I may be a bit of a chatterbox going on here.

But, I successfully checked in both flights, signed up for text alerts about those flights and paid the baggage fee up front, saving me $5.  AA charges $40 for first checked bag.  If I were getting a deal on the flight, I could see that, but the flight was $350 or around there, I think it was, for a one way ticket. That's hardly a deal.  Then again, I didn't pay anything for it by using Credit Card points but still.  

I then had the thought that my trip to Texas Roadhouse with my son could be made through credit card points and sure enough, BofA has the option of electronic delivery.  Chase didn't but oh well.  So, hopefully that arrives before or on Thursday and that dining experience will cost me nothing more than I've already paid to the CC company. 

I'm not sure about hotels, I'd like to decide where I want to stop for the night meaning which route I'll take home and get that on there. It takes up to 24 hours for them to process it, we found out the hard way.  This will greatly reduce my expenses on this trip.  So far I've only paid for one way baggage.  I have an Uber trip to mom's house which will probably cost around $40 - it's quite the distance - and then whatever activities I may get involved with, but nothing spectacular.  Mostly just hanging out.  One thing I don't have to do this time and that is stay until Friday if I feel like I've visited enough and want to leave.  

I dunno, really depends on mom since I'm staying at her house.  If my staying too long is going to cause her problems I will just leave - no I can't leave on Thursday, I am meeting up with my son Thursday evening. Well, I guess I could leave Thursday night but why bother.  Might as well just get up Friday morning, bid my farewells to mom and head home.  It's probably the only thing that I miss about living there is being close to mom and son. I'd definitely be over to her house once a week to help her with anything and to go stores and such.  She apparently has a list of things she wants me to do as it stands.  

Ok, well, it's 9:00 am I just checked and time to be off to the bank and Krogers. 

___________

Bank deposit made, electric bill for park paid, Kroger's done, battery pack on camera almost charged.  Oops, guess it takes more than 3 hours, it's a huge battery pack. Hopefully it will last the week, I didn't have time or desire to put it back on the charger and go back there yet again before leaving.  New weed eater delivered to the shed, toilet paper put in the dispenser the rest of the pack in the outside shed, fuel tank filled up, gas station coffee bought, clothes in the dryer - I wanted to wash a last-minute set of clothing - and now I'm pretty much set to go.  

Oh, and Allen contacted yet again. The boy only mowed the dog park, he did not mow behind the shed and pick up the blocks James -- former tenant who left without paying 2 months worth of rent, tho the second month was currently due, not well past due at least - left behind.  Nice blocks actually. Not mine, but he left them so now they are.  Told Allen he needs to do that today along with spraying the grass killer I have repeatedly asked to have done.

A little less than 2 hours before I leave here. I'm going to show up well in advance. It's a boring airport, very small, but they tell you to arrive early and I take their advice always to just show up early in case there are issues.  I'll have my laptop and my phones and chargers so at least I'll have something to do while waiting. 

If there is something else, I"m at the shrugs shoulders stage.  I'm checked in early with the scan code to show at the airport along with the baggage.  What else is there? Probably something, there is always something I forget.  Oh, yes.

Snakes. Have devoured most of my Koi and goldfish.  And just ordered the bait and about to order the trap.  If I catch the thing/s, I will probably just relocate it versus killing them. Although I am sure I will be tempted to kill them since they have devoured literally hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of Koi fish.  I only have small goldfish left and maybe 2 small Koi that I bought not terribly long ago.  I buy them small and just let them grow throughout the years.  The bigger Koi were around 8 inches long.  Just pisses me off and yes, I am going to get rid of them one way or the other.  

Pretty sad, actually, not like those Koi can defend themselves.  There are hiding places but I don't think those work against snakes, they work against birds or raccoons and such.  Watersnakes will simply go underwater to catch their prey.  

_________

Departure time fast approaching. For some reason, I don't really want to go. If it weren't for my mom and son, I definitely wouldn't go.  My family doesn't make any attempt to reach out to me beyond those two, it was the same when I lived there.  Show up for Christmas and sometimes Thanksgiving and that was about the extent of family get togethers that often-times ended in arguments and people storming out.  I don't miss that nonsense at all.  

It's a lot of effort, lost time at work, money, etc to take a trip like this is all I'm saying and frankly, I like my own bed.  It sounds selfish and maybe it is, mom isn't getting any  younger, no idea how much longer she'll be with us so there is a sense of urgency to spend a few days with her.  Other than that, I really would just say screw it, stay home.  The traveling is sort of fun, I would pay for an upgrade but the only seats left available on the aircraft are middle seats.  Still, I'll ask when I get to the boarding gate at DFW if there are going to be any no shows, I'd pay some extra money for extra leg room.  By the time one of these flights is over with, my knees are hurting badly from being cramped in such a position.  I do have a window seat so I can sort of turn sideways which usually helps.  And so far? There is no one taking the middle seat next to me.  That would be grand if it stayed that way....

It already changed. The middle seat next to me is now taken.  There are only 2 seats left on the aircraft at the very back and both middle seats.  I just refuse to sit in middle seats, it's bad enough sitting on the row or next to the windows......

Closing this one out.  Next update will be DFW, tho I'll probably just do a Facebook update for that.

 Monday - early

I don't have to leave here until noonish, but I have stuff to get done and I was already about it.  I got up, took a shower and immediately headed over to the park.  The outside camera needs recharged and I wanted to wait until just before leaving so I can hopefully have it charged enough to last the entire week. It usually lasts at least that long with a full charge. Also took the new weedeater over there and put it in the closet in the shed next to the shower.  I dont want it left outside and I was hesitant to even bring it over in the first place. 

The kid, no idea. He's 31 years old so not exactly a child, but that's the way he acts. Spoiled and immature.  I haven't been keeping track of him since the ultimatum except that day when I made it, he worked that day, has he since then? I can look at the camera once I get to Dallas and sitting there for 2-1/2 hours twiddling my thumbs.

I still have to go to the bank and deposit cash and go get some TP for the shed.  I have to go back over after 3 hours or so anyway, might as well take the toilet tissue over there as well. I don't much care to keep it stocked, people take advantage of it and go through it quickly. I suspect some are still sneaking rolls of it out for their trailers.  It's a convenience, yes, but people use it constantly versus using the bathroom in their trailers.  And lots of people take showers in there.  I get that, those older trailers have 5 gallon water heaters in them and you might take a 3 minute shower or something like that and then it's done.  No more hot water.  

I also still have to pack, but that won't take but 10 minutes and that will be done.  

Nice clear flying weather today. No storms between here and AZ, 1 stop at DFW, nice day to fly.  No red eye flights, I chose this afternoon flying on purpose.  I used to do the red eyes to save money, but what a hassle.  I also used to drive to either Love's field or DFW to save money.  And tho the savings can be significant, you have to factor in driving over there, so gas spent and then paying exorbitant amount of money per day to park your vehicle.  

The savings disappear when you take the whole picture into consideration.  A lot less hassle. It's a very small airport over at GGG, same security measures to get into the secured areas but after that, there is no more.  Yes, my license has the gold star for RealID compliance, I just checked lol.  That is a requirement now, or I guess if you have a passport.  

Alright, quick break, I want to get packed so I have that done and over with...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Okay, that was easy. But, I like to pack it, sit down, think about it for a while and try to remember anything I should be taking with me.  I probably should take a copy of my insurance with me to show for getting that truck into my name, however, it's just going to be title, not registration, really shouldn't need it.  We have an appointment for Tuesday I think she said to sit down and deal with it, under a living trust and apparently that makes it difficult for anyone to do anything different than what's in it already.

My friend I was going to visit over there is still going through hellish times mentally and emotionally, I'd love to visit him but it appears he's not in any mood to entertain friends.  I dunno, play it by ear as the old saying goes.  I figure time spent with mom, taking her wherever she needs to go, spend an evening with my son and if I don't see anyone else, the purpose of the trip has been made.  Taking the pickup home is an extra added benefit but it also marks a sad day that her vehicles are now gone - she gave her other vehicle to one of my brothers already - and that she has to depend on Uber to go anywhere.  

The upside is my oldest brother still takes her up to her mountain getaway and taking an Uber isn't the end of the world.  Plan your trips and make them infrequent, she doesn't go out that much anyway.  Still, I can imagine losing the freedom of being able to drive has to hit hard. This was all voluntary on her part, btw, the state didn't revoke her license.  

I feel like eating something, like going to IHOP, but I decided to wait until I get to DFW and have a nice meal at one of the restaurants there. A bit pricey, but the food is good and a good time to eat as soon as I get there and have time to digest food and any bathroom needs taken care of before boarding the A320 for Phoenix.  Yes, I checked the type of aircraft, I do not want to get on a 737 Max under any circumstances.  They stand right up there with the MD-11in my mind and they can keep it.  It took 2 crashes killing everyone on board both flights if I recall correctly before the FAA did anything about it.

And now you see lots of near misses with aircraft taxing on runways - with clearance - and aircraft landing at the same time.  Ridiculous.  I probably watch too much Mentour Pilot, VASAviation and Mayday Aircrash Investigation episodes. Not to get into fear of flying, but the fascination of learning about commercial jetliners - which listening to Mentour Pilot you can learn a lot about how such aircraft fly and the nuances of it - to see what happened and what they ended up doing about it.

