Sunday - morning

Time change.  I looked at the clock last night and realized I was losing an hour and it might as well be midnight versus the 11:00 pm it showed. So, I went to bed, waking up twice, but only for a few minutes and going right back to sleep.  9 hours of sleep.  

Kids are leaving today, I will relish the lack of bickering, fighting, screaming, crying and all the rest of it.  That isn't all they do, of course, but it's what stands out, especially when discussing having a whole week off from school, which basically started after school Friday and will continue on until next Monday morning.  Instead of being here, doing that nonsense all day long, they are going to grandmas and grandpas, where they will be endlessly spoiled, but they will start their s*** anyway, lol.

I intend on doing nothing today, tho I will go to church, I mean nothing in terms of work. Tomorrow, I will go hook up the trailer, go to Lowe's, get the 20 foot 4x4 and post hole cement and then I will have to try and dig out a 4 foot deep post hole. It's a challenge in digging out such a hole in this kind of dirt with all those old roots from trees that are gone, but the roots are definitely still there.

The movies.  Well, we went to see a movie 2 nights ago, we being the kids and I.  We sat down in our usual place, the very top row.  There were 2 large groups of teenagers, 1 on our right and 1 on the left.  I figured there would be a problem once the movie started, I was not wrong.

They continue right on with loud talking, completely ignoring the movie and making everyone mad, after the movie started. To the point another group of people lower down yelled at them, "Y'ALL NEED TO CHILL OUT!"  Who needs to chill out? the group of mouthy teens yelled back.  YOU! Well, that was ignored, of course and they kept on disrupting the movie.  I was tempted to tell them the same thing, but thought better of it. They would just mouth off to me as they had the others.

Instead, I went to the lobby, found a group of employees, asked for the manager. The lady said yes, can I help you? Yes, these teens in the theater are talking, making all kinds of noise, using their phones to do a strobe light type of thing, it's ridiculous. 

I went back into the theater and several minutes later, an employee came in and said something to both groups in such low tones I couldn't hear what they said. Yea, that didn't work either.  There was a surprise coming, tho, once that I did not expect at all.  A couple of minutes after that, a cop came in there, stood against the wall in plain view and - just stood there.  

All of the noise, flashing lights and mouthiness completely stopped.  That officer stood there the entire movie and not a further peep out of those kids.  I dunno, but I kind of think if they are going to let teens in without adult supervision, they need to have an employee monitoring them.  Whatever the case, I thanked the officer who had moved to the lobby after the movie was over - we just waited until everyone left before we got up - and he just nodded his head and said anything to help!

Sort of recapping Friday night, Saturday and now into Sunday.  My empty long term spots are, amazingly, being kept relatively filled up with overnighters, 2 nighters, etc.  If it could only stay that way, I wouldn't bother with long term at all.  Far more money to be made with short term stays if you can keep them coming.  I did have a person call me yesterday - she called from her car sitting in front of my amenities shed - asking about a lot? After the conversation was done, she said she'd be "calling you back". 

She never did.  I'm having trouble getting long term in there right now, no idea why but whatever.  They'll come eventually, just hopefully not too long.  The railroad guy said in a month he'd be coming back after his vacation, but I need a couple of long term, well at least one, now. 

Well, looks like almost time to get ready for church. No kids this week, they didn't go last week cause I was working and they probably won't be going next week either for I will likely be working as well.  I kind of don't like getting them started on something like that and then they are not being able to go for weeks' stretch at a time.  But, whatever, life dictates how things work out, schedules are nice but they are often times interrupted with reality.

 So, I want to pay off Verizon - it's still a little up there but I think I can manage it - the phone and then I can switch to T Mobile.  Get rid of Verizon - high priced nonsense I don't need.  T Mobile has good enough coverage and Verizon doesn't have any coverage up in Gurdon or the washout. It does have decent coverage in Lufkin.  Still, I want to give T Mobile a chance since I already have them and it's only going to add a little more every month to what I am already paying for the wifi and the cameras.  Literally, 2 phones added is only $60 more, I think it was.  My verizon bill is ridiculous and I want to get rid of it. 

I am looking for ways to decrease my monthly expenses and this is the most obvious one.

I have tried to find a service to bring down dumpster rental, especially after they jacked the price up, but now that they agreed to bring it down for 1 year under contract, I'm ok with it.  I can't get by without a dumpster there, it gets filled up every week or close to full. Usually full tho.  

I think my house in Phoenix should be able to use T Mobile gateway for internet as well. I am spending $200 a month for internet there.  Bringing it down to $50 a month would be wonderful.  

And I just saw that the shed will be paid off later on this year!  All of this will free up a good deal of money to - have actually.  Save or pay off debt, mostly I want to be able to pay my bills with paychecks and just leave the park money in the business account without taking any paychecks from it.  That way, I not only save up money for expansion or down payment on a loan, I also don't have to pay taxes on it.  

I wish I could do something about the water bill from the city of Phoenix, it's ridiculous.  Like, anywhere between $150 and $200 per month.  

Another thing that would be nice is if Texas would do away with property taxes. It was on the ballot for Republicans in the state that I voted in on Monday.  IT doesn't actually do anything, but it gives the Texas legislature the signal that we do, indeed, want to get rid of property taxes. I don't know if anything is going to come of that, there must be a reason they had it on the ballot.  Over 70% signaled yes, please get rid of it!  

I have not understood why property owners have to bear the brunt of paying for schools on the local level for some time now.  Property taxes and apparently the state throws money into it. Why doesn't everyone have to chip in? 

Anyway, the boys were begging to go see a movie that just came out, so we are leaving in 10 minutes to go see it. I figure a good way to see them off, they are leaving for an entire week on Sunday with their grandma.  I do enjoy the time without kids asking endless questions, fighting with each other, stomping around the house, etc ad-infinitum. It allows me to have some peace and quiet to get some business work done as well. '

Monday, if my day off stands, well 2 days off actually, Sunday as well but I won't work on Sunday unless something has to be done, I am going to get a 20 foot tall 4X4 and stick it into the ground vertically and hook the Gateway wifi device up at the top of it.  This will give much better coverage to everyone and should eliminate the guy at the end who says he doesn't have enough reception to get it.  He is retired, he is sticking around and I want to make him happy.  He seems to like the place but he is definitely not happy about the wifi situation.

I texted him earlier and told him my plan to get the 4X4, dig a 4 foot deep hole, put it in there, put some post mix in there, let it dry up - that will take several days, get a long ladder, install the thing up there and see what happens. May have to get another extension cord, I'm just running an extension cord to the current one now. I see no need to run an actual line with outlet to it.  It's a lot of work to do that, tapping into a pedestal, digging a trench over to the pole.  I don't know that it's a permanent set up anyway and I don't know if it's going to work or not.  

We will see.  So, actually, he still won't be able to get a signal on Monday cause' I ain't climbing up 16 feet - how high it will be after sinking 4 feet into the ground - on a pole with concrete that hasn't yet set. 

I just mowed everything not long ago but you couldn't tell by looking. It's all popped up again.  Oh, this project won't cost much, maybe $35 for everything.  I already have extra extension cords if one is needed beyond what I already am using. 

A simple fix to make a person happy? Yes, hopefully they stay but it should up the reception for everyone that is using that router.  

Well, that's that.  I have the movie to go to and then go to bed, for I have work and I am getting up at 5:30 am tomorrow.  Get up there around 9:00 am and hopefully be out of there by 11. This time, I am going to get up on the tanker before I go into the plant and make sure all of those lugs are secured tightly.

 Friday - morning, editing to load In Lufkin.

in Lufkin.

It dawned on me a Few minutes ago that with a Hipcamp reservation for tonight I need to fix that sewer outlets. So I will try to dig that thing out of there without breaking the PVC pipe, but the last time this happened, I ended up breaking the entire pipe and having to replace the adapter.

 So I will try to dig that thing out of there without breaking the PVC pipe, but the last time this happened, I ended up breaking the entire pipe and having to replace the adapter.

I have a two nighter coming in plus a 2 1/2 week or plus an overnighter coming in tonight to fill up all of my available spaces. I just really don’t like spending money right now on anything unless I absolutely have to. But you’re talking 20 bucks for the adapter you’re talking 20 bucks out of my pocket.

 I just really don’t like spending money right now on anything unless I absolutely have to. But you’re talking 20 bucks for the adapter you’re talking 20 bucks out of my pocket.

By the way, this post is being done with voice on my iPhone. it’s not bad actually. Voice translation is getting better. It just so happens and I completely forgot the glue traps to bring with me this morning. I hate making duplicate trips back-and-forth between the property. It’s just a waste of time and fuel. But today I may drive home, get them and go back to the property with them for I want to get this started.

I figured that if nothing else I can find someone to rent a unit temporarily while I decide what I want to do with it. I don’t really want to rent it because I become responsible for repairing anything that’s broken. But if I spell out in writing before, anyone moves in the things that are wrong with it, and that not going to be fixed, and they sign off on it, then I should be clear. it is likely that a person will want to use the restroom in the shed then trying to use the one in the coach. I should specify the shower, not that toilet. The toilet in the couch works fine and so does the holding tank and the line that the wastewater to the sewer outlet.

 the wastewater to the sewer outlet.

