Friday - late morning

When I realized I had no work for the trucking company to do today, I decided last night I would sleep in, wake up, and lay there and do nothing.

Exactly what I did.  It's a quarter after 10:00 and I just got out of bed, lmao.

I'm going to guess they will schedule me for tomorrow to work Saturday and Sunday, but who knows.  Or something happened at the plant...or or or....I don't call them to find out.  I don't really care, if they want to work me, work me, if they don't have anything, I'll find other things to do. I've already made a list for today that will take me well into the afternoon.

As it stands, a man moved in yesterday, I still have yet to go over and collect.  That's my doings, not his.  I also have another person saying they "might" want to move in Sunday or if not, 2 Saturdays from now.  I said I can hold the lot for him until Sunday, but if he wants me to hold it until next Saturday, he's going to have to put a deposit down.  I'm doing that now.  I can wait a few days, I'm not going to wait 10 for someone who may or may not show up. If they put down $200 non-refundable deposit, that will motivate them to come. If they don't show, I've got $200 and move on.  

At least the Facebook ad is working.  I've got his phone number, if someone else calls about the lot and wants it, I'll call him back and ask him his decision.  For I have lost enough business from wishy-washy people who have no stake in the game and don't stand to lose money if they decide they aren't going to come.  It's deposit time or if you need to, go find another place to stay.  The guy said "let me check my schedule", which means to me "Let me call every other place around town and see if they have a better deal". 

I don't blame people for doing that, but I think they should just be up front about it. I'm not going to scold them for comparison shopping for rates.  I'm not going to tell them about the horror stories I've heard about some of these other places.  Or the fact that the new park is well outside of town. Some people are fine with that, others want to be able to get to town quickly to get their needs so they can get back home quickly.  

I would be wiling to bet the weird people moved to the new competitor.  I say that because it's a little cheaper over there and even tho it's well outside of town, those people rarely leave their coach.  I did find it amusing that the new park already has 9 google reviews. some of them dating back 2 months. Oh it's so wonderful here!  Liars.  That park hasn't been open for 2 months, they had the gates closed and locked!  I'm going to go over there soon and see how many RV's they have in there. I suspect they're pulling them from what used to be my main competitor.  

I say used to be because this new guy on the block is undercutting everyone still and I don't wonder if that will go on for awhile. I just did a check for rates on their site, it goes down to $369 per month.  That's cheaper than me, but I have location as a huge extra added plus.

As the experts in the RV industry always say, location location location.  But the other place - well they have 2 of them - they are probably suffering, at least from what I have heard.  Their reviews are full of people telling the tale of sites that are too small for big rigs or even larger sized rigs.  Too little room to maneuver in and people complaining they ended up in a site that doesn't fit their rv.  It has gotten so bad for them that they are advertising 2 lots for one price.  In other words, a lot more room.  

It's an ongoing battle to look up other rates and see where I stand competitively.  I wasn't sure what the new place would do, but I had to figure they were going to undercut everyone.  How they are making money after spending on a million dollars? They aren't. The ROI simply can't be there.  This is a ploy on their part to get people in there and then jack up the rates, that's the only way I can see them playing this hand out.  They might add some amenities that we all don't have and namely: a jacuzzi and a swimming pool. 

These are things that are still high on my list of amenities I need and want in my park. I could raise the rates significantly.  People want pools and jacuzzies and are willing to pay more for it.  That's what I've heard over and over.  Yes! A pool!  I would up my rates at least $75 per month if not more.  Or give options.  If you want access to the pool, this rate, if you don't, that rate.  The pool can have a keypad security and a camera to identify who is going in and out. Tenants who aren't paying for the pool option but are using it? Will be evicted.  Or even make it a club so that it's exclusive. Pay extra for the club.  I can already see the pool and jacuzzi area replete with a small bathroom and an outdoor shower.  A covered area with a table  and covered pool side tables.  

This would up my game substantially.  It would set me apart from literally every other park in this area.  No one has a pool, not a single one.  There is one place that is a group event type of thing, they rent a few RV spaces on the side that has a pool. But, the caveat is that RV'ers can't use the pool when groups are using it as well as everything else.  

So, more spaces and a pool setup are my next objectives.  Impossible with my current credit score, so that's kind of where I'm at. I haven't paid a single dime down on debt for I haven't made that much money yet and the money I have received from the job I've spend on bills. As I said long ago, I knew that by September, after paying exorbitant electric bills, that I would end up needing supplemental income. ]

Thank me for reminding myself, lol, that the electric bill is due, well, there's 2 bills.  I broke it down, it's about $57 per month per lot in electric usage. That's not bad. The bill is high, of course, but getting the picture of how much is being used on average is a little easier to digest.  

Now then, for today?  I'm headed to the sign shop, Harbor Freight and Walmart.  Sign shop for a sign I had made quite a while back that I never went and got. Harbor Freight for a camera for the doggy park and walmart for miscellaneous stuff I need for both the park and personal.  After that, to the park to collect the rent from the new person and maybe, if there's time, go ahead and work on more potholes.  Get those potholes filled up. It actually lasts quite a while as long as I don't fill them immediately before rain.  

If it rains before people run over it and smash it in there good, it will just splash out a gooey mess as people drive over it and the soil becomes muddy.  There is a slight chance of rain today, there was a 70% plus chance tomorrow, it's now down to 40%.  Kind of iffy on that one.  

Anyway, I'm getting nothing done sitting here and lazy-time has been completed. Enjoyed it thoroughly, especially being that there is no one else in the house. No noise besides cats getting into things and dogs barking out back. James is doing his side job, Taylor is back to work and the kids are in school. It's the verge of the weekend and I will be quite interested in seeing what this company has me doing.  I can say I needed today off and didn't even know it.  Just need the break.  

G'day

 So...

I'm at the plant at the scales, getting weighed in.  Sitting on the scales, I got weighed but I couldn't move, there was a logging truck in front of me.  The whole place was backed up with logging trucks and there wasn't anywhere for the driver in front of me to go until some trucks pulled up on the roadway ahead.  

So I'm sitting there wondering how long this is going to take when I look over and see a silver trailer passing by.  I couldn't see the truck - more logging trucks blocking the view.  But the trailer was silver and I wondered what product was being brought into this plant that wasn't required to be weighed first.

I sat there something like 10 minutes before that logging truck finally moved forward, then I had to try and flip a U turn to get out of there, meaning going over another set of scales to do so.  I finally get out of there, onto the main highway and drive down to the other end of the plant.  Pull into gate 1, pull up to the offload shack, get out, go to the bathroom before anything, hook up the airline, go find someone to sign off. 

Sign off and unlock the valve. It was in the closed position, you obviously can't unload into a closed system, lol.  I get done with all of that and lo and behold, this driver pulls up behind me.  He was disgusted, apparently and also didn't bother to get of the truck to chit chat. His intent was obvious, he came in there like that to be me to the rack and get unloaded first - even tho his offload time was for 2:00 pm.  

I had just started unloading so yea, it's gonna be a minute.  A lot of minutes lmao.  Ok, well the dude that signed off on my paperwork and had come out and unlocked the valve came out again after I was unloading.  "I have a question for you if you don't mind". He's a real nice guy, humble, but has his position, he's over that entire portion of the plant.  "When were you supposed to be here to unload?".  I have the 10:00 am slot.  He shakes his head, yea I thought so...which is when yea, I was wondering what this guy was doing here.  

He went over there and had some words with the driver lol.  They don't want 2 drivers showing up at the same time.  I get done, pull back out to the highway, didn't bother to do anything about that other driver, don't really care - well I would have if he had shown up before me, then I would have contacted the manager.  It's a huge no-no in the trucking industry to do something like that, try to jump ahead of another driver. It has been that way for decades. 

Anyway, back to the road to get to the scale - there are 2 lanes of logging trucks backed up almost to the highway.  To put it into perspective, it's probably 1,000 feet to the scales - there are 3 of them, 2 incoming and 1 outbound scale - from the highway.  I sat in the outer lane for several minutes, thinking, I'm not coming in, I'm trying to leave, why should I have to wait in this line?  I've already waiting in an inbound line, thank you. 

So, I passed all of those trucks, went around the incoming scales and then did a u-turn to go into the outbound scales.  I didn't know what the scale house master was going to say, but I was facing a 45-60 minute wait.  I got up on the scale, got out, opened the window, explained how far out the line is. He said, well, I'd rather you come around to this scale for both incoming and outgoing anyway.  You don't need to be waiting.  

He never said this to me before so how was I supposed to know?  This is why I hate having to start a new job. You literally start at the bottom and you have to learn your way back up to any semblance of knowing what you are doing.  It would save me a lot of time to simply bypass all that logging truck nonsense, flip the u-ey, come around to the outbound side and scale in and out there.  

That was my day. That and driving on the same roadway with a large number of idiots behind steering wheels, doing stupid stuff in traffic.  

_________

Much later.  A man that called 2 months ago showed up today, lol.  "I'm 30 minutes out, do you still have a lot available".  Why yes, yes I do!  He moved in without me there, which happens a lot.  So for the moment, that leaves 1 lot available and I am just keeping one pull through lot open for overnighters for now.  I get lots of last minute calls for that one.  None today, but it happens frequently enough that it will pay for itself as long as that continues. 

