Growing increasingly unhappy with my work situation.  The only thing that keeps me there is the money.  But I will consider taking a pay cut to get away from the abuse that is going on there from that dispatcher and now her manager.  Her manager didn't even want to entertain the things this dispatcher is doing, proclaiming that she is going to continue dispatching and will continue to do the product we haul (there are many divisions hauling all kinds of different stuff) and she isn't going anywhere. 

I replied I am not one of the drivers going around declaring that she should be fired or "I will leave"  I just want her to back off.  Such as the other day, saying I didn't send a reply text and jumping on my case about it.  She ended up having to apologize after she realized she was wrong.  But whatever, this company would rather fire people than deal with them. I've seen it dozens of times and I can feel it.  That kind of scrutiny is on me and so be it.  Looking at local jobs currently.  

However, in our grouping of drivers, several have stated they will quit if they get pulled in to get "coaching" on their driving. One Owner Operator told the manager he won't allow them to install that new spy camera, if they try he will just quit.   

Honestly, I never thought I'd even last this long at this company with the way they operate and treat drivers like they are machines and nothing more than letters on a computer screen.  They literally don't care and they don't care if they are in dire need of more drivers, they will can your @$$ in a heartbeat. I've always been aware of this, I just figured I'd ride this out as long as I can stand it or until they get rid of me also.  I figure at this point? I've had about as much as I can handle and they are probably eyeballing me for "disposal".  

I have enough vacation hours to produce a very hefty paycheck if my departure is at hand.  I've really been wanting to try and ride this out until I can just do full time RV park - if it works out that way - but that's a couple years down the road, most likely.  I can't really imagine 2 more years of being with that company.  

There are plenty of local places - within a 60 mile radius - hiring, I have only been looking at the ones that actually pay anything.  And not even necessarily hazmat or tanker.  

As far as the RV park goes, they are not coming back out again until, allegedly, 2 Mondays from now.  I don't know how I can get him to get this done faster, I can't.  He's got a full plate - the contractor that is - and he moves equipment around from one place to another trying to keep up with all of it.  I can't do any better so I am just trying to patiently wait. But after this dirt work is done - and he thinks it will only take 2 days, 3 at most - then I will have to wait until he can come back and do the driveway and the pad construction.  

And only then can they start on the septic, electric and water installation.  This is dragging out much longer than I had hoped.  Really just want to get the money spent and all of that over and done with.  It's very difficult to figure out what I'm going to have left over until this is all done, costs keep getting added to the price tags and it's going to eat a lot more of what I have up than I had hoped.  

I'll tell you one thing, once I see how the electric is installed, I will likely do that myself on the next go around.  Well, maybe lol. Depends on time.  

Well, fresh back from Brownsville, no detention pay - really could have used a layover - and no work tomorrow. I dunno if that's related to the conversation today or just no work available. There were lots of driers hanging around the yard when I got back, I'll guess the latter.  My manager is on vacation until Monday, so if they were going to can me, it will have to wait until he gets back. Dispatch doesn't get rid of people.  No, the conversation wasn't horrible, I didn't let loose, they just can't take anyone saying anything.  Apparently a bunch of other drivers have already complained endlessly about this dispatcher.

This was my first real attempt at it and I figured it wasn't going to go anywhere, but there is a point where I"m going to speak my mind  - in a polite manner of course - and I don't really care what the  consequences are.  Saying that I'm definitely not the only driver that has complained about this lady but they are not having it.  I ended the conversation with "have a blessed day" instead of anything negative and that was that, she - the dispatcher manager - didn't reply to it.  I then texted the dispatcher "E003 is in the yard, have a great day!" and of course, she didn't reply to that, either.  

And there are other things going on, but it's too personal, people close that I am not going to discuss on the internet.  

If I don't get dispatched for the weekend tomorrow, then I'll know something is up and just start sending out applications. I know I can get hired somewhere quickly, that isn't an issue. Just starting all over again somewhere else and probably at a much lower pay scale unless I go OTR - which I will NOT do.  Regional is the best I would do and even then they still keep you out forever.  It's the lack of home time I object to.  

Whatever the case, I am tired and I'm heading off to beddy bye land.  

 Maybe I shouldn't be so irritated with work and the way I got shafted for runs.  The dog is apparently getting better. I only saw a few very small stains on the towels this morning.  It's been a week since the surgery. "All things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose" - or something like that, scripture in the New Testament.  

Actually, I dread going back to work this morning.  I got up early so I could sit around, drink a cup of coffee and attempt to get my mind back into the business of trucking.  I could also get irritated with them starting me out on the lowest paying run I can get, but, I'll be home tomorrow morning.  

Just going to get a lot more frugal with my money. Not only have I been off, tho I am using vacation hours, just enough to have some semblance of a paycheck - inflation is also eating away at everyone's income and now we have fuel prices skyrocketing.  

I think splurging on things is going to come to a halt. I don't regret getting that new desk.  It cost a bit, but I have always wanted a much larger desk to organize my papers in.  This one has a filing cabinet drawer, very large one and a smaller version of one as well. Plus two other drawers and of course the hutch with a lot storage compartments. 

I also bought an ottoman so I can kick my feet up - but that was $25 and now I just need to get a small stand for the TV satellite and the game console and I'm set. Get rid of this old desk - already have someone that wants that - move everything around to where I want it, clean it up and done.  

I didn't waste the time off, at least.  But I need to make an eye doctor appointment, I wonder how many days off I'll be unloaded with if I do that? Or a doctor check up with blood work?  Or when I need time off for the property? This dispatcher is a piece of work.  I'm either overloaded with work and no stop in sight or I'm at a standstill with little or nothing in sight.  Some of it is out of her control, but only a small portion of it.  

Anyway, I guess I best get my body moving, it's funny how fast time flies when you are facing clocks.  Then, when you get on the clock, how slow it goes by sometimes lol.  

Kind of stalled on the diet. I knew that was coming, I dropped way too much weight, too fast, for it to continue.  Stuck around 215.  Could take a way for the needle to move again.  Funny thing about Keto, tho, often times when you aren't losing any weight you notice that you are still losing fat.  A lot of people say this as well.  Dunno how that works, but it does.  The goal is to get rid of fat, so I'm all good with it.

TTYL

Now. there are talks about sending US fighter jets to Poland to send over to Ukraine.  Note I didn't say US military personnel.  Russia is making threats about any nation taking such an action.  Also making threats about any nation whose airports are going to be used for the Ukrainian military to operate airborne military excursions from.  I tend to believe Putin is evil enough to start bombing everyone and ultimately, start a world war.  I also believe he is capable of using his vast array of nuclear weapons. 

So, what will happen if Poland sends fighter jets to Ukraine?  I have no clue. Poland IS a member of NATO and as such, NATO is tasked with protecting it's member nations.  What the limitations of that are I have no idea.   Would Putin actually invade a neighboring country and potentially drag NATO into this warfare and ultimately, dragging the US into it?  I'm sure Putin isn't dumb enough to not understand what such an action could take.  

No crystal ball here, just going to continue to follow what's going on.

Addler isn't bleeding anymore, therefore I'm not going to get another cone.  He's still got leakage coming out - poop to be more specific - but not near as much as previous nights.  Still, I'm washing everything, every day until he's past this - if ever.  

I went over to the property earlier, a bit perplexed.  Because of the shift of the layout of the park, I decided to measure out the first 14 lots and see what kind of room I will have left on the west side.  If I don't move the driveway over to the east, I have 20 feet of contested property and 33 feet beyond that of - property I'm not sure what I'm going to do with.  The contested property bothers me a bit.  The most current survey saying it's mine, a 12 year old survey saying it's not - who to believe.  It isn't a battle I'm going to engage in anytime soon, I'm just working around it.  That property could house tents or small cabin setups.  

I was thinking of shortening the lots - pull throughs from 70 to 65 feet and back ins from 65 to 60 feet.  Then I thought, but anything I do to shift it is for future reference. And for future reference, I could have the first 14 lots all pull throughs by adding another driveway on the west side.  The rest of the park can be designed for 3 rows of RV's, the center being pull throughs.   

I have to work through this in my mind and come up with a solution.  Likely, the solution is just keep them at 70 and 65 and expand out to the 3 rows previously mentioned further south and shorten the rest of the lots.  50, 40 and 40 length lots. Wide enough a person could take their trailer off and park beside the RV if need be.  Mostly, tho, still having wider lots but the lengths shorter and still be able to have up to 60 lots without sacrificing the land for the rest of the amenities.  In reality, I would still have 500 linear feet of room for everything else.  There's lots of room to work with here and I don't want 100 plus lots.  Not this park, anyway.  

I'm actually not able to accurately measure anything yet, at least not with a wheel measurer.  I could with the tape measure, gonna have to go out there again. I'm guessing it's off by enough to make a different with the wheel going up and down hills and over things, adding length that it shouldn't be.  I would like to dream that they will start tomorrow, Monday, with the bulldozer work, but so far, they took out both of their excavators and haven't brought them back or a dozer.  They will need both. They are going to dig a hole at the very rear of the RV lot and bury the rest of the junk in it. I had no idea that is their modus operandi.  Apparently it's much easier to just bury the stuff with all the tree stems and twigs then to try to sort it out.  Meaning they also have to bring in a dump truck to move back and forth from one end of the lot to the other.  Hence the cost to have this portion of the project done.  And I'm only having 400 linear feet of the lot done. The rest will have to be at a later date. 

