside today and predicted to get down to 31 degrees tonight. I got my greenhouse up but there is no sun shining so that isn't really going to help anything.  I'll have to bring the plants inside tonight if I want them to survive.

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Saturday. Finally got my cord of wood delivered.  Was completely out excepting a few very large logs that are impossible to start a fire with without anything smaller to get it going.  It was still smoldering this morning from yesterday and yesterday from the day before. I was able to keep it going by the nice hot coals that were still going and today was no different.  But now I have a large amount of nicely chopped wood - unlike the last load from the other source who not only brought me a lot of uncut logs, most of it was also unseasoned.  This wood appears to be seasoned, they claim it is, I'll be finding out soon enough.

I'm at 209 pounds on the diet.  I was there a few days ago, then up to 211 and now back down to 209. It isn't really any big deal to me, I won't get unhappy unless I go for quite a while without losing anything.  I got some good exercise today unloading that cord of wood at least.  The thing is, on my daily weight gain throughout the day as is normal, it's not going up near as high.  Maybe 215 to 216 at the most.  So that's coming down as well which is a very good sign.

I'm off to Brownsville tomorrow so I'm going to make some food today to take with me.  2 days worth if there is no detention pay, I'll probably take enough to last 3 days just in case.

I'm still stuck in the other guy's truck who is on an extended home stay apparently.  I have no idea whether they took my truck in yet.  I didn't ask yesterday when I was talking to my manager.  Work is slowing down for whatever reasons that I didn't ask about either.  There were only 2 loads going out today which is quite unusual. Should be at least 5.  And those 2 loads were going to Cheniere and she wanted to have a trainer go down with 2 new people to teach them how to unload.  How quaint.  Would have been nice if they'd done that with me.

I rather hate going out on Sundays, the only good thing about it is going through Houston should be a breeze, no slow downs at all.  I'm hoping I get another run after this one coming up that is short so I can get it on next paycheck.

Well whatever.  I've got to get my recipes together and figure out what we're eating this week. It was sort of dumped on me to deal with, but I'm still motivated so I'll do it and get it over with. Probably a lot of cooking today, not exactly how I want to spend my Saturday.  But it's that or go out on the road with nothing but keto snacks and that won't work for me at all.  I'd be starving and then I'd have to go to fast food, order a burger, strip it of everything and eat the meat patty.  Or chicken, take off the skin and eat that only . I'm sure the day will come where I'm forced to do that tho.  Restaurants serving fajitas would work as well.

The Dems regain power in the House, Republicans retain power in the Senate, back to split power and probably not a heck of a lot of anything of consequence getting done in Congress for the next 2 years.  Whatever agendas Trump had, he can flush a lot of it down the toilet. Executive Orders will become the only method to push anything forward that an EO can legally accomplish.

And there was CNN"s Acosta today. See I found out today I can watch Directv on my iphone without using any data now because ATT bought out Directv and came out with this new deal. I had read about it last month, but it was confusing as to who gets what free data. So I contacted them today, I wanted to watch the footage of all the post election coverage without using a ton of my data.  I mean really, to be able to watch any of the channels I have on either plan I'm paying for is a pretty good deal.

Well I don't have the password for the Directv I'm paying for at home, going to change that so I can log in. I have way more channels - for less money lol - than the other house.

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That was a long interlude lol.  I was down to 209 this morning.  I'm getting warnings from groups and people that have done this diet that they gain it all back and then some when they quit.  I'd like to think it's possible to just eat low calorie on carb filled stuff and be able to maintain your weight.  I dunno, I'm not going to worry about that right now. 

The handyman for the owner of the other house came over and gave Rene a hind quarter of a deer.  So, we just spent some time cutting it up.  A couple of nice roasts, a large number of nice steaks and the rest is stew meat.  Very lean meat.  You don't just get people handing your a large chunk of meat like that every day.  Tomorrow we're having deer steaks for dinner.