I’ve been looking at prices for you sofa, beds, or fold out couch type things and even futons and I figure I can get one relatively cheap. I haven’t gone to Ollies yet because it is just a waste of time right now, I don’t , want to start spending money on repairs to that thing until I have the mice out of there. I’m wondering if the feral cats that lives underneath the shed is feeding them? It must be eating something. I see it on the video surveillance all the time now. 

And now I haven’t had any new leads for someone to come in and take one of these spots for a longer term. Actually, if my dream were to come true, all the empty lots would just be rented out consecutively for overnighters or three or four day days and I wouldn’t need long-term and I would make much more money doing it.

Actually, if my dream were to come true, all the empty lots would just be rented out consecutively for overnighters or three or four day days and I wouldn’t need long-term and I would make much more money doing it.

Well, I don’t want to get too carried away with this post, for I can see that is messing up some of my words. And I’m not going to fix it, thank you.. 

 Thursday - evening

Honestly, I'm glad they're gone.  Leeches, I neither expected nor didn't expect them to give me any of that tax return money.  It was a wait and see proposition.  I waited, I saw.  It is people like this that sometimes make me have second thoughts about helping my fellow humans.  A thank you would have gone a long way.  She basically gave me the finger without actually giving me the finger.

I haven't done anything with it yet, just dug out the rat traps, I assume they'll work on mice, it's just a much larger glue trap.  I'll be placing those in there tomorrow after work.  I'm going to deal with the mouse problem before I do anything in there. No point cleaning or tearing stuff out until that is accomplished. I wonder if the bug bombs would flush them out of there?  Some say it won't, many say it will after reading several websites. Yup, I tend to get distracted while writing these blog entries lol.

They didn't seat the dome on top of the trailer - it's the giant lid they open in order to fill the tanker - correctly so the thing was leaking profusely when I started pumping air into it today.  It still held pressure but it took about an hour longer than it should have.  They don't allow anyone to climb up on anything higher than 4 feet at that place unless you have "fall protection".  Oh well, I got home at a little after 2, no biggies.

I've got one more run - down to Lufkin on Friday and up to Gurdon on Saturday and then 2 days off and then work again on Tuesday, at least as the current schedule stands.  

At this point, I believe it's going to be another Trump V Biden election.  It won't go down the same as last time, which was an "anything but Trump" election, hence we ended up with Biden.  Now, Biden is disliked by both republicans and some on the left, especially the far left (communists/progs) who are now dissing him for wanting to help Israel.  

Trump didn't start any new wars during his tenure, but the left is now trying to paint him as a warmonger that will get us into all kinds of war theaters with Russia, China and who knows who else, maybe Iran.  The problem you people have that want to paint Trump with some of these brushes of things you declare he will do is that he didn't do any of that stuff you predict he will do during his 4 years as President.  There is no good reason to believe otherwise. There are plenty of illegitimate reasons......

In fact, I have been reading quite a lot of Trump haters making all kinds of ridiculous statements.  I get it, you don't like Trump.  I don't particularly care for Biden and what he is doing to our nation with electric vehicle mandates, attempting to wipe out/drastically change natural gas appliances, making us dependent on foreign oil, hyper-inflation, prices at the grocery stores and everywhere else, etc.  His track record sucks, quite frankly.  I basically see Biden as trying to make America into a giant California. 

No idea how any of this will turn out or what other little devious plans the left has to attempt to oust Trump before election day.  As I said before, the left has made a political martyr out of Trump and they don't even see what they are doing.  The SCOTUS just trashed their idea of leaving him off of ballots.  They think they can get him thrown in jail.  They also want to make him go broke.  Trump may not have the greatest way of sharing what's on his mind, he isn't stupid and he did far better than Biden now that we can compare the 2's track record.  Oh, do you remember when the left wanted the electoral voters to change their vote? If we're going after people about attempting to illicitly change the outcome of an election, why aren't we going after them?  

Whatever.  Between the election, the border, the woke bs and the anti-semitism, media outlets are pretty whacko right now.  OH and Haley is out, she's been out she just didn't want to admit until after Super Tuesday where she was trounced.  BTW, I do hold it against Trump for signing off on and wanting multi-trillion dollar budget bills.  OR reconciliation, or whatever the freak they are calling it.  

I haven't had any hits on the coach yet and I haven't had any more hits on the 2, available, back-in sites.  I just think people are going to show at suddenly and they will be filled. When, I don't know but that seems to be how it happens. You start thinking it's now a dry season and then bam, people show up, want a spot and stay awhile.

I'm seeing new RV parks opening up all over the place in this region. I would like to hope they won't build any more in my town, who knows.  These people are building them right next to very busy highways.  Like, very noise highways.  No, I don't regret building my place off the beaten path but not that far off the beaten path.  

My hands are tied at the moment, I have no money for upgrades, a thing I would very much like to do. I'm struggling just to pay the property tax.  People have expressed over and over the desire for a pool and a jacuzzi.  Yup, I'd love to be able to offer it.....one can dream.  

Well, off to Lukin in the morning, early of course.  Hopefully back early and then can get some stuff done at the park. But, I have Monday off if I don't have time tomorrow for some of the things I need to get done. Which reminds me, the last dude at one of the back in sites broke off the fitting that screws into the sewer line. The last one I tried to fix? The entire pipe broke into pieces and I had to replace the adapter.  Those adapters are $18 a piece. Of course, I'm expected to eat these costs?  No.  

 Wednesday - afternoon

Well, I confirmed it. After trying to get the tent lady to reply to numerous texts yesterday, I simply stated that I was going to enter the coach unless she says something different. 

She never replied, which is what convinced me that they had, indeed, left and who knows if they actually went back to California or they are staying at the daughter's house nearby.  I don't know exactly where that is, I am not going to go hunt them down.  They obviously got their tax return of which they promised to pay me some of, obviously that isn't going to happen.

So, basically, I have footed the bill for them to live there for what, 4 or 5 months now for free?  She was doing so good in working, making her payments and attempting to make something of her life until she had that stroke.  The real problem here isn't that she didn't pay, it's the lying.  She lied about her intent to pay after she received her tax refund. She got it, she left without even letting me know or bothering to say thank you for helping her.  She left the place a mess and it smells like a giant ashtray in there.

Yes, I entered after knocking loudly tho it was obvious no one was there, the other lady had dumped dog poop on the doorstep and it was still sitting there. I do wonder if the tent lady was actually telling the truth about the dog poop, for I now have information that leads me to believe the family of 3's dogs are the ones pooping and they aren't cleaning it up.  ]

As the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. It will cost me money to find a sofa bed and replace the carpet at the very least.  I have posted it on my Facebook business account, the stickler is I also posted it won't be ready for probably a month.  There are mice in the thing and there is mouse poop literally EVERYWHERE.  On the counters, the floor, everything.  Like, they had to be living in that filth and not dealing with it, disgusting.  I just happen to have glue traps at the house and will be putting them in there.  Like how expensive are those traps? Or the old fashioned ones that snap the mouse basically in half? Those old style are cheap, put some peanut butter on it and kill them.  

Anyway, I opened the door, left the screen door close and the main door opened and turned the fan setting on on the AC unit to help start clearing out the air in there.  I have read in the past that the best thing to get that kind of smell out of there - both cigarettes and poop smell and dog smell while we're at  it - is to use an ozone generator.  I have found several for reasonable price, I can't try to sell that thing smelling like that. 

 So, new project. Trying to find a good used sofa bed and enough new carpet to tear out the "new/but now old" stuff, replace it and scrub that thing down inside.  There are no signs of water damage from the roof, I was a bit concerned about that but it appears to still be solid. The flooring is solid, I am not sure about the refrigerator.  I opened it and it was absolutely disgusting.  Vileness.  

 Can I afford this right now? Well I'll tell ya what, if someone shows up and says that want it, yes, I will make a way to afford it.  Yes, I know I have the property tax issue. I think I will be able to cover it along with everything else later on this month. I'll get back to that after I collect more rents and overnight payments.  I should be getting paid tonight - whatever that will amount to, I'm not sure if they started this pay-by-the-load thing yet or not.  If it's another small check, then yes I will be contacting the manager directly to find out what's going on with that.  

Oh, and there is still a feral cat living under the shed, I think. It keeps showing up on the surveillance footage and it heads directly to the shed. I only say this because the door to the coach is open, feel free to go in and kill some mice!

I just remembered that Ollie's has a huge selection of carpeting for far cheaper than pretty much anywhere else.  This might be the option I will choose for new carpet.  There are a large number of sofa beds advertised on Facebook marketplace, that will likely be the place I will find something decent without a huge price tag.  I'm looking to spend as little as possible.  I'm hopeful that that post on Facebook will generate some interest and possibly a solid decision by someone to take it. I'm going to want a down payment this time tho.  Like around $500 to deal with this stuff if another person does the same thing: leaves before paying it off.  

Basically, I'd let to get someone on the hook for the unit before I spend any money on it.  Get the thing fixed up and get the money from that person quickly to replace what I will have to spend.  

On another note, the driver trainer just texted, his turbocharger is leaking anti-freeze. Gag.  That is probably a major repair. He is going to take it to a nearby truck stop, drop the trailer and they are going to have a tow truck tow it clear up to the shop in Arkansas.  That's about a 4 hour tow, that's going to cost them some serious money.  This is the consequences of having a fleet of old trucks, frequent break downs and nothing you can really do about it.

