Tuesday - semi early

I didn't get much done yesterday.  Got the trailer hooked up, took the trash can to the dumpster. It full and the liner broke when I tried to take it out.  Trash out, headed over to the tire shop.  Trailer has a leak on it, they said it was a bad rim, so they replaced that for 20 bucks.  After that?  I wasn't feeling good.  I dunno what it was, but I started more thinking of going home than going to Lowe's.  

And that's exactly what I did.  Work or no work, I just didn't have it in me yesterday to do anything beyond going to the store for dinner supplies later that day and make dinner.  I felt it kind of lame not to get more than that done, at the same time I wasn't feeling it at all.  I'm not going to bash myself for getting next to nothing done, it is what it is. I just know that Friday I will be going down to Nacogdoches then to Lufkin then back home, so I kind of want to get this stuff done before then.  

Well strike that, I definitely want to get this stuff done before then.  I find it enough to drive/load/unload 8 hours for any given day.  Plus, Friday is 10:00 am load time, so it's an up-early day and fortunately, get the day over with early as well.  That should have me home by 1:00 pm, but we'll say 2:00 for good measure. 

But you used to do 14 hour days. Yes, I did.  I didn't like them then and I definitely don't want to do them now.  I've gotten used to a more normal lifestyle and I'm not particularly interested in reverting back to these ridiculous 70-80 hour work weeks where life is just go-go-goooooo.

What I find funny is these other RV Park owners that complain about "all that I have to do" on any given day.  What do they have to do? Make sure lots are clean and functioning? Clean a bathroom?  Do some paperwork?  Larger operations normally have employees that do a lot of the work for them. I won't laugh too hard, tho, I'm turning 60 soon and I'm definitely slowing down a bit.  Enough to notice it. Don't have the same energy I used to.  No biggies, that's part of growing old, I'm not helpless lol.

My problems have been the idea that not everything is done from new construction, most of it is but the grass situation and other things that still need to be done sort of add to the work load.  It's not that bad, just things like having to go fix the driveway, buy a new lawnmower, more grass seed. I suppose that stuff can be an on-going struggle.  

Well, whatever the case, I'm ready to get out of here, get to Lowe's get the stuff I need - hopefully they have the asphalt patch on hand - get over to the seed store, get a couple more bags of that and get to working.

G'day

 Monday - semi early

Strange dreams last night.  Those kinds of dreams where there are people you know (my dreams rarely have anyone I know in them, they are almost always people I don't know, have never seen before or if I've seen them I certainly don't remember them) in odd circumstances.  Just kind of woke up out of that and decided it was time to get the day rolling.  I doubt I have many more days off after today, if any.  Tuesday was their target, no guarantee of that but that was their decided restart day.  

The grandma and the oldest boy are coming this week. And staying a week.  This is the lady that is rude, short, obnoxious and interrupts anyone/everyone in the middle of a sentence.  When called out on something, she never apologizes and I'm done with her.  Obviously, James isn't done with her since it's his mother, I want nothing to do with her.  Too many of these interactions with this person have led me to the point that I don't even want to be around the house when she's here.  The idea that she is staying an entire week....

She also takes over the entire living room where she sleeps and starts dictating to the kids what they can and cannot do. We have had exchanges about that as well.  When James and Taylor leave, they don't ask me to watch the kids.  This is normal around here that I watch them when they leave, but when she's here? No, she takes over.  It was a while back that I decided I didn't care if she thinks she's the boss and just started doing my normal thing, something she doesn't like. She's on a power trip and wants control of those kids to the point they come running whenever she calls out loudly throughout the house.

She did that a while back and I just kept the kid with me for a few minutes to see what would happen.  She yelled his entire name, which is when I got up and walked out there and informed here he was with me.  She could hardly stand it.  I live here, she does not.  She has this idea that she is going to build a big house and we are all going to go live in it -under her roof. NO thank you.  If that day ever comes, I will have a tough decision to make, for I am not going to be under her "law" and "rules" in her house.  I didn't sign up for that and I want nothing to do with it.  

She admitted quite some time ago to Taylor/James that she is jealous of my relationship with the 2 that live here. Yes, well that's pretty obvious.  Going around being a mini-dictator and trying to somehow brush me out of the picture isn't the way to go about having a closer relationship with those kids. She is grandma and blood related, so there is that, but you can't expect to have the same closeness to a person when you live 3-1/2 - 4 hour drive away and show up here and there compared to a person that actually lives in the same house.  Hence, she wants to move down here and set up shop.  I feel like I best start making moves to have some kind of dwelling place over at the property.  Hence another reason to build or have built a large barn.  40X16 - at least.  

A portion of it made into a living space with an open floor plan replete with full kitchen and bathroom.  Nothing fancy, but a complete setup.  I don't want to move from here, not at all. But if there is writing on the wall, it's trying to tell me to be prepared.  I have property, I have a place to build, get it done.  That isn't going to happen overnight, so I have time.  In fact, her hubby doesn't want to move down here at all, I suspect from the verbiage I have heard in the past that her moving here wouldn't occur until he passes away, if, indeed, he does pass first.  

So, that is on my list of things to do.  Even better would be a barn with 2 stories. Bottom floor, workshop, entire top floor, living area.  A couple of bedrooms, a large bathroom and kitchen and the rest living area.  But that would cost a lot of money since I know I couldn't build such a thing myself. I could attempt a single floor building, 2 stories is out of my league.  

Just not looking forward to her coming and staying that long. She just had all 3 kids for 10 days, what on earth does she need to stay down here that long for?  They seem powerless to do anything about her. She does what she wants and unless you stand up to her, you are one of her subjects. Yes, it's that bad.  It's been that bad for a long time, it wasn't an untenable situation until there was a court battle for the oldest boy and visitation rights were established.  The boy is also a total mess.  I won't get into the details, it's private stuff that doesn't need to be floating around on the internet.  

Her, however, I have no problem discussing here. Because it affects me greatly.  I suppose I could get a 5th wheel over at the park for personal use.  Park it behind the shed and would have to run 50 amp electrical over there.  Money I don't have, a bridge I may have to cross. If I ever had to move out of here, I would likely sell the park and move elsewhere.  Nothing keeping me here. Again, this is a possible scenario but one that I have certainly run around in my mind on numerous occasions. Especially when she is showing up for an extended stay.  I'm not really the loner type, living alone has no appeal to me whatsoever.  Find a woman, lmao. I've had real luck in that department lol. 

Well, one thing here.  She has toned it down recently.  We don't really even talk to each other now.  I stay away from her and I don't want any interaction.  If/when she decides she isn't royalty that needs to be bowed down to, perhaps things can change.  Maybe.  

I think I'll shut that off for now, in my mind that is.  She's coming, she's staying, I have no say in the matter, if I did I would tell her to get a hotel.  She doesn't need to be taking over the entire damn living room and I'm not the only one that thinks that way.  

Going to get ready for the day instead.  Go get the trailer, get the asphalt stuff - I don't want that stuff in my SUV, hence the trailer - and probably a couple more bags of grass seed.  

Back on keto. The gut has grown too large, shirts/pants starting to not fit too well, I'm on a cycle of weight on, weight off that I don't much care for. I went off keto for quite a while and now I'm paying for it.  Don't care that much, just that this diet is so strict.  Thanksgiving will be an excuse to get off of it for one day, that's it.  Ill eat my potatoes, pies and whatever else we are having. Actually, we are doing "Friendsgiving" with a total of 19 people in the house.  That's on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I don't even know if I'll be able to be here or not.  

Actually, I am on a fast right now.  Like, eat-nothing type of fast.  And nothing to drink beyond water, coffee in the morning to keep from getting withdrawal headaches. It's keto kick start, plus helps with other things. It's the fastest way to get back into ketosis. 

Anyway, I'm going to finish what I'm doing and get outta here, get that driveway at least partially done.

G'day

 Sunday - night

Just didn't have time for writing blog entries this morning.  Not doing anything particularly important, the boy wanted to go hunting this morning and I did not.  I prevailed.  We did go to church and after church, the park where the boys played with the young kid over there and the off to Applebee's, but it was a totally unproductive day.

Pretty much planned it that way.  I figure at some point this coming week, it will be time to go back to work.  What day that is is completely unknown, nothing was sent for tomorrow so I know Monday is a nothing day for work.  I will be going and getting cold patch tomorrow and working on the deepening potholes.  I will try the cold patch once to see what happens.  It's something that came to mind the other day and then I looked it up.  They say it works on dirt, remains to be seen.  

The rain the last few days is the culprit for the potholes growing deeper.  I mean, a couple of them are pretty big.  

I don't really have much to say today. The war hasn't really changed, much of U.S. politics and situations hasn't changed, nothing much going on around here beyond normal stuff.  

I'm going to bring the trail camera home, look it up online and see if I can troubleshoot it. It seems to work - but it doesn't.  That particular one was over $100 and I'd like not to trash it since everything appears operational. There must be something I'm missing on setup that needs to be done to set in whatever mode to make it work.  