There was a particular aircraft that had a cargo door blowout and took out a part of the floor of the main cabin.  I think the first time it happened the people were lucky and the second time? Not so lucky as a couple of rows of seats were sucked out with it.  I have no fear of flying per se, but taking off sort of ruffles my feathers.  I don't much care for it.  

I"m watching more footage of the Helene aftermath.  Many areas now have food and water but no power, running water or communications.  Starlink coming in, people shipping in generators and I've seen gas tankers pumping fuel fight off the tanker.  I have a problem with them charging $10 per gallon, however, that has the appearance of price gouging and taking advantage of desperate people.  They are predicting it will take years to rebuild and I would have to agree. I also wonder about insurance companies and how difficult they are going to make it to get payouts.  

But they're going to have to fix the roads to get into some of those places and there are still reports of remote areas that still don't have anything.  Horses and pack mules are headed into those areas if they aren't there already.  The worst thing that could happen right now is another storm and here we go with Hurricane Milton.  

Well that's enough for now.  I have many more hours to burn before I have to leave here. Off to Kroger's for toilet paper for the shed and deposit cash into the business account.

G'day

 Sunday - mid morning

Kids just left with grandma. I was hoping to take them to church but that plan was foiled when grandma showed up a day early to leave this morning.  Not the end of the world, they are also now going to Wednesday kid service which is 2 hours long.

I dunno, but I'm off work until 2 Mondays from now.  I actually don't want to be off of work that long, I was already off 2 weeks not long ago and still trying to get caught up from that.  My park isn't full, either, so not normal income coming in there.  Nothing I can do about it and if anyone wants to move in while I"m going, not sure how I"m going to handle it.

You see, I gave the son of the dad that was the park host an ultimatum yesterday: either give me the agreed upon hours of work or leave the park by today.  I'm just not going to tolerate lazy people taking advantage of my good graces.  Get out your @$$ out of bed, get busy and stop complaining.

He was telling his mom that the doggy park didn't need mowed and everything I was saying was apparently a lie.  Allen, the father, didn't frame it that way but that was my takeaway from it. I was supposed to show proof via pics that the grass needed mowed again. Say what? I told Allen if he's going to complain about it, he can just leave, it don't want to deal with it.  When I got back from the final trip before leaving - tomorrow afternoon - he was out there mowing the doggy park.  I wanted a verbal commitment, I didn't get that but him working out there is good enough.  

But - only if he's going to keep it up.  I'm only asking 8 hours a week worth of work. He wanted to just get by with whatever he thinks looks good? Who does this guy think he is, dictating to me what work and how much of it he's going to do? This is why I gave the ultimatum yesterday and I was dead serious about it. I also told Allen that if he's that unhappy, he may be spreading that poison to tenants and then they might leave.  I don't need it.  I can tell ya, if I find out he's been speaking anything negative about me, he's going straight down the driveway and out.  

Anyway, I am going to get ready to leave today.  Just pack my bag and triple check I have everything.  

So, my manager decided to have the trailer taken out of the park for use while I'm gone.  I have no problem with that, if it sets too long, the glue dries up and it costs a lot of money to get it cleaned out. I told him to tell the driver to take the trailer to the end of the property to turn around.

So what does this dude do? He backs up then used the loop entrance to the RV park to leave.  People. 

And now, one of the people I wanted to visit is down in the dumps and not speaking to anyone.  His wife died during Covid and his life has been upside down ever since.  I am not judging him at all, I knew the lady from high school, we used to hang out a lot at parties.  We were close all the way up until she passed away, so I do have a connection with the guy in that manner.  But, he turned to heavy drinking to try and kill the pain and tho that works temporarily, it's not a long term solution.

Still, I get what he's going through and he has some pretty rough days.  But I expect not to see him on this trip.  I mostly planned to spend it with mom anyway, take her around town to do some shopping, see my son and probably visit some other friends.  Or not.  

I probably should have made this trip for next month tho.  It's still pretty warm in AZ and she doesn't run the AC much. Just enough to keep it - warm in my estimation.  I was thinking to go there when nigh time temps drop so I can at least sleep.  I'd rather stay in a hotel, honestly, than have sleepless night in a hot house.  This was my issue last time, I dunno why I was thinking October the temps would be good enough, they aren't, November would have been better.  

Well, almost time to leave for church. My clothes are all cleaned, I really don't have much to have to do before leaving tomorrow afternoon. It's a relatively short flight. I've got near 2-1/2 hour wait at DFW.  Typical for the type of trip I'm taking, where I'm flying in from a regional airport to connect with the flight to AZ.  It's a 1 way air trip.  I like the flying experience, I don't like being crammed into those seats.  My legs are long and they start hurting after a while.  

Whatever happens, I hope to have a good trip.

As for now? Off to church. 

G'day

 I've decided to get up at 4 am, get over to the park and get rolling out of there no later than 5 am.  That gets me to the washout at 6:30, out of there around 7-7:15 and then to the plant at 7:45.  Providing that other driver doesn't somehow cut me again, I will be back by 10:45 am.  

I haven't tried on my new jeans yet, I want to wash them first. Considering my current jeans of the same size are literally falling off my @$$ if I don't have a belt on, safe to assume they will all fit.  Amazing what cutting out fat - most of it anyway, seems like most things have at least a little fat in it - does for losing weight. And eating endless salads.  

I'm not sure about this trip.  I don't feel like I want to break away from this too much. But I am going to meet up with my son at Texas Roadhouse and I am just going to splurge on the eating.  Steak, dinner rolls and whatever else I feel like eating.  I do think I will remain on cholesterol conscious diet the rest of the time, tho.  

They say you should consume no more than 300 milligrams per day but if you have "risk factors", keep it no more than 200.  I can tell you that on a typical day I am coming nowhere even close to 200 per day.  I have been closely watching the cholesterol and fat content of literally everything I eat.  

I am either going to get a planet fitness membership - it's cheap - or wait until cooler weather. Walking around in the woods in this heat isn't particularly fun.  Temps came down for a little bit but now the day time temps are back up there.  Daytime highs don't go down to mid 80's until next week.  I don't much care for treadmills, I think I will just wait until I get back to restart the walking regime.  

I finally had a person say they are coming in a couple of weeks to stay long term.  They have to actually show up of course, but it's a little bit of good news.  I've had several people inquire but nothing about actually moving in.  The $200 off has definitely garnered some interest.  It's the time of year where offering that kind of deal is ok because my electric bills are coming down substantially.  

I still have no definitive answer as to what to do next.  I have this "feeling" that if I build a covered lot, someone will come quickly to take it.  

 I was looking at the 2 routes home.  The miles aren't that much different but there is over an extra hour taking I-40.  What I was really looking at is places to stop and what hotels are available. If I go 10 to 20, I'd likely stop in Odessa and there is a Marriott Residence Inn there and my points on another card will cover it.  It would leave something like 500 miles to go after driving over 700.  I could spend a nice evening at a nice hotel.  Get up whenever I feel like it in the morning and drive out the rest of the miles.  

I know without looking where I would stop on 40, Amarillo. It's a little over 500 miles from there to home.  I know this because my previous job and making numerous trips to the yard there.  Oh, that's a job a definitely do not miss.  That company is not doing well and drivers are not making much money there now.  I know this because I am still in a facebook group with them and they complain about it all the time.  They aren't getting the dispatches they used to. Sometimes, you look back on things and think, well that happened for a reason.  

I have 3 days of work left and then I'll be off 8 days.  I don't really want quite that much time off and it wouldn't have to be if I didn't have to drive back. Or plan on staying there for 3 full days plus 2 partial.  I could leave a day early, I suppose. Driving back, I really only need the permit and get the insurance covering the vehicle.  

Well insurance is easy, just went through all of that on the website, got it listed and saved for when I want to implement it. Probably going to downgrade the current vehicle to minimum liability for I don't want a huge insurance payment every month, it's already big enough with that accident and subsequent ticket on there.  I will probably shop around again once I get the thing registered in my name and see if I can find a better deal somewhere.  

I'm not sure what I want to do with the Ford - keep it or sell it or give it away. Probably not give it away, a person must have a source of income to drive a vehicle like that, it's a true gas hog.  I just haven't decided on that, I could use the funds tho.  I still like the thing is my problem.  I never liked Fords until I ended up with that.  It's loaded with options and it's still in decent shape excepting the driver's seat which needs reupholstered. 

I thought about why I am losing weight today and that came pretty quickly. I have eaten 2 salads today, a small bowl of taco soup and a peanut butter spoon.  That isn't a lot of food and that is likely all I'm going to eat.  The taco soup is delicious, but it's loaded with ground beef and cream cheese, hence it's on the "nay nay" list as John Pinnette would say (comedian, passed).  I can eat small portions of probably anything, but you know, when you are facing a serious side effect to high cholesterol, well, you're going to have to decide whether you want to live or die.  I'd like to live a while longer, I have something to live for and there is some purpose to my life.  I'd like to expand that, but at the moment, it's not bad.  

My jeans showed up.  I figure if I ever get back down to 34's, it's going to be quite a while at the rate I'm going and so new jeans were in order. These are not designer jeans, I'm really not into designer clothing. I balk at the price tags of fancy jeans, shirts and so on.  But, I do think I'll buy a more acceptable outfit for outings.  Just that for now, what I have is good enough for this trip. 