Alright, well I have a plan in place for the coach anyway.  I'm really wanting to get some more people in RV spots, I wish that guy yesterday would have taken the spot, I guess he decided it wasn't for him.  I think he thought that space wouldn't be big enough for his 5th wheel, but there are already long 5th wheels in back in spots as it stands. 

Anyway, I am tasked with making dinner today so I best get about it.  

 Tuesday - late morning

The youngest' birthday today, I didn't get up to see him out.  I went to bed late last night, just because I wanted to. Didn't get out of bed, wait for it, until....9:30 am lol. It was raining so I just said no thanks and went back to sleep.  Well, not just rain, but thunder/lightning as well.  Like, scare the dogs type of thunder.

Anyway, today is an election day in Texas, I have printed out who I am voting for, there is a lot on the ballot.  Going there, dump more money into the business account at the bank, go check on the new people at the park and probably try to get something done over there. 

Oh, Facebook. Yup, I was scrolling Facebook earlier and it logged me out . Great, I thought, I've been hacked.  I've seen it happening to other people lately and the person/people hacking put some pretty uncharacteristic stuff on their FB wall, to the point you know it isn't that person.  

However, I asked Taylor and hers was out as well.  I then googled it and sure enough, a lot of people have been logged out of Facebook on some error.  Mine finally came back up on my phone, but still can't access it on my computer.  No huge deal, I mostly look at Facebook on my phone anyway.  I like to be on the desktop if I'm writing longer responses to people, otherwise the phone works fine.  

SCOTUS said no thanks to Colorado's determination to keep Trump off of the ballot.  That ruling is a national one, none of the states can do that.  You can hate Trump all you want, but if this ruling from a lower court would have stood, it would have started a cascading event with every state, or many anyway  - my guess here of course - doing the same thing on their ballots. You would have states such as Texas saying Biden can't be on the ballot and probably use the reasoning that he's a traitor, therefore, he can't be on it.  Remember, Trump was never prosecuted, stood trial or found guilty of inciting an insurrection.

Why? because there was no insurrection.  I don't care what anyone thinks, you don't show up to a government building in DC and attempt to take over Washington without any weapons, armament, etc.  There might have been rioting there, but there was no attempt at an insurrection.  I could go on with my reasoning, but I am not going to waste my time. I have been in these types of arguments with leftists and it never goes anywhere. Almost always, the leftists will start calling you names, cussing you out and engaging in ridiculous denigration to the point you wonder how these people can function in this society. Believe what you wish.

Anyway, the farmer couple that showed up yesterday is taken care of. They're only staying a month but I'll take whatever I can get.  Another guy just now called me, said he's at the entrance and can he take a look? Sure thing.  I don't know if he's going to take it, I certainly hope so, that would put me back on track with finances and paying the property taxes later on this month.  Actually, if I can get the 2 remaining lots rented before the end of the month, it's good to go for paying the property taxes. If not, I'm going to have to hunker down and make a decision. I'm not going to let this situation get loaded with increasing fees and potentially at some point, someone paying it for me and then I have to pay a lot more money to get out of this situation.  

He's not there with a trailer, he wanted to look first. Sure thing, hopefully he'll take one of the back in sites, my pull throughs are occupied excepting lot 2 which has people coming in 3 days from now, they'll be there almost 3 weeks.  Back-in lots are all I have available ATM.  They aren't necessarily "bad", but some people prefer and others demand pull throughs.  I couldn't have made them all pull throughs without creating an additional driveway at great expense.  

This is the way people do it a lot, lol, they just show up without any prior notification. I have it on my ads that you can come and take a look!  I do not say they have to call first, I just think that would turn people off.  I don't care if I'm not there, they can inspect the place without any pressure whatsoever and make their own decisions.  I see no upside to attempting to talk someone into take a spot they may not like.  I'm not of the used-car-salesman mentality anyway.  But it is encouraging that people are showing up and my ad has actually been viewed by thousands of people, at least according to Meta reporting.  

I get those lots filled, hopefully, I'll shut the FB ad down before it was scheduled to be shut down. They're not free but they're definitely not pricey or even mildly expensive.  

Anyway, it's kinda getting late and I'd like to get this day moving.  Especially with voting.

G'day

 Monday - mid afternoon

Yesterday wasn't bad.  Not great, considering it was a Sunday, but not bad either.  The only negative was the loader at the plant in Lufkin.  The slow dude, he won't load more than one truck at a time, while everyone else there will load 2 or 3 trucks at the same time.  So, I had to wait almost an hour before he got to me.  But other than that, it was a short day.  

Today, however, was a bit different.  When I got to the plant in Gurdon, I knew something wasn't right. Well, after I scaled in and got parked and hooked up the air line to begin pressurizing the tanker.  There was no one around except a couple of people on the production line. Very odd, that line entails using a lot of personnel working various portions of it.  

A lady finally came up to me, realized what I wanted and told me to wait while I go find "them".  She came back and informed me they were busy and "trying to get the level in the tanks low enough so you can offload".  Oh, there's plenty of room for one more truckload in the west side tank. Well, they're just busy, something is broken and they are trying to fix it.

Outside, closed the valve for letting in air pressure, who knows how long that is going to take.  In fact, got in the truck, tilted the driver's seat back and took a nap.  The line manager comes knocking on my window however long later and told me about it.  Some "worker" came in last night, he said, and totally destroyed the press.  The press is where the plywood goes into and gets pushed together with hydraulics.  "I've been working here for 24 years and I've never seen anything this bad".  

Whatever the case, it was over an hour wait, not great, not terrible.  He signed off on the paperwork and I got busy.  Had to keep working around a crew of construction workers installed new rails for the railroad running through there.  It's a spur where cars are dropped to load with wood.  Anyway, about 50 minutes and the tanker was empty.  I turned the air pressure valve off and the water valve on, they require us to wash out the lines with water.  

Nothing.  I'm looking at all this menagerie of lines coming into this area and I'm not seeing anything that would answer the question as to why water wasn't flowing through there.  I finally had to go find the same supervisor and he came and started opening and closing all the valves. I had already done this, but more power to him. He got frustrated and started following lines back into the depths of the building.  He came back and said he couldn't find anything.  

Well, I replied, I'm done offloading it's just that y'all want us to flush out the lines when we're done.  Yes, you can't leave without flushing out the lines first.  So he gets on the phone and starts talking to someone, follows another line which lead to a dead end and I'm standing there thinking, hmm, how long is this going to take?   He then goes off yet again following lines and finally, after a while, he must have found where someone had shut off a valve, because water pressure came into the line, I could hear it bang up inside the pipes.  

The end of that story, it took me 3 hours to get in and out of that plant, far longer than it normally does.  Shrugs shoulders.  Doesn't matter, the dispatcher had removed the other loads for this week out, she didn't contact me about it, but I already knew why, because the line supervisor had already told me: he canceled the rest of the loads for two days.  

I didn't even get back to my park and it had all changed again. They must have figured they could get the thing up and running faster than they had originally expected, for after they took all of that work out of my tablet, they put 3 loads back in.  But, instead of working tomorrow as originally planned, I am working on Wednesday.  I guess that's ok? I don't have any control over this stuff, the work has been pretty sporadic the last week or so.  

So, I'm about to enter the park and the lady that is always cleaning someone else's dog poop up said she was going to deposit 2 piles on "their" doorstep.  I already knew who she was talking about and I didn't try to stop her. These people lie to me about it, I know they are, I just can't prove it.  And she did exactly that, dumped it right in front of their door, lmao.  Sorry, I don't normally take pleasure in such things, but this has been going on for quite a while now.  

After that, a man calls me.  Is this the RV Park? Yes.  Back and forth, the man acted like I knew who he was, I had no clue.  Not expecting anyone in until Friday, I just went  with it. "We're over at the Convention Center, how do we get there?" I give them instructions.  "Ok, we'll be there in a little while".  Well, I thought, not too long please, I assumed it was people wanting an overnight spot. I have plenty atm, come on!  Sure enough, they showed up 10 minutes later.  Farmer John and Jane.  Literally.  They spent 50 years running a farm, sold it and now? Rich. 

We got into this incredibly long conversation and then I found out they have family in a couple of nearby towns. They wanted to stay near where they are, but not near enough where it would be assumed they would be seeing these family members too frequently. "How much is it for a month?" I told him the price. He pulls out an envelope filled with $100 bills, there was a lot of money in there.  Hands me 4, fresh, crisp $100's and that was that. "Can we have a receipt?" Sure, but I'll have to go home to get one, my office is over there, not here, that building has a laundromat, shower and toilet in it.  

I can't say I didn't welcome the finances.  The welder's money showed up today, odd for them, it usually shows up either early or on time.  So now, I'm looking at my business account wondering if I can make that property tax payment?  Maybe.  But, whatever fees are being assessed, they are assessed already. Won't go up again until next month.  I figured if my next paycheck is enough, I could probably make the payment. However, my paychecks have sucked and just because I was promised more pay doesn't mean it will show up in real life.  I can't be screwing myself and not be able to pay my bills.  

So, I"ll definitely wait until the second paycheck of the month and hopefully, there will be enough to pay the power bill, pay the property tax and still have enough left over to pay my personal bills.  

