Picking up where I left off on the last entry...

I was sitting at a brewery, the only one of it's kind in the entire region on this side of the state line, the man and wife were arguing back with me about their pro-palestinian stance. 

I'm sorry, but I do not believe for 2 seconds that Israel is targeting Palestinians.  I do not believe they are the kind of people that just take out innocent people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time on purpose.  They do their best to target Hamas, but there have been endless reports of Hamas using Palestinians as human shields.

When I said that to them, they told me I was a "victim of propaganda" and that Hamas wasn't doing that at all.  Instead of referencing Hamas using hospitals as storage units for their weaponry and hiding out there, I simply asked them: where are you getting YOUR news and how are you going to verify that I am wrong and you are correct?

Well, the man identified himself as a Palestinian, a thing that couldn't be verified or disproved, but that made no difference to me.  He's sitting at a beer bar in east Texas, not in the Gaza strip.  He has no more info than anyone else has that isn't on the front lines.  It isn't just Fox News making these reports, btw, and I do not rely on Fox News exclusively at all. I do watch it and I don't care what anyone thinks about that. If you don't like it, you can ...well anyway, there are the rest of the news outlets, most of which are leftist, far left progressive garbage outlets with so much spin take on their version of the news, they could turn a thousands tops with their nonsense.

When we got to the "end" of this argument, trust me, I could have gone on a long time with my version of the truth, I have been watching this situation unfold since it began and I have a very good memory of the timeline of events and reporting on how everything got to where it is now - the man just came over, got in my ear again, talked in low and conciliatory tones, said we will just have to agree to disagree peacefully to which I spoke my complete agreement with.

THIS is the way it USED to be. You could have a passionate back-and-forth with a person who is 180 degrees opposite of your views, air yourselves out but at the end? You didn't hate each other, you weren't ready to get into a fist fight and you smiled, joked about some insignificant thing to cool the air down and that was that.  Which is exactly what we did. Went on to much lighter, easily agreeable topics that were not politically charged.  I could only wish for the days of that coming back to America.  Democrats and Republicans don't have to hate each other, they don't have to look at the other side as the enemy....but..

....but....Communism. Not sorry folks, you start talking like that and you will become an enemy quickly.  I do not hesitate to instantly utter my thoughts on Communism, there is no good history to it, there is no good outcome of it, it is alive and well in many nations and it is oppressing the people in those same-said nations.  

Anyway, we actually hugged, lol, we all left.  I went and got the boy, we went home and that was that. 

Speaking of boys, I talked to the kid yesterday about getting a box blade. That tractor is currently useless to me without one.  He's not a boy or a kid, but since I'm 60 years old and he is 18, has a baby face and still is the "I know everything" phase of life, I call him a boy and yes, to his face lmao.  It's ok,  he calls me old man.  So, he said they have several old ones sitting at his work, would I pay $100 for one? Of course I would!  I don't want to pay $400 for one, those are listed all over Marketplace but $100? Done.  So, he had my trailer hooked up to his pickup this morning and presumable bringing one home today.

I will get busy straightaway fixing the driveway once again if he does, indeed, bring one back with him today.  I am tired, I am tired of working, but that driveway -- once it rains, it's toast.  I really need to get a mini-ex over there and dig out the side of the driveway again to create a drainage ditch on the side.

The problem? Those machines rent for almost $500 per day. There isn't any real way to use the tractor to create one. Well, maybe. If I came it it straight up to the edge and used the bucket to dig out a trench one section at a time. Uhh, I didn't really think of that until just now.  I don't want to spend $500 on a one day rental for a machine, as useful as it might be, that's a lot of money.  

Whatever.  I hope he can get one cheap from his boss and that will be that. For now anyway. 

The weekend is here.  Feels meaningless to me, I am getting up at 5:00 am tomorrow and going to Gurdon. Sunday I have off, tho. It will be 6 straight days of working, off a day and then at least 4 more days after that.  If I had my druthers, I'd work straight through to Saturday next week again and then get Sunday AND Monday off.  

So, the youngest was "begging" me to go to his field trip.  These are elongated trips that are well away from where we live.  The other boy probably doesn't have one again until near the end of the school year.  Anyway, Taylor invoked that I would have to pass a background check to go on this one. Why this one and not the one last year where I met the older boy in Dallas at the Medieval Times? I have NO idea.  It's not me getting on the bus, so what's the big deal? Well, you're going to be around kids. Ok? I was around a thousand of them the last trip?  

I actually didn't want to go on this one anyway. He just popped it out of the blue and wanted me to go.  Why not mommy? Daddy? Well daddy can't really get off of work but that doesn't matter to a 7 year old, they just think: I want this person to go!  

I finally relented.  Ok, how do I go about doing this background check? Taylor was online instantly.  What's your date of birth, your SS number and your DL number?  Do they want my blood type too? Perhaps they want a copy of my mortgage, how much money I have in the banks, what my net worth is and....you get the picture. I don't like going through such things, it's been part of trucking life forever and the intrusiveness of it just sickens me. 

Taylor said it took a week or so to get her results back.  Oh, well ok, I'm not asking for time off until I know I passed their "test".  I mean, seriously. I have to take a day off of work, which is fine, but I also have to drive myself clear over there. It's like 80 miles away. It's a Christmas wonderland for kids, it's right next to Interstate 20 and I've passed by it many, many times. It actually looks like it might be fun?  

An hour later, I get an email: I have reviewed your request to be a volunteer at X ISD and we have approved your request. You can now - whatever, do whatever I want to volunteer for? I didn't volunteer anything but to go to the field trip.  Why did my application get through so fast? Well it probably has something to do with my CDL and the fact that I had to go through a federal background check, fingerprinting, etc ad-infinitum because I have hazmat endorsement on it.

Oh my, I'm going to blow up an entire city! Look out for me! NOT.  Ridiculous nonsense you have to go through endlessly with hazmat crap, the stuff I haul now is not hazmat and I am very thankful it isn't.  Because when it is, you have to go through a collage of security junk. There are so many rules to hauling hazmat, it's staggering to think about all of it.  Our company does, indeed, haul hazmat, I just happen to be in a dedicated lane that isn't hazmat. If I have to do the run to near Dallas ever again, that's hazmat and oh well.  I hate that run,  you have to go clear up to Crossett, AR to load and the clear over to Dallas - Ennis -  to offload.  Those are long days that I don't miss at all. 

I think about mom a lot now that she doesn't have vehicles.  I imagine some frustrating days spent tearing  up knowing you can't ever drive again.  At least, not without a miracle.  If she needs or wants to go somewhere, it's an Uber or Lyft ride and those cars are quite abundant in her area, she doesn't need wait a few minutes and one is there. But still, it's the freedom to just get into a vehicle and be able to take off where you want to go when you want to do it.  I don't bring it up to her, I don't want to salt a fresh wound.  

The part that really sucks for her is not being able to drive up to the mountains anymore.  Her property up there is her summer home and she stays up there pretty much the entire summer.  My oldest brother took her up there several times this last summer, very good on him. He has a heart after all.  

Anyway, I'm done here.  I'm going to take an afternoon nap before those noisy kids get home from school. 

 Friday - early

Quite frankly, I'm ready for a day off.  That isn't going to happen until Sunday and it's only going to be one day and then I'm slated to work through Thanksgiving day.  After that? I dunno, but I think I'm going to ask for the weekend off since others are getting Turkey day off.  Or not.  My paychecks have been crazy bad and today's was no different. It's next paycheck that will be awesome.  So, I guess I best keep working like that while it's available for we definitely go through dry spells where we aren't working much or get many days off in a row.  The nature of this particular setup, especially relating to the plant in Gurdon.  It would be nice if they could keep that place up and running for a while. 

As it stands, one of the giant tanks up there was full when I got they yesterday and the one I loaded into was near full when I was done. Other drivers had loads cancelled, oddly enough none of mine were.  So, you "suck up" to the boss, apparently, you'll get the work.  No, I don't suck up to people.  I do my job, yes and I do it well if I do say so myself. 

Yesterday's DOT inspection was proof of that.  No Violations Found.  My manager said "good job!", I'm waiting for the safety director to say that as well, he's been complaining in system wide messages to all drivers about CSA points (you'll just have to look it up, I'm not explaining that again here, excepting to say if the driver gets points, the company also gets assessed those points and no, it's not good). Ok, but when we get no violation inspections, it reduces the points on the company's profile.  There are legitimate reasons you'd get points, but most of it is illegitimate.  Still, if you just had a light go out that day and they pull you over, they can (mostly will) write you up for it even if you tell them: "That light just went out". They either don't believe you or they don't care.

I saw a video a while back where Troopers were going through a truck stop parking lot doing inspections on trucks that were parked.  One of them, the dude had a flat tire and he was waiting in line for his turn to get the tire replaced. The troopers didn't care and they wrote him up for that. That's a situation where I'd be calling their office and talking to as many people as I could get an ear from to tell them how messed up that is.  

Like the time I was going through a newly formed construction zone in Arizona.  There were temporary speed limit signs on either side of the road, but I didn't see either of them for one sign was laying on the ground, face down on the left and didn't see the other sign at all for I was passing another truck. So, I was going the normal speed through there and got pulled over by a Trooper saying I was speeding. Huh?  End of story? When he was through writing me up, I zipped back around and drove back through there and both signs were laying down, flat on their face. Yes, I called to complain about that trooper and made a huge issue out of it. If you are going to write people up for speeding, at least KNOW that the damn speed limit signs are even visible!