Work never called or texted today and they didn't send a load to the tablet. So, unexpectedly for me, I am not working tomorrow.  Change that: I'm not working for the trucking company tomorrow.  I will go and fill some more potholes tomorrow and mow the rest of the lawns.  Go get a sign that was made months ago that I have just not had the opportunity to pick up.  See if I can find some cameras - there is far too much complaining about people not cleaning up after their dogs in the doggy park, I'm going to put cameras up, trained on it and find out who is doing it and approach them directly.  I don't want to spend the money on this but there are good people that are getting frustrated with the situation and I don't want to lose them over some person not cleaning up after their dog.

I believe it's still the tent lady's dog doing it, I'm going to have to catch it in the act - or more like the humans not cleaning up after it in the act to confront them - or whoever it may be. I will evict people that refuse to clean up the poop their dog is dropping. I don't care who it is or the loss of money, it is insufferable.  

That's about it.  There is some backlash going against universities that refuse to condemn this anti-semitism that is rising up within the confines of their establishments with big time donors pulling out and taking back donations.  This is good, in my view.  If there were ever an oppressed people, Jews would be at or certainly near the top of the list.  I don't and never have understood the anti-Jewish sentiment and it is not a stance I would want to take in light of God's Word.  Then you have the amateur hour with the wanna be GOP "hopefuls" that want the GOP nomination. It's a joke. We see this every time. They start acting like school children taunting each other and calling each other names. Ridiculous.  We are adults, we don't want to see this childishness.

Another day.

Paycheck wasn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be - I had 20 days off, the last paycheck was the really bad one, this one improved, the next one should be fairly decent.  Like, 3 days before Christmas type of thing.

They didn't leave a bad review - yet.  I have found good reviews on other sites that I didn't even know people were using.  So that's good I guess.  It was a bit off tho.  They said no bathrooms or showers or laundry.  Maybe they didn't know? They took pics, one of them has me on the riding mower. They, btw, being the weird people that are pretty much unhappy with life in general.

Now that these people are gone, I started up a new Facebook ad with the boost.  It targets people. You know, like when you start talking to someone about something and then it shows up online? lmao, something like that anyway. 

No bites from that yet but it has directed traffic to my facebook site.  

As for today, it's just a trip to Gurdon and back.  

Maybe write more later, but now? I have to get ready to leave.

G'day

 I'm coming into a small town called Jefferson which is in Texas off of Highway 59.  I'm going the speed limit - you really don't want to speed through these small towns in Texas or Arkansas.  There are frequently anything from local police to Constables, Sheriffs and State Troopers out there looking for people speeding through these towns.  

This dude in a semi comes flying up beside me, cuts in front of me and continues on well over the speed limit of 45mph going through town. Going over the railroad tracks, a steep incline and then a steep hill on the other side, he was hauling.  He was forced to slow down somewhat for a school zone, but he was still going well over the speed limit.  He was cutting in and out of traffic, cutting various cars and trucks off.  He gets out of the speed zone and speeds up, only to hit another speed zone for the high school, 35 mph.  

I don't know how he could have missed those huge signs with big, yellow lights flashing, but he did. That or he didn't care since it's heading out of town.  One thing he definitely didn't see was the Constable sitting out there.  He passes by the Constable going at least 60 in a 35 zone and the Constable, of course, takes off after him.  

The Constable gets behind him, lights flashing, lit up like a Christmas tree, the driver of the truck wasn't pulling over. The Constable pulls out into the passing lane, the driver still doesn't stop.  This went on for 2 miles before the Constable finally passed him, got in front of him and forced him off the highway.  By the time I got up there, he was already out of his vehicle, standing in front of the truck, hands on his hips, standing there with this look on his face that made me cringe.  

Like, I am very glad it isn't me that did that.  I don't know what happened with that driver, but I suspect it wasn't a happy ending for him.  

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Only one slight mishap at the plant.  There was a crew of people that showed up after I started offloading the truck. I didn't know what they were doing, but they stood there staring at me.  Lol, ok?   One of them finally came up to me and said something about needing to add a new air line to the existing two and were waiting for me to get done, how long did I think I still had left to go?

About 20 minutes.  I need that air, btw, I can't unload this trailer without it. They weren't being pushy, at all.  Well, the thing finally got done and I did the cleanout of the trailer and then attached the air/water line to the hose itself.  They want us to push water through it to clean it out.  I pumped a lot of water through that thing, I like to keep it clean so it doesn't get clogged up and then pumped air through it to clear the line out of the water.  While the air was still pumping into the line, I closed the main valve on the plant side and then went and shut the air off, telling them I was done.

I think it was them that got me, even tho they were really nice, it kind of pressured me to get done with everything and out of their way.  Because I popped that line off of the trailer and it popped off all right, it was pressurized and spewed water out of it.  I forgot to bleed the air pressure off out of a little valve they have on it to do just that. 

I was fortunate that it was almost all water, only a very scant amount of resin.  But, I went and reported it anyway, tho I did clean up the little bit of resin that was on the ground with one of the rags that they supply (they have a 55 gallon drum full of them ).  I said, well, I spilled some water and there were a few drops of resin in it.  He said no problem. I said well, if you want to come out and take a look...No, lol, you can go.  It really was just a very small amount of resin, but I didn't want someone to go telling him that I had had a spill and didn't report it.

That's a good way to get banned out of those kinds of facilities.  One of those lessons you probably will never forget: bleed the air out of the line! lol. It actually wouldn't have been a disaster if it was a bunch of resin, just take a hose and wash it off.  I was just glad it wasn't that.   That and the idiots were out in full force, driving down the highways and causing trouble everywhere they go.  

Back to the park.  I took a package that FedEx just dumped off at the shed, lol.  I saw him doing it on the camera, he just threw it on the ground and left. It clearly says "Lot 4" on it.  This is why I'm getting a big box, they can dump packages into the box and people can come look for their stuff.  When I got over there, the weird people that are leaving were out front of their motorcoach.  But as soon as they saw me? They scurried back into the coach as if I was a monster out to get them, lmao.  

I hate to think this is going to happen, but I give it at least 50-50 odds they are going to leave a negative review and yes, I will respond to it.  If they have a problem with the park, they didn't tell me about it.  People that go and blab all over the internet without first at least giving management a chance to try and correct the situation are low-lifes in my view.  I never do that. I always give a company a chance to make things right before I go leaving negative reviews.  

Our local gossip group is actually a group to "lift local business up", specifically, local restaurants. But people go on there and trash restaurants all the time.  They almost never give management a chance and when they do, they say "I tried to contact the manager but they weren't available", so instead of waiting to hear back from there, give it at least a day, lol, they just start trashing the business.

Anyway, they're leaving tomorrow, or so they say.  I haven't heard back from this other guy that says he is interested in moving in.

As I travel through small towns in the region, I look up the names of RV parks that I am passing by on the internet to see how much they are charging.  It's all pretty much the same.  They're charging $400 which includes everything.  The difference between them and me is they are charging much more for nightly and weekly rates. 

I've thought about raising nightly rates.  Maybe another $5. I'm getting a pretty steady run of people coming into the pull through spot I've kept available for it.  People that stayed last night booked another night.  Guess they liked it, but if they want to stay yet another day, they're going to have to move to the back in lot cause' tomorrow night, the pull through has been booked by someone else.  These people like the walking trails. They have a rambunctious dog that has more energy than Obi, the thing is crazy.  

He asked yesterday if there's anywhere where he could run the dog free? Yup, just head up the driveway, you'll see a sign, follow the arrow and then you'll see another sign.  That's the trail head, you are on your own once you get back in there.  

Almost 4:00 pm and they just finally sent me a run for tomorrow lol. They keep sending me the early run, which is quite fine by me.  I can be home by 1:00 pm tomorrow.  I won't go home, tho, I need to start mowing grass. I say start, I don't do it all in one day.  I'll get half the lots done one day and the other half done the next or whenever I get to it.  I also need to continue on with filling potholes.  The park is looking much better now with grass.  

 Tuesday - early

Long day yesterday.

Long because I wasn't feeling good.  I think I was on the road a total of 7 hours, but when I got back to the yard, it became too much. The driveway has some big pot holes and I at least needed to put some dirt in them if nothing else.

So I hooked up the trailer, went to one of the dirt piles and shoveled dirt onto it, took it to some potholes, filled them in, decided to get more dirt, fill more and then? I was toast.  I just wasn't feeling good and decided I could just do some of this stuff on the shorter driving days. Today will not be a shorter driving day since it's more miles and usually a longer offload time.  

The weird people are leaving. This is the mother and her 50-something year old son that almost never come out of that motor coach.   I knew they wouldn't last long  just had no idea how long "not long" would be.  They gave no reason but they are unhappy people and find fault with everything.  Their neighbor was throwing food out the door, I got that stopped. The man came out glaring at me the other afternoon after pulling in with the truck. 

Not sorry. I need this job, I have to have a place to park the truck.  I have 25 acres, I'm not paying for a place to park when I have ample room on my land.  If he wanted to say something to my face, he could have.  I just assume that this was the last straw for them as they were complaining about the last place they stayed when they came in, they will probably complain about my place at where they're going.  Perhaps they are moving to my new competitor, who knows.  Can't make everyone happy, always have to remember that.  Most people are happy at my place, but some people will find fault with anything and everything. 

I just hope they don't leave a negative review on Google.  Especially if they complain about something park related and never even tried to contact management about it first. 