 Saturday - night

On my way up to Crossett, AR yesterday to load the truck with glue/resin for Ennis, TX, I get texted by the dispatcher.  No, she didn't text me, she called me  now that I think about it.  Well, Gurdon is starting up again, was wondering if you'd rather just take the tanker you have up there, drop and get a Gurdon trailer?  I didn't have to think about it for 2 seconds. Yes!  Still took quite a bit of the day to drive to the yard - that trailer has the ABS light on and needs repaired, then 45 minutes to the tank wash to get a different tanker then the 3 hours 15 minutes back.  

But I was gleefully happy to be done with Ennis.  I've gotten the hang of it now, I just don't like that run.  I don't like going to or near Dallas, I don't like working around formaldehyde, I don't like dealing with the hose with that stuff inside of it - tho I just ended up plugging and capping it and getting a new plug and cap at the shop.  Lots of things about the Ennis run that is far less appealing than Gurdon.  

Gurdon has it's issues, certainly, but it's still more appealing overall.  She asked me when I want to start, I guess Sunday was the start up day so yes, I took Sunday.  I know, "you hate working on Sundays".  Absolutely correct.  However, my financial situation just took a turn for the worse with 3 trailers leaving and not a single phone call yet with my Facebook ad boost.  I also haven't received the check from the welders who have some service paying for them.  Yes, the welders are still there.  

I did not work today.  I spent today depositing money into the bank, going to a few stores and then to the auction place where I won some stuff for the park a while back, haven't had time to get over there.  I was unsure where the place was, been there once but it's out in the boonies.  GPS showed odd routes there.  When it does that, I tend to start moving the screen in closer to see what's going on in traffic.  Sure enough, I-20 closed beginning at the highway that goes by my street and to the next major highway, 59.  All traffic was being diverted to my highway exit and wow, was traffic backed up! As far as the eye could see.  

Turns a portable parking lot - a semi car hauling truck - caught on fire.  And burned to the ground. Not only did they have to deal with the truck, they had to deal with taking all of the cars off of that truck to safely transport all of it out of there.  It caused a traffic nightmare that went on for 7 or 8 hours.  I disregarded the route the GPS was wanting me to take, it was trying to take me WAY out of the way and also the way it must have been showing everyone else. They were all going north, I went south.  It may have added miles but there was no traffic.  

Anyway, I am getting up earlyish in the morning. I won't have to have the tanker cleaned out, that saves over an hour and sometimes much more depending on how long it takes for them to clean it out. It takes 20 - 30 minutes to even get someone out there on a Sunday.  I can just drive straight to Lufkin, load and go straight back to the park.  I'll guess around 5 hours total  I intend on showing up around 9:00 am, if I show up too early I'll just end up sitting there waiting for other trucks to get loaded first.  Means the day should be done by noon.  That's not bad. 

Monday I also have early delivery, leave the same time the kids leave for school, gets me up there around 9:15- 9:30ish, maybe earlier, hopefully get it offloaded relatively quickly and get home - 1:30 ish.  

The great appeal to that run, done much earlier.  

Struggling with how to deal with property taxes, still.  I was again hoping this month - March - to get it paid. I think it will start accruing late fees now.  The hope is that with higher pay, I can afford it, but I didn't count on losing fully 3 trailers all within a couple of days of each other.  I haven't had any calls about spots for a while now.  It was nice while it was full - that lasted quite a while actually.  

I don't know what else. The kids will be gone a week for spring break, I will be spending whatever free time getting my books together and attempting to get taxes done.  I think that's this month sometime.  I mean, I can kick the kids out but it's just difficult to get stuff like that done with them around.  It will be the first year of dealing with business taxes and also coupled with working for a company.  I dread the tax process as well. Anything, really, to do with taxes....

________

Time for bed.  Sunday's a coming....

 Thursday

Bam, just like that 2 workers left plus the other worker that took off a few days ago.  3 open lots that I need filled immediately.  This is not helpful, not that many. They all thanked me for the stay and said if they come back this way, they will definitely look me up. Actually, the railroad worker is taking his unit into a shop for repairs, then flying to Chicago and after that going on vacation.  Can't blame him for taking the rig out of there for there is no reason for him to pay for something he isn't using.

The one that left a few days ago was just there for a month anyway. The other one leaving today said he had been waiting on a check and it finally arrived.  

This stuff throws me for a loop. I can see one lot being vacated, but 3?  There's never any advance notice, either, they just either take off without saying anything or they call the day of their departure. 

So, I just edited a Facebook post I put up yesterday, added a info on available lots and then did a Facebook boost.  This targets people specifically looking for an RV park. It has worked in the past, it's cheap and hopefully get at least 1 or 2 out of it.  

It seems like every time I try to come up with a solution to pay the property taxes, I keep getting hit with stuff like this.  I can't pay what I don't have the money for. 

Facebook ad boost was approved. I hope to get some inquiries fairly quickly, they have in the past.  I probably wouldn't have bought that propane bottle for the free grill I picked up a while back if I had known so many people were leaving.  I have a 3 day stay coming up tonight for the pull through I have dedicated for such things and I have a 16 day stay coming up the 7th.  

But now? I've opened up all the newly vacated lots for whatever, overnight, weekly and of course monthly.  This is the life of an RV park - people come and people go.  I was just hoping that I could stay full for another month to figure out this property tax fiasco.  

Shrugs shoulders. I can only do so much.  People will call, it always happens, the question is: when?  

Meanwhile, day 2 of being off work.  Had to go and pull the quarters out of the machines, they were full and soon wouldn't have allowed more money to drop into the containers.  I probably have at least $300 worth there.  It's just a pain to count them all out and take them up to the bank.

But, that's what I'm going to start doing right now. 

 Wednesday - semi-early

I went to bed early last night so waking up at 5:00 am wasn't a big deal. The dog wants out, I'm putting him out.  There is nothing worse than a Great Dane blowing up - in your room.  Been there, done that, don't want a repeat. This dog hasn't done that. Doesn't mean he won't.  The oldest kid also likes when I'm up and discussing the day and just chit-chatting about nothing in particular.  

I didn't want today and tomorrow off. I had 3 days off, 2 days on and now 2 more days off? I mean, even if they do start paying me more, that's not going to be realized on the next paycheck with all of this time off.  

Last night, I checked the weather report. It said 0% chance of rain. ZERO percent.  So what do I see on it this morning? 57% chance and then changed to 79%. So far, no rain and after the next hour or so, it disappears. I hope it doesn't rain, I have plans for over there today and rain is not a part of that plan.  No, rain is the party crasher that cancels the plans and forces me to do something else.  

Trump took Michigan on the Republican side yesterday, that was expected and I doubt Haley is going to see much else during Super Tuesday. I do see the point for her now that she's been in this this long, might as well do Super Tuesday, I doubt it's going to be some shocking upset in her favor.  I would think after that, she will drop out instead of dragging this out.  

You see, I am not a fan of Trump's demeanor, but I am a fan of his results.  The left can malign him all they want, but we didn't have this border chaos going when he was President.  We had some measure of world dominance.  Our economy wasn't as screwed as it is now, leftist declarations of how great it is be damned.  I see stuff on the supermarket shelves whose cost has risen considerably in the last year and just shake my head.  That bottle of shampoo is now $4 more than it was 2 years ago.  I had to take a double take at that yesterday.  Almost $11 for a bottle of shampoo. Trump isn't interested in getting us into wars. I don't know how he would have handled Ukraine, but I doubt it would be what it is now. 

I think I was going to start doing this a while back but I never really followed through with it, I am now.  I am tired of people wanting to reserve a spot but they don't pay up in advance.  This gives them the option to show up - or not show up, holding up a lot which may have been wanted by someone else.  As was last night, when the motor coach just showed up - he didn't even call until he was there - I just happened to have that back-in site available because a short termer left.  Trying to replace that one as quick as possible.  

So this dude calls just now, he wants to reserve a spot. Sure, are you paying in advance?  Yes. It's as simple as that and I don't have to worry about it. If he doesn't show, that's on him, the money is mine.  That spot is held for him until noon tomorrow.  Show or not show, I have my money out of it.  

Maybe I'm safe, threat of rain is passing, like within the next half hour and nothing so far.  I'm really not looking for an excuse not to do anything, but rest assured if this was going to be an all day rain day? Sit home, drink some coffee, do some paperwork, work on other things, thanks. 

It seems unlikely that I will make it to another of these pathetic paychecks without taking an owner's draw out of the business account.  If, after all of this talk about higher pay, it doesn't materialize next paycheck, we - the manager and I - will be discussing his promise and what happened to it.  

That's pretty much where my mind is. If I didn't have to take money out of the business account, I would be able to pay the property tax with maybe a small amount put on credit card.  It does help that the electric bill - due on the 10th of next month - is about $700 less than last month's bill.  But, we are in the middle now. Getting warm during the daytime, people are running AC units.  

Lol, now they've moved it up to almost noon for rain and no rain now. I give up on it, time to get over there and get to work. 

G'day

 Tuesday - afternoon

Getting up early was easy, I actually woke up 10 minutes before the alarm went off.  Heading down the highway? Amazing the amount of vehicles out there at that time of night.  Apparently gone are the good ole' days of almost no traffic at all.  At least on the 20 headed towards Dallas.  Offloading was a little easier since I'm starting to get the hang of the nuances at that plant.  Much more tedium and back and forth than at the Gurdon plant.

