Saturday -  not so early

Well, 7:30 am.  I'm leaving in 20 minutes to go get the truck fired up, get in the thing and get down south.  I may have to wait down there but in the chance that the other driver is already done and out of the way, which is quite possible, I'm showing up several hours early.

Note that I did not say I was showing up before the first appointment time. I'll be there about an hour after.  If these drivers are the early birds they say they are, they should be long gone when I get there unless there is an issue with the plant. 

IF it worked out, I could still be home at a decent time. Tomorrow? Probably not so lucky.  I'm hoping to connect with whoever it is and see when they plan on arriving up there so I can plan out my day, which hopefully doesn't take me into late afternoon. If it does, it does, I can't really complain, I've had several weeks in a row where I've been given the first run. Now I'm getting second run 2 in a row, if they attempt a 3rd, I will say something.  

It's the weekend so there usually isn't other trucks in the way at the loading plant is all I can say about it.  

I've received no complaints about anything in the last several days. I dunno if that's because nothing has happened or if Trey is taking care of things - but if he is I want to know about it for I want to know how he is dealing with things.I have my way of dealing with errant guests and it doesn't start out with a confrontation.  You give them a chance, first, to redeem themselves. 

Then, if the situation isn't corrected, depending on the severity of it, that's when I decide whether to get confrontational or try once again the "nice and polite" way.  I'll be talking to him today, it wasn't good that he never replied to me yesterday until long after the overnights showed up and called me for instructions where to go.  

Well got distracted so time to go.  My Roku remote wasn't working and has been acting up a lot lately, I ended up ordering a new one. They are all of $7 so no biggies on that one.  It gets old to have to keep taking the batteries out and do a reset on the remote and then putting the batteries back in in order to try and get the thing to work.

Off to the races.

G'day

Friday

I did not do Black Friday this year.  Anything I need isn't put on Black Friday sales. I don't need computers, tv's or anything else really for the house.  I'm sure the contractor won't give me a black friday deal on his bid lmao.  Maybe hot tubs but I really don't want to buy a brand new one with $400 monthly payments. If the payments were lower I might think about it.  

Today is a day off and I'm just going to do nothing.  I worked 4 days before the last day off and 6 days before that, just want to take it easy.  Amazingly, it's already almost 3 pm, where did this day go?  

The folks are buying a new refrigerator. Not sure what brought that about, excepting we've been needing a bigger one for a long time now. We've made do with the one we have, however.  No biggies to me, I'm not buying it so if they want a new fridge, a new fridge it is!  

I've got people coming into the park every day for 4 days in a row and all of them are staying at least 3 days.  Much needed revenue. I'm not behind on anything or even close to it, I just was hoping to build up the business checking account during the winter months, that hasn't much happened because I've had so many empty lots.  I've managed to fill 3 of them up, there's still 3 to go.  But, if I can fill them with short term I'm all down for that.  

Well, I do have the property tax bills due no later than the last day of February. After that, they start assessing late fees.  They are hefty bills. The county assesses one and the city/school district assesses the other. It's not cheap but I do understand why. They want to build brand new schools and already have built several of them.  They want to = well it's not worth going into, it's a lot of waste and abuse.  Typical government entity that doesn't give a damn about citizens, I will be spending somewhere in the ballpark of $2,500 for property taxes this year. That doesn't include the Phoenix house, that is auto-baked into the mortgage payment.  

I've been thinking about it and really, I'd love to put a small house on one of the properties I got through tax sales. Those are well over 2 years since I bought them so no one can redeem them. It's a small property but it's in a prime location, the only draw back is the rail road tracks - right there. However, the train doesn't sound it's horn anywhere near that property. It's within walking distance of Krogers, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Chili's DQ - you get the picture.  

Get a construction loan, have a small house built and use it for purely income purposes.  Well, I may consider that down the road in actually doing it, interest rates are ridiculous right now and even if the Fed keeps lowering the rate, it will be quite a while before we get anything near the 3% mortgage rate, if we ever get there again.  I think it's near 7 right now.  I've kept that property because I've wanted to develop it.  I just think with the location it would easily rent out.  