Enough of that.  I have turned the news back off for the most part. I have been watching videos of leftist melt downs tho.  These people are insane. They literally are sitting there in front of a camera crying, saying their getting their passports ready to leave the country for they "know" that there are going to be concentration camps. They're coming to take away! Ha Ha HO HO Hee Hee!  That's an old song, look it up lol. 

I have seen some of Trump's intended appointments and I bust out laughing at some of them. You know there is going to be a plethora of "news" stories from the alphabet news outlets decrying such picks, yada yada yada, blah blah blah.  I absolutely adore watching some of MSNBC news content right now. Not for the news content, but for the irrational, ridiculous commentary coming out of those people's mouths. The leftists in this country are still bewildered by why Harris lost. Well there are many, many reasons, but "never Trump" obviously didn't win this time. The loss of autonomous rights didn't win over enough women (abortion, women having control of their own bodies to be able to choose to kill their babies still in the womb type of thing) - show me where that was ever a Constitutional right, please, and all the other lame crap that people said nope.  I predicted people were going to vote with their wallets and I'm still believe that.  The economy may be "booming" by the numbers, it's irrelevant when the price of literally everything is so bloated, all that "extra" money is meaningless.

What did I say during Covid when they were voting in trillions of dollars worth of budget packages? Inflation is going to hit. Well, it eventually hit.  Blame whoever, I blame Biden-Harris because that's convenient, that's what the left does with anything if a Republican is in office. You can't tit for tat with them tho, if you say, well it happened during Obama's regime, they immediately start cussing you out, calling you names, belittling you and talk down to you like you're a 5 year old.

And these people have the audacity to say that the right has been causing all of this division? I don't go around cussing people out because they believe something different than me. In fact, after I dropped one of the kids off at guitar training yesterday, I went to the local brewery. It's like 2 blocks away from the arts center.  A man was sitting there going off about how Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.  Sorry, Charlie, but if you're going to sit at a bar and say that stuff that loudly, I am going to pipe up  and pipe up I did. 

This dude stopped in his tracks looking at me funny. I said those words right to him, if you're going to speak that loudly so the entire place can hear you, don't think it odd when someone with a different viewpoint says something back to you even if they aren't a part of your conversation. You are forcing the conversation on everywhere.  Oh, well I can see you have very strong views about this. Yes,, the same as you but the on the completely other side of it.  Oh, Israel has the right to defend itself, but it has limitations.  Oh really? We went back and forth and I asked a simple question: what do you think America would do if Mexico started lobbing missiles into our homeland?  

They couldn't comprehend the point I was trying to make.  Not that difficult to figure out, Israel was attacked by Hamas, 1,500 of their innocent civilians were killed.  

Anyway, I have to get offa here, time to get ready to go. 

 Thursday - mid afternoon

Yup, I haven't posted in several days. I've actually written some but I never posted the stuff.  Just never finished it, it would have been incomplete thoughts and made little to no sense.

Anyway, I am working until at least Thanksgiving Day.  I got the Thanksgiving run today, I made no fuss about it.  Why? Because I intend on forcing - well not like in a caustic way or anything - but making a stand for Christmas Day off.  It's mid-week this year, falling on a Wednesday.  Right now? I'm glad to have all the work. It will help pay back the money used for that scan - I guess I threw the letter out and they all say no such thing exists - and uber high water bills at the Phoenix property.

I mean, yes it includes water, sewer and trash, but it's ridiculous.  Well over $500 for 2 months! I let it get behind because...I simply forgot about it.  You get hit with a bill like that just for water? Unbelievable.  I want to raise the rents over there but Mark is telling me that times are too tough and raising rents will likely lose people that are hard to replace.  Getting rid of Cox I am at least breaking even tho, I'll have to take a look at the numbers.  Which reminds me, i was going to call Dish and either negotiate a lower price or dump them and fire Directv back up.  

It's not like the hey-days of ATT when people were loyal to the company and they treated you right.  For the most part anyway.  Now, mega-companies don't give 2 s***s about you, I don't care about them either. Loyalty means nothing to them, the greed is contemptible.  So, to keep costs down, you have to keep calling them. I'd dump satellite altogether but it's just not doable over there. They like their satellite and it's a deal breaker. 

Oh, back to work, well obviously other drivers wanted the day off and as I said, I have no problem with that. Start early enough and I'm done long before Thanksgiving dinner is going to be served anyways.  Just thought of this: I wonder if the kids have the week off? They give so much time off at schools now and people really have to plan ahead for all of it.  What do you do with them if you are working? Well, Taylor said today she "technically" has the week off, I assume this to accommodate for kids.  Day care is not cheap anymore, it's very high priced.  A week for one kid is $250 to $300.   

Anyway, I saw the kid today and asked where my box blade is?  He said he was still trying to find one, do you want to rent one or buy one? Well, buying one is at least $400, so if someone wants to rent one, I'll go that route.  He said there is a bunch of them at his work and he'd try to get one for a hundred bucks if that would be good? Yes! Please try that!  My driveway is getting into the "very bad" range again, I'm going to have to rent a tractor with a box blade on it if he can't come up with one.

Well, no I wouldn't do that. It's the same renting the tractor or buying one off of Facebook Marketplace. I have use of a tractor, I'd rather buy.  The kid seems to be content to stay around awhile, but that's probably because I am giving him half off of his rent....

These people are trying to push this hot tub on me and I'm not sure I want it. Not at that price anyway. It won't get any cheaper for a new one, it's actually a smoking deal, but $2,300 down and $400 per month?  Plus operating expenses such as electricity to keep it hot and chemicals to keep it clean?  How about one of these free ones and if it needs repaired, take it somewhere, have it fixed and that's that.  Or a cheap one?  I just don't think it's such a great idea to spend 11k on a hot tub. Not right now anyway. Maybe if they brought the monthly payment down, make the terms longer. 

I finally got the prescription for the steroids from Walmart. I just hate going there so I kept putting it off or forgetting it (probably on purpose).  It's not for building muscles, lol, it's for this junk going on with my shoulder. Apparently putting a person on a 6 day therapy of it,  starting with 6 pills the first day and ending with 1 pill the last is normal. I've taken steroids for horrid coughing conditions and I have no noticeable side effects.  

I have been watching with interest a brand new RV park being built in Domino, TX, right next to highway 59 (sooner or later to be Interstate 69, I think, unless it's going to branch off a different direction before there, this Interstate will allegedly run north and south the entire length of the country from Canada to Mexico).  It's concrete driveways and the design is pretty nice. They have a LOT more money than I do, I can safely say that.  It's a very nicely designed park but it's in a horrible location.

I keep saying that but I'm probably wrong.  Why do these people build RV parks right next to super-busy highways with massive amounts of noise not being filtered at all coming straight into their facilities? I have spent enough time next to highways, and even that one recently when the truck broke down a mile up the road from there. Very noisy.  I can see it appealing to the traveling crowd, perhaps, but in a location such as that, you are not in a destination area and you're going to have to have long term people living there to make any money.

And they aren't likely to want to hear constant, unending highway noise.  Not to mention a few miles up the road is a very cheap park at $350 per month and yes, that includes utilities.  Ok, that park is not near as nice as this place but my experience so far? People want the low rent.  They may not want to live in a trailer trash park, of course, but they also don't want to spent $599 per month plus electricity.  

Now, I could make the experience at my park a lot better if I were living there. But I don't want to live there. At least not in an RV. I could see building a large cabin in the woods where we could all more to tho : )  

Have you ever watched a movie and saw scenes that make you think: Why is that person doing that or why is that person having that happen?  I keep seeing flicks that have people running through the woods and they inevitably trip and fall, usually ending in their death from the people chasing them or some other horrid consequence.

I can tell you as a person that started running down the sides of mountains at full speed and no way to stop even if I wanted to starting around the age of 7 that you don't just trip all the time, especially on flat, level ground even if there are obstacles.  You see the obstacles, you hurl, jump or just step over them.  I get tired of seeing this nonsense. Yes, I know it's to make the film "work", but make it "work" realistically, pleeeeeaaaaassssseeeee. 

Reminds me of the time...not forget that, too much time and writing. 

Anyway, I was talking with a person yesterday (not at the house) and another person came in, sat down, the person I was talking to - and I was in the middle of sentence with?  Just completely blew me off and started having a conversation with this other person.  This went on for near 40 minutes before I blew both of those people off, got up and walked out.  The dude I was having a conversation with? Texts me an hour later: "I forgot to say goodbye to you so bye!".  I wrote back.  You completely blew me off and you started talking to this other person and you never returned to me, so it's whatever to me. 

Yup, I was quite blunt about it. I've been either seen this happen to other people or having it happen to me for quite a long time - seems to be the wave of the future, just be obnoxiously rude to other people and think nothing  of it - to the point I've had enough. I will, from this point forth, just get up and walk out.  I don't care what kind of situation it is, I am leaving.  I might actually say something to the people that are doing it before I leave, but if what I am saying is so terribly unimportant to you that you would do that to me? Bye.  And trust me, I don't yack away. I let people speak their peace in in-person situations. They can talk as long as they need to before I "take my turn", so to speak.  

Basically confirms to me I need new friends.  And really what's been on my heart for some time now to get far more involved with church, meet new people and make friendships that might have more substance and meaning to them.  

You know, like-minded people?  I like all of these people, but they really didn't start out as my friends. It was through James and Taylor. I'm thinking I'd rather be provoked unto good works, as the Bible says, tho i really don't need that. I help people frequently, that's already in my blood. I mean, just living a more spiritual and word (bible) driven life.  It's good to have people challenging you to such things if you are open to it.  I'm open to it. That's from Heaven, not the worldly realm. 