That's going to cost another - approximately - 20 grand.  I will reiterate here that I am not waiting forever to get the rest of this project going.  I want the initial phase up and running and see what happens. If it looks good, let's get with it.  46 more lots, more amenities, etc.  

So that's it. It's Sunday, no word from my dispatcher. However, one of the drivers reported loading this morning.  Out of some tank, not out of any freshly made product.  Yeah, that's bs. That guy worked on Monday, he should be in the very rear of the line.  I'm going to discuss this with my manager next time I see him. I am next in line, allegedly, for a load. I had the 6:00 am load for yesterday before they shut it down once again.  I can't imagine they have much or any product left?  Maybe they are saving some for the plants that don't use that much product. At least 3 I can think of only get one load per month.  

__________________________

So I contact this rather worthless dispatcher.  Any word?  She comes back and says, oh no, your Monday load isn't canceled.  ???Well THANKS FOR TELLING ME.  The last I heard from you you said my loads were canceled.  Ohh, nooo, not your Monday load, I was waiting to hear confirmation but - blah blah blah - and found out this morning that it was a go. I just sat there reading this stuff in awe.  Like, really? I just decided to shut my mouth, I'll take this up with the manager.  I was not prepared at all to go anywhere tomorrow.  Now, I have to get my mind into that mode -- that hasn't been in that mode for 12 days.  

Whatever. It's time to go back to work, that's a fact.  I just have to sit in wonder with a dispatcher that clearly has no clue what she is doing and after all this time, still hasn't learned much of anything.  It is not my position to have to contact her about loads, it's definitely the other way around.  Yet, here it is, I had to do the confirming.

I was talking to another driver about all of this.   He directed the conversation to those Lytx cameras.  He said he had heard that a driver had been fired for having a hooker in his truck.  Okay, folks, I don't do hookers, but if a driver wants to do that, it isn't my place to judge them.  He was making this statement because I had said that the claim was that the inward facing microphone isn't turned on. But, I also said, I don't trust it or them and I have it covered up anyway. 

He then said another driver, an owner operator who's been with the company forever, told the manager he is quitting. If they put one of those cameras in his truck, he's bye bye.  I understand, it's an invasion of a person's privacy and in this case, it is not the company's truck. But even if it is, most people have a fundamental problem with a company wanting to hear what's going on in side of a truck.  IMO it's just wrong.  I don't care what anyone else thinks of it, either, you aren't subjected to such nonsense. I am not subjected to it because I covered the thing up with gorilla duct tape and I flat told my manager to his face that I had done so. Just so we're clear and there is no ambiguity, I am not going to tolerate it either and now I'm hearing even more about other drivers quitting. 

They can sit there and claim that they can't hear what we're saying all they want, but that thing is equipped with a microphone and we have NO idea whether they are turned on or not, there is not way to tell.  What I'm saying on the phone or whatever I'm  doing isn't any of their damned business, period.

Anyway, off to Oklahoma tomorrow, so a low paying run to start after 2 weeks off.  yayyyy!

That's it, I'm outta here. 

Was dispatched for a load yesterday going to Brownsville today.  30 minutes later, I'm sent a text saying that the plant is shut down again, no load tomorrow, don't know when we are going to be back up and operational.

Several hours later, the dispatcher calls and asks me to be available today, the plant hopes it can get up and running today but they don't know for sure. Way to put a person's life on hold!  Hope....yes I do understand. These plants we deliver this product to cannot produce the products they make without the chemical we take to them. 

By now, they are all shut down.  I have no idea what is wrong with the plant over in Longview, I asked and my dispatcher just agreed, yes it's something serious.  I'm guessing the pump is screwed.  What else could take this long to fix?  Well, there's lots and lots of processes this chemical goes through, I will eventually find out for it certainly has my curiosity piqued.  

Well, anyway, we went to Chuck E Cheese's today.  I took my vehicle with my gear, had no idea whether they were going to get the plant up and running or not.  Turns out  - not.  Not only am I not working today, there is no clue whether it's going to be up and going tomorrow. Or when, for that matter.  I just know that as of tomorrow, I'll have been off work for 12 days.  

Played a bunch of games with the boys, then we went to the Harley Davidson dealership - not for me, not for me.  I haven't been on a street bike in a very long time and at the moment, I have no desire to.  We hung there for a while and then went to Bubba's so they could have the wait staff sing happy birthday to the 5 year old.  

Now, I just have to wonder whether there is going to be anything going on for work tomorrow.  They can't just keep us off work indefinitely.  Or yes, they can actually.  Up to drivers whether they want to stick around or go find a new place of employment.  I'm not interested in looking for another job right now unless I'm forced into that position.  

Still watching the Russia/Ukraine stuff, but something tells me that Russia shelling these cities is only going to go so far.  i didn't realize that there are vast underground subway tunnels under these cities where the Ukrainians can hole up.  "Experts" predict that guerilla style warfare could go on for a very, very long time.  At least the Ukrainians are getting military hardware from all kinds of sources all over the planet.  

Don't want to get too lengthy with this.  Hoping Addler gets past this - very soon. He is totally crashed out right now.  He hasn't been sleeping - that cone? He just sits there staring at me half the night, not sleeping, head held up.  I'll wake up at 5:00 am and then he'll finally have laid his head down with that thing on.  Poor doggy : ( He somehow got the cone off his head today - destroyed it actually - after we got back. I just thought, oh well. If the wound opens up and he starts bleeding again, he can go to the vet and stay there until he is past this.  

 "It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant". Russians have taken over the contested nuclear power plant and God only knows what they plan on doing with it.  Use it as leverage? I just sit in awe of what's going on over there, with Russians indiscriminately killing civilians as if they are nothing more than the buildings they are also destroying.  

Not shockingly, the dispatcher put other people up to load first before me - I've been off work far longer than anyone else atm.  Then again, I haven't contacted her.  But, it's time to go back to work.  The plant is actually still shut down for maintenance, they are loading out of railcars that were previously loaded.  And probably only giving priority to the biggest customers, there might be 5 or 6 truckloads sitting out threre in those railcars, after that, the plant will have to fire the rack back up. 

Down another 2 pounds.  Keto and intermittent fasting are working far better than just Keto alone.  It's like the first month I started Keto over 2 years ago.  When I finally got into ketosis, the weight started dropping off 3/4 of a pound to a pound a day.  The gut is noticeably shrinking, in less than a week's time I've dropped 17 pounds.  This isn't any narcissistic statement, it's an ode to the Keto diet that works where other diets don't.  People "try" keto and say it doesn't work, but then you find out they aren't following the plan.  They think they can sneak something in, like regular diets and it will be okay.  I try to explain to some of these people how it works, but it falls on deaf ears.

They simply aren't that serious about dropping the weight.  When they are ready, when they get desperate enough, perhaps they will reconsider.  I started getting desperate after I started seeing weight gains on a weekly basis - hitting the 230 mark was it for me.  A fit man most of my adult life, relegated to being obese and seriously overweight?  Taylor actually found this diet initially, I had never heard about it.  How can you not lose weight if you are cutting out most all sugars?  

So I have gotten nothing done today. Addler had "stuff" coming out his butt overnight and it was on the new carpeting.  Gag and gross. I threw him out the door - not literally folks, I escorted him out lol - got out the carpet cleaning machine and got busy.  No stains, thankfully and it's all thoroughly cleaned up.  If I had known this dog was going to have that kind of problem after surgery, I would have just left him at the vet in their kennel.  For like a week anyway, I don't care how much it costs.  I'm seriously considering taking him over there today.  I think the bleeding has stopped at least, but all the nastiness is just oozing out of there.  It's not his fault, obviously, and the surgery had to be done, I just wish this vet would have given me a bit better picture of what was going to happen after the fact. I wouldn't have even gone over there to pick him up.  

He's ruined the new doggy bed that I spent $200 on, it's going into the trash can.  But today, I'm going to have to wash the thing off as best as I can get it - if  - I keep him home.  In fact, I need to get out there and hose it off, it will take all day to dry it.  It has warmed up considerably here at least.  

And that's that. A drive by the property since it's Friday and who knows if they might show up today with equipment and the off to a hike and then back to the grind in the bedroom - desk almost finished, just need help to lift up the giant hutch -I could do it myself but I'd be afraid of dropping it or letting it tilt and scratch or even ruin the finish on the rest of the desk.  

G'day

 I finally got to the bottom of why I am not getting any runs dispatched to me - today is long after I should have had to go back to work - can't say I miss it. Instead of contacting the dispatcher I just asked other drivers. 2 of them replied that the chemical plant where we load has been shut down.  I think it was for scheduled maintenance, tho it's a strange time of the year for them to be doing that. 

I mean, I could never go back to trucking and be quite joyous, but of course I need the paychecks - for now.  So I have no idea when I'm going  back to work, but scheduled maintenance doesn't typically stay down for too long, the plants that rely on this chemical will also end up shutting down if it goes on too long.  I'm ready to get this misery over with and head back to work.  I will miss the 4 turning 5 year old's birthday on Saturday, unfortunately, if they send me out Saturday.  However, everyone has been sitting now. There is no way they can load all of our trucks in one day, even on a marathon day they couldn't do it. If I could just get Saturday off too,  I would be happy.  

