The lady couple got to the park and wanted to change their lot from a back-in lot to a pull through. Lot 5 is the only pull through available, but to make them happy, I instantly agreed, sure! 

Not a big deal, right? No, but some people put in a reservation for lot 5 today before I could black it out.  So I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to change lots with reservations already on them.  I was trying to delete both reservations but they wouldn't let me, telling me I had to deal with pricing in another sector on the software.  

This is something I haven't run into before and now? I have to start watching more training videos to see if I can find out how to manage this. Meanwhile, I sent a confirmation letter to the people that just put in the reservation - we are moving you to a back-in lot - it has ample room but it is a back in lot.

The kicker here? It's just a 21 foot long trailer.  This could have gone to Hipcamp if they were to agree to power only and have access to a dumping station and a water spigot to fill up their tanks. And Hipcamp will be cheaper. 

Anyway, I figure someone will leave soon enough out of the pull throughs and open that up again.  What if they don't? Well the means they're paying money.  The new guy that is there for long term finally said he could pay Cashapp. I'm fine with cashapp, I take payments however people want to pay them. 

What's on tap for tomorrow? Yes, this is Sunday, I did go over there but only long enough to see if the man had come back to pay up and also let the boys eat their Happy Meals in the shed.  The laundry has been getting used all day long.  It's what I need - but on a more regular basis to get the money coming in to at least pay for the payments on the machines.  That was the goal from the beginning, I don't really think I'm going to get that much going in there.  

However, it is beginning to pick up.  The ladies are going to use it, both lots of eyes are using it and a couple of other wanted the access code as well.  That's good news even if the one lady wants to complain she "love having this place all to myself". Yes, well she doesn't have to make $219 per month payments on machines and I don't want to be paying for that kind of amenity, I want to at least break even.  Wifi is a given, it's free, but laundry? 

The people with the Great Dane suggested that "you almost need another set of machines".  No, I thought, I don't. I don't want more machine payments and unless everyone in the entire park started using the laundromat, I am not going there.  I have to average 3 loads per day to pay the payments and so far? That isn't happening. Now that it's starting to pick up, it might get to that point.

I'm going to have to get the directions, sit down and try to make heads or tails of how you change the amount being charged. It's only $2.50 per load and that is not the going rate.  It's more like $3.00 per load.  I am tempted to just have someone come out and pay for them to do it, the instructions are difficult to understand. It tells you to unscrew something but doesn't specify what, just says where. But if you look, there are no screws there.  In fact, I think I will contact the company that sold it to me and see if they can find a person to come out and do that.  

Anyway, tomorrow's agenda does not include reversing that T in the ground. Too wet. Just keep working on stuff inside the shed. Probably get all the rest of the electrical outlets finished and then probably start on installing that insulation.  

Had to edit.  These people show up at the park unannounced. No phone call, no text message, no email, nothing.  They drive through the park looking for a place to park.  There is only one space open - lot 12 - but is available for tonight. So, they call me AFTER they arrived and asked if I had a space available? yes, I have one lot....interrupted, they told me lot 12.  Yes, that's the available lot.  I just find it pretentious to show up like that. Why not call before you get there? What if I have nothing available? They must have been desperate, I dunno.  Nothing on any of my websites invite people to come take a lot without asking. Lmao.  

With that? Bedtime. 

 I've slept so poorly that writing in the blog or much of anything else has just gone by the wayside. Last night, however, I did finally sleep and now I'm feeling much better.  

So this dude calls me for long term lot rental.  "What is your policy on dogs and criminal background checks?".  I mean, just go ahead and send up the red flags.  Well, we allow dogs - "I have 5 of them", ...2 of them are large and 3 of them are chihuahua sized.  Oh.  What about your inference about criminal background checks?

"Well, I was in prison for beating my wife, but that was 30 years ago".  It was an instant no.  My insurance will not cover me if he does something in the park.  But, I just worded it: "Well I'd have to check with my insurance company". He knew what that meant.  He said thanks anyway and hung up the phone. 

I need people in here, yes, but I don't need them that bad. The insurance person made it clear that they aren't going to cover any claims resulting in people with violent crime convictions from the past.  I might have thought about helping him out but 5 dogs in an RV?  I live in a pretty good sized house and I wouldn't want 5 dogs  in here.  My cutoff is 2 dogs ... maybe 3.  The older couple have 2 dogs and a cat.  The other eyes in the park have 2 dogs.  The new people have 2 dogs.  That's it tho, I can't imagine having 5 dogs in a space that small. 

That is the second lead off of the Facebook ad.  I had been getting more with previous ads, I dunno, it's just hit or miss I guess.  We're still a week away from month's end, I'm hoping I'll get another long term out of someone looking for a new place to stay. 

Anyway, last day of the parental unit's vacation, they will be heading home sometime this morning probably  It's about a 2 hour and 15 minute drive, so they can sleep in, take their time, get some breakfast and leave at their leisure.  The youngest has been getting into trouble while they're gone, I don't envy him when they get home....especially taking the Nintendo Switch in the middle of the night. I caught him yesterday and I caught him today. Yesterday, he was grounded by parents from TV, games and playing outside.  I have no idea what they will do now, but I bet it's not going to be a fun week for that kid.  

Meanwhile, the 33 day stay - if that's accurate, I do wonder if they accidentally put that many days in there - is coming today.  That will fill up 13 of 14 lots.  I'm still cruising to fill that last one with a long term.  If I miss a few travelers, that won't be a big deal.  People will be leaving soon enough and I don't want to be caught with 4 open lots like that last time when 2 of them left overnight without any advance notice.  The only thing that might change the number of overnight travelers is getting that bathroom opened up. I'm almost there, I just need to fix the toilet and get the shower working and cleaned out. It will seem odd to have a bathroom without a sink, I suppose, but that will be rectified soon enough. 

So, it's basically going to be a pallet of sod per lot - but a couple of lots it's more like 2 or 3 pallets.  $250 per pallet.  That's a minimum 4k to buy the sod which doesn't include delivery or ground preparation.  Yup, I don't have that kind of money right now.  I'm not sure what I will do, but it likely will be buy a bag of seed and do one lot at a time.  

I did apply for a "part time" trucking job. There were no specifics given on how many days per week or what they mean, exactly, by part time.  In my view, part time means exactly that: short hauls that get you home either daily or possibly longer hauls but only like one per week. Or who knows.  Any ads I see like that I will apply for.  There is another one that says "home several times a week".  That would have to be local or semi-local hauling.  They may - or may not call - back. Some of these places want you to fill out the initial application and then call them. 

There are fuel hauling jobs available I may take a look at, but that usually means night shift to start out with and I'm really not a night person.  I went to bed at 9:30 last night.  I'm going to see what I can find, tho, I don't really think I can live comfortably off of the income of 14 lots.  Hipcamp may or may not work and increase the revenues, but I still don't know that it will be enough to pay for my bills and still have "recreational" money available to do the things I want to do.  

I will be collecting quite a bit of money on the first, but the real question will be: How much will electric cost me this month?  

Good thing I checked my notes. The appointment with the accountant is tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 pm.  I want to find a clear picture of how I can go about legally paying the minimum in taxes I can and how much I can afford to pay myself after paying those taxes. I am pretty sure an S corp will be recommended, which is fine, if they will set that up for me. The money spent is the money saved and then some.  This CPA comes highly recommended by a general manager of a local business that is also a national chain.  They set up the local side of the accounting format for them.

I'm sure this isn't going to be cheap, but I feel like I'm in over my head with trying to determine how much I should have sent to the IRS - what with attempting to determine how much money I can take in an "owner's draw" this year for regular paychecks. I think I got close, but what if I"m way off? Or what if switching to an S corp will save me a truckload of tax payments? 

Whatever the case, time to get ready for church. The youngest will have to sit with me at the regular service while the oldest gets to go to the children's ministry.  He is not going to like sitting at a service listening to a sermon and at this point? That's just too bad. He isn't listening today anyway.  I am thinking this could go bad at the church service with him sitting there for an hour, but we will find out. If the oldest kid didn't want to go, I just wouldn't even go today and let him stew at home.  

 5:00 am.  Boys still sleeping. I wanted to get up half an hour earlier than them to enjoy a cup or two of coffee.  I am not sure if I'll just come home and go back to sleep or go to the property and try to get stuff done early.  I'm not quite awake enough to make that decision, lol. 

I have to take the 6 year old over to the next door neighbor's at 6:00 am and then drive the 8 year old to school - they are going on a longer field trip to a town about 70 miles south of us.  So they are leaving at 6:30 am and have to be at school by 6:15.  

After that? Either home, Waffle House or the property.  

It rained for a long time last night, many hours, so I know I won't be getting into that ditch today.  Just would like to get that situation done or as done as I can - still have the vanity drain to install but I'm not doing that until I get a vanity - but I can backfill most of the trench.  

I now have a dump station for people to dump their holding tanks. Not something I want used too often, just more of a convenience that I hope only gets occasional use.  I do believe the liquid is flowing good in that area, but still. 

And all of this time, people running that washer every day, there haven't been any backups, thankfully. That tells me I got the fall right.  Now where the toilet and shower are? No idea yet. I've flushed that toilet many times and it's been getting used and when I cut into it, there was nothing standing in there excepting right under where the toilet is. That was expected because of the lack of slope/fall on that line going over to the main line.  There is a very good fall going out of there now, that will no longer be an issue. Yes, the stuff coming out of that pipe was, naturally, quite smelly.  