I did, indeed, pray over the business today.  Will keep praying until some sort of breakthrough or sign shows up, however that might happen and if the Lord so chooses.  Right now, that business is stalled, it seems anyway.  Of course, I've been through this before with lots empty and going quite a while before anyone shows up and then all of a sudden, 3 people show up.  I would love for that to happen soon.

I really gave thought about a hot tub.  I just don't see a down side to it for the cost.  But I should wait, I think, until I see where I should go with this.  What, exactly, am I looking for? God has ways of making his will known if you seek Him about it.  It may be very subtle, it may be glaring and in your face, but if you're looking for it, you will see it.  

I also don't see a downside to building a canopy over a single lot.  Well, I guess the down side would be building it and not getting what I want out of it for lot rent or even renting it at all.  ? See? What do I do?  I don't have the answers, I just have ideas.  I hate to be in a hurry to do the wrong thing.  I am always mindful of that element of any aspect of lift where you want to get something done but....you know you should wait.  

Right now, what I do know is that I only have a $440 per month payment on that property.  That's it.  I have utilities and wifi and such, but if I were to shut down the park and just empty it out, I'd just have minimal payments.  No, I am not considering doing that, just looking at the good side of not getting another loan.  Another loan means the property is added on to it plus the amount needed for the loan. Instead of $440 per month, it would likely be thousands.  

The thing I am absolutely sure of here is this: I have very few amenities.  Not in comparison to other RV parks.  I don't have a covered area for people to gather together, a BBQ pit, a game area, whatever other places have. I don't even have an office.  

Oh, the dude I have been talking about not paying his rent? He disappeared. His trailer was gone and he's gone, not answering messages and basically I am screwed once again out of lot rent for a person using ample amounts of electricity - on my dime.  

It uhh, is what, 4 of these types now? Him, the tent lady, the work kamper and the tent people. Well, the tent people did pay, they just took advantage of everything to the nth degree.  The tent lady owes me thousands of dollars that I'll never see, of course.  The workamper I just threw out because they weren't doing anything but mowing the doggy park and this dude.  

This is going to happen again. Some person is going to go in there under false pretenses, make claims and then they are going to try to screw me. The only thing I can say now?  That "poverty lot" I'm now going to call it? People are going to hear up front that if they are 1 day late on rent, they can expect a vacate notice replete with a trespassing notice, as prescribed by the rules that state has made for RV parks.  

I informed the washout place this morning that I was going to be calling early on Friday.  The conversation went to the dude that is ahead of me now but will be behind me on Friday. Oh, he comes in between 4 and 6 am at least once a week.  What?!!  Here I am thinking of showing up at the washout at 7:00 am and that may be too late?  It will not be anything close to his time slot but I can see him being there.  I was even thinking of leaving the Park at 4:30 am to be at the washout at 6:00 am. That may be too late? Weird.  

It has become glaringly obvious the manager doesn't want to hear the complaints.  I don't rightly care, tbh, but at the same time, I also don't want to be stuck on the late load forever.  I dunno, I'll decide when to get up tomorrow night.  If the man beats me, there is nothing I can do about it and the manager doesn't give a s***.  He has no control over his drivers, that's another glaringly obvious fact.  

I will likely get up very early and get that day done early.  I could be home by 10:00 am if I get there early enough and I don't run into this other driver.  

Enough of that nonsense.  It's irritating and I don't like to dwell on it too much.  The man claims to be a Christian on top of everything else.  He goes to church and ... what good is that doing him?  

The kids are leaving Sunday. Fall break, they call it, a week off. Grandma was going to stay for the time Taylor was out but that has changed.  The grandpa wants to see them.  I mean, the kids just spent half the summer up there, not like he hasn't spent any time with them...

I was going to offer to take them up to Gurdon and the grandparents can meet me there and save many, many hours of driving.  However, I'd like to take them to church on Sunday so I haven't made that offer - yet.  Not to mention they'd have to show up pretty early to get them, I don't want to have to wait on them.  It's 3 hour round trip to Gurdon and back for them, it's about 8 hours round trip coming all the way down here. They are driving down here and turning around and driving right back, hence the grandpa is coming so the driving duties can be shared. Grandma doesn't like to make the entire trip in the same day.  

Grocery stores are already out or running out of toilet paper. Not just here, either. One of my guests today said the Kroger's in Hot Springs where his family lives had one package of tp left when they went in there last.  Bad taste left in people's mouths from Covid and supplies running out, tp was the first to go.  This is panic buying.  There is no need, yet anyway, to run stores out of anything.  I mean, because everyone else is doing, it, it leaves us no choice? If we want to be able to clean ourselves after sitting on the toilet, what are you going to do? Just say no, we aren't going to stock up and risk it? That question was answered yesterday after they bought a 30 pack of tp and a 10 pack of paper towels.  I don't blame them and even considering now that people are just running it out of stores to get more if it's available.  No shelf life that I know of to toilet paper.  

Enough of this. Just got back from church, the boys got 2 solid hours there, which is good because I dunno if they're going on Sunday. Depends on when the grands show up.

 Wednesday 7:20 am

The beginning of another late load starting in a few.  

Fact checking the fact checkers - the moderator was wrong and Vance actually did post the proof of his statement about migrants - especially illegals - driving up housing prices because of a limited available market of housing.  I mean, I'm reading where people are calling Vance a liar, yada blah blah yada ho ho.  

Whatever.  The driver trainer asked which route I am going to take coming back from AZ, 10 or 40? 

40 is the scenic route and by far more interesting driving, but it adds a lot of miles to the trip. 10 is the desert route and very boring driving.  I don't like driving anyways, but boring driving is the worst.  Especially alone.  I do believe my objective will be to get back as fast as possible and get it over with, however, so I will probably take the 10 route.  I've done both routes.  I went 40 that one trip over there to participate in dad's memorial service and then up to see mom in the mountains.  It only made sense to leave the mountains going north up to 40 and heading east.  

But from the Phoenix area?  It's much fast and shorter to go I-10.  There's even stretches that have 80 mph speed limits. 

I dunno, but my new jeans are coming in today, at least according to a text from the supplier.  My prep work for leaving is mostly just get my clothes in order.  We are making an appointment if possible to show up at the AZ DMV to have the title transferred over into my name.  The reason we want to do this is because she has it in a living trust, which are "inviolable" I guess you'd call it, everyone involved has to give their approval.  

However, the DMV told me on the phone I need only have the title signed over to me, I don't have to transfer it officially, to get a travel permit.  Sounds like it's going to be a hassle, lol.

My business finances aren't overflowing atm because of numerous empty lots.  I dunno what to say about it.  I've done my best to run ads and give discounts and that's that. I'm not going to stress over it, my expenses there are not that great.  Less trailers, less electricity being used, smaller bill. I've got a $1,600 bill due by the 10th and then next month's will probably be up there as well and then? It will go down as the temps go down.  

Guess I best let the washout know this morning that I will be calling them early on Friday to come wash out the trailer.  I'm guessing between 6 and 6:30 am.  Just depends on when I decide to get out of bed.  

I'm losing weight and not really even trying.  It's all this fat free junk and not eating as much because of it.  Fat free food is a major shift in eating. I used to eat like that long ago, now I'm being forced back into it. That or clogged arteries and die I guess.  I'm down to 217 now. Yup, it's still heavy but not as bad as when it was in the 220's.  

I'm going to spend some time praying over the business today and see if I can hear anything from the Lord.  No, I don't mean the audible voice of the Lord, unbelievers see Christians saying stuff like this and think we are psycho because we think God talks to us like we would to anyone in person, face to face. No, the Bible says to listen for the still, small voice of the Lord. In your heart.  I don't have the answers here, He does.  What His guidance might be? I have no idea yet.  I've prayed over it but I just need pray more.  

Where do I go with this business? What do I do next? How do I get people to come in now that there is so much competition in the region?  It's not just the new park that opened up, there are parks opening up all over the place. The one next to highway 59 in Domino, TX?  It isn't done yet but it's got concrete pads and asphalt driveways.  I can't compete with that.  People stop wherever they find that is cheap, yes, but also has to be nice.  I guess one thing that would help is if I could get more reviews. I ask people to post them, they say they will and they ---- don't.  Even if I send them a link.  

It's perplexing, perhaps I should have started a different kind of business. Not too late for that, actually, but it costs a lot of money. That is the type of business where you are not only offering the land but you are offering the housing as well.  There are no cheap options to that. Even building my own cabins would be pricey.  

I think I could do it, I just don't have the money for that.   But should I get into a loan right now?  I am second-guessing myself what with having 5 and today 6 empty spaces and not that much inquiry from interested renters.  I was thinking to run a Google ad. They are more pricey but they do have more reach.  The yurt tents is not totally out of the picture and I do have a place to put one.  That would still cost around 5 grand for the finished product and I wonder if it would actually produce enough guests to make any money off of it?  

I just don't know and I feel like I'm at a cross roads and I really need God's guidance on what to do next.  If a loan is needed, it's needed.  If not, then what? Nothing?  Just stay at 16 spaces and call it good?  Certainly not enough to live off of, I would have to work for many more years to come.   That is not my goal, my goal is to get out of working for anyone but myself.  I need "opportunity" to come my way and I trust in the Lord to make that happen if it's within His will.  His will be done, that's the end all of any scenario.  I don't want to do things He doesn't want me to do or isn't leading me to do.  