The city dictated a few years ago that I would have to put on a 1,100 square foot, site built home, no mobiles.  1,100 square feet is small, but not hear as small as I had planned putting in there, what with other mobiles already being on the street. In fact, there are million dollars mansions to near worthless old mobiles on that street.  Minimum 100k to build a house that size with everything needed including running power, water, sewer and probably gas lines to it, building a driveway,  etc.  

The bizarre reactions of Democrats to the Trump election parades on.  One democrat politician suggests that New York should succeed to Canada.  The amount of endless reasons why they lost is staggering. Much of it is ludicrous.  With the type of reasoning they are using, you can tell they've learned nothing.  One big factor that analysts are assessing is Trump's use of podcasts, especially the big name ones, but mostly the Joe Rogan experience podcast, he by far and away has the largest audience in the podcast kingdom.

Harris said they would do one with Rogan, but only if he did it "somewhere else" besides his studio and a time limit.  He refused and that was that. They believe it cost the Harris campaign because of the influence those podcasts has on younger, voting aged males.  Whoever was running Trump's campaign this time had their act together. There are a lot of variables to why one party wins and the other loses, most of them have nothing to do with democrat reasoning.

And Homan.  That dude ... lol the left is afraid of him lol.  The left keep saying stupid things and he keeps right on piling it on them.  One mayor? said he would go to jail rather than cave to the removal of all of these "migrants" from his town, Homan replied via X (Twitter) that he would be happy to imprison him if he obstructs ICE from doing its job. I actually believe this Homan character would do it.  

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Many hours later. The people that were to show up today? Showed up. I had informed Trey to keep an eye out for them, he never responded. Instead, several hours after I sent that text message, the people called, asked which lot, then said they could give a credit card over the phone or settle up tomorrow.  They sounded like they wanted to settle up tomorrow and for me, that's not an issue. They are staying 3 days. 

We'll try again tomorrow, but tomorrow it will be in face to face, in person and in your space type of thing.  I don't like him just ignoring stuff all day long.  If he wants the position, do it. If he doesn't, start paying rent. It's one or the other, there is no middle ground.  He does stuff - when I direct him to. It's the type of person that has to be told everything and often times, not just once.  I have worked with people like this at various jobs where the person would complete a task and then just stand there.  Huh? He told me to do this, I'm done.  I don't understand that mentality, if you're on the clock, work, do something.  Ask the manager what he wants you to do next, or be proactive and understand what they expect of you and just do it.  I haven't noticed that we are living in that kind of society with younger generations anymore.  

Have you? 

I am all over him about the boat frequently.  I just ask what he's gotten done, oh I'm about to do - whatever - right now! Yes, because I had to ask you. The 4 wheeler as well.  He figured out that the carburetor was never replaced contrary to the "customs" place I took it to the first time.  He has that installed and also wants a new whatever, I don't remember the name of the part but ignition part.  I ordered that and it should be arriving soon.  

 Well it's getting late and tho I wanted to pursue some particular topics, I don't have time. I do have the late load tomorrow but I still like to get to bed at a decent hour. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been lagging a bit in blog entries, there hasn't been much new going on, I don't want to just sound like a broken record.  

This morning, Thanksgiving morning, I definitely did not feel like getting out of bed. I had awakened at midnight and it took over 2 hours to get back to sleep.  It didn't help that the product was very cold and it took almost an hour and a half to empty out the trailer.  People up there weren't in a particularly good mood, I just ended up taking a long nap and I felt so much better.  

That plant runs 24 hours a day, there is always crews there. Even if the machinery has stopped working, they still have a bunch of people working in all of the production areas.  I didn't feel sorry for them, I worked today and I didn't really care one way or the other excepting the sleep issue. I have tomorrow off and then working the entire weekend. My reward for working Thanksgiving?

Having to do the second run. That's not a reward at all, but it's cool, because when we get into December, I'm putting in for at least 2 days off during Christmas and also on the 11th to go to some school field trip thing the younger kid is going to and asking me to come with him.  Why me? I have no idea.  I'm not his favorite person, his mom is.  I think it's that she couldn't go and I guess I'm the last resort. No biggies.  I've seen this place while driving to and from Dallas, it's right next to the Interstate. It looks interesting. 