Now then.  I was perusing Facebook marketplace locally and came across a piece of land - small - for $6,000.  Near a lake.  $1,000 down and payments of $200 per month until the balance is paid off.  It isn't terribly far from here but I dunno about the rental prospectives.  A dilapidated house that would need to come down and put a small mobile on it.  I think it's a bit far from civilaztion to make it a good risk.  I'd like it for personal use lol tho.  There are other small properties I also found at low prices and owner financed, but a bit too far off. 

The possibilities are out there.  I'ma keep my eye out for these deals.  There aren't even an acre most of them but for the monthly payment, putting a structure of some sort and renting it would make some money.  Start small, gotta start somewhere. 

I've heard nothing from work today, I figured I would be going back to work tomorrow but I guess not.  Paycheck coming through tonight is the aftermath of the 10 days off and it ain't pretty.  Even with that 30 hours vacation time it is still a small paycheck, smaller than anything I"ve seen there yet.  And I'm gong to take another 5 or 6 days off in a few weeks? Yup, I already paid for the airfare, that's a done deal. 

Election Day

Hopefully everyone that I know at least gets out and votes. 
I did last week and am thankful because I'm in a hotel in Illinois today, there is no way I could have voted except mail in.  I am very glad that I was able to get in there - and it was so fast. Now I'm seeing reports of long lines everywhere.  That's a good sign, at least people are taking this seriously.  It's still amazing that half of America decides who is in power for the rest of America that doesn't vote. It's too early for any results to come in yet.

And, my time at this hotel is almost up.  I've enjoyed free wifi and a nice hot shower and a comfortable bed in a quiet room and watching as much of the election coverage as I can on Fox News.  But I'm 24 minutes from check out time and the people at the plant yesterday said they won't have that trailer unloaded until sometime this afternoon. They simply have too much product in their main tank, it turns out, it's not a plant shutdown as I earlier thought.  The chemical company that loads our trailers will not allow a customer to partially unload a trailer and sent it back like that.

The reason being is that the remaining product will heat up quickly and cause pressure problems - and - this plant doesn't have a scale so there is no way of knowing how much product was taken out.  Tho I believe if what I have heard is true that they would charge them for a full load regardless.  I guess they have allowed some trucks to go back partially loaded in the past, but that is far and few between.

Anyway, taking off the 10 hours they deduct every day for detention - which is a load of bs but I have no say in it - I am at 16 hours on the detention clock which is still a very nice sum of money.  And I suspect I have at least several more hours to go.  But, around noon I'm going to start getting antsy.  I want to get at least far enough today to be able to make it home tomorrow.  I have an appointment on Thursday to have a skin tag removed and I don't want to miss that appointment.  OTOH I'd like a minimum amount of detention hours, 20 to be precise, which would mean me not leaving that plant until 3:00 pm.

Whatever the case, I have a lot of data on my phone because I was off for 10 days and I hardly used any data at all during that time.  So I can pretty much watch Fox all day long streaming either on my phone or use my computer to have a bit bigger screen while waiting in the truck.  And I think I'll head to Starbucks after leaving here. Turns out there are several drinks they have that are Keto diet friendly and I have hadn't Starbucks in a long time.  It's a place I love to hate.  I love some of their drinks, I hate that they charge over 5 bucks for what amounts to glorified coffee.  I just don't go there as much anymore because of that.  There are other reasons but they really don't come into play as to whether I will patronize their establishments or not.

Well in fact I could sit IN starbucks and use free wifi, totally forgot about that.    I got so mesmerized by the election stuff I totally slacked on looking for land. Sort of a wishful thinking thing at the moment.  I'll have to put a significant down payment on any property - 20% at least - to be able to qualify for a loan.  Or find owner finance, but that doesn't seem very likely after already having had searched quite a lot.

Time to gather me things and get out of here.                                       

Day 22.
On the road.  I weigh myself a few times at the truck stops but it's after I've already had coffee and drinking water and eating, plus heavy clothing on cause it's cold up here, so not really an accurate reading.  Thankfully.  Drove all the way to the Love's in Hamel again yesterday, and that with problems with the quaalcomm. There's always some kind of problem when you switch to a different truck.  I was amazed I made it that far considering the time lost.