I might also get some more grass seed tomorrow.  Not a lot, I said 250 pounds the other day, I think I'll tone that down to about 100 pounds and just go for 2 passes on each lot.  Enough to fill in some bald spots, not enough to break the bank.  And I guess I"m going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new push mower.  No choice in the matter, my push mower isn't working and tho I can take it somewhere, I haven't had much luck taking machines to shops and having the shop actually fixing the problem.  They don't mind charging you for shoddy work.  

 Saturday - not so early lmao

I really didn't plan on getting up so late. I woke up around 4:00 am, went to the bathroom, went back to sleep and 4 hours later I woke up.  Like, that's a lot of sleep for one night.  

The boys come into the room, are we hunting today?  I dunno, yes, not right now, lol.  I have to have my coffee before anything else happens, so the oldest proceeded to make my first cup and bring it to my bed.  Pretty good cup of joe!  

And then, before anything else, the hunter calls and asks if I'm coming?  Yes, give me a while! Dang, people, at least let me get my @$$ out of bed!  I know it's late in the day but I had no intentions of getting up early today and I let the boy know that.  He wanted to go early, something told me I would want to sleep. I'll take the sleep.  

As for yesterday, yes, it was a waste of time such as the previous day. I could have figured out both.  But, it's pay.  That's the point from the company I'm sure.  Get something going for payroll.  I can tell ya, next paycheck isn't going to be too wonderful.  As long as my park stays full or nearly full, I can make it through it, just that it's not helpful for getting money together for the insurance payment.  

The receiving plant's scales weren't working, which didn't matter, you just drive in there, park, hook up the air line to start building pressure and then - you follow a huge sign's directions on how they want you to do everything.  Quite detailed, there is no way I couldn't have figured out what to do in there.  It is helpful, obviously, to see a person doing it that has been doing it for years.  No guess work.  

But if I had to sit there without any training in that plant and figure it out? Yup.  There was only one thing I really didn't like about the last 2 days: this driver drives really slow.  75 mph speed limit? He's doing 62. 70? 60. I mean.....I looked at the GPS going back to my town, there was a red spot when you first get on 20 and then nothing.  It would have saved us an hour of driving time if he would have sped up to at least the speed limit, for there were 2 more accidents up the line that cost us a lot of time.  

Anyway, it's over and I don't expect to need any more training that I know of.  Those are the 4 plants that I am supposed to be working out of. This other driver doesn't like the Ennis run, I don't see why?  It's easier than the Gurdon run.  He for some reason doesn't like the set up at Ennis. Loading at the place in Arkansas takes longer than it should, not much different than loading in Lufkin tho.  

So, it won't hurt my feelings at all to get any Ennis runs. It seems like they must have that run covered, tho, cause' they didn't give me anything for today, tomorrow, or the rest of next week.  Supposedly, Gurdon might reopen on Tuesday.  

Well, the boy is chomping at the bit to go hunting. It's good, IMO, that he's interested in doing something that doesn't lead him to be taking drugs, drinking, getting into trouble, etc, as he grows older.  Maybe something to pursue with him to keep him involved.  Perhaps a little .22 to kill some squirrels.  Squirrel meat isn't bad, just have to kill a lot of them to get any amount of meat out of it. The point is to have him bagging something to give him the taste of the kill.  The idea that all that waiting actually amounted to something.  Well, you don't really have to wait long for squirrels, they will scurry around even if humans are present.  

Anyway, my second cup of coffee almost gone, my excuses are also gone. Time to get ready to go.

G'day

 Friday - early

I'm at the mercy of this other driver to tell me when he's coming so I can get myself moving.  I got up at 6:00 am, it's now 7 and he still hasn't contacted me.  I want to get moving and get this day over with.  I do not want to be out until after 7:00 pm, a thing that happens when you are lazing around the house instead of getting into the damn truck and get rolling.  

__________

Made my lunch.  I suspect this dude might end up showing up, forgetting to text me in advance, I'm not going out all day long without something to eat.  I'm ready to go. In fact, I'd already be on the road if it were me with the appointment time that was given.  I just don't understand people that want to drag a day out like that.  

It rained all night long, but this dude is going out there hunting anyway.  He thinks we'll never get close to that deer, he keeps saying that. With that kind of defeatist attitude, why is he bothering to try?  I suspect he's not as self-defeated as he is suggesting he is.  The challenge of getting a prize deer is too much for him, he said he is going to try some different tactics.  He was asking me if I have to work today - unfortunately, yes.  

It's 2 hours, 15 minutes to Ennis. So, there is still hope of getting done relatively early with what we'll call 5 hours of driving round trip plus an hour or so of unloading.  6-1/2 hours we'll call it, even leaving at 9 I guess we can be back by 3:30. But if we left 2 hours ago....

And finally - at near 8:00 am, he's on his way over here.  A whatever moment, 9:00 departure I'll guess a 4 pm return.  That isn't terrible I guess.  Then the weekend, of which I have no idea whether they will want me to start doing Ennis runs or just wanted me to get the training - or more like - know that most people need to work and keep the money rolling in, taking 15 days off doesn't accomplish that.  

Whatever the case, I'm getting my stuff and getting out of here.

G'day

 As expected, today was a complete waste of time. The only good that came out of it was earning some money and that is, suspect, the only reason they had us doing this today.  The Gurdon plant is still shut down and apparently isn't going to fire back up until the earliest on the 13th.  As for today? I could have driven up there without any "training", gone to the plant, go to the security shed, get clearance, handed a map, find the loading rack, etc.  

And it took much longer than it should have.  The guy went to the yard for the trailer but spent forever there.  I just know that training always entails things taking much longer than it should, every single time. Tomorrow, if he gets here by 8 as he says he is going to, we "should" be at the Ennis plan by 10:30 am, an hour in the plant and then 2-1/2 hours back.  But if we're before 4 I'd be surprised.   

It's just the way training goes and whatever.  The 13th is another 4 days away and that's not even guaranteed to be the reopening of the Gurdon plant.  I can get used to not driving trucks pretty easily, so yes, it's probably good I'm having to do this.. I have no idea if they are going to want me to do an Ennis run on my own this weekend. I'd prefer not.  

It's raining. It didn't start until quarter of a day after they predicted it would, but it did, indeed, finally start an hour and a half ago.  Enough that I wasn't confident of the man driving that truck back to the back of the driveway to turn around and his lack of confidence in his driving skills, I also didn't feel comfortable with him turning around in the area I created behind the shed for just such purpose.  So I just had him drive through the RV park.  

Deer man called several times today. The dude that is a serious hunter.  He said there is a giant buck that is bedding back there. He was all kinds of excited about it.  He went on and on about how it's a very large deer considering the scrape marks he's making on the white oaks with his horns. I mean, the guy has been hunting all of his life and he seems to know what he's talking about.  He says deer that are this big means they are probably older and highly likely very smart.  His assessment is he's bedded down during the day out of sight and only gets up to forage at night time.  

He also proclaimed it would be very difficult to bag that particular deer.  They are too smart.  His idea is to go to his bedding area and get him running in my direction and I can take the shot.  I deer running at full tilt is going to be extremely difficult to hit, even for a highly experienced shooter.  I'm not highly experienced but a moving target and especially one that moves the speed a deer can go? Next to impossible.  

I dunno. We can try this weekend if I don't have to work. Or even if I do, if I get home in time from these runs I can still go out.  

It's actually 2 weeks before the next reservation shows up for the over night lot. That isn't enough.  I'll take another long term if one shows up and cancel their reservation well in advance.  I've gone back and forth on this issue.  A man showed up this morning asking if I had a lot available? (Hint: all lots were full). Well, I will later on today.  Long - long - story short, he wants to move in December 1st.  Ok, I should have a space available. I say that honestly, not hopefully.  

I never know who is staying for how long.  You just don't turn away potential business that isn't showing for 2 weeks. That 3 day stay is before the end of the month, I can cancel other  1 nighters if I had to, but we're talking a month away for those.  

This whole RV business thing is a juggling act.  Keep the place full constantly, is the obvious goal. Trying to accomplish that feat? Well, good thing I'm starting out small.  Getting valuable experience here.  It's the stuff you get off line, not done on the campground software, that throws you for a loop.  Long term always calls or shows up, they actually could do it online, not a single person has done that.  People calling last minute - do you have a lot for tonight? That isn't difficult tho, you either do or you don't.  It's really the long term stuff that is what I am focused on yet offers the most consternation in trying to determine if I can give them a place on the date they need to show up.  

I'm getting better at it as I go along with it and figure things out, such as the idea that you don't tell anyone that you don't have something available if they are telling you they don't need to move in for 2 weeks.  Somebody is going to leave before then. Sometimes, you have no choice but to turn people away, you try not to do that tho.  