This time, with the delivery line, I blew air through it for about 5 minutes, then shut the valve off on the tank side, shut the air pressure off and then bled off the air from the valve on my tanker.  Did it work? I have no idea, I can just tell ya I tried, even lifting the line up in the air and holding it up there to allow gravity to help clear out that line.  I plugged both ends this time, there will be no product seeping out of either end.  

But it hit me on the way back and I stopped at a rest area for  30 minutes to take a nap and continued with that nap when I got home.  I feel better now.  

Feast or famine, I am off again for 2 days.  I don't want 2 days off, not with the current state of my financial affairs.  The Gurdon run is still down, we still don't know why but I guess that doesn't matter, it's down and is staying down whether we know the reasons or not.  I think it's maintenance and repairs at the Lufkin plant, Gurdon is still operating, they are getting the product from the Crossett plant.   Crossett and Lufkin plants are owned by the same company. 

I have a run for where else - Ennis - on Friday, takes me into Saturday and then, I have no clue.  The only good thing is that it's the first run again, so Saturday I will - hopefully - be done early again. Even if tired right now, I have nothing further I have to do today. Mowing I'm putting of til' tomorrow since I'm not working.  Actually also means I can get home on Friday at amore reasonable time, I think it was 3:00 pm I was home on the last portion of that run.  I'm wondering if they are going to make me wash out the tank, no word on that yet.  It's been 4 loads, I'm told they can do 4 or 5 loads before needing to be washed out.  

Well, anyway, 2 days off. What will I do tomorrow? The question really should be, what will I feel like doing tomorrow? Nothing of course. That's what I feel like doing, but what I will do is probably get out of bed around 9:00 am, get some coffee, eat a little breakfast and head over to the property and start mowing.  

After that, I will probably fix some signs that fell over. 

After that, I will probably go home. Or, I will start on the security system.  Or - who knows.  Plenty to do, not that much motivation atm to do it.  I have one lot that is vacant atm, I need to fill that one back up with someone and the other lot has someone coming in tonight.  Or so they said, they didn't make a reservation online, they might show, they might not.  

___________

So this dude pulls into my park and asks a tenant about a lot for the night? Do you have the owner's phone number?  Guy calls, I said I have a back-in site, the pull through is reserved.  Ohhh, darn.  He wanted a pull through for he thought his rig was too long for a back -in site.

How long are they?  55-60 feet.  Ohh! Ok, I'll take it!  

So I go over there a few minutes ago. This thing is over 40 feet long, a motor coach, mind you, not a travel trailer or a 5th wheel, it's huge and looks new.  It's 400k worth of machinery, he said he "had to put on all new tires today" at a cost of over 5 grand and that he was taking it to a paint shop in Shreveport to have it painted.  

He then goes on.... this dude operates his own air service, owns 3 Leers, 2 Kingairs and is a pilot himself.  "I fly billionaires".  We are constantly busy, I worked over 300 days last year.  I just built my own airport and selling lots (for homes and hangars).  

You know what I find funny? These people have all the money they will ever need and yet, they still look for the cheapest place to park their rigs, lol.  Like, they could literally stay wherever they wanted to, but this guy (and many others before him also wealthy) come to my place because it's the cheapest place around.  I even raised my prices a few months ago, but it's still less than anything else in the area except for the trailer trash places.  

It was interesting talking to him.  He said his friends ask him why he doesn't retire? I don't want to retire, I can still fly and it keeps me busy and active.  He has a point.  Some people retire but they keep busy.  Others retire, don't keep busy - and die. 

 Anyway, I wanted my money lol. He wanted to give me a hundred dollar bill, no sir, I don't have any change but I can take a credit card.  Another rig was supposed to show up as well, but they hadn't arrived by the time I was ready to leave. I intend on staying there most of the day tomorrow - no rain and lots to do, hopefully get a decent night's sleep - I don't really need to be there tonight.   

Those people said they would be leaving "early" - if they even show up - I'll be out there early enough.  

This guy said "I go through here all the time, I'll be back".  Apparently taking a liking to the place, I think the aspect many people like is that the park isn't lit up like a Christmas tree - many parks are and that often times is a turn off to these travelers that would rather have it dark. It's quiet, you will hear a few vehicles at odd times of the night, those are the workers that have weird shifts, but mostly it's pretty nice in terms of the sounds you hear, which is nature, not traffic.  

Well enough. It's 8 pm, gonna watch a bit of tv and then get some rest. 

 I'm sort of missing being a part of a church.  When I say that, I mean volunteering and doing the menial jobs or just helping people in need, nothing fancy and not the head of anything (I've done that, not wanting to do that at this point in time).  

I've just had such bad experiences with churches and it just seems like I'm opening myself up to another disaster if I try to get involved.  So I don't.

I was looking at the event they had for people that volunteer at the church I go to - it's a large church, yes, but there looked to be 200 people there.  I don't know any of those people in those pictures of them. I know who some of them are, ie: their roles and duties in the church, but I don't know them on a personal basis.

In fact, the only person there that really knows my name is the pastor.  This isn't a pity party, lol, I have resisted for quite a while getting involved because of the burns I have experienced in the past, especially by leadership in the church.  

I haven't gotten involved in any of the adult ministries where people gather to discuss things, get in the word, make new friends because I haven't wanted to have that kind of connection.  Old stuff is hard to shake off apparently, I thought I had gotten past a lot of that stuff.  Well, I think I have gotten past it, it's just starting over again....do I really want to do that?  

It's easy to get lost in a big church.  It's not why I go there, the kids pretty much get me to start going again. I was going to that church sporadically before they said they wanted to start going.  I haven't made a single friend in that big church since I started going - by design.  I haven't tried and I haven't wanted to. If I did want to, I'd go to those meetings and by now I'd be hanging out with different people.  I have no problems making friends, don't read this wrong lol... it's the type of friends I want.  I have found that non-Christians who don't go to church and want nothing to do with church make far better friends that these people that DO go to church.

Oh, these people have their horror stories of sheer hypocrisy and that's why they have shunned the church.  They don't want anything to do with it and after hearing some of the stories, I can hardly blame them.  If people see these people as representative of Christ, I can see where they'd want nothing to do with any of it.  Backstabbers, gossips, just a lot of stuff you wouldn't think you'll find inside of a church.  One of my stories ended up having a church losing half it's members. 

Not going into that now, just thinking about whether I want to start going to these meetings. I'd go to a 9:30 am meeting, out before the 11:00 am service, which I normally go to. 

 Monday - evening

Had no time to post this morning.  

One of the things I keep forgetting to mention here  - or I have mentioned it and don't remember - is the fact that the formely weed covered fields are filling up with what must be natural grass growing.  I certainly didn't plant anything out there, but there is a lot of area that has a thick covering. If the grass roots get dense enough together, they won't let weeds for the most part grow up through it.

Or at least, that has been my experience.  Right now, the dead stalks of the weeds are still there with the grass growing all around them.  I can at least be hopefully

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how to afford a 50 pound bag of Bermuda seed - not for those fields but for the lots - because this is the time to put that seed down and there is rain coming soon.  $300 or so for that bag.  Yeah, as with everything else, nothing is cheap or even close to it. 

So, in the morning I have decided to set the alarm for 4:15 am. Rest assured I won't be on here writing in the journal. It's going to be get up, take a shower, get my stuff and leave.  I intend on being at the plant around 7:30 am.  Huge advantage to leaving that early, I will completely avoid the ridiculous amount of traffic headed towards the Dallas/FtWorth area.  Coming back, probably not so lucky but whatever.  It'd still be noon before I get back.  It's 1-1/2 hours minimum unload time and 2-1/2 hours back.  

That is, however, better than 5 or 6 pm.  I'd like to hope this is the last one of these runs, but I'm hearing we might be stuck on this for awhile. Whatever they are doing in Lufkin, it's dragging out pretty good.  

I'm just hoping I can find enough energy after I get back to do at least a couple hours of mowing.  Maybe take a nap in the truck first and then get with it, probably not a bad idea.  My sleep is all over the board lately, some nights sleep fairly well and others? Fitful and really not sleeping.  Well, the tracker says I'm sleeping but it also pretty much says "fair" and "let's do this and that to get you into better sleep".  

I dunno what else.  I'm tired.  I didn't sleep well last night and it drags me down during the day.  I truly would love to sleep better, perhaps I best get into a daily walking routine to help with that. I was doing it for a long time but this truck driving and trying to keep up with the RV park have really taken it out of me and takes up a lot of time.  

Oh, well I was going to go to church early on Sunday but, the kids were gone and the house was quiet.  I just ended up sleeping in. Not too many Sundays when the kids are somewhere else and we get some peace and quiet.  They aren't supposed to make any noise in the mornings, but they do anyway, consequences be damned.  

Time to get off of here and start thinking about early bedtime. 

 Sunday - mid-afternoon

I don't have the magic touch, apparently.  I tried for at least an hour to get that new mower to work both on Friday and Saturday. 

Longer term guest said he tried it several times before it finally cranked up and ran perfectly.  It was hard to believe him after all I went through to try to get it running.  Sure enough, I pulled the cord once and it fired right up and kept running.  Insanity.  

I would have mowed the lawns, but everyone is home today, too many vehicles.  I don't want to risk blasting rocks into cars and trucks, so I just thought, I'll do it when I can when people aren't home.  I would say tomorrow I could do at least a few of them, but tomorrow is a work day and more to the point: it's likely going to be a late day.  