Yes I could have found out sooner about work, I didn't want to.  I have been enjoying my time off since getting back from vacation.  And renewed Keto diet has me a bit sluggish - it goes that way at first.  Plus I have been putting this giant desk together for days now. The desk is done, the hutch that goes on it is almost done as well. My room is in a shambles because of all of this. Tomorrow, I will have the hutch up on the desk and then I can start to move everything around. Bed and dresser are going to be moved, the little desk I have for my lap top is going to be rehomed to someone else's house.  

Oh, and the 7 year old wants to go hiking tomorrow.  I'll be happy to help him out with that, unfortunately I won't be able to take Addler.  I might take the boy to a state park not terribly far away that has trails that are pretty interesting.  I've taken Addler and the shepherd there before.  Just something different than going to my property all the time.  Different things to look at and experience.  I don't really want to take the 4 year old, he just isn't ready for hiking trails yet.  He gets - flummoxed is an appropriate adjective here - he doesn't understand why things are the way they are out in the wilderness.  You know, vines tripping you up, tripping over logs, getting stuck by thorns, mosquitoes, etc etc etc.  I try to pay attention to him when we get into the thick of things, but even then he still has meltdowns.  

I did go over to the property today, it's hard to get the contractor to tell me when they're coming, so I just go over and look. I'm looking for at least one trackhoe and a bulldozer.  Nothing yet.  As stated in an earlier post, I was thinking about changing this plan completely in order to accommodate for the increased amount of spending.  I have all but made up my mind that the existing driveway shall be used.  It will save probably ten thousand dollars in creating it and putting gravel down on it.

Yes, that sounds exorbitant for a driveway, you have to understand this is a large project and gravel might be cheap, but when you are talking hundreds of tons of gravel, plus delivery, the cost goes way up.  I used a calculator - it will cost around 22k just for the gravel if I am building 2 driveways.  I lose minimum 6k using the existing driveway.  

Anyway, the whole layout of the park will change. Actually, I'm going to go back out there tomorrow and measure out one site, then mark 25 feet across - the driveway that needs to be built - and then 65 feet and see where I'm at with any land left over going towards the west.  It is at least possible there might be enough land left to put in smaller lots in the future and have 3 rows instead of only 2.  

I wrote my letter to this truck driver - but his truck wasn't there today.  I believe he's an OTR driver considering the odd times he shows up and the fact he's gone for some period of time in between his home visits.  The letter wasn't in your face stuff, it was politely asking him to please move his truck elsewhere, sorry for the inconvenience, etc.  I don't need or want neighbor wars. If he wants to start one, that's up to him. I will try de-escalation tactics if he does ramp it up.  

I guess I've filled up tomorrow with finishing this desk, going on a hike and going to the property. The idea of having a 3rd row in the future is just something I want to find out to satisfy my curiosity.  These things start taking up space in my brain and I have to resolve them, or at least figure it out.  Much smaller lots can be made and can be filled up. I've seen it at the sardine can parks where a lot of the spaces are maybe 40-45 long - at most.  And there are smaller units occupying those spaces.  

All of this increased expenditures have me thinking about this SBA loan or some kind of business loan from a bank again.  I dunno. Just thinking about it.  Just kind of wait until I get to the cutoff for my finances where I say, nope, I can't spend any more of this money, I will leave myself broke and vulnerable.  I'm certain, tho, that I have enough money to get the pads, driveways and utilities installed. 

It's the bath house - if I even put one in now - the fire pits, the picnic tables, the doggy park, these are the things that lie in jeopardy of not having enough finances to cover it and then, having to take out some kind of loan.  

Whatever the case, I'm not stressing over it, it's just another bridge I will have to cross when I get to it.  But since it IS a possibility that I may have to go that route, now is the time to start looking at my options.  I have plenty of personal loan offers, I want to explore business loans as well.  They may laugh me out of the bank, fine and well, just tell me what I need to work on to get to the place where they will seriously consider giving me a business loan. 

Yes, I have been watching the war. The last several days I have had the news on all day long.  Some of it is repetitive, yes, but a lot of new stuff keeps coming out in a fairly steady stream. Such as the nuclear plant that that Russians apparently targeted.  They hit an administration building, they didn't hit any of the reactors - but I would suspect they did that on purpose.  It literally makes no sense to me for them to take out such an important part of that nation's infrastructure? If they want to occupy it, why would they destroy one of the largest nuclear power plants in the whole of Europe?  Yet, I'm sure they could have destroyed the entire thing if they had wanted to. A bit perplexing.  

Another interesting thing that has come out is that the companies in the US that buy oil - have not bought any Russian oil for the last week. Beyond that, there is a huge and growing list of US companies that are cutting ties with Russia and shutting down operations over there or stopping shipping goods to them.  Targeting Russian oligarchs ships and planes was also an interesting development.  I doubt any of that is going to slow Putin down for now, but if these companies keep this up for an extended period of time, it will eventually wear on Russia and it's citizens who may get tired of living without things.  

Anyway, time for bed.  

 Addler. Fresh blood coming out of his butt where the stitches are.  This isn't good. I may have to take him back to the vet tomorrow.  I've been off work for 7 days, I was supposed to go back yesterday but.....apparently plants are shut down. There hasn't been a driver posting in the texting group for 3 days now about getting loaded.  I dunno, but if he has somehow opened the wound up? I'm likely to leave him there at the vet.  I've done my best to keep him from being too active and definitely to stop licking it, but I must have failed somewhere along the way.  Whatever, I can't have this keep happening is the point, as much as I don't want to leave him there in a kennel atmosphere, I more don't want this to be an ongoing problem.  It needs to heal and get it over with.  

The electrician for the construction company called today.  He has a very deep Texas drawl.  The owner does as well, lol.  It's kind of funny listening to them speaking.  

Anyway, he said there is going to be a problem with the pedestals.  I was under the impression they make their own, apparently they do not.  That's not really what I wanted, really have no choice tho.  The other electrical company is far too busy, they wouldn't even send someone out to look at the property. They did tell me they wouldn't be able to do anything for a while - but after months of waiting I wrote them off.

Well, the problem? They can only get X amount of the pedestals at the price I was quoted, the rest of them they will have to acquire elsewhere.  Further complication? These other pedestals are from a different manufacturer and cost substantially more.  I'm shrugging my shoulders with this situation.  When I get down to around 15 grand left in the bank? It's going to stop.  Well, maybe 10 grand. I don't like not having a cushion of money to be able to fall back on - rainy day fund, just in case stuff.  I normally have 8 to 10 grand in the bank anyway, before I got all of this other money.  

The deal: they are ordering pedestals and they wanted to know if I wanted to get them now, while they are available?  Yes, please.  I already knew pedestals are on backorder everywhere. People talking about months before they receive their orders of them. I want them to have them now, not wait months when the electrical is ready to install.  Yes, I have to pay for them in advance, a simple receipt is all I need and I'm good. I do trust these people, they have an excellent reputation in this entire region.  

But, it's an extra 2 grand.  Doesn't sound like much, but everything is eating away at my finances here.  What else am I going to run into with higher pricing? I don't know, hopefully nothing but I did recite the pricing the contractor gave me back to the owner of it the other day to ensure we are still on "that" page.  The page where he gave me, in writing, quotes for the various aspects of this installation.  

I wish I could get at least 20 lots in right now, instead of having to wait.  

This news today wasn't actually shocking.  The dirt work on top of the land clearing was a bit of a surprise, keeping a level head about this.  One thing is for certain, at least at this point: If I get a building - which I must - it's just going to be one building.  If there is going to be a bathroom and showers and laundry, it's all going to be in the one, same-said building.  

Unfortunately, the competition is increasing in this area - I know this because this company is off building even more RV parks all over the place.  I have to have something that is of appeal to people to choose my place over some other place.  The pool is going to have to happen, somehow.  

Because if I can't get the type of people in that I want to target, I will have to do something different. 

Not going to go into that atm, the park will open when it opens and hopefully the wider, longer lots with grass, fire pits, picnic tables, walking trails, a doggy park and probably a swimming pool depending on the financing will be enough to get people in there.  Oh and wifi.  It's getting to the verge of the precipice of a small loan - 20 grand probably - to finish it up.  It's that or immediately get to work on a SBA loan before I spend too much more money........but I might go approach the bank I have all of this money at and see what they offer in terms of business loans as well.  

And we have word that tomorrow, the price of gas in this region is jacking up .25 cents per gallon. Well, it's very likely going to get worse with Biden ending US self dependency on oil.  And government spending causing inflation to hit everything.  We're already averaging $3.21 per gallon, so yes, if that .25 cents happens, that is going to crank the cost of fuel well up there. It's going to hurt the paycheck to paycheck people more than anyone.  I find it interesting that Biden said in the SOTU address that we should all be buying American - yet he can't find it within himself to get us back to American oil? 

Anyway, the electric installation situation was the point of this post.  I can only hope there isn't anything that's going to go the same route.  Septic is pipe and vaults.  There are several concrete companies in the region that make the vaults, whether the price is going to go up? No idea.  I have a quote from this contractor, I wouldn't want to get into a pissing match with him about it, I am just going to hope his quote will stay the same. At the same time? Let's get this stuff installed, sooner than later!

G'nite.  

 What stops Putin from advancing on if he defeats Ukraine?  You don't think this man is capable of simply moving right on to neighboring nations which are equally as impotent as the Ukraine to stop the carnage?  NATO is an interesting organization, but Putin is starting to get old and I doubt he cares.  When he starts posturing with talk about his nukes - he may be playing the cards and bluffing, or he may be at a point in his mind where he doesn't care. I don't know.  I'd like to think he would never think of using nuclear arms against an inferior nation militarily speaking but I don't put anything past this man.  Not at this point. His actions have always been reckless, but we have an update of how evil this man is in targeting civilians.  