And the truck, gag.  Dirty inside.  I was afraid of that and hence brought a lot of cleaning supplies.  The steering wheel was sticky, filthy dirty and so was the rest of the truck.  I scrubbed most of it down and sprayed spray everywhere including that stuff you spray on fabrics - Febreze - to make it smell better. It took 3 times on the carpet in the sleeper before it finally started smelling nice in there.

I can't sleep with that in my nostrils much less do anything else.  It's a nasty atmosphere it creates and I really don't understand how people basically living in their trucks live like that.

I got up here - Mapleton, Illinois - hoping that I would get some detention this time. It's been several times up since I got any.  So I pulled into the plant truck parking lot, walked to the security shack, they called. She was on the phone much longer than the usual "okay, I'll let him come in". That was a good sign.  Security guards actually don't know anything about what's going on, they just relay messages.  Anyway, she said, ok go on in, they're going to have you park somewhere.

Yeehaw!  That means drop the trailer and leave, they can't take it today! And sure enough, the guy was out there waiting.  Yup park it over there.  But I had to call my manager first. With all this new stuff from this company take over, who knows what they might want to do. But no, she said go to the hotel. And hotel I am.  3rd floor too, I love the top floor.

Well I dunno what I'm going to do.  Maybe nothing.  I'm still hacking away with this cough.  I can't get rid of it, but then again, I've had coughs that lasted months in my history so nothing new there. But laying in bed and resting certainly couldn't hurt.  I woke up last night just hacking away, took an hour for cough medicine to stop it enough to get back to sleep. I'm really glad now that I think about it that I didn't have to head back today. A day of rest and get paid for it. They're still paying detention for this run anyway and apparently the hotel is in the contract.  If they make use leave in the tractor without the trailer, it's automatic hotel.  It's also automatic loss of 10 hours out of 24 for pay, but I'll take it. I'll get minimum 20 hours of detention.

I don't necessarily need to go home anyway. I"ve spent plenty of time there in recent days and I have enough diet food to last me. Even if not, WAlmart is across the street I can get some more food that will work for this diet if necessary.

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Well, I went to Walmart anyway. Got a nice tub of roast beef - zero carbs.  And some more heavy whipping cream for my coffee.  And now I'm nicely running around in my skivvies in my motel room. Well why not? There isn't anyone else here, no one is coming and I intend on resting.  There's a few good movies on and this place actually has HBO at least.  I'm sitting here making money, nothing better than that.  It's nice and quiet too. No loud neighbors, no one above me, just the hum of the fan.  It's rather cool here at 50 degrees, that's my version of cold really so I have the heat going a little. 

I've gotten much more used to be away from the dogs, tho Addler very much doesn't like it when I leave him at the other house.  But he gets over it quickly.  Rene sends me videos of the 2 zipping around the back yard and playing, his version of playing is like a galloping horse, lol. I'm thinking Rene should really get a dog of her own tho.  When I'm home, she misses my doggies a lot and I just think she should have one of her own.  I know she can't afford dog food, I already bring over a lot of it anyway, if she got a small one it wouldn't be much more on my dog food tab per month.

Diet Day 20
Won't know today of any weight loss. It's the weekend and they're home, the scale is in their bathroom.  Next trip to Walmart I"m definitely getting one for my bathroom.  What I do notice is that my love handles are shrinking at an incredible rate.  Those ever growing bulges have reversed and are starting to disappear.  I am in now wise saying I am suddenly skinny, but progress, especially visible progress, is extremely motivating.

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Okay long interval lol.  I ended up driving over to Longview to switch trucks.  I wasn't even going to think about dealing with that at 4:00 am. First and foremost, I have no idea if this truck even works. They were saying the battery switch had been turned off. Second, it would take time to get my stuff out of my truck and transfer it over to the temp truck. Third, inspecting the "new" truck and seeing if it's at least relatively clean, which it kind of was.  Bunch of stuff on the floor but nothing compressed air wouldn't blow out the doors. 