Well I take that back, I have several friends here that didn't come through James and Taylor, but that group always hanging out? That's definitely Taylor's friends. One of them is coming to church now, which is wonderful!  They're great people, I am not dissing them at all, but they aren't what I need in my life right now.  Well, I mean there is room for them of course, but I need people to challenge me spiritually.  It's what Christians do with each other. 

___________

Typical.  Things happened, things distracted. Ni

 Monday - early afternoon

I am just plain tired. I think it's all the rain.  The alarm went off this morning and I just wanted to shut if off and go back to sleep.  I laid there a while before I finally forced my @$$ out of bed.  I wasn't cranky, exactly, just really sleepy. The pitter-pattering of rain falling outside just makes me want to sleep in and do nothing. 

I can be glad that today's run was about as short as it gets, I got home (not just back to the yard with the truck but actually home) at 12:40.  I'm really feeling like toast right now, like, ok, let's just go to bed.  But, I wanted to write an entry first and I still have plenty of time before the kids get home from school and come barging into my room making all kinds of noise.  Or even if they don't come into  my room, they make all kinds of noise, as kids normally to. 

This park host ... he knows how to get on my neves. I told him yesterday I wanted ALL of that grass seed spread, not just 150 pounds of it. I go in the bathroom and there are 2 giant bags just dumped in there. One on the table - a fold table that doesn't need a big of grass seed on it and the other just sitting there in front of it.  I contacted him this morning and flatly told him to spread the rest of it today, before this afternoon when it was supposed to start raining again. 

Of course, the forecasters were way off again, it was raining when I woke up this morning but then stopped but then, was slated to start gain long before noon.  I didn't care, he could have gotten it all done yesterday and it would have been over with. What on earth was he thinking?  He made it sound like he had spread all of it yesterday when I spoke to him about it.  No, I have no idea if he did it, I got back to the yard, got my paperwork done and left.  

I'm working until at least Thursday before another day off.  So, I'm guessing he wants me to do Friday and Saturday as well.  Just put your hand to the plow, I'm telling myself, get with it, you need the money, do what it takes.  The days aren't that long I'm just really sleepy today.  Hopefully I can take a nap and feel better.  

Hot tub. These people contacted me and told me they were giving "huge discounts" to get rid of stock.  So, they have them "all" on sale, I am told.  Yeah, right.  I mean, maybe they are, maybe they aren't but it just sounds off making statements like that. Original prices was 16.5k, down to 13, and the "just for you" 11k.  Brand new, all the bells and whistles, huge.  Have to put money down and then payments.  

I had given up on new long ago and I'm not convinced that i need to be spending that kind of money on such a thing right now.  It's not just the hot tub, you have to have a cement slab - or something to put it on besides dirt - a gazebo to cover it and probably some kick back area with outdoor couch and chairs. More of a hang out place than anything.  

I dunno, but they sent me a contract that had a bunch of X's in the fields where the down payment amount was supposed to be and the  monthly payment was supposed to be, among other things.  And some sort of clause that once I sign the contract, there is no backing out of it.  Like sure! I'll just sign a contract that I have no idea how much the payments are or for how long!  Right  now! Lmao.  It's $400 per month after receiving a "revised" contract and Im just not thinking I need to be committing to that kind of monthly payment right now.  Try $250 or something and I might do it, otherwise?  I am just going to either let it go or find a good used one for a quarter of that amount.  

I don't know, but I'm getting calls now for long term and I do hope some of these people show up. 2 of them, to be precise. Leave the big lot available for overnighters. Or, rent it out for more money, I don't really care but I do have a following of repeat overnighters that are always asking for a space.  One notable missing one is the dude who that freak of nature Robert hit his brand new pickup with a rock out of the lawnmower and then argued with the man about it.  I paid for the repair but he has never come back.  It sucks.  I will not allow situations like this to fester ever again.  I should have just fired Robert shortly after seeing he was doing much of nothing and also not listening to my desires of how I wanted things done.  This current host will listen to my desires and do things the way I want them to be done now, for the most part excepting that grass seed.  Before, he wasn't doing jack-s*** and I was getting pretty upset with him.

Now? I just hit his text messaging up with demands, not requests.  This is what I need done, today.  Not please or thank you.  I usually say such words out of lifelong habit and not wanting to come off as ungrateful or obnoxious, but in this guy's case?  It's the only thing he responds to.  Not optimal, at least not for the way I see things, but whatever.  

Wait, I forgot! Just look at the camera and sure enough, those bags of grass seed are out of the shed and presumably/hopefully have been spread on the ground.  

T-Mobile.

I made a $284.42 payment on the 12th. Well, no, on the 11th and it posted on the 12th.  I made it because I lose my debit card and they wanted their money. No problem, here you go.  Yesterday - on a Sunday no less - they shut off my phones and say I have to make a $171 and change payment to get it turned back on including $70 worth of late fees and charges to turn it back on.  

I'm going to bypass the phone call with the Philippinos  yesterday, they were useless and insinuated I was lying about making the payment.  I ended up hanging up on them, of course it's a waste of time to call a company like this on a Sunday, I thought, I'll just wait until tomorow.

So today, an American on their end and they still can't find it. They "escalated it" and so did I. I called my bank and told them they had lost the payment and please take over.  I don't want to deal with this.  I have better things to do than arguing with a phone company about a payment I made and then having to pay $70 to extra to get the d*** service turned back on. We're talking 3 internets, 2 cameras and 2 phones. Poof! Gone. Nilch. Nada. NOO SERVICE FOR YOU< LOSER! or at least that's the way it felt.  Not only having to make another payment but getting reamed with a huge fine for it? Screw that. 

You see, when you dispute a charge, the bank gives your money back right away.  The other company can dispute it back and then the money goes back to them - but they have to produce evidence.  I went through this once with my business, I know how this works now.  They can dispute I didn't make the payment, but the account overview for my business? It specifically states T-Mobile right on the payment.  Will I get my $70 back? Well if you  know me, you know that once I get this ball rolling, I don't give up very easily. I just wanted the bank to do this grunt work for me and then if they don't get anywhere with it, I can pick up where they leave off.  

You know what the bank rep told me? "This happens quite frequently with T Mobile, actually, they lose payments all the time, just thought I'd let you know".  How the Hercules can a giant corporation such as that have such a sh**** accounting department? Accounts receivable is your bread and butter, it's the money coming in, it's your customers paying you.  You just lose it like the Federal government loses money? I saw a report saying there is over 800 BILLION unaccounted for in the department of defense.  

You never know how good a company is until you have an issue. I've had several issues with T Mobile, some of it quite ridiculous, but this is the first time it's been about a lost payment.  Unbelievable.  Well, Chase is on it, that's what I can say. 

Irritating. 

Forget the nap I was going to take, those phone calls took far too much time, I'm now all hyped up and well, I'll just sleep tonight lol.  Plus, it's still raining, Taylor wanted to take a nap so I'm going to get the kids at the bus stop in a while.  She didn't ask me, she was asking to wake her up if it's still raining so she can get them. Kind of lame if I didn't offer to get them since I'm not taking a nap anyway, it's not a big deal.  And yes, it's still raining.  

After today, there isn't any real chance of rain for quite awhile. I'm banking my grass seed growing on the rain yesterday and today plus the large amount of dew on the ground in the mornings. It's quite wet and the daytime temps aren't very high, I think it will work.  I hope so, cause otherwise? I just wasted $242 on grass seed.  It's so damp out there in the mornings, the ladder to get up the side of the tanker is so wet it's like someone just sprayed out of a garden hose on it. I'm betting that's enough. I can't wait forever to get this winter grass going. 

Alright, I've talked enough here.  I think I'll have a mid afternoon cuppa and then start working on this SBA stuff again before the boys get home.  Oh, there isn't enough time for that, just the cuppa, lol. 

 Sunday - morning

Well, interesting things.

Church this morning, the 7 year old is being forced to go.  Not from me, but parents said if he's going to go to Wednesday night service, he has to go to Sunday service or don't go at all.  Ok.  I kind of had a problem with that as well but I thought better go to any service than nothing at all. 

The meltdown of all meltdowns occurred with that boy yesterday.  I have never seen anything like it from him, or really anywhere. Even Trump election win meltdowns with people busting their tv's had nothing on this boy's rage and anger.  That's the thing, he hasn't learned how to effectively deal with anger and so he just starts throwing things and going on a rampage - until someone forces him to stop anyway.  

The entire details are unnecessary, he didn't get he way about something so he started smashing his electric bike on the ground and after that was taken away, started smashing his helmet on the concrete as well.  This was while he was screaming in rage.  I don't mean a whine or a whisper, I mean absolute rage. It was a spectacle to behold.  

Anyway, it IS, indeed, supposed to rain later on today and tomorrow as well.  So, that makes me happy that the new park host got all 250 pounds of that seed up. I am going over after church and getting the spreader so I can apply the see to our front yard as well.  50 pounds is a nice, thick coating so that some of it will stick and the rest? Will wash into the neighbor's yard and they will have a nice coating of rye grass as well.