Well, it's not really that late but it's been a long day.  And this driver - really nice guy - but talks ... and talks....and talks....it got to the "agonizing" point.  Just please, can we have some quiet time? He asks me if I wanted to drive at all? No, not really, unless you need me to?  He said something about his disdain for driving at night. I don't really care, if he needed me to drive, pull over and let's get with it. I would have driven much faster than he was going anyway.  Didn't particularly bother me he was going slow, but I envisioned getting home earlier.  

That's enough.  I'm going to watch a little tv, probably won't watch the news tonight, and go to bed. 

 Thursday - early

Going to Crosset, AR today to "learn how to load" the truck. I don't know why, they load the truck, not the driver.  I can easily go in there without any  help and just sit there and wait for them to - load...the...truck.  Unless there is something I am missing, but I am guessing it's because we've been sitting so long, they want to get us rolling and not thinking about finding another job somewhere.  

I dunno about that, it certainly isn't off the table and hasn't been off the table for a while, but I am not seriously looking for another job, yet.  I have looked, yes, but being very picky about what I would want in another job.  

So, I will be a rider all day today, getting the truck loaded and all day tomorrow, going to the plant to offload, which is where I actually need/want the training.  

Meanwhile, the ex QT worker had his trailer moved and not an hour later, the new people were already in there.  The mom already paid, I think the daughter has kids that she is cut off from or can't have them living with her or something like that.  She has a DWI - who knows what happened there - I think it's on the felony side of the issue.  However, as long as it's not a violent crime, I can take the people in.  Now, is she a real basket case? I dunno, you find out after people move in.  It's a nice trailer, that's what I can say about that.

The NJ lady was moving out yesterday.  But this went on all day long.  And she gave the door code to people that don't live there. One of which went in to use the bathroom.  She came out the bathroom door, made some sort of hand gesture towards the camera then went on this crazy flinging of the arms stuff and then walked out.  I sent that video to Taylor to see if I am being overreacting or if that person looks like she is cranking on meth - Taylor said drugs, lol.  

Like, I really need these people having the door code to my shed with tools and equipment in there.  If they are meth/crack heads, they are probably also thieves. The 2 go hand in hand.  You know that if you have ever been around those types of people.  

Then, late last night, a tenant contacts me and leaves a message saying that the dude that beats on the lady is over there as well. No, no, no.  I just contacted her, I don't care how early it is and asked her if that guy is over there, because if he is, he needs to leave now or I'm calling the police.  I'm done with this situation, over it, they are leaving and he needs to be permanently gone.  

Now, looking at the camera, she has people in there taking showers at 2:00 am.  Unbelievable. No, it won't wake anyone up, the she is far enough away from the trailers, it's the idea that she feels it's ok to just let people that don't live there taking showers and doing whatever the hell they please. And the person has a bag in her hands, did she steal my tools under the sink in the bathroom? I have no idea, but I will be checking when I've over there in a little, the other driver is picking me up from the park since he's driving a truck.  

She's a really nice lady, but this stuff is too much.  

Anyway, the driver said he'd be here "between 7 and 8 am". So that kind of made me get up at 6:00 am to get ready, sit here and drink some coffee and prepare my mind for going back to work.  I need the money and I need to have health care coverage, that is the only thing that motivates me to continue on with this ridiculous job.  

Whatever the case, since she is leaving and the tent lady is incapacitated at the moment, I have no income coming out of that behind-the-shed area now and that will hurt a bit.  I've looked at old trailers, yurt tents, camping tents, building cheap cabins, etc.  A basic cabin would be the best option to building something that someone could live in, we're talking plain Jane, has a toilet, kitchen, electrical outlets, a window AC unit that also has heat and that's about it.  

Or, furnish it as well with a bed, a dresser, a small kitchen table, etc.  

I dunno, just mulling things atm.  Cabins are popular, I get calls for them.  You have anything I can live in? Do you have cabins?  It's a cheaper alternative to staying in expensive hotels.  Even guys making good money, they don't want to have to waste it on $100 plus per night hotel stays.  The decent hotels in my area are as pricey as they are anywhere else.  Holiday Inn, Marriott Fairfield, Hampton Inn, etc, all expensive if you are proposing staying there indefinitely on a work assignment.  I would charge somewhere around $600 per month.  

Lol, it's after 7 and he still hasn't contacted me.  I'm guessing he's on his way and forgot to text me as promised. So, I'm leaving here soon, I don't want to hold him up if he shows up without having had told me in advance that yes, I am on my way, be there in X amount of time.  I need to get my boots, vest, hardhat and safety glasses ready to go.  And see if she has left yet - I don't think that trailer is out of there- and if that dude is over there.  The 4 night stay is leaving this morning, so another lot open, tho it does have some reservations on it, the next one isn't for like a week or longer from today. 

Oh, rain. Yes, it's going to rain. In fact, it should start any time now and basically continue on until tomorrow morning.  So, it will be a fun day driving in the rain! I'm not driving, lol.  Just a passenger today. 

With that, I'm closing this one, getting ready to leave out of here.

G'day. 

 Wednesday, not particularly early.

I was going to get up and go to the men's bible study this morning? Yeah...no. I woke up, yes, getting up? Just said some other time, invited the doggy on the bed to sleep with me and went back to sleep. 

The NJ lady - the one that was assaulted by her former boyfriend, is moving out.  She's got her trailer sold and they are coming today for it.  I now have zero revenue coming from behind the shed. The New Jersey lady will be gone and the tent lady had a stroke and is literally broke.  And apparently can't speak very well.  

Whether I invite anyone to move back there or find a cheap trailer to put back there and rent? I have no idea.  I get calls all the time from people asking if I have an old trailer I can sell to them on payments?  The tent lady was doing well until this unfortunate circumstance took over her life.  But, the daughter is working on getting her on medicare, we'll see how that goes.  

I don't have the money right now for even a cheap trailer so that kind of needs to go on the backburner.  I did take a glance to see if there was anything...

But I am still looking at these glamping tents.  

What I'm looking for is some sort of cheaper type of living arrangement that I can rent out to people who are desperately looking for a place to live.  In my area, there  are lots of them doing that.  

Anyway, I got totally sidetracked from this blog entry and spacing out on how to build a small structure the cheapest way possible.  I didn't think it would be that difficult but they didn't have any water or sewer lines going into it or electricity. Not that I couldn't do that, in fact, I did do that on the shed.  Just looking to see how others might do it.  The fact of the matter is, however, that I wouldn't need a bathroom since it would be located directly next to the shed, it would only need a water and drain line for a kitchen sink.  Or, perhaps, a toilet at least but a shower would have to be taken in the shed. There is no need to spend that much money on shower installation when I've already got one.  

Heating and cooling in such a set up would be provided by a window AC unit that has both heat and ac.  That's the simplest way of doing it.  A one window, one door structure with a small kitchen and perhaps a toilet, electrical outlets, ceiling lights and that's about it.  Or, furnish it as well with a couch, bed, dresser.  I guess a small closet wouldn't hurt anything.  

I would have to price out lumber to see what it would cost.  I already have another electrical panel with circuit breakers.  I dunno, just thinking how I can make more money, I was getting used to this income from behind the shed and now it's nothing.  In fact, now it's going back the other way, what with the tent lady not being able to work, I'm going to have to eat their electricity.  I really don't know what to do about that situation excepting for right now, just sit on it, let her have time to recover and see what happens. 

I'm actually glad the trailer is being moved out today.  I should have positioned it differently so it didn't jut out from behind the shed. It was kind of an eyesore.  Apparently didn't bother anyone or if it did, they didn't say anything about it, but I feel like in this business, image is everything.  

Guess I'll go over there and look at things and see what she's doing.  

 Tuesday

A couple of rents that need to be collected today, one of which I have no idea what this guy is doing.  I have someone that wants to move into the park and his space is potentially "The One". I'll be calling or texting him here shortly to find out his intentions.  No clue.  He hasn't been around in 2 months?  But he's been paying his rent, so no biggies, but if he's leaving, I have someone that wants to move in immediately.  

Or, I could just rent the open space. The people that rented it for four days are no shows.  They should have been there 2 days ago, we are going into day 3.  They emailed me 2 days ago and told me they were going to show up yesterday.

If they aren't coming, I'm giving that space to these new people and hope that by the time I need a space for overnights, one will come available.  

As for yesterday, no deer were seen, much more bagged.  Probably the time of day I was out there, but it was nice to sit on the ridge and hear the sounds of natures with a breeze blowing leaves off the trees.  I was on the east side where there aren't many pine trees, it's all kinds of other varieties of trees.  The west side has a thicket of them, I guess you'd call it, more like a giant swath of them that starts at the gas property and goes clear to the back of the property.  I only point that out because pines are my favorite type of tree.

I don't know if I'll go sit out there again today, maybe.  

Also yesterday? I was sitting at Chili's with Taylor and started getting numerous notifications from the Park outside camera.  I eventually looked to see a Sheriff's deputy and his cruiser and 2 other vehicles with people I've never seen before.

