Lmao @ the forecasters saying there was a 57% chance of rain this morning.  How about a 99% chance they are wrong. They are always wrong.  Even if it does rain, they are way off by when it will start and when it will end.  Well, there's no rain. The sky continues to be overcast, something that has been that way a lot lately.  

But, it's good news for working.  Let's keep moving forward with this, shall we? I have 2 stops to make this morning before I can get to the property and since I have the trailer, I want to get there early so Marc can continue with  his cleanup stuff while I continue with signs, the doggy park, etc.  

The boys replied to an ad I put out for workers.  I had to laugh. No mention of running the ATV into the brand new shed!  I didn't even reply to him.  He is probably too dense to figure out that people that destroy other people's property while working for the other people and don't even fess' up to it? Probably aren't going to be welcomed back with open arms.  

However.  It may come down to me addressing him about it and then seeing if he admits to it and apologizes or not.  I could use the help and if he is under supervision, he'll work. The other one not so much.  I am referring to the 25 and 17 year old brothers.  The 17 year old started out well, but digressed into watching his brother work while he stands there holding a rake or whatever.  

Anyway, I don't get a lot of replies for this kind of work. Why would anyone want to actually work for some money?  Well, at least there is some replies to it now that I had a spare moment to take a look. And lookit that! The rain that was supposed to start in the middle of the night? Just now started! Won't last long, but maybe enough to water the grass/seed.  

Not going to stop me from heading up to Harbor Freight for some drill bits and then over to Lowe's for the remaining blocks for the fire pit.  

Besides gravel, I should be getting down to the point of "I don't think I need anything else but some people to show up in RV's".  

Oh, but that damn Google postcard.  That's just a bit maddening.  Why don't they require that right at the start? You know, while you're setting it up, a prompt comes up and says, "Oh, by the way, we need to verify your address. We will send you a postcard with a code on it, your account will be inactive until this is accomplished".  Yeah, you know, something along those lines?

I'm tired. I need a break, lol.  It's just constant go go go. There is an end in sight, it's just still a bit far away. 

Oh well, sitting here complaining accomplishes nothing. Off to the races!

G'day

 The post office this morning. They were not busy, but they made me wait close to half an hour to speak a manager who turned out to be the postmaster and made sure that I understood who she was, lmao. I'm sure I was at that post office for an hour trying to figure out what I needed to do. This lady said well THERE'S your problem! You don't have a mailbox installed yet! Yes, I know that, but I was informed there were other things that need to be done to get mail delivered?

Yes. A litany of things- but none of which are my responsibility and not worth going into. The end story is that they are going to deal with it on their end and I started the process of installing a mailbox today on mine. The process is putting in the pole, lol. I cemented it in but it may take days for it to dry enough to put the box on top of it. But it's vitally crucial that I get that thing up and probably just going to do it tomorrow and be careful not to disturb the pole too much. 

That's because of this Google situation where they want to verify the address by sending a postcard before they will reinstate my account.  OK, I just clicked on the stuff to get them to send the postcard.  They say 5 business days that means Thursday next week, gag.  I'll wait to put up the box since I have time and I'd like the concrete to have time to dry out.

The posts I put in for the gates aren't even dry yet. 

Much more grass came up as of today. It isn't a full lawn on any of them, but it's much closer to looking full than it any point up until now.  

Did I say I am totally worn out? We went at it for 8 hours today - I haven't done anything like that since before I got Covid the last time. But, Marc showed up again today and was there long before I got there. Because after the post office, Lowe's. I was dragging the 7 year old with me, who was begging me to get him something to eat.  Lowe's was an hour.  Another $128 worth of stuff there and then over to Walmart - out of dog food. They didn't have Addler's food, the Iam minichunks. Addler absolutely loves that stuff. I got him the Chicken adult chunks instead. Sorry doggy, they didn't have your stuff.  

Getting hot again - or very warm I'll call it with high humidity - I stopped for ice and then off to the races. He was there with the trailer, loading up leaves, branches - whatever.  I got busy digging a hole for the mailbox post, put the post in, cemented it and moved on to the picnic tables.  Horrible design and ridiculous to put together.  I ended up switching from their screws to the type I use for wood projects - goes in much easier.  After putting those together, I checked the posts for the doggy park gate. 

Still visibly wet.  To the shed, I finished up the remaining fire pit rings.  Off to the rear of the property, installed more signs for the walking trails.  By the time I got all of that done, it was close to 4:00pm and I went over to ask if he was done for the day. YES!  So, we unloaded all of that stuff on the trailer at one of the burn piles and we went home.

My legs are killing me.  It's been a long day and there are many more of those to come.  I would like to get all of this over with - the hard part stuff that I won't have to do again any time soon.  There's a chance of rain tonight and tomorrow, in the 50% range.  I'm not looking for excuses not to work, especially with this guy helping me.  I intend on cutting out all the stuff sticking out of the ground in the doggy park tomorrow.  Roots, twigs, all kinds of junk.  It's chainsaw work.  Clear everything out - that will take a good portion of the day right there.  

But, I have to go back to Lowe's yet again and get the rest of the block to finish the main fire pit.  And a set of drill bits.  I'm trying to not spend money, but these things? I have no choice.  I'm not going to have a half-assed set up with what little amenities I have.  It would have been nice if I had remembered the game I was going to get for near the fire pit.  Oh, and I need stain for those picnic tables.  

All I can say is it's coming together.  2 more weeks max.  I hope anyway.  I need Google going again, that's a bit ridiculous. They could have asked for this verification long ago.  I also changed the address for the park today - it was at my house for when I started the LLC because I had no address over there at the time. 

I've got to get all of those tall, dead weeds mowed down and I need a riding lawn mower, used please, less than $500 preferably, please and thank you.  Very likely going to rent the heavy duty machine to get rid of the weeds - it's less than what anyone wants to come out and do the job and after the last dude I had out there to clear everything? I'd far rather do that stuff myself.  

And, of course several thousand more dollars worth of gravel gag. 

Cleanup - including getting rid of the weeds - is the biggest energy consumer left to go, I think.  It's just long days, that's all I can say about it.

 It was not my inaction that caused this problem. I went to the Post Office and asked to speak with whoever to have an address listed for mail delivery.  Okay, it was my fault. They never called me back and I put it out of my mind - until last night.

That's when I realized my Google business page is gone. Well, not gone, just not showing to anyone but me.  They want to verify the address by sending a postcard. Never heard of such a thing.  So, I just changed the address with Texas Comptroller - but that will take up to 7 business days and I suspect I will have to show paperwork proving it's the actual address to the Post Office to get mail service started.

I wonder if I can just change the address on Google and have them send the mail here to my house.  Google is very important to the success of this business, it's what everyone uses to find campgrounds in any given area.  "We're going to stop somewhere around here" and then they look up campgrounds in the area.  Literally, a lot of them do it like that. If they are on their way somewhere, the full timers typically drive around 300 miles per day (max) and then stop somewhere for a day, several days, whatever they wish.  

It's a lot of retired people and there many who have jobs where they can "work from home".  

Anyway, told the boy to get out of his pajamas, get some clothes on cause' I have a lot of stuff to do. He was sick with fever yesterday, he hasn't had a fever since yesterday morning. However.  The school system requires a student to show 24 hours of no fever before returning to school. It's just a requirement they have - he can't go back to school today and mom is out working.  I am able to drag him along with me, she is not.  She goes to people's homes to visit in person with the program she is doing with them.  

I don't mind, he likes "adventure" aspect of it and he usually tries to help out of his own volition with whatever I am doing.  

After the post office, Lowe's is required. 

Texted Marc and told him I won't be out there until after 10 am.  Post Office takes priority, even if they tell me things I don't want to hear, I need to know what they require to get postal service over there.  I need it in the business name, not my name - or a combination of both I guess.  Or I guess getting mail delivered to me personally there would be my name and then C/O the rv park?  

Who knows.  

I have a list of stuff to do at the property today, tomorrow, until it's done basically. I'm starting the thing up after everything is done regardless of Google. If I can't get any business without Google, so beit, it's not going to cost me anything more to have it opened with no customers. The grass is an issue, hopefully all of that seed will sprout soon!  I dunno, but after I get everything else done, I am highly likely just going to open up and be done with it, grass or no grass. I have like half of it growing and the rest is dirt with seed on it.  

Well, off to the races.