Aren't I generous? Well, sort of, it's just what happens when it rains. We are on a hill and some of that seed is going to go into the neighbor's yard.  The previous neighbor that lived there was unappreciative of it, she wanted all of her grass to die and just have a dirt front yard.  She couldn't afford to water the grass during the summer but mostly, she just didn't want to have to cut grass any more. ]

A dirt yard.  How unsightly.  Well, I took care of that unintentionally but I was happy to see her yard have a full, thick coating of grass : )

I don't know what the new neighbor who bought the previous neighbor's house feels about it, she's retired, seems to like to putt around the front and back yards and keep herself a little bit busy.  

Winter/rye grass is absolutely beautiful, dark green grass that grows easily and goes away just as easily.  The park host was talking about it, I said no, it doesn't last.  As soon  as it starts getting warm again - which is probably 6 months from now - it will die out. He got this look on his face, lol.  I do this every year, thank you. I can have brown lots, it looks bad.  

He doesn't appreciate the need, apparently, to keep the place looking as good as possible.  I mean, I don't really get it but whatever.  I'm running a business and RV parks - the good ones anyway - keep their properties very nice.  They hire crews to run around dealing with it on a continual basis.  It's an important part of the business which will lose you customers if you don't tend to it.  

I am probably going to go ahead and get some firewood again this year as well.  I have fire rings and no firewood.  Just a cord.   Not selling it, it will be for overnight guests free use only.  Others can buy it.  It got a bit ridiculous when I said people can have some free wood and one lady was actually loading up her car and taking it to another house. What? 

I've had some comments from overnighters wondering why I have fire rings but no firewood for sale.  A legitimate complaint, I guess, but people weren't using them.  Ok, some were, mostly they weren't being used. For the sake of keeping overnighters happy, I will have a cord out there - for sale - and they can use a wagon I will have sitting there to haul it to their lots.  Either that or just take them out of there.  I dunno.  It's listed on my sites that I have fire rings so I need to either have them with firewood for sale or get rid of them.  

________

Time passes quickly sometimes. Yes, I know time doesn't change, lol....of to church.  

Saturday - mid afternoon

So this lady calls me out of the blue and says she wants to move in.  Huh.  She starts telling me she used to work for one of my competitors and has run a couple of rv parks locally. 

I wasn't and am not offering her a job.  

But, I know who she is. She was the office manager for the biggest competitor I have.  Apparently the owners fired a bunch of people - for what reason she claims she doesn't know.  I suppose I could contact them and ask them, we've had a congenial relationship albeit we don't talk often.  In fact it's been quite a while.

Amazingly, she wants the "end cap" lot. It's the lot where the welder stayed for almost 2 years.  I don't think those people are ever coming back. Well the first 2 that left I know what happened to them, this guy? They claimed the company wasn't paying the bills so they moved him elsewhere.  But, he could have also decided to move to another park.  I have no clue.  

Anyway, she says she's been at my park "several times", no clue on that either tho I have no reason to not believe her.  She loves what I have done with the place and would love to stay there. So, within the next few days she's moving in, allegedly. I always throw the allegedly part in for you never know.  

I did take a look to see if those parks were for sale.  I couldn't find anything but the park my contractor built for a profit making venture who sold it to some company? They have it up for sale now.  It's got 20 something tiny homes on it, I think the park owns them and rents them out.  How much do they want? $3,750,000.  They bought it for a million.  The absolute absurdity of pricing of RV parks. It's crazy!  Almost 4 millions for a total of 36 spots? One building? No other amenities?

They say they are full for the tiny homes and have a waiting list.  Look if I could afford to fill my park up with tiny homes or even just a few of them I'd do it.  They undoubtedly spent quite a bit of money buying all of those brand new tiny homes, no doubt.  I don't know if they got financed, had cash, a mixture, what?  I'd love to find out how to go about getting financed for stuff like that.  I'd also like to know what they are charging for monthly rent.  I can't even guess, I just think, maybe a grand? More? Less? Housing is so expensive in this area.  

Anyway, if I added 25 spots and somehow filled them up and kept them full for the books to show to people, I  would have a property worth around $850,000. Now, that is meaningless to me if I intend on keeping the property "forever", but what if  decided to sell it off? More specifically, cut the property up into 2 pieces, sell the 7-1/2 acres up front and keep the rear 15?  Not including the gas well pad.  That's around another 2-1/2.  

These are the thoughts that enter my mind when I think about upgrading the property with a ....

Well, quote is total around $207k.  Add 76k worth of covered parking (this would increase the value of the park substantially, btw).  Add an above ground pool and an above ground hot tub.  Add a 16X40 barn for more laundry, showers, bathroom and workshop.  Now you're talking over a million dollars value.  

I try to take all of these thoughts into consideration for the idea of getting a loan to upgrade.  How much will the payments be? How long? How much will this upgrade also upgrade the value of the park? More importantly, however, how much more will insurance cost and how much will the county jack up the property taxes on it? Yeah, those last 2 are sticking points.  

There is a point where I need a property tax/real estate lawyer to take a look at the situation and see what they can come up with.  Like, about the time I did that much of an upgrade.  We're talking an over 300k loan to cover all of that stuff.  You have to add however much you owe on the land as well.  

Anyway, yesterday I bought 300 pounds of rye grass seed. It cost me $242 total, including tax.  It's an amazing deal for rye grass seed, look online and you'll see what I'm talking about, these are 50 pound bags. I took them over there this morning and parked near the shed before leaving for Arkansas.  I then contacted the new park host, that's what he is I am going to have to groom him into an effective RV park operator, and informed him that all 5 bags - I took one home to put on our front yard, the stuff looks so amazing! - need to be spread today. 

I mean, if I ask him the way I used to, it just doesn't get done.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Monday and I want that stuff out there. The great amount of dew in the morning and the daytime highs not being hot at all, if it rains, it should sprout.  So, when I got back, he had done all 14 lots and was fixing to do the doggy park. He had one of my "guests" helping him, lol.  He also figured out that the ATV - the one that's been to the shop a couple of times now? - the guy that said he replaced the carburetor? Yeah, no.

Look, this park host actually went to school for mechanics. I knew the carb had problems I didn't realize it was the only real problem, the only other thing was a bad circuit breaker.  He said that is the original carburetor and that person who ever it was ripped you off, that is definitely NOT a new carburetor.  

Yeah, I haven't been back to that dude in 3 years? I think.  He did half-@$$ed work and it showed. The local shop did a 1/4-@$$ed job and just got it running and nothing else.  Whatever!  This stuff pisses me off. People taking advantage of people......

____________

It's so late now, lol.  After 10 pm and I"m getting sleepy.  Things have happened since I started this entry but no thank you, I'm going to get offa here and get myself to bed.  

 I haven't had to mess with the rate structure on my reservation page for quite a while. I am not raising rates, I won't get any business, too much competition. I've tried, trust me.  So, I finally remembered what I had to do to get the rates showing up again. It's just that the rate "season" runs out and you have to renew it, but you have to take a bunch of steps to make that renewal.

I erred and nothing happened at all. Then I erred again and added $28 to every space for having 30 or 50 amp.  So, when I figured out tonight how to get the new season started, I went into my reservations system as if I were a customer and saw the rate doubled. Gag. Then i realized what I had done: double charged. The seasonal rate AND the amperage rate.  Got rid of the amp rate and walaah.  

Yes, we all went to Mikki D's tonight and yes, I cheated on my cholesterol stuff. I've been doing quite well, I only cheat on it a little here and there, I am mostly keeping pretty good eye on it.  But tonight would qualify as in the "ridiculous" range with a shake, a big mac and fries.  Yeah, not particularly good for your health, I think I eat at McDonald's maybe once every 6 months.  In fact, I don't eat at fast food hardly any more at all and that started long before I went on this cholesterol watch.  The food is delicious, yes but it is also very unhealthy and I wasn't brought up on fast food.

We ate it here and there, my parents were pretty poor when I was very young and eating out was a luxury.  Even fast food.  We went to A&W on certain weekends here and there, but that wasn't to eat dinner or lunch, it was for root beer floats.  Or DQ for banana splits.  Grandma would occasionally take us to ritzy places where you had to dress up to even enter the building. She was a rich realtor and step grandpa was a rich dentist.  She had a membership at some ritzy golf club and she demanded the service she was paying for.

I didn't mind any of that, it was fun until she got drunk. Then she would get mean with the wait service personnel. She wanted a fresh glass of water every time she took a sip or a fresh ashtray - smoking was still a thing inside buildings then - for every flick of her cigarette.  Oh, she paid for that type of service, there is no doubting that but if they lapsed even a little and she had been drinking? Oh noooo, you best watch out boy or girl, she comin' after you!

Still, I loved my grandma, no one would ever take that away from me regardless of how she was acting.  

But now, I am reverting back to the days of treating eating out as a luxury. It just needs to be that way for now. It's not that I can't afford it, I can but when you look at how much money you are spending on such things on a monthly basis and your jaw drops to the floor looking at the total? Just no.  Time to make adjustments. I have been making adjustments everywhere else, this was no safe space either.  

I'm probably not giving up the after-church-on-Sunday-Appleebee's-visits.  Oh well. They have a few options for healthier dishes including a chicken breast dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans or a salad or whatever healthy. Salmon as well. A chicken rice bowl. Stuff like that.  I do choose the healthier stuff and since it's only the kids or kid going with me, they get the children's menu stuff and that's much cheaper. The total bill isn't very high.  

I just went out 2 days ago and bought the stuff to make some decent stuff to have to eat out of the fridge. In other words, pre made meals so I don't have to go cooking something every time I get hungry, look in the fridge and get a frown on my face. I can't eat that and that, I'll just have to make a sandwich. Well, I don't want to always be eating sandwiches or salads.  So, Turkey medallions it is and also turkey burgers.  Make the stuff in advance, it's a no brainer. Just pull it out, reheat some of it, good to go. Makes life easier to deal with in this low cholesterol era of completely changing my eating habits.  