Anyway, upon looking at the load for Ennis run tomorrow, I finally got the "early" load.  It loads a noon instead of 2 pm.  So, I intend on being up there at 10:00 am and hoping I can get loaded, get out of there by 11 and get home by 1:30.  It would be nice for I want to mow lawns if there is any time left in the day.

The other oddity is offloading on Tuesday in Ennis.  7:00 am. To be in Ennis at 7:00 am, I'd have to get up around 3:30 am and just bypass my normal, morning rituals and go straight to the truck and start driving. The other driving never shows up that early, but I'd kind of like to.  It would be before noon and I'd be done with the day.  

It's an hour and 45 minutes or so to offload, from the time I drive in there until the time I drive out.  Maybe an hour and a half, there is just too much tedium to deal with to get in and out of there quickly.  The steps you have to take make you go in and out of the building where the tanks are several times over and that takes time.  I've tried to refine the process to as few trips as possible, but it's just impossible to really get it down any faster than I have it. Sometimes I get a revelation and realize there is something I can do to decrease offload time, I've had that happen a few times in Gurdon.

There is no communication given about when Gurdon is going to start back up, but I believe the reason that is so is because our company simply doesn't know.  People don't ask lots of questions as I do.  I have found that to be true in many different things/venues in life.  I dunno, but I bought a new pair of chemical resistant (rubber) gloves at Lowe's yesterday.  Same as the other ones except these are much easier to get on and off.  I don't want to be exposed to these chemicals.  

As it stands I had to remove one of the lines from the tube that holds them, I cannot put a cap on the end that goes into the tube  for there isn't enough room.  

My 3 days off almost over.  I have enjoyed it even tho I didn't get some of what i wanted to get done, done.  

____________

Evening.  Now that I know I can get up there earlier, I plan on getting up at the same time the boys do for school at 5:45 am.  Leave here around 6:30, leave the park around 7:00 and be up there approximately 10:15 am.  This will get me home no later than 4, probably much earlier.  I just throw in extra time because it happens a lot that something occurs that eats up time. I would get up earlier, but why bother?  I think that's early enough. If I happen to wake up before the alarm, then I'll do it.  

Kids were cranky tonight.  The older wanting me to come sit with him on the couch, but both of them were on their game consoles playing a game together in the same place.  So, one was bickering at the other, the other back atcha, etc etc until I said nope, you want me to come out here and be subjected to this nonsense, no thank you, got up and went back to my bedroom.  Then they got into a fight, got into trouble and were forced to bed early.

I had suggested that earlier today, that they should go to bed early for they stayed up late last night at the house they stayed at.  Like, no time restrictions on bedtime, which is crazy.  At least get them in bed by 10 pm even if there is no school, otherwise, everyone else will pay for it the next day after they bring them back. People that don't have kids - just don't understand I guess.  

Whatever the case, I'm getting off of this computer and getting myself into bed.  I made lunch for tomorrow so I don't have to deal with that in the morning, it's just get up, get a cuppa, take a shower, get dressed and get out of here.  

 Saturday- morning. 

No idea what to do about the grass. The mower won't start, I may just remove the fuel line and see if any fuel is even getting through there.  I didn't even think about that yesterday.  My mind was like: this is a brand new mower that cost almost $400, hasn't been used that much and already giving me trouble? I know it's a fuel problem because I can pour fuel into the choke and it will fire right up and run for a few seconds.  

I really need to mow the grass over there, having a mower sent to the manufacturer to be repair sounds like it would take weeks, at least.  What kind of useless warranty is that? You call Craftsman for warranty work and you will hear people whose first language is clearly not English. Not a fan of international call centers, not at all. 

I am going to take that other mower I bought - and got a lot of use out of actually - to a shop and see if they can fix that one as well.  I think it also has a fuel problem.  l just don't see the new one having a bad carb this soon.  

Okay, I have no idea what would block the line on a brand new mower, but I have suspect the fuel is blocked somehow.  I wonder if that kid in the park dumped something into the fuel tank?  I'm going to go over in a while, drain the fuel out of the tank if it will drain and take a look. If it doesn't drain, well there's the problem, something is preventing fuel from flowing into the fuel line.  If it does flow, then I dunno, a bad carburetor already?  

I also just contacted a local guy who does small engine repair. But he's not open until Monday so that doesn't help me.  I have 3 mowers, actually, that should be fixable. The 3rd one is one we've had at the house forever, it ran like a champ for a long time and then finally quit.  

On another note, I installed Steam on my desktop to accommodate for playing a game.  Well, Steam took over my speakers.  With nothing coming out, I ended up uninstalling steam audio from the device manager.  That didn't work, so I uninstalled Steam altogether.  That did work, so I thought I was good. 2 days later? Sound went out again.  Device manager - steam somehow reinstalled itself after deleting the entire app?  Uninstalled again and all I heard was cackling.  Racking my brains, I checked the main speaker and it was partially unplugged.  I had checked it earlier but didn't realize I had partially pulled the connection out.  

Computers.  Sigh.

Ok. Time to get this day moving. I'm going to at least try to get that mower going.  I'm certainly not buying another new mower to replace a - new mower?  I will sent it back to the manufacturer if that's what it takes, but I really think I can either fix it or someone local can in a fraction of the time sending it to the manufacturer would take.

G'day

 Friday - 8:30 am

I wasn't actually going to get out of bed this early. Not that this is early by any stretch of the imagination, but there were two things that forced me up. First, the dog.  He's got to go! Lol.  I fed him a couple of cups of food and then put him out, where he went straight to the chain link fence and started fence-fighting one of the neighbor's dogs.  

Ridiculous.  I put an end to that, the noise level was unbelievable.  

Then, I got out the pork shoulder roast, put it in the crock pot and then added a bunch of stuff to it per the recipe I am using.  It's a good thing I took snap shots of the recipe last night on my computer screen, it looked intriguing. Like, this combination of ingredients is probably going to taste super good when it's finished!  The reason it's a good thing is because the computer decided it would wipe itself clean of all history once again and nothing came back up.

I have it set to bring back everything that was on it the last time it was on.  But, once it clears itself? That all disappears. 

I'm not unhappy that I got up at this time of day, I feel pretty good, having a cuppa, got the roast done.  It supposedly has to cook 10-11 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high. I typically like to do these types of roast on low setting.  

Keto. Well, I've been doing it for a while now and have seen little results. Well, that is until this morning, when I got on the scale and was almost shocked to see the weight had dropped almost 5 pounds.  I was on a plateau for a long time, to the point I was thinking of giving up on it and trying something else. But when I have those thoughts, I also think: I've had so much success with this diet when I do it the right way. Why am I not seeing results now?  Probably just too much cheating.  There are days when the folks want to order something delivered or go get it where there is nothing on the menu that is Keto friendly.

I either have to eat whatever it is - you don't really have to twist my arm to eat Domino's pizza - or find something in the fridge to make on the quick. Lately, however, I've been saying no to any such luxuries for I really want to dump this fat. I know it takes a while to lose fat, especially when you've just eaten whatever you wanted to for a long time.  

Anyway, I got off and on the scale several times.  I really didn't believe what I was seeing, but it kept showing the same weight every time.  I even moved the scale to a different place on the floor, for some reason, I can get false results if it's situated - wherever.  Same thing.  Okay!  I'll take it! It really motivates me to stay on it once you see some results such as this.  Will it be that low tomorrow? Maybe not, but it shouldn't go up too much higher. It's just the way this diet works, I don't know why, I just stick with it. I desperately want to break the 200 pound barrier and get into the 190's. I'm still 15 pounds away from that.  Yes, I gained a lot of weight and fat on the last round of the "let's eat whatever we want whenever we want to!" game.

Behind door number 1! Domino's Pizza! Loaded with your favorite toppings, you get to gorge yourself on the heavenly tastes that are produced by a delicious pizza!

Behind door number 2? Well, you know, I tried all 3 doors, so there is that.  Potatoes! ALL kinds of potatoes!

And door number 3?  PASTA!!!!!!  

Let me just say here, even if I am not in ketosis - I don't know for I haven't checked in  quite a while - the fact that you stop eating sugary foods such as cookies, ice cream, candy, anything loaded with sugar - is enough to make you lose weight regardless. No potatoes chips, no or very little greasy food, lots of salads.  I consume bags of premade salads so fast that I find myself having to go the grocery story a lot to get more. You can't just load up on that stuff, it goes bad lol.  

I think why I'm feeling better right now is that I am on the cusp of hopefully getting some decent pay.  The manager didn't say I would be getting a little more, he said I would be getting a lot more going with the pay-per-load method.  You see and as I have discussed before, when I was told the pay, I thought the lady was talking about what I would be making per week, which is what most companies tell you.  She was a bit deceptive with that, she didn't specify it was per paycheck or the fact that paychecks are every 15 days.  Remember, I was on the fence in Oregon about sticking it out with them. If I were to have found that out while there and going through one of those "gee, I really want to get the heck out of here" moments, I think I would have left.  