I have a prospect coming today for the lot that was made available from the worker that left.  He said "I'm new at this" referring to RV'ing.  I didn't get too personal, just figured he decided to live in an RV instead of renting houses or apartments - or - couldn't find anything decent in town at an affordable price.  I mean, an 800 square foot house renting at $1,500 and people are actually paying it?  Crazy.  

Up to Gurdon today, I do hope it is the same as the last trip: get the offload done in about an hour.  Previous trips were hours, just a waste of time.  I don't want detention pay, I want to get in and get out.  That was the point of this job, day trips that didn't take too long.  

I have grass that needs mowing but I dunno if I'm going to do any of that today, it really depends on what time I get back and more importantly, how I feel.  It's not terribly long, it can wait a few more days if need be.  

 Other than that and all that is going on in this world, just cruising along over here.  Need to get ready to leave.

G'day

 Monday early

Coughed all night long, if I got 2 hours of sleep I'd be surprised.  I was laying in bed after a night of sleeplessness and comparing it to the nightmare I experienced in Oregon.  Yup, that's a reminder of the hell I went through?  I'm going to go see a doctor if this continues. The boys are still coughing and have been coughing for a few weeks now.  I do have antibiotics somewhere if I can find what I did with them. Start a Z pack and see what happens. They automatically give me that stuff anyway if I go to see a doctor.

So, it's going to be a long day.  It may very well be that I get the truck loaded, get over the the Love's for fuel and then stop there and take a short nap.  

Day 7 of Keto dieting, I have no clue whether it's working or not.  My scale isn't working and I don't really care about that, it's the visual I am concerned with.  If/when the fat starts coming off, that's when I know it's working.  I don't have any test strips, however, to see if I"m in ketosis and I am interested checking that a couple of times per day.  I ran out many days ago and just hate going to Walmart. They have the style of strips that I like, there are other kinds but I don't like them,  they don't work the same for some reason. 

The college kid - well, it turns out, his friends are staying in the trailer, which I knew, but I didn't know he wasn't home.  They weren't answering the door, I don't know why.  They know I know that they are in there.  I don't really care, I just want my rent.  I found the phone number, tried to call it with no answer. Sent a text message and then many hours later, the kid contacts me.  I'm sorry!  I wasn't looking for an apology and I wasn't coming down on him, I just want/need the rent, please.  So, he sent it via cashapp and I'm good with that. Now for another character that hasn't been to his trailer in weeks.  

Sent him an email, but I'm fixing to simply charge his card if I don't hear back from him soon.  I'll give him another day, he's an actual, working adult who is sent around all over the place fixing damage to railroad tracks after derailments.  You would be surprised how many derailments there are that simply don't make the national news.  It's usually just a local event that is reported locally, unless there is significant damage and/or loss of life, then it makes the national circuit.  

I need another renter.  Just saying.  The dude left a few days ago and now I'm considering running a Facebook boost ad to rent it. Would be nice to get another long termer like him, he was there at least 6 months.  It's worth a few bucks for facebook to get someone in there that is going to stay. 

I was just looking at a person's post in an RV lifestyle group that was complaining about a state park putting up glamping tents in regular RV spots.  I get what she was saying, it's at a popular area in Florida where lots of rv'ers go to spend their winters.  They took out 7 rv spots and put up wood decks and put up a canvas tent.

It was quite a plain setup and no, there are no toilets or sinks in these things, you have to go to the public facility to do that.  There was a rug on the floor and the rest was just plain wood.  I was a bit surprised at the plain-Janeness of the setup and still getting $165 per night for it. I would never be able to get that much out of one of those setups, I'm not in a location for that.  But, I bet I could get $60 or $70 depending on how nice I set it up.  

Not really sure what I want to do next, I just know I need to keep working to get caught up on just basic bills and then start to get ahead. Being off 20 days didn't help anything at all.  It really set me back on getting start on the goal of saving and paying off debt at the same time.  I also just realized today that I didn't get a sign-on bonus. They didn't offer one and I never even thought about it.  Most companies are giving pretty decent bonuses to sign on with them.  Couple thousand anyway.  That would have been the shot in the arm that would have got me well ahead coupled with regular paychecks.  

The only good thing about this job is the hours.  As of lates, it's leave early and home early, leaving ample time to get other stuff done in daylight hours.  I don't know how I got switched to morning runs, but I am liking it.  I'd rather be done early than have to be done late.  I hope that trend continues.  Must be that the other guy would rather start later?? I'm sure he gets his say in all of this.

Well, the time to leave has arrived and I dont even feel tired.  That will likely hit me later on.

G'day

 Uhh, hard to believe I haven't posted since Thursday morning. 

I finished that run, which took 2-1/2 hours to offload.  I think their pipes were clogged up, perhaps other drivers aren't flushing them out when they're done.  

I dunno, but I went back up today to offload again and it took about an hour, which is about what it should take or even faster. But since it's cold, the resin thickens up so a little longer time offloading wouldn't be considered unusual. 2-1/2 hours, however, is ridiculous. 

I have tomorrow/Sunday off and I need it. I finally got coughing cold the boys have. It's all in the lungs, nothing in the head or throat.  It's also quite miserable, especially in cold weather. I wasn't feeling particularly good and considered calling in sick.  But that would throw them off and have to scramble to find someone to go to my park and get the load to take it up there, so I just dealt with it.  

In fact, they haven't sent me anything for this coming week.  The manager was going to give me a run for Monday but - maybe they just can't take that much product up there right now? They still only have one tank operating, there are crews of people going into the empty one and chipping out the dried up resin.  

It's that or they'll send something tomorrow for Monday, I dunno.  

Right now we're fixing to go to the annual Christmas parade which is held down town.  The new brewery opened up, we're going to taste some of the craft beer.  Don't worry, we aren't getting drunk or anything even remotely close to it.  

So, with that, it's actually time to leave.

Have to write something later or wait until tomorrow. 

Thursday - early

It's raining and the forecast shows rain until tonight, going up into Arkansas where I'm going.  So, unless the forecast is wrong - which it could be but the radar seems to show the entire region covered with rain - I will be getting wet today. Yayyyyy!

The realities of rain in 40 and 50 degree weather. 

At least it isn't freezing or in the 30's as it has been for many days. 

The - hopefully - last of being in the dregs financially should be lifting here soon.  Yes, I have a person leaving today, that isn't the biggest deal on the planet as long as no one else is leaving.  It's just the idea of not knowing, at least this guy called yesterday and gave me a head's up.  His rent would have been due tomorrow.  

I will be watching the phone today in case any last minute people call looking for a place. The beginning of the month sometimes does that. This time around? Not at all.  Not so far anyway.

I don't have much time here, I want out of here early to give extra minutes for rain delays and generally going slower in rainy conditions.  Just don't want this to drag out all day long if possible.  

G'day

 So a lady from the yard office calls me earlier.  Real nice person but to the point: we have an issue with your speeding. 

Huh? I keep my speed at or very near speed limits, I don't need tickets and I go through lots of small towns with police always on the lookout.

You went into Bernice at 65mph.  The speed limit was 45.  Yup, I replied, I didn't see the sign until I got to it but immediately slowed down.  She went on a monologue about the police there and how they always have speed traps etc.  Yes, I have been going through there for years, as I explained, I didn't see the sign until I got at it.

It's whatever to me. I have driven as a passenger with 6 different drivers in this company now, they all speed. I'm not too impressed with this company as it stands, if they are going to give me a call/hard time every time something like that happens, I will find a new job. 

Even the previous job hauling cryo never once contacted either me or my manager about speed and they have far more electronic junk in their trucks to monitor their drivers. 

She said, well, you don't normally appear on my list...yes so why bother me? I thought but didn't say, I'll keep my tones civil until it's time to amp it up a little. Not too much, but enough to let them know that I won't be tolerating excessive amounts of phone calls, if it comes to that.  Hopefully not.  The job is as bad as any trucking company job, but at least I'm getting done early for the most part.

Today I was back at my yard at noon thirty. Probably 2:30 ish tomorrow coming back from Gurdon. However, it's going into Arkansas is where they normally throw the monkey wrenches at me and cost me hours more of time than originally anticipated. I feel like if I can put up with that, they can put up with an occasional episode of hitting a speed limit change at a higher rate of speed, they can look and see that I slowed right down.  It doesn't happen often, I can tell ya that.  

I think there are some payments to be collected today,  I will be back over there in a little while to knock on doors if needed.  I dunno, my book is in the vehicle and I am currently in my bedroom.  Just gonna check when I leave for the park. 

I caved last night on the fasting.  Lasted 48 hours.  I was going for 3 days but I ended up getting a headache and feeling weak, I just decided to eat and then I'll try another fast in a week or so. I'm not going to beat myself up over it, 2 days was long enough considering I haven't really done much fasting recently.  It's kind of something you work yourself into.  

Keto - did the last strip test a few minutes ago. I'll have to venture into Walmart to get more of them - I hate going to Walmart. I think my visits there are on average about once to twice a month. Anyway, it showed Trace. As in, very small amount of ketones, but that means I should be full in ketosis within what, say the next several days?  A week at most. I wonder if I was feeling keto flu last night with the headaches and such? 

I'm doing intermittent fasting now along with Keto. I won't eat until noon at the earliest. And then a light meal followed by a heavier dinner and that's about it. I will most likely try another day/2/3 day fast next week, the week following at the latest. The only problem I will face is Christmas is coming up and it's rest assured I will not do the diet on Christmas Day.  I was about to say "if I'm home", but even if I"m working, it isn't all day long unless they throw some kind of garbage at me. 