New people moved in a few days ago.  I wasn't fixing to have problems until I saw a dude there with her. Who is this?  I said something to him, how's it going? He gave me an icy "it's going" - you'd have to have been there to hear the tone and inflection of his voice when he said that.  "They" - this lady told me nothing about a dude living with her - have 2 dogs and she apparently is brand new to the dog world.  Well, these dogs were incessantly barking and I got tired of it. 

Yup, "please quiet these dogs down". You can quiet your dogs down if you really want to. I just tell mine to shut up, it works like magic.  The dude: "They're just doing their job". Yeah, there job is completed, please shut them up.  I don't have any qualms telling people to their face the stuff they need to hear when they are getting that way with me and frankly, not a good way to start off. I do not want problems with these people, but if this is going to be some sh**ty situation? They can leave. I will give them all of their money back and they can go.  

In my world, I'd rather lose the money up front in lot rent and get problem people out of there then have things drag out. I have put the park host - Trey - on notice to keep an eye on them and get back to me if there are any issues at all. The neighbor as well, he was over here last night giving me the rent money. He's friends of the family.  I just put it flatly: If there are any issues with them at all, please let me know right away. Don't let things fester, it only makes it worse.

In the next 4 days, lots of medium stays are coming in. I call them that for they are staying more than one night but not long term either.  I have to give Trey specific instructions about everything, he is not an RV park person and has no clue. I am trying to teach him but he's - a mechanic, not a park host.  I still cannot fathom why he doesn't want to work with all the education he has.  He could be making an excellent income and living the way he wants in a house or whatever, wherever, frankly. It makes no sense to me at all, but since his dad passed away, I've just had to be very blunt with him what I want done and when I want it done.  Usually, right now.  

He freely admits he's lazy, I have no idea where he's getting his money from. He buys food, beer, whatever, he has no income and so, it's a mystery but none of my business. I just know he's getting free lot rent and yes, I'm going to get my money out of him.  He does do odd jobs around the park for people, either fixing their cars or their RV's, I don't have an issue with that.  He doesn't abuse it, doesn't try to over charge anyone so it's all good. Actually kind of nice to have a mechanic in-house even if it's like attempting to twist a rusted bolt out of it's hold with your bare hands, he is a piece of work. He is a nice guy, however and a very good disposition. 

Well, I had a full, traditional thanksgiving dinner today and I am feeling fine. I don't have to get up for work in the morning, it's only one day off before back to the grind, but it's better than nothing. I have lots more I could discuss, I simply don't feel like it. Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!

 Monday - mid afternoon

I have no idea what it is about Mondays.  Everything was going fine until I got to the loading plant.  The first thing I noticed was the red glue all over the driveway, the scales, everywhere.  What on earth happened here?  The second thing that happened was, when I got backed under the overhang at the bay, was the new guy was going to be doing it solo. 

Huh? He's pretty new/green.  Well, the red flag should have gone up when I saw one of the regular operators leaving. Where is he going?  I wondered.  So, this new dude was there all alone to deal with it himself.  I got in there early, btw, around 8:50 am.  That's early for having driving to the washout, got that done and then driven over there.  

Anyway, he got done loading relatively quickly and that's when the trouble started.  He overloaded me.  80,120 pounds. 120 over gross.  Not much but they won't let you out of there over 80k.  So, I had to pull around back to have some drained out. I wondered who would be doing that? Because this guy sure as heck doesn't know how to do it.  An old hand came along, got it done relatively quickly and back to the scale. Still pretty heavy but not over,  I wouldn't be fueling today, I thought, but yes, please do get me out of here.

Well, parked the truck and into the control room. Another truck driver from a different company was already in there.  It sucked because I was at the plant before him, the only reason he was ahead of me in there was because of the overloading.  

It sucked really bad after it took 25 minutes to even get him out of there. This new guy had no idea what he was doing with paperwork even tho he's had a month and a half of training now.  I sighed.  It's going to be quite a while before I get out of there. 

And it was.  It was an hour - a whole hour to do paperwork - before I got out of there.  They usually have me in and out of there in 5 minutes.  There is only 1 consolation in all of this I had.  After I got in there, a lot of other trucks came in after me. This dude is loading 1 truck at a time, I could have been waiting in there for many hours before he would have even gotten to me if I had arrived at my normal time.  

I mean, it's  not horrible, I got back around 1:00 pm but I would have been back around 11:45 am.  