I think today I will work on getting the other electrical lines installed.  Finish the bathroom light, install an outlet for feeding an outside light and put in another regular outlet near the front door - there are no outlets over there and I want to be sure that if I need one for something like maybe a coffee maker? I have one available.  I had to buy another 25 feet of electrical cable for that, gag. That stuff is expensive!

I was about to say I need another switch for an outside light, but I want to get one with a light sensor on it that will automatically turn on and off according to the sunlight.  Meh, I might put a switch on it anyway.  I have an extra switch and I have a box for it.  

I also need to get that AC installed and start working on installing the insulation.  So, there is still plenty left to do - unfortunately. I'd like to wrap this thing up. Instead, there are still weeks worth of work left to go in there.  It'll probably take a whole day just to install a vanity what with drain pipe and water lines.  

If this dude shows up today, I'm putting him in lot 10 and the ladies coming Sunday will be in lot 12, leaving only one pull through site - lot 5 - left available. Rest assured, if someone wants it for long term, they can have it.  This will leave me less vulnerable when other people leave.  I don't have any overnight reservations in the system, so losing a few here and there that are trying to find a place right away isn't going to hurt me.  

Well, it's almost time to take the little one next door.  I have decided to go ahead and get over to Waffle House after dropping the older boy off and then over to the property.  I'd like to be there when this guy shows up to make sure he takes the lot I want him to take.  I greatly dislike these people that just pick and choose whatever they want, notwithstanding the fact that they have been informed which lot they can have. 

 The sewer system is repaired - almost.  I messed up on fall/slope and had to redo both outlets.  I am not going to have shit sitting in a pipe.  I will go to whatever lengths I have to go to fix it and I can tell ya, fixing that stuff underneath that shed is not pleasant stuff.  I won't even go into all of it, I will only say that at the end? I put a damn sewer waste tee in backwards and will have to redo that. But that is not under the trailer. I will be a relatively simple job. I want it right. If I leave it like it is, it's going to be directing toilet waste to the end of the pipe - which is right there. 

That is, of course, not what you want. You want the poop to flow towards the direction you want it to go.  It just isn't anything I want to continue doing, I want that stuff over with, but I also know if I leave it?  I'm going to have backed up lines sooner or later and it's just not worth not fixing it now. Get it right.  

__________

Well yes, I'm doing that tomorrow. However.  I got a phone call. Mr. B? yes?  We have your vehicle finished, we just need to detail it and it will be ready to pick up later.  OHHHH??!!!!  Yes, we will call you back when we are done.

Ohhhh myyyyy.  They told me yesterday it was next Wednesday when it would be done, with the caveat that it might be done sooner.  I'm covered in dirt and I'm sitting there listening to this person telling me this on the phone.  Yes, I had to lay down in the dirty, several times actually, to finish out this project. That T? It's out in the open.  Simple fix, I'll get that done tomorrow if it doesn't rain. 

It was supposed to start late this morning. Then early afternoon. Then mid-afternoon. Now in a couple of hours.  Whatever. Typical forecast, lol.   

Anyway, I called the lady that's giving me rides, she was an hour out.  I was done as far as I could get with the sewer line, the toilet works, it's sending stuff the wrong direction but it's still working.  Just when it gets sent out the T through that special setup, it shoots out of there and plunges it down the line. Exactly what you want.   She got me, we went to the shop - and then I noticed right away something was wrong. 

But nothing so bad that I didn't take it. They forgot to do the job on the driver's side headlight cover.  It has oxidation.  The passenger side is brand new and the bug deflector is also brand new. I'm not leaving it there another day right now to fix it - they want it a whole day, lol.  I'm thinking to pay for a new one on that side as well. They are telling me they can get it "80%" of what it would look like new.  Well, why would I want 2 things new and 1 looking - not new? I'm just going to call them tomorrow and ask them to order the part, I want new on everything up front.  

Later on, I got a call from a gentleman from - wherever, another Oklahoman I think.  He started asking questions about long term.  I answered all of them but he still was asking about electricity. Is it prorated to the end of the month? Do you have to pay extra fees with it?  

Huh? No, sir, electricity is included with the cost of the rent.  This is, apparently, unique to our area. Other places even 50 miles away all charge extra for electric. It's metered and you pay whatever the power company is charging you for it - it is illegal to charge a tenant more than what the power company charges you.  I know this from ample research. No matter, you don't try to make your money off of electricity, I never even thought of that anyway. 

The point of meters is to force the customer to deal with their own electric-use habits.  Otherwise, some people think: free-for-all! Just turn the AC units down as cold as they can go, leave all electric-using devices on constantly and the park can pay for it! WooHooooo!  

He's coming early tomorrow morning, he stated. I may or may not be over there early. I have to get up at 5:00 am to get my coffee and then get the boys up at 5:30 am. One of them is going on a field trip and the bus leaves at 6:30 am. Well his bus to take him to school doesn't even arrive by then. So, I have to take the 6 year old to the neighbor's house at 6:00 am - she will take him to the bus stop - and then take the 8 year old to school so he can get on his field trip bus in time.  

After that? I don't know if I'll go home and go back to bed or just keep going. If I sleep well tonight, then I'll just keep going : )

Anyway, I have 13 spaces taken as of tomorrow and Sunday.  One more, please!  

That's it. I'm happy. The day is done, the boys are going to bed soon.  

_________________

The boys are in bed, they are on their way to Oklahoma and I'm going to bed as well. 

 Another bad sleep night, gag.  Just awake for hours.  

Rain isn't expected to hit until after 2:00 pm.  With the way forecasts actually come true around here, one wonders if it's even going to rain at all.  

I'm going to try and get the sewer line completed today, done and over with.  And I will try to get the wiring completed for the bathroom.  The light fixture is near completed, but there are a couple of other lines I need to run off of the line that feeds the bathroom as well.  

Throw the main breaker, pull the wires out of the light switch box that turns the light on for the laundry area, hook that all up, run the wires to their destinations, install those outlets and be done with it.  Yup, that's a lot more work than it sounds.  

Still nothing extra in the reservation system.  I suspect much of what I am going to get is these last minute travelers needing a place to stop overnight. I'll gladly accommodate them, but I am looking to fill those lots with longer term.  I have 3 open lots right now, 2 more than I want open. I'll continue to run ads until people move in.  Hmm, well the boost is still pending.  For whatever reason, it usually takes at least 24 hours before they will approve it. 

Just biding my time here.  My ride is coming in about 45 minutes. I'm not really looking forward to much of anything today, I am tired and it will take a while to shake that feeling of grogginess.  There is so much work to do, tho, that I can't afford to just sit home on a week day.  The taxes are done for now,  there really isn't any legitimate reason to stay home beyond feeling tired.  I've driven countless times in a semi truck in this condition. 

It would be really nice, tho, if the collision center would call today or tomorrow and say the vehicle is done.  They said it might be this week but couldn't give any guarantees.  I guess it doesn't matter, the folks are leaving and I will be able to use whichever vehicle they leave behind. It's just that I like to drive my own vehicle. If anything happens, it's on me, not on them and me.  I'm still waiting for the aftermath with the insurance company.  Maybe they don't do anything until the dust settles - ie: the vehicles are fixed and the ticket is done with the court.  

This weekend I'm going to try to make up my mind when to leave.  My mom says she usually leaves town sometime in May, once the temps hit 100 she's outta there.  The forecast shows no 100 degree days in May, but that isn't going to stop her from going up there, I don't think. It's likely more the temperatures up there that matter.  The lows show in the 40's - which is way too cold for her. She has never liked the cold and hence she doesn't go up there in the winter.  I haven't told her I am coming, I am still half weighing surprising her at her doorstep - but at the same time, I don't want to show up to find she is leaving or even gone.  

So early May seems best.  I can tell ya, if I didn't have family there, I wouldn't even go.  I have no desire to travel anywhere.  If I were to stay in town here and just deal with the park and maybe take an occasional trip to somewhere within - 200 miles maybe - I'd be fine with that.  I mean, a flight overseas and visiting another nation, now that would be something entirely different.  I've traveled the US, I've seen most everything besides Alaska and Hawaii, I'm weary of traveling and it's why I gawk at the idea of going back to trucking.  I may have to do that eventually, but not now.  I could go at least a couple more months on what I've got right now and especially with money coming in.  

I'm sure I could get reconditioned to trucking if I really have to.  A couple more years of it won't hurt me, I guess.  It's more having to be forced back into it, tho, than wanting to go back into it.  It would take some pressures off of me and also get me paying down some debt and also getting me into a financial position to get another loan.  

But every time I get on the Interstate and I see trucks, I just think how ugly it is driving out there. Troopers wanting to pull you over, idiots driving cars and nowadays, idiots driving tractor-trailer rigs like they are cars. They cut you off without thinking twice about it.  Trying to find places to park overnight.  Not getting any or much exercise. Sitting all day long.  Trapped inside a small box endlessly.  It has zero appeal to me anymore. The glory days of driving are far gone, it's just an overregulated pile of garbage now and I'd rather have nothing to do with it. 

I might actually see about this truck driver training position - that lady is coming back this weekend and staying a while.  Of course, she might be staying to train a trainer - they have allegedly been looking for someone but I haven't seen any ads for it.  Yes, I do peruse trucking positions here and there to see what's available locally.  If something good were to show up, I might try to jump on it.  A rear end collision, my fault, isn't going to help anything tho.  