There are going to be meals here and there that are simply too loaded with fat to where I just have to eat in moderation.  Small portions.  If it's got a lot of cheese and beef and creams in it, I can have a little of it.  Old ways were eat as much as I want, now I really do limit myself.  

I didn't make the turkey medallions yet, I have been sick and as I said in previous post, barely made the bathroom today for the toilet.  

I received a threat letter from a lab today saying if I didn't pay their $5.39, it was going to be forwarded to a collection agency.  Huh?  I paid this, I thought. Did I somehow miss this? I went online, entered the info - this bill has already been paid. Can you imagine a hit to your credit score over $5.39?  Yeah, I didn't think so. At this point, all of my doc bills from all of that I have gone through are paid excepting possibly the visit to the doc a few days ago. They took x-rays, remains to be seen what I will have to pay towards that.  It's $75 right off the bat, co-pay you pay at the window, it's written right on the insurance card.  

It's hard to believe it's the end of Thursday already.  I've been working quite a lot with 2 more days to go before another day off.  Yes, I had Tuesday off but I worked the 6 days previous to that.  So, work four more days after that and another day off and back at it Monday? I can deal with that. Or, I should say, I tell myself that.  I try to occupy myself while driving so that the miles pass by and I don't even think about it. I said I try, that doesn't always work but when it does, I pop out of it and think, wow, I'm already at X point in the trip back! 

I love the early morning runs, for the most part. There are days when I think, gee, I would have been better off sleeping in since I am so tired and was actually sleeping when the alarm went off...today would have been a good day for that. The fact that I slept 2 hours when I got home is a testament to the fact that I was uber-tired and just need some rest.  Age doesn't help in that department, the older I get, the more naps I find I need to take.  That doesn't bother me tho, I like naps!  The only real drag about growing older is the machinery starts breaking down and you have to find a decent mechanic to fix it. I am, of course, referring to the body and doctors.

Not all doctors are equal in their experience, wisdom, knowledge or approach. Some clearly don't give a damn, get you in and out and they really don't even want to hear you out on anything.  I've thought about starting to call these types of doctors out to their faces, when they do that I don't want any further "treatment" from them anyway. You sit there and tell them what you are experiencing and it is like they aren't even listening to you.  If they spend 5 minutes with you, it seems like that was too much.  

I'm not real impressed with the state of medical care being given in this day and age and from my talks with other folks, a lot of people don't care for it.  They are flooded with patients and some of them even tell you they aren't taking on new patients.  That's good, actually, that some of them set limits.  If I call my doctor needing some kind of attention the same day, it's 99.99% guaranteed they are going to tell me they don't have a slot available. I don't even bother anymore, the urgent care place here is very good and can treat most of the stuff I deal with.  

Dang it. I totally forgot about the steroid treatment! Ugh. Need to write a note on my phone to go to Walmart tomorrow and get that prescription.  Completely spaced it out.  I do want to see if that will help this shoulder and back situation any.  Well there's not much else new. I am following the political scene more than I have been right now for the outbursts from the left are amazing - amazingly grotesque and irrational.  The stuff they are saying is truly unbelievable. And then there are Trump's appointments and nominees, he's got the ball rolling far earlier than he got it going last time. He wants all of it done before he takes the oath of office so they can get this stuff rolling quickly in Congress.  

I'm getting off of here.  It's getting late and I don't like going to bed past 9:30  pm if I'm getting up at 5:20 am.  

 Thursday - late afternoon

I can tell ya one thing, sleep deprivation caught up to me today and I slept 2 hours when I got home.  2 solid hours of sleep.  I feel so much better.

However, getting up to Gurdon today? Not so great.  I apparently still have an "internal problem" that decided it wanted out shortly before I got to the plant. But the time I made it through the scales, back out to the highway and into the entrance to deliver the resin?  

Ohhh myyyyy.  I didn't even park the truck at the delivery shack, I found the closest bathroom I could park near and ran, not walked, to it.  I barely  made it in time.  

I didn't spend much time up there, the product came out amazingly fast considering the outside temperatures now. When that stuff gets cold, it thickens.  When it thickens, it slows down the delivery process.  So it was a bit perplexing that I got that entire truckload out in 50 minutes. That's very fast. I had no more "issues" on the way back such as yesterday. When I got back yesterday? Someone was in the bathroom at the park and headed straight for the woods.  Any more info would likely by TMI so we'll leave it at that. 

I've been assigned another run starting tomorrow which concludes on Saturday, Sunday off and then another on Monday.  All of my loads lately and the 2 ahead of me have been the first load. I have said nothing to the manager about any "infractions" from other drivers, but it's really only one now that is doing the line cutting. He has been with the company 20 years and feels like he can do whatever he wants and no one can say anything to him about it. 

The other dude that was regularly cutting me has backed way off from that after the last encounter where he said he didn't even care what the manager had to say about it. The manager had something to say about it and I didn't hear from this dude for quite a while. And then, all of a sudden, he calls me asking me when I'm going to be there.  And now he texts.  I have no problem with this, it's actually quite effective to keep people from tripping up other people's load or delivery times. 

I had tried to start this with him originally.  Yesterday, he texted me asking me what time I would be there this morning. I told him 8:45 - 9:00 am. So, I got a text this morning at 7:20 am that "product is flowing", meaning he should be done by the time I get there. I have no problem with this, excepting the possibility if, after he is done offloading, there is no room in the tank for another load. That rarely happens, but it does  happen.  

I saw him driving the other direction from the plant about 10 minutes away from it. I got there and found that one tank was full but the other tank had room for 2 more loads.  So  much nicer when people communicate and make their intentions known and then if there are any foreseeable problems, attempt to work it out in advance.  Now, I don't know what he's going to do tomorrow.  I'll be at the washout at around 8:10 am, that's pretty much when I get there. I haven't run into him there, either, in quite a long time.  

Anyway, the manager finally called me today. Not that I had asked him to or even expected it, he just keeps dumping stuff into my tablet and I just do it without any other communication.  And so it was, "I just keep putting stuff in your tablet I just wanted to make sure all of this is okay?". Yes, yes indeed. I can work through Saturday, go to church Sunday and then start it all over again Monday.  If he does like he normally does, then Wednesday I will have off. He pretty much always gives me a day off during the week.

I don't ask for it but I'm used to it now and I welcome the ability to sleep in on a day when no kids are home making all kinds of noise and if Taylor is home, she doesn't make any noise at all.  She relishes her peace and quiet time away from the kids as much  as I do.  In fact, if I am sleeping in, I have to get up early, let the dog out for 10-15 minutes and then bring him back in. That dog ...

He'll start barking at something and always on my side of the house where my room is.  So, if I don't bring him back in, well, I might as well just get up.  Fortunately, the dog doesn't mind coming back in, laying down on his new bed and lazing around.  He's just like Addler was, very quiet.  To the point of a fault when he's in the house. I've left him in a few times when it's raining and found him still in there after I get home.  I forget to tell anyone he's in there and he won't make any noise to get out.  It only took the first time doing that and forgetting to tell anyone to figure out - let him out for a while in the morning if the weather is foul and I want him in.

That way, he takes care of his elimination needs and he won't do it on the carpet. 

Today was the boys' Thanksgiving meal at school. We typically go and meet them at each of their schools and have a meal with them. Today, however, no one could go. I've taken too much time off of work and Taylor was working, James is on a crazy schedule now working 12 hour days.  I didn't really like missing it but we are compromising to make them happy. McDonald's for dinner, in about 25 minutes actually.  

I like to go to the school thing to make sure the kids feel like they are a priority in our lives and of course the actual meal, which is a full turkey dinner.  Oh well, maybe we can go next year?  Maybe by next year I'll have more spaces and ...well let's not go into that.  The what-ifs can get  me going down rabbit trails of thought endlessly.  

That's my day. Saw no crazy accidents today but the usual with people playing games with trucks in traffic. I'll never understand that.  Faceboo, YouTube and TikTok are rife with videos of people doing such things that end up very badly for them.  Maybe they don't see such videos or maybe they just don't care.  I do see some such videos, tho, where the truck driver isn't being proactive and attempting to stay out of an accident. They just stay right there and force the issue.

Nice and fine if you don't mind killing and maiming people, destroying property and ending up in hospitals and time off.  Even if the trucker isn't hurt at all, their truck has damage that will have to be repaired, meaning they can't drive until it's fixed.  Or, have to get a rental truck.  Any way about it, it doesn't matter if it's going to be the other driver's fault, you, the trucker, should make every possible attempt to avoid an accident, even if it means swallowing your pride and ego and letting the "idiot" in - or whatever stupidity they are doing.  

I say something on the comments sections of such videos and I get all kinds of wrath.  Whatever, people, you are causing yourselves more problems than you need to have if you just let it go, let these other drivers do their thing and go about your day.  

Oh, I've been following the people Trump is nominating for the various positions that need to be filled.  The one that really caught my attention was Matt Gaetz, lmao.  I'm not to go into all of that right now, I have to leave in a few minutes but I find it funny. Republicans having herds of cows for Trump to attempt to put him into such a position.  