The house is sick. Well 2 people are anyway. Actually, Taylor sounds much better but the oldest kid is not doing so great.  Fever and obviously not feeling well, at all.  I've been staying away from him, I really, reaaalllly, reeeeeaaaaaaallllllyyyyyyy don't want to get sick right now.  I have a ton of stuff to do and it's not going to get done if I"m laying in bed. Not to mention not making any money.  

And not getting anything done....and not making any money .. and not feeling too good while we're at it.

Anyway, since the kids seem to be behaving and one of them is passed out AND Taylor is doing well enough to deal with them, I think I will head back to the park after getting some diesel fuel and go ahead  and start ripping up the driveway. I don't know how long I have the use of that box blade and it has those beautiful rippers.....

 Sunday - morning

Well, I did sleep in and I did just lay in bed after I woke up.  As I promised myself I would do after 6 straight days of getting up at 5 - 5:00 am. Unfortunately, tomorrow is right back at it all the way up to Thursday, after that? Well I'll probably get dumped with another one.  If that happens, I'm going to be asking for Sunday and Monday off. I need 2 days off at some point to recharge.

As for the box blade with the rippers? There are some pins missing. Junior, as I like to call him, is going to his farm today or he might have gone last night, who knows, to get the pins needed - versus spending money on things that someone already has.  The farm is like 40 miles away.  He likes to visit there, he doesn't want to live there and hence a trailer in my park. 

The lady that was an RV park manager is supposedly moving in - tomorrow I think it was.  Yes, tomorrow.  How is that going to work out? How does anyone work out? You let them in, you see what happens and you deal with any aftermath.  She won't be getting a job from me, that's a fact.  I already have 1-1/2 non-paying lots and it's not going to be anymore than that.  If I were a 100 lot park, I would consider it for the office help. 

So, it came to pass this morning, that trouble was brewing.  It's pretty common in a house with young kids and especially one of them that likes to get into trouble and blame it either on the other one or just say he didn't do it, effectively saying the other one did it. 

________________

So, I went to the adult meeting.  Not my style.  Old people acting old. Sorry, I know I'm getting old but I just don't go around acting out that way.  Maybe because I'm around kids and a younger generation of adults as well, but there is a reason for that. I've seen it all my life and I just don't agree with it.  If you want to "be" old that's fine and that's your choice. I'd rather live my life to the "gusto" as much as possible whatever age I am.  That's not childish and it's certainly not wrong.  To each his/her own.

I didn't much care for the leadership style either.  They didn't encourage people who weren't speaking and have obviously been going to those meeting for a long time - to speak.  Instead, you have a couple of outspoken individuals speaking their minds and obviously everyone else not enjoying that part of it.  Good leadership can get past that stigma.  Everyone has an opinion, don't just let a few people dominate the conversation.  That's ridiculous and condescending.  

I know, judgmental.  I've been watching these settings all of my life and yes, I have run meetings and I have never allowed one or 2 people to take over. There are many people that don't feel like they should speak up, they need to be encouraged, it needs to be dragged out of them.  You don't just open up the floor, you call people out.  Hey so and so, what do you think?!  I could have opened my mouth and spoken my opinion but I was a "guest" as described by the group leader.  There wasn't any attempt to identify me as a member of the church - I've been going there 3 plus years now.  It was pretty strange stuff. 

They had free breakfast which I assume is the appeal to many who otherwise said nothing. It looked good, it was nice spread. I didn't eat any of it by my own choice, tho I did have coffee.  

So, there are several other groups that occur during the first church service, one of them I can identify with even tho it doesn't bother me, at all.  "Empty Nesters".  I can legitimately say I'm an empty nester since my son is off 1,300 miles from here, tho he's not living on his own, per se, he's living with his mother. And paying all of the bills there. This isn't a college student going to college and moving back in with mom and dad situation.  

I may just give up on this church altogether.  I've never much cared for giant church settings, just hard to leave with the kids loving it.  Most churches do not have the kind of setup they have for kids at this place.  I have no idea, really, what to do.  I just think I could try another group and if they don't like me there, I don't care.  It's church, deal with it.  I imagine an empty nesters group being filled with 40 somethings, but it's also listed as moms and...I don't remember the third one.  I'm trying to make new friends is the real deal and I didn't see anyone even trying to take an interest to actually make the guest feel welcome. 