That's enough. It's getting late - late for me anyway, I am getting up early, I want to be in Gurdon at 9:30 am or earlier. 9:30 is good tho.  I am the only load going up there tomorrow, hopefully that means their tank won't be full. They are still down to one tank, the other one shut down, I"m going to ask them why the one tank is down. I don't know of any reason why they wouldn't want to tell me. The workers at the Lufkin plant guessed the tank needs to be replaced. 

I dunno. I just know it has been shut down since they reopened the plant up there.

And finally, lot 10 is leaving tomorrow for work reassignment. He stayed much longer than he anticipated, I think he was there at least 6 months. He was only going to be there for 2. Wishing he didn't have to go, his lot rent is due on the 1st.  I haven't received any end of month calls in the last few days inquiring about lots.  I did update my Facebook and I might run a short Facebook ad to see if I can get someone back in there. 

If others leave, I will definitely be doing the Facebook ad - or boost they like to call it - for several days.  I most often get at least 1 person moving in out of those ads. If they stay a while, it's worth it.  

Wednesday - early

The 6 year old was making a lot of noise and woke me up out of a deep sleep.

I am quite sick of this boy doing this and I am going to remedy it.  The parents probably aren't going to like it either, but I am going to go in his room at 3 am and wake him up.  I mean, wake him fully up out of a deep sleep.  I will do it every night after he wakes me up that morning. I don't care what anyone thinks of it, he certainly doesn't give a shit about my sleep.   

I mean, it's quite irritating.  You are sound asleep, in a beautiful dream and then voices enter your head and if the voice keeps going, you are jolted awake. And then, you realize it's a child that doesn't care if you're sleeping even tho he's been told and even disciplined about it 100 times in the past.  

I was only sleeping in a little because I don't have to do a washout this morning.  No sense in getting up at 5:45 am to do something I don't need to do.  That was entirely erased.  It was 5:55 when he woke me up. 

Ok enough of that. Not worth raising my blood pressure over, but I am going to remedy this situation.  

And yes, I am going to Lufkin, straight to Lufkin, no washout stop in Nacogdoches. This is the short part of the run at maybe - 190 miles total driving?  If these runs would start working out as they are supposed to, I wouldn't be out so long on many days where some fluke or extenuating circumstance gets poked into it and adds hours, sometimes many hours, to the deal.  I'm not getting paid much more for having to be out there longer, this is a mileage thing with stop pay. Stop pay covers the washout, loading and offloading. Detention pay doesn't kick in until you've been at the plants for 2 hours, which is pretty unfair to the driver, that's too long.  If the washout goes over an hour, that also kicks in detention - which shows you that washouts typically don't take that long.  Maybe 20-30 minutes max if everything goes well.

I am working until 2 weekends from now. The dispatcher simply said "I'm working you until you say something different".  Fine, she already had me scheduled this weekend, I want the next weekend off. I'm not going to start losing all of my weekends and especially Sundays to this job.  In reality, because the work days are short enough, I could work 7 days a week in perpetuity for I would never cross the 70 hour threshold in any given 7 hour stretch of days. 

I don't wonder if they made HOS (Hours of Service) regulations to include mandatory ELD's because the new generation of drivers won't be able to figure out some of this stuff. 70 hours/7 days or 80 hours/8 days, most companies do the 70.  There is 8 hours of driving then 30 minutes off, 11 hours of driving then 10 hours off, 14 hours on duty, 16 hour exception, only valid in adverse weather conditions (and some other situations), there are all kinds of clocks.  When you are doing paper logs, you have to figure out all of that yourself, the ELD's do that for you.

The thing I hate about ELD's is there is no cheating. And yes, I don't a monkey's @$$ about "cheating" government regulations one-size-fits-all applying to millions of drivers. If I'm 30 miles from the yard and I am out of hours, guess what I'm doing? Yup, I'm driving back to the yard, I'm not uselessly pulling over somewhere because the government thinks I'm too tired to drive. These unelected bureaucrats making these decisions need to go jump into an icy cold lake. They need to get people in there that actually understand the trucking industry.  Think of people like Pete Buttigege, who literally has no clue about any of it, not just trucking.  Aviation, trucking, Rail, cargo shipping, not a tidbit of experience, no idea what he's doing and it glaringly shows.

Well whatever. Since it's early I might as well just go. Get there early, maybe they will load me early. If not, I'll sit there and wait, don't really care, I'm awake and want to get this day over with if possible.  

G'day

Home much earlier than expected.

I got out there this morning around 6:30 am, got the truck fired up, did my pre trip stuff and HOS stuff, got on the road.  10 miles up 59, there's a seriously bad accident.  A truck heading southbound had an entire stack of 2X4's come off the trailer and land in oncoming traffic lanes. A car hit it head on - you could tell the car was moving along because the front end of the car was basically gone, there was nothing but a frame there, even the engine had disappeared somewhere.  This was after the fact, Troopers, Sheriff deputies, fire were there, the body or the person was already gone.  I say that because I have no idea if they lived through or not.

Beyond that, I am contacted from dispatch that the load has been moved to a 5:00 pm offload.  Well, I'm already on the clock and already driving.  If I go on duty, I can go back off and erase it.  But once you start driving, you are on the 14 hour clock whether you want to be or not. One caveat is that a manager can erase it, but it's entirely illegal.  If they get caught, I have no idea what the repercussions could be, but I would guess a stiff fine at the very least. 

So, she contacts me back after I stop at a truck stop and tells me to bring it to the yard, they will have a local driver deliver it tonight.  Shortly after leaving the truck stop, I was on a 2 lane highway.  It's 65mph, not a heavy traffic road. I'm going up a small hill when I see a pickup  cresting the hill coming the other direction.  I don't trust drivers anymore, not like I used to. Especially on a 2 lane highway.  He comes around the corner.

And keeps coming around until he's coming straight at me.  I'm watching this and heading off onto the shoulder of the highway, slamming on my brakes and making decisions of what I will do if this ends up having to either get into a crash or go off the side of a steep embankment.  I'm not losing my life for some idiot who is looking at their damn phone instead of the highway ahead of him.  He crosses the yellow lines, still headed directly for me and gets over half way into my lane before he looks up, swerves and just barely misses me.  The car on my tail also swerved out of the way - if they hadn't that truck would have hit them.  

I started thinking about all the signs I seem to be getting that this job and trucking in general are not what God wants from me right now.  I need supplemental income, but is this the way I should be going about it?  What else can I do? Go work at a restaurant? No.  I'm good at forklifts, I wondered about finding a forklift operator job somewhere? Maybe just pray and ask God to lead me to wherever or whatever else I can do for sufficient income to pay bills, expand the park and live my life?  

Up to the yard.  The dispatcher asks me about having trouble with exiting the plant on the tablet? Huh?  Go get your tablet and let's take a look.  I have that tablet down, whether it's actually working or not is a different story. But I do the exit thing and only once have I forgotten, remembered up the road and did it after the fact. She was saying I don't do it at all.

It's the tablet. And her system. It was showing me in Lufkin lmao.  I dunno, I do my job, I do what they expect of me and then some. People don't bother to report broken stuff, I do it all the time.  The trailer I took up there I showed the mechanics things wrong with it that need fixing.  The one with the bad dome seal and a broken cap.  

Left there with the first decent looking trailer I've pulled since getting back from Oregon. Everything works and there is no damage to the sides or rear of the thing.  Originally, I was to go to Gurdon, offload and then go get an empty. I wouldn't have been home for many more hours from now and I was thankful, actually, to be dragged to the yard instead. 

I am working the rest of this week, the weekend and all of next week up until Friday.  She said "I have you working until you say something". Well, I said something. I'll work this weekend, she already had me dispatched for it anyway, but next weekend? I want off. I always remind them I like to go to church on Sundays. 

Left there, back to the Park and now home.  

Day 2 of fasting.  I was doing good until I got home. Taylor had cooked something and I could smell it. I think my sense of smell for food is a bit heightened right now because I haven't eaten since Sunday evening.  I'm trying to get into ketosis quicker, I haven't tested yet but considering how long I have been off Keto? It could be a week or longer.  I won't fast that long, but I do know fasting helps it right along. Plus helps cleanse your body of toxins.  This is a no food fast.  I did have coffee this morning but no creamer and I never put sugar in my coffee.  

I'm quite serious about doing Keto now that I've been fasting a few days and looking at my belly, it's just big.  I've never been this fat in my entire life.  I will do strict keto for quite a while and get this belly back down to a place where I can look and say, ok, that's not that bad. That's going to take a while.  

Tested a few minutes ago with the ketone strips, nothing.  I didn't really expect it to, the first time I started this diet it took 10 days to get into ketosis.  I surely hope it won't take that long this time, really doesn't matter, even not being in ketosis, not eating and then eating light after I do start eating again I will still lose weight anyway. It's just that keto burns fat for energy unlike other diets.  I know how the diet works, I don't have to look up a bunch of stuff, just some new recipes would be nice.  Someone gave me a Keto recipe book a few years ago, I'm going to delve into that thing and try some of that stuff.

But, I have a fresh influx of Keto bread and stuff to make low carb sandwiches.  That and taco meat for low carb tortillas are my go-to for quick meals if I'm in a hurry.  A local chicken place sells baked chicken and of course there are baked chickens available at most grocery stores, already cooked, warmed and waiting just for - me, lol.  