However, the truck wouldn't move when I put it into gear.  I tried releasing the brakes several times before it finally let go.  It had been sitting a while, the dude that switched over to our division hadn't even driven a single load of ethylene out of the plant.  I guess a "part time" person counting the days until he can retire, ie: hit whatever SS age he's shooting for.  Very much not a fan of getting moved around from one truck to another.   A lot of drivers don't like it, its called slip seating when you aren't in an assigned truck and can end up in a different truck every time you show up to work.


Whatever the case, I got that ordeal over with and talked with a much longer term driver in the company.  We got onto talk of the keto diet - he needs it drastically.  Besides the fact that he's probably around 350 to 400 pounds, he also has diabetes, which keto works miracles on.  At least from numerous articles I have read.  I would seriously try a diet like this if I had diabetes for the heck of it, just to see if it would do anything.  The only harm is going through the initial phases of hell you have to go through to get your body adapted.  That is self inflicted harm lol.  He asked what website, I just told him to google keto diet.  You'll find info all over the web.  Research it yourself, everything I"ve read says it can even reverse diabetes.

I basically tried to talk him into at least trying the diet.  He's got nothing to lose and everything to gain. He's obese, heading towards an early grave.  I didn't say that, we just all know obesity leads to all kinds of health problems and pretty much kills people younger than the life they could have lived.  I'm surprised he passes the med exam in that condition.  He's diabetic that a detriment in itself.  He was interested.  He's 65 years old, doesn't drink at least, helpful but certainly doesn't eliminate the risks of being obese. 

Well anyway, I left there and headed home.  Got to a grocery store and decided to buy a roast for the road tomorrow.  I'm doing that in the crock pot.

I've got tomatoes, avocados, mushrooms in the crockpot with the roast and a bag of salad mix, including very low carb italian seasoning.  I've still got some bread left from the last batch, that is a pretty good filler actually, not the greatest bread but it's edible.  Take some cheese bars and almonds.  That pretty much covers dinners and snacks, I need to figure something out for a quick breakfast and a small lunch. Hmm just found some great ideas on a keto page, but I'd have to go back to the store.  I rushed in and out of the grocery store earlier to get that roast and get it cooking so I could have it ready to go for the morning.  Bacon, cheese blocks, turkey roll up - in either cream cheese or sour cream,  almonds, I think I could open up a roll of ground chuck and make some hamburgers replete with spices - and nothing else.  Lol. 

Nothing else new here. Leaves dropping like crazy off of trees, no sense in even trying to clean up that mess until the trees are mostly barren. Otherwise, you're raking up an entire yard ... only to rake it up again...and again....and screw that. Oh yes, I have my breakfast lunch and dinners planned, but yes, a trip back to the store is unfortunately necessary. I thought one trip out would be enough. 

Day 19 diet.  I'm amazed I've even made it this far.
Found some Atkin diet shakes at the grocery store yesterday, the only one low enough in carbs was the vanilla version at 4% carbs so I got those.  Drank one earlier and it was quite filling actually. Full of fat too, lots of protein, pretty much what you want.

But before that, I weighed myself.  Down to 211 pounds. That's a 16 pound drop since I started this thing 19 days ago. That is amazing results if I do say so myself.  Far better than anything I expected.  whether that kind of drop will continue remains to be seen.  So far I have yet to cheat on this diet.

This isn't just about wanting to look better or even feel better or vanity purposes.  My career requires a body mass below some certain point, I'll have to look it up.  But the fatter you get, the closer you get to that line and the closer you get to being disqualified.  And some companies including mine will require you to take a sleep test for sleep apnea after your neck line goes over whatever amount of inches.

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Like 14 hours later lol.  My keto breathalyzer came in, I figured to do that than these test strips.  You just blow into the thing and it tells you where you're at. I'm in moderate range, which their card says is ideal for fat burning.  They don't seem to think you want it in the extreme range.  I dunno, but the diet is working, I can say that.  Whether it's because of ketosis or because of low caloric intake or likely a combination of the two, I had to move my belt another rung down to hold my pants up on me.