Gonna finish this one up. Time to get my stuff ready to go.

G'day

 I decided to boost the Facebook ad again. It's just a 3 day run that costs $12 and usually produces good results. I'd like to get 2 more long term out of it and fill the park up until others leave again.  I've got 3 open lots right now, but one is going to be taken for a month starting Sunday.  So try to fill up 2 more lots and be done with it.  For a little while, lol.  Someone noted to me that one of the recent arrivals has 3 air conditioning units on it ...wow!  I hadn't noticed. They are paying more because I upped my rates, but I would have wanted another $25 per month out of them for a 3rd AC unit. 

Anyway, I got all the way up to the sewer line coming out of the toilet and had to stop.  Need just one more fitting a 22 degree angle coupler to get the main line lined up with that line.  I may have to cut that line off and raise it some, so I will need a coupler as well.  I won't know until I get the pipe all the way up to that area.  However, I don't - or shouldn't anyway - need anything else to finish that project up until I go ahead and get to installing a vanity. But, I'm installing a T on the sewer line for that s well.  k

I do have some extra parts - including a 90 - I just don't have any more 22's or inline couplers. 

The oil workers who are all together brought in a trailer. The trailer has 2 motorcycles on them - custom Harleys.  They must be planning on staying a while.  Or who knows.  Someone said one of them is worth 40 grand at least. They must be worth something, they took one of the wheels off of the trailer so it can't be hooked up to and hauled off. 

Another one came back early today in his truck with a car following him. He stopped - I'm hooking up my trailer, we'll be gone a week. He had told me about this when he moved in.  He's going to Talladega for the car races.  And sure enough, he hooked up his trailer, pulled it out, they parked their car in their space and left.  He wanted to be sure no one was going to take his spot, lol.  I wouldn't have allowed it anyway, but I get why they'd want to block the space. 

Well - the folks are leaving tomorrow evening.  She wants alone time with hubby, I'll have the kids for 2 full days and partial of 2 others.  No matter. I can work all day tomorrow and all day Friday.  I'm needing to get out there early tomorrow to beat the rain so I can finish the sewer line and get a toilet working again, gag.  After that I have plenty of work to do inside. Really need to get that AC installed. 

Anyway, get that sewer stuff done, put up a curtain on the window, finish the electrical and I'm calling it a bathroom with shower available.  It may not be the finished product, but it will work and that's all I'm looking for to at least get it advertised.  I will, of course, keep working on it but if someone needs the toilet or a shower, there it is.  Might be a bit odd without a sink, lol, but that's coming soon! 

____________

Many hours later. A traveler called, said they needed a place, do you have anything available? Yes, indeed.  Well we won't be coming in until after 10: 00 pm, is that okay? Sure! Please go to my website to pay, I won't be there that late.  And sure enough, they paid.  It isn't 10:00pm yet but I will get a notification from the camera if they do pull in. If only I could get at least 2 of these going every day......

Well, off to bed.  I need to be at the property earlier. Like 8:00 am would be good.  

 As normal, I realized I needed to install more things on the sewer line - now - before closing it all up.  You build the line, you want to install everything you need or will need in the future now. You can cut it open for future reference, but why, when you can just install the stuff now and not have to go through all of that, including having to cut into a line that has had human waste traveling down it? Yeah, makes no sense. 

Specifically, a T to use for a future kitchen and another T for the vanity as well as a T to vent the line.  I still haven't installed the p trap because I wasn't able to make it that far yesterday - it started raining and I needed another T.  It's whatever, today is supposed to be rain free and I intend on getting all of that stuff done if humanely possible.  

Whatever the case, after it started raining, I did some drywall on the bathroom wall and then started installing the electrical wiring to get a switch and ceiling light in there. Big pain - there was no clear route for the wire, I had to chip out wood on several studs to route it properly. Installing the ceiling light was no piece of cake, either.  There was nowhere to install it, I ended up having to put several more pieces of wood up there at the ceiling to get it installed.

That all took over 7 hours.

During that time, I got several complaints about the dumpster. It has become clear someone is dumping trash in there that doesn't live at the park. The question may have been answered by one of the complainants who stated the people in the house across  the street asking him a couple of days ago whether they could dump their trash in there? NO, was his firm reply, he stated to me anyway, to the person and said it was for the RV Park use only.  But do you think that's going to stop them?

I doubt it.  Even with a sign out there, I am guessing they are the source of the trash. And who knows who it was that dumped all of that insulation in there last month. None of our people, no one has a house with attic insulation at my property unless my vision has become very, very bad.  Well, I need to find my hunting camera, get it functioning and install it out of site on a tree branch nearby.  I'm not going to keep having this dumpster overflowing with trash.  

And let me just note, some of these RV'ers have lived in much larger parks and stated they didn't fill up a dumpster in one week like that. It is literally overflowing right now, there are bags of trash on the ground. We're talking a dumpster, not a residential trash can.  This is an intolerable situation. If I can't identify who is doing it, I may have no choice but to install a padlock on it and hand out keys. I hate to do that, it's really going to add more trouble, but what else is there to do?  

Anyway, the collision center has now stated the 26th instead of the 25th for a completion date, with the caveat that "we may be able to get it in this week, but we won't know until later this week, we will call and let you know".  I haven't asked them to get it done quicker beyond stating at the very beginning of this that I don't have a rental car.  I just wanted them to know I don't have until the next of never to get it done. 

However long it normally takes, fine, but let's not drag it out longer, I was attempting to say without actually saying that.  So, they know I need it back as soon as possible.  

Anyway, I still have my ads running on Facebook.  I'm losing one or even 2 people (that I know of) in less than a month's time, I want to fill the 14th lot up.  The 13th will be occupied for over a month starting on Sunday.  I'd rather just fill the park entirely up and have a pause on having even one overnight lot rather than having 2 more lots empty when that time comes.  

However....yesterday, I got 2 phone calls. The first was going through Hot Springs and looking for a place to stop for the night. Umm, I'm 3 hours away?  They quickly ended that call, they knew the town I'm in but apparently misjudged the time it would take to get here.  The second were a set of couples traveling together in 2 vehicles.  Do you have 2 lots available? Yes I do! Come on over! They were just coming into town from the East and it wasn't anything for them to keep traveling a few more miles to get to my place.  

Turns out it  was 2 pickup trucks with campers on the back.  Campers of today are nothing like the campers of yesteryears. They have holding tanks, sink, bathroom, small fridge.  They manage to cram all of that stuff in there.  I was a little surprised when they pulled in, lol, they didn't state they were in pickup trucks.  Well, I gave them a discount, I didn't feel right trying to charge them the same amount as a 42 foot long 5th wheel.  They were coming from Hattiesburg, MS headed back to their homes in California.  

If I could have a steady stream of these types of travelers stopping in, it would make it worthwhile to keep a couple lots open. It is  traveling season.  It's these types that wait until the last minute to find something that I'm getting in there.  And in a few cases, they plan their routes and I am where they figure they will be on their trip to wherever to stop overnight.  The price is what's drawing them in.  

Since I have no access to a vehicle during the day, I end up having to make trips to Lowe's at night.  I didn't get everything I wanted to last night, it was late and the store announced closing time in 15 minutes. I got the sewer parts, yes, but there are other things I need for other projects.  

No matter, I have plenty to keep me busy for today.  In fact, I suspect the sewer stuff will keep me busy all day long.  I hope to have it finished today, tho, just before more rain comes tomorrow.  I need my toilet back! The hard parts will be trying to align the shower stall line with the T and the sewer line coming out of the toilet with that T. Lot's of tee's.  I bought extra parts in case I get them misaligned. 

Well, my ride is arriving soon. Gotta make lunch and drinks - especially my coffee. I've found the day goes much better if I take a thermo with coffee in it over there.  It stays hot for a long time and it's just nicer to have.  I can only hope I get some more last minute travelers in there today, I will have 3 open lots for it.  Or even a long term out of the blue to move in - it happens that way a lot. Like, no a preplanned event, "we're coming on such and such a day", it's more like "you have anything available right now?" 

Why yes, yes I do!  Come on over!

G'day

 I've got 2 open lots right now, but Sunday it will be down to 1.  Which is good because one dude was only staying a month and at least one other leaving soon enough. This is a far cry better than the 4 open lots I had the other day. Actually, someone is coming in today for one of those lots, but it's only an overnighter.

I don't discount the overnighters, just saying there is nothing reserved on that lot after that.  It's funny how people come tricking in tho. I guess it will just be a constant battle to try and keep the lots full.  I start getting a little edgy once too many of them are empty and 4 empty lots? Is too many.  It's also strange how I was getting so many calls for long term and then all of a sudden, it all dried up - for a while anyway.  

The fickle nature of the business, I guess.  

Well, I've got my ride taking me over to the park in an hour.  I just got out of bed, trying to wake up. Stayed up too late last night trying to deal with taxes and then going and taking them to the post office and after that, deciding I need to stop at the store.  It is also supposed to start raining in a few minutes - that was quite the surprise to see that in the forecast.  No worries, I can work on the interior if the trench gets wet/muddy again.  

Started Keto after 30 plus hours of eating all kinds of garbage.  Wasn't hard to re-start.  It's when you've just eaten whatever for weeks or months is when it's a bit different story to try and restart a pretty restrictive diet.  