And all of this blah blah blah about condemning the man, give the people of Ukraine what they need: the armament to stand up to this malevolent actor.  Not worth going too much into this, but I am watching the video and pictures of the destruction the Russian army did overnight, especially on Karkiv (spelling?) and it's horrible.  

Regardless, Addler is miserable right now, he hates that cone but if I take it off? He goes straight to licking the area that had the surgery and we just can't have that.  He's on pain pills until they are gone, so hopefully he's not too uncomfortable.  His appetite is gone, he barely eats and then lays down.  

The contractor sent me a quote to do just the first 400' of the property.  I can only say that to do the entire property is going to be very costly and we are definitely not going that route. I gave the ok to get it done, the range is between $6,500 and $9,700 for just the 400 linear feet of it and it is what it is.  I have no choice.  For the money it will cost to do the rest of it? It would be cheaper for me to buy my own bulldozer.  I doubt I'll do that, just the thought of how much money this is all going to cost to get to the eventual finish line with a fully developed park.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars, easily.  

Get the thing up and running, see what happens and make decisions from there.  Right now, the decisions are to move along with whatever I can afford and get it done.  I authorized the work and that's that.  If this thing turns out profitable, I will be able to secure a loan for somewhere in the 300k range and finish the rest of it.  I'm still going to be good with getting the rest of the pad work done and the utility installation - but - I haven't received a quote on the gravel.  I can easily see another 15k, even with the use of the existing driveway.  Plans are being altered to make the project affordable.  

I'm somewhere around 80k to do everything that this contractor will do to get this park going.  That's 24k more than I expected.  That 24k is the building and everything it needed.  Gag.  Very possible I'll have to take out a loan to finish this thing.  Not my first choice but I'll do whatever I have to, we are already knee deep here, might as well jump all the way in. I have, lol, jumped all the way in. I'm not worried per se, just wanting to get this stuff done so I can get the money spent on the things I need.  I feel like I'm racing against an inflation clock. The longer it takes, the more it's going to cost. 

I spent most of yesterday working on putting this rather large desk together. I knew it was big, I didn't realize it was this big.  Because it took them so long to get the thing to me, they took off almost $300 from the original price. I've put it off because - I knew it was going to be quite the project and I wasn't wrong.  There were a huge number of parts.  The desk itself is almost done, then put the hutch together and call it good. 

I'm back to my pre-trip weight.  I weighed in at 219 when I left, I was up to 232 when we got back.  That doesn't mean my gut is gone, lol.  Just came back to the weight I started at.  I'm looking to lose 35 pounds, well I'm looking to lose all of this fat.  

Well, back to the desk. Get it done and get my room back into some semblance of order.  Can't take Addler for a walk today, tho I guess I could take the shepherd.  Addler is going to forego walks for a couple of weeks as far as I'm concerned, I want that healed enough that his romping around all over the place isn't going to open the wound.  

 Addler is ok, is the good news. The unpleasantries of shoving even more pills down dog throats hits home as Addler needs 2 antibiotics, twice a day and a pain pill every 12 hours until they are gone.  He wasn't a particularly hungry dog this evening and he has a cone on his head.  He isn't allowed to go running around all over the place outside, so his outside ventures are to be just enough to get a drink and potty.  We are in for a tough week and I won't be here for all of it.  We already are shoving 2 pills down the shepherd's throat once a day before meal time, every day for the rest of her life. 

I hate to have to leave that cone on his head all night long, but he licks his butt - all night long.  Just can't have that, it can open up the wound and then back to the vet and another big bill and no thanks.  He isn't enjoying life right now, I can't do anything to change that.  

The vet sent the mass she took out off to have it tested.  She said it was connected internally and she had to take out a lot more than she had expected, including the anal glands on one side.  She knows what she's doing, I can't imagine having to do surgery on any animal or human in that particular region of the body.  I do hope this is the end of it, whatever it is and that we don't have any further action needed to be taken.  

One can hope.  

I did not hear back from the contractor, he stated he would get me a quote by the end of the day, I figured he wouldn't end up being able to do that. In fact, he doesn't even do that particular quote, he says his lead foreman would have to come and work up a quote on that.  If it's less than 10 grand I'd be shocked.  I'm not saying I want a bill that high, but yea, I can see it going way up there.  Which is why I am considering changing the parameters of my pre-determined route of doing this setup to save money.  The pre-existing driveway is looking better and better all the time.  

A fresh, light coating of iron ore on the existing driveway, fix a problem spot and it's done.  Now all I have left is another driveway to be built and I'm going to have to give notice that that truck simply cannot park there anymore. I  am not going to fix all of that only to have him come and destroy it.  That would piss me off.  The next time the truck is parked there, I'm simply going to put a sign on the window.  "this property is being converted into a business and as such, this driveway is going to be used for such purposes.  We cannot have this truck parking here (this is private property) and continuing to tear up the front of the driveway and taking up space.  We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we can no long allow you to park here.  May I suggest the storage place at the corner of 80 and 390? It is only $50 per month and a truck could easily fit in there." Or - they can build their own driveway and spend the money, that's on them. They are renters, so I doubt they would want to do that. 

Some day - well down the road, I would want to approach the owner of the house and make him an offer to buy. Tear the house down, get rid of all of that junk and either replace it with cabins or just have nothing there.  It is something of an eyesore. There are natural ways to block the view of it - but growing plants takes many years to get big enough to do anything.  A 6 foot fence would also help to block the view - and that may be something in the works down the road a piece when I get a better financial foothold.  A 6 or even 8 foot tall fence might actually be a better route.  Cheaper and blocks out the view and sets the perimeter. This is my land, thank you, not trying to be an ass, but I am taking possession of it.  I really don't know what kind of potential trouble I am going to run into with these people, they are not friendly.  I've tried waving at them dozens of times, only once did a person wave back and she doesn't even live there.  

There is plenty of unused land on the east side, 3 different tracts.  It's all the same owner who also owns the house.  I could see someday making an offer for the portions that have towering pines.  

Anyway, I'm only musing about that because I am going to have to deal with it and after I get this entry done, I am going to write out and print a letter to the truck owner. I don't know how long they've lived there, but no one has ever done anything with my land besides the gas well so i guess they just figured they could do whatever they wanted.  The truck is a total eyesore besides tearing up the driveway.  Yes, I'm a trucker but yes, this truck is ugly.  Dollar General plastered all down the sides and the back of it and an old, ugly looking tractor pulling the thing.  

One thing I would like to do is avoid court battles and even sheriff's deputies having to get involved.  If I were parking on someone else's land, I would have asked the owner beforehand if I could park there.  I guess that's just me, but having a tow truck come out and tow a truck away? The owner is going to pay 1 to 2 grand for that service and they are probably not going to be too happy about it.  I will always go back on the fact that that house has plenty of land to build a driveway on the other side of it if they so desired.  They just put in a huge garden over there, like a mini farm type of thing.  

This is ugliness I just don't want to deal with, but I have no choice.  I was going to do this over a week ago and simply spaced it out what with the vacation that was coming up and getting a bit excited about the land being cleared and the timber being burned.  But yes, it's time to take the initial steps and attempt to at least work this out without any kind of confrontation. Just a polite, please find another place to park your truck, give a suggestion of a place that is about 3 miles away - and cheap monthly rate - and thank you very much. Here is my phone number, call with any questions.  It all came back into my mind once I saw where the truck had been parked and after this last rain, he had put a large number of deep ruts into the driveway starting at the street and coming back probably 100 feet worth.  It is obvious he was doing backing maneuvers to get the truck in there.  

Look, I don't take my truck home, I have no choice but to park it at the yard in Longview, 30 miles away.  

Ohhh and the lock on the gate.  I dunno who did it, but the lock was cut off and discarded on the side of the driveway.  There is nothing back there worth stealing so it was either the contractor or the county fire department - both of which have the gate code for I gave it to them.  But, a worker might have tried to get back there and didn't know the code and just decided to cut the thing off.  I dunno, but I suspect I will be hearing from the gas company about it.  Of course, the main gas company never replied to my email about their employee speeding down the driveway......

Anyway, enough of this.  I am going to bed early along with the rest of the house that apparently is already in bed.  Like, it's only 8:30, lol

g'nite

Ukraine is basically being destroyed. It's heart breaking to watch, the people of Ukraine have giant balls and are standing up valiantly to the evil oppressors, I hope they can win.  There is always hope. Things can happen that tip the scales in favor of the underdog.  I'm no Biden fan, but the people bashing him for not doing - what else? - I'm a bit unsure about.  If we send in troops, we have WW3.  If Ukraine had been a NATO ally, this Russian bullying would never have started, IMO.  I also do agree that the world stage looks at our current President as weak. That's all I have to say about this war that Putin started, completely unprovoked and totally unnecessary.  And invoking some special powers statement to raise the level of nuclear readiness?  This dude isn't that dumb to start a nuclear war, is he? 

    

Whatever the case, the first large check has been issued.  Part 1 of land clearing is done.  Part 2 is dozer work.  I am waiting on a quote on that, I just met with the contractor at the property.  He's trying to save some money for start up costs and I can't help but think about his suggestions.  Using the existing driveway for the beginning would save probably 10 grand right off the bat.  I hesitated to use it because it's the gas company road.  Yet, there is very little traffic on it.  Just one pickup truck per day and occasionally a few other companies going in there. I'm going to think about it.