What on earth.  I finally see the lady in the trailer behind the shed standing there talking to the cop, the other people were off to the other side, doing what, I had no clue.  What I did know is all of them were entirely blocking the entrance to the park and that didn't set well with me.  I sent the lady a text and asked her what was going on.  Her boyfriend had stolen her car, her purse, her money, her EBT card (food stamps) and other things. This isn't the first time he's done this and she had to go out and find him.  

However. He also was beating her.  She was apparently filing assault charges, I immediately informed her I want a criminal trespass on the man - meaning he cannot come on the property and if he does and he's caught, he will be hauled off to jail.  I don't need trailer trash mentality on my property and my other guests certainly wouldn't like the idea that some "man" is beating on a defenseless lady.

She cannot defend herself.  Number one, this is no small man. Number two, she has rheumatoid arthritis in her hands and her fingers are basically frozen.  She legitimately lives on the government.  I don't know what kind of work you could do with that kind of thing going on in your body? Walmart greeter? She is in constant pain.  

By the time I got back to the park, it was all over and everyone was gone. Turns out the other people were the people inquiring about a space for their daughter to take. I dunno why they had 2 cars of people in that situation, maybe it was mom/pop and daughter/boyfriend? No clue.  

I am fairly well resolved that if I want to increase the size of my park, I'm going to have to pay for it myself, ie: no loans.  I mean, I'll try down the road for a loan if I can get some debt paid down, but at this point, I'm not looking at loans as the origination of finances to increase the park size.  There are too many negatives going on here and the interest rates right now are the nail in the coffin.  Ridiculous.  I'm not giving up hope, not at all.  Just saying I'll have to do this in small phases, the first of which will necessarily need to be another septic system.  

It is possible I can get a small loan to get that going.  Small, as in 7 grand.  But I won't even try that until something else is paid off and right now, that would be the washer/dryer set.  I have no plans to add another set, at least not atm, for I don't think my septic system can handle another washer filling up the system with water.  Or, maybe it can but it's going to be having those sprinklers going continuously or very frequently.  

New loans, even smaller ones, aren't in the cards right now, the washer/dryer set will be paid off I think in April.  There's just no way I'm going to take on any more debt without paying something off first.  

No word from my company.  I expect that I would hear by Friday, which should be the last day of the scheduled maintenance at that plant.  I would have to surmise from all of this that I am only doing that plant and nothing else.  This idea that they were going to have me going to Ennis apparently has disappeared.  Which reminds me, I need to fire up that truck today and run it for an hour or so to make sure the batteries stay charged up on it.  You can't have those things sitting too long without running them, especially this older stuff.  

I'm glad we are entering the cold season is all I can say about that and the fact that that park is full besides the one pull through which currently is empty but a paying customer is "occupying" it.  They haven't canceled the reservation, they also haven't shown up.  

The 8 year old came into my room a while ago saying "good morning".  What are you doing home from school?  He's sick. I told him he's sick yesterday, he didn't believe me.  Yup, I know when people are sick, lol. 

There is an election that I didn't know anything about today in Texas. Just went through all of the state constitutional amendments they are proposing, some I agree with, others, not at all. Anything that has to do with leveraging more money from property taxes I will vote down regardless. And there is one that forces the mandatory retirement of judges from 75 to 79.  Why do people want to work when they are almost 80 years old? Are these positions of power so internally forceful that they don't care about life beyond work?  Well, we have a House and Senate full of them, I guess so.  

Those are constitutional amendments, so I'm going to see the pro's and con's statements from either sides of these issues to see the real nuts and bolts of what these amendments will do.  

Well that's it for now. Going to go to my SUV, get the "Book" out, check the people that need to be contacted and contact them. Actually, the one set of people already told me they have their rent money ready, please pick it up today. The type of people that want their rent paid on time and they don't want people like me, the owner/manager, holding it up.  I dunno, but with not working, I need allllll of that money! lol

G'day

 Monday - morning, not particularly early

At least, not as early as it has been the last couple days trying to bag us a deer. It's 7:30 am, which is when I wanted to leave out of here this morning. Instead, I just got out of bed, lol.  Oh well, I'll be headed over there in half an hour or so.  If they are showing up at 4:30 pm, then they are just coming and going as the please, it sounds like anyway.  Get into the chair with a thermos of coffee and wait and hope one comes along.  

I'm busy erasing all content on my old iphone. I kept it as long as I could, the kids like to play on it.  But I am not paying for the thing, that's what would happen if I keep it, I would still owe however much I have left on it, in the $300 range. Might be worth it if it didn't have a busted back and front and the charging port works sometimes, sometimes not. Replacing all that stuff would cost too much.  

That can go to the post office before I head to hunting land.  

The people that were supposed to show up last night - didn't.  Too bad, so sad.  They said they are coming in today at noon now.  Yup, well y'all still paying for 4 full days.  There isn't any RV park that I have seen that will give them a refund for now show and contacting you about it after the fact. 

Well, I did it. Turned on the news. There's senator Lindsay, war hawk.  I have no problem with Israel taking action against a hostile actor, Lindsay predictably is talking about taking it to Iran.  There is an argument to be made since they apparently have killed a few dozen of our soldiers in the Middle East since this war began.  I just think if we had a strong leader - Biden is not a strong leader - we wouldn't even be seeing those kinds of things happening.  I just wanted to see news on the war, not Lindsay talking about expanding the parameters of the war.  I guess I'll get past the slew of commercials and see if they actually report what's going on, otherwise I'm turning it off. I don't need or want to hear the opinions of media types or politicians to be able to form my own opinion of what I think should happen.  

Actually, it's sort of getting "late" at 8:00 am.  It's 59 degrees and I'm glad I just thought about that, it's getting warm during the daytime again and flies - mosquitoes - are coming out. Need that Off! to keep them things away.  "A new poll shows Trump beating Biden in 5 of 6 swing states". Lmao.  Democrats will start losing their minds over hearing that.  Democrats are making themselves very unpopular with the appearance of anti-jew stances from "leaders" going all the way up to the House.  And calls for action against college campuses that aren't doing anything about students taking vocal positions against Jews and going so far as to call for their "eradication" from the earth. 

Ever hear that before? Yes, of course you have, from the Hezbollahs in Iran. And "from the river to the sea". Ever hear that before? Of course you have.  Coming from same said terrorists wanting Israel wiped off the map, such as China has done with their maps.  

Whatever.  I've seen enough and it was only 5 minutes worth.  I don't need all of that angst, hatred and threats of violence in my life. That stuff isn't happening here.  We have a black college, a rather large Baptist college and a state college in this little town, but if there are anti-Israel protests going on, I haven't heard about it.  It wouldn't go very far here, this is a highly conservative area and people wouldn't much appreciate students engaging in that nonsense here.  

Well, enough.  Time to check my book, I think I have 2 payments due tomorrow.  After that? It's off to the races. 

G'day

 Sunday - late

Apparently haven't updated the blog early yesterday morning. 

Well, the 8 year old went with us, the tenant went to one side where one feeder is, I went to the other. We sat there for 3 hours.  People were firing off guns all around us, we didn't see a thing.  I grabbed my camera off the tree he had placed, took it home and - nothing.  It hadn't flashed a single picture.  

After that, I went home and took a nap, then went back to the park, got the trailer and went and got a cord of wood with the same-said tenant. He bought half a cord, I bought a half, took it back to the park, put his half on his lot and my half in front of the shed.  Shortly after I left there, a tenant helped themselves to probably 25 pieces.  Yes, I need to put up a sign, that wood isn't free.  $7.00 for 10 pieces or $.75 cents per piece.

Sounds expensive? Go to Krogers, Home Depot - anywhere really - mine is the best deal in town.  This is a convenience thing, you want a fire? Come buy some wood.  The stack of wood is in view of the outside camera.  I'm let that guy get away with it since I had no sign posted, tomorrow morning I'll be over there hunting again and I will post a sign.  

We went again this morning.  This time, we heard what sounded like deer scratching their horns on trees but we didn't see them.  It wasn't long before a pack of dogs came barking somewhere close by, that pretty much ended that.  Home from that, nap, church, Applebee's and then home.  The tenant - Mark - went out this afternoon.  He called and said he had one in his sights, but he had dropped his glasses and couldn't see the tip at the end of the rifle for aiming and missed the deer.  He was able to get two shots off, but without being able to see, well, that nixed that.

At least they're coming to the property, but we already knew that from the deer tracks.  

That is basically the weekend as of early yesterday morning.  I have been home since after Applebee's doing much of nothing.  It's Sunday, it's what I like to do on Sundays.

More grass has come up over there, it looks - somewhat - nice. It needs a lot more to have the appearance of a full look.  I'm going to wait a bit longer before getting more seed, it looks like there's more that might be able to come up.  I'm not looking to spend money just to spend money, but I do figure another 200 pounds on a second round of seeding.  The evidence of the rain washing some of the seed away is the fact there is a lot of grass growing behind the trailers now - areas I did not seed.  