G'day

 I spent a solid hour this morning - well maybe more actually - going through the campsite software.  I saw the things I needed to change and started working on that. This is hardly my forte.  Just burdensome to me.  I couldn't for the life of me remember how to get to the refunds page. It took me almost the entire time I was perusing things and trying to get the software into my head to remember they have training videos - a LOT of them - and sure enough I found one.

And then remembered why I couldn't find it. It's only to be found on an existing reservation.  Yeah, no one is staying there - yet.

As it stands, the 7 year old was sick this morning begging me to stay home with him. But, the friend of Maria's was coming out to the property and I need the help.  Mom had already determined he could go with her so I was out of there.  Well, I sat with the boy for a while - he was just clingy, pretty much his nature.  

We spent a good portion of the day getting stuff done. Marc started on the fire pit but ended up getting the big trailer and working on cleaning up the west side of the property. Oh, how badly that needs to be done!  I just haven't had time for it and frankly, I was going to just let it pass even with the opening -whenever that will be. 

I dug out the other post hole for the gate, put the post in, cemented it, leveled it and done with that.  Then I put all 8 of the fire rings together - well mostly, some of the screws had damaged threads. In fact, some of the rings themselves were slightly damaged.  Nothing I'm going to report, I don't have time to be returning stuff and I got it all together. I just need to go to Lowe's in the morning, get some extra screws/nuts and finish those.  

I also put together a dump wagon - it's a thing with 4 wheels, a tub that holds whatever you want in it and tilts to dump it.  After that, I went to look at the picnic tables. I was going to start putting those together - but - I need a carpenter's square and clamps according to the front panel.  I don't have either, but James does have some clamps. I'll have to go get the square.  

I then looked at the firepit.  Put the second layer of stones on it.  I think it's going to need some mud to hold it together.  I need to look that up. I can't have them loose, they'll just get knocked over by people. It won't take much to cement them in, not a big deal. I need 25 more stones and the mud and that's finished.  

As I said, I got a lot done today and the friend got a lot done. It's really motivating to have someone out there with a good work ethic helping.  At the end, I was using the new dump trailer to pick up sticks in the doggy park. There are several roots sticking up out of the ground I need to cut with the chainsaw, but that is 75% cleaned up.  I'll be out there again tomorrow, of course. There is a 22% chance of rain- meaning if it does rain, it's not a death blow for working. I'll finish the rings, work on the picnic tables and if time permits, cut out the roots.  It does need to rain, tho.  The ground was wet today, I didn't bother to water the seed, it was clearly moist.

Some of the seed has popped out.  I'm not sure which batch it is that popped up tho.  

I can tell ya, if this seed doesn't want to play nice, I will end up opening the park with half-grass and screw it.  I need to get this thing going, waiting eternally for grass to grow isn't going to cut it. I'll give it another week - while I'm finishing everything else. It's really just everything else that I'm working on now before I go ahead and get the thing posted as open for business.  I'm not going to be dismayed if there isn't a lot of traffic coming in at first.  It's almost Christmastime. 

Oh. Well there is also cleanup to do in the walking trails. It isn't a lot, but it's just more time and energy.  

Oh yes.  I waved at the gas operator employee as he exited the property today. I mean, waving big and smiling big. What was his response? Ignore me, as is their want. These people are total jackasses.  Whatever. I'm going to just continue waving at these people, if they are miserable people, they can be miserable people.  I'm not going to be miserable with them and more importantly, now that they've said they won't communicate with me further, I'm going to do my thing. I won't be informing them of any changes or alterations or usage of going through "their" setup.

They are not going to stop me from having tent camping sites back there - excepting the driveway.  That's a sticking point.  If these cost overruns hadn't gone so high - inflation kicked my @$$ in this venture and it's still biting me - I would have easily had enough money to have the entire driveway dumped with fresh gravel and also have a boondocking site going with gravel as well.

I'm stuck at around 5 truckloads of gravel now.   That's close to 3k.  It's going to be one of the last things I do before I open the park. It would only take a few hours for them to deliver it and they can get it done without a lot of notice.  It doesn't matter about weather, either, it's an existing driveway.  

So what's left.  The grass, of course.  Cleanup - that's a big one and a lot of time and energy being spent on that.   Sign installation - about 8 signs that need to be put up . Wifi - totally spaced that out, I have been so busy with everything else.  Get the property cleared/bush hogged.  I dunno what else, missing a few things I just can't think of. Laundry will have to wait, unfortunately. Probably a deal breaker for some.  Picnic tables, finish fire rings and install them - which is just place them where I want them.  Corn hole - that's a trip to Walmart.  Benches - build a couple and order one for the doggy park. Good thing I just thought of that, I can order that one for the doggy park tonight.  

Every doggy park I've every been to has at least one bench and a dog waste station.  You might be surprised how much money they want for one of those stations - and I have endlessly looked. My answer is just a plastic bag dispenser mounted on a pole and a regular trash can.  I don't want to come off cheap - not trying to at all - but some of this stuff is just too much money and I can't deal with it right now. Put something out there to deal with it that actually works.  "Pretty" things will come later.

BTW, this guy that has been helping me? He's in his 60's, not in the best of condition but not terribly bad. He far outworks that 17 and 25 year old set of brothers I was having out there previously. I don't put any pressure on him at all, he can work at his own pace and quit when he wants to. But today? I got 5 hours out of him and that was solid work. There were breaks, of course, but I couldn't be happier.  He's coming again tomorrow and I hope he will just continue on with the cleanup he's been doing while I get the other stuff done. 

I need to get up early and get to Lowe's, get the blocks, the mud and the screws to be able to finish those projects.  I don't think the post concrete will be set, I'm going to let that go a couple of days.  It's a semi-permanent setup, I want that concrete solid.  

And with all of this going on - I need to get presents for people for Christmas! Dang!  Talk about spacing things out.  

Oh well.

G'nite. 

 Another hour and 20 minutes on the phone today with the campgournd software dude taking me through a bunch of stuff and pointing out things I still need to do - which I have since finished half of it - and helping me how to figure out how to do certain things. Such as a refund - I couldn't figure out how that works but he walked me through that one. There was a lot of ground covered and I did take notes but there is so much to this software.

I am spending free time just trying to remember what he showed me today.  Some of it is fairly simple, some of it is rather complex.  It's a lot of different things you have to click through to get something done.  Right now, I need to work on my letters.  These are cancellation letters, thank you letters, policy letters, etc.  And I need to add a disclaimer to the form they have to click on when registering for a lot.  This is that mumbo jumbo no one reads but is necessary inclusion that a person has to agree to before they can pay.

And there is an entire grid for the lots, showing which is available on whatever days and what has been rented. And the ability to block days on certain lots - or all of them if you needed to - to have it available for whatever. I can't imagine that, but you never know.  

I'll figure it all out eventually. Just have to keep going through it and get it all in my head.

Anyway, I put in one of the posts for the gate today but I didn't have enough concrete for the second post. Instead, I went around putting on bailing wire to hold the fencing to the posts.  I still have a bit to do on that, but it's almost done.  

The grass seed still hasn't popped up.  

The friend of Maria's is coming out tomorrow, I'd like him to finish the community fire pit.  This is all him volunteering, Maria said he doesn't want paid.  I don't really want to be taking advantage of people or even feel like I am tho.  Anyway, the signs were done so I went up and got them, went to Chili's - I won a gift card at the Christmas party - over to Lowe's where I spent quite a bit of time looking for everything and trying to get the two picnic tables. 

I did get them, but they are kits. All of the wood is in them, I would assume the screws and whatever else as well. I have no idea how long they take to assemble. 

I'm going to put in the other post tomorrow for the gate, assemble a dump wagon - it's a plastic thing on wheels with a handle that holds whatever you want to put in it.  I need something to pick up sticks as I'm walking around with it and shovel dirt to move elsewhere.  Just something I really need. There are sticks literally everywhere and there are small mounds of dirt that need shoveled and gone.  

I have my 15 MPH speed limit sign, there is already a nice, wood post near the front of the driveway to mount it to.  And other signs I needed as well.  

Anyway, I got what I could get done today, tomorrow is another day.  

I don't really have anything else. It's been a long day. 

 That was easy.  It's all quite wet out there and I'm not sinking into the ground trying to dig out post holes, I definitely don't need to water anything and the only thing I could have really done out there is start putting the fire rings together. 

However, I am called to Longview in a little bit, so I will either start on those this afternoon or get a jump on it tomorrow morning.  I have the trailer hooked up, I am going to get 2 picnic tables tomorrow morning as well.  I would get all of them that they have at Lowe's - but I don't think it's prudent to spend that much money right now.  