I will probably start eating again tomorrow evening at dinner. Beer brats are on the menu, I can eat those with low carb bread or buns.  I think I have some keto buns in the freezer as it stands.  

Yup, that's my plan unless I find the stamina somewhere to continue on with fasting.  It would be good for all kinds of things inside my body to take a rest and clean out.  

My accounts not looking so rosy atm. Interest rates are going up on credit cards so I am getting hit accordingly. I made my bed, now sleep in it type of deal.  I can't even think about starting to pay that stuff down until I get ahead - which actually should start happening in December, especially if I"m actually going to be working for the next 10 days in a row, a weekend off and hopefully right back at it.  

I have to wonder if they are going to try to make me work on Christmas day.  I worked Thanksgiving, I am going to push for that day off, in fact, a 3 day weekend would be nice. Yeah, dream on I'm sure.  I am assuming I will be working there until I either find something else or - just keep working there.  I am going to start looking online at general jobs hiring - all of it, not just trucking. In fact, screw looking at trucking jobs.  I likely wouldn't switch trucking jobs until I get some experience with these particular types of tankers under my belt.  At least there are many days where I'm home early.

Tomorrow "should" be no different. With a clean trailer that doesn't need washed out, I can drive straight to Lufkin, load and go home.  

It's been cold here, at least my version of it.  

After inspecting the dome lid on top of the trailer after returning from Lufkin, it became obvious that people were bashing on the lugs instead of simply fixing the problem by replacing the seal.  The same said trailer also has a camlock lid with a broken cam arm on it.  It cannot be sealed shut. I ended up putting a different cap on it that they had given me.  Then, this morning at the plant, the plant worker said the inspection on the trailer is expired at the end of the month and if we try to bring it back after that, they will reject it.  ALL plants to that with chemical trailers, at least every one I have ever been in. \

So, texting the manager, I now have to take the trailer to a place in Crossett to drop off and have washed out and pick up an empty there.  This came from the dispatcher who contradicted the manager.  Does it make any difference? No, it takes forever,  a day and a half to get to either Crossett or the yard from Gurdon, I don't really care. It's 3 plus hours from Crossett back to my park. Tomorrow will be a long day.  I think I have the 10:00 am delivery time, I'm going to get up there earlier than that, say 9:00 am.  

I bashed the lugs on that dome so I am hopeful no leaks this time and I can offload quickly.  Done by 10, I can get down to Crossett by noon, out of there in probably half an hour and then home by - I'll just guess around 3:30.  But, we'll add another hour for good measure. I can say that I got done and back quickly today, as I had hoped for. If everything goes right, it really shouldn't take that long to go to Nacogdoches for the washout and then Lufkin to load.  

 After I got back and bashed those lugs down with a hammer, I headed off to multiple stops, the longest being Walmart.   I had to get Keto stuff and out of dog food, to name a few things.  Then I had to go wait in the curbside pickup to get the new laptop.  Not a big deal.  In a parking lot I was in that I was leaving, there was an accident. Yes, in the parking lot, lol.  A lady had driven her car in front of an oncoming pickup truck and the truck hit the car, putting a huge dent into the passenger side front door. 

The lady was both on the phone and yelling at the dude in the truck, who was just sitting there looking at her with a perplexed look on his face. They hadn't moved the vehicles so it was quite obvious it wasn't his fault, he had the right of way. But, in parking lots, I don't think police will get involved. Well, I don't know about Texas, Arizona is that way.  The lady's anger was better directed at herself than this man sitting in the truck. 

Off to the bank to deposit funds I had received from the park and then home. 

And very hungry. Today I relaunched Keto.  Haven't eaten a thing.  Was trying to make it through 24 hours without eating, I'm not sure I'm going to make it. It's ok if I don't, it just helps get back into ketosis faster.  I bought plenty of keto stuff and I'm good to go.  Not really looking forward to the first week or so of this, it will get easier after I am doing it for awhile.

No show on an overnighter. They paid in advance and I've heard nothing from them, they forfeit their deposit, which is the first night's stay. They were only staying one night anyway.  I need to get out my book and see who owes what now that I paid that insurance bill. 

Welp, so much for the weekend. I will apparently be working all this week, through the weekend and all next week. That's fine, I guess, I need the money badly atm.  I'll be collecting around 4 grand between the 30th and the 7th, so maybe not so bad. Just paying this insurance bill kind of hurts and then a mortgage payment goes out before I even receive the money and beyond that normal payments. 

So, I'm not toast, just have to get a couple payments in there that are due before the 1st.  

 Monday - early

Lmao

I get up, barely, lol, dragged my @$$ out of bed, got in the shower, etc.  I come out of my room to get a coffee cup and hear yelling on the other side of the house. Oh boyyyy, here we go! Monday morning!  I make my cuppa and then they all come out. 2 boys and mama.  The youngest took 20 minutes to drag his butt out of bed and mama wasn't happy, it was time to leave.  School busses don't wait, if you aren't there, they leave without you. He had lost his shoes, mom had finally found them. He didn't want to go to school.

So this boy sits down on a large recliner in the living room, picks up his other shoe - one is on his foot, one is in his hands, and starts playing with it. It took her having to go get a belt before he would finally even do anything. She didn't whip him, btw, it was just a motivational tool, lol.

Mama goes into the kitchen for the milk she's been pumping for the baby - if you follow this blog you know what I'm talking about, if you don't, oh well, she's a surrogate mother helping the new parents out with pumping milk instead of having the baby have to consume formula.

While she's in the kitchen, this boy got the shoe on and then engaged in the most magnificent stomping act I've ever seen in my entire life!  You know, when little kids get mad they stomp their foot? Oh nooo, that's not what happened here. This boy stomped his entire body! Arms flailing around, screaming, crying, I've never seen anything like it.  It's youtube gold, I wish I would have had a camera on that event.  That kind of video would go viral in a minute lmao.  

The older boy was standing at the door, motionless, silent, with a look of terror in his eyes.  He doesn't like when mom gets that angry.  The younger brother wasn't listening, was having a hissy fit and she wasn't having it. I said bye to the oldest as they started to leave, this little squeaking noise came out of his mouth, byyyeee.  

That woke me right up! I''m ready for the driving day! LMAO!! The funny part about this? They've been off on Thanksgiving break for what, 9 days now which includes 2 weekends? They've been getting up early almost every single day without anyone prodding them.  I know what it is, too. That little boy is coddled by grandma.  She spoils the hell out of those kids and it shows when she leaves. Life goes back to normal, thank God Almighty, but the kids? Well, the youngest anyway, the older one not so much, he can't deal with it.  

I really think her visits here should be limited to a few days at most.  But, I just live here, it's not my call.  I would tell her in a minute. She tried to chastise me out yesterday. The oldest had left stuff on the couch so she, grandma, got onto his case about it.  Especially leaving the Switch (game, Nintendo) on the couch that is black, matches the couch color and anyone could miss it, sit right down on top of it and smash the thing. Those things are $350.

After she got done with that, I actually agreed with her on that one and told the boy you did the same thing yesterday leaving that game when you got up to go to the kitchen. That game is going to get smashed and you aren't going to have a Switch anymore (I pitched in half the money to pay for the damned thing a few years ago plus bought games for it).  

Well, she overhears me, steps into the room and attempts to tell me how things should go! Lmao, wrong person, gong!  You sure as HELL aren't coming into MY room to attempt to talk to me like I'm one of the kids! I talked right of the top of her and set her straight.  I don't do that often, but it was definitely warranted at that point in time.

Anyway, a trip to the washout, to the plant and back up, if I'm lucky, I'll be back at the park around 1:00 pm. If I'm not lucky, who knows?!! I'm still laughing about that boy's stomping act, it was really a sight to see.  I was laughing even harder because, of course, no one else found it funny lmao.  

Anyway, those kids are on their way to school, they get free breakfast which is usually pretty good (at least by their accounting of it ) and so maybe they'll get into better moods. I don't know, but they are gone and I don't have to deal with it. I have other things to deal with and that's enough for me!  

Time to get out of here!

G'day : )

 So we go to church. We being 2 kids and I.  I do the normal thing in signing them in, leaving them at the kidz (that's how they spell it) church and I go to the regular adult version.  

We're 30 minutes into the sermon.  I sit on the 2cd row from the front, highly visible 

I'm taking in what the pastor is saying when I notice something out of the corner of my eye and then look over. It's one of the youth ministry workers wanting me to come with her.  She was being as discrete at possible, but obviously it's going to distract a lot of people.  

I start wondering what's going on, but my mind settled quickly on the 6 year old getting into trouble.  It's just how he is.  He knows when he does certain things that he's going to get into trouble and he's fine with that.  Or so it appears anyway, cause' he gets into trouble a lot at home.  

We get outside the doors and she proceeds to explain to me that the boy is in the play tube things - this is a huge array of them that goes clear to the ceiling some 25 feet up maybe even 30 feet, hard to judge.  They can't get him to come out, they asked him his parents phone number - does anyone know anyone's phone number any more besides their own? I have my mother's phone number memorized because she's had it something like 30 years.  

We walk into the children's auditorium, the lights are out except up front on the stage and obviously, we are a huge distraction.  He had, of course, come out of there once he understood I was coming to get him. Cause' honey, he ain't about to sit there and defy me.  I'm like a 3rd parent, not exactly a parent but I have no problems telling him when he's doing something wrong.  