He also suggested dozer work on just the portion of the property that needs to be done for the first 14 pads.  I mean, getting those trees down, the size of this rather huge expanse of property is much more than I really expected.  I knew it was a quarter mile long, but now being able to actually see all of it.....

So his proposals are to use the existing driveway - which cuts out half the amount of new driveway I need to build and simply just get the dozer work done on the portion of property that needs to be done for the lots.  There's probably a 20 grand savings there, maybe more.  Maybe much more, probably nothing less than that.  Instead of 1,400 feet of dozer work, we get around 450 of it done.  These are decisions I will make based on my money supply.  

I can say after cutting a 12 thousand dollar check? I'm going to rethink this a bit.  It's going to disappear quickly if I go the route I intended on going.  The dozer work wasn't anything I had thought I would need to pay extra for. I don't blame the contractor, it's ignorance on my part.  The contractor gave me the lowest bid on land clearing of all of them, easily, hands down. I could -and may - get a second quote on the dozer work, but based on all of the quotes I've received for everything else? It's highly unlikely this guy is going to be beaten in price. His knowledge through experience of building parks is also worth a mint in itself.

He said he doesn't have a bobcat for clearing trails but he has a contractor he uses whenever he needs work like that done, of which he texted me the man's phone number and then cautioned me: a lot of these mulching companies around here don't do it right. They will run over a small tree, mulch part of it and left the rest laying there. That isn't the way mulching is supposed to be done.  I agree. There should be nothing but a pile of - mulch - laying there, not a tree trunk.  I'm not going to get a bunch of quotes on that, it shouldn't cost more than a couple thousand dollars with an experienced operator to clear through a trail that isn't any wider than the machinery being used to make the trails.  At most a days worth.  But, I will probably have a driveway mulched in to tent camping sites.  So that will up the price. 

But I think for now, I'm going to wait and get these pads done.  Meaning the driveways, the pads, the utilities.  Or mostly done anyway, and then get my building and get started on that.  I just want one building if I can get away with it that has a bathroom, a shower room and a small laundry facility, get that all in one building and hopefully have a little space left over for a small office where I can put all the wifi hardware.  I am planning on all transactions being done on the internet.  

My focus in attracting clients is going to be on amenities. Dog park, walking trails, hopefully a fishing pond right off the bat and still wanting that pool.  The pool would need a loan and it isn't on the top of the priority list, but it's on there.  Things for people to do.  I'm not sure how any of this is going to turn out, I'm feeling my way through this. I'd really rather have the entire plot of dozer work done right off the bat.  

I would really love to put in some cabins as well. Those are money makers beyond RV spots - of course they cost a lot more money.  I see them at lost of the parks that wanted to find other ways to increase revenues and it's a no brainer for those that have either the working capital to build them outright or get the loans needed.  

There's lots of things swirling around in my head about this venture, right  now? I'm waiting on a quote to do the blade work.  One thing I won't change my mind on, at least for these first 14 spots, is the 40 feet weed aspect.  That is non-negotiable in my mind, it's one of the biggest complaints you will see: ROOM.  Smaller lots can come in the future, a bit less wide, maybe 35 or even 30 feet and less length since many rigs are not that long and don't need that much space.  

So there it is, for a Monday. Addler is at the animal hospital, I would assume by now the operation is done and over with and he will be recovering.  They figured they wouldn't call me to come get him until he is fully awake. Good, because I don't really want to have to try and lift him into that SUV. Right now? No news is good news, meaning there weren't any complications for if there were, I would have heard about it by now.  He hasn't passed away, it's all good. He was very friendly this morning with everyone, that was a good sign at least.  Hopefully get him back into not having a painful growth on his butt and feeling whatever pain or discomfort that must have been giving him.

And finally, my credit dump 79 points again.  Credit scores are complicated, at least the way they determine it. In this case, my thought was that your overall credit use being less than 30% is good, less than 10% is optimal.  Over 30% and yes, your score will take a dive. What they do NOT tell you is that you can't have individual cards over that 30% threshold, either.  So, if you have a low limit credit card and you basically use it for anything, good luck with that.  

It took me a minute to figure this out today.  Look at Credit Karma and then click on "see what changed" and then go through everything. 3 of them said "balance decreased by", 1 of them said account paid off/closed and then the culprit:  I paid something for $599 on it plus I had around $500 on it already and it showed "using 49%" on it.  That's it.  This stuff sometimes eludes me, they don't actually tell you a lot of specifics.  You have to figure it out.  So, I paid that down to less than 30% of card use and that should change my score back up the 79% I lost.  

We'll see, but I'm pretty sure that's what caused the nose dive.  You go from excellent to fair range in one, fell swoop.  Ridiculous.  Not like I've missed any payments on anything in over 3 years. Over all credit usage is well below 20%.  I can't have this stuff, not if I'm going to get a pool loan or personal loan if I need one to finish off the setup. Which is why I am probably going to take this guy's advice and just use the existing driveway.  I've got loan offers for personal loans, one of which is particularly appealing - but only if I need it.  

Well I'm going to end this one.  I did get a $533 credit from Bank of America for using my points towards the vacation.  Which is good, lol, that wasn't a cheap vacation.  San Antonio Riverwalk area is a tourist trap with tourist trap pricing. Next vacation I'd like to simply rent a cabin by a lake and have a bit more natural outing and much less expensive.  

G'day. 

 San Antonio

Cold. High floor in the Marriott, 34th floor to be precise.  Not too shabby.  I like the Grant Hyatt across the street better tho, lol. Maybe some other time.

We got here late, like 2 am late and we all just came up to the room and crashed.  It's just that we got a late start since James didn't get off work til - normal time - which just pushed everything up.  Hindsight? Probably should have just slept at home and gotten up early this morning. 

But whatever.  I have a heavy winter jacket and we are going to see whatever there is to see.  At least today, for tomorrow there is a high chance of rain.  That will just have to be indoor stuff.

Spend much of yesteday running around town, getting stuff done, 4 year old in tow.  Considering we were out most of the day, he did surprisingly well, without too many pouty face moments and no meltdowns whatsoever. Of course, uncle Ben spoiling him a bit to keep him in that mood might have helped lmao.

But I did get Addler and Aspyn in yesterday.  They did an exam on Addler's rear end, declared he has a growth right on his butt end and he needs to have surgery to have it removed.  Okay?  We'll get a quote worked up for you for that.  I was expecting thousands of dollars for some reason - attach the word surgery to anything a vet does nowadays and you have a hefty bill.

So, once she came in and was - a bit apprehensive about giving me the bill - I just asked to look at it.  Whatever it is, unless it's 20 grand or something, we're doing it.  Turns out it was only a grand.  I looked at her, well this isn't even that much, I'm good with this.  Big sigh of relief?  I guess people are broke and can't afford such things right now?  I dunno, but I'll easily spend that much on my beloved doggy to get him well. He's 7 going on 8, hopefully has some good years left in him so yeah, let's do this.

But, that was yesterday on the day of leaving for San Antonio, I asked if they have a  kennel. Yes we have large kennels we can keep him. Still, I thought, I'll be out of town and far enough away I can really do anything but authorize more procedures if something goes wrong. I decided to wait until we get back and take him in on Monday - if my dispatcher will give me an extra day off.

I was pondering that and then the dispatcher sent a group text.  Plants have shut down because of the weather, looking like a slow week next week, etc etc etc.  I immediately texted her and asked for Monday off as well.  She said she'd have to look in th morning and would get back to me.  I need to know today so I can call the animal hospital and let them know they can prepare to get this done on Monday.  

So, other than Aspyn getting a rabies shot and fresh license, that was that.  Addler didn't get any of his shots yesterday, for they said they could just give them to him while he's knocked out.  Makes sense, the dog doesn't much care for shots, I can tell ya that. 

I also went by the property.  I always drive by the property, I want to see if they're out there doing anything. It was raining so I didn't really expect to see them. But half a mile from the property I said big plumes of smoke rising into the sky, I got excited lol, are they burning the piles?!!

Yes!!!  There was a different man out there on yet another trackhoe they had dropped off, he had 3 of the largest piles burning. I dunno why he didn't just light them all, but whatever.  He said he hopes to have it done today. I was smiling seeing that getting done, a little more progress.  I went back later on that after noon.  2 of the piles had burned down to giant piles of ashes and he had lit another one and 2 of them were burning pretty good - and he was leaving lol.

I didn't bother to tell the fire department that those fires were going to be left unattended.  They were sitting squarely in the middle of the lot and it had been raining all day long, there wasn't much chance of a problem.  He had repiled the fire I had started and it was smoldering from days ago.  Hopefully that one was going to catch as well.  

I also got a new phone yesterday. Between the horrible video and picture quality and the fact it runs really slow, I just buckled down and said yes, it's time to do this.  They wouldn't let me pay cash for it, but I didn't get any discounts anyway.  They were only giving discounts for an Iphone 12 and they didn't have them in stock, but, they had the Iphone 13 in stock, just no discount.  Ok, I'll buy this thing and sell my old one on Ebay.  That's my plan.  It's an amazing phone. I don't regret waiting this long to get one, but I'm super glad it did take the plunge and go ahead and get it done. 

The 4 year old was entertaining pretty much everyone in the place, so it was fun to boot.