In fact, I caught some people staring at me with a rather - interesting - gaze. A frown on their mouths.  What? I literally said nothing to offend anyone, in fact, I didn't speak much at all.  Just lay low and check out the scene was my approach. I wasn't invited back, when it was over I just sort of looked around, got up slowly and - left.  This church really isn't my style.  But I may just swallow all of that to keep the kids engaged.  They wouldn't like it near as much anywhere else after being exposed to all of that.  

I'm just saying me "best" church experiences have been in small churches where you can't get away from engaging with people.  It's just the way the setting is and people will get to know you whether you want them to or not.  Ok, not always but most of the time that's true.  The American version of church is nothing like what goes on in other countries where it's "real". We have too much money, too much security in our worldly income, houses, cars, running water, electricity, more than sufficient food supply.  We don't "need" God and you don't really get the kind of experience I have had without going on the mission field.  It changes your life and view of things forever.  

I'm actually going to start looking around at other churches with a bit more flare.  The type that really get into it. I was doing well to just go to church for a long time at this place.  I will be thankful for the non-intrusiveness for that, but it's time to start looking for something more engaging, I do believe - but - have a kid's ministry that is also vibrant and keep the kids engaged.  Not much is going to equal this church's kid experience unfortunately.  I actually think their children's church is far better than the adult version in terms of keeping people engaged. 

Anyway, after 2-1/2 hours at church, it was time to leave. The oldest boy was visibly - something wrong with him.  He didn't say anything, but Applebee's was on their minds.  So, we went to the park, the kid had put the box on the tractor - without the pins, it's not attached without them, there's another linkage that he had hooked up - then off to Applebee's.  We sat on the high seat chairs for a while, the boy was not looking good.  What's wrong with you? I'm not feeling good. Well we can go home?  No! 

But after another 15 minutes he had visibly declined.  He was obviously not feeling well. We moved to a booth to have more comfortable seating but it was time to eat and go home.  He has a low-grade fever, mom told him to get into his pajamas and took him to her bedroom. She isn't feeling well either.   

I'm afraid what the means for me.  It's at least 90% rate that everyone in this house gets sick, I get sick as well.  I can't really afford that right now, I've been busting @$$ got get back up in the money department.  As of right now? I feel fine and going to work in the morning and hoping it stays that way. Because if I get sick, it's likely I will force my way through it while working unless it just gets terrible.  

I am sorry if this sounded like a whining session against churches. I am not against church, I just don't like the facades and sugar-coated stuff that doesn't directly deliver the reality of the Gospel and the Word to you.  We need it all, not just a part of it.  We need lives that are beyond just going to church and sitting around telling people what we think.  I help people frequently. Outside of the church pews and walls, it's a personal thing for me, I feel like God would have us do things to help each other - because He says so.  

 Not long ago, I was ready to cancel Dish at this house permanently.  I didn't mean to replace it with Directv, I was just going to get rid of it.  So, of course, they start talking about "lessor packages" and how about this instead?  I'd have to have several certain channels to agree to it and the price would have to be very low.  Well, we agreed on  a package with the channels I wanted and that was that.  $100 less per month, I can deal with that.

Yesterday, I turned it on and most of the channels were gone.  Now, before you say anything, they had already removed the channels that I wasn't paying for the minute we made the agreement, they literally spanked that baby through and it was done. What I had yesterday? Was almost nothing.  I reset the thing, I turned it off and on, same thing.

Yup, yet another call to Dish.  So I explained to this dude that sounded like he was in the Philippines what was going on.  I wasn't rude, I wasn't snippety, I just said this is what happened, please fix it. The dude? Got all kinds of attitude with me.  Snark, crass, rude.  Like, what?  Excuse me?  Why are you acting like this? His attitude got worse.  This went on for several minutes with him getting nasty with me on the phone, can I speak to your manager please?  He dumped me off onto a manager quickly.  I asked for the phone call to be reviewed, his behavior was unbelievable.  

She, the next person, fixed the problem immediately and that was the end of it.  Like, why didn't this dude just do that at the get go?  These are incoming call centers in other places in the world and they don't exactly screen for any kind of quality customer service, my guess anyway after dealing with people like this for many years in these companies that want to export all of their call centers offshore.  It'd be nice if they brought those call centers back to America. 