My pants are literally just falling off me with no resistance from my body at all now.  The thing that is incredible, at least to me, about that is the fact that they were so tight before I started this diet, I was facing having to go out and buy the next size up.  I've only been in 35's for maybe 6 months, if that tells you how fast I was gaining weight and fat.  I might even try getting back into my 34's, at least see where I'm at.  Well heck, out of curiosity sake I'm going to try right now.

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle.  I actually fit into these things.  Just at the edge of it, but not uncomfortable or too tight.  I couldn't even get these things on before I started this diet.  Just amazing how fast this is working.  I do wonder if there are plateaus tho. Most diets you run into a plateau and you have to figure out something else to do.  I thought I had run into one but the next day the scaled showed dramatic change that was quite surprising. 

Anyway, just got off the phone with mom.  She wanted to know what I wanted to eat when down there.   I reiterated to her again that I wasn't going to be following this diet down there.  I just don't see it possible with going around visiting people and Thanksgiving dinner and all that.  I can definitely watch my caloric intake of whatever I'm eating tho. She suggested that I would probably be surprised at how I might take the diet into consideration when eating even if not following it for 5 days. We just picked the wrong time of year to start this diet. If we had started 6 months ago we'd probably be at our ideal weight and stopping for a few days wouldn't be an issue.

I guess the part I don't like about going back is that my middle brother may or may not be there.  I had the discussion with mom.  She tried to tell me "it will all work out".  Mother, you know how he is, he's started shit with me at previous holiday events, what makes you think he won't start now? Especially after that melt down the last time I talked to him?  Well Thanksgiving is going to be held at mom's house, she said she'd stop it if he starts it.  I'll be ready to call the police, frankly.  He got so heated up the last time that I figured if I had been present with him he would have taken some pot shots at me.  I'm not going to get into a fistfight with my brother, that's juvenile garbage. I'd defend myself, but I certainly wouldn't even think about taking the first blow or even wanting to get into such an altercation.  I'd just as soon not go if he's going to be there, but mom needs my help to get the dinner ready. She is getting up there in age and freely admits that she doesn't have the energy she used to.  She's still in good shape tho.  I'll help her cook the turkey and get set up for everything and take everything down again.

But, I'm probably going to go have some beers with an old friend at his house in Tempe.  I haven't had a beer in a month now,  I'm not really sure I should even be doing that lol.  Probably go straight to my head and make me drunk in 2 beers haha.  Mom wants me to drive her truck instead of taking Uber, but in the case of my friend's house, I'll be taking Uber.  Just in case that happens.  No need to get into trouble driving.  I don't plan or even want to get drunk, but it doesn't take much to get to the limit. You see, I don't know if they count commercial driver's license against you even if you're driving your personal vehicle or not?  In a Commercial vehicle, the limit is .04%. In AZ for regular drivers it's double that.  I think you could possibly get to .04% in less than 2 beers. I dunno, but I'm not taking the risk. I've looked to try and find that info and have never found a definitive answer.

Anyway, that will be my visit for the year.  Christmas will either be spent here or on the road. Not sure which.  I kind of agreed to Christmas driving if I could have Thanksgiving off.  It wouldn't surprise me to be out on the road on Christmas Day or Eve for that matter.  I don't want to but I don't want to do a Christmas with family.  That almost never ends well and it's just not worth it.  Thanksgiving is a major holiday but not like Christmas, people get together on the day of Thanksgiving but there isn't usually any family visiting or such for it. 

Well that's it. I made a Keto pizza yesterday which tasted like crap, I took a few bites of it and threw the thing into the trash can. That was the spaghetti squash crust.  No crust to it, it was water and gross.  Just yuck. Today, I tried this FatHead pizza crust recipe that is taking the internet by storm, or so every site says anyway.  I tried making the crust with both almond and coconut flour, almond flour won out hands down. 

Well this day is over for me. 

Apparently my days of bulging out more and more are over. At least as long as I stay on this diet.  I kinda felt it was cheating to weigh myself in the morning - sleeping all night long,  no food or beverage intake - beverages definitely being the factor that increase your weight during the day.

But, this morning, I weighed myself and it was down another 4 pounds from the lowest I had seen it.  I then looked up "best time to weigh yourself" and every single thing I read said the most accurate will actually BE in the morning, after you empty your bladder and before you eat and drink anything. That was very concerting. It also said to be consistent and weigh yourself at the same time every day, if you are going to weigh yourself.