Opportunity could be anything.  Housing offered via payments?  Building cabins?  Some sort of small apartment structure?  Yurt tents?  Mobile homes?  I'm not above that, that was my original plan anyway.  

This is my dilemma right now. What to do next.  I haven't received the quote from the contractor. I wonder if that's a sign in  and of itself - don't do it.  I still think a hot tub is on the table. It's a relatively small investment for potential returns.  If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.  I have the place to put it.  

Well, it's time to get my stuff and get out of here.

G'day

 As stated yesterday, I had the late run this time and late run the next run.  I wasn't about to take a 3rd one, but that's exactly what the manager tried to do to me.  Nope.  I politely texted him asking him to give me the early load, I will have already done 2 in a row.  I am glad it didn't have to go any further than that, but as I suspected, the reason he wants to dump 2cd runs on me is because I get irritated with these people showing up early and he obviously doesn't want to hear it. 

Yup, well I don't want to be cut, either.  The reason I can say this is because he mentioned me showing up early so the "knucklehead" won't get away with his antics.  I mean, if you are a manager and your employees are doing whatever they heck they please....you can fill in the blank after that.

I had already planned on showing up early anyway, it will be a short time before I leave for AZ and I want time to get some stuff done.  So I told him I would show up a couple hours early both days at both ends.  He was all over that.  OK?  I can do that from now on, I thought. Save me the grief and get done with the work day at 11 am or even earlier.  

Now then, the VP debate. It starts in 8 minutes and I am definitely going to watch as much of it as my stomach can handle.  I thought I'd have to watch it on CBS - Communist Broadcast System - but apparently they are allowing it to be simulstreamed everywhere, including Fox.  I'm actually watching it for the entertainment value, if there will be any, and see if CBS stands by it's word.  They have promised no fact checking, at least on air.  The mics won't be muted and the nominees can fact check each other.  

Well I'm getting distracted, a lot of speculation about this debate starting in a few minutes.  But, I am just waiting for this thing to start and see how this plays out.  

___________________

I'm a Trump supporter so my opinion is going to be a bit swayed, but Walz was nervous, committed word salads, lied, made up stories, did not have a convincing argument and I can't see most undecideds seeing him as the winner of this debate. Vance did a far better job debating the positions that Trump has then Trump did in the first debate.  Much better speaker than Trump, Trump gets tripped up on his ego and anyone saying anything to him that maligns him he can't help himself but to fire back.  

Vance interrupted the moderators - who had agreed to no fact checking - after they fact checked him. They ended up cutting off his microphone.  I think they cut off both microphones. CBS will be endlessly blasted for this, but it wasn't near as bad as the first debate.  

It's over and I'm toast.  

But...

I have second load again tomorrow.  It's the same thing as the last 2 days - if I can sleep in, I will.  If I can't, I'll just let it go as far as these drivers showing up to butt in before me. As far as I'm concerned, I have, in writing, permission to show up as early as I want. I don't want to get up at 4 am but I will to get my day over with. I can always take a nap when I get home and I can nap both at the loading plant and the delivery plant.  

Well, at the delivery plant I have to get out of the truck every so often to check the air pressure going into the tanker.  You can't get it too high or seals will start blowing out.  But I do take short naps up there sometimes. Today was not one of those days. For whatever reason, the product was blasting through the outlet line and I was done offloading in 42 minutes. That's a record for me.  I was busy the entire time and got out of there and got home at a still-decent time. Not good enough to get stuff done I wanted to, but enough that I didn't feel like I had blown the entire day away with the 2cd load.

I'm running ads, I'm giving $200 off first month's rent, besides adding more amenities such as building the canopies over the lots, I really don't know what else I can do.  There is a lot of competition, that's what I can say.  I've had several inquiries through Facebook messaging, nothing that has converted to a person actually moving in.  

 Tuesday - 7:55 am

I woke up early - way too early - and decided I was sleeping in today. If I have late load I might as well enjoy the time to sleep in if I am able.  Sometimes- many times - I try to sleep in and I am laying there awake. That didn't happen either today or yesterday and I'll take all the sleep I can get when I can get it. 

VP debate tonight, anchored by CBS News.  I used to respect CBS news long ago, but once they got involved with propaganda and Russian Collusion, ignoring the Hunter laptop story when it came out and determining it was "fake news", etc, I lost all respect for them.  

I do not expect any less hostile landscape from their biased moderators than what we saw in the Trump-Harris debate.  Many leftist outlets are saying, finally, that the moderators in that debate were extremely biased and were hostile towards Trump while they were soft on Harris.  Of course they were, it was glaringly obvious.  

I'm going to watch the debate regardless for I believe Vance is a much more accomplished speaker than Walz.  There is allegedly going to be no fact-checking.  Trump claims they had agreed before the Trump-Harris debate that there would be no fact checking.  We obviously know that isn't true and that the only person being fact-checked was Trump. Harris spoke some real "big fish stories", not even exaggerations, just bold-faced lies.  I don't see any use for Trump to engage in any more debates, he will be treated the same way unless the Harris campaign would agree to unbiased moderators that aren't from any news media outlet.  

Yeah, that's not going to happen.  We all know that and Harris can call Trump a coward/chicken/whatever all she wants, it just makes her look childish. 

That's where we're at in this campaign.  Leftists are engaging in extremely immature behavior, some of it is unbelievable.  Leftists putting up a 40 plus foot tall, naked Trump effigy near a Harris rally in Vegas.  

Meanwhile, 36 ports from Maine to Texas are shut down.  The union workers went on strike as promised.  Uhh, y'all/we all might want to go out and get stuff you need, because if this strike goes on long enough, there are going to be shortages of everything.  I don't know what, exactly, at this point, but I'm going to stock up on paper goods immediately just in case.  We went through Covid and lack of toilet paper and other paper goods, I am not going to be caught in that position again, going around town looking for ANY toilet paper.  

I eventually found a 4 pack at Walgreens.  I also found single rolls of TP at truckstops for sale. Outrageously priced but you'll take anything once you get to the desperation mode.

We have a war going on in Lebanon now and we have the devastation of the Helene storm.

The world is always in turmoil to some extent, we're looking at some extreme stuff going on right now.  

Now then, if I can get up early enough tomorrow..no I'm not going to try and bypass whoever is loading, I have second load yet again.  No, I'd like to go the 7:00 am bible study. It only goes on an hour and I don't typically leave for the 2cd load slot until around 9:00 am.  Big if, but I'm at least going to try. I don't even know if "outsiders" are invited to this thing.  They mention it once in a while, but not in the context of anyone can come.  I guess if I were disinvited showing up - yeah - I'd leave that church in a hurry.  

That's enough for now.  I need to make lunch for the road and get some more coffee.

G'day

 Monday - 7:45 am

I was going to do it. Get up early and just play their game against them.  I didn't even have to have an alarm wake me up, 4:45 am I woke up out of a dream and thought about getting up.  Then I thought how nice it would be to sleep in and so I said screw it.  

I'm referring to simply showing up at the plant whenever I damn well please like these other drivers do without any repercussions.  One driver got a scolding, or so I'm told, other than that? They aren't going to stop this nonsense.  The drivers don't care and management does little or nothing to stop it.  It greatly irritates me, that's all I can say and until I do anything about it beyond saying something to management - who basically do nothing - I guess I'll just have to eat it.

Nooo, bro, I'm not eating it lmao.  This s*** is going to come to a head and I'm going to force it there.  When I feel like getting up early on a day that I don't need to for loading or delivery? I'll be there at a time when I'm not supposed to be.  

It seems relatively straight forward.  Building a wood-structured canopy, that is.  16 foot tall 4X4's, 8 of them and 2X6 for the outside structure and I think it's 1X2 or maybe 1X4 for the cross ties.  No, 10 4x4's.  So, $250 worth of 4x4's, $90 worth of 2x6x10's, I'm not sure how wide, but shooting for 14 feet so another $40 worth of end side beams...

Well the cross ties apparently are going to also have to be 2x4x16 to make 14 wide.  I don't know how many so I'll guess 10, there's another $110. What do we have for a total so far....$490.  Add 4 more pieces of lumber for support beams, $50, $250 for the canopy to drape over the top....$790 and then screws, lag bolts and thin wood strips to wrap the ends of the canvas around and staple them to the wood.  So around $850 to build one.  Canvas probably has to be replaced every few years I'm guessing.  I think a wood structure that is stained and put the acrylic finish on it would look far better than these ugly metal things.  

Oh, forgot the cement for the poles in the ground.  Let's say $900 to build one. Incredible that lumber costs that much nowadays.  I think 5 years ago it would cost half of that.  Have to be realistic about it, but it's still thousands of dollars less than the metal structures that come as a kit. 

__________

Yes, I'll be doing that sooner or later, probably sooner than later.  One of them and see what happens when I advertise it.  This way, I don't waste a lot of money on something that might not work.  Or might be an instant hit? Who knows.  

Meanwhile, I've been watching a lot of footage of the devastation that storm did. Chimney Rock, a small town I think in NC, is almost completely leveled.  It's just a pile of wood and belongings now with some structures on the sides.  A man was on the news that lives in that area and said there is almost no gas, power, water and very little food.  This is where the government should step in, not opposed to that at all. But you can be rest assured Red Cross either will be there or likely is already there. And other Christian ministries will be bring in truckloads of needed goods for the people to survive.  It's an amazing amount of destruction in an area where that kind of flooding was never expected.  