Anyways, I think my peoples are waiting on me, they went down - 34 floors down lol - to smoke and get coffee.  I just wanted to put up a quick post and report the wonderful news of the property being worked on and not so wonderful news of Addler having that problem - but I am hopeful that will turn out okay.

Time to get out of this room - tho I can tell ya? I could just sit in here all day, alone, with no interaction with anyone and just relax and enjoy myself.  However, Taylor has other plans lol so off to the races!

G'day

 This laptop has to be the most worthless pile of electronic garbage I have ever owned. I keep thinking I need to buy a new one. It just took 20 minutes to start it up and actually have it get to the main page and then try to get the internet up and running. It's been like this since shortly after I got this heap of unmitigated dog dung and it's really time to get a new one. I will never buy a Lenovo again, the next one will probably be an HP.  I am also unhappy with my phone.

I tried to buy one the other day, the newest version of an Iphone, the store wouldn't sell it to me. They told me that I could only get one on payments at the store.  I said ok, fine, if I get one on payments and then pay it off? You will lose the $300 credit, I was informed.  I politely said no thank you and got up and walked out.  I will find one online and be done with it.  I hate to spend the type of money I'm talking to buy a new phone and a new computer, but I feel it's time to get rid of this garbage and upgrade.  The issue with the phone is limited memory and not-so-great photo and video quality.  All of that is allegedly gone now with these newer phone and 3 lenses on the back taking pictures and/or video.

Anyway, I was "surfing the web", namely, I was on Facebook and the reel section.  It just puts up random, short videos of this and that.  Well, it apparently tries to give you content that you like, because it is always showing businessmen/women giving business advice and showing how to do things.  Things that I don't know, btw, an in some cases, didn't even know I should be doing.  

So today was one of those moments. A lady was on there telling you what to do with a business start up. It was a 15 second video.  She went through the list so fast I had to wait for it to replay and then pause it when the bullet points were all up on the screen, for there was an item at the end that I didn't understand what she was referring to.  It said "apply for a duns number".  

Okay, that was strange.  I looked it up on this computer after writing that and it said there is another business name registered at our address.  Well, I'll have to look into that later, there are no businesses established through our address as far as I know it. I'm using home address for business address to get everything started and will switch to real address when I finally get a street address for the park.  

Anyway, it's an account with Dun & Bradstreet.  I've seen this site many times over, I've used it to look up info about a business, usually a corporate headquarters phone number.  I had no idea it was necessary to get an account with them to start building your business' credit file.  I thought the EIN number issued from the state was all that I needed.  I'm very glad I stumbled across this info now.  You don't build credit over night, that's a fact.  Capital One is also asking for more information, I will finish that when I get home.  

Yes, still sitting in Brownsville, it's 11:15 am, they just told me a truck is coming but the wait at the bridge is long.  It's been long for a few months now.  That's one of the bridges commercial vehicles use to come back into the States. I don't know what the holdup is, these people here never know, they just tell me the bridge is holding everything up. More intensified scrutiny of vehicles coming over? No idea.  I know they have dogs sniffing all of those trucks coming across and random FDOT inspections.  That's a federal level truck inspection, those are the worst in terms of time taken.  I got stuck in one of those for an hour and a half one time.  

Anyway, I have my homework set out for me when I get home, well actually tomorrow. If they come within the next few hours with that trailer I will make it home tonight. After that? It'll be tomorrow afternoon.  

Still have this cough.  It's not the worst cough I've ever had, nothing like the last one I went through where I was constantly hacking 24 hours a day for a week straight.  I have the remnants of some prescription cough medicine that's working quite well with this. I may go to the urgent care tomorrow and see about getting more of it.  And yes, they'll probably want to do a covid test and as long as it's free, I don't mind them doing that.  Which every time? It costs me nothing.  Whether that's my company paying for it, the insurance or the government, I have no clue.  

I guess the point is whether this trip to San Antonio is still a go.  Yes, as long as it don't start feeling any worse than this.  It's a vacation.  I don't have to do anything. We are just going to be wandering around looking at the sites and things to do.  Oh, well if the urgent care tells me I have covid I will cancel the trip and it will have to be put off to later date.  I won't knowingly go around spreading a virus to everyone.  Except driving the truck. I don't care about that.  My only interaction with people is at the truck stops.  Even then, I don't have to interact with anyone.  And the loading plant has been making us stay in the trucks to load ever since covid started.  Places like this yard in Brownsville? Yea, I don't have to interact with anyone down here, either, if I don't want to.  

Trucking is actually a pretty lonely life unless you have a companion traveling with you, hence the reason many truckers have dogs if their company allows it.  Mine doesn't. Mine doesn't allow humans, either, unless they are employed by the company.  So, if one of the boys wanted to go on a trip?  No can do.  I guess I could "cheat" and take one of them with me on a Brownsville trip, but if I were caught I would get fired immediately.  Just their policy and they are rigid about it.  They cite the dangers of hazmat and the possibility of "terrorism" and people wanting to commandeer these trucks to use for nefarious purposes.

Of course, you haven't read about any of that happening any time recently.  I'm not sure it's a completely unfounded fear, but I do think it's a bit overblown to not allow family members to ride with you on a trip that does not require you to go into secure facilities that have security personnel.  You know, such as Cheniere, that has multiple, way overblown layers of security?  A place I am still so happy that I never have to go back to again.  My manager has tried to get me back in there, but the dude at the company that runs the plant said nope, he's not coming back in there. As if my feelings are hurt? NO ONE likes going to that place. 1. Because of the way your are treated by security and 2. Because of the way you are treated by the company that runs the plant.  3. Because it's a very low paying run. It has "no" miles to speak of and you are wasting a lot of time unloading.  The only way it is profitable is if they make you sit there for half a day, waiting on them to get their act together. 

And war.  Russia has entered the Ukraine with military forces.  Now, apparently that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to war, as some "experts" have stated, but I think we all know what Putin is doing. He has indicated he wants the Ukraine back for quite some time now.  I doubt sanctions will do much of anything to thwart his intentions.  He has China covering his back, at least it looks that way.  I don't fear world wars, per se, but if another one happens, we could see nukes being used and the end of our existence as we know it.  No amount of survival preparedness will do any good if nukes are dropped unless you happen to own an underground cave that has it's own air supply and is not dependent on anything above ground.  I don't even know if that will save you, but it sounds like a very dull existence.

I live within 60 miles of Barksdale Air Force Base, I would assume that would be a primary target.  So, walk outside, wait for it to come, and get it over with.  Might sound a bit drastic, but if you get China involved with any of this and partnering with Russia, we will see a war the likes of which this world has never seen.  The US would have to fully engage in it at any point it goes beyond just Russia and Ukraine and then?  A lot of people are going to die. I'm just very curious if Russia has any guarantees and backing from China in any of this.  

I just watch the news as it unfolds....

Hmmm, guess I need to start a business email account as well.  

Getting offa here. Hoping the empty is coming soon.

G'day

 Trip to Brownsville uneventful, thankfully.  I hit Houston about the time the snippets of heavier traffic was going to begin. Eastman - which is the loading plant - took forever to get the truck weighed in.  Waiting for 28 minutes type of forever.  Ridiculous.  They don't have any good excuses and they don't care.  It just adds to the day and the rack operators give me looks when I pull up there with 30 minutes eating up the time frame.  I told the dude right off  - it took half an hour to get weighed in.  Just to unruffle their feathers.  I was still 15 minutes early, but the dude that runs that operation wants you there much earlier than that. 

I can't change things I have no control over, at all and they know that. They can complain to the powers that be about the hang up in getting scaled in, I'm not doing it.  I don't need to be a target at that place, it's my current livelihood.  

Anyway, I'm in Brownsville and there are no empty trailers. It's a good thing I have Wednesday to back up into before vacation, because who knows when an empty will come in? Tomorrow morning? Afternoon? Mid afternoon? Evening?  Completely unpredictable. But, it's worth the wait to get my detention pay and up the ante on my next paycheck.  

Foregone conclusion I will be taking at least some vacation hours to buffer the loss of 5 days of work. But not too much.  I'll be into Saturday and Sunday off, well possibly Friday as well (they sometimes count that for the next paycheck and they sometimes count that for 2 paychecks after that depending on - who knows what), so I really don't need to claim too many vacation hours. Maybe 15.  We get paid a tad bit of money for vacation time.  

I applied for and was accepted for a credit card for the business.  Now that I have both LLC status and an EIN number from the state of Texas, I can apply for lines of credit.  Why do I want the business to have lines of credit running? Because I will probably have to get a loan to expand the park in the future. I need to get some lines of credit going, use those lines of credit and pay them off before the 30 day period is up to begin to establish creditworthiness for the business. 

It only made sense to get it started right away and Capital One - of whom I've already been a customer of for at least a decade now - was not shy to give me a line of credit starting at $2,000.  Not much, albeit, but it's a starting point. I had to list my annual income as 0 - it didn't give an option for projected income so I was at honest about it.  0, lol.  They did a credit check on me and that is, what I suspect, what gave me at least a foot in the door.  I'll buy whatever I need that the card can cover and pay it off before 30 days and do that every month.  

Coughing hasn't ceased but it isn't constant and it isn't that bad. The fatigue, however, is a different story.  I went to bed early last night and slept 9 plus hours.  I was glad to have a later load this morning.  Should I go to the doctor on Wednesday, when I expect to be back at the latest?  Uhhh, maybe.  Spreading Covid around isn't my idea of fun. I don't know that it's Covid, I don't know what it is.  But I could certainly go on vacation in this condition and enjoy myself. Maybe not as much as being 100%, but it's doable.