Well, this isn't going to be a long entry. I just sitting here enjoying my coffee, thinking about the day and the Lord.  But the lady is coming in 25 minutes to take me over there and I need lunch and drinks made up before she arrives.  

Goals today depend on rain. If it rains, I'll work on the bathroom drywall.  If it doesn't, I'll be in that trench and the goal will be to get that wrapped  up and perhaps even start backfilling it.  The unfortunate part about the sewer setup is there always seems to be something that pops up where I will need a fitting or something and a trip to the store. That's a trip I cannot currently make. It's kind of frustrating to be in the middle of something and find out you don't have everything you need or something you didn't know you needed pops up. Then you have to switch gears and either start working on something else or waste the time driving to Lowe's, getting whatever and coming back. 

I think I have everything, but who knows.  That AC needs installed as it's getting pretty warm.  The insulation will need installed to help with keeping it cool in there.  I could go on and on - but those are the top priorities that need done. The bathroom and AC.  And at some point, needing to make a trip to get a vanity.  That's not today, just saying I need one.  But, I want to be able to advertise a toilet and shower stall asap.  No sink? No worries, wash your hands at the tap outside, lol. Or just go back to your RV and wash your hands - for now anyway.  

I'm not going to tell anyone that, obviously, just a little humor in the sea of things to do.  I think installing that p trap is going to be a PITA and redoing the sewer pipe under the toilet is going to be fun as well. That's trying to get the fall correct so everything actually drains down the pipe, not "let's have a community gathering point before it even reaches the main line" situation where all of that "stuff" accumulates and just - sits there. That is going to be gross if my assessment turns out to be correct. 

Yes, I have extra clothing over there, lmao.  

G'day

 I became confused on trying to estimate taxes.  That's because I wasn't thinking correctly - this isn't my forte, I've never done this before.  

I was thinking, ok, I'm going to take home X amount per month and then pay the taxes out of the business account. 

But it doesn't work that way, lol and I don't know why I was thinking that.  Whatever you get paid, you are taking the taxes out of that pay, not paying yourself out of the checking account your net pay and paying the IRS out of the business account.

Which in turn threw my numbers all off.  All I know is, if you want to take home over $44,725? You jump into a much higher tax bracket.  The tax rate goes from $1,100 to $5,147.  And you also pay 22% of a predetermined amount they have on the tax sheet - a jump from 12%.  I'm definitely not going to try taking over the $44,725 amount.  I can't really even do $44,725 net pay anyway.  

No, I just realized I am in error again. Not in my favor tho, I can take more, in fact, I should be able to afford taking all of that $44,725 per year which amounts to $3,727 per month gross pay and take out 428.91 per month of that pay stuffed into an account I'm going to open to put that money aside for Federal taxes, property taxes and insurance.  

No, that isn't right either.  I will have to set aside the federal taxes in a personal account and the property and insurance in a business savings account.  Good thing I'm writing this out.  

Okay. I am going to lower it to somewhere around 40k.  This is per year - starting now, tho, not from the beginning of the year.  It's crazy that I have to pay taxes on no earnings, but the estimated tax apparently forces me to average it out for 4 quarters.  I'm just groping my way through this, I have to send the IRS something by tomorrow.  

I'm pretty sure the CPA is going to tell me to switch the LLC to an S-Corp and somehow, that reduces the tax liability - substantially I am hearing and reading.  I don't know how to switch it and I have no idea what the tax table looks like for that.  I am looking off of the standard IRS tax estimation sheet for single taxpayers sole proprietor.  

Ok, see? I have no idea what I'm doing.  I'm calculating taking 3 grand per month from the beginning of the year.  But I haven't taken anything this year.  So if I want 3 grand per month going forward, the calculation is only for 9 months including April, which means $27,000 per year for this year.  

Next sheet of paper, please.  I've got all kinds of hand written calculations and now realized that none of those are correct, lmao.  

Alright, now I'll have to do calculations until I get my net pay around 3 grand per month.....tic tock tic tock.....that's it. I can take $3,400 gross pay per month, pay $287.66 in taxes (thank God Texas doesn't have an income tax) leaves me $3,112.34 net per month.  That in turn leaves me almost 3 grand per month left over for operating expenses.  

I literally have no idea how much I'm going to be paying per month for electricity once we get into summer, I'm guess $130 per lot that's $1,820 per month just for electricity.  That may be high, it could be less and could be much less.  I have no clue, there is no way for me to tell except going by other park's giving their averages.  These people for some reason won't tell what they actually spent on any given month for electricity, not sure what the big secret is, the page is for owners and managers only. 

Whatever. We get done with June and I'll flat post it on there what the entire electric bill was for however many units I have there at the time with AC units running all day long. I will give the number of units with 2 ac's and the number of them with 1 and break it down to average per lot.  

But it's this unknown with electricity that makes it next to impossible to guess how much I can pay myself and still pay bills plus put aside money for expenses.  This is why I want that Hipcamp thing up and going. It may draw people in - it may not.  I will set up 2 of them to start with and see what happens. I have enough wiring to set up 4, maybe 5 of them.  I'm going to try to stay at $15 per night and see what happens.  If someone is traveling through and sees a place offering basic electricity, a water spigot if they need one by the shed and a place to take a shower and use the toilet for $15, I figure I'm going to get some people in there.  

Well anyway, I have decided how much I will pay to the IRS so that check is going to come out of my personal account and I am going to simply write myself a check from the business for 2 grand to start with and dump that into personal account. I want a paper trail, but I don't have to go to the bank to do it.  Just write the check and do the online check deposit.  My business account has ample money in it to pay me at least 2 grand right now and still have plenty to pay whatever other bills are coming in this month, but the biggies have already hit.  

Those pay checks will go into a special folder and they will all get dumped in there religiously, there will be no guessing at the end of the year how much I paid myself.  Although, I should be able to set up Quickbooks to show a paycheck to myself.  So that's it, write out a personal check for $863, put it in an envelope along with the estimated Tax voucher and send it to the IRS.  The whole point is to stay out of tax trouble. If the CPA can reduce my taxes, fine.  What I pay tomorrow will not be repeated the next time, it will be a lower payment. 

That's only if my calculations are correct.  I'll show the man what I did and he can agree with it or tell me I'm wrong, either-or is fine by me.  

Now then, now that I finally have this figured out to the best of my ability, I can get that dumped into the mail tomorrow.  

It is done. Finally. Good, bad, ugly, right or wrong, it's done.  Pay myself tomorrow, this was enough brain activity for one day.  I have plenty to do tomorrow and going to try to get up early enough to get to the post office, drop this letter to the IRS off and get over to the property.  

____________

Untenable idea.  No vehicle access tomorrow, I went to the post office tonight instead.  Then to Kroger's for water and ice, over to the property - hadn't been over there today anyway - put some water bottles in the cooler and filled it up with ice.  That will keep at least 2 days.  We are done with this tax junk for now, have to pick it back up again when I go to the CPA

I'm very tired.  I didn't do a lot of physical stuff today, but what with being up 3/4's of the night last night eating too much pizza and this brain exercising today? Toast.  It's almost 11:00 pm anyway, past my bedtime.  I've got my pay ride coming over at 9:00 am - I'd go earlier and I might but I don't want to set an expectation I can't meet. If I sleep tonight, I will sleep in in the morning.  I don't have to worry about water and ice, just take some food, the laptop and an extra pair of clothes. If I'm doing the sewer line, I'm getting dirty.  I don't want to be dirty getting back into her car to go home. 

With that, I'm off to sleepyland. 

 Monday - morning - not very early. 

I screwed up last night. I knew what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself.  You see, I completed a 30 hour eating binge last night that included everything that I have been craving for a while now.  The final straw was Domino's pizza.  The Extravaganza pie that has all kinds of meat and some veggies on it.  I ate way too much of it.

The problem? If I eat more than 2 slices of pizza in the evening, it will keep me awake all night long.  This has been going on for many decades now.  But as I said, I couldn't help myself, I kept wolfing down one slice after another....after another..until my gut was completely full.  I knew at that point it was going to be a long night.  It's not that I feel particularly bad after eating pizza like that, it just keeps me awake for some reason.  Nothing else does that.  I gained 4 pounds in that little eating spree.

No worries here, I didn't get so carried away with it that I extended it for many days or weeks or even months.  I'm not going to do that, I have a goal to reach and I am going to press forward with it now that I have gotten that out of my system - for now anyway.  If/when I go back to AZ next month, I doubt I'll try to stay on keto then, either.  But  until then, I will keep strict keto.

So yes, I am a bit tired but I have stuff to do.  I just decided that getting up early and getting over to the property to work was out of the question.  I am now just going to wait until Taylor gets home at around noon.  I have to go to court and deal with this ticket and I have to get to the post office and return that DirecTV equipment.  That didn't last long - DirecTV that is.

I wrote ATT off several years ago and I should have just stayed that course.  But alas, I just had to go back to it to get away from Dish's high prices.  The next time this happens, I will just cancel Dish, stay off of it for a month and start a new service unless they offer me the discount again.  I can deal with not having access to satellite to save myself a bunch of money.  I can't really do that at the AZ property but I definitely can here. We have smart TV's and unlimited internet, easy enough to just stream stuff in.  