The reports of dams breaking were wrong tho.  No dams broke, they are opened up wide and letting a tremendous amount of water out but they are all holding so far.  That's good news in a situation where there isn't much good news at all.  

Not much else on my front. I ordered new jeans for my trip, I don't have much "good" clothing right now and I don't want to go traipsing across the country to visit people in clothing that isn't quite in good condition. I do have a few pairs of jeans, I just needed some. I was waiting to see if I would go down to the next size down. Weight has been fluctuating but it does seems to be slowly inching down, I'm a ways off from the next waist size down.  

The 2 weeks off did a number on my finances, admittedly and unfortunately. It doesn't help having unwanted days off.  I really If I had my way, I'd work the next 6 days including today and get Sunday off to not only go to church but to get ready for the trip.  It starts Monday and hopefully home by Saturday.  I called AZ MVD and it's simply a matter of showing up with a signed title, I don't have to register the vehicle or get an AZ title in my name and I can get a 30 day out of state pass that gets me back to Texas legally.  I need to call the insurance company now and see what that will entail.

Beyond that, it's just getting clothing ready and mentally prepared.  I was hoping for a bit cooler weather in AZ, my mother keeps the house at 80 and I can't sleep in that warm of a situation.  It's still in the 100's there and down in the 70's at night.  Bearable maybe, not ideal.  I'm used to sleeping in a house that is between 68 and 70 degrees - tho that is done to keep the humidity at bay. Almost no humidity in AZ desert, it might be ok.  I worry about it because I need my sleep. Last visit there was just too much.  80 degree house is like an oven to me.  At least for sleeping. Even during the day time it was so warm in there I was mildly sweating.

She likes it like that, it's not a matter of money for paying electric bills. 

Anyway, it's almost time to go. Get my coffee going, a glass of ice water and get out of here.

G'day

 Sunday - afternoon

Yesterday, when I arrived at the loading plant, another driver was already there. He was many hours early for his appointment time.  I said nothing to the manager about it, but I contemplated starting the search for another job again.  Today?  I left early, got up there around 8:50 am and guess who was there?  Of course. The driver had showed up at 8:20 am, so he still had quite a while to go before he was going to be done. 

I got fairly pissed at this point and texted the manager about it.  I texted him again and said: "I assume at this point that since Johnny, Phillip and now Jerome can show up whenever they want, I can now start showing up when I please".  

Yeah, he never directly addressed that.  He did call me right after that second text.  I did not get a "no" from him on that second text at all. Instead, he said the driver was supposed to be at the plant at 7:00 am this morning and out of your way.  The manager also acknowledged that he knew that other driver had been at the other plant yesterday at the same time I was supposed to be there.  I mean, from my perch, that just means he not only knows about it, he condones it or at the very least, doesn't say anything to anyone about it.  

You see, tomorrow I have late load. So what happens if I just go out there at  6:20 am, fire up the truck and just head down south? What's he going to say to me?  I'll quit before I get chewed out about something that is going on with fully 3 other drivers who couldn't care less.  I dunno if I'll do it or not, but I'm seriously considering it. Like, get up even earlier, around 4:45 am, get out the door by 5:30 am, out of the park by 5:45 am and down to the washout around 7:15.  8:30 ish to the plant, load and leave and if anyone else shows up, who cares?  Right?  

I'm sure I would hear about it and I'm sure I would dish it right back.  Would he fire me? Anyone can be fired for no reason at all in "at will employment" state where you have no obligation to work for them and they have no obligation to keep you hired.  In other words, no unions.  Well, there are definitely unions in Texas, but I am not a part of the Teamsters and have no desire to be.  I doubt there are Teamster style jobs around here anyway.  Legitimately, he couldn't fire me because everyone else does it and he knows all about it.  But I wouldn't count on it as a given of course and finding another job right now.....yuck.

They go through employees like the changing time of day - not because people are fired, but because drivers quit.  They are constantly hiring for our positions for they know they will need someone to replace someone else who quits.  

Enough of that. It's pretty irritating and I"m a bit agitated right now.  It happens far too often. If it was just once in a while I could deal with it.  

The poverty case still hasn't paid his rent. He claims he still hasn't received his check from the state. I'm giving him until the 1st and then he'll get a 3 day notice replete with trespassing notice and then he will leave my park.  I'm not footing the bill for his AC and everything else he's doing in there that is consuming my resources.  

I'm down 5 guests and about to lose yet another one. Another short term worker, he was here 3 months but is leaving on another assignment.  I don't have any negative reviews and I've been running ads yet I am only getting a little bit of interest here and there. Some guy that doesn't speak english showed up today, but wouldn't come down the driveway.  So how are we supposed to receive him into the park if he won't enter it?  I eventually gave up on him, whatever his deal was, I don't have time for it.  

I have no idea what to do to get people in.  Oh wait, yes I do! I was looking up RV carports today and finally found a video where man had built his own.  Just used 4x4s and then 2x6's on the top and some supporting braces.  He says it cost him under $700.  It looked decent too. Not all gawdy and yucky looking as those metal contraptions. You buy a 40 foot long sheet of shade canopy online after you construct the frame, staple it on there and walaah.  For home made, it looked pretty good and I could do that kind of project pretty easily. Time consuming, but the saving over 5 k and up shade systems would be substantial.  

It would be worth the try to build one and see what happens.  For that much cheaper construction price, I wouldn't have to jack up my lot rent price that much to pay for it.  

How do I know for sure it would attract a new renter? I don't, but for $700 I would definitely risk it.  

 I basically fired the park hosts today.  Allen and his wife are long since gone, he came back once after 3 weeks of being gone. His daughter left the park to go to court the son?  He is a nice guy, but he's a lazy person with no ambitions or motivation to do much of anything unless Allen contacts him and lights a fire under his feet.

I didn't sign up for that.  I thought his wife was sticking around after he - Allen  - left and I was good with that, but she also left and had been gone. Now, she has gone through carpel tunnel surgery and can't do anything anyway. She's been gone quite a while so it's really immaterial.  

I informed Allen of this via text today, outlining the situation and he just replied: "ok".  Whatever.  The son is not a Park Host and I want the sign taken down.  I could possibly deal with him as a workamper, if his dad keeps on his @$$ about getting things done, but for me? I don't want to have to continuously ask for the same things to be done over and over and over.  

___________________

That was yesterday and just never finished the post. Now I'm looking at a potential strike of a union of dockworkers who claim that if there isn't a new contract reached by October 1, they are going on strike.  They estimated that half the country's seaborn goods come in through the docks that they work.  And, if this happen, prepare for another empty shelf phenomenon where everything disappears in grocery stores and ... hope you have food at home!

And then, I see the IDF is claiming they killed the Hezbollah leader.  Israel and it's enemies could be heading towards a much larger, regional war if Iran - who funds these terrorist groups - decides they can't deal with it and start a direct war with Israel.  Do you think they'll do that? I have no idea. Israel is a small country but they are bad-@$$es, train endlessly and have a huge war arsenal at their fingertips including nuclear weapons.

We all know this, what we don't know is if that is enough to stop Iran from declaring war and now we're dragging the entirety of the middle east into this conflict and potentially, WW3.  

I can only get into the word, pray and watch God do His thing, whatever that may be at the end of all of this.  

Anyway, I woke up to the sound of the alarm in a very deep sleep and I am still not fully awake yet, even after taking a shower.  

And unfortunately, it's already time to leave...

G'day. 

 Friday - not so early/8:28 am

I dunno, I just decided last night I wasn't going to get up early today and true to that thought, I did not. I woke up early, but I went right back to sleep.  

I got quite a bit done yesterday on that tractor but there's plenty more to go. I burned up that mound with the trees and shrubs on it, today I'm going to see if I can start shoveling it out of there.  I also saw that that hole is definitely the storm drainage pipe underground that runs across the driveway near the entrance.  It's broken to the point  that you can see down into the pipe.

Since the county did such a poor job of fixing the roadway where it meets the driveway - all they did was dump some loose gravel on it which quickly move from the edge of the roadway and was rather useless - I took that gravel and dumped it into that hole until the hole was filled up.  I just couldn't leave it like that. I also called the county and informed them that they need to come out and fix it.  It's the county's problem, not mine. I've seen them fixing driveway entrances up and down the road, they can properly fix mine.  I know I spent the money on property taxes....

I was reading in the Word this morning, book of John, about Jesus coming and his Love for all of us, starting with miracles to prove He was/is who He says He is. I know if I saw some of those miracles in person I would become an instant believer.  Not that I am not one now, but how amazing it must have been to be in the presence of Jesus while he was walking this earth and healing people of incurable diseases and feeding large masses of people with nothing but a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. It's easy to just say God doesn't exist, the internet is full of those people.

They deny Christ and attempt to mock God at every turn.  I used to get upset about it, now I understand that these people are lost, do not have the Light and use science for the most part to explain everything away.  They don't understand that God created science and man can choose to believe science or understand that it's all part of God's creation.  Some of the blasphemy they engage in tho....They did that to Christ when they were about to execute him and hang Him on the cross.  It's nothing new but it can be disturbing.  