My concern is whether anyone else is going to get sick because of me.  If that happens and they aren't feeling good, then that might change the whole thing. I would still take the time off, but it would be a staycation.  I could burn off the piles at  the property if I had that much time for sure, lol  Or if the kids get sick, will Maria still watch them? Possibly not.  Can't blame her, just saying if that happens, we ain't going nowhere.  Kids are not in the plans of this vacation, this is an adult trip.  Adult venues and adult atmosphere.  

It's almost midnight, I didn't get done til' 10:45 or so, so I best be getting offa here and sleep time.

G'nite.  

 I only made it 240 miles today before I just had to pull over and sleep for a while.  Not feeling good - at all.  It's not that bad, but it's bad enough to just want to sit home and do nothing.  40 minutes worth of sleep in a rest area and I felt a little better - not that much but enough to get home.  

I read the trip sheet wrong - I do not have tomorrow off, I have to go back to Brownsville.  I decided to say nothing to my dispatcher about it, hopefully I have enough in my to get down there tomorrow, sleep, and get back up. Then I'll be off work for 5 days.  So yea, I'm just going to try and tough it out.  I've got 5 hours before I have to go to bed, then sleep, then get up later than normal - 10:30 appointment to load.  So at least the wake up schedule won't be gruesome.  

I did more study on these Sweet Gum trees.  They actually sell a machine that picks up the Sweet Gum balls - which are the nuisance part of the tree that everyone hates.  It's what I wanted to find out - is there something invented to pick them up? Yes, it's over $500 but it means I can keep at least some of them up and not have to worry to much about getting the balls up off the ground.  

Some strange stuff going on on the roadways today.  I caught glimpse out of my peripheral of a vehicle swerving in and out of traffic.  When I actually looked in the mirror, he was swerving over to an exit lane - passed a car, came zooming up to me and then passed me on the shoulder. He was going at least 100 mph.  Yes I honked at his stupid @$$, wth was he driving like that?  He stuck his arm out the window and flipped me off - weaved in and out of traffic ahead of me, flipping all of those people off as well.  I doubt they caught him, but I called 911 on his @$$. This was highway 59, not the Daytona Speedway, he was driving extremely erratically and dangerously.  

On another note, I was coming up on a vehicle so I got out in the passing lane to pass him, which I did. There was a truck in the passing lane - well behind me.  This is what some truckers do nowadays, they'll just sit out there in that passing lane and apparently trying to intimidate anyone from pulling out and slowing them down. But he was hundreds of feet back when I pulled out there.  So, I pull back over after passing the vehicle and what does this truck do?  He passes me and then cuts back in front of me - with maybe 2 feet between our bumper. I promise you I did not cut this dude off, at all.  It's funny, now that I think of it, these people doing this stuff? It's going to get flagged on this new artificial intelligence camera to the company.  They could, if they felt so inclined, turn that guy in.  

I doubt they will, but if that driver had tapped on his brakes, I would have rear ended him - but - the camera would have shown what actually happened.  So maybe I can give the camera a little bit of kudos. Not just that it's constantly videoing, but when something like that happens, it flags it and sends an 8 second video alert to the employer.  I'm not out there to start trouble with anyone, believe me. I"m just doing my job, working and trying to get the day over with - safe and sound like everyone else.  

And then another incident on the 610 West loop freeway in Houston.  I was coming up on this car - which was in the next lane over - apparently it didn't like being stuck behind traffic and just - cut right out in front of me. I'm used to this, it  happens 100 times a day.  I just let it go.  I was stuck behind this driver for a while as they were going slower than I was, but eventually, traffic cleared so I got over into another lane - where he cut me off again. I am still inclined to let it go, stuff like this can never end well, so I went over another lane where he tried to cut me off a third time.

Now, I'm wondering if this dude is trying to collect insurance money, for there was no legitimate reason for him to cut me off the second or third time.  Whatever the case, I came up beside the dude before he could cut me off and if he was going to ram the side of my truck, good luck with that.  After that, I got ahead of him and thought nothing more about it - until 10 minutes later he comes racing up beside me - but kept on going.  I'm just waiting for my company to tell me about someone that called in about a rude truck driver and then I will direct them to take a look at the video.  

Anyway, the day is over, thankfully.  And no big deal about tomorrow not being off from a home standpoint, I was going to go set the rest of those piles on fire. Turns out it's going to rain for the next several days, including tomorrow morning, not exactly favorable burning conditions.  I'll make enough money in these 2 brownsville trips to cover the week and then take vacation hours for the next pay period.  I'm hoping to feel better by Thursday as I really don't want to cancel this trip.  Not at all. 

 Hmm, been a few days since I last posted.  

Well, yesterday - Friday, I was off, we have too many drivers once again - I went out to the property after seeing Taylor, James and the 7 year old off. They were going to Longview and I had the 4 year old.  Daddy and mommy day with the 7 year old is what they were calling it - well his name is Phoenix but that's neither here nor there to strangers reading this post lol.

I decided to go over to the property and test the trackhoe operator's theory that he has the piles packed so tight, that if you get a hot enough fire going, the fresh trees will burn up anyway.  Well I knew that would be true, I just wondered how hard it would be to get a fire going.  I brought one of those ez light fire logs that burn regardless. Just put a lighter to it and in a minute it's started burning without anything else. 

So I got that log going after stuffing it in the pile as far as I could get it without starving it of air and lit it.  It took quite a while to get anything else going, but eventually I had a small fire going.  I kind of wrote it off, this probably isn't going to work. The 4 year old was practically begging me to take him to Waffle House, so we went there for breakfast and came back about and hour later.  

The fire was going much better.  I started adding dried wood to it and building it up.  Yes, there is dried out wood out there as well.  I just kept adding wood and twigs to it for a while until the fire really started going good.  I was more amazed at how well and long the 4 year old was engaged with this fire activity and staying interested in it than I was at whether this fire was going to get up and go. But eventually he got bored so I put him in the vehicle, found some Minecraft kid's videos for him and that kept him heartily entertained after that.

Well the fire started to take off and so did the smoke - it was billowing out and wafting all over the place, I called the county volunteer fire department and let them know there is a controlled burn going on and if anyone calls, well, this is what it is.  They said thanks for letting them know and if it gets out of control or something happens, to please call them.  Yes of course, thank you.

After that, the heat started building up and I knew I was getting some good hot coals - this is a very large pile of wood even tho it was the smallest one of them all. There are 7 other piles to go.  Anyway, Brandon - a friend of James and really my friend now as well - heard the call since he's a volunteer fire fighter/first responder and ended up coming out.  

By the time he got out there there was no stopping this fire without dousing it with a lot of water.  Not that I wanted it out, at least not at that point, but you could feel the heat 30 feet away from it.  He asked at some point if I wanted to put it out.  Well, I thought and then responded, probably, this is going to take all night long.  Yes, the fire and heat had burned out the core/center of the pile but there was still plenty to go.

So, he got his truck into position. About that time, James and Taylor and Phoenix showed up - I had been out there for many hours.  They started dousing the flames and pretty much emptied out the tank. Brandon thought it was done and over with, I knew better but kept my mouth shut, lol.  I could tell from the smoke that there were still hot embers under there even tho they had sprayed a lot of water onto that thing.  

We all eventually left, but Brandon went back later and sent a pic to James - it was all on fire again.  But, these piles are along way off from anything, it's just dirt around them.  And it had just rained the previous night.  I wasn't concerned about it, but they - fire people - were.  In the end they decided to just let it burn out. I haven't seen what's left of the pile but since they let it burn, I'd have to guess a lot of it is gone.  

I was given "advice" later on from James who had talked to the fire chief who told James to tell me that I should let the contractor do the burning since you have no water out there.  Because if something happens and you are the one that started the fires, you will get the ticket.  I looked at James, uhh, well, that depends on this contractor. If he doesn't get out there soon and get this going I am going to do it myself.  I don't But hey, I could have the city turn on the water, I guess, tho I'd have to run 800 feet of line to get to the further back pile and a garden hose isn't exactly a real threat to a very hot fire.  

Still, the fact that the nearest trees are at least 50 feet away make this idea that something is going to happen a moot point to me.  I wondered how much this fine would be, if it's only a few hundred dollars I don't really care. In the name of progress I'll get it done. Note that I won't get a fine if nothing happens, it's only if the fire somehow spreads.  

Anyway, I am in Brownsville atm, but I am already under a trailer.  So I'm leaving relatively early in the morning, around 5:15  when I can get on the clock, it's almost 8:00 pm right now.  I have Monday off, the drive back tomorrow - should be a piece of cake.  Sunday drives are the best as far as traffic goes.  I always say that, but it's true.   

And yes I had thoughts of going out early Monday morning and setting all 7 of those piles on fire and get this part of it behind me so they can get out there and blade the soil, but there is a 46% percent chance of rain and that is in the morning. Unless that changes, I doubt I will even try.  

Now, as for the next run they wanted to send me on.......She - my dispatcher - sends me today's run, which was fine.  And then after that, sends me a run leaving Monday to West Virginia. Remember, we are leaving for vacation on Thursday.  I immediately wrote her back and said, well, you've got me leaving at noon for West Virginia, that's late for getting me back in 3 days.  And there are times when it takes 4 days.  