Well I take that back.  I can do it at the AZ property, I just don't want to if I don't have to.  I have switched several times over there when one or the other company refused to give me what I wanted or needed.  DirecTV once lost my business over there for the old equipment we had and kept breaking, they refused to replace it.

Well, they refused until I got to the customer retention department, a thing I had been trying to get to before I decided to switch to Dish.  Then, when I went back to cancel DirecTV, I finally did get to that department without asking and they offered all new equipment for nothing, not even a new contract.  Too bad, so sad, too late, at the gate, I already switched, you can have this junk back. 

They didn't want it.  Of course not, it was outdated receivers that were well beyond their prime.  

Anyway, I will get the post office and court done and then it's a toss up whether I will go do stuff at the property.  Probably not.  It's going to be too late to tear out all the sewer stuff. I want to get it all cut out of there and reinstalled in the same day, if possible. A solid 6 to 8 hours should afford me enough time to get it done. 

On an aside, I tried this new Bing with AI technology that the internet is raving about and apparently Google is freaking out about. I mean, it worked okay, I guess...didn't really think it was any better than Google but it was better than Bing used to be.  Bing basically is trying to give Google a run for it's money. The problem is, I have several accounts that are tied to Google and atm?  I am not interested in just canceling those accounts or attempting to change how to access those accounts, this blog being one of them. 

Have I actually gotten all the start up costs paid and over with?  Well if I haven't, I'm very close and I'm ready for that day to say yayyy! It's all done and no more money needs to be spent right now on new construction!  There's probably another 10 sheets of drywall I will have to get - not a huge expense, some outlets for the HipCamp, maybe have to rent a bobcat to backfill all of that trench dirt. We'll see, it's a lot of dirt, but I am loathe to spend that much money on what would amount to maybe 45 minutes worth of work on a bobcat.  I could use it for other stuff, I suppose, but it's so freaking expensive. Even their 4 hour rate is almost $400 after taxes/fees.  Getting anyone to do that kind of labor for hourly rate? Lmao, yeah, good luck with that. 

I probably could just do a little here and there and get it done over a week's time or so.  

I still need that outside hanging lamp for illuminating the door/entryway.  But that's maybe $30 - $50.  I want to get a small vanity and that's going to cost around $100.  Realistically, to finish what I have started, I probably have around $500 more to go.  The kitchen setup can wait.  It will wait, for now anyway.  I suppose I could just get a used oven in there with a range top.  That's really what those types of travelers need, something to cook on.  But, then I would have to get a sink to wash the pans.  And all the drain pipe and stuff to run the water and drainage plus the electrical outlet.  Well, I think I have the electrical outlet, but that heavy gauge wire? It's like $80 for just the little bit that I need! And of course I would have to buy a cabinet for pots, pans, mixing bowls and kitchen utensils. 

See? It will end up costing me $500 to $800 or even more just to do that little bit.  I just don't have that right now to spend on such luxuries.  A bathroom with a shower stall and laundry will have to suffice.  I've noticed people going in there using the toilet, lol.  Yes, they have a toilet in their RV's, as I have stated before, for whatever reason, people would rather use a regular bathroom. The funny part is that the walls aren't all up yet, lmao.  I haven't advertised that the bathroom is finished yet, either.  I mean, if you walk into the shed and some dude is in there taking a dump, you won't see him.  The wall is up right there and the door. You'd have to either go open the door or peek around the other side of the door where there is no wall.

That got put on hold temporarily to get everything else done.  It's a priority this week, but court is top priority today since this is the date they have printed on the ticket to get it done by. So is returning that DirecTV equipment.  

There are just some days where I just write off working at the property and that's that. Days I would normally go over there and work, I don't include Sundays on that list. Sundays - as I grew up anyway - are supposed to be a day or rest. Where you go to church, worship the Lord with other believers, go home and make a Sunday afternoon dinner then go take a nap. I complained about this regularly at my last job when I was driving most Sundays and absolutely hated it.  I dealt with it - yes for those huge paychecks - but I disliked it greatly.  It was even more disturbing that other drivers with more seniority were able to ditch Sunday driving to people like me with less seniority.  

I don't miss that job.  I haven't missed that job since I was released from it.  

I don't miss trucking in general, at all.  I don't care about the 'open road' in a truck anymore. It's nothing like it used to be 30-40 years ago.  There is no wonder there is such a huge turnover of new drivers in their first year. I think it was 86% the last time I looked and no, I'm not looking again now. It's way up there is the point.  The older generation of drivers is slowly falling off and newer generations of drivers is not keeping up with that attrition.  This is undoubtedly why they are trying to ramrod through all of these autonomous trucks that won't need a driver behind the steering wheel, or so they say. 

Whatever the case, I have 3 hours until Taylor gets home, I'm going to look once again at tax stuff.  My books are caught up now.  I mean, completely caught up.  It's all on Quickbooks and that's all I'm doing. I was going to keep a written ledger, but after seeing what Quickbooks does, I see no need for it.  QB literally does everything and more that hand written ledgers do and handwritten ledgers take up a lot of time.  I just wrote 2 receipts off of Quickbooks for cash transactions. That goes into the ledger and is counted as sales income.  I don't have to take the money to the bank if I don't want to - and I don't want to.  I need a riding mower badly.  Oh, that's the other big expenditure, of course!

I knew I was forgetting something.  Walking around behind a self-propelled mower does give some great cardio exercise, but come summer and the heat wave? No thanks.  It will be bad enough driving a riding mower, but pushing one?  Maybe early morning before the worst of the heat hits.  I remember building that bridge in the worst of the heat last summer. 

I'm sitting here attempting to figure out how much I will make for the entire year this year.  I've taken no paycheck yet.  

Wow. I was doing the estimated taxes all wrong.  The wording is sneaky from the IRS website.  I just figured out I can take $3,000 per month net pay, still pay the taxes and still have almost a grand left over.  I need to save money -not for expansion although that would be nice, but to have an emergency fund and be able to pay cash for the property taxes and insurance for next year. 

The only thing is, my calculations were conservative on what I will be taking in on a monthly basis.  It may be that every month I will keep getting these random reservations in like I finally got with a 33 day reservation, another 2 day stay that left yesterday morning and another overnight stay that I got last night.  

However. If I don't take more than I just calculated and it just sits in the business checking account, I am not taxed on it. It's just what I'm paying myself that counts.  If I were just to collect money and not spend what was leftover, ever, I would pay nothing.  Of course, I think that might open me up to scrutiny by the IRS and I am not going to do that anyway, but still.  

Since I have enough to last a while longer in my personal checking account, I don't want to take a paycheck until after the beginning of the month, where I will take in a nice sum of money and then I can take my 3 grand and hope that I can take even more after I get this other operation going.  Or, just get all the lots filled up with long term. The Hipcamp isn't long term tho I guess it could be if it goes that way.  It would be difficult for a person to live there long term.  No holding tanks, every time they needed to go to the bathroom, they would have to go to the shed. Not a big deal, until you think about having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  

Not really intending that to be a long term operation back there, not atm anyway. But, I need to think outside of the box and consider all the potential alternatives.  If the operation doesn't sell for overnighters or several night's stay, I suppose I could advertise it as long term but with well worded caveats.  No surprises, folks, you aren't getting 50 or 30 amp outlet and you aren't getting a sewer dump.  You could probably run a garden hose clear over to the nearest water outlet, but that would be on your dime, not mine. 

I'm just optimistically hoping that HipCamp will eventually bring in at least $500 per month.  It will be on the reservation system as lots 15 and 16 with respective pricing to begin with, including that lengthy description of what they will be getting and what to expect before they rent it out.  

Never-the-less, I do feel a lot better now that I have figured out I can take more than I initially thought I could in a personal paycheck.  I assume but will be looking at whether I need to write myself out an actual check to show it listed in the bank as a paycheck to myself, or if it's legit to just transfer the money to my personal banking account.  Not sure how that's done, more research is necessary.  

I think writing a check and putting a copy of it in a file to show exactly how much I paid myself for the year is the way to go. Leave no room for errors, these are copies of the paychecks, this is exactly what I paid myself, any other questions, Mr. IRS Taxman?  One of the biggest reasons I wanted the books caught up is for the potential eventuality of an audit.  I will be hearing from a CPA soon enough as well, next week I think was the appointment.  

Anyway, I have until tomorrow to get that estimated tax in the mail. I'm going to stew on it - in a good way, not stewing like I'm angry - for the rest of today and try to decide what I can take without cutting my business account too short to begin with.  There is plenty of money in there right now, but taking a paycheck and paying estimated taxes will cut that thing to less than a grand.  Getting rid of constant start up costs is going to be extremely helpful as well. 

A person starting up a park like this from scratch likely wouldn't have any idea of all of the little expenses and even bigger ones from the vantage point of having had just bought land and getting the process started. You look at the big costs from the contractors to build the main portion of it out. You try to look at all the other costs but when you haven't done anything like this before? I was definitely way off.  

This is why I am not wanting to take exactly the full amount I can take for paychecks leaving little left over. Besides saving for emergency fund, taxes and insurance, there may be more things that I haven't considered that I will need to dump money into.

The grass situation coming up is one of them. I have considered it, of course, but how am I going to go about doing it?  

I dunno, stay tuned for that I guess. I'm going to keep searching out all the options before making a decision. The winter grass is still looking good, but the day is coming when it will all die out and I will have dirt lots - that's just not where I want this to go. 