I remember one night, with all the noise from that damnable laundromat on the floor beneath me going on late in the night and not being able to sleep, I was laying there thinking: I'm going to leave right now.  Screw this company, screw these people. Sleep deprivation will put you in a seriously foul mood, I can attest to that. It's a rather hellish condition where, at least in my case, you are sleeping 2 to 3 hours a night, some nights not at all and then getting up very early - 2, 3, 4 am type of stuff - spending all day in a truck attempting to stay awake and learn while you're doing it.  Not to mention the drivers you are with want to chit-chat. You don't feel like chatting because you are so tired, but you don't want to be rude, either.  I did learn a lot with those drivers, no doubting that, but the fact of the matter is, this entire time, it hasn't paid off. 

If I had been making what I thought I was going to make, I would be more than fine right now. The property tax would be paid, I would be saving money towards another septic system and I would be targeting one of the credit cards to pay it down. Or, I would do some of that and not pay myself out of the business fund and let that build up.  Which is what I really want to do for then I don't have to pay taxes on it.  I can just buy another septic system, it's a business expense, none of that money came into my personal funds, no taxation on it.  

So what now? Well, I'm just sitting here in a quiet house - I mad that dog shut his mouth, even outside in the back yard his voice carries - drinking coffee, happy that I got up relatively early, at least I'd call it early for a day off, and thinking about what I'm going to do today.

Well, if you read this journal, you know what I'm going to do: mow lawns.  I seem to have misplaced my bluetooth ear buds somewhere, I had them yesterday here at the house but now? I can't find them. I am wondering if the youngest child found them and decided to do something with them.  That's typically what happens with things that disappear without a trace and no explanation of how they disappeared. You go to his bed and you find stuff stuffed down beside the mattress and the wall.  That kid got himself into serious trouble yesterday, the likes of which the principal is requiring them to go in for a meeting today.

Not going to go into the specifics, but just to say it's pretty bad.  He's only 6 years old so there is a little wiggle room, but the action was completely unacceptable. He knows better, that can be stated as a definitive truth.  

Well lookit there! I have a memory from Facebook a year ago where I had parked myself on the scale and it shows 214.6 pounds.  That was a milestone then, I had lost probably 20 or so pounds.  I'm just above that.  This time, I intend on at least giving it a Herculean try to get down below the 200 mark.  I remember the first time I started keto and I got all the way down to I think 193 pounds.  What a great feeling that was!  I need to do that again.  Dump these size 35's and get into 34's  or even 33's.  Pants, that is and waist size.  

I'm not really in a big hurry to go do more work, if you can't tell.  I have  plenty of time and if I don't finish today? There is always tomorrow. Don't worry, I definitely intend on spending several hours over there mowing today, no one has complained but complaining sort of stopped after I threw that drunk old man out.  Some people were aghast that I had the "balls" to do that.  The guy was a threat to my business, I'll put it that way. Going around acting like he was the property manager, getting into the lady's faces and giving them hell and calling them foul, vile and reprehensible names, when I found that out, that's when I said enough.  There's just no way I could get justify his continued presence at my place. That and using the N word.  

I most assuredly hate that word.  Every person that has black skin, in his eyes, are the n word.  That's what got him a black eye from the other tenant, I later found out.  The man started using racial slurs and the other guy got up and started to leave.  Wait a minute, where are you going? Mark said (Mark, the old dude).  The other guy just shrugged and said I've heard enough. Mark went off again and that's when the dude gave him a whopper of a black eye.  Did he deserve it? Well, violence isn't really the answer to anything for the most part, but they were both drunk.  

I have distanced myself from people staying there now.  I greet people, I wave at them, I get into conversations here and there, but I am not hanging out with anyone there.  Just think it opens the door to what happened over time with Mark, who called me his "friend". I didn't really like him that much, his speech even without the n word was atrocious. It got to the point I hated even going over to the park, for I knew as soon as he saw me, he would be coming straight up, calling me an a-hole (his apparent word of affection for anyone he likes, call them an a-hole repeatedly, over and over).  

Peace has been restored and if any of those people that used to hang out with him didn't like me getting rid of him, they haven't said anything to me about it.  As they shouldn't, for I won't hold back on my assessment of that man.  

My facebook local selling group got up to 1.9k members and then it stopped, lol.  I was hoping to keep it going to at least 20k.  The more people, the more stuff being sold.  However, I very much tend to it, I ban the bots and the people with strange names that are obviously attempting to scam people. Especially the air duct cleaning people. You ban them and the next day there is another one, and another and another.  They keep coming out with new scams all the time, you really have to watch closely every single thing put up in a group like that, those scammers/thieves aren't even in the US.  They want your personal info by pm'ing them and then they can do various things with that info. 

I guess I should shut up now and think about getting going.  Water, a thermos of coffee and get out of here.  I don't much care to mow the lawns but not because it's work, but because the rocks in the ground.  You dig down a little bit into the soil and it's just rock under there.  Go down deep enough and it's clay, but the rocks are the issue and I don't know what I could do about it besides getting rid of the grass and installing a decorative landscaping rock instead.  People don't like that, tho, they like grass.  So, I have to put the mower on mulching mode - were it can't shoot out anything out of the opening on the side.  It doesn't completely eliminate rocks from being thrown around but it does it well enough.  

I will not mow near vehicles.  

Anyway, time to get this day started!

 Pulled pork is on the menu tomorrow evening for dinner.  I was going to make and thought we had a shoulder roast in one of the freezers.  I dunno if I'm going batty or what, I could have sworn I bought one and put it in there.  Well, it wasn't.

So, even tho it's getting way late for me, I decided to go to the store/s to get a roast and whatever else I needed.  Super 1 - had everything but the roast. Up to Kroger's, they had a couple of them in there, nice sized, one of them said $24 and the other said $21, sale price $7 and change with card.  Of course I took the cheap one, I have had a Kroger's card since I was with Fry's food stores in AZ.  They sold out to Kroger's and the card just transferred over.  In fact, the phone number associated with the card is from when I was living in a mobile home in Tempe, AZ in the 90's.  Lol

I did the self checkout thing, I don't like doing it for a few reasons but I didn't feel like waiting in line.  Of course, it didn't ring up the sale price.  Why? I already knew why: it's no longer on sale.  That was over 2 days ago.  It's got the tag on it, that's not my problem, please ring it up at sale price. The lady did without asking any questions, it's their policy. If it's got a sales sticker on it for X price, it doesn't matter if the sale is still on or not. 

There is no way I would have paid over $20 for a pork roast, lol.  For that much money, just get the pre-made stuff.  I won't say tastier but definitely much easier, heat up the packets, get out the burns, serve. 

Not the putting a shoulder roast in the crock pot is hard, but there is a certain level of satisfaction one gets when you cook something and it turns out nice.  

Mid 80's coming Monday, time for them to fix the AC in the truck. It works sometimes, other times it doesn't. I know for a fact the evaporator is freezing over, that's what stops the air from flowing through the coils and cool it off.  The mechanic said differently many months ago, dumped freon in it and good to go. Yeah, it worked for a few days? No, it worked the same as it has been. Pumps out cold air, then it stops pumping out any air. He blamed that on a piece of paper. Yeah, well there aren't any papers there now and hasn't been in a long time. 

I wish people would just listen.  I'm not fixing this myself. Yes, it could be low freon level, which means there is a leak. Why would a person dump freon into a system, knowing it is low but not bother to try to find out why it was low in the first place? It could also be clogged air filter - but they replaced that. Dirty coils - old truck, definite possibility. I'm not being paid to diagnose problems, I fix lights and light mechanical stuff, I'm not fixing the AC system. I just as soon they take it to an AC shop, not our regular mechanics shop. I've been down this road with other trucking companies, they never are able to fix it right, AC systems are specialty systems that you have to have specific training for.  Just because you are a mechanic does not mean you have the knowledge to repair AC systems.  

Whatever the case, I am not setting the alarm. I have decided I will get out of bed when I want to.  There will be no one home, it's just the dog I'll have to get out of bed to let him out, then back to bed and hopefully back to sleep?  I'll try!

 Friday - late

Just another day in paradise.  Ennis - the tank they wanted filled, there are 4 of them that they can pick from that all take the same stuff - had a leak.  I hooked the hose up to it and noticed the cam arms were not very tight.  It took a few more minutes to see that because of that?  A fairly good stream coming out of it.  I tried to fix it, but you really can't do much about that, they need to replace that cam fitting with new arms or replace the entire fitting.  

However, that inlet is over a giant tub - about a 300 gallon version - and that's what it's made for. So, I just let it leak out, maybe a couple of gallons or so, it didn't take long to empty the tanker.  That was that.

During all of this, I had contacted the manager about my pay. I just can't do this, I'm not putting in that kind of time for that kind of pay.  I didn't threaten to quit, but I made no bones about my stance.  He called me back later and told me that he was looking at what I'm getting paid and yes, he is going to fix it.  I mean, I flatly told him that this kind of pay for these kinds of hours was untenable, just can't do it.  It's not a gamble - like gee, I'll say stuff I don't really mean and see if they bite.

I absolutely meant it.  I was ready to go to a cable manufacturer in town and see if they would hire me as a forklift driver, the pay couldn't possibly be less than what I am getting and it would be 5 days a week.  They are always advertising for forklift drivers, I have many years of forklift experience and I am quite good at it, if I do say so myself.  

Why bother with the trucking industry, I thought, if I can just make enough money around here?  Now, I'm not saying they would have paid me that much, I don't know. Their ads don't show the pay.  