Further info said that people that weigh themselves frequently while dieting are more likely to lose the weight and keep on track than those that don't.  Well, I have to weigh myself out of the curiosity factor of eating lots of fat, almost zero carbs and lots of protein as well.  Some veggies - can't forget the veggies. 

In fact, today I'm going to use the other spaghetti squash that we have sitting there and going to waste and try making a pizza crust out of it.

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It literally took me 3 minutes to vote.  I went in, showed my ID, they gave me the ballot, it had a place to mark straight line voting,  I filled in Republican, that was it.  All done, vote is in, I did my civic duty. I mean it was so easy that seeing these people complaining how hard it is to vote is -- dumb.  They don't vote because they are too lazy or whatever other reasons, I don't give such people any ear if they are complaining about the politics of the land but couldn't be bothered to vote to make that change they want.  Or at least voice their opinion through the ballot. 

Went to Kroger's, got the rest of the stuff to make this weird pizza, lol. I'll try any of these recipes once. If they're good, it's a repeat.  If not, well, just keep trying.  I also got the stuff to make the Keto version of beef stroganoff tonight for dinner. Nope, no noodles, sorry Charley.  But, my favorite part of Stroganoff is the creamy beef mixture, I'm good with that, make extra cause everyone is blooming hungry by the time dinner gets around. 

Now to motivate myself to go out to the kitchen and start the pizza stuff.  I'll get to it.  It's not even noon yet, tho I haven't eaten anything today and I'm starving.  I haven't eaten cause' I just haven't gotten around to it not because I don't want to eat lol.   I think I'll make a cheese omellette to tide me over.  Oh yes, a recipe with some cream cheese, some herbs and a little cheese.  Sounds great. 

It's very motivating to see a scale showing me at a weight that I haven't been at in over a year and a half.  Utterly amazing actually.  My gut is slowly shrinking and my size 35 waist jeans are now starting to get loose - and here I was 3 weeks ago discussing having to go up to size 36.  I'd like to get back down to 32, but 33 would work.

But, since i haven't eaten and I"m still sick, I have exhausted my energy banks and will have to take a nap. 

Okay, not to overload this blog with posts, but this took me by surprise.
James - this dude loves his after work beers. Not judging him at all, I don't really care what anyone does with their body, I mean I do  but I can't control people's habits and everyone needs to find their own way.  So today, when he came home with protein powder for those shakes, I started wondering what he is up to. Most people don't do that stuff unless they are working out - and I mean weightlifting type of working out. 

Sure enough, he said he's getting out his weights and is going to start working out again.  People get on these kicks, I get it, he's been doing the keto diet - but - he's also been drinking his beers. He still lost a bunch of weight already, mostly because it's low calorie diet and he has a very physical job. 

But to hear him say today he has quit drinking altogether? Okay, that was shocking lol. I'ts one thing to start drinking protein shakes, it takes it to an entirely different level to stop drinking and start working out.  This 3 way thing we have going here is exactly what is needed. Everyone motivating each other to rise up to new levels and take it another step. 

So, Taylor and I have gym memberships we don't use - $10 a month, no contract - we are going to start going after we get over this sickness crap. She got this first and I caught it from being around her apparently.  I can't do physical anything like that right now.  She's a couple days ahead of me on thick coughing crap and she's still hacking away. 

I'm not going too long with this one. Just developments.  If we're going to lose the fat, I already knew at some point we were going to have to up the game to working out.  I don't even feel like I need to go all gung ho to start. Just get into the habit and let it work it's way back into my system. 

Well so much for the tenant thing working out.
The young guy - 23 years old I think - decided to leave without giving notice.  He paid his first month but left me hanging.  You know, you ask people to give you at least a couple weeks advance notice before they leave - and sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.  This one didn't. Found this out yesterday - he told Rene he was moving out and- moved out.  Well, I have a new ad running, hopefully it won't take long to find someone else.