If people want an outdoor picnic, they'll have to go to the community firepit area for use of picnic tables.  That's where I'm putting the 2 tables, near the what will be built-in firepit.  I actually need 16 tables in total. That's $2,704 plus tax, call it an even 3 grand. Nope.  That money is going to gravel.  I'll spend $350 instead on 2 tables and call it good - for now. 

I'm looking for that grass seed to germinate and pop up soon.  The next couple of days, hopefully.  I decided to list rentals available on my Facebook page at a discounted rate.  I'm not getting many views on that page yet, last week was like 12 views.  

But, if someone wants to rent a lot, they can do so in person.  Hand me a check, cash, paypal or cashapp. Lol.  When the site is up and running - and it should be this week - it'll take credit cards.  

Since I'm getting close to opening, I need to ask the septic dude if there's anything I need to do before turning the switch to the on position.  I have no idea and they didn't tell me.  

Well Longview looms.  I don't think we're going to be over there all afternoon tho if we are, I might as well look at Home Depot in person and see if they have any tables. They are usually cheaper than Lowe's - but online it looks like they are $40 more expensive.  

I did stop at the sign place today, I'm having a permanent 15 MPH sign made for the driveway which will be posted near the front, a sign with the address only on it and I needed another walking trail sign.  There is a place where it may be confusing where to go.  Just a $10 sign make it worth it for people to understand that one of the 3 directions they can go? Only one of them is going to take them out of there the same way they came in.

Now, if they want to explore the other trails, be my guest.  It's all safe for walking.

Anyway, I need to get ready to leave - again.

 Well lit rained overnight.  It didn't sound like a heavy rain - I surely hope it wasn't.  As I have stated before, heavy rains just wash the grass seed away, wasting time, money and energy.   I'm out of time, money is going down and energy levels come and go.  I have no desire to have to reseed that entire thing all over again as if starting from scratch. 

I don't mind reseeding after all of this current seeds pops up.  It's all about motivation.  You'd have to put yourself in my shoes to understand where I'm coming from. This has been a very long road with a lot of obstacles.  Many of the obstacles are gone, it's just getting everything in place now.  

There is one continency that isn't going away anytime soon and that's that gas company.  The manager that I was communicating with is a total jackass.  We aren't talking anymore and I am going to do my thing.  If they don't like it, they can come out there and tell me to my face.  More likely, they'd take me to court.

The RV park is safe. It's in front of the "Production Unit" area and they can't do anything about that. I have, in writing, their "permission" to use "their" driveway.  Those emails aren't going anywhere. In fact, I think I'll store off-computer.

But, the man alluded to the idea that "no one is allowed on the production unit".  I didn't ask his permission and we weren't discussing that, he was just being an @$$.  Previous conversations with him - long ago actually - had him stating that owners on other properties were driving right through those production areas and he thought it "dangerous" Meaning, at least to me, that they really can't stop you from driving anywhere on your property.  

We've already been down this path of him attempting to tell me that I had to build a separate driveway next to the existing one. In a pig's eye.  

Anyway, I am done with those people.  The only thing I am going to address now is their employees speeding down the driveway.  I've been putting that off because I really am not wanting to get into physical confrontation with them. Not that I'm afraid of confrontation, but it may open up a Pandora's box - the worst case scenario them taking me to court. They have millions of dollars, I do not.  Highly likely they have a legal team - I do not.  But they trash the driveway every time they go speeding down it with no cares in the world. 

Why should they care? Those employees don't care about my operation and they are basically immune to any idea that I can somehow force them to slow down.  Well, I can, actually.  I have thought about what I can do and one thing I can do is install speed bumps that will send them flying if they go over them at 25-30mph.  

Anyway, I'm going to get a 15MPH sign made up - that was the original speed limit that their company had set on that driveway.  I wanted 10. I'll go with what they had.  And now I'm hearing from fire department that they would "like" me to have a sign out front that has the actual address written on it.  It's a $10 sign, I'll be happy to indulge them.  Basically, one of my friend's friends was over yesterday asking about if they had come out to inspect the line installation?

Uhhh, I called over there twice and they said I didn't need permission to do anything out there besides septic.  This is when you feel glad that you used a contractor.  If there is a problem, it's on the contractor. If they were supposed to show someone line installations, I'm not paying for it to be dug up to show them.  

I'm not concerned about that. I paid enough money for that stuff, the contractor will have to deal with it.  But I doubt he will, the county has said nothing about any installation of pipe. The contractor has been installing septic systems for 30 years, I'm sure he has some sort of relationship with the county. 

Shrugs shoulders.  

Back to the Production area, there is no access to the rear of the property without going through some portion of it.  This is what he meant the other day when he said "you should have done your homework".  Sorry, jackass, I did my homework when I originally contacted you about setting up an RV park and if there were any objections.  There was no mention of traveling through the production area - either yea or nay.  All of that is also in writing. This is why I don't really like talking to these entities on the phone, you have no record of it.  

I don't really know what the future of any tent camping sites is, it's on hold anyway.  I just can't spend the money on spreading gravel that entire driveway.  I'll do what I have to up to the RV area, but the rest of it is just going to have to wait.  I really wanted tent camping and some day I may very well get it, but it's not going to be right now.  

I do have "permission" to us the corner of the production area to have hikers use to access the trails.  Again, I'm trying to stay out of legal trouble with these people.  I'm sure they are well accustomed to dealing with land owners that are doing things they may not approve of.  One thing I do know, I have found online access to all kinds of information about the well, who owns and operates it. I just have to find any records of a lease agreement.  That well is 10,000 feet deep, according to the graph, lol.

Anyway, time to be off to the property.  Take the rest of those fire rings over there. If nothing else (if it's muddy out there) I can start putting those together. 

G'day

 That was fun. We drove the trailer around all dressed up with Christmas lights, a blow up Grinch, a real Grinch and the entire trailer loaded with people plus more walking alongside it, waving at the huge crowds lining the shut down streets of down town.  Really had a great time, I love the small town atmosphere here, tho it literally IS a small town. Like 22,000 population.  It was amazing how many people showed up to watch the parade!  Easily thousands of people.  

Anyway, all of my fire rings have arrived, 3 of them a week earlier than what was listed for a delivery date.  

It is Sunday, but I have stuff to do over there, unfortunately. At bare minimum, I need to go water the grass seed.  Realistically, probably start putting those rings together, dig out the holes for the doggy park gate and whatever else.  But, Sundays are doomed for working long hours, I just won't do it. The boys want to go to church this morning so I'll probably do that, drop them off at the house afterwards and then get the watering done.  

Oh how I wish it would just rain today.  It's really a lot of work, moving a hose from one outlet to another, turning that on, then going over to another hose, moving that one, back to the first hose, back and forth for a couple of hours and a half until it's all done.  It's a lot of walking is what it is.  I can say, at least, that it's overcast so water isn't drying up off the ground shortly after it's sprayed on there. So that's nice, at least. 

I'm just motivated enough to work on a Sunday.  

Tomorrow, I am supposed to do a conference call concerning the website and installation of the campground software.  I need that done and over with. It's just a distraction for me, a thing in the back of my mind that doesn't go away. Once it's installed, I therefore have the ability to determine when I will start taking reservations - if any indeed come my way. 

I have been a bit - nervous - about this whole affair.  My mind goes through the gamut of what ifs. What if no one comes? What if I can't fill it up and keep it mostly full? Lots more, the point being, the fear of failure.  

Well, I have way too much money on the line here to have a failure, so that isn't even a possibility, but I did go through that thought process last night, laying in bed, wondering what the future holds.  I'm doing my best to put together the best outcome I can possibly have with the resources I have in place.

Taking out another loan right now is not in the cards, I simply won't do it.  I have enough debt and it's too much as it stands.  $350 per month will be gone in 8 months, the nearest recurring payment thing I have going that is almost done, which is the car payment. I'd pay it off now and get it over with - but - that would be that much more money I don't have available for the here and now.

Ok, well enough of that.  Time to get ready to go worship the Lord.

G'day. 

 The finer things in life is a euphemism that is often used to describe fancy houses with marble inlays, maid service and handcrafted wood appointments along with a half dozen or more bathrooms and bedrooms.  It refers to fancy, expensive sports cars, having one's own private jet or helicopter.  Perhaps dining at lavish restaurants with $1,000 bottles of wine and extraordinary wait service with the finest chefs the world has to offer.