I had one 3 night stay show up yesterday - they decided to stay 4 nights for they were afraid the hurricane was going to stop them from being able to travel out of that area, somewhere on  the coast.   2 more are actually showing up as well.  This is all the Boogie Woogie festival and these people love it.  I didn't open up  enough spots for reservations, I could have had another one in there as well.  I just hoped that I would get another long term in there. A guy did show up to see if he could park his 5th wheel there temporarily until he gets it sold. He lives up the street and wants to be able to have it plugged in to show everything works. 

Well, since I have so many openings right now, I decided to let him do that and at a reduce rate for he won't be living in it, just showing it to any interested buyers.  I'll take something over nothing.  My ads aren't doing much, tho this guy showed up because he saw the ad.  The new guy in town, the other RV park doing a grand reopening under a different name and ownership has flooded Marketplace with his ads. I have responded in kind and have put up a couple of different ads and run them in as many groups as FB allows. He doesn't have a better deal than me beyond the first month's rent, he is trying to meter the electricity and that is not going to fly with people who can find every other RV park in town giving the electricity away for "free", meaning included in the cost of the monthly rent. 

In other words, he has his lot rent and then you pay electricity separate.  He may get some people in there, I suppose, but as long as the other options are showing up on any given searches, he won't be taking everyone out of the picture coming into town.  At this time of year, that may be a good deal and perhaps I could lower my rent since my expenses are going down just to get a piece of the pie.  However, if I lower my rent and people in the park see it, they may demand lower rent as well.  Rent prices are just a hard thing to determine, I think I have mine set as low as I'm willing to go. Now, if I had a lot more spaces, I could easily lower the rent rate, take in less profit per spot but with more spots still make decent money.  

I think I'll get some gravel from the rear today, now that I think of it, and bring it up front and fill some of the small holes.  It won't last long but it's better than nothing at all.  I really need to go get a small amount of gravel from the local supplier - my trailer has a bunch of tree limbs and junk on it and it has been sitting there like that for 2 months.  Yeah, not me. I am going to end up burning it even tho I didn't bring it here and just be done with it. It's loaded so high I wonder how he got away with pulling it down the road like that.  I would imagine some of that stuff falling off the side. If I didn't have to worry about that, I would just drag it over to the property and burn it with everything else. 

Oh, yes and I may get out the chainsaw today and start cutting up that felled tree at the front. Must have been hit by lightning. Actually, there's 2 of them, they are both huge trees. Just want to get that stuff done before that tractor is pulled out of there.  

Nothing else really.  I am going to Wally's world to see if they have any jeans my size. If not, I guess I'll have to drive to the next biggest city, much larger, and go find some clothing there. I've ruined a lot of my jeans with both trucking and working at the property. A couple pair of new jeans would be nice for the upcoming trip.  I am thinking to stay until that Thursday and then drive out of there.  2 days to get home and then a recovery day before going back to work.  That's 3 full days plus 2 partial to hang out with mom and see some friends and my son, probably go visit the house, etc.  

With that, my second cuppa is almost done and I'm heading out of here.

G'day

 Thursday - not particularly early

I got a call yesterday from the manager: sorry, but they cancelled your load.  I should be in Nacogdoches right now, getting the trailer cleaned out.  I don't go back to work until Saturday.  There's  nothing I can do about it, wanted to work, shrugs shoulders.  

I spent a lot of hours on that tractor yesterday and got a lot of weeds cleared out.  That front is starting to look much better.  I need to get the chainsaw out there and cut up some trees that were piled up along the fence line.  I don't even remember them being there, they must have dumped them there when they cut down the forest.  

That can wait, I want to get as much weeds cut down before I stop using the thing, I have no idea when that kid is going to take it out of there and there is still more on the front I want done, not a lot. There is a huge burn pile that I want to burn down the foliage even if there is a tree I'd like to spare, it's elevated on that pile several feet off the ground, it just won't work.  I can plant another, I guess, they grow quickly and would make great shade trees.

I have 5 open spots now and I am not getting much interest.  I have been running a lot of ads locally - the free kind - on marketplace.  The "other guy" has endless ads running, I'm just putting up a lot of them to make my presence known.  I've been running the Facebook ads in sell groups in the entire region, not just around here.  Probably a good 70 mile radius, I have joined groups all over the place.  If someone is thinking of moving over here, they are going to know that I'm in business and have availability. I have a couple of 4 day stays coming in today.

The welder left yesterday is how I ended up with a 5th open spot.  He was allegedly leaving Saturday, it really doesn't matter when he was going to leave, I wasn't getting any more money out of it. I don't think I'll see any of the welders again, they were drawing down in this area as it stands and the company that was hiring the use of the company isn't paying their bills.  I just need 3 people to come in there in the next week and get the place looking full again.  If not? Nothing I can do but keep running ads and hope that I get some of the available supply of people needing lots. 

_______

I'd like to try one covered lot on existing lots and see what happens. It would necessarily need to be a higher cost since the investment needs to pay for itself.  

I am admittedly sitting in my bedroom, watching a movie and doing much of nothing.  I'm leaving here soon enough, however, to get more tractor work done.  I'm going to call the local seed store and see how much rye grass seed is going for.  I don't need it right now, there is no rain forecast any time soon and I'm not putting out seed until that times comes. Otherwise, birds eat the seed and it's a total waste of money.  But I do want an inviting green scape going out there. Right now, it's trees, dirt from working on it and still some weeds.  

I suspect, like everything else, the price of seed has gone way up. If it's too high, I may just see if the natural growing grass starts up again.  The thing is, I don't want weeds having a chance to start growing again. Get a nice, thick carpet of grass and it chokes them out. 

Anyway, my mind is wandering all over the place, not really focusing on this blog entry, so I'm ending this one.

G'day

 Wednesday  semi-early

I would still be sleeping if it weren't for the loud thunder claps - a lot of them - that hit in rapid succession. Baam, right out of what was a wonderful dream I was in the middle of.  Even worse, we barely got any rain out of it.  

Yesterday evening, Taylor was busy with work and James hadn't even left work.  The oldest kid had open house and so I took both of them. We landed at McDonald's for them for dinner.  I have to admit I caved.  10 piece chicken nuggets, fries and a small milkshake.  It was far too tempting, especially after the fat free, taste free, just free of anything that you would consider a nice meal.

But, that's my current situation and I expect it takes a while of dedicated effort to bring elevated cholesterol levels down. It put myself into this situation, now I have to get myself out of it. I'm not going to sweat one night of eating one meal that is out of the "low cholesterol" category, especially considering how long I've been doing it.  Going out to eat is especially challenging, there are very limited options on say, Applebee's menu.  They have  a chicken breast meal that is nothing but plain chicken breast, broccoli and mashed potatoes, of which I sub for a house salad. 

The open house was nothing to write home about. It was a required meeting forced on the school because it's a "STEM" school and they have to lay out Title 1 objectives and mission.  Then, you go to the kid's room, meet the teacher and then the child reads you a card greeting you to the open house and you get to see what projects he has been working on.  

I was a bit disappointed in the teacher, wholly unsociable with everyone, didn't seem to even want to be there.  Trying to get into a conversation with her, she brushed me off quickly.  She did that with all the parents tho, I was watching her.  I was also rather appalled that the boy was at a desk area by himself.  There is a cluster of 3 small desks that all adjoin together where he sits, but there are no other kids sitting there with him.  The rest of the classroom are the same types of desks, excepting there are 6 at each cluster and there are 6 kids at each cluster.  

I wondered out loud why the teacher had him sitting there alone?  Apparently, I'm guessing here because I could see no other answer, the 3 desk cluster where he sits is the last 3 desks that the classroom could have and apparently this teacher doesn't have a full class, ie: short 2 students.  He's a good kid and he doesn't like to get into trouble, so I knew it wasn't because he's difficult to deal with.  I asked him anyway and he got this look on his face and got very defensive: NO, I don't get into trouble!  I would like to think that a teacher would just move kids in and out of that lone setup on a weekly basis so one child doesn't have to sit there alone all the time.  She doesn't do that.  

No one stayed long, that was the other thing that stood out.  I blame that directly on the teacher.  Parents came in, took a look, no engagement from the teacher excepting those basically forcing themselves into her realm and then left.  I can only hope she is more engaged with the children, I'm not sure why one would want to become a teacher if they can't deal with the parents. 

Out the door, they were serving free nachos.  They were pretty good actually, it was part of the cheat.  Chips covered in cheese, then the option for salsa, pico de gallo and sour cream. Yup, I put all of that on there.  Home after that and back on the "special diet", I haven't even eaten since then.  I even had to change my coffee habit.  I was putting heavy cream in there, now it's fat free powdered creamer.  It's a big adjustment. I used to eat and drink like this long ago.  I figured since I'm forced to do this, I might as well start drinking milk again.  Fat free and very light on the sugars.  It's actually quite good, but then again, I drank skim milk for decades.  

Today. Well, I need to go get some supplies for the boat work to continue.  Allen forced the son to start working on it.  I didn't ask him to do that, he just said yup, he'll be fixing that boat. Allen is gone again but I suspect he's dealing with them via phone or perhaps some sort of wifi driven messaging for the boy doesn't even have a phone atm.  

I am going to spend quality time on the tractor, that's a fact unless the boy has taken it out of there. It was sitting there yesterday.  I have 2 people coming in for the Boogie Woogie event.  It's some sort of music festival that occurs here every year.  You can look it up, lol, it's definitely a thing.  I decided to open up a 3rd lot for anyone needing it since I have had people leaving lately. Another one leaving Saturday.  It sucks and particularly so with the idea that I am getting very few new people calling, except thing one yesterday.