Someone alerted me to the fact that my website isn't working.  Sure enough.  Due to lack of payment for the hosting service.  Yeah, I get too many emails on that account, time to switch the important stuff to an account where I will definitely see it.  It's only been down since this morning, I think, at least according to the email.  It was instantly brought back online as soon as I paid the bill - an annual fee. 

I haven't watched any news today and only perused a few news sites and decided I didn't want to watch any of that. Israel is at war, some people that the media is hyping hate Israel - etc.  There was even a sermon about the timeline of the Jews and Christ's return relating to this war at church today. Non-political, it was relating to where we are at, at least in his opinion/view, of the rapture timeline.  

It is interesting the varying views of the tribulation and the rapture.  Pre-mid and post tribulation, depending on who you talk to.  

There is a family/couple not sure which coming tonight. Yes, it's already almost 9:00 pm, they said they were coming late and would see me then. Uhh, no, I replied in email, I won't be there. Pull up to the shed, make the U turn and go to the only spot available, a pull through at lot 5.  I have no need to be there excepting the idea that someone might trash another pedestal.  If they come in the correct way - as the signs show- that won't happen. 

I dunno what else. I'm not getting up early for hunting tomorrow. I'm getting up around 7:00 am-ish and just go and sit there for a couple hours and see if anything comes my way.  I can check the camera as well and see if anything came since this afternoon.  Mark said I should go to the other side tomorrow where he was hunting - makes sense but I don't have the camera over there.  I can try both i guess.  

The problem? Well, I have never gutted a deer.  I only know to hang the thing up by it's rear legs, cut it's throat and drain the blood out.  After that, I would have to remove the hide, remove the guts, use a chain saw to cut the legs off.  After that? I have no idea.  I guess that's what Youtube is for. I would just have Mark come do it but he'll be at work.  

I have stuff to do over there tomorrow as well.  Plus, who knows when I'm going back to work?  Lol.  15 days would be over - Wednesday.  

Enough of this.  I got up so early this morning that I am going to hit the sack early tonight.  

 Saturday - very early

No work this weekend, apparently, I didn't call them to find out, just let it slide and see what happens.  I don't want to work weekends so if I have them off, who am I to call?  If the plant is going to be down 15 days, that means it's going to go into this coming week as well. 

I'd be find not getting up for work Monday considering we are losing an hour to Daylight Savings time.

Oh, why am I up so early? The cranky old man at the park wants to go hunting this morning.  I said fine, let's go try to bag a deer. He put up deer feeders on either wide of the rear 15 acres and the deer are feeding at both of them.  I'll be on one side, he'll be on the other. 

It'll be real easy to tell if he gets one, lol, just listen for the gunshot.  I forgot to ask him about the hunting camera.  Supposedly he put mine up back there, so why didn't he look at that to see when they're coming? Could be the middle of the night, could be evening, could be early morning? We're hunting on guess work here.  But whatever, if it yields nothing I won't be doing it again until we get the times they show up to feed. 

My guess from seeing them out in the past? It could either be evening around 8 or 9 pm or it could be early morning. Or it could be both. They found the feeders, they are going to keep coming. But today marks the first day of hunting season and rest assured, we aren't going to be the only people in that area looking to bag a few deer.  Our county specifies a bag limit for the season at 4, 2 bucks and 2 does.  

Don't worry, I'm not going to be shooting Bambi.  

Well, the day has been thrust into overdrive with the boy waking up much earlier than I expected. I didn't expect him to wake up without having to go in there and do it. Instead, he came walking into my bedroom and now is dressed and read to go. 

So, with that, we are off to the property to go freeze our butts off and maybe bag a deer. Maybe not, but it will be an adventure regardless.  

 Friday - semi early

Still nothing from the trucking company. At this point, really don't want anything til' next week anyway.  With 15 lots full and 1 coming in with various amounts of nights worth of stays, my accounts are filling up again.  Add other incomes that total around 3 grand which should be in sometime next week, I'll eat the week off and not worry about it at all.  

My charity cases of course are making their excuses.  2 of them, behind the shed.  One said can you please wait until Monday? Yes and the other had issues after getting caught driving without insurance, her tail lights weren't working and the cops pulled her over one night on her way home from work.  So she had to get insurance and she had to pay a stiff fine.  I gave her mercy as well.  She'll start paying again, the other one will pay again as well, I just don't know if it's going to be the full month's worth.  I pretty much told her/them that they will have to pay full month's rent from that point out.  They were getting too far behind and my patience and generosity has limits. They have a car, they have a trailer, they go places, they have phones, they obviously have money,  please pay up. 

I've been poor, I paid my house payment regardless of what else was going on.  In the case of a mortgage, there were occasions where I let it go a month, which trashes your credit score of course, but I haven't done that in many, many years now.  There was the property my house is on that was owned by what amounts to a loan shark.  He sold the junk house and property for $49,000 and he wanted his money on time, every time, no matter what.  I understand, I'm not quite that bad, if someone is having an issue and they have paid up previously every time, I'll give them time. Most of the people in my park are working class, making 6 figures, most of their money goes home to their families but they certainly aren't broke and paying lot rent isn't an issue. 

BTW, if I had known what would happen with land prices in the Phoenix area in say, the 90's....I'd be a rich man right now.  Buy up cheap property, hold onto it, sell it. There are no cheap properties in the phoenix metro area now. It's all high dollar.  I mean, maybe the neighborhood my house is in - it's mostly old mobiles, you could pick up a property cheap and build a house on it. The issue is that everyone there knows that they couldn't get another place anywhere else, they couldn't afford it, so they don't sell.  

Anyway, I really think I should go work on potholes today.  At least fill them up with dirt if I don't get any gravel.  Preferably would like a mix of dirt and gravel.  Well preferably have a grader come in, grade everything smooth and then put down about 7k worth of gravel : )  

Yeah, that isn't happening anytime soon.  The rich people that own the gas operation could do that, lmao.  They don't care at all, if it's totally trashed, they still don't do anything but once a year grading coming through. You don't see anything but 4 wheel drive pickups going back there, they go in some pretty rough properties.  I don't know if the tanker semis ever get stuck anywhere....I'd love to see a grader coming through right about now..

Apparently people are making plans for next year. I've received several reservations for dates well into next year, just overnight stays. Like, they are traveling to somewhere else from wherever they were at. Probably RV'ers that went south for the winter heading home and mapping out their drive back and reserving spots.  I did raise my rates, the total amount a person will pay including fees for overnight is $30. It was $25.  But, with fees, everyone else around here is much more expensive, at least any of them that have online reservation systems, which are only 3 others I think.  

Anyway, I guess I best make plans for today and get with it.  Physical labor probably a good idea.   It's hook up the trailer, back up to a dirt pile, shovel dirt onto the trailer, move to the pot holes, fill them in, done.  

If only I had the finances to build a small park right off the Interstate...

I'm still astounded by the hatred for Jews being displayed worldwide, but especially here in our nation. 

Enough musings for one day.  Off to the Park.

G'day

 I spoke too soon. 

Actually, I went to the grand opening of the QuikTrip here today, I saw the guest, he was just standing in a corner with several other people huddled around an electronic device.  He was obviously there as backup, in case something goes wrong, he can fix it.  I didn't bother him, but I suspected he would be leaving soon.

Meanwhile, I had to cancel the 4 night stay.  I just couldn't take a chance with this guy or potentially another dude leaving, they might leave - they might not, who knows?  The other dude? I just went over there since his phone number is invalid now.  He's staying another month.  Yes sir, do you have the card on file? Yes sir, it's probably on there. Okay, just charge it tomorrow.  

Well, on my way out I noticed the QuikTrip manager had left. So, he paid for a full month, meaning he actually has 13 more days left, but he informed me when he last paid that when he leaves, it would be ok to just re-rent it, he wasn't coming back. Nope, probably never see him again.  I can't imagine another QuikTrip opening in our town....

So, I rushed back home, might as well try to get this 4 night stay back - well I have to clarify. I spoke too soon to this guy, refunded his money and told him in email earlier today that I couldn't host him, I had a person come in long term and take the spot. I wasn't able to get to my software to block it out before you reserved it, my sincere apologies.  I sent him an email 10 minutes ago telling him this other lot is available - lot 5 to be precise - and I will be unblocking it shortly.  Which I did. 5 minutes later? He already rebooked.  Sigh of relief. It's more money for that lot than what it's supposed to get for a month.  $120 worth.  He must have needed to stay on my side of town badly to be looking at his email that fast and rebooking that quickly.  

Also on the way out?  The dude that came in last night? Had a huge fire going in his fire ring.  That's what they're there for, obviously, just took me by surprise. Fires haven't been a "thing" at the park.  I've had them several times, but most guests don't have fires even with fire rings there. I had thought about getting a pallet full of prepackaged firewood for sale, but why?  If no one uses it, I've bought it for nothing but my own personal use?  I don't need that much wood over there.  I'll just keep my eyes open. If people request it or if enough long term are having fires, I can definitely accommodate. I don't remember how much it was for the wood, I would have to charge around $7 or $8 per bundle. Sounds ridiculous, go look and see what they're selling at Kroger's and the like for the same amount of wood and what price they are charging. 