Well, enough for one entry. My mind is buzzing with all of this tax stuff and attempting to figure out a reasonable paycheck.  I'd really need to be able to take at least $3,500 net pay to not have to go back to work and have a reasonable comfortable lifestyle.  Getting rid of the car payment in 3 months will help with that.

G'day

?? One thing I hate, and that's writing an entry, accidentally hitting whatever key that does what it does and having the entire entry erased. Hit undo? It doesn't come back. 

So there is an entire entry about the last couple of days that is just vanished.  

I am not going to go into the detail I had with the previous entry - I was almost done with it - but I will give a synopsis. 

Let's see. Friday.  Well, I got the small shed done and got most of my stuff out of the big shed.  I then framed the area for the ac unit and then started trying to cut the tin for the ac to fit into.  My blade broke and that was the end of that. Those 2 items took many hours to complete. I then assessed this disaster of drainage these people had done. Wrote down all of the fittings I would need and took a few pics - that helps me figure things out if I forget while at the store and don't understand why I wrote down a particular item that I then think, why do I need that?  

That was pretty much it for the day. It was 6 hours and then it was time to go home.  Actually got a ride from James and Taylor instead of having to pay for it.  I'll save my money where  I can save it, the lady giving me rides is pretty dependable at least.  

It wasn't until after I left that the 2 nighter, repeat customer pulled in.  And then at 9:00 pm, the long term showed up with their older trailer.  They pulled into a back in site, I was watching them through the camera and then they decided to take lot 7 - the lot where the trashy people pulled out in the middle of the night.  Yesterday morning, I started getting texts about them.  "There is junk and boxes laying everywhere all around the trailer!", they exclaimed and then stated that the dogs were left outside, unattended. 

Okay, those are both big no-no's in my book I'm not running a trailer trash park and dogs have to be attended - according to my insurance policy, not some thing I made up out of the wild blue yonder.  Much of my rules are either based on common courtesy and cleanliness or my insurance company requirements.  But, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. 

It turned out, they contacted me right after the lady had sent me pics.  I very gently informed them of the rules I would like to have them review and sent a link of them.  Then I pinpointed dogs not being left unattended or stuff being stored outside.  Just not going to happen.  This was a very casual thing, done intentionally to not make them think people were complaining or that I was unhappy with them already.  At least give them time to sort through their stuff and get it organized.  

Anyway, yesterday/Saturday.

We went to the older kid's soccer game.  He was tired, cranky and irritated. Why? Because younger brother decided to wake up in the middle of the night and intentionally wake him up, keeping him awake for hours.  Younger bro is getting himself into all kinds of trouble both at home and school. Anyway, soccer star was crying on the sidelines as the coach took him out after playing for 40 minutes to let other players in.  He was pouty and crying all the way home.  We all knew why and when we got home? They both ate lunch and were put to bed.  

Mommy and daddy left for Longview to do a client thing and I stayed home with them.  They slept 2 full hours and woke up in a much better mood.  We went to Longview to meet up at Bubba 33's.  I did end up cheating yesterday, I had been planning on it. Months of no cheating was getting old, I had to take a break. A meat pizza and a drink.  After that, off to lowe's and then off to Dairy Queen.  An extreme chocolate blizzard, over to the park, tried to collect from the newbies but they had left.

I examined the lot. Good enough, they had cleaned everything up. The only thing of note was a busted door window. I contacted them, told them they needed to fix that. Busted windows on trailers just gives the appearance of a trashy park.  They said they already had the parts and were going to fix it. 

We went for a ride on the 4 wheeler for the fun of it and then went home.  That ate up yesterday, but I did get the parts to fix the tragedy that these contractors left behind in the trench. NO way I'm covering that all up and hoping it will work.  One of the fittings had already busted loose from them using the incorrect glue.  All of that is going to be cut off, trashed and start over. 

I'll be doing that tomorrow-Monday.  Today? Well, both James and Taylor are going to be out doing stuff, so we are going to have to miss church. Well, we've been going for moths, missing one week isn't the end of the world.  Yes, I'm just staying home today.  I don't see any reason to pay $24 to go to and from the park to work when I usually, at least now, do not work on Sundays. I do need to get over there and collect that rent tho.  The newbies and lot 3 - if he is staying. His friends, the slobs, left in the middle of the night, I dunno if he's staying or what.  But if he is, today is rent due day for him.  

I can see his trailer on the video surveillance, he's definitely still there.  

I am also going to pull the trigger on a trip back to AZ. I have been thinking about it a lot. I can make all the excuses in the world not to go back - I really don't feel like traveling right now - but I need to see mom and my son.  And a few friends if possible.  I'm not going to stay long, maybe 3 or 4 days.  3 of my credit cards have ample points to pay for a flight from the airport in Longview - GGG - which flies to Dallas and then to PHX.  I could probably make 5 trips with the points I have on them.

I have decided to go next month. The price is relatively the same regardless of which day combinations I choose. It's around $500, up over $100 from the last time I checked this.  

I haven't pulled the trigger yet, I will probably decide today which dates  to go.  

Anyway, that's enough for now.  

 First and foremost: 10 hours of beautiful sleep.  I mean, it's only 7:30 am right now, but I went to bed last night at 9:00 pm and I only woke up twice - and only awake a few minutes.  I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to actually get some sleep.  It's just amazingly helpful for the mind and body.  Okay, I'm still really fazed out in the brain right now, that much sleeps messes with me, but I'll pull out of it eventually.  I'm definitely going over to the property to work today regardless.  

My shed needs that sheet of plywood. Yesterday evening, I decided to get it at Lowe's in Taylor's truck. Otherwise, I don't even know when I would have been able to get the thing.  No, I didn't feel like going up there to Lowe's. Not after all the shoveling and putting that shed together and leveling and everything else I got done. The keypad door handle is installed.  Much easier than I thought - it always helps to read the instructions lmao.  

Today's agenda? I dunno, there's still so much to do, but finished the shed will be the first thing and then moving everything out to the shed will be the second.  The shed needs that ac installed, continue work on the drywall, install the insulation, backfill the trench - just still plenty of work to do.  I really just want the stuff out of the shed so I can get that thing opened to everyone and start getting the money in those coin collectors in those machines filling up so I can at least pay the monthly payment for them. A little extra would be nice to pay for the hassle of having to get quarters out and roll them up.  I didn't and won't be getting a change machine any time soon. Way too much money, the cheapest one I found was around $700.  

For $75, I can buy a coin counter.  For $11, I can buy a funnel with a special tube at the bottom.  You pull the quarters out of the counter, dump them into a funnel and the quarters drop into your wrapper. If this is a once or twice a month thing - the coin collectors on those machines are huge - I'm not going to worry about it. I just don't want to sit around counting quarters and I'm definitely not taking it to the grocery store to use one of those coinstar machines that counts your change, takes up to 15% of your money for the privilege and then you get what's left over. 

No thank you.  

On another note, I woke up this morning to find that 35 nights worth of overnight lot rentals have been made.  The - lesbian - couple are staying again.  I noted their sexual  preferences because I am not responsible for what people do in their bedrooms with other people or what gender the other person is.  I also don't go around making fun of or condescending to such people. They are human beings, made in the likeness and image of God, as the Bible states, and also that God is no respecter of person and further that he would have ALL to come to salvation.  The problem with the Christian community for so long is that they openly reject such people.  

But, if you believe one portion of the Bible, then you should believe all of it and take it all into context.  "ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".  We are all in the same sin boat. Different types of sin, yes, but all of it has the same end result.  

And anyway, these are nice people. They don't start trouble with anyone and act perfectly normal.  

The other one is a person that has come 3 times already and is stopping through again.  I don't know why he likes my park so much, actually there are always 3 people traveling together. I have never spoken to them, lol, they want to be left alone. As long as they pay their lot fee, I don't care.  They can keep to themselves as much as they want.  This time they are staying 2 days.  They show  up, drop their trailer and take off to wherever they are going. I would guess they have family here or perhaps some sort of event that brings them.  

That was pretty quick. That's another lot taken for 33 nights that I don't have to worry about.  Hopefully these other people are showing up today with the Great Dane.  That's 2 lots taken. That leaves 2 lots open and I'm still trying to rent out that 13th lot.  I will leave one open for overnighters.  Pull through lot 5, to be specific.  I know I'm losing another renter - at least - in less than a month, so I want to get the place as full as possible while still leaving one space open for the travelers.  

I also don't know if the friend of the people that left in lot 7 is staying or going. He hasn't replied to me, sort of leans towards him leaving.  I have had several inquires in the last 24 hours about the long term spaces and I am not turning anyone away until people actually show up, pay the rent and occupy the space.  In fact, if it were to go that route, I would be tempted to rent all of them out long term and be done with it for a while.  That way, when someone leaves, I am not screwed for doing last minute ads for people to take the lot.  It really isn't much fun having these people leaving without notice.  Anyway, that person's rent is due on the 16th, we'll find out soon enough if he's staying or going. 

Still, it was encouraging to see reservations coming in filling up that many nights.  It's been quite the dry season without any of that coming in at all.  

That's it. I have my ride coming in 40 minutes to take me over there.  Taylor left early this morning, James is off today but he is super busy with his side business he has started and stuff that needs done around the house, I will just take a pay ride over there and not bother anyone with it.  I'm finally starting to wake up and get rid of this fog in my brain.  