He calls. Yes, I have lots available. Do you have any shade? No, I do have some trees but not really shade trees. He shows up, looks around and leaves, I saw this on the cameras, I was still on the road.  He had stopped, asked someone about shade trees? and decided he didn't like it.  I didn't promise him shade trees or even artificial shade. There are some parks around with mature trees providing shade. My only option for that would be to install RV carports.  I fully intend to do that at this point, I just need the money for it.  

To that end, I am still waiting on a quote from the contractor.  Until I get something from him, I'm stuck.  I knew it would take time to get that quote, hurry up and wait. 

The temps have finally come down.  The storm probably brought that in, it was forecast for quite a while now that temps would start coming down and stay down.  Not going to burn up on that tractor, in other words.  

I watched 10 minutes of news this morning and then shut it off.  Just don't want to hear it.  This was about a report from an investigation the House is doing into the attempted assassination of Trump and the SS failures.  You'd think the SS was a bunch of amateur, armchair agents from what I was listening to.  

Anyway, I'm going to finish my cup of coffee and get out of here.  Lots to do today and I am going to redeem the time. 

G'day

 Tuesday - 7:18 am

So, I was looking at a post from an old friend - we're talking old friend as from the early 80's, high school pals type of thing - he had posted a pic of another old friend that had died maybe 3 years after he graduated high school.  I won't be posting names or anything to keep it private and not trying to judge anyone here, people have all kinds of problems in life and they deal with things differently.  

I asked how he had died?  I mean, it's not a bad question, people pass others ask what happened to them?  I got a Facebook video call from this guy.  I hadn't talked to him in probably 42 years.  We've had a few chats via comments on a post, but not an actual conversation.  He went straight to it and something I had previously guessed when I heard about it.  The dude was at a party playing Russian roullette. 

Meaning, he had a revolver loaded with one round.  He used to do this at parties I attended - rowdy parties with lots of beer and fighting.  He'd do it and challenge others to do it as well.  They got to me one night and I flatly refused.  I thought it was an incredibly stupid thing to do and I made no bones about it.  You want to off yourself, that's your choice, I am not suicidal.  They called me a pus*** and such and I didn't care.  If you don't care whether you live or die, then go right ahead. If you feel you have something to live for, that's probably not a good idea. 

So, this guy was 21 years old, at a drinking party, did his routine and blew his brains out right in front of a crowd of people.  

At the age of 21, I was fully into the mission field and doing God's work, I was both loving it and hating it, but I wasn't drinking and I wasn't engaging in stupid stuff.  I won't go into the mission field now, it's a story that would take days to write out and that wasn't the point of this post. 

We caught up with each other, he invited me to visit him in Canada and ended the call. I finally found out how he ended up back in Canada, he had been deported.  I find that amazingly ridiculous considering what's going on at our southern border right now.  

Anyway, that was an interesting conversation to say the least. He was lamenting that most of "us" are all dead and gone now.  I haven't kept up with those people, high school years were tumultuous, even scary.  Lots of fighting, gangs, hate, anger, drugs, recipes for disaster and failure.  I would have been a lot better off in life if I had never become involved with any of those people.  If I had followed my "dream" I wouldn't even be thinking about working trucking jobs now or wondering how I'm going to deal with retirement. 

The driver trainer says he wants to work until he's 70.  70?!!  If I'm alive and still working at 70, I want that to be at my own business, not working for someone else.  He'll collect a nice paycheck from the government every month, but what a tradeoff to have to work until that late in life.  

I"m not overly concerned, if some bad scenario happened the worst I would have to do is sell the business/25 acres and that would end any financial problems.  Or the house.  Or both.  The point is to build the business up until it's nicely profitable and then hand it over to those I have chosen to be in my will.  If they sell it, so be it, but by that point, hopefully, it's worth more to keep it and run it.  

As for today? I have Gurdon to go to and then tomorrow is off.  I didn't ask for it off, I don't need or want it off, that's the manager's decision.  Back to work on Thursday with early load and I"ll have to work the weekend for sure.  

It's 13 days until my trip.  I have a lot to figure out before then.  I also have too many empty spaces in my park. I am actively running ads in local facebook selling groups and running boost ads.  

The dryer situation came to a head yesterday.  The repairman received the new motor on Friday, kept telling me he was coming, didn't show up, blah blah blah.  I called Whirlpool to confirm whether they had sent him the motor under warranty? Yes, free of charge.  After that, I started trying to contact him. Phone calls, text messages and Yelp messages, where I found his business to begin with.  

He replied to none of it.  ON texting, you could see where yesterday morning he had read a few of the texts for he had his read receipts on, which tell you that it is "read" by the recipient.  This went on all day long and I finally left him a message:  If I don't hear back from you soon, I'm going to come over there, stop in front of your house, call the police and demand my motor. It doesn't belong to you and I will do whatever it takes to get that motor.  

You see, it got to the point yesterday where I just wanted the motor.  I could find someone else to fix the machine, but not without that expensive motor.  It wasn't 30 minutes after I left that message that he contacted me Yelp and told me he was coming "tomorrow morning" and now he has Yelped me again saying "I'm on my way".  So I'm looking at the cameras over there to see if he actually does it.  Otherwise, I will indeed go over there tonight and I will stand there in front of his house, call the police and let the chips fall where they may. He is NOT getting away with this, that's for sure.  Not if I have anything to do with it.  

What else...I need to get busy with that tractor and I intend to spend a good portion of tomorrow working on it.  If the boy doesn't take it before then, that is. When his family farm needs use of it, he just takes it and that's that.  I can't blame him at the same time I want an entire month's lot rent worth out of it.  So a good 5 or 6 hours tomorrow will get most of the front completely finished.  I also want to get back on the walking trails, there's an area where it's overgrown with tall weeds. I can bush hog them down and clear it out and also a tent camping area that I want to get freshened up just in case.  

Yes, I am facing a lot of empty spots right now, some of that I am sure has to do with the new competitor and his $200 off offer.  I am now offering $100 off and that's as far as I go with it. More than that is a losing proposition and only fruitful if  a potential guest has the intention of moving in and living there indefinitely.  I am getting overnight stays coming in the reservation system, I am not getting hardly any bites on long term.  It sucks, but what am I to do?  I advertise the virtues of my park. I have seen yet another park not too terribly far off that has installed covered parking over all of their spaces.  From the picture, it appears the place is either full or maybe a few empty spots.  

It looks so tacky tho.  That and the cost, it's not cheap. 

I'm just sitting here waiting.  I am not going to leave too early, the other driver has to have time to get in there, unload and get out of there. That and the manager doesn't want 2cd load showing up too early regardless.  I figure to be there around 11:30 am, maybe closer to noon.  It's 2 hours and 20 minutes to drive up there so I just going to leave around 9:15 am.   

I need to fix some errors on my financials, I made some mistakes that I didn't see until I started the process of getting the loan thing started.  I can't move on without fixing that stuff first.  It is not my strong point, doing business paperwork junk.  I am not making enough money to hand it over to a CPA or someone not licensed as a CPA but still has the authority to do a person's accounting.  It's why I have quickbooks. You have to enter the info in correctly, however, for it to be accurate....

I'm looking at how to get a temporary tag to drive the truck back to Texas.  It appears as tho I will have to have the title transferred to me while there to get one and then do the title process here in Texas.  Texas is very expensive doing that, they charge you buyer's fee based on the cost of the vehicle, which is based on their valuations, not based on what the actual vehicle may be worth. In other words, your vehicle could be a pile of trash and they will still value it as in good condition and you will pay a percentage of that.  

It's not really fair, at all, the way they have it set up, but I don't see any such requirements in AZ.  I just don't want to have to drag mom down there, she probably won't much care for that, at all.  AZ issues a non-resident drive out tag, but you have to have the title to do that.  I will probably just show up down there with the title signed over to me and then they can tell me if they can do it then and there or if I have to do such and such.  It will be top priority in case it takes more than a day to do it.  Actually, now that I think of it, I can just call them and ask them what I will need to do instead of waiting for surprises.  I can actually use my house as a resident status if I need to.  

I don't really need more headaches right now, in terms of paperwork lol.

Anyway, I'm going to get busy making lunch for the road and get out of here. 

G'day

Oh, and half an hour later? That repairman still hasn't arrived....

 Sunday - morning

I love that the kids have 2 tv's now to watch.  This means they don't "need" to come in here on a wonderful Sunday morning and disturb my peace.  Oh, they do still watch cartoon network. I was told they weren't watching the satellite at all, but I found that's not true.  What I would really like to do now that I have thought about it for a while is see if there is a much cheaper package that has the cartoons and some of the networks that I like to watch.  

Oh, well I wasn't really intending to start off with that but it's so nice and quiet in here.  

This coming week, temps are going to drop.  We had some nice weather for a while, but that disappeared and we're in the 90's for a high and even was 100 degrees a few days ago.  What this means for me is that when I get back from 1st run loads, I'll actually feel like getting on the tractor and getting some work done.  I got quite a bit accomplished yesterday but there is still plenty to do.  

I'd like to get front completely done and then get a couple hundred pounds of the winter grass seed when the temps are down and are staying down - and - when it's showing it's going to rain for a week straight type of thing.  There was grass growing out there, unfortunately the only way to get rid of the weeds and trees was to run back and forth over it.  That grass will eventually come back. Until then, a nice covering of winter grass will look great and I won't have a weed field to greet people when they're coming in. 