Oh, well he's out...yea he's coming with me, I'm not going to leave him in here to further distract your service.  

I bring him back into the main auditorium and back to my seat.  Yup, more distraction, but I came to church to worship and to hear the message.  Sorry everyone.  The boy sits down and yes, he is now behaving.  I was, however, peeved at this point after thinking about it.  This boy causing distraction to not 1 but 2 separate services.  I tried to get back into what the pastor was saying, eventually I was able to.

The boy had no explanation, of course, for his behavior. 

I get back to the kidz auditorium to pick up the other boy- he's almost always a good kid. He has his moments but he's pretty much a non-trouble maker, he doesn't like to get into trouble and he definitely doesn't like getting spankings. He will do whatever it takes to keep from having that happen. I then get more of the story now that there was time.  

The kids service was starting, they called all the kids out of the play tubes, this boy refused.  This went on for "at least 10 minutes if not longer", multiple people trying to get him out of there.  He finally comes out, a ministry worker tries to talk to him, he runs back into the tubes.  That's when they decided to come find me.  As I said, he knew I was coming after him and he didn't want any part of ignoring me, he knows better. 

So I text mom.  Yada yada yada, this is what happened. They are going to deal with him tonight, for we had a busy day and there wasn't time to adequately address him without being in a hurry.  We went to our normal Applebee's, then home, then off to Christmas pic with the group of friends we hang out with - the rich lady paid for all of it (I don't mean that disparagingly, she's a nice lady), back to the house quickly so Taylor could go to her D&D game she always does on Sundays.  

I expect all hell to break loose tonight when they get a hold of him, set him down and give him whatever discipline he is going to get.  I wash my hands of it after I hand it off to them, it's their department to deal with their kids and they have no problems doing it.  I'm not the father/mother, I just let them do whatever they are going to do whether I agree with it or not. Mostly I agree, sometimes I greatly disagree but I keep my mouth shut about it.  They've tried everything with this boy, he simply won't listen.  Well, take that back, on some things he's gotten better.  

The ministry workers even asked him if he really wanted to get into that kind of trouble? Who is stricter, your mommy or your daddy? They understand I'm not the father, I've made that know several times over.  Daddy.  Yup.  Daddy doesn't automatically whip his ass or anything, but he's stern when it comes to the trouble this boy causes.

I was slightly embarrassed, tho not that much. I just was sorry to cause that kind of distraction to a church service. Both coming and going.  I don't go to church to have to deal with unruly children.  It's arleady determined he's going to miss at least one week of church, in my view, he could miss a few months of it.  This isn't the first incident. The first time was him flipping off another kid inside the children's church.  He won't care if he doesn't go and that's why I don't care if he doesn't go again for quite a while. He'll see his brother going without him and knowing we always go to Applebee's......

That's my excitement for the day.  I finally got around to getting the deer meat separated into meal sized portions - probably a lot bigger than one meal's worth but whatever, it's 4 large baggies full, wrapped it all in plastic wrap and then put it in Ziploc baggies.  Marked the outside of them with the type of meat and date and then decided to put a piece of paper with same-said info inside of it. It will probably not get eaten quickly, but I am looking forward to backstrap. 

Now? I've got to take snapshots of the insurance papers and send them back to the insurance company along with a check - they want a pic of the check both sides so they can get this done quickly, I"m coming up on the end of a full year of insurance coverage as of the 1st of December.  

Up early tomorrow for work, go get the tank washed out, get it filled with glue and back home.  Hoping to be home no later than 1.  Then I have to bash those lugs on there with a hammer and try to get it sealed up, I do not want to spend another almost 4 hours again up in Gurdon unloading the damned thing.  Uhh, make it hopefully no later than 2. Really depends on which person is there loading, I have found out. Some are fast and efficient, some aren't fast or efficient at all.  

What else. Rents coming up, gonna need them. Electric bills total just under $900.  That still seems pretty high, but it's a far cry better than $2,500.  Hmm, maybe not.  No, it's not that bad I guess. For 16 lots it's $56 per lot on average.  I mean, it probably won't go much lower than that unless I lose lots and don't refill them quickly.  

Still musing whether to build a cabin, put up a glamping tent or save for a septic system.  I have plenty of time to muse, lol.  It's in my mind.  The new person hasn't said anything since I spoke to her yesterday so I am going to hope that I don't have any issues going there.  I'd prefer her unit to stay back there even if a lot comes available. It's older, it isn't in bad shape, per se, just not the prettiest thing.  Doesn't blend in with everything else out there on the main lots.  

I didn't go to the park today and doubt I will unless something comes up.  There is another overnight stay coming in sometimes today and that's it until - Saturday.  I look at the over all pic. In a 30 day period, it's rented out just short of a full lot's monthly rent rate. I like having people coming and going, I just like to be able to give people a place to stay at the last minute.  Don't have that available today or tomorrow, but that's a good thing, right?  I had to turn down at least half a dozen people this week, just no room.  

The new park is showing up now in Google searches.  It's a pretty barren place, they just took fresh pics 3 weeks ago and it's nothing but dirt and some gravel.  They have 3, brand new cabin things set up, a few RV's in there and really, the only thing going for them, is their price.  I doubt I will lose many people to them for I am not that much more expensive and I don't charge extra for electricity either.  Why stress of that? Not stressing, really, I like to keep my eye on what everyone around me is doing for prices.  Looks like brand new park models they've brought in for overnight or long term, not sure which.  They are nice looking.  I wonder if the local dealer would finance me for such an undertaking? 

Keto is en-queue for tomorrow. Eating stuff I won't be able to eat again for quite a while. Had a loaf of Keto bread in the freezer which saved me a trip to the store.  Keto lunch is easy, just make sandwiches on keto bread and it's keto friendly. Just keep off any sugary sauces.  Cheese, meat, keto bread, onions, jalapenos and mayonnaise? Those are all good.  Back to eating separately from everyone else. That's not really that hard, I just don't eat the noodles, rice - whatever.  Off the sugary stuff.  Probably gonna get some "fake" sweets tho to get me through the hard times in the beginning.  I want to fast tomorrow but I wonder if I'll make it through.  Actually, I can make it until early afternoon without eating under most any circumstances, so I might just skip taking food with me.  A 3 day fast would help get me back into ketosis, but alas....I doubt I have that kind of internal fortitude right now.  

My belly has grown as big as it's going to grow, that's what I can say.  I'll spend 6 months bringing it back down or a year or however long.  One thing that always motivates me is if I'm pushing going into another size up on pant size. No thanks!?

 Sunday

We had a great time yesterday, but it oddly ended much earlier than I expected it to.  Ate, had some laughs and then everyone went home early.  Like, we aren't doing a card night?  I dunno, I don't make the plans, I'm just along for the ride in those events.  The ladies make all the plans on a 4-person texting group that have with themselves, the men find out afterwards whatever they are deciding. Sometimes, the other side doesn't find out until it's actually about to happen.

Whatever the case, the grandma and the oldest boy are going home today after being here...9 days as of today.  The living room will go back to normal, the kids will return to normal - the house will return to normal.  If you really want an ideal situation for these much-more-frequent scenarios with them coming down for extended stays, we would have to have at least one more bedroom, if not 2. 

At some point, there will need to be another bedroom.  The 2 that actually live here are young, I don't think the oldest much cares for having to share a bedroom with his younger brother, but it's been that way basically their entire lives.  The time will come - probably preteens - when he will start getting vocal about wanting his own room.  I dunno, my brothers and I had our own rooms when we were growing up.

My room in Pittsburgh was very small. It was a servant's quarters, barely enough room for a twin bed, a small bedside table and a dresser. It was small but it was my own room.  My brothers didn't think it was my room, coming in and giving me hell all the time.  They always said I was the spoiled one. No, I was the one that did their chores and got their allowances.  They were too busy either hanging out with their gang friends or the eldest beating up the middle to pay too much attention to me.  We moved one state to another and we still had our own rooms.  

The problem is, you are talking about a needing a 5 bedroom house.  Housing here isn't cheap, which surprises people attempting to move into the area. A small town out in the middle of nowhere with high housing prices whether you're trying to buy a house or rent one. Rentals are ridiculously high.  

I'll just be glad to get the house back to normal. If this situation ever comes to all of us moving into the same residence, I do hope the kids are older by that point in time, the whole house wont' be upended by a "visit" from a person that wants to take over. It would be sad for me to have to leave here, but it would definitely be something I'd have to weigh in my mind if this grandma's intentions ever come to fruition.  

I'm definitely starting the diet Monday.  I have had it in my mind, this time I'm going to do it.  I keep saying this over and over, I know, but now is the time.  It's going to be hell converting back to keto, I just have no choice. I have been giving myself excuses to just eat whatever - rice, beans, lots of potatoes, pasta, etc.  Even sugary stuff.  Cake, cookies, fudge brownies. Not excessive amounts or even on a daily basis. I was off of sweets excepting the fake stuff for a few years and got to the point I didn't really miss sugar.  

New person moved in to the alternate spot yesterday.  A whole crew of people came with her to help, which was nice. They seemed like nice people, the whole lot of them, including the older man that was pulling the trailer with his truck.  I tried having them place it parallel to the coach, it wasn't working out.  The sewer connection on the trailer was too far from the sewer connection coming out of the ground.  It was also too close to the coach, it would have created a complete lack of privacy for both parties to be that close together. 