And another one that caught my attention was Pete Hegseth, of which the left are also having cows about.  He isn't qualified!  Oh? Why? I asked one person and he went off with a script that was straight from (or appeared to be anyway) an article from CBS. Not qualified, a warrior but not a leader, yada yada yada, blah blah blah.  Straight from Fox News! is the other one, yes he is on Fox News.  He's not a hoaxster, he's the real McCoy as far as I'm concerned.  

I'm still reading people saying all of the left are going to be placed in concentration camps. I guess these people actually believe this crap, enough of them are saying it?  

Well, off to McDonald's! The home of high cholesterol and saturated fats! LOL!  

 Wednesday

I don't think it's food poisoning, I've had that before that is sick to the point that you feel like you'd just rather die after you've been doing the dry heaves long enough.

No, but all 3 adults are having "issues" today, runs, stomach, yuck.  Dunno about the kids, if they have the same thing they haven't told the teachers.  

It's one thing to have the runs at home when you can just run to the toilet before ALL hell breaks loose, it is entirely another to find out about it while driving down the road in a semi truck.  

I won't go into those details, it was not pleasant and leave it at that.  

My stomach is definitely grumbling and telling me about it.  It can't be coincidence we all 3 got sick at the same time.  We had pan veggies for dinner last night. It's sausage, yellow squash, zuchinni and potatoes on a baking pan, seasoned, olive oil and bake in the oven. Something in the squash perhaps?  That pan bake was the only thing we all had to eat in common, so it's gotta be something that was in that mixture. 

Whatever the case, I'm home and I am not going anywhere for the rest of the day, that's rest assured.  I take that back, if the boys are not sick, they can go to church tonight but that's just drive over there, sign them in, go back home and then pick them up 2 hours later.

That's only if they don't have issues as well.  They ate the same food we did, I would be very surprised if they hadn't had "run to the bathroom" issues as well.  

Gag. 

I asked the boy today to please find a box blade for his tractor.  Apparently he doesn't have one at the farm, which I find very odd. Standard equipment from what I have seen that a tractor comes with a box blade on it.  He texted back that he's "looking around". Right now I'm charging him half rent price for use of the tractor for I haven't used it that much lately. I think he got it fixed so I will try it again after I am over this junk. 

I'm not deathly sick as I stated above so I don't expect this to last very long.  It started last night for Taylor and James.   I guess it could just be coincidental that a stomach bug is going around? 

____________

Taylor had a small amount of dinner and just went and lost it, ouch.  I also had some but I am feeling okay so far.  The kids?  Nothing wrong with them at all. I mean, virtually nothing.  So, I took them to church. The pastor who I have hardly had any dealings with at all - still remembers my name.  How are you doing today?  Uhh, just a little bad.  Ohhh? What's wrong?  Well, all 3 adults in our house have a stomach issue going, we think it must have been something we ate last night.  I quickly added that the boys feel fine since they were standing right next to me, didn't want them thinking I was bringing sick kids to church.

The lady standing there said: "Kids have iron stomachs!".  I guess, not so sure about that but I just nodded in agreement, I wanted out of there. Nice folks, no doubt, but in this condition I'm just a wee bit cranky and didn't want to come off that way to them.  I just saw no good reason to not take the kids as long as I was good enough to get them there and back. And anyway, the youngest doesn't go to Sunday church anymore. Any kind of exposure to the Gospel is better than nothing as far as I'm concerned.  And yes, he wants to go to Wednesday church. 

Enough of all of that, I have to leave in an hour and 25 minutes to get them and then I'll slide into bed for the evening.  

And enough of this entry.  

 Found it.  Quickbooks is rather complex and involved and freely admit I don't necessarily know how to navigate it.

That where AI comes in handy.  I have my google search set up for "suggestions" from AI at the top of the page and this time - as many times recently actually - it was correct in my search for previous year income.  I have the report sitting in front of me and of course it looks dismal. I spent a lot of money on the park last year and the year before getting everything finished.  It's what it is.  It's also why I have a full time job outside of the park.  

Those expenses are way down this year.  No giant construction expenses and building out a shed with a ridiculous amount of money spent on turning it into a bathroom with laundry.  It's not really a community gathering center for it's too small for that. I'd really like to pull the trigger on that 16X40 barn, just can't yet.  I'll probably get stuck with that Tower Loan company, not a thing I really want to do over again.  The payments will probably be double what the current shed was as well.  

Anyway, I got that done before leaving for the doc office. After writing in my blog I had renewed motivation and found what I needed.  I actually haven't even left yet, lol.  I'm just going straight to the doc office, then the bank and then the park.  I expect to mostly take it easy today. I have a run tomorrow which goes into Thursday, but after that there is nothing yet.  The trainer driver was saying the same thing, he had a load in there for Friday but the manager took it out. 

So, no idea what's going on.  Things slowing down for some reason? Perhaps sales of plywood is slowing?  Something wrong at the plant again which is slowing things down? I don't really find out very often until I get up there and ask them directly.  They are usually pretty free with the information.  

I've got the highest tier of insurance I could get through my company, but I have noticed it's not the greatest coverage.  I have to pay a deductible which is 7 grand if I go to the emergency room and then after that deductible is met, I still have to pay 30% of whatever is left.  That's, uhh, not very good in an extreme emergency where the costs can go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.  I mean, I don't have any other options beyond finding a job somewhere else.  

Even Urgent Care is a bit high on the copay at $75 per visit.  It covers everything after that, tho, and the local Urgent Care is more like a mini hospital, I go there pretty much any time I need medical care, but I do have a primary care doc now I can call.  

I guess I shouldn't complain too much, much of what I went into the various docs and specialists for was covered beyond the copay.  Except the cat scan, they paid $8,000 of that I had to cover the rest.  I cannot get them to even find the paper they sent me saying the were going to cover all of it, I spend too much time on the phone and those people in billing departments don't give a damn, they don't care, they don't want to hear anything, just pay the bill. 

They were threatening to send it to collections so I paid the thing off today.  I haven't given up on getting them to honor their word, not at all, but I had to pay the junk or have a collection on my credit report, very much not good.   It's $800 so yes, it's worth still going after.  I didn't ask them to drop that charge, they said they reviewed it and decided to pay it.  

________

Post doctor visit

More x-rays.  Always x-rays.  This time of my neck and right shoulder. This referencing a pain problem that's gone on for decades, but recently evolved into nerve issues. Nothing I wanted to fool with, or at least not ignore, I was at that office for quite a while with a doctor that isn't allergic to actually spending time with their patients.  

He basically said that 90% of his patients improve by simply improving their posture.  More specifcally, sitting on chairs that have a firm back and getting off the couches and recliners. I almost NEVER sit on couches or recliners, so that wasn't an issue. I do sit in a truck, I do use the lumbar support. He said that probably wasn't enough and that I should roll up a towel and put it back there while driving.

Ok.  But this chair I am sitting in right now? It's an office desk chair, it is comfortable but it isn't exactly lazy-boy cushy, not at all.  

So, we're talking that and steroid therapy. He wants me to do a dosage of 6 pills the first day, 5, the second, 4, 3,2, 1 and done. Not long term. Between back posture and this he then wants to see me again in 3 - no 4 weeks.  But he figured there is something wrong in my right shoulder as well, I cannot for the life of me remember the name he called the disorder, I had never heard of it before so oh well.  He thinks the steroid therapy will both help that and the neck.  The x-rays will be sent to  a lab somewhere for analysis, but he gave his guesses as to what is what.  My neck didn't look too good, I already knew that.

What he did say is we are nowhere near any kind of surgery, which is fine by me. I just don't want to experience the nerve problem again, that needs to go away. Well, I'm not experiencing that right now, it comes and goes.  

After that and a $75 co-pay - wonderful - to the bank to deposit quarters from the laundry set up and cash from people paying. Then over to Kroger's.  I should have just had them send the prescription to Kroger's. I think I will use them from now on, I switched to Walmart for the first time today. The local CVS had a horrible pharmacist, horrible attitude and backed up by numerous reviews of him, personally. Oh well, any future prescriptions I'll just start using Kroger's. Easy in and out and also curbside window. 

Ok. There was reasoning behind the walmart choice. I absolutely despise going to Walmart.  It's just not my kind of place, the whole atmosphere and weird people...but they have stuff that no one else in town has and prices that nothing in this town can beat either. Having to get prescriptions there forces me to go in the store and if I'm in there, I'm going to get the rest of the list.  I put those lists off forever, even if it's something I really need.   

Home. Dumped the sewer hose and water hose onto the "new" park host.  I dunno how long he's sticking around, I just got his contact info the other day and I have had no problem contacting him about certain things I want done.  I don't blow up his phone by any stretch of the imagination, but things that need to be done I'm going to contact him.  

I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day if possible. I see no reason to take a lone day off doing all kinds of stuff, tho admittedly I've done some stuff today, but sleeping in was great and doing nothing is also great.  Ok, I'm sitting at the desk and I will be trying to come up with the number they are looking for.  They probably won't like it, I'll have to tell them that I also am working a full time job and hoping that expanding will get me out of everything else.  

_____

 Tuesday - mid morning

This is a day off after 6 days straight of working, I didn't mind.  It's good because I completely spaced that i had a doc appointment today and never did ask for the day off, my manager just gives me Tuesdays or Wednesdays off, typically, not by request, not at all. 

I got up at 5:30 am, the motorcycle fired up out front, woke me straight up, so I decided to get up with the kids and see them off to school.  I ended up taking them to the bus stop.  I came back, got the dog from outside and went straight back to bed. Why not? I missed my weekend sleep ins entirely, brought the dog in because he'll bark here and there, a bark from a dog that big will wake me right up.