Meanwhile, I pretty much blew up after finding out the reason they didn't fix the cruise control is because there is "nothing wrong with it", according to the shop supervisor.  No one bothered to call me or ask me about it, I gave the mechanic detailed info about what it's doing.  It comes on, it goes off. It's mostly on but sometimes all the warning lights go off and it works fine.  Make sure they know that in case the lights are all off.

He didn't do jack squat.  Didn't give a shit about it, either.
After finding that out, I texted my manager: Ryan just informed me that they aren't going to do anything about that excessive beeping noise and that there is nothing wrong with the cruise control.  I guess I have a decision I have to make..

She texted back later and said she would find some other option to deal with this.  In my view, this is too little, too late. I've had enough of this shit.  It's been going on since I got into that truck some 8 or 9 months ago.  I've been writing it up and asking to have it fixed that entire time.  My year with this company is up in 8 days.  I'm at the very least going to see what opportunities might be out there. A driver from Gen X said they pay 75k per year with no weekend work and make a lot more if you will work weekends.  Gen X is just another cryogenic hauling company.  There's a couple other companies but I'm not really interested in them, their drivers are never really all that happy.

No job is perfect, I keep telling myself with this one. Perhaps, but there is a point where you have to say enough.  I'm right at that point.  I told the mechanic I'm not driving that truck until it's fixed.  So, we'll see what happens here.

And home.  I'm exhausted, out of it. I slept 7 hours last night but it feels like I didn't sleep at all.  Still sick, still not feeling too great. I thought on Monday I was already getting better - which I really did feel better, but that went away quickly.  So just resting the rest of the day, no idea about work but I am going to start perusing open jobs on the internet as soon as I'm done with this post. 

Which I might as well, this one is long enough. 

Day 16 of diet.
I weighed myself at the Love's truckstop I was at this morning before leaving there.
119.
Weight fluctuating all over the place. I was fully clothed and had on a heavy coat tho.
Cold to me is anything below 60 degrees.  I have numerous friends that say cold doesn't start until well below freezing.  No, that's freezing, beyond cold, lol.  I guess that's what I get for living in the South.  The thing is, my weight is fluctuating well below where I started.  I figured I would see a good weight drop at first and then it would slow down.

I got up to the plant here in Mapleton and had a first thrown at me: there's another truck ahead of you it will be a "minute".

Yea, I know what that means. At least 2 or 3 hours.  I went back to the truck and fell back asleep for an hour and a half.  Now I'm just sitting here waiting.

These longer trips always get me to thinking about buying some land somewhere. I see beautiful properties for sale with 30, 50 100 and more acres and even some listing the prices and very reasonable considering wooded land with open areas as well.  Of course, non of  it is anywhere near where I live and not really in my thought of, yes I'll try to buy here.

I also saw a house for sale by owner locally.  It is a 3 bedroom house, very large and has 3 bathrooms, perfect for renting.  I gave it some thought, actually.  I have the down payment at only 4k, but the monthly payments are too high.  $1,100.  To be able to afford a place like that for rent to own purposes it would have to have 4 bedrooms or the monthly payment would have to be around $800.  And, since it's out in the boonies, it would probably be hardly to find tenants for it.  About the time we get to a year done on that lease on the house I'm renting, I'm going to be looking for a rent to own possibility and get out of that place.  There's no upside to renting in my view of it.

Well in this case there was to help a friend, who is helping herself in this situation by taking care of a lot of stuff that I really don't have time for.  And she's coming to the understanding that a light footprint is what is needed in terms of electric and gas and water consumption.  I don't want to take any losses on it now that all 3 rooms are rented out.  I was eating over $200 per month on it, but I had agreed to it in exchange for her watching the dogs while I"m gone.

This has actually worked out much more favorably to my benefit, getting Donny out of there.  I think he thought it would fail and I would get stuck holding the responsibility for it. I was of the thought that housing is always need regardless of where you live, there must be people who want to rent rooms.  I wasn't mistaken. Not a large number of them but they are here.  It was a bit nerve wracking at first once I had the understanding he was actually leaving and needed to find 2 tenants, but, it's worked out so far.