And while that may be true for those that see it that way, there are other ways to view the finer things in life.  

The other day, the friend of Maria's came out and did some work for me - free of charge - he is basically a very lonely, older man who has no friends in this area.  He has lived a loner's life, he is also a truck driver and that is the way of many drivers who spend days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes on the road.  You see your friends and family infrequently and tho you can text them or talk on the phone, it is far from being the same as being there with them, in person.  

I've seen more than one retired driver's writings on the internet about the regrets they have in not seeing their children growing up, missing important dates for them, being away from wife, not being around friends - the things "normal" people take for granted.  

You see, I was sitting here in my office desk chair musing such things after being invited to be a part of a local Christmas parade. Participants have to be there in - 30 minutes actually. Yes, I am going, the starting point is a 5 minute drive from the house. I did donate the use of my trailer for these people's part in the event tho I did not ask to be any part of it.  They are doing all the work in dressing up the trailer to make it look Christmasy.  My small portion of simply loaning the vehicle with which they will use to partake in said event gave me no thoughts of being automatically presumed a part of it.

On the other hand, many of these people are the same people that we do card nights with rather frequently.  I'm slowly coming to know some of them, it's not like  I would have ever met such people in life if it hadn't been through Taylor/James.  I'm not at all saying these are bad people, not at all, we just wouldn't have ever met in any social circles.  

The whole circumstance with which I came to know Taylor and James is rather unique  in itself, at least as far as I'm concerned and isn't something people have happen every day. I won't be going into all of that here, that would take many paragraphs of text.  Most people that I come to meet or talk with online or wherever do not like the idea of living with other people.  That's probably more on the normal side of things.

I just happened to have lived with strangers in my teen years after getting thrown out of the house and then ending up in an evangelical missionary organization for 5 years after that with completely shared living in all aspects.  Housing, bedrooms, bathrooms, eating, everything.  No, it wasn't sexual in nature, it was just a modicum for people like-minded to come together, stay together and do what we believed the bidding of the Lord was.  

I did live with wife and son for 16 years after that with no shared living, but after that marriage ended, I was all about renting out rooms. Not out of desire but out of necessity. To have a house and actually live any kind of normal life, it was necessary to invite complete strangers in to pay a monthly rent in exchange for a room with everything included.

That went on until I moved out here, to Texas and ended up "temporarily" renting a room out at James/Taylors house which eventually led into a permanent situation.

I don't know if this arrangement will last forever. Things happen that you don't expect and circumstances change that you wouldn't have even dreamed of happening, much less actually foreseeing it. Been there done that.

But, while I'm here?  I enjoy every moment of it. Even the pouting kids crying over ridiculous nonsense, not that I enjoy that but it's an everyday part of living with a family with young kids. I get to partake in such things and for the last almost 4 months, have been living that life without spending it on the road.

I can tell you, I do not miss the road. Not even a little bit.  I am in various trucking groups and see videos all the time and I actually cringe at the thought of going back to that life.  I may very well have to, but I won't want to. I will work to have that time spent on the road as limited as possible.  6 months to a year at most, if I can get the business up and running and turning a decent profit. 

Well, it's time to leave.  I just was meditating on life and all the things that happen in it.  And not missing the trucking lifestyle.

 Sign posts in.  The 4x4 was clear at the back of the property so I cleaned most of the mess up back there while I was at it and had the trailer back there.

Of course, the trailer popped off the ball hitch - again - and it's not because I don't have the ball locked in.  It's just  bad hitch needs to be replaced.  Yeah, not right now, that thing can stay on the property for now.

Fires started.  Still smoldering.  Will have to take a chain saw, cut some stuff and repile it and relight it after it's all done smoldering.  

It's very lightly raining.  Not terribly much, but enough to cancel having to water grass seed today - thank God.

Oh, I moved all the stuff that was on the trailer into the shed before going back to the rear of the property to get the 4x4.  Just no reason to leave it out there, I have to keep it covered and it's just a pain. I am not going to be turning the shed into a laundromat until I have more money.  I'd like to get that done but it just isn't in the cards right now.

I then started on the fencing.  It's a pain, to put it mildly.  I'm probably 2/3'rds done with that setup, I'll work on it again later today.  

I had to come home, get some ice water, get some food and take a break.  I just don't have the stamina or energy I used to have before I got Covid for the - 4th time I think it was.  Something happened that time and it seems like I am slowly - ever so slowly - getting back to normal but definitely not there yet.  I just lose energy so fast now, it sucks.  

It's a really good thing I don't have to drive trucks right now, I'm not sure I could last 12-16 hour shifts.  Hopefully by January I'll have more of my energy back. I dunno.  Life offers no guarantees on anything excepting the fact that some day, you will die.

Anyway, I"m getting stuff done.  The grass seed will hopefully shoot up early next week.  If it's enough, I'm going with it.  I did buy even more seed, but I'm waiting on dumping that until all of this other stuff decides what to do.

OH, and I did find picnic tables at Lowe's today. They have 2 pallets of 10. They raised the price yet again, from $165 to $169.  Yup, they just keep raising the prices on them - and everything else.  I only want to get 2 of them for now, the rest will have to wait.  5 of the 8 fire rings have arrived, the rest are supposed to come in next week. 

Those are not preassembled and I won't be seeing what's up with them until I get the doggy park done.  I just want that doggy park over and done with, thanks. I have the second roll of wire fence out. I will hook up a strap to the 4 wheeler, strap the fencing tight and then I clamp it to the fence post.  I'll have 2 more rolls to go after I get the one I"m working on done today, with the first one over and done with.  

Well, no, it's not.  It's just temporarily hooked to the posts, I need to put a lot more clamps on all of them.  I"m getting the fencing up first and then I"ll deal with that and the proposed gate.  That's the other thing. I need all the fencing up so I can install the gate, the gate will need 2 posts cemented into the ground. Yea, I want to get that cement in and have a few days for it to dry out. 

Well whatever.  I'm take a short nap and get back out there.  

 I'm just over here doing my thing.

You know, as the country is in political turmoil and seemingly being rocked about by every piece of minutia that comes along and magnified by the media.  I read some of that this morning, then I just said to myself: Nope, not going to fill my head with all of that nonsense today, I have things to do.  

It's still early, lol.  There was a slim chance of rain and the forecast still says "rain will continue to 7:45 am".  Well, sorry folks, but it isn't raining here and the radar isn't showing its' raining here.  I want a job as  a forecaster.  I can just make things up and then portray them as fact. ...... .  ..... .  ...... and get paid for it, lol.

I am starting to force myself to get up early.  Whenever I go back to work, it is rest assured it will include early rise and being thrust back into that without giving my system a chance to "work through it" is not a wise decision, IMO.  I haven't been sleeping that well is the reason I have been sleeping in later. It seems that once it hits around 5:00 am, I can sleep like a little baby in a fantasy land of dreams and - well the dream that woke me up last night wasn't so great.  

I was being accused by a person I don't know and presumably have never seen before of taking a pickup truck that I "wasn't supposed to take". That person was angry for some reason, there was no context in the dream to understand why they were angry.  I responded that I haven't driven that pickup since I came back...came back to where, I have no idea, lol.  I just know that I became agitated with these person's insistence that I had taken the truck to the point that I, in turn, got angry and then - I woke up.  It was strange, yes.

Presuming no rain today, I am going to continue on with the doggy park fencing.  I need something to pull it tight. Well, we have tie down straps and I am going to see if putting a couple of those on the end of a roll of fencing will work to pull it tight enough to go ahead and clamp it down to the fence posts.  

Oh, and watering the grass seed, gag. That takes hours.  Literally, hours and you don't take a break from it.  You start on one side, get one positioned, then walk over to the other side, get that positioned.  By the time you get back to the first one, it's time to move it.  So and and so forth until all of the area in between and behind the pads is watered.  It's a lot of work. It's worth it, I hope anyway, but it's a lot of time and energy.  I get little of nothing else done while I'm doing that, but it takes precedence over everything right now.  

There is grass growing now, but it's not near thick enough to call it good.  All the 300 pounds of seed I put down is what is getting watered now.  If most of that will grow, I will be good to go.  No pun intended.

That's probably about all I will get done over there today.  Well, I take that back. I'm going to Lowe's before I go over there this morning to get some ether. I cannot get that 4 wheeler to start, it's totally cold blooded.  I need to use it to trample down dead weeds around one of the burn piles.  I also need to unload the tools on it included the generator and get to cleaning up all the sticks laying all over the place.  