Still, if long term wants fires bad enough, since they're long term, they're obviously going to town to buy groceries and supplies.  There are lots of places selling firewood.  I don't see making that much money off of it and I do see it being more trouble than it's worth beyond offering a convenience.  It's like the money changer machine I didn't buy - too expensive and not worth it. Not with just one washer and dryer.  The people that want to do laundry? They get their quarters. I don't know where from, well one of them told me they go to a local laundromat and use their money changing machine lmao.  Whatever works.  If I had 5 of each machine I'd definitely have a money changer in there. So yeah, beyond perhaps just getting a cord of wood for the winter and putting it by the big firepit, I don't think I'm going to do that.  

My mind is on expansion. Don't have the money for it, but that's where I'm at right now.  This is yet another goal - but it's big on my horizon.  Just because I know that Interstate project will be here in a few years and those people are going to be looking for places to stay.  I'm a further away from other parks, but I am starting to get a reputation.  A good reputation, lol.  Word of mouth goes a long way, well beyond any advertising.  It takes time to get that word of mouth out there, yes, but it is gold. 

I feel like this is like a Monopoly game. You spend all your money during the game, it's only at the end - if you are winning - that you get rich. I don't care about getting rich, I just want to be able to pay my bills, save money, buy decent things and be able to travel here and there.  It's not a millionaire's lifestyle, it's what a normal person wants to be able to do.  I also feel like it's a little late in life to be doing this, fast approaching 60 - 3 months from now - but what the hey.  I'm healthy enough, I guess. Knees aren't the greatest, my left arm has been giving me trouble and other minor maladies, the price of getting older.  My fingers feel it when I'm driving, one of the main reasons - out of many - that I wanted to quit driving trucks.  I pretty much lay my hands flat on the steering wheel instead of grasping it while I'm on the open highway and not a lot of traffic around.  Not like I can't instantly grab the wheel.  

I don't think age is a big issue, but it is an issue, like when will I slow down too much? Well hopefully not before I get the place where I need it and can hire people to deal with it for me.   If there's one thing that I have seen, the older you get, the slower you get.  Just the natural progression.  

I'm getting better at identifying snakes.  There are a lot of them in the back portion of the property, I want to know what's venomous and what's not.  At this point, I can tell if a snake is venomous or not even if I can't identify what kind of snake it is. How? I have no idea, but the group I am in have pics of snakes and people asking to identify all day long and so far, I can tell if it's not venomous. That is really the only reason I am in there, I don't really CARE what KIND of snake it is, I despise snakes.  

However, if they're non-venomous, they can stay.  They eat rodents. In fact, I didn't kill off the Cottonmouths and they are definitely venomous. I kind of considered them my friends since I worked so close to them for so long, thinking they were harmless yellow bellied plain water snakes.  When I was informed they are not harmless, that's when I decided I needed to get myself cozy with finding out which ones out there are and which ones out there are not.  

The pics show up on my feed often, I make my guess and then I look to see if it's correct.

Getting late.  

 Thursday - mid morning

Yup, slept in again. Tho this time, it's because I woke up at 2 am and maybe got back to sleep around 5ish?  

Last night, I ran back over to the park for a 4th time to use a volt meter to establish factually that the power problem isn't coming from the park.  Nope.  It showed normal voltage coming out of each leg.  His GFCI circuit breaker won't reset, that's a great place to start. Otherwise, he's going to take it somewhere in Tyler and I will refund his money, minus the 2 days of stay.  He has to work today, I guess he isn't going to try that until after he gets home.  I would do it for him, since he lacks the knowledge or the confidence, but I don't want to be responsible for any problems that might occur, especially with electrical in a trailer.  

I told him how to do it, simple stuff, he'll just have to work that out on his own.  Or, leave and find a place to repair it. My RV repair guy isn't available anytime soon and didn't actually have a date when he could come, he just wrote it down on his schedule and apparently going to try and work it in when he can. 

Today.  Well, I think it's a good day to cut down the vegetation that has grown over portions of the driveway.  It would be a good day to fill in potholes.  Just need some gravel......Dunno if I want to spend that much money right now.  Filling in with dirt is only a temporary solution, albeit it is a solution. Just doesn't last very long.  

Oh, and I'm going to go buy a couple 5 gallon buckets, some PVC, hangars and build mice traps. People are getting mice in their trailers, I found a simple, cheap solution that will work, at least according to everyone that is touting the method.  You build a trap that the mice jump onto at the top of the 5 gallon bucket (put peanut butter on it), it spins when the mouse gets on the thing and they fall into the bucket.  Put about 4 inches of water at the bottom and they drown.  

I found it unbelievable this dude in that group going off about how inhumane it is.  Like what? These are rodents, not humans.  Thank you, have a nice day.  All rodents can die as far as I'm concerned and varmints as well, including the coyotes he seemed to be so fond of. 

I'm doing serious research again on these glamping tents, attempting to come up with a price tag to build a deck, put up the tent and outfit it with the necessary amenities.  I really think if I can keep the park full that my business finances will start building up.  I guess it's a big if for keeping the park full, but right now, the place is completely filled up.  

The man with the trailer problems is apparently staying. He had the rv mechanic coming out Monday, the soonest the guy could make it out.  I'm confident he can fix whatever the problem is, but I still suggested to the guest that he replace that GFCI circuit, it is highly likely the problem. 

I have heard nothing from the trucking company and I'm ok with that this week.  The plant is shut down and they don't have enough work for everyone.  My luck they will try to get me to go do something this weekend.  It wouldn't be shocking, at all.  This is the way trucking companies work.  They don't care about your personal life.  I've said that 100 times in this blog, I'll keep saying it, they simply don't care.  I mean, they are in business to haul goods, I get that.  But I also get that I made my intentions very clear at the get go.  I won't hold it against them if they are "demanding" me work this weekend, just kind of ridiculous.  

Well, I guess I'll also call the rock company and see if they will let me have a small load of rock to fill in potholes.  I'll tell the guy I'm with my rv park, y'all hauled almost 30k worth of rock over here, can I buy a small amount to fill potholes with?  It's not a good look, those potholes and I'd like to fix them.  

The QuikTrip guy. NO idea when he's leaving.  He's paid up until the 15th, that's all I know.  His lot should be coming available soon, but when?  The QT is opening today, he does the networking cabling and setup for all the electronics in the store. I would imagine his work there is done. But, he ends up leaving and going elsewhere - other states even - to do work and just leaves the trailer there. Not an issue, I guess, but I would like to know for a fact.  I just canceled the 4 day reservation, not something I like to do.  

Well enough of this.  Time to get busy. The day is wasting away.

G'day

 It's been a day

I went over to the Park to collect some rents.  

Well, I went to buy heaters first. Ollie's had some decent ones and I had a 15% off coupon for "one entire purchase", which they honored.  While I was there, a man that had stayed at the park previously called. Do you have a lot available? Why  yes, yes I do!  When do you plan on coming? Oh, I'll be there in about 10 minutes, lol. 

Ok! I'll be there in half an hour.  Well, I get there, fire up the computer and ... of course it wants to do an update. It always wants to do an update.  I knew that was going to take a while, one of the tenants was offering her card and I'm like, well, I can't take it yet, I have to get my laptop working. That was only the beginning of the woes with trying to get signed into the card connect to accept credit cards.

Oh, well I forgot: there was a check in the mailbox for the 3 workers.  That was good news for me.  

Anyway, the guy calls me from his new lot and says he thinks there's something wrong with my power.  I thought, this is the new pedestal I put in, but there's been numerous trailers using it, I have a hard time believing this is on my end.  

That went on for literally hours.  It was definitively determined - by me  - that it isn't my 50 amp outlet.  There is something wrong on your end.  After a lot of investigative work, calling the RV repair guy,  him calling the company that sold the trailer to him, etc., it was determined that it is likely the GFCI outlet in his bathroom. Half the trailer was working and the other half was not. 

This was confirmed by both my repair guy and the 800 call center he called for help.  Replace that and see what happens. Which reminds me, I need to take a battery charger back over there, gag.  

_________

I promised the man I would bring a battery charger over, so I stopped this post, took it over there and then made dinner.  

He paid after I also spent hours trying to get the credit card software to log in, with repeated "resent password reset" links from their end.  I was on the phone with them quite a while, while going through the first and second layers of people that don't know anything beyond what a computer screen is telling them and giving you the run around. You have to go through their bs before you finally get to anyone who actually knows anything. 

Long story short: the third layer got the thing working, which is when I collected 2 credit card payments and talking with a guest and just a lot of stuff before I left for the bank.  Deposited the 3 worker's check, the laundromat rolled quarters and felt a little better after that. I was going to get a sandwich at the sandwich shop but remembered they close at 2:00.  Well past 2, I just ended up going home to get a bite to eat, start this blog and run back with the battery charger, also trying to collect cash from another renter who has multiple people living in this rather small trailer.