Well, I guess I best get my stuff together and get ready to leave.

G'day. 

 Break time.  3 hours later the shed is 80% done. I still have to build the door - it comes with the kit and of course I forgot something vital to setting this thing up: a sheet of plywood for the flooring.  I'm not going to just have the thing sitting in the dirt, I want my tools and such protected.  So I will have to borrow Taylor's truck at some point, and get a fresh sheet of it. I was going to put everything in there today.  Oh well.

One good lead for a person wanting to move in. Not necessarily confirmed, but they are very interested.  I've got to get some more trailers in here, end of story. But I am balking at the thought of lowering the price again, I will just be screwing myself come summertime and extraordinarily high electric bills.  So, for now, I'm leaving them where they're at.  

Another person of interest told me there isn't anything available over my way. Ok? Well, I have availability, tho admittedly I was telling people I was full for quite awhile, I did also tell them that they could check back periodically for people come and go in these parks. 

That tow truck family may end up coming back after they get their trailer fixed. This has been going on for about a month and a half with them. The only park they are going to find cheaper over this way is a trailer trash park with people who look like they're hoarders.  Piles of useless junk outside, I wouldn't tolerate that for a minute.

In fact, I was loathe to tolerate these people in lot 7 that were throwing beer caps, cigarette butts and garbage on the ground.  Even after asking them politely to please stop and also get out and pick it up, they didn't do it.  I'm sort of glad they are gone, but, there goes that money as well.  I think it's more important to keep a good reputation and a clean park than it is to base decisions solely on collecting money - tho that is a highly important factor, obviously.  

Well, I'm going to get that door built and then I'm going to see about getting the new keypad door handle installed as well.  I still have several hours before my ride comes back to pick me up.  Yes, about 3 hours actually.  I just needed a break, hungry, I brought last night's leftover chicken with me, quite tasty.  I am going to want to get a sheet of plywood over here asap, I want this stuff out of this shed and get it open to everyone.  I aaalmost thought about putting a piece of drywall down, lol, but we all know how long that would last.  

If those things don't keep me busy for 3 hours, don't worry. There an AC unit to install - which will be a lot of work framing for it and of course there is the drywall venture to continue on with for the bathroom. And a lot of other stuff........weeks worth or work left here.  Cutting out the insulation is going to be a pain, I can tell just looking at the walls.  I'll get it done, yes but dang that's going to suck.  

The collision center called with an update: They don't see any way to get it done sooner than the 25th.  well, I wasn't complaining or begging to them, at all.  I just noted that I don't have a rental car.  The obviously told them I don't have until the second of never to get my vehicle back.  I want them to do the job right and get it right the first time. If that takes longer, so beit. 

I have a ride now - it's $24 per day. I suspect less than $200 worth of rides versus $800 plus worth of rental car.  And maybe not even that much for the rides.  Taylor will let me use her truck whenever she isn't needing it.  Which is very nice and sweet of her : )  But, we throw favors back and forth. I get the kids on the days she needs it - tho I don't really think of it as an imposition.  I buy a lot of dinner food.  I do things, in other words, for the household as much as they do. Just one big happy family.  

She has been in throes of frequent, intense nausea, unfortunately, and throwing up food a lot with this pregnancy. I really am trying to help her out as much as possible.  She's trying to work while carrying the baby, that's enough for any person in itself.  She hasn't figured out what she likes to eat and what she doesn't like to eat, that baby inside of her is apparently very picky!

Well, I'm going back to work. Feeling much better now that I've eaten something.

 Wrote a lengthy post yesterday and forgot to post it.

Oh well.

I spent near 4 solid hours yesterday pushing the mower - well it's self-propelled but it has to be lifted up to get over the humps - and picking up trash.  Mostly at site 7 where those people left abruptly overnight.  I'm guessing their friend will leave once his rent is due in a couple of days as well.  I only say that because I texted him asking if he was taking off with his friends or sticking around?  No reply.  That could mean anything, I suppose, but he's usually pretty quick to respond to texts.

I'm getting a mix of people asking about lots available and asking if I rent RV's with the lots?  No RV's, sorry.  Even if I did, I wouldn't sayit would be completely reasonable price. At least $600 per month. I think I previously said $550 but that's not enough.  There is too much risk involved with renting one out and potentially having them trash the place.  

And anyway, there is a huge shortage of rental accommodations in my area and in 2025, it's only going to get worse. Far worse. Well I take that back, there is a very large, luxury apartment complex being built on the other side of town. They are definitely spending some money on that thing, millions of dollars.  It will help alleviate the problem but it won't solve it completely.  

If I had more money sitting in my bank accounts, I would definitely buy an RV and give it a whirl.  But I don't and right now, I've got 4 lots sitting empty.  One being filled on Friday - hopefully - and I don't know if those people will come back that needed  to leave the day after they moved in because their electricity wasn't working correctly.

I'm just glad the thing didn't burn down and toast other trailers with it. Descriptions of it when it came in were that it was dirty and had pine needles all over it.  So it was sitting for a while, not being used. Yeah, you have to maintain those things or they go south - and can go south pretty quickly.  

Whatever the case, I am going to try and build that other shed today and get my stuff out of the main shed.  I don't particularly care for the idea of having to carry the tools back and forth every day, but to be able to set up the laundry table and get the place looking decent, Ima need to move all of that stuff out of there.  I may even have time to install that keypad handle for the door.  If I can get those done today, I will go ahead and try to get the sewer pipe leveled in the trench and start backfilling that stuff in.  

After that, just get those sheets of drywall up on the bathroom wall so I can say it's ready to use.  There isn't a lot to go to get that part done and start advertising it, but the sewer pipe definitely needs to be adjusted so everything as actually flowing, not sitting inside of pipes stagnating.  

Anyway, I have a ride allegedly coming at 8:30, about 35 minutes from now.  We'll see if that works out.  I have to be home in time today for the kids, but that isn't until 3:30.  It's plenty of time to get stuff done over there. I think it took 4 hours to put that other shed together and it wasn't any fun because the wind was blowing and trying to blow over the tin sheets standing up, only being held in place by a couple of screws at the bottom. It's just the way the thing is put together.  

Well, I probably should get offa here. I need to get a roast in the crock pot and get my stuff ready to go. I'm definitely not going over there without taking some food and ice.  Temps will only get up to 74 today, but I still get pretty thirsty after working for a while over there.  

There is still so much to do before I could actually ... the shed is finished! Oh well, soon I can say it's ready to use, just not done completely lol.  People are using that washer/dryer set like crazy and that's only a few of the people in the park.  Once I can get that keypad in, I can let everyone know it's ready for use.  But, I'm getting my stuff out of there first and getting a padlock for the door.  And I"m putting the shed in view of my eyes over there, on the side of the big shed instead of behind it.  The other one had to go behind it because it has the water heater inside of it.

Well, offa here.

G'day. 

 The lady was talking far too much technical stuff to me.  I was trying to keep up with her, but business tax stuff is out of my league.  I have an appointment with a CPA later this month, I'm going that route. Meanwhile, I filed form 4868 which is an automatic extension up to 6 months.  I'm simply not qualified to try to do this myself.  I want an accountant to hear all the info I have pertaining to this business startup and the 401k cash outs and house cashout - tho that is not taxable because it is considered a loan.  

This takes a lot of pressure off of me for right now.  Now that that's filed, I have to work on another form for estimated tax payments.  I shouldn't have to make any payments for the first quarter because I took no pay. I still haven't.  But I dunno how it works, the form is printed, I will be working on that pretty quick here. 

I also have to file a statement with the state of Texas, another thing I am going to work on next.  I have spent hours on this, literally. I just decided today was a bust and stay home and do taxes, that's that.  

Meanwhile, the newbies that came in yesterday are already leaving. They had just gotten their RV out of the shop, parked it, hooked it up to electricity and baam!  Half the trailer outlets including one of the AC units weren't working.  Back to the shop. I suggested that if that shop - or actually it sounded like backyard style shop - doesn't work, I have the number for a man that knows his stuff that will come to you to fix whatever is wrong.  

Now, I'm not saying he's free, I just know that he's worked on 2 rigs in the park and there are no complaints with his work.  

Unfortunately, instead of getting $475 from them, I got $15. I just charged them less than full night's stay to try and keep them on the baited hook. Yes, please come back whenever the thing is fixed.  So who knows if I'll ever see them again.  ?? Your guess is as good as mine. The other people are - allegedly - set on coming to my place once they get to town.  And then the dude that showed up last night at 1 am. He will be paying me some time today, he was at work when I texted him.  He must not have gotten much sleep, having come in at 1:00 am, having to hook up and then gone by this morning? That will make for a long day at work. 

But, he's young, you can tell by his voice.  He can manage it better than - people like me that frequently have sleepless nights.  I still try to get stuff done, but it's a real chore.  

Basically, I'm just taking a break right now with all of this stuff.  I had to snap photos of who knows how many more receipts to input to Quickbooks.  And then categorize them and save them.  It's been a day, I'll tell ya that.  Alright.  I filed the no tax due report to texas electronically. That was pretty easy, a one page form asking specific questions that were easy enough to fill out using the notice from the state they sent me a few months ago.  

One more thing off of the list. 