I had the guy move it the way I had the other trailer that was in there.  The connections are much closer and it creates a situation where the back end of the trailer is facing the coach instead of the whole side of the trailer. I was trying to get the thing out of view and hidden behind the shed. Just didn't work out.  They paid, I left to go to the store and then go home and start helping out.  

A 40X16 shed/small barn, site built is 10k.  I know because I contacted the guy. He's the one that build the shed.  He's the cheapest thing around. A no frills barn that size starts at 20k and goes way up from there from anyone else.  He says 40X16 is as big as he makes them, I was originally inquiring about a 40X20.  What would I do with a barn that size? A small office, a size getaway room and the rest a shop.  Probably 10 linear feet for office/room, maybe a little more. I'd like to be able to set up a work bench, have plenty of storage shelving and have area to put the mower and anything else I need stored indoors.  

Well, I need to go get that laptop today.  It's sitting there at Walmart, ready to be picked up "we'll hold it for 4 days for you". Okay?  I think I'll just put this one in storage and pull it out whenever I might need to access any files from it.  It's that or transfer a bunch of files and I"m not sure I want to load a new one down with that.  

Other than that? Church, probably.  Go check the camera, maybe, bring it home, plug in the memory card and see if it actually took any pictures.  

G'day

 Saturday - Friendsgiving

So the wonderful day is here. I don't say that sarcastically, btw, we are all looking forward to seeing everyone at the same place and enjoying each other's company. It's been a while. Taylor was pregnant, not feeling well and the capped any idea of doing anything over here or anywhere else, for that matter. It's been a little of girls night out here and there, nothing with the whole crew. I take that back, there was one of them a while back that I was out of town for - in Oregon doing that nightmarish training. 

We used to get together at least a couple times a month, sometimes more.  I'm just a little worried about the tiny bird I bought, but as I said previously, I thought it was just going to be for us 5, not us 19.  There are going to be so many side dishes and the fact that all of those people already had Thanksgiving dinner, I'm hoping it will be enough coupled with the ham.  

Anyway, my cleaning activities started quite a while ago and trying to get stuff done before I have to go to the park and get these new people moved in. 

Start the turkey around 11 this morning it should be done by 2.  Or earlier than 2, which is fine.  

My park will be completely full including the 2 alternate spots as of today, again.  However, one of the alternate spots isn't paying anything and hasn't for going on 2 months now.  I'd be a little more - unnerved - about that if it was summer and they were consuming large amounts of electricity on my dime.  The whole purpose of that setup was to sell her the coach - making payments on it and paying the lot rent every month.

That has gone completely out the window and I suspect that once they get on Medicare, it will still be difficult to get both the lot rent and the coach payment out of them.  There is nothing I can do about that right now, I agreed to let them stay out of the kindness of my heart and the Lord's directives as stated in the Bible, there isn't anything more to it than that. To throw a person out that was working but became incapacitated due to a medical event would seem ... horrible.....to me and nothing I could live with. I would wonder what the Lord would say to me about that at Judgement Day.  

I can tell ya there are plenty of landlords that would throw them right out without hesitation.  No pay, no stay.   I'm just not one of those people, not under these circumstances anyway, I've thrown plenty of room renters out of my house, that sort of conditioned me to having to deal with people that are unruly, inconsiderate or otherwise won't follow park rules. Haven't had a lot of it, but there have been a few.  

I do wonder how long it's going to be before they get the Medicare going.  If the payments come to my park, I'll find out soon enough.  If they go to the daughter's house, will the daughter let me know and give me at least the lot rent every month? Remains to be seen.  The tent lady isn't 100% incapacitated, she is moving around with a walker tho I have no idea how her mental state of being is.  She is in some sort of rehab is all I know about that and also know that her brother, also living there, now takes the dog out and lets the dog poop wherever and doesn't clean it up. 

I completely forgot about that, need to deal with that directly.  The man is lazy, has no more motivation in life than to get up, smoke several packs of cigarettes a day and look at the internet. Oh, and drinking. I don't know how much he drinks.  And wandering around without a shirt on on the occasions he does come out of that coach.                                                                               

I don't want to get started on that, that sort of irritates me, for that man could be collecting SSI payments and doesn't do anything about it.  Supposedly the daughter is up his @$$ about that, if she isn't I will.  When considering money being left on the table and what they owe me? Yes, his ass can get up, get over to the SS office in town and get started on getting everything he needs to start collecting his money.  

Ok, let's get off of the negatives. It's kind of easy to go down that path when I start thinking about it and get to the point rather quickly that money could be getting paid to me if that guy had done something about this months ago when I 'encouraged' him to get to that office and get started on it. I don't have a birth certificate.  Yes, they will help you do whatever you need.  It's not rocket science. 

The grandma and the oldest kid are leaving tomorrow. She has completely taken over the living room and I rarely go in there. That's her bedroom, but she sleeps on that couch throughout the day.  I don't know why she sleeps so much, she isn't much older than me and tho I admit there are times fatigues catches up with me and nap is in order, not the entire day?  I just wish there was another bedroom for her.  

I did say let's get off of the negatives. There's a lot of negatives going on around me I guess, just have to try and focus on the positives. One positive is the park insurance coming down by almost $700. That completely surprised me and in a good way.  I was expecting it to go up, not down, inflation being the reason and everyone has jumped on the inflation bandwagon in order to justify jacking prices up of pretty much every single thing whether inflation really affected it or not. 

Just the idea that I need to come up with that much money right now, lol.  I guess not that bad, I have lots of payments coming up quick, I am going to get that done this weekend, I fear that Monday morning will come, I will get busy with trucking and space it out.  I do not want a lapse in coverage.  I've had that bad luck before, where the house insurance ended because the company wasn't doing mobile coverage anymore for anyone and I procrastinated looking for new coverage - and then my house burned down.  I learned from that and I will not be repeating it if at all possible.  It's just minimum coverage to save my @$$ if someone sues me for whatever reason or something happens and they somehow find me liable.  

It's going to be a while before I get another paycheck.  It's only twice a month and I just got paid 3 days ago - it was a small check.  Payroll period ends at the end of the month, I hope to have another 4 days of work on it before it ends so I can have some money coming in.  By then, the insurance will be paid, I will be looking to buy some Christmas presents but I will be saving for property taxes.  I have until February, I think, well the end of February, before they start adding penalties for late payment.  It's 3 grand worth.  

Whatever the case, I will be attempting to save business funds for the septic system.  That's going to take a while, that's 7 grand.  

Oh! I did buy a new laptop yesterday on Black Friday (I still am wondering when they will start calling it racist?).  It was a cheaper model.  I did it on $25 per month payments.  It is less than $300, but I really don't want all my cash tied up in any one thing right now.  I really must get more lots in there to up the income so that all of these payments won't eat up finances so much.

Well, these people just texted me. "We're going to show up a little early if that's okay?" Yes, but they said they would be leaving between 9 and 10.  I need to get moving, now that I think about it. I'm only half dressed, lol, just enough to not be walking around the house looking inappropriate.  

I bid you a good day.  

 Out early, out of the park early, up to the plant in reasonable amount of time.  Weigh in, go to rack, hook up the air line, turn the air on and then find someone inside to sign off on paperwork. Back out, look at the pressure, it's only at 17 psi and not budging.  I need it at 30 psi.  Well, I figured it would go up so I hooked everything up, opened all the valves and let'er rip.  

The pressure was not going up.  They have a high volume air compressor, it's not the air supply. I go by the ladder on the tanker and hear hissing.  Went up - the dome lid is leaking, profusely.  There's not a damn thing I can do about that, I don't have a spare gasket for that dome.  Well, I could have probably taken a hammer and beaten those lugs down tighter, but we aren't allowed to climb on top of the tankers inside the plant property.  

It took almost 4 hours to unload that thing. It was not fun.  I checked the thing after returning to the park, it is trashed.  There is a obvious portion about 10 inches long where the air can escape easily. This is a different trailer, not the one I have been using.  The manager said "we need to get you spare gaskets". 

I don't find out about things until after the fact.  And too late.  

Monday, when I get back from Lufkin, I will take some sealant and put it on that area and then take a hammer and bash those lugs as tight as I can get them.  If that doesn't work, it will be another fun, exhilarating, 4 hours of offloading.  Definitely going to at least try to get it shut down good.

The deer meat has been "processed".  The processing at the dude's tailgate on his pickup lol.  He took about half of it and gave me the rest.  It isn't really a lot, I don't think he cut down that whole deer.  Whatever the case, it's going in the freezer. We are having Friendsgiving tomorrow and leftovers probably for days after that.  The lady of this house doesn't like deer meat, so that doesn't help. I'm cook the stuff anyway, just going to have to have it separate from dinners. 

A newbie moving in tomorrow morning.  She will be taking the space behind the trailer.  The park is full and has been full for some time now.  I get calls all the time for long and short term and unfortunately, I have to turn them down.  I am pretty sure I could fill up another 15 lots.  Probably take a month or two, but it would happen at least with the current load of calls coming in.  Nothing I can do about it.  I doubt I will even be able to begin saving any money towards a septic system until next year, too much stuff coming up for payments.  

Anyway, filling out the insurance stuff - finally got it, a little late in the day considering my current insurance runs out on the 1st.  It has a "Notice of Terrorism Insurance Coverage" inclusion in it.  ??? Do I really need terrorist coverage at a small RV park out in the boonies in the middle of nowhere?  The price went way down from the first year's coverage, probably because I am only looking for liability coverage and coverage on the shed since I spent so much money on the thing.  It's at $966 for the entire year.  Ok, I am getting the same kind of coverage I have now, it's just that it's cheaper. I'll have to guess because I already have insurance and because I have made no claims.  