I figure a small shot of ether should help jump it back to life. Foregone conclusion that I am going to need a newer 4 wheeler or something to pull a trailer around, but presumable an ATV.  I can't afford that right now, it isn't in the cards, I just have to try and work with the one I've got.  Whatever the case, I need to get all of this stuff done and get that park opened, my finances are running out quickly.  At least get the park paying for itself and then some. I have high hopes, at least remaining optimistic about getting it filled up and generating cash.  There is no sense in wondering if the place is going to be empty or not have that much business for "a while" while it gets up in the Google ranks and such.

So why am I sitting here at home, doing nothing? I got up early today, I'm still trying to adjust to that and I'm drinking my morning coffee. If you don't have any coffee, you might as well just go back to bed lmao.

What else is there to do? Well, I could go into the list, but it's just not a good time for that.  It's days and days worth of work I still need to do.  The guy came out yesterday and dug out a big hole for a fire pit, at least that got done.  I'll finish that as soon as I get the doggy park fencing and gate up.  I'm still reeling at the costs of just a plain old gate. $89 for something that cost in the 50's range a year ago? What the Hercules helpings is that all about?  

I bet if I could have started building this park say...2 years ago, I would have spent a little more than half of what I have spent now buying the same exact things.  I'm very much motivated, even pressured, to get all of this done quickly and get this thing rolling, that is what I can say. 

With that, off to the races!

G'day

  This inflation stuff is eating me alive. It is unbelievable the prices or literally everything now compared to even just a year ago!  Water hoses and sprinklers not off that list!  It's just absolutely astounding. The one thing I did find for "cheap" is more of that grass seed, at the same place I bought it last time for $37 per bag, now it's $35!  Yayyy! I bought 3 more, 50 pound bags.  

It's taken me all day to get materials, go to the bank, unload the trailer, drop it off at a daycare center (they want to use it for a Christmas parade on Saturday and I think I won't need it before then, but if I do, I'll just hook up the smaller one) and everything else.

I'm debating whether to go back out to the property today or just get an early start tomorrow.  

The grass seed planted last week is coming up over there.  That's 2 seedings now that are growing. The latest seeding - no of course not, that was just done 2 days ago.  I need to get it watered and get it to start germinating.  To that end, yes, I probably will head back over there but...

I met a friend at Kroger's when I was done with everything else who said she has a friend living with her (she rents out rooms) that is bored, has nothing to do, has no friends in this area and has offered to help me out there.  He is retired and independently wealthy, this isn't about money, or so I'm told anyway.  So I sent him a text message a while ago and if he doesn't respond to that, I'll actually call him.

Some of the older community don't like text messaging, they want an actual phone call. I get that, it took me quite a while to warm up to the idea of texting over talking to people on the phone, but it really is much easier to text when you are busy. Send a text, when they reply, you reply, but you don't have to sit on the phone for 5, 10, 15 - longer minutes talking to someone. I've got the materials - I think anyway - to finish the doggy park, build the fire pit and water the grass seed.  The fire pit rings are showing up within the next week - allegedly anyway.  

Get all of that done, get the grass growing thick and get the weeds cut done and I will open the park.  Ok, it makes no sense to waste daylight, I'm back off to the property. Think I'll take Addler with me this time....: )

 Tomorrow was intended opening day.  I do  have a lot of what I need done, done, in order to do so. But that pesky grass?

Well, the weather didn't help yesterday. Instead of hours and hours worth of rain, we barely got a light sprinkle. I'm not even sure it was enough to wet the seed.  I have no choice but to go up to Lowe's and buy 2, 100 foot long garden hoses and the fan sprinklers - if they even have that stuff this time of year.  I'll be spending days out there just watering grass seed until all of  that stuff starts growing. 

I don't want to know how much that stuff is going to cost, I just have to eat it, grow the grass and move on.  

I got all of the fence posts in yesterday.  I need to buy the gates while at Lowe's, might as well get all of that stuff while I'm there.  Which means I have to go to the property first and get the trailer.  I guess while I'm there I should buy the block to build the large fire pit.  There isn't any good reason to go Lowe's and not get everything I need from there, save me trips, gasoline and time.  

I have no idea when the fire pit rings are coming. I just know that I ordered them. I also know that you don't have to do anything special to "install" them. You can do stuff with blocks, sand and other materials but it isn't required. I literally don't have the time or even the desire at the moment to build a fancy setup for each ring. It's going to be put on the ground where I want them and that will be that.  

My sleep hasn't been the greatest lately and I find myself waking up much later than I should be.  It's now 9:00 am and I should have been out there by now. Instead, I just got out of the shower, writing this post and drinking a hot cup of coffee.  It's going to be cool out today, but I will be working so that isn't going to bother me.  I think I'm going to start going to bed at a set time and get up at a set time regardless of how good or bad the sleep was.  

I'm just going to keep plugging away at this park until it's ready to go.  When it's ready, it's ready. I'm not going to stress over it. I'll hope in 2 weeks enough grass has grown that it looks presentable and I can move forward.  And then, it's going to be close to Christmas - really close to Christmas - so I'm not even sure I'll get any guests to start with.

The web designer/expert finally got over this ridiculous nonsense about the campground software and moved on.  I mean, seriously.  I'm the customer, I am paying him, I don't need this kind of attitude from him.  As much as I didn't want to do it, I was definitely ready to fire him and find someone else!  

Now, there is the next situation.  This involves the oil and gas company.  This guy told me that "no one is allowed on the production area".  Lmao.  I'm just going to shy away from these people and do my thing. They have already reneged on their offer to pay for half the gravel - note I didn't ask for the concession, they offered it.  Shrugs shoulders, moves on.  Pour 2 inches of gravel along the part of the driveway I need it for - about 850 feet and forget about tent camping and boondocking for now.  It would be 15 loads of gravel to do the entire driveway, I can probably get away with 7 to do the portion I need.  

Getting to the walking trails doesn't need gravel, I'm not concerned about that. But there is a good portion of the driveway beyond my park area that just turns into mud when it rains and a much thicker base will be needed there. I just don't have the money for that right now and I will just put all of that other stuff on hold.  I will put up my signs pointing hikers to the trailhead but that will be the extent of it.

But this guy telling me that I can't drive over the production area? That didn't even stick with me.  I don't care what he thinks at this point, not after he engaged in the unprofessional behavior that he did the other day.  I don't care if they don't want me on the production area.  I don't know what the contract says, I only have a copy of a contract that is 60 years old.  He sent  that last year and stated that was the contract they are operating from.

I am no lawyer, but that thing says it's good for 5 years.  There must be a new contract along the way there, dude.  At some point I would think there is a 100 year  contract since that is apparently the norm in the industry. Even if the now-60-year-old contract is a 100 year contract, it won't end in my lifetime so I'm stuck with it.  When the contract ends and if there is still gas flowing, then I could get royalties. Now, how long will that well pump out gas? I have no idea - maybe there's enough down there to last 100 years, maybe there's enough for another 10, I have no way of knowing. If it dries up, they'll close it down and abandon it. 

Then I wouldn't have to deal with them.  For now? I am going to enforce a 10 MPH speed limit.  I followed one out not long ago to clock him, he was going 21 mph.  

I am going to have to find out what the contract says about the production area.  There was a conversation I had with the gas guy on the phone last year where he was commenting on a land owner that was driving right through the production area on his land.  The gas guy was not happy about it but apparently his hands were tied.  

I doubt they can stop me from driving on MY property, whatever portion of it that I'm on.  They are only leasing the land. Obviously I can't interfere with their operation or mess around with their equipment. That's a granted.  But that production area would cut me off from the rear 15 acres of my land and that is not a happening event.  I can see them trying to install a locked gate to keep me from going through there. That's  how arrogant and crass that company is.

I would just cut the lock. I already have a padlock cutter from the last time we went through this. THAT gate has been taken down, thank you very much. The gas workers weren't even closing it, much more locking it shut.  That went on for over 6 months before I had all of that taken out of there.  

I don't need or want contention with those people.  It doesn't serve any good purpose. But, they are the party that acts out, makes outrageous demands and attempts to dictate the conversation. HOWEVER. They have FAR more money than I do and going to court isn't really a great idea.  Lawyers cost a lot of money and I don't have tens of thousands of dollars to waste on that 

What I do know, is that they cannot touch my RV park. It is not in any easement area, excepting using the main driveway.  I have written permission from them to do that. At first they said no, but then they relented and said okkkkkkk. Lol. It is in writing, that's all I need.  