Anyway, I was quite relieved when he informed me he would simply start paying me by the load.  "You will make a lot more money".  Those were his words. "Don't go around talking about it to other drivers, don't say anything to ****** about it (he's the guy that trained me on the Ennis and the Gurdon run)". He made it clear that I was to keep that info zipped and I can certainly do that. What it means, at least one could surmise, is that I am going to be making more money than some of these other people.  

Pay can cause a lot of issues between employees if one person is doing the same thing as another but one is getting less pay than the other. That would be the only reason to say that.  Yes, for more pay, I can keep my mouth shut. The trainer just really needs to open his mouth and say something.  He's too nice of a guy, a doormat type of person. I have tried to encourage him that he's a far better driver than he thinks he is.  

They have trouble keeping drivers, that's the deal. They have trouble even luring in new drivers and I doubt a lot of people would want to make it through their hellish training in Oregon.  I was ready to quit and leave on several occasions. Literally, call a taxi, take me to the airport and use my credit card points to fly home.  OH yes, I was and I even wrote about that at the time. It was that bad.  My gut told me right about this company, but I stupidly followed my need for money that, at the time, superseded my instincts and I stayed with it.  

Now, if this pay increase is substantial and pays what I need it to pay plus gets me saving money, I'm all over it.  Keep my on the dedicated Gurdon run, that's my role, we are only doing Ennis because of something going on at the Lufkin plant (what it is, I still don't know, I've been trying to find out just out of sheer curiosity and because I really don't like the Ennis run at all).  I do like that run as long as they give me the early slot.  When they sent me those 4 runs the other day, all of them were the early slot.  Why they keep giving me the late slot for Ennis, I have no clue.  

Anyway, I will wait with "bated breath" as the old saying goes.  It would be really nice if I could just stick with this job. I know, it's old equipment, but I have dealt with old equipment before.  It's not fun when it breaks down, especially if it breaks down repeatedly in a short period of time...and you are out for 16 hours plus staying in the truck over night....

That will be Monday when he calls me and we go over this stuff. He had me doing a Gurdon on Monday but said as of right now, it's changed and I (he) will just wait to see what happens.  There's loads going to both Gurdon and Ennis every single day, I just am getting time off, probably because I complained about Superbowl Sunday. 

So, 3 days off, 3-1/2 if you count today after work.  Tomorrow, I will be over at the park mowing grass. Probably for half the day.  It will take some time to mow all of that, not really looking forward to it, just needs to be done.  Hopefully the riding mower will start, haven't had that going in a while.  If there is enough time, I will see about installing the security system or at least get a start on it?

And lest we forget, there is still a power problem at the shed, it's not a huge issue now for it's not hot out and the "lack of power" is not heating everything up. But those days are coming, which means renting a ditch witch - money I don't have - tho I do have everything else including the direct burial wire.  I have to do that before the hot summer days are upon us. 

Did I mention grass? Oh yes, I did yesterday.

See? It's never ending.  But that wiring project is in the high priority range, months seem to just disappear when there is stuff you have to get done....

Interesting, the business checking account has almost enough to cover this property tax crap. Of course, I can't just spend all of that money on property taxes, there are other bills. Although, the power bill is paid and I don't have to deal with that again until the 10th of next month - well after I collect enough money and then some to cover it.  I'll wait until the next power bills show up, not in there yet, see what that is going to cost to see if I can cover this tax payment as well as everything else.

Kind of sucky to live life working and not really doing much of anything....existing is not my thing. I like to do stuff and yes, there is plenty of free stuff to do, there is still the niceties of life that cost money. I'd actually love to go spend a night in a nice hotel right now. Odd desire, I guess? But that's what I'd love to do. In fact, now that I think of it, I could pay for it with credit card points and everyone is going to be gone Saturday night, why stay here when I can go relax in a different environment? I might just do that. Then again, no one will be here, I could just stay here in peace and quiet lol.  

OTR trucking got me started on hotels. They put you up for a variety of reasons.  Breakdowns, of course.  34 hour reset where you demand that at least one night is not in the sleeper of a truck - admittedly a lot of companies won't pay for that.  Layovers where you're stuck somewhere for days.  I think vacation was the last hotel stay?  We're supposed to go to Las Vegas Memorial Day weekend for a wedding, but I don't know if that's going to happen now or not.  I can pay with cc points, they don't have such luxuries.  I kind of want to go whether they go or not, they being the folks here.  I'm just saying that because it will mean staying at a hotel somewhere, of course.  

Still, life may be taking a turn for the better if my trucking job actually delivers on the promise.  I won't hold my breath, but I also don't take it that my manager is some kind of liar or manipulator or even exaggerating. He's pretty down to earth, very low key and laid back.  He is given X amount of money to pay employees, he has to work with that pool of money to pay everyone.  I've done my best to not say stupid stuff out of angst for the company, it is kind of dumb to stick your foot in your mouth before you even give a person a chance to do anything about a situation. 

Well it's dumb to stick your foot in your mouth regardless, I can admit I've done that in my lifetime more than once, lol. Get older - learn.  Don't let the other players know what you're hand is before the deal is over.  Wait and see what happens, play it cool, keep your mouth shut as much as you need to.   That's what I've done here now that I've paid the price to even get in with this company.  They certainly have no problems making demands of you, now it's time for the tables to be turned? I'll remain optimistic.

As for now? Time to vegetate in front of the TV and watch some favorite shows.  

 Thursday - 8:00 am

Actually woke up at 6, an Amber alert went blaring off on the work tablet - the thing used for elogs and getting new loads etc, very loud.  Wasn't able to get back to sleep after that, but I did end up sleeping around 7 hours so not the end of the world.

Plus, it enabled me to get up and see the boys off. They told me last night they want me to get up this morning to say good morning to them and then I could go back to bed, lol.  I was like, uhh, no.  If I'm sleeping, I'm not intentionally waking myself up for stuff like that.  I know I won't be able to get back to sleep.  

Anyway, today is the second part of the run, taking it to the place near Dallas.  I despise this run for a variety of reasons, driving that far along I-20 being one of them.  Another heavily congested Interstate with people paying more attention to their phones than the road in front of them.  Driving aggressively, weaving in and out of traffic. Brake checking for no reason at all.  No good reason anyway.  Etc.  

I have to compare that to driving on I-30 to Gurdon and as bad as I think that is, I actually think the 20 is worse.  

Headline: "James Biden contradicted himself in interview".  Biden says he has never discussed his business dealings with his son.  I don't, of course, believe him, but what effect does it have? Biden will be President until his 4 years is up, even if he is impeached, the impeachment won't include removal from office, the Senate will guarantee that.  

And the gaslighting.  Biden is now saying the border is not secure. He's been saying ALL ALONG there is no issue at the border! Does he believe our memories are that fickle that we can't remember the s*** he said just a month ago?  These illegals are going to change the fabric of our society, you see them in the news all the time.  One dude who was in a high speed chase, the guys that assaulted the police, the murders and sexual assaults.  You have them filling up the "sanctuary cities", a thing I am amply glad I am not a part of, ie: living in any of them, and now many of these cities are saying no more.  No s*** Sherlock! You should have been saying that before it got to this point!

And THEN you have the results of defunding the police!  LOL! What did these people think would happen when you dismantle entire police agencies or crippling their ability to fight crime by stiffing them on available funds?  It didn't take a rocket scientist when they first started blurting out DEFUND THE POLICE! after the George Floyd incident and "nationwide" cries for getting rid of police that crime statistics would skyrocket. I'm so glad I live in "flyover country", you know, the area that is worthless to the left?  

I'm done with that for now.  Have to start thinking about the work day.  I need tomorrow off, really, need to get the grass mowed.  At the same time, I need the money.  

Ok. I just saw my paycheck. Unless I'm dreaming, I've been working a lot lately and  that paycheck is not representative of the amount of time I'm spending behind the wheel and doing their dirty work at the plants.  I don't get up every day for such a pathetically low amount of money, I could get a local job, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and make more than this.  Literally, I mean not even in the trucking industry and not have to put up with the bs.  

I can't pay the property tax with this paycheck.  Not and pay my other bills.  Now it's going to start adding up with fees, there's just nothing I can do besides putting it on credit cards and I'm really hesitant to start doing that.  Only if it's the difference between losing the property and keeping it, then I'll do whatever I have to.  I'm not anywhere near that yet.  I'm just throwing my hands up in the air.

I've already texted the manager and then he called me.  I told him flatly I'm not interested in working for $600 per week paychecks.  That's pauper's pay in the trucking industry and yes, I remember working 11 days in a row, then a day off, then another 2 days before getting 2 days off. And before that 11 days in a row, I think I worked 6 days before that. Again, I will not continue on with a job that expects me to perform for them like this and not get paid for it regardless of miles.  In a "local" job like this, mileage is not the only thing to take into consideration as it shouldn't be.  You have hours spent in plants either loading or unloading.  

Anyway, unless there is some glitch or I'm just living in a dream world where I think I worked but I really didn't, this isn't going to continue.  It was really almost shocking to see that paycheck.  I figured at least another $600 net pay.  The manager has no ability to increase my pay excepting for 1 penny per mile, which basically would be nothing.  

They already know, I am sure, the people worth keeping don't stick around because of low pay and old equipment.  They freely admitted they have a hard time getting people because of the equipment, they should have been honest and included pay in that statement.  

Well whatever. The day isn't growing any shorter, have to leave out of here in 20 minutes, need my coffee, water and sandwiches ready to go.

G'day