It's just one of the things you need if someone sues you and tries to take what you own.  I worked a total of 17 years for those 401k's I cashed out and was paying on the house 15 years to get that cashout/refi.  It's not something I would like to see just disappear because some person got hurt or whatever, sued me and I lose everything.  It is wonderful, however, that Texas implemented a limited liability for damages to RV park owners this year.  You break your leg on my walking trails? That's no my fault unless you can prove that there was some circumstance that I should have mitigated in order to make it safer.  

Still, it really limits what people can sue for, as it should be. There are legitimate things and then there's the miles long lists of illegitimate things. Sort of like the woman who sued McDonald's for millions of dollars because she spilled her coffee on herself and burned herself.  She wins because of her own mistake?  This never made sense to me nor the endless parade of lawsuits you saw on the news that came after that one with people making ridiculous claims and actually winning and usually in the millions of dollars range.  

I'll have that taken care of Monday, I am rather relieved that amount isn't so high.  It's still up there, but I doubt it will ever get much better than that.  It's actually getting late, like 11:00 pm.  I dunno what else, there's something but I can't remember what.  Well, the turkey I bought is rather small. It's only 12 pounds.  I usually get 20 pounders.  I didn't think we would need a huge one this year so I bought a smaller one.  People are bringing so much stuff tomorrow plus someone is bringing and entire ham that it really shouldn't be an issue - hopefully.  It would be different to see an entire turkey consumed versus the norm of having plenty of it left over.  

So, lots to do tomorrow with getting the turkey prepped and runs to the store and then over to the park to get this new person situated in and then cook the turkey for everyone to eat around 2ish. 

With that, I think I will go to bed. No need to get up super early, just would be nice to get a good night's sleep. 

 Thursday - night

Kind of get busy in the morning so not so much time to write blog entries.  Today was pretty simple. Get i the truck, drive to Lufkin, load and come right back.  I was done by 1:30 this afternoon. Tomorrow will also be simple tho more driving: Get in the truck, drive to Gurdon, unload, drive back to my park.  After that, a 2 day weekend - no work.  I specifically asked for it off since I worked Thanksgiving and that was that.  They've got me set for Monday unless that changes somehow in the interim.  

I've got the earlier load tomorrow, I can get home at a decent hour.  Like, get up at 6:00 am, leave the yard by 7, get up there around 9:30 am, probably out of the plant around 11, back home 2 at the latest.  I add time always to everything because there are so many unknowns that can occur.  So we'll call it 3 in the afternoon for good measure, which is still a decent hour to get home by.  

Anyway, this couple calls me about an hour and a half ago. They are sitting at the local Golden Corral, probably the only restaurant in town that was still open besides IHOP.  Well, Waffle House may also be open. But Golden Corral has an actual Thanksgiving dinner.  Anyway, they said "we are in the wrong state" without any explanation and asked if I had anything available? They sounded desperate, like no one else at the other parks were answering their phones.

Well, I have an alternate spot if you want it. It's just a parking area, not  a regular RV lot in my park but it has 30 amp service with sewer and water connections.  They said they would call me when they got over there, but I was watching for them on the camera.  The did, indeed, show up and I went over there to collect.  "JUST MARRIED" on the back of their Jeep window pulling a small travel trailer, I congratulated them.  I had to find out the story about "being in the wrong state". How do you do that, what happened?

They are part of 2 groups that were traveling together, a Jeep group and an RV group.  They were going to meet in our town.  Or were they? They said they were told my town's name and thought our town- in Texas. No, lol, it turns out the rest of the gang is up in the same named town - in Oklahoma - north of Oklahoma City.  Lol.  I said well, I'll tell ya what, since your were just married and having a time of it, I'll just let you have this space for free tonight.  Congratulation on the wedding!  

He told me that he was over in Dallas today near a pond in some ritzy area. The pond was being cleaned out for the winter by some personnel and their truck got stuck. So, he unhooked his trailer, got his Jeep into position and pulled them out with his winch.  He declared "Karma!".  I did something for someone today and now it gets paid back to me!

Ok, something like that lol.  

After that we went into the woods for a hike. Those 3 kids had been in the house almost an entire week, time to get some energy out. After that, over to some folks that showed up for a 2 night stay and hung out with them for awhile, over to another trailer, hung out there for a while and left. 

By the time we got home, 2 people had stopped by our house. Both came bearing gifts of Thanksgiving dinner, and we are talking some excellent food!  No one knew they were coming, they both knew that we weren't doing Thanksgiving tonight so they decided to bless us.  What a cool thing for people to do!  

So, those people help some workers in Dallas, I help them and then some other people give to us : )  I see the Lord in all of that.  And "do unto others as you would have them do to you".  "Give and it shall be given unto you".  And stuff like that. Not the prosperity message of the false teachers, the real message of the Bible to love your neighbor and lots of other scripture.  

Well, anyway, the meal was absolutely delicious. I had it in my mind that today is Friday.  I know it's Thursday, so have to get that feeling out of my head, cause' tomorrow is going to come early and I don't need the weekend feel about anything.  Not yet anyway. Just looking forward to it since we are having a rather large party on Saturday and another Thanksgiving meal, everyone is bringing something.  Ham, Turkey and all kinds of sides dishes.  Plus good company, should be fun.  

So, get the task of getting work done for the week out of the way so I can get something from the grocery store to make.  I want to make something - don't know what yet - to offer at the dinner bar.  I was going to cook the turkey but apparently Taylor wants to do it. I dunno, but you really have to keep checking the meat frequently when it gets close to done because it can overheat easily and dry the bird out.  Just want nice, tender and moist turkey.  

Apparently deer meat is coming home with me tomorrow or sometime in the next few days anyway.  It's fresh and it's probably going to be tasty, this was a young do, good sized deer but still young enough that there should be any game taste to it.  Soak it in milk, I've read over and over, might do that when it comes time to cook some of it.  

 Wednesday - night

Got home late, going to bed late.  

I got to the washout this morning to find out they don't open until 8:00 am.  Their website lists them opena at 7.  Yes, I was there before 8, I called the dude, asked him when they open? Because it didn't say it anywhere.  We open at 8. Ok, I'll just wait. I went back to sleep is what I really did.  

He shows up, I'm still sleeping, the truck in front of me doing his thing, I woke up.  I think it was the eyes on me, I didn't go into the sleeper, I just let the seat down and snoozed. 

I went into the office, he was finishing up with the other guy and then he gets into this long conversation with me.  It was about this other driver that talks too much, is an ass**** and the truck I am driving reminded him of that dude because he used to drive that truck. Great!  I just listened, no need to speak my mind to the people that clean out the trailers.  I don't really give a s*** about what the other driver was doing, but, this dude seemed interesting and just didn't like the other guy very much.  

They got the guy in front of me done in  - I have no idea how long, I pulled into position to wait and yes, I went back to sleep.  I don't think it was very long.  Then they got to mine, pulled the truck up and the kid went at it. I say kid, he's probably in his early 20's. I went back to sleep. Are you getting the idea yet that I didn't sleep very well last night? Yea, that's me.  It came to the point where I remembered to just empty out my mind, take some deep breaths and let the air out slowly. 

It worked. But not after I was awake for 2 hours.  Whatever. I drove all day long.  Had a headache at the last stretch from not getting enough sleep but keeping enhanced focus on the road.  It went away on it's own, eventually.  

I have only to run to Lufkin for 10 am appointment and then back home. I dropped the loaded trailer off at the yard in Arkansas and picked up and empty that had already been washed out. I'm skipping alot, but I won't skip the kid that was still under my trailer with his truck when I got to the yard. I called my manager, there is a truck still under that trailer.

Yes, so and so is probably sleeping in it, go knock on the door. Oh, someone's in it? Yes.  No problem. this kid comes to the driver's seat, opens his window, blah blah blah. Lazy ass from a lazy, unmotivated generation, I just said you have my trailer.  His @$$ wanted me to unhook his truck so he could pull out versus his @$$ getting out of the truck and doing the unhooking himself.  He should have dropped that trailer as soon as he hit the yard, not try to make some other dude to do his work for him.

I admit my response wasn't so great. I am your personal b****? Get out and drop your own damn trailer.  It's the first time in my trucking career I had some person wanting me to do that for them.  No clue this idea of getting other people to do your work for them. I got my ass out of bed at 5:00 am, I don't know when he got up but I had been working all day long and he was in his sleeper, sleeping.  

Anyway, got to the yard, this dude blowing up my phone. The dude that always interrupts me and talks over to the top of me and calls me names constantly.  This dude that I am eliminating from my life, I am far too old and have gone through far too much stuff in my life to put up with this s***.  He turned from aggressor to victim.  I am going to move out, blah blah blah, I don't want to cause any problems.

I refused to get drawn into his baiting, I didn't respond to any of it.  If he wants to go find another place to live, that's fine by me, but I'm not going to be his excuse to carry on his pathetic mindset and attitude in and towards life.  I came into the yard and he was sitting in his yard next to the lady he claims to dislike. Yeah, dude, whatever.  Just done with this dudes' disrespect.  

It's getting late. I have the trip to Lufkin, leaving at 8:00 am. So I best get myself to be and hope I sleep better tonight.