Well, enough of that. It's time to get out of here, get the supplies and get to the property.  Hook up the hoses, get that going and then start working on the fencing part of the doggy park.

G'day

 To say that I slept poorly last night would be an understatement.  It's a hellish feeling trying to get out of bed after a night like that, even if I do not actually have to get out of bed for any pressing reasons.  I do have pressing reasons but not enough to overcome feeling like this. 

I watch with amusement as Elon Musk tears up the woke world in his alleged attempts to herald free speech on the Twitter platform.  The White House is now saying they are "keeping an eye on Twitter", as if anyone in the federal government making such a statement is somehow a good thing.  

The left can no longer control the platform, the narrative or attempt to manipulate outcomes of elections through Twitter without having the "opposition", ie: Republicans and Conservatives, coming back and giving their full version of what is actually going on without being censored by what amounts to Communist management at Twitter dictating the narrative. 

The White House is allegedly concerned about Twitter becoming a "vector for misinformation".  Twitter is a social media outlet, not a government platform.  Twitter is a landscape - or should be anyway - of anyone and everyone giving their opinions and ideas whether they are correct or wayyyyyy off.  Twitter instead became the right hand of progressive/left politicians, media pundits, commentators, the ABC media outlets - etc ad-infinitum - and I definitely believe they had a hand in the outcome of the 2020 election in suppressing the Hunter Biden story.

Remember, there were polls were taken after the election that indicated that enough of a percentage of voters didn't know about the Hunter story and if they had, they would have voted differently and who knows who would have been elected?  The government has no business interfering with free speech.  There are few exceptions - but threatening with physical harm would be one of them. But people saying aliens landed on planet Earth and went to the voting polls? Who cares what anyone else thinks?

I just stand in awe of such a gullible voting public that doesn't inform itself to vote based on facts that are created through doing actual research on any given item on a ballot, whether voting for a politician, a referendum or some action that the governments at whatever level want to take that need voter approval. 

People don't even know who are what they are voting for, they just know that someone on a TV ad told them that they shouldn't vote for the other side because of "dire consequences". Such as Pelosi and her ilk constantly saying that Republicans want to gut Social Security and Medicare.  Find a single Republican running for the House that has said that in this current election cycle.  I'll wait. If there IS one, I haven't heard about it and I do try to keep up with this stuff.  They make these outrageous claims, using fear tactics to try and drive voters to vote for them over their opponent.  

Not because of facts, but simply out of sheer emotional response.  It isn't shocking that the PACs spend so much money on advertising.  They know that most people don't spend 2 seconds looking into any of the initiatives or politicians on the ballot. If they can get their message out over the airwaves and social media, they win the election.

It is astounding and appalling at the same time.  

Well that woke me up.  Musk is all over the news and has been for weeks now.  It's amazing how a few, leftist voices can dictate the narrative for the entire nation.  The left doesn't really believe in free speech, that is the takeaway for me from all of this nonsense.

So now that I'm awake and at least partially motivated, what am I doing today?  I'm going to the property, of course. If it's not too wet and if it's not raining, I am going to work on putting the rest of those fence posts in.  That really needs to get done and over with and behind me.  

Which reminds me, I need a dog waste station.  Actually, I just want a plastic bag dispenser - those kind you use to pick up the dog dung and then chuck it in a trash can.  I don't need a $300 setup, that's ridiculous. It's just a metal stand with a dispenser and a small garbage can built onto it.  I saw a dispenser only on a stand that is $52 and that's what I'm getting.  Put a plastic trash can out there and done.  

I guess that's my goal today, get a lot of that done if the ground isn't so wet that my boots sink into it with every step.  Just another reason I need that grass to grow out there, to eliminate that problem.  

Well enough of this, off to the races.  

4 hours out of me. That's all I could muster. After walking all of that land pushing that seed spreader? I was toast.  My legs are hurting. They aren't just sore, they are in pain. Well, not so much now that I'm sitting down.

I'm resting the rest of today and if the rain doesn't start early tomorrow, I'll go back out there and start pounding in fence posts.  I dunno, maybe if my legs stop giving me the "don't even try to do anything else today" message, I'll go out back and start cutting the pieces of the benches.  

I doubt it tho. 

As it stands, I did end up going to 2 rock places to get quotes on crushed concrete.  The end story is - it isn't worth it.  The first place - which is the place that sold the gravel to my contractor - doesn't even carry it, but, he will sell some other stuff, which is much better quality, for $550 per truckload delivered.  

Now look, I just spent 28k on gravel, I'm none too keen on having to spend another 4k plus on even more of that stuff. He said there was only one place in town that sells crushed concrete, named off the place and then said he had some "stuff" in the back that he got from a concrete plant that he would sell me for $250 per load, delivered.  

It was weird, sticky stuff.  He said there was some kind of "oil" in it but said he didn't know the deal about it. Yea, I believe that, not.  Whatever it is, I don't want it.  It stuck all over my shoes and plastered itself to my rubber floor mat in my SUV. I said thank you and left.

Went to the other place.  They want $503 per truckload for crushed concrete, delivered.  That's very high for material that they don't produce. Crushed concrete is made from old concrete that has been removed from wherever, taken to a crushing operation, put in a giant machine, crushed and out comes the product. They don't have to mine it like everything else.  

Everything else they have to mine it and still have to put it in a crusher and all the rest of it.  I was pretty appalled at that quote.

I then called another place that only does crushed concrete.  The guy told me $900 per 25 ton load, delivered.  But if you do the math, that's $36 per ton. I mean, I am getting the shaft regardless and since that's the case, I might as well just go with the guy that supplied the SB2 and get that iron ore stuff he will sell for $550 per load.  It's much better material and is actually the stuff that's already on that driveway.

It's just the stuff already on the driveway? Has been there so long it's no longer gravel. It's just fine powder that is getting worse and worse as each day passes and their pickups drive back there and mine as well.  

So kiss another $4,400 goodbye.  I have NO choice. It's not "I have very little choice". It's a big no at this point.  I either do that or have some pretty pissed off customers driving in over dirt and mud, getting their rigs dirty and getting their tires all muddy every time it rains.  

There's some places in Shreveport and Longview that sell, but even if they are selling it cheaper, the shipping costs will negate any savings.  

Oh well. Just eat it I guess and move on. 

I dunno, but I'll wait on that until closer to opening day for that. I mean, opening day was supposed to be in 3 days, but there is no way that is happening.  Tomorrow it's supposed to rain and I surely hope it does, but at the same time, I hope it's just a light sprinkle, nothing heavy.  

 

 This is today's agenda. I feel that if I write it out first, I will get more of it done than if I just haphazardly go over there and start a little here and little there.  This stuff needs to be done and I'm in between rain days. The only thing that will slow me down is if the ground is still muddy/overly wet.  

But, I need to put in the rest of the fence posts.  Dump the next 300 pounds of grass seed.  Cut the 4X4X8 in half and quickcrete into ground out front for the ENTRANCE sign.  That should be enough for one day's work. If time permits, go see the gravel guy and ask him about his price for crushed concrete, if he even sells that stuff.

He doesn't have a website and I don't remember one way or the other whether there was any out there when I was over there a few months ago. I was looking at his giant pile of SB2.  

Not sure when I'm going to make the benches, grass seed and other things take priority, but especially the grass seed.  

That's it. Not going to get overly ambitious and try to get too much done or sit here wishfully thinking I'm going to get it all done.  I just know that the 1st for an opening day was stretching it and now I have no idea when I'm opening.  When the grass is done growing lol  

I really need the next rain day to be a light rain, not a gully washer.  Gully washers just send the seed floating away to the other side of the property.  I'm sure the grass will be very nice over there! lmao

G'day.  

 Today's plans went out the window. I completely forgot about family picture day.  We are going out to a local establishment that apparently has a nice picture taking area and having a professional photographer take photos of the family.  Yup, I've been around here long enough to be treated as family - for the better and the worse lol.

Why does it throw everything out the window? Just going to take up the day, I suspect.  

BTW, I have pretty much learned most of what I need to know about the campground software stuff. I have inputted everything that needs to be done - that I know of anyway.  I've also paid for it. This coming week, the man is going to install it on the website and off we go.  Nope, it won't be accepting reservations right off the bat, that option will be turned off until I'm ready to start.  Since it is highly unlikely the grass will be grown enough in the next 4 days, opening day is being put off.