He didn't mind at all. He went straight back to sleep as well!  

Yesterday was painless. Go to the plant in Gurdon, the place was almost entirely empty of logging trucks, unlike 2 days previously when there were so many trucks the entire place was clogged up and it took 50 minutes just to get on the scales....

Scaled in, offloaded quickly, scaled out, left, home by 12:45.  

I take that back, I was up there on Sunday and that went pretty quick as well. Sundays they don't do logging trucks so that entire mess isn't even present.  Loggers don't much care for us chemical haulers because we just pass all of them in line to get on the scales.  If I had to wait like they do, I would be waiting twice. Once to get in and once to leave. Thankfully, the scalemaster doesn't want us waiting so we just hit the outbound scales which are always much less congested. You might have to wait for 1 or 2 trucks which usually only takes a few minutes.  

Saturday...That was pretty good as well. It was Thursday and Friday that cost me a lot of time, Thursday being the waiting to get in and Friday the thrown serpentine belt off the engine. 

Got back Saturday, Taylor was going out with friends and James went to work. So, I took the boys to Applebee's since I knew we weren't going to church Sunday. Yes, I've given up most of the eating out stuff but Sunday Applebee's is "sacred", so to speak, it's just a think I like to do and the boys like to do it as well.  Well, the youngest has decided he doesn't want to go to church on Sundays anymore, no clue.  He still goes to Wednesday service. The older boy doesn't care if his brother doesn't go and so, we just go to Applebee's after church without him.

After that, over to the park to meet up with the potential new "guest".  Oh, the youngest was with us, sorry to not clarify, it was Saturday and he wanted to go, actually.  Anyway, the guest decided which spot he wanted immediately - he really could have done that without me but whatever, I'll do what it takes to get people in there.  I still have 2 back in lots to get filled with preferably very long-term people.  I have a few coals in the fire for those lots but no commitments yet.  

In fact, I need to renew my local FB ads.  They're free and that's all I'm doing right now. I've spent the money on ad boosts and they didn't result in much of anything.  

Well, anyway, back to Appleebee's, I had forgotten Jame's dinner on the table, lol, the bartender had it next to the cash register, she figured I'd be back for it. After that? I took them to the movies.  Venom is the name of the movie, a bit on the dark side, not my favorite movie genre and definitely some things in that movie I wouldn't really promote to any Christian friends....but....the boys liked it, the ending was "emotional" and the oldest burst out crying, I mean balling crying, at the end for Venom had to sacrifice his life to kill the alien that was after him for some "thing" in his back. 

That pretty much summarizes the last several day. Admittedly it's 10:15 am right now, so I should have posted this "late morning", but whatever.  I have a doc appointment at 1:00 and I need to go over and hook the new guy's lines up.  I had no idea he didn't know how to do it, it's not difficult, not at all, he's new to RV'ing and so, I will help him get his situation going so he doesn't have to walk over to the shed every time he needs to go to the bathroom. 

I'm in no rush to do that.  I will probably leave here in about an hour, get that done, maybe get on the tractor for a while - I wish that kid would bring the attachment for smoothing out the driveway, it's perfect right now what with the driveway still wet from ample rain.  He hasn't brought it and I am not going to continue to push him for it. Box blade, that is.  They work quite well when the soil is moist and will not just stick there like glue as when the ground is solid dry and in the middle of a drought...

Ok, I think I fixed the glitch that was charging people $2 per night, lol, to stay at the park.  I still need to get with more paperwork and figure out my gross sales last year, which I have been trying to pull from the bank account to no avail. It would help if I knew what I was doing, it keeps coming back with results I am not looking for.  I just need to sit here for however many hours and I may just well do that after the doc appointment. 

Why not do it now? Because I don't feel like it, ok?  It's been a busy grouping of days I was ready for a bit of a break.  

I'm also looking at Keto from a new perspective. Dump the heavy fat contents and keep the low carb and keep it low calorie.  It limits a diet quite a bit, I haven't started that yet, I'm still looking at what I can make and eat without having to eat the same foods every day. Salads? Get old.  I was eating one the other day coming back from Lufkin and I had to force myself through it.  It was tasty enough, I've just been eating too much of it.  

Just found several recipes that look quite delicious, low carb AND low fat/cholesterol that I will be making regardless of dieting.  Also saw many more that looked quite disgusting or tasteless. Lots of salmon recipes, all nice and fine but there's more to eating than just salmon.  But hey, I can eat some of that stuff, just not every day.  It's also quite expensive.  

Well, it's getting late in the day, I guess.  My excuses have run out, I need to get over there and get the guy's water and sewer lines hooked up and then go to the bank and then over to the doc office. That will probably be it for the day besides coming home and attempting to reconcile the books. 

G'day

 Saturday - early afternoon

I didn't quite finish yesterday's entry so I just posted it yesterday without finishing it lol.  It happens.

It's been raining here. Raining quite a lot, to the point I could have put that seed down and be relatively sure it would have sprouted.  Oh well.

Trailer was loaded this morning so......I got the truck running, took off from the parking spot, headed towards the back.  It started sinking.  I mean, I had the inter-axle lock engaged which basically makes it a version of 4 wheel drive and it still started losing traction.

Yeah, got  bit worried on that but kept plowing through all of that and made it out of there. It was dark. Seeing it when I got back a little while ago? Yeah, I wouldn't have gone back there. Just back out of the spot I'm in and pull through the RV Park instead.  I don't like bothering people with a noisy truck but sometimes it's that or get stuck.  

It was raining all the way up there today.  And when I was unloading, which didn't slow me down, I carry an umbrella in that truck for a reason. In fact, I was in and out of there quickly and the day basically went without a hitch as far as work is concerned.  I think the rain is stopped for the rest of the day. There has been a lot of raining going on that definitely was not in the forecast.  

Yup, there isn't any real chance of rain for many days now.  Of course, around here, that can change quickly. 

Anyway, I'm tired and I think I'm going to take a nap after this.  It's still early in the day and if I have something I want to do, I will have plenty of time to do it. The only thing I have slated is to get over to the park today at 6:15 pm and meet with the new guy that is moving in.  I say that guardedly, there is always the chance a person won't actually move in.  I've spent quite a bit of time with him on the phone so I am hopeful all of that is going to pay off.  

 Friday afternoon

I slept so poorly 2 nights ago that there was no way I was writing in this blog or doing much of anything beyond work.  Yesterday was no barrel of fun as it stands.  

When I got up to the plant in Gurdon, it was a huge mess.  The 700-ish foot long driveway was double stacked with logging trucks, the highway that goes by the entrance had logging trucks backed up on the shoulder on both sides plus  there was a line of logging trucks in the overflow area they have where they shuffle them when it gets too busy. 

It was the first time I couldn't get in that way, I usually just by pass them on the far left but that's also where trucks are leaving and there wasn't any room to pull in and wait for them to pass.  So, I went to the entrance where we deliver is at and went the back way up to the scale. That was also filled with trucks and I waited a full 50 minutes before I could even get to the scales.  

On the way back there, I saw the driver that wanted to get into a fist fight with quite some time ago, he doesn't care about loading times, he'll show up whenever he wants. I ended up waiting well over an hour after I waited in the logging line for the scales for him to get done. I didn't say anything to him, he got his today showing up shortly after the driver-trainer showed up and he had to wait an hour and a half for him to get done, lol. I didn't say anything to the manager either. The manager will just start dumping me with late loads if I do that and that isn't worth it either. 

Today? Rain. In fact, when I left for work shortly after the boys left out to walk up the street, it was literally pouring rain out there.  I drove up the street, got them in the truck, they would have been soaking wet by the time that bus arrived if they had had to wait outside.  Apparently it didn't start raining until after Taylor came back into the house so she didn't know. I didn't think she would just send them out in the rain "Oh well, have a nice day, don't get tooooo wet!". lmao.  

Down to the washout, raining there but no worries for me, wasn't there that long and went over to the plant.  Loaded quickly, the truck had trouble starting when I tried to leave the loading bay. Weird, I thought, those are brand new batteries but I didn't give it a second thought.

UP to the Love's travel center? I gave it a lot of thoughts. I turned that truck off to fuel and when I tried to turn it back on?  One crank and it quit.  I pulled off the battery cover, the connections were all tight.  I went over to get a jump start, I just want to go home.  But, I called the lead mechanic and we were discussing what it could be and admittedly, I hadn't opened the hood of the truck.  

 My company typically doesn't send out the work sheets in advance of payday but they did today. A few minutes ago actually and it was a bit surprising. I did work my butt off but I had enough days off that I thought it would be a pretty small check. 

Not so, not so at all and a pleasant surprise.  A step in the direction of getting caught back up after over 3 weeks off for sickness and vacation.  So that was a nice thing for today beyond Trump winning the election last night and definitively verified today.  

It's just that getting all of this unwanted time off makes me a bit - lazy.  If the RV park is taken care of and there isn't anything pressing over there...and...if I find "other" things to do, I just get work completely out of my mind - trucking work that is - and then getting back into that mind frame becomes extremely difficult.  I have to work for several days in a row to get back to "Oh, yes, I have work tomorrow, no big deal".  It helps that work doesn't typically keep me out all day long.  

Took the boys to church a little while ago. That's a drop-off scenario where you don't have to sit around waiting for 2 hours, there are no other services going on and there are ample adults there plus usually cops.  Yes, cops are normally at the Sunday morning services and the Wednesday kids services.  There are a lot of kids that are dropped off and parents obviously want to be ensured that their children are in safe hands and the capability to keep them safe exists in case of bad actors.  It's a 5 minute drive each way, not a lot of driving and it's worth it to get them learning about Jesus/God.  