They all go to the Baptist University in town.  I don't have a problem with that as long as they behave. However, I did have a problem with a pickup truck being parked in the lot next to their door.  Please move that thing to the overflow parking.  I told that to the girl in there, the guy was gone but was supposed to be there...along with another guy that was in there earlier.  

There should be a paycheck showing up tonight. If that doesn't happen, well, there will be as many phone calls as necessary to find out what's happening, cause' I've turned in all of my work.  And other money coming in as well, which should leave my accounts looking much happier.  

OH, the 6 year old.  Face planted himself on a concrete driveway last night running from one house going to another. Smashed his nose and lips nicely, blood all over his face.  Cleaned that up. Then today? I get a text from Taylor: He did it again at school today!  So in the period of 5 days, he's been mauled be a large dog and face planted the ground twice. If 3 time's the charm, we will be happy if nothing more happens to him after today, any time soon. 

So for well over a week, probably a few weeks now, I have been looking at lot 3 and wondering who the frontiersman is staying there.  I kept drawing a blank.  I couldn't for the life of me remember who is in that lot.  

But when the guy took lot 7 today, I finally remembered.  He moved to lot 3!  It just suddenly hit me, I had no record of his move, I forgot to write it down and it totally slipped my  mind.  He's due to pay up in a few days if he's staying, if I recall correctly he won't be around too long.  I have 5 lots that have stayed far longer than they initially said they were. Not that I'm complaining, but when they leave, I don't know how long it will take to fill them back up.  

The dude coming in today out of the blue was a bonus.  

I dunno, but I am hoping no more "stuff" that I need to spend money on beyond more grass seed anytime soon so I can start getting some money saved up in the business checking account.  Get me 7 grand in there and I'll start preparing to build out more lots.  7 grand for another septic system, have to start there.  I can't add anything else to the existing system, it's already pretty much being overused as it stands. The good thing about that is, you just have it pumped out if it fills up.  The bad news is it's $450 to have it pumped out, gag.  

It's that or I can build my glamping dream - for around 7 grand maybe less - and see if I can rent it out for $50 per night, hype it up nice, have it very nicely decorated inside (I'll have to get the ladies in there to do that for me, they are much better at that than I) replete with a king sized bed, AC/heat, a small kitchen area with a microwave, popcorn maker, toaster, small refrigerator, etc.  You don't have running water in those setups and you don't have a bathroom in it. The bathroom will be in the shed.  Which means I'll have to build that setup pretty close to the shed.  I do have an area in mind, right next to the doggy park.  

I've been looking at glamping tents, I can get one that's large and nice looking for around $750 or so. It's the deck that I plan on building that's going to cost.  I can build a fancy outhouse and outdoor shower that would be right next to the setup instead of having to go to the shed.  Not sure about that one.  I am seriously looking into it since it wouldn't cost another septic system to do it, I would have to run power from the other side of the park which I planned on doing anyway.  

The costly stuff? yeah, that wood deck is going to be expensive right now unless I can find another person selling off a pile of wood cheap, I see that on Facebook Marketplace from time to time.  Cooling/heating wont' be cheap and neither will a good bed.  Hence the 7 grand amount and that is probably not realistic. But I don't know, it might be doing it myself.  I won't pay someone to do that unless it's James helping build out the 30 foot diameter deck.  I do want it off the ground.  They get a 23 foot wide tent and a porch with chairs/outdoor couch or something like that.  You can also get those tents with a hole for a wood burning stove. 

Yes, that sounds crazy in a tent, but they do it, I've seen enough people talking about such a thing and also pics of it.  

I'm not sure which I would do, add more lots or a glamping venture, I'm no where near that right now, I have time to consider it.  I'd probably do about 5 lots after getting a septic system in there initially.  I have a guy that can to the dozer work and I have 2 places that will rent and deliver a dozer.  

"It takes money to make money". Yup.  Give me a hundred grand right now and I can get the park doubled in size.  

As I said, I have plenty of time to consider.  If the winter works out as I hope it does - which who knows - but I could get some money saved up by summer time, enough to get something done either way.  

However.  I want to save money for the summer months for electric bills.  Even if out.  Right now? Well, I still have to find a new insurance company before December 1st and pay property taxes no later than February.  

Well, enough.  I just feel better that I collected and deposited that money today. 

Wednesday - mid morning

I just decided not to get up early today. Haven't done that in a while. I almost feel like just going back to bed for a few hours.  Why not? No one is home, even Taylor is gone, she appears to be at the new parents house. They  have been begging her to come over repeatedly to feed the baby and help it go to sleep - so they can get some sleep.

They were informed many times over by several different people that sleep would become a thing of the past in these first months of the baby's life.  One of them even has 3 months off for maternity leave.  But no matter, they are not used to having to be awake basically all night long.  I get it, it sucks. Having the baby is great but dealing with the baby an entirely different story. Perhaps they can get a taste of what Taylor has been through for all of this time.  

I have understood that there are many professors in colleges around the country today that are basically brainwashing their students into this progressive type of thinking that basically tells them to hate America as it currently is and that it needs transformed into some Socialist/Communist type of hellish nightmare where the government dictates the lives of every citizen. I'm sure they don't put it that way, but I could make it even worse considering the history.  

What I didn't know until this Israeli war is the hatred they have been teaching to include anti-Semitism.  Really, that took me by surprise, that giant gatherings of students around the country at these elite universities are chanting against Israel and also anyone here, in the U.S., that stands up for them and against the terrorist group known as Hamas.  If this was happening in my town, I would be there. To do what? Talk to these people. Find out what is driving their hatred.  How do you hate people you don't know and have mostly if nothing but peaceful intentions? Do you see Israel trying to take over the world?  

Yet, nations and people have hated the Jews since before the time of Christ.  I don't understand it, but I can say, at least in my world view and what I have learned from the bible which I firmly believe IS the Word of God, that you are taking sides against the Creator God in taking a stance against Israel and the Jewish people.  I know many of these people are atheists. That is the other thing that is bewildering. That we have colleges full of students that are mostly atheist, taught to believe there is no God and even mock anyone that has such beliefs.  This is where the breeding grounds for totalitarianism and dictatorships start, with young people who have no clue what they are talking about believing things that only people in power or wanting to be in power would proffer to them as absolute truth.  

Are we on the brink of a world war?  Only God knows that, perhaps the evil behind the people running these evil nations such as Russia and China, North Korea, anyone with nukes or raw hatred enough to drive them into action will know that.  Is this nation ready for war?  I don't know, if you take the analysis of "experts", we are not recruiting enough people and our war chests are emptying out, handing it over to the Ukraine and apparently now we are going to ship munitions to Israel.  I can agree with giving it to Israel, the Ukraine? Not so much.

The peace that passes all understanding comes from God and God alone.  You can get filled with fear about world events or you can have that inner peace God gives you.  I do take certain steps to make sure our mouths are fed regardless of what happens, I don't subscribe that to fear but to preparedness.  Why take chances with your food supply? It isn't just wars that can deplete grocery store shelves in just a few hours. Look at what happened with Covid.  A bad weather event can knock out the power for days or weeks or bad weather can stop trucks from being able to deliver to the stores. 

We went through a week of no power and spent almost $500 on fuel to keep generators running.  Was it worth it? In my mind, yes. It was summer time and it was HOT.  We used some of the power to run window AC units and the rest to run freezers, refrigerator, lights, power electronics, etc.  Could we sustain that for months? No.  I don't have the wherewithal to be buying that much fuel for that long. The other folks here also pitched in and bought fuel during that time. It was expensive but it would have cost that much or more to stay at a hotel, unless you are talking one of these dumpy hotels. But, they didn't have power either.  Holiday Inn, Marriott, all of the big name brands were down as well. 

Generac? Good idea, but expensive, not in my budget.  Runs on natural gas which keeps pumping regardless.  They do have compression stations for natural gas, I've seen one on the way to Gurdon.  I don't know if that's necessary everywhere or what.  I do know it's under plenty of pressure just coming out of the ground. I have one of those operations on my property.  I'm only saying this because of course, a compression station uses power, the one I saw had giant backup generators.  

Just my musings today as I watch this Israeli offensive take place and wondering if Iran is going to intervene beyond their use of proxies, such as Hamas, and bring in the IRGC or somehow escalate this to the entire region.  

I will head to Ollie's soon and see if they have a deal on space heaters.  They have them listed online. Otherwise I'll just have to go to Walmart.  

And the dreaded act of collecting money. It's just a chore.  People may or may not want to pay, but I have to go chase them down.  I have at least 3, I think 4 actually, payments due.  Well, that and if the welders stayed - they were there yesterday - there should be a check in the mailbox for them today.  That payment alone would almost pay for the electric bill due on the 10th.  

I didn't get paid last night so I "assume" I will get a direct deposit tonight.  If I don't, well, there will be a phone call being made tomorrow.  They haven't screwed me over yet on pay, just hope that trend continues.  