It's not really the greatest thing, it just is what it is.  

I mean, I could take guests in on the first - that's when the insurance begins, but to what end.  There will be nothing but parking spaces and dirt. Well, okay, the grass is growing, it just taking it's time.  Longer than I hoped for, I can tell ya that.  I'm looking at mid December.  And getting close to Christmas, who knows what kind of business I might get?  Maybe travelers passing through.  Locals wanting long- term - maybe.  

Which reminds me, I need to find out what site this insurance company wants me to use to do background checks. That's for long term only, not short term guests.  They require it and I don't mind doing it as long as I have a site that is already identified and payment option on the website. I am not paying for someone to have their background checked. If they don't want to pay for that, then they can go somewhere else.

Okay, that is done, request sent to insurance company. When I remember things I need to do and I can do it right now, I get it done. 

It turns out there are lots of places offering crushed concrete in this area. It was the SB2 that had limited supply chain here.  I will be contacting literally all of them for pricing per ton including delivery which includes a must-have of using 10-wheeler dump trucks that can chain the dump door open and dump the gravel while it's moving.  Non-negotiable on that part, I can rent a tractor with a box attachment to spread it if need be but I don't want to have to do too much work. If the driver is good, he/she can dump it nicely while moving along and minimal spreading need be done. 

If anything I am seeing is correct, crushed concrete is far cheaper than SB2 and it will cost more for delivery than the material itself. This would be good news if true.  SB2 was $37 per ton, Crushed concrete is being listed as "averaging" $14 per ton in this area.  We'll see.  I'll do the entire driveway if it's cheap enough.  Why wouldn't I have used crushed concrete on the new driveway and pads? Crushed concrete doesn't last as long and doesn't compact near as well. It's inferior product. 

But, on a fully established driveway that is already compacted, it will work well enough.  

I am still a bit shocked that the contractor didn't charge me anything for the dozer work or the trackhoe work for reinstalling 3 sections of storm drainage pipe and spreading the gravel.  

I thanked him profusely, I will say that.  

Anyway, it's time to get offa here. 

 Sunday - Morning

Much of what I have been writing about for quite a while is related to the business/property and all of the things that have to come together to make it happen.

Is that all I do with my time? Absolutely not.  It's on my mind a lot - probably too much - but it's certainly not all that I do.  The other day, we went up to the square to watch the official light ceremony that starts the season for the "Wonderland of Lights" in this town.  They dress the old courthouse up - pretty large building - with lights all over it and then we all do a countdown standing around it and walaah!  They flip the switch, the lights go on and Christmas season has officially begun!

We had card night 2 nights ago. That was at one of the other people's house.  It didn't go very late, half the people there had started at 3 am to go to Black Friday events.  Around 10:30 it was time to leave.  No problem for me, I tend to start getting sleepy around 10:00 pm on any given night and I'm ready to go to bed.  But we had fun.  It was a wonder that they had wanted to do card night tho, after being out literally all day long and having had started that early in the day!

I take the dog to the property frequently enough on non-business related hiking ventures.  Addler loves it and I enjoy it as well.  

I used to go out to eat probably more than I should. I have curtailed that greatly. It's expensive and it is not necessarily the healthiest food, shows up on the belly.  I've got a pretty good sized belly going right now, lol, I determined last night I would be going back on the diet.  About the time I start inching closer to the 230 pound range, I'm done, it's time to get back on the diet and at least get back down into the 2-teens range.  I haven't been below 200 in quite a while.

I also watch reruns of old shows at night.  Star Trek The Next Generation, Bonanza and The Big Valley to name a few.  There is a new show out called "Scary People" that goes into the lives and the minds  of people that have gone around killing innocents.  It's interesting because most of the names are names anyone that has been around for a while have heard of and probably lived through the reigns of terror. Such as John Wayne Gacey. It's also interesting because they often times have the people that worked those cases trying to solve them commenting on the different phases of the investigations throughout the show.

I also go to church here and there.  Last week was an interesting sermon that touched home. I usually only go if the kids want to go -which they do but on days such as today where they aren't even out of bed yet and it's 10:00 am? Probably not.  This is their last day of Thanksgiving break, they will be back in school tomorrow.  It's good, I suppose, that the oldest had the time off, he got very sick, feverish, head/chest cold, lots of coughing, etc.  He's still coughing and runny nose.  I've been taking zinc to try and ward off any sickness. So far, I actually feel no symptoms whatsoever!  Will it continue that way? I have no idea.  It was bad that the oldest got sick during his break as well. He didn't get to do very much but sit at home and rest.  Not exactly a fun vacation for a child.

I think about the Lord a lot.  I feel like I'm not really where I'm supposed to be to some extent.  But if I weren't here, where should I be?  Maybe that's not it. Perhaps it's more I'm not doing what I should be doing, especially in context of my missionary years.  I still help people - frequently - but I am not going around preaching and telling people about Jesus like I used to.  I dunno, there seems to be so much hate and anger among the citizenry of this great land of ours right now, I believe God is the only thing that is going to change anything.  Most of the people that are being broadcast over the airwaves and the big names in the media and in social media are atheists or agnostic. They do not speak for the majority of the citizens in this nation, IMO.  But people are led  to believe they are speaking for everyone.  

God is greater!

But, I always get back to the business of getting this business - going.  I feel like if I can get it done and going,  a lot of pressure will be taken off of me and I can focus on other things. Such as getting another trucking job and getting some income flowing back in.  Will the RV park succeed? Well I certainly hope so! I've got a lot of money riding on this one!  I think a worst-case scenario with it is that it becomes a park full of long term tenants and I will be making far less on it than I am hoping with having more short term guests coming and going.  

All long-term tenancy would equal gross receipts of $7,350 per month at the rate I am going to charge.  That includes electricity. So you take out electric, water, insurance... all the expenses plus taxes before you get to any profit. From the profit, I have to "pay myself" and pay federal income tax out of that.  Imagine that. I make money that is taxed only to be taxed again to actually get the profits.  This wouldn't bother me so much if the rate of the taxation wasn't so high. 

However.  I intend on charging rate taxes back to the guests.  Most places do not just absorb taxes, you will see on your receipt the cost of an item or service and then the cost of the taxes related to it.  So, now that I think of it, the $7,350 per month wouldn't include any taxes, those would be paid for on every reservation. 

Now, if I had ALL short term and I had the place filled 100% of the time, we are looking at almost 15 grand per month.  It isn't impossible to predict 80% occupancy, many parks are reporting 80% to 100% occupancy at all times. But, this is a new park, number one and it's also going into winter. Snow birds coming from northern states might be traveling through to south Texas or over to Florida, but is there that much of a market right now? I can only find out by opening up the park.

I've already paid up the insurance for an entire year.  I paid up everything related to construction costs, I owe nothing to the contractor/s.  The power is on, the water is on. The power company sent me the first bills. There are 2 bills because of 2 services, which is what I was afraid of.  However, since no power is being used yet? Each bill was only $3.50. I can tell ya I was holding my breath opening up that envelope!

The septic system isn't turned on - but it doesn't need to be yet.  It isn't being used, lol.

So what's left? Grass, install more signs, get some more gravel on the old driveway.  Install wifi system - even if a marginal, cheap system to start with.  I can't really afford a high dollar system right now and it's not a huge priority. Lots of RV'ers have their own internet they take with them everywhere. Starlink, Verizon, ATT, etc.  

I need a riding mower, finish the doggy park fencing and also cutting out roots sticking up.  I will be finishing up the doggy park this week.  I have all the fencing already, I just need to get a couple of gates.  I have to number the lots - easy-peasy and I just bought the numbers, they will be going on the electrical pedestals.  

I'll be talking with the gravel man this week. Going over to his place and seeing what they have. SB2 is nice - but it's expensive and I don't want to pay for it for a shared-use driveway. Shared with the Gas company that refuses to pay for any of it after initially offering it.  I finally got out of the guy a few days ago that he had been "overridden" by higher ups and that is why he canceled the deal.  I have gone over all of their heads since they don't want to discuss anything and have contacted their mother company.  I'm not saying the mother company will actually do anything, but it is the last resort.  

I'm having gravel installed regardless, I can't have a driveway that turns into mud every time it rains.  From the street to the entrance to my park is over 800 feet.  Hence the idea that its' going to be cheap gravel that will serve the purpose. That entire driveway actually needs to be done tho.  I can't have boondocking further back, that idea is off the table as well as tent camping.  Well, I can have those things, just not when it rains.