Of course, she wanted to be argumentative about it - I've never seen it take anyone 4 days. I doubt that's true, at all. I've had it take 4 days on many occasions when something went wrong either in traffic, or stuck at the loading plant half a day or had a break down.  I don't know who she thinks she's trying to kid, but she figured out quick I wasn't backing down. I wasn't going to argue with her. If she wasn't going to change it, I was just going to go over her head to my manager.  She then offered to see if she could switch the load with someone else.  

That's really what she should have said in the first place.  Of all the dispatchers we've gone through at this company, this one is the most rigid.  She doesn't want anyone attempting to change "her" plans.  But when it comes to my personal life and I have already received the permission to have the days off, I'm not going to have her messing around with it.  There is no guarantee I would get back the third day and it would be night time getting back even if I did.  She still doesn't understand what she's doing, they never send out a West Virginia run that late in the day.  It's always an earlier load time so the load can get delivered the next day and the customer is happy.  I told her that once, but she apparently didn't learn anything from it, perhaps the customer no longer cares, I don't know. 

I do know they've told me in the past they want it there in the afternoon the next day after it leaves the loading plant.  

Anyway, I got a run going back down here on Tuesday instead. That may, actually, jeopardize my vacation, but not that much.  Yes, we are leaving on Thursday, but not until after James gets off work.  We are driving there and have a late check-in and then have 2 full days and a third partial to enjoy whatever activities there are to do a the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Apparently there is quite a bit to see and do?  I dunno, it's just a getaway from home.  The kids aren't coming - thankfully, this is more an adult themed trip and the dogs/cats/fish have someone to come over and tend to them.  

The only thing that is distressing me right now? I now have chest congestion and a cough.  I will probably go to the doctor on Monday if it persists and get checked out. They will undoubtedly want to do a covid test - and tho I don't have to allow it, I would probably go ahead and get it done.  I don't need to be walking around San Antonio spreading the Omnicron or whatever I might have.  But, this is also the time of year for colds and flu. 

I have no fever. My sense of smell and taste are intact.  I can deal with a coughing cold on a vacation as long as I have some drugs to deal with the coughing.  Which I already have but will need more of.  But if I have Covid, I won't knowingly go around spreading it everywhere. The trip would have to be canceled and my work would make me stay home for 10 days, at least.  Oh, I also have steriods left over from last coughing cold. Those usually work pretty well, tho on the last thing I had, which I believe was Covid, it didn't work that well. And that was a shot in the butt type of steriods, not the pills I have.  If a shot doesn't work, foregone conclusion pills won't either.  

This Covid stuff is pretty strange.  Regardless, if it is just a chest cold, I will need some strong enough medicine to stop the coughing, because nowadays? If you're out in public coughing? People give you some pretty strange looks.  Like - HE MUST HAVE COVID!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! Lmao

Just go into your local Walmart or supermarket with a cough and look around while you're coughing. You ARE going to get some people giving you some pretty interesting looks, lol.  

Well, the property is in a holding pattern right now until the cleared trees are gone.  I'm not moving forward with anything until that is done and over with and the get the dozer out there and blade the soil and then, see if we need to do some leveling, which I believe we will and wasn't included in the price.  I never-the-less want it at least somewhat level, not too much incline.  A little is okay.  It's probably going to cost far more than I anticipated and I'm just going to have to deal with it.  But I still think the best thing is to simply dig out a pond and there is all the soil they will need.  Kill 2 birds with one stone and keep costs down as much as possible.  

However, my LLC is up and going.  I can now open a checking account in the business name and do other legal stuff that I couldn't do before getting this business status.  It's a good thing I'm still working a full time job, this "small" stuff adds up.  $500 here, $1,000 there. None of it coming out of the funds I have set aside for the park, I'm paying out of my paychecks for these things that aren't too terribly expensive.  Still plenty of decisions that will have to be made, it's on step at a time. I have a solid idea of what my end decisions will be on important things, but, my mind is open and I still look for input, especially from park owners and managers that have been there, done that and understand what works and what doesn't.  

I think I'm going to start a fund and save for the coin op or credit carp op laundry machines.  Those will probably be a bit pricey and I'd like to not have to pay for that out of the park funds. Just do it out of paychecks.  This is the one of the main reasons I knew I'd have to keep working, even after the park is up and running. 

It's near my bedtime and I'm getting sleepy, getting up 4:45 am and driving all day today. Time to go to sleep.

G'nite. 

 8 nights from now, we'll be headed to San Antonio for a nice little mini-vacation.  No kids, no trucks and I'm not driving.  Should be fun.  

Tomorrow, I'll be home from this Oklahoma trip and wil be going over to the property again to check to see if they are doing anything.  I suspect they won't be, they were waiting for it to rain to lift the burn ban.  Well, it's raining where I'm at and it's definitely going to be raining in my town, if not already.  

Yes, it would be rather difficult to do the dirt work with those giant piles of trees sitting all over the place.  That stuff has to go.  It would be at least 15 truck loads if not many more to haul it off, I ain't paying for that. Mother Nature and fire can get rid of it and that's that.  I suppose the wood will be too wet to burn tomorrow.  They aren't asking me to do it, they will do it, I just want to lol. I like fire and big bon fires are fine. GIANT bon fires even more fun. SEVERAL giant bon fires and the entire community is going to be calling the fire department. Hence the reason you call them first and tell them what you're doing, so that when the calls come pouring in, they can simply tell them it's a controlled burn.

I don't always carry my firearm out of the vehicle with me when I'm over there, but from now on? Oh yes.  That next door neighbor dog came running over to my property yesterday morning, growling, hissing, barking, snarling it's teeth at me, very aggressive stance.  I was lucky my dogs were in the vehicle, foregone conclusion that the dog would have attacked my dogs. I'm not actually that much concerned about Addler - he can take care of himself - easily. He's much larger than that dog, he is very agile and he has muscles protruding on his legs, but, chest, everything.  He has had his share of run ins with other dogs.  

But I don't want to go there.  I would rather the owners deal with their dog and if they don't and if it does attack me or my dogs, I'm going to shoot the thing and be done with it.  That may sound cold, but you weren't standing out there yesterday, unexpectedly having an encounter with this beast.  He's not a small dog, he also has rippling muscles all over his body, tho I'm still confident Addler could defend himself and Aspyn is a scrapper, she would be all over that thing as well. She might have some serious flaws, but not protecting the pack isn't one of them.  

So, I guess I'm going to have to contact the county about taking the giant, dead, rotting tree down.  Supposedly it's on the county easement and if that's true, then yes, they need to come deal with it before it falls over the street and potentially hurts or kills someone.  

I've heard nothing about the LLC, I have no idea how long Texas takes to issue that stuff. I'd like to get it done with so I can go open a bank account in it's name and transfer most of the money over to that account.  

I must be having delusions of grandeur.  I keep thinking about the expansions I would like to do with the place over time - and I am nowhere near even opening the place yet.  Some rental cabins, glamping tents, all kinds of things. Turn the entire property into a money making venue, not just the front 7-1/2 acres.  

But right now? I want the surveyor out there to definitively paint a line up the side of that house next door as to where the property line is and then I want to get a person in there to put up a barbed wire fence.  That guy tears up the front of the driveway every time he backs that truck into it.  Their property is a mess.  The house is old and needs a lot of work, the garage looks like it's about to cave in.  But the dog yesterday crossed my line.  

I'd do a better fence but barbed wire is cheap and it sets the boundary, which is all I want to do for now.  From the street all the way back to where the trees start - and the barbed wire fence starts for the property behind that house. There are several properties on that side that border mine, but they appear to all be owned by the same person. Said person lives in a ritzy neighborhood south of For Worth.  He has done nothing with the 2 properties that abut mine and it would be interesting to see if, some day, he'd be interested in selling them. He has no interest in using them and that house - he doesn't maintain at all.  

Anyway, that truck being parked there is starting to bother me.  It's an eyesore. He parks it right at the driveway entrance or close to it, right where campers would be pulling in.  This is junk that people don't necessarily want to see coming off the road to park for the night or several days.  Or however long, really.  

I was reading a post by a man on one of the RV park owner sites who said that "rv campgrounds are not retirement plans! You'll have to work hard and harder than any job you've ever had to do!".  Ohh? I don't know what kind of jobs he has had, but trucking can eat up to 16 hours in any given day.  I was at 12-1/2 today.  Yeah, no fam, that campground would be a piece of cake compared to the ridiculous nonsense I have to put up with now. 

He then went off on to how you aren't going to get rich!  Yea, I don't plan on getting rich off of one park, I plan on paying my bills and being able to save money and have a decent lifestyle, pretty much like I have now but without the trucking junk involved with it.  I can see how you could get rich if you started buying up parks or building more.  I really do want to build a parking lot place for overnighters.  Very few amenities, just a place along the Interstate.  But I'd also like to do something like that for truck parking.  No amenities besides maybe some port-a-jons, just pay your fee and stay up to 24 hours.  

I can see it's going to take months to get this contractor's part of it done over with.  I expected that. Just a slower pace than I'd like to get this stuff done with and I'd like to get the money spent and out of my account.  

Whatever the case, I'm getting sleepy. Time for bed.  2 hours to the yard tomorrow morning and then back home.  And from what I saw on the group text today, we've slowed down again.  Okay, it's more like they have again acquired more drivers than they need.  So it may be that there is a day off between runs again.  I dunno, but I have chest congestion sinking into my lungs and not feeling all that great. I'll be happy to get this run over with and get home tomorrow.