Anyway, getting his package saved me from having to pay for apps on the smart TV such as Paramount.  And I can still watch the news without having to pay a small subscription fee for other apps. In other words, the money spent on the satellite is maybe a little more than what I would have ended up paying with apps.  I have Netflix tho and I am finding all kinds of good movies on there, I won't be getting rid of that.  Hulu? I'm dumping, Netflix sort of took over.  

I haven't yet braved the waters of calling Dish again to negotiate a lower price at the AZ house.  I know what's going to happen, I've been through it a dozen times if not more, I hate dealing with those people and I hate the endless games.  Well, you could go to a lower priced package. No, I want the package I have at the price I was paying for it.  

Well. Lots of people are "going" to move in, including allegedly 2 trailers in one day. The day passed and they never showed nor did they call back when they said they were. Another guy "moving in in a couple of weeks".  That is very vague. If I have a lot available, great.  Actually, the 2 that came in for a month are gone. Actually, one of them called me today. He said he had told me he was going to stay several months but that had to change.  I don't recall him saying that, I remember him saying he'd be there a month, maybe a little longer and I was fine with that.

Well, he allegedly pulled the trailer out of the park - well he definitely did that - to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday but he was going to be back. He didn't even tell me he was leaving much less coming back? And allegedly, he got into an accident and his trailer was totaled.  I say allegedly for people make stuff up all the time for no particularly good reason. If you need to leave, leave! I'm not going to try to stop you.  I don't have contracts, people come and go at will, but it's nice if they at least let me know about it. 

Anyway, this other lady has been talking for a while now and just called, she said she is moving in on Monday.  Trey - park host - said no thanks, the lady said her dog isn't friendly. The lady didn't tell me that, she did say the dog is a still in puppy stage and is being "trained" and she wanted the end lot to be away from everyone.  I don't know, sounded like she had a plan to me.  If it doesn't work out, I'll just have to get in her space and let her know about it. I don't hope for such endings, I'd like to find "permanent" people who just want to stay indefinitely and I don't have to worry about filling lots up all the time.  But, that will leave only 1 back in lot left and 2 pull throughs available.  I want to get that other back in lot filled, it's usually long term people that want the back in spots.  

AI.  Because it's not going away and I'm trying my best to adapt to change, I have had extensive "conversations" with AI platforms.  I don't know what else to call them, they certainly aren't human. "Ask me any question".  I did so again tonight with the Meta platform version that will talk to you in a DM.  It didn't take long to see it's clear political bias and I started discussing that with it.  It took quite a while for the thing to finally admit that it's programmers have a clear "liberal" slant, I call it leftist now and it even went so far as to say that a recent study showed that 80% of them have a liberal slant.

No kidding? I couldn't tell!  I mean, the thing literally posted a MSNBC style talking point and I called it out on it  After a while, it changed the way it was talking to me. It just started quoting me "my content" and then making a few remarks. So, I called it out on that.  Yes, I do adapt. You call that adaptation? To simply quote the person? It apologized again and admitted it had changed it's method of conversation with me.  It was a waste of time, I suppose, but I wanted to find out if it could just state facts, especially political matters, you know "we report, you decide" from long ago? No, it can't.  

______

Let's get off of that. Well, it's starting to get late - not really, just late in my view when facing a very early alarm setting.  I do not want to go to work tomorrow, I can tell you that right now without even batting an eye.  The tanker is full of glue and so, there is no choice in the matter, hard to call in sick when there is 45,000 pounds of glue sitting on your property.  I certainly don't want it or need it for anything.  The upside is get tomorrow work done, get back and then the rest of the day and the day after, Sunday, is off. Then at least 4 more days on.  

Maybe when I pull in tomorrow morning, I will see a box blade on the trailer? That would be amazing. 

I am waxing long.  The hot tub people finally stopped contacting me, I told them I don't have time to go get it - 200 plus miles away. I'm just not thinking I want that kind of debt right now.  There is very little guarantee that it would do anything for getting people in there and I am really kind of thinking if I'm going to get one, it's going to be cheap, something someone just wants to get rid of. It works, come get it!  

 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.