Now, to tackle this form for making payments for income tax.  As I stated, since I took no money from the account for personal pay, I shouldn't have to pay anything? Lol, I don't know. It's rather confusing, because they are asking for the amount of money you think you'll make, ie: take out of the business to pay myself - for the full year and pay a quarter of it.  

I think.  So, do I have to pay for money I haven't even received yet? This is where a tax professional will come in.  The lady from turbo tax is calling me back later after she's off work. She knew her stuff, at least, and recommended I file as an S corp. Yes, but how do I do that? Don't I have to change the whole designation of the business for that? And how is that done? And how much do I pay now even if I"ve taken nothing yet?  So many questions.  

I'll take a look at this form but if it's too much or I'm getting confused, I'll wait for her to call me and see if she can give me some guidance.  

At least I'm tackling this garbage and I have my bookkeeping for the business up to date.  I do mean, up to date as in, right now, it's all good.  At least, as far as I can tell it is. 

__________

So, I have a ride to the park early morning and  a ride back. Taylor, that is.  Works for both of us. She needs me to get the boys tomorrow afternoon (and today as well) and so she will take me early and pick me up. I'll have 5 hours to get stuff done, that's plenty of time to mow the lawn and get some stuff done at the shed.  I have put up a question about rides in the local gossip group. If anyone is doing it in this town, someone in there will know who it is.  There used to be someone giving rides for pay but they have since stopped doing it. The only thing here is a bus line that goes everywhere but where I need it to go.  

 What a not so great night to not have a good sleep. 

I was awake half the night and then finally fell asleep around 6 am.  Now it's just too late to have Taylor pick me up at the collision center. I'll have to take it over there later and find my own way home. I've got to get over to the park and collect money and get some stuff out of the vehicle that I will need for the shed in the next coming weeks.  

Taylor got up earlier than she had to to take me over to the collision center. I was just going to put it off and get my stuff done, but since there was a ride available?  I went over to the park, looked at the new trailers - I was going to get payments - and then left and met her at the repair facility.

It was better than drive myself there and then either walk or try to figure out a ride home.  

And, this morning, one of the long term had left.  There were 4 people living in that one trailer and they were slobs. Beer bottle caps, cigarette buttes and small pieces of trash laying around on the ground.  I had asked them the last time I received payment to pick all of that stuff up and keep it clean.  

Mixed feelings. I'm happy they are gone because of their slobbish natures, I'm not happy that I have yet another lot to fill.  Well, I was going to be up to 13 lots filled come Friday, now it's 12. I'm glad I didn't turn anyone away in the last rounds of people wanting to move in. I was really just holding back - I just had this feeling I need to fill up 13 lots because eventually, someone is going to leave. If not the guy that already told me he's leaving in a month, someone else. 

The nature of oil/transient workers, they apparently give you no notices and they just up and leave for the next job. That will take some getting used to.  So, after this guy arrives on Friday - which I suppose he is, we have had a lengthy conversation about Great Danes, walking trails, guns and snakes - I will still have 2 lots available.  Lol.  

It's not like the RV industry isn't transient in nature as it stands, but I'd like to get a few more truly long term people in there that actually are from this area and are going to stay in this area.  The insecurity of having people coming and going like this is a bit unnerving.  

Anyway, I spent $8.98 getting the 2 newbies in, the other guy probably found me via Google search.  I'm going to extend the ad now that I know I need yet another lot filled. At least I know where I can get some results and not pay a lot to get them.  Now, about the park...

Time to do some serious looking for rides, taxies, whatever.  Taylor will be gone literally all day today, I can't use her truck and I at the very least need to get over there and mow the grass.  

More stuff.  The people that moved in yesterday - well they had electrical issues with their trailer.  They had just picked it up at a shop and now they find out half the trailer still doesn't work for electrical outlets and AC. So, they are taking it back to whoever they were dealing with.  Personally, I wouldn't take it back to a place that doesn't even check their work to make sure everything works.  

So, who knows if/when they're coming back.  Just keep running an ad now.  Back down to 11 spots filled.  This stuff is a bit surreal how it works.  Just hope the ads will get a couple more people in there fairly soon.  These people that left without notice last night had their rent due tomorrow.  Not really helpful, lol.  

Well, I'm stuck at home and time to get busy with finances/bookkeeping.  

 Busy day. 

Lots of calls all of a sudden.  2 people want to move 2 trailers in, 1 person wants to move another trailer in and another one is allegedly coming today.  I could take all of them, of course, and eliminate my pull throughs.  It's tempting of course.  But, the 2 trailers coming in together are not a sure thing.  They want to come after work and see the place first.  Of course, I would want to do the same thing. I'd rather have those 2 because they are late model trailers and more in keeping with what I want in there.  

I dunno, I might just take whatever comes in at this point.  Overnighers are a rare commodity right now and not paying near as much as they need to to even come to the same amount as a long term.  I have 2 reservations for this month, they are far enough out I can cancel them and refund their money, they can find somewhere else to stay.  It's just down to the nitty gritty with trying to get in as much money as possible. 

Of course, all of these people might be no shows and there's nothing to consider.  That's very possible and happens often enough.  

Meanwhile, I got the keypad door lock today while I still have wheels to travel with. Tomorrow is turn in day for my SUV. I am going to get the trailer and bring my generator home before taking it in.  I don't have any use for it over there right now and it's in the way.  Without that large generator, everything else will fit into the next shed I still need to build.  

Whatever the case, I am very pleased to be getting results from my facebook ad whereas the google ads that cost so much money really don't generate much.  I spent over $200 on the last Google ad and only got one person out of it.  I'm spending $15 on this Facebook ad and have 4 serious inquiries.  

It's a good way to start out the week, at least.  I got some of the drywall up for the bathroom. I haven't done that in a long time so I kind of needed some time to figure it out again.  And I have no clue how to measure or cut the triangle shaped stuff at the ceiling.  I'll be looking for youtube videos once again after this, lol.  I got the inside camera working again. Someone had moved the router and it wasn't getting a good enough signal for streaming.  I started on the outside camera - but the battery needs recharged. I"m going to see how long that battery lasts.  If it can go a week or so, I will not drill yet another hole in the shed wall to feed a line through it. 

The cameras have giant battery packs in them  - like 4x2 inches.  They claim to last a long time, but who knows for sure.  Oh, I did get the framing up for the drywall at the ceiling. I figured out a way to do it without too much hassle. I mean, it was involved but nothing too serious, just tedious.  I ran out of screws before I could get any further with it.  

I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I want to get busy with getting tax stuff done.  I want a few days worth of time in case I get hung up.  I can see getting hung up on something, lol.  Even if the software does it all for me.  

__________

These people drive me crazy. We're coming as soon as we get off of work at 5:00! I'm over here almost til 7. No shows.  I text them, if y'all are still coming, that's fine but I'm fixing to leave here.  If you have changed your minds, please let me know and I will move onto the next person. 

Half an hour later? Oh, we're on our way! Great! Pick one of the back in sites and have at it! I"ll come over in the morning to settle up!  Hilarious.  The other dude coming from Oklahoma City and was supposed to be here this afternoon? He'll be here at 10:00 pm.  I wasn't sure which lot I would have him in so I told I would contact him later.  Well, I am giving him lot 2, a pull through.  These people are paying my new rate.  Everyone will be paying my new rate unless I get desperate, too much time passes and I can't get anyone in there. However, if the other guy shows up tonight, I'm good.  That's 12 lots rented out long term.

And yet another one says they are coming on Friday.  I had to vet them first. An older trailer, I wanted pics of all 4 sides. If it looks good, I don't really care how old it is.  If it's trashed, don't bring it to my place.  Well, they sent 4 pics and there was only one minor dent on one side.  The paint looked decent, I'm good with it.  That will fill up 13 of 14 spaces.  

Oh, if those people come on Friday? They have a Great Dane!  That would be cool if Addler could have a friend of his own size and breed.  Who knows, they are coming from somewhere 11 hours away, is all I was told. 

Then there was 2 ladies that were to come and take a look - 2 separate trailers.  After talking to my eyes over there, I'm guessing they are the truck that came driving through and left.  They didn't call back, so I moved on.  Can't please everyone, won't even try.  Just trying to make happy the people that I've got.  

Anyway, I hooked up the other camera on the outside of the shed today.  Now I can see these people coming and going - and anyone else coming through there. The cameras are recording 24 hours a day but they also take snippets of any movement that are loaded onto the phone app.  So, if someone is driving through there, I will see them either real time or afterwards.  I would like to see all of these people that are coming and going out of there.

And tomorrow. The dreaded day.  I have to take the vehicle in.  I'm getting up early to get my last stuff over there. If I had a small fridge I could take over, I definitely would.  It will likely be that I will have to spend whole days over there. If I need something from the store? It will have to wait until Taylor's truck is available.  Another day or 2 that trench should be dry enough to get with that program.  Damnit.  

That's what I forgot.  I need 2 inch pipe and fittings to run another drain pipe for a vanity to the bathroom.  Gag.  Oh well. It's not like I won't have any transportation, Taylor offered her truck when she's not using it.  She is going to pick me up at the collision center tomorrow to take me home - but it is likely I will ask her to drop me off over at the property. I will just fill her tank up whenever I am using it.  That's cheaper than a rental car.  

And I also forgot an outside light fixture.  Lol. At least I got the keypad handle today. 

Well, I'm not going to bed too late tonight.  I want to be able to get up when I wake up - which is usually around 6:00am.