Well, the older one pays attention anyway, the younger goes to the Wednesday night service for the food and treats and almost unlimited playtime.  There is a worship segment and a ministry segment that they have to sit through, but there is plenty of play time as well. The younger does not want to go to Sunday services anymore - that's basically the same thing as tonight but only an hour instead of 2 hours. The reason? Well I don't know for sure, but it's highly likely that he's getting food and treats on Wednesday and only treats at the end on Sundays.  I don't think the parents are too happy he has decided to stay home on Sundays. I am not forcing anyone to go to church. 

I've been doing very well with holding back on the fat and cholesterol laden foods - until a little while ago lol.  Taylor found a lasagna recipe so I made it tonight. Absolutely delicious. Sometimes you try new recipes and they don't turn out all the great but this one? Very delicious. The problem? It's full of fat laden cheese and has a lot of red meat in it.  Not that I don't cook the red out of ground beef and sausage but it's still not that great for higher risk people.  So I got a bit carried away with eating over 2 helpings of it and then realized just now that - - oops! 

Well, you can't cry over spilt milk, just move on and try to put more thought into what I am eating at ALL meals and how much of it I can eat. It's not that I can't eat lasagna, it's just that the portion size has to be pretty small.  

And there it is.  I've done almost nothing today. I didn't even leave the house until late afternoon when I realized the recipe calls for an egg and we were out.  Up to the store for that and then a couple house later, take the kids to church.  The folks went to Starbucks, I am sort of hoping they will stay out long enough that they'll just head over to the church to pick up the boys.  I passed on Starbucks since I messed up eating too much dinner.  

Park expansion?  I haven't done anything beyond find out that what I had posted last year wasn't wrong, it just wasn't put in the right expense column.  I did spend that much money, it was out of the personal account but it was definitely spend on business expenses and I have the receipts to prove it.  So I'm not worried about that anymore.  It's not unusual to have a lot of start up expenses the first year of operation of any business, but especially one that was just built and a lot more stuff had to be bought to finish the build out. 

I still have more to do to get the right numbers out of that but at least I have the worrying part of it answered.  But, you know, I think, I wonder if I should wait until after Trump is sworn in and see what happens to interest rates? Will business loans be able to obtain?  Or what? Lol, I get caught up in a whirlpool of thought that eventually just goes around in circles...

Oh, the park host's son is back and I need to get his contact info.  I was going through his father - who is dead now - so I need to be able to contact him directly. Actually, I need to find out what his intentions are. Are they leaving the trailer there? If they are, will I have to go to great extremes to get him to do anything? And really, why should he get that highly desirable lot for free?  See, Allen moved over there with the idea that he was going to pay for that lot.  I really don't feel comfortable giving up that nice spot to a park host.  I'd rather it go to a paying customer and give them some other spot.  

They don't have a 5th wheel equipped truck, however and I would likely have to pay to have it moved.  there's actually only one other long term 5th wheel i the park and that guy doesn't have a truck with 5th wheel hitch in it, either.  There is a dude that is there for a month, however, but he's pretty busy.  I just think they should just get a regular spot and save the premium spot for a premium paying person.  

Well, I'll just have to think about that and also have a talk with that guy.  If they aren't sticking around, that takes care of that.  If they are, then we're going to have to have an understanding...

And finally, the manager added another run to my tablet. So, I am working tomorrow through Monday - at least.  He usually gives me an unasked for day off during the week, so I'll figure I either get Tuesday or Wednesday off and then working again.  

With that? I couldn't resist and am watching the fall out now with more detailed news showing the left commentators and media outlets playing the blame game. Misogynists'!  Referring to the black and latino voters.  Uneducated conservative women! They are too stupid to understand they are voting against their own rights (pro choice)!  The absurd logic is laughable and yes, I have been laughing at some of these people, especially Al Sharpton.  If you don't vote democrat, you are automatically a racist!  Of course that's true with a lot of them but that dude has been saying the same stuff for decades now.

Ok.  I'm good.  And g'nite. 

 Wednesday

Well, I posted my post-election post a few minutes ago, now back to the daily grind.  

The election is over, the vitriol is not but that is unimportant now.  Trump won, they're going to have to deal with it.  Or not, that's their problem.  I haven't ventured over to the ABC news outlets to see the meltdowns but I have seen some clips on the news I am currently watching.  

I don't take any pleasure in other people's angst, I just think they brought this upon themselves with the endless Hitler, Nazi, racist drum beat that intensified near the ending of this election cycle.  Normal people don't believe that and don't want to be endlessly exposed to that and the outcome of this election proves that point.  

Trump stands to win 312 electoral votes if the undecided states continue on the path they are on. THAT is a LANDSLIDE.  There will be no legitimate complaints that he "barely" won or that it was an illegitimate election.  Too many people will have said ENOUGH! 

Today? I loaded yesterday and then found out I wasn't delivering it until Thursday.  The plant says they weren't sure if they could take the load today so I they decided to wait until tomorrow. I also still have the load on Friday going into Saturday, after that I have no clue.  

_____________

I can't unglue myself from the TV, watching all kinds of different coverage including on CNN and MSNBC, lmao.  I also tried to go to my site today to see if my rate changes took place and....

The website was down!  I just got an invoice the other day from the website hosting company but it was automatically paid via Paypal.  After an hour of trying to get this resolved, they had raised their rate from last year by $6, took my money anyway but still removed my website from the domain.  Ridiculous.  Then they said I had to pay for the name itself, another $26.50.  I paid all of that, they assured me it would be back up "within the next couple of hours". 

Well I'll definitely be watching for that.  Took me completely by surprise, but it's only been down a few hours thankfully.  

Well the day is almost done.  I have submerged myself in all kinds of aftermath stuff of the election . From Fox News, to CNN, to MSNBC, to various web sites, facebook groups and friend reactions.  

I am watching some pretty ridiculous stuff coming from the left.  Comparing Trump to Hitler, they believe (or they say the believe anyway) that he is coming for them and will drag them off to interment camps that same as Hitler dragged the Jews to concentration camps.  When you read this preposterousness, you aren't in the same room with them so you can't tell if they are being serious or are they just trolling.  

They believe that Trump's political opponents will be imprisoned.  They say that all of our rights are going to be stripped from us.  They take everything that Trump says and take it completely out of context and then add new meanings to his words.  These people have been getting fed this garbage for so long, I have no doubt that some of them if not many of them actually believe this crap.

I was in a "discussion" with one person who said Trump was going to "bring back tariffs".  When I corrected the person and told them Biden kept the tariffs and expanded  on them, one of them called me a "batshit crazy trumper" or something to that effect. I brought up a leftist publication which verified my statement and they - disappeared. For now anyway, they will still come back with some "thing" that disputes it somehow because it disputes their false claims. 

Ok I think I am going to try and take a break from this stuff.  I wanted to see the reactions of democrats and they did not let me down in their emotional reaction.  They are in denial.  They lost for a variety of reasons of which I don't need to go into again here.  Trump has literally won in a landslide, the only state left that hasn't been declared is Nevada, they have now called Arizona to Trump.  Trump didn't need Arizona or Nevada, but it heaps on to the idea that this wasn't a close race, not at all.  

I must get my mind back into work mode. Worked yesterday after 5 days off, then took today off because they didn't want the glue today and then working the next 3 days for sure.  I say for sure, with this job, nothing is ever for sure.  

Trump wins the election!

 Wednesday - semi early

I stayed up until around 11 last night, wherever the election was it, there was still no declared winner.  What I had noticed, however, was where several states including the battleground states had shown Harris winning, that had all been erased and Trump was pulling out ahead.  

I woke up around 4:00 AM,   maybe earlier, and there it was. "Trump projected to win".  

Now? I am watching even leftist news media declare it was a "red wave" and a landslide.  Pointing out states where it is usually a vast win for leftist and showing this election where it was actually close, such as New Jersey.  

It is time to bring some semblance of sanity back to governance and how we deal with citizens.  It is time to close the border if only temporarily to stop these caravans of illegals coming up here, being invited in, flooding our border towns and then moving on and flooding small towns all over the US.  

It is time to get rid of these illegals involved in criminal activities.  

It is time to open up the drilling permits for oil and gas.  I don't know about the Keystone pipeline, if that's been permanently abandoned or if it's just sitting in limbo?

And finally, we will be back on the world stage.  Russia and China will stop taunting us, Iran will stop provoking us.  We will be definitively back on Israel's side, backing them at every turn and doing whatever we can to help them win the war. 

We will not hear the end of endless leftist whining and calling Trump and his supporters racist, Hitler, Nazi's, etc.  it didn't work for this election, even though they were hammering that message.

It is time to end identity politics, DEI and wokeness, especially in this nation's military.  I would be shocked if you didn't see an immediate end to people being given free trans surgeries.  Promotions based on merit, not on a person's declared sexuality, minority status, pronouns, or other agenda that promotes or accepts people into positions that they are not qualified to be in. 

Will we stop spending beyond our means, ie: the federal government being given trillions more than the IRS is taking in?  I don't know about that.  

I for one am exceedingly happy that this election and all of the vitriol is finally over.  I am even happier that Trump won.  Harris would have been an unmitigated disaster.  

It's the dawn of a new day. 

OH would it be wonderful if along with this the country would turn back to the Lord our God!