And we will continue to check on the rye grass seed. There is grass popping up all over the place, but that was happening before I spread the seed out.  The ideal time to plant, at least one website says, it between mid August and the end of September. Great, I got it down before the end of September, let's get with it now.  But, it says 7 - 10 days to germinate, they all say that, so I have a bit of waiting to go.  

There are plenty of things I need to get done over there.  Nothing urgent.  My 4 wheeler won't start - it doesn't like to in the cold weather since that guy "fixed" it, I suspect a small shot of ether will get it going. I didn't have time the other day when it was raining and I was dragging a heavy board from 200 feet away to drop the trailer.  I suspect I will hear about that from the manager considering the desk clerk's reaction when I told her I didn't bring the trailer with me.  She wanted me to take it to a washout up there.  Very glad I didn't have to - it's 45 minutes each way, the wrong way.  I don't know why they'd care one way or the other where I leave a trailer where I've been leaving it.  It is their property, of course, but it's under my care.  They know where it's parked, the truck shows up on their GPS.  They know about my RV park, they know everything, I told them up front. 

Oh, well the 4 wheeler would simply be used to trim back some brush along the driveway and go back into the trails and cut that rotten tree into pieces.  I have potholes forming on the driveway as well.  That will be a chore because I'll have to hook up the trailer, shovel dirt onto it and then take it to the areas needing dirt and shovel it in.  It really needs gravel mixed in with it.  I don't really have the money to be buying a $750 truckload of gravel right now.  I wonder if they'd just sell me a bit of it dumped onto my trailer?  It would still cost.  

I guess in terms of priority, those potholes take the cake.  Physical labor of which I definitively do not feel like engaging in today.  I have this mind right now of just sitting here and doing nothing.  Of course, that doesn't pay the bills or keep guests happy.....

So, get dressed, get moving, get stuff done. It's like this pretty much every day, whether a full plate the entire day or just half a day, I am busy most days now with this job.  I apparently will get a reprieve this week beyond the truck swap and the trailer drop, I dunno.  If I collect what I think I will be collecting from tenants, no worries.  I have to get trained at Ennis anyway, they were talking about me going there 2 days ago, the manager wasn't in. 

I informed them that the manager declared I needed training at that particular plant and I agreed with that.  Plants have different rules, you need to understand the nuances of what they want before you go in there.  If we are slow, the man can come on his way to Ennis to pick me up, take me there, show me the ropes, bring me back home.  Ennis is 2-1/2 hours, you'd expect a 7 hour give or take day out of it.  If the GPS says 2-1/2 hours, I give it 3.  Make that an 8 hour day, for offloading can take any varying amount of time.  They say this stuff is less dense and offloads faster, if that is true, you can drain an entire tanker load in 45 minutes.  But you still have to weigh in and out, which takes time and whatever else they make you do there.  

Whatever, I'm ready to get the training over with.  If they want to do it this week, great, give me the assignment and lets go.  

Well, I guess I'll get my @$$ in gear and get out of here.

G'day

 Maybe 3 hours round trip this morning, was back by 11:15 am.  That done I headed over to a local Mexican food restaurant for some of their excellent Birria tacos, so delicious.  

 Unfortunately, no new calls for a lot.  I turned one away as I stated previously because the "purple people" were supposed to come and didn't cancel out until evening time of the day they were supposed to show.  Live and learn.  People want a lot that bad? They can give a deposit for it.  

Anyway, we met up with some other families tonight for a Halloween candy fest (otherwise known as trick-or-treating).  We went to a neighborhood known for the large amount of houses that give out candy. This year? No so great.  I wasn't a total bust, but there wasn't even half the number of houses giving out candy and it was a good thing we were sitting in the back of the pickup, there were many areas with long walks in between. 

The boy that was mauled by a large dog on Friday?  I'm standing on the street watching him run down a concrete driveway and fall flat on his face.  Bloody nose, bloody lips, this boy is having a bad streak of luck going here. He got over it pretty quick, took a minute.  As it was, I had to help him on and off the truck, he still can climb onto things without extreme pain.  

We left that neighborhood, went over to one of James' friends' house who loaded up the boy's buckets with a lot of candy. After that, we went to see the baby. I hadn't seen it in person yet, but I got to hold him for a while.  Taylor had just breast fed him so he was sleeping.  I tried to talk to him, I know that boy has been listening to my voice for 9 months lol.  I talked to him a lot through the belly.  He didn't wake up for me - or anyone really - he was pretty content after that breast milk.  

They gave the boys even more candy and then I took them across the street for people who were basically done for the night and also gave them handfuls of candy as well.  So, even with the dismal results at the first neighborhood, they ended up with quite a lot of candy.  

Home and everything done and over with.  

It's gotten pretty cold here.  I mean, we just walked right out of summer and straight into winter?  The trees haven't even dropped their leaves yet.  They either know something we don't or they are also caught by surprise.  It's like we skipped fall.  

I haven't seen my personal checking account this low in years, lol.  I "think" I'm getting paid tonight, but in case I'm not, I just deposited a paycheck from the business account.  I have a lot of money to collect as well, I didn't get to that today but tomorrow I'm going around to whoever's home to get I think 4 of them.  And more coming the first few weeks of the month before the electric bill is due.  

Anyway, it's been a rather long day and I'm done for the night.  

 Just a fast one here, I'm on my way out the door.

Okay, not such a big hurry.  Yesterday was just go up to El Dorado, switch trucks and come back.  They wanted me to take the trailer to a washout up there - sorry, didn't bring the trailer.  Switch trucks, not trailers. They can have the trailer if they want it, they didn't say anything about that.

So, this morning, leaving in a few minutes actually, take the trailer to the washout in Nacogdoches.  It's 80 miles each way and that's it for the day. Leave the trailer there, I don't have to bring it back.  That's nice, that trailer is a pile of garbage. Someone totally trashed the passenger side of it, ran it into something.  It looks ugly.  

I think I have rents to collect today, that will be high on the list as well as inspecting the grass seed and seeing if anything is popping up. Probably too soon, but who knows.  It's been raining quite a bit, the rain is over.  I will probably go buy a few more bags and overseed a bit in hopes the morning dew will water it enough to make it grow.  It's cold out in the mornings and cool in the afternoons. That seed won't be drying up. 

These people in the purple rv that were going to come back? Screwed me over royally.  They wanted to move in, kept contacting me so I finally got a space for them to give them.  In the meantime, I had to turn down an overnighter and a long term.  So what did they do? Cancel. The overnighter and the long term are gone, history, will never hear from them again.  Those purple people are never coming back to my park and I am seriously considering charging a $100 non-refundable reservation fee for long term.  You cancel? You lose your $100. 

I've had this happen a few times - this is all a learning experience.  I have 15 trailers in there out of 16 spots available.  I want 16.  I would have had 16 if it weren't for these people. They texted me late yesterday - the day they were supposed to move in - telling me they had "changed our plans". Well you wouldn't change your plans so easily at MY EXPENSE if you had to pay something to reserve that spot.  It'd be another month's worth of lot rent in my hands right now, not an empty spot.  It just irritates me people do this stuff and I understand why many RV parks require a deposit.  Some RV parks make anyone reserving for 2 or more days to pay it all up front. I make them pay a day up front and depending on my mood if it's refundable.  In ink, it's non-refundable.  

The thing is, there are people leaving soon and so I will have empty spots.  You fill up all the spots, sure you don't have anything for overnighters but it won't stay that way for long.  

Well anyway, I want to leave and get this over with and have the afternoon available for work at the park.  I am told there isn't much to do this week because of that plant shut down.  Mixed feelings.  Love not working, don't love not getting a paycheck.

G'day

 Monday - early

Raining. As forecast - for once.  "Rain continuing through 1 pm". Well, that precludes waiting it out to go drop that trailer.  It's real-feel 37 degrees, so the first real day of cold this year as well.  

Whatever the case, I went out to the kitchen to get creamer for my coffee and there was some unhappy people. Mondays, I guess.  I don't really care about that at this point, I have a light day even if 5-6 hours of driving, that's pretty much it beyond having to switch things back to the pink truck at the yard in Arkansas.  Well, the manager wants to "chat a bit", about what I have no idea. I have guesses, I'll find out soon enough,.

The new parents? Had a rough first night.  I figured as much.  They've basically been up all night long. It's not going to get any better for a while.  

I don't have a lot this morning. Kind of sluggish, not in a bad mood just not feeling it today. Probably the cold and the rain mixed together, just make me want to sleep in.  Instead, I'm up, second cup of coffee, already shaved/showered and fixing to get out of here.  

They said nothing about bringing the trailer and I have no idea why they would want me to bring it anyway, so it can stay at my place and speed up the process of getting up there and back by being able to use back road with weight restrictions. Those weight restrictions won't keep a semi tractor from going over those bridges.  Or, I can just run up to Ruston on I-20 and up whatever road that is up to the yard.  It's a much easier drive than the previous way I was trying.

Either way, I'm out of here.

G'day