Yeah, that doesn't work.  I can't say on the website: "Tent camping and boondocking available during dry days only. Any rain in the forecast will implement a cancellation of your reservation, sorry for the inconvenience, have a nice day!".  How much will it cost to run the entire driveway? I have no idea, as I said, I will use cheaper material, but I don't yet know the cost per ton.  It's likely going to be crushed concrete.  That stuff is much cheaper than SB2.  I informed the gas company I would be dumping gravel and sending them a bill for half of it, lol.  

I also need to get the weeds cut down.  Whether I find a place that rents a brush hog setup or have to pay someone to do it, it has to be done.  

There's plenty left to do, is what I'm saying and I'm definitely going to get with it starting tomorrow. Today? I am going to see about building those benches.  Today and tomorrow are supposed to be sunny, so if it dries up enough, I will be dumping grass seed over top of where I have already dumped it.  More rain coming this week.  I will also put in 2 4x4's for the other sign and likely install the rest of the small signs, including the walking trail signs.  

Oh, the gas company. Had the gall to tell me that no one is allowed on the production site.  Lmao.  Sure, buddy, and tell me how I access the rest of the property?  These people have taken hostile tones with me, that's all.  I complained about some of their employee demeanor and they got defensive.  Yeah, whatever. I've been putting up with it for a while now, I'm done with it.  The part I am really not liking is the speeding down the driveway part.  

I really need to get some help with some of this stuff, but I dismissed the 2 boys after they ran the trailer into the new shed and didn't bother to say anything about it. Bye!  I don't know if they thought they were going to get away with it or what, but I'm stuck with the bill if I want to get it fixed.  It's not bad enough that it is causing any leaks and the wood framing on the inside wasn't damaged, so it's not going to be fixed right now.  

I also need to get the 4 wheeler fired up and take the trailer along the trails and clean up.  That shouldn't take but a few hours.  I need those walking trails ready to go!  Oh, and I want to take a video after cleaning up of the trails while walking them so potential visitors can see what they will be getting if they stay at my place and they do, indeed, like walking.  

Now, that all sounds like a lot, and indeed it is.  But, I'll get it done. Not like I have a choice in the matter. I've dumped the money into this venture, it's time to finish it up and get it rolling..

Happy Sunday. 

 Well. 

It's raining and has been raining all day long.  No surprise there, but I went over to the property anyway to take some pics.  I had posted a question for RV'ers on an RV forum, the angle of the pic I posted made it look like the lots were very small.  Fortunately, I didn't post the name of the park or even where it's located, tho I did reply to a few comments from people who like it and wondered where it was.  

Anyway, a good pic can generate business. A bad pic can turn people away.  It was a good to see all the negative comments - it was probably 65% positive and the rest were negative to varying degrees, including people engaging in name calling and insults for unknown reasons.  

Even more fortunately, the group is pretty well moderated and without my asking, those comments were deleted.  I definitely remain civil and upbeat on posts like that, these are potential, future customers. Or people that might direct others to my place in the future if they saw it, liked it and said, wow, this is great!  

To that end, I want to clean up the walking trails and take a video while walking it. Probably just a "quiet" video where I'm not really saying much of anything, but people can get an idea of what these trails are like  Because if you looked at the RV park portion pictures and didn't see the walking trails, you'd be left thinking it all looks like that.  There will definitely be a page on the site devoted to a video and pictures of the trails.  I kind of think I need an actual camera for that, my iphone camera really doesn't do pics or videos justice, I just use it because it's what I have.  

In fact, cyber monday is coming up, I bet I could score a decent camera for a good price.  Nothing fancy, just something that puts out quality photos and videos.  I'm really trying not to spend money on things right now, but this seems something that would be worth spending the money on.  

I posted the new pics on that forum but I haven't had anyone respond to it.  People tend to see what they want to see.  It's ok, I know the park won't be appealing to everyone, that's fine. I just need enough people to like what they see and fortunately, a good number of people on that post said it looks nice and they would stop if they are ever coming through there.  Yes, please do!  

From that post, I decided that all the west side lots will have fire rings at the rear of the lot instead of in the middle and some of the lots will have picnic tables - but definitely not all of them.  The reason not all of them is finances.  I don't need to be spending close to 2 grand on picnic tables right now.  I'll probably get 7 of them and call it a day.  I won't be putting fire rings on all of the pull through lots - not because of finances but because there probably isn't enough room to keep away from neighboring lots.

What I really want to do is get 2 rv trailers out there parked on lots next to each other and take a gazillion photos of it so I can have posted online what it's going to look like.  After the grass grows, I will be posting local facebook groups to see if there is anyone who could pull their rig out there for a bit of money - not too much but enough to say okay, this is worth the 2 hours it's going to take me to do this - and get some "real" pics up.  

So, I'm going to order the fire rings now that I know how many I need and I'm going to go to Lowe's and see if they'll cut me a deal for their picnic tables that are currently boxed, sitting out in the rain and potentially warping.  Wood tends to warp when it's not all fastened together, lol.  They actually raised the price of those tables that have been sitting out there forever - so inflation affects purchases that were made before the inflation hit? lol

I'm thinking I will build the bigger firepit with blocks for the social area (versus buying a premade steel setup).   I need to get really busy here, now that December is approaching and I am not ready to open.  However, I have determined that it's just not going to happen what with the grass and how long it takes to grow.  I'm going to plan the next coming days and get as much done as I can.  Monday I'll be out there dumping a lot more grass seed. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and clear as well as Monday. By Monday, hopefully I can walk on the soil without sinking into it!  There is a chance of rain the rest of the week - really hoping it will rain. Even tho that will hamper getting much of anything else done, it needs to happen.  

Well, back to campground software. I have run into a glitch that I need help with from the owner.  

 Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a wonderful day!

It really is, even tho I had a bit of a mishap today, lol.

Yeah, I went over to the property as is my want on any given day - but it's raining. It's been raining.

The first sign was driving to the back of the property in order to drop the trailer. When trying to back out beside the trailer, the SUV slid sideways and came very close to hitting the trailer.

I pulled forward and angled the SUV much farther away and made it out of there - at least.

After that? Well, I was trying to get out of the rear of the property and yes, the thing sank in the very soft ground and I was stuck. It was raining and I was getting wet and muddy attempting to dig the thing out and giving "rocking room" to go back and forth.

The ground just laughed at me. Oh? You think you are going somewhere? I really tried, lol, for quite a while before I caved.  Taylor sent me a photo of our adventure last night - the photo she got from the Longview News Journal.  My face and the 7 year old's were on top of the front page! I had the boy on my shoulders so he could see better - the lighting ceremony at the town square. 

They put unknown amounts of lights on that building - a LOT of them - and then they have an official lighting ceremony. Lots of people out there! It was fun.  Well, I'm standing there with this boy on my shoulders and Taylor comes up and taps me on the shoulder.  This guy wants to get a pic of y'all. 

Okay? After he took his pic, I asked who he was? 

Anyway, I mean, that's the "premiere" news outlet for this entire area - there is on over in Shreveport that covers our town as well - but that was great.  

It's been great being off the road. Yes, I know I groan and complain about stuff related to the business, but that's really coming to a close.  Well I hope anyway. Regardless of getting stuck, I saw alot of that seed I planted 2 weeks ago popped up! Yes!! For the win!  It isn't suppose to rain tomorrow, I'm going to go out there and reseed over top of all of it, all 14 lots.  

I might do it a third time, especially now that I've found that seed for $37 per bag! I'm so happy. It's getting close. I spent quite a while yesterday with the campground software dude on the phone, he took over my computer and we set up a good chunk of it. He left me with more to go, yes, but hopefully I can figure it out. Well, I'm going to have to figure it out, lol, it's my campground I need to know how this stuff works! 

Looks folks, I can't make excuses for my behavior, I was really getting irritated, down and out with this business proposition. I've spent a  lot of money on it and I still have nothing to show for it.  I still have more money to spend on it!  Fire pits, a couple of picnic tables, wifi and definitely going to have to spend the money on that old driveway to rehab it with fresh gravel. 

We're probably talking 5 grand worth of stuff left to go, maybe a little more? I dunno, but it's down to the wire.  Insurance kicks in on the 1st and if I ain't going on the first, I want it as close as possible! Let's do this!  

I'm doing nothing with anything related to the property today, sans the visit I took over there to see about the grass seed growing - and getting stuck lol.  It's a good day.