So, I'd like to finish that project before that kid takes that tractor out of there. Unfortunately, tomorrow is 2cd run which means the next day is also second run.  Late days, no time for tractor work. 

Fat.  I dunno, but I'm battling this weight nonsense.  One day it's 22, the next it's 217, then it's 223?!!!  It's not like I'm eating sugar and fat one day and nothing the next.  It's a steady, constant diet of more salads than anything and low or non fat everything else.  If there is beef or pork involved with a meal, it's eating a small portion of it and if I'm still hungry, then I have to fix something else.  Usually a quick sandwich made with keto bread and low/non fat ingredients.  

I just don't understand the weight fluctuation, haven't experienced anything like that before.  

Meanwhile, my initial applications are almost done for the SBA loan help center.  After I get that going, they'll start trying to match me with a bank/s and probably/undoubtedly a lot more paperwork. Gag.  This guy has done several RV parks so at least he knows the nuances of getting a loan for one and what I need to produce to secure the loan.  Since the pool is out, that ...well that isn't going to bring the amount down that much since I want to install covered parking.  

I am finding covered rv carports for much cheaper now that I've started looking. It's DIY but the cost savings is substantial. 3 grand for a 20x40 which is 8 grand installed.  I'm assuming installation is nothing more than sinking posts into the ground, cementing them in place and then building the structure on top of it.  It's still 30 grand for 10 of them.  Go for the gusto and get 20 of them.  I can include a price for all of it in the bid for a loan.  Amazon has $46,232.87 for 15 of them including shipping, tax and 2 year warranty plan on each one.  The warranty is $129 a piece.  

That's just a preliminary search that I am not engaging in today, it's Sunday, I'm finally going to church and enjoy a nice day off.  I worked yesterday outside and it was blazing hot.  Tomorrow, the trade off for a late start is - a late start. That's Kamala Harris style speaking.  Except this has meaning: I don't have to get up at 5:30 am, I can get up at 7:30 am instead.  I like to be at the loading plant between 11:30 and noonish on the second load day.  Tuesday I'll be there around noonish as well.  2 hours later than the first load appointment time, plenty of time for them to deliver the product and get out of there. If I show up and they are still there...it's not like I showed up AT their loading time or that I am going to somehow get in front of them. If they want to complain, they can and I'll explain the same thing to the manager.

Right now? I need this job. The hours mostly work out for me - I wish I could get early load every time but I understand that's not possible and it's home daily with a very rare day where I stay out because of a truck problem.  The pay is ok, not great but not bad either and mostly good for the amount of hours I have to work.  I can't see many scenarios where I would ever go back to OTR again.  The money is great and that's the only thing good about it.  

Today is the first day of Fall, I just remembered. Looked it up a few weeks ago and here we are.  So, having a 91 degree day isn't all that Fallish, but it's a comin'!

Time to get ready for church. 

G'day

 Saturday - mid afternoon

Goodness, I've not attended to my blog in the last several days.  Just busy.

Allen came back yesterday so I went over today and we had a discussion about his kids, their lack of motivation and the fact that stuff isn't getting done in a timely manner, if at all.  Not my deal, my deal was with you. If you can get them to do the stuff, great, if not then we're going to have to do something else - like you paying rent. 

Allen was barking out orders to them this morning, especially the dude.  Fix this, fix that, btw you ARE going to fix the boat (I told him I was going to pull it out of there, he said no, he's going to fix it.  The discussion went on: I'm willing to pay him, this isn't a park related thing), mow the grass once a week, etc.  I'm guessing he'll move on, but that's just a guess.  He hasn't been brought up in a home where they don't teach a work ethic, I do know in life you can become overwhelmed by everything, shut down and just do nothing. 

Been there, done that.  Something has to kick your @$$, basically, to get you back in gear.  I don't think Allen barking orders at him will do that, but it will get him to either working or he can leave, either or.  They certainly got busy right away as soon as he showed up tho.  He's only staying until tomorrow so I have no idea if that effect will continue on, but I do know that I will be letting Allen know whether they are doing as agreed - or not.

Now that I seemingly and finally have something going there, let's discuss the upgrades.

No, I haven't heard anything back from the contractor but he did ask for the legal name of the park yesterday so I'm hoping that means he's working on it.  They are busy people, I do know that, but to stay busy, you have to make bids and quotes.  

I have decided against an in ground pool.  It's way too expensive and the upside to it isn't that much, I don't think. Some people like pools, a lot don't use them.  A hot tub, however, is a completely different story. 1st off, it's much cheaper, especially if you get a used one that is still in good shape. There is relatively little to install.  A water line and 220 volt for the pumps and the heat.  I will very likely install a pool, but it will be an above ground version with a deck built around it, much cheaper.  And I won't do it until next year, no point in it now, we're going into cooler season very soon. 

No, what I have determined that is an upsell that people really want is covered RV parking.  These are park fillers.  People will pay more for a lot with a cover over it and they will be happy to do so. Of all the things I have been studying and watching, the covered parking is the best upsell there is available, over pools, spas, club houses, etc.  Another upsell is having park wide BBQ's.  That takes a lot of time tho and it's also not particularly cheap to feed that many people. Once in a  while is ok, Allen was doing it frequently but with people bringing food to help out.  

Anyway, I've been looking at pricing on these covers and they aren't cheap.  I'd like to find some that are maybe DIY kits, haven't gotten that far yet. This stuff would have to be baked into the loan, I don't have that much money laying around and even if I did, I wouldn't want to put it all on one thing and just not have any cash available.  I can say I've put a lot of thought into how to get people in there.  If I add lots and can't keep the place full, there is no point in it.

I also have a major competitor now who is doing a lot of advertising and also is offering $200 off first month's rent.  So,  countered with $100 off and did a Facebook boost ad.  I have had no responses to it yet, but it hasn't been 24 hours yet either.  I feel like if I could just write an ad with "Covered RV parking!" and hype that up, I could actually steal people, so to speak, from other nearby parks.  So that's where I'm at in my thinking about all of this.  The contractor gave me a look the other day and said - "don't get into too deep".  He was obviously talking about spending too much money.  I agree and it further confirmed that an expensive in ground pool is not necessarily that great idea.  

I won't even do a mortgage if the monthly payment is too high.  I am not going to jeopardize losing the property over mega-high payments. But, presuming I can get a decent monthly payment on a 30 year loan, I'm definitely going to go for it now that I have a clearer path forward.  I can see going $2,000 or thereabouts per month, maybe a bit higher since the income will hopefully be there. But I would base it on being partially full, not completely full all the time.  You just can't do it that way, people leave and sometimes it takes time to fill the spots back up.  I think right now I'm going to have trouble because of this new player in town, tho I feel like I have made a decent counter to his ads. Besides boost I'm also going to post it in all the local selling groups.  

I dunno, but I am doing the best I can with the circumstances I am facing.  I'm not going to reduce my monthly rent prices beyond giving a first month discount. The new guy's rates aren't any better than mine and my 50 amp price is $25 cheaper per month.  I just need the necessary amenities that will draw people in.  So, I'm also looking for hot tubs. If one is popular and not enough? I can put 2 in.  I don't really care except I think it's going to have to be have a cover over it and that may be a bit pricey.  I feel like, at least at this point, that I don't have to go all out with super nice stuff.  I can go all out with cheaper stuff that does the same thing. Won't look "resort style", I never claimed to be operating a resort.  If people don't like it, go somewhere else. I can't and won't be able to please everyone, I knew this going into this deal. But I do need more than what I have right now.  

What I am really relieved about is getting the adult kids of Allen dealt with. I didn't deal with them, Allen did as he should have to begin with. They had no accountability until I got tired of it and texted Allen who then started cranking on them - they are living for free there, this deal between him and them was they did a certain amount of work around the property.  Now, I'm just going to text Allen - this and that needs done, please contact your kids, thank you.  

That pretty much covers the last several days.  I was out there today on the tractor plowing down small trees and brush with the bucket and then mulching them with the bush hogger.  I got quite a bit done.  I'm trying to get the front completely tidied up so I can just have some grass in there.  It's already looking much better but there is more to do. It got way too hot and I just ended up quitting for the day. It's 92 degrees out right now, which with all the humidity, is ridiculous.  It was the first day I had an opportunity to use the tractor since the kid brought it back.  I guess I could go over there this evening for a couple hours before the sun goes down? Maybe. 

The kid did not, however, bring the box blade he said he had and that was a bummer. The driveway is getting messed up again and I need to blade it.  The driveway is a constant PITA and if I get the loan, the cost of fixing it will be baked into the cost of adding lots, the contractor already agreed to that.  It needs a dozer to get it smooth, a trench on the hill side of it and then add some gravel.  He wanted me to do it like he did the RV park driveway - but that's way too expensive.  You're talking 20k at least just worth of rocks.  I think that if I get a drainage ditch put in and have a crossover for the whatever to drain into, this problem will be eliminated.  

I don't remember what I've posted about trucking, but the situation with another driver turned into an argument several days ago. That problem has allegedly been fixed, I dunno, I'm off this weekend and driving trucks is the furthest thing from my mind right now. I need to print out a couple of applications for the SBA loan and get started on that. 

In fact, I'm going to do that right now.