Tuesday - evening

I was dragging my feet all day long.  I slept very well, but after you've had several nights in a row of not-so-great sleep, you are going to eventually pay for it.  The drive up to Gurdon, unloading and coming back were uneventful and went by pretty fast, actually. I was home before 1.  My manager had thrown another run in there for tomorrow.

A few problems with that. First off, I have worked 8 days in a row now.  I had a day off 9 days ago and then I had worked I think 6 days in a row before that.   I have worked 2 full weekends in a row.  And, most importantly: I asked for tomorrow off many weeks ago and it was approved.  I saw that run in there and was not in the mood. I just got on the road and started driving back after I was done at the plant.

About halfway back, the manager calls.  Uhh, I put a load in there for you tomorrow.  He didn't let me get a word in edgewise, said he saw that I had asked for the day off and had removed it.  Well why bother calling me? I wondered.  I guess he figured I had seen it?  I had, actually, and was going to deal with it after I got home and after I got a nap.

 I got back to the yard, got my post trip done, talked with Trey for a few minutes - didn't really want to to be honest, I was not in a good mood because I was so tired - came home.  Said hi to Taylor, got the dog, got into bed and poof, just like that, an hour and a half of sleep.  I wouldn't have even known I had slept that long if I hadn't looked at the clock before dozing off, I was that tired.  

I feel much better now, thankfully.  It's hard to function being that tired.  I don't want to feel like that tomorrow for tomorrow is the field trip and I'd like to have fun at the - I think it's some sort of animal farm.  It's going to take most of the day after driving there, walking around for probably a couple of hours and then driving back.  

60. 40 to go.  It's getting harder, actually, not easier, to do these pushups.  Muscles don't have time to recuperate after only 1 day, but, that's what this plan is, we'll see what happens.  Typically, people that do pushups do them every day.  This is day 5 and tho the triceps are having some noticeable improvement, chest area is not. Then again, I didn't expect miracles in only 5 days.  I eeked out 80 yesterday and couldn't do any more. I just couldn't, but that was also extreme fatigue kicking in.  I went to bed shortly after I finished 80. Tonight I'm feeling much better, I'm pretty sure I can do the rest of the 40. 

________

100 done, not too bad.  3 sets of 10 curls with the curl bar also done.  Thinking about doing 50 sit ups and call it good.  I'm kind of getting serious about shedding this fat body and besides eating right, exercise is also key. I know, some of these gurus say it isn't and I sort of fell for that for a while but a large portion of my adult life, I was lean and trim and that included going to the gym several times a week and keeping very active. 

Basically, I'm thinking back to what it took to keep me in good form and that equation definitely included a lot of physical activity, both work related, gym related and just hiking and doing things I liked to do.  

I'm not going to the gym, btw, I don't even have a gym membership atm.  We have a set of weights out on the back porch replete with a bench for bench pressing, curl bars and dumbells.  Plenty of weights, I wouldn't have to worry about buying more - probably ever. I'm not looking to be a muscle-laden beast, I don't even know if you can do that at this age. I'm just wanting to trim down and get some muscle tone.  It's probably why I have been feeling very fatigued the last several days.  Sleep issues while trying to work out and driving a truck every single day...and tomorrow, I still have to drive even if that day off. The flip side is it's just a pickup truck, automatic and it's mostly Interstate driving. 

Ok, I despise Interstate driving nowadays, but at least you get to where you're going faster than just about any other way of getting to a place save going on toll roads.  

Oh, and Trey came over with one of the new people. Trey doesn't even - or didn't - know where I live, the other guy is the nurse for a child of a friend that lives like 5 houses away from us.  He was paying rent. Trey didn't bother to come up to the house, so I called him in.  He's a little shy around me.  I don't think he's used to people like me. I'm not saying I'm anything great, but I am notably outspoken, not shy with my words and speak my mind. 

Ok, I've gotten better at the "speaking my mind" stuff. It turns out, you are much better off zipping it in many situations where you just let whatever play out.  I never used to care about that, but having a business has done a bit of a change on me in that department.  

I guess I'm half wanting tomorrow to come and half dreading it.  I really would like to just sleep in.  I have to get up early for this field trip.  They are leaving at 7:30 am, so I have to be up, dressed, coffee'd up, whatever and get over to the park and leave in the pickup by then as well.  I just want to get there and be there before those busses arrive so I don't miss them going in.  

Oh, and I was looking at the reviews of this place. There are a lot of very negative reviews.  Boring. Expensive.  Long lines.  Worn down.  Used to be a great place but now they've ruined it.  Things like that.  I'm guessing the kids won't care, it's the adults with the problem. Yes, we know, stuff that excites kids may not necessarily be so great for adults. I'm just going to go with the flow, let the kid do his thing and I will just watch unless he really wants me to do activities with him.  

I don't think I'll be home before 3, so that basically eats up a day off.  What I'm really hoping is that I get another run on Thursday and then have the weekend off.  One can wish.  It's not only the other drive in Africa, it's also the driver-trainer who is doing some sort of chemo pills for prostate cancer.  It makes him feel sick and takes all of his energy away when he has to take the pills. Work is kind of fed up with him, I guess he's only doing 2 runs a week.  

The manager took the run out of the tablet for tomorrow but didn't put another one back in.  Yet.  Really, if he actually asks me if I want to work the weekend, a thing he isn't doing anymore, I'm going to emphatically tell him no.  In fact, if he loads me up for this weekend, we are going to have a conversation. It will mean missing church for a 3rd weekend in a row for one thing. 

I've fairly well determined - don't hold me to this for I might change my mind again - that the next days off, if I actually get 2 of them in a row, I'm going to use one of them to fill out the application for the SBA loan and see what happens.  

Not going to go into that again right now, it's getting late in the evening and I'd like to wind down and relax a bit.  

Oh, and a person saying they want to move in - on the first lol.  I'm like, why do people call that far in advance?  If they aren't willing to give down money, I'm not holding it for them. I told her that I would most likely have something available and yes, I mostly likely will. There is a couple that showed up for a month.  I have no idea why they are here, they keep to themselves. They have a motor coach and a motorcycle that attaches to the rear of the coach. They go somewhere frequently.  Family? Event? Tourism? But that is a month's worth and then they are leaving.  Or I guess they're leaving? You never know with people lol. 

With that, I bid you a good night.  

 Monday - early

I woke up early, there was no point trying to go back to sleep. Just one of those nights with fitful sleep and I finally gave up trying. I mean, I got in at least 6 hours, I just kept waking up.  

I did, indeed, make it to 100 pushups last night.  Now, no one on this earth is being led to believe that I did all of those pushups in one set.  It was 5 separate sets and I'm completely fine with that - for now.  I do want to see me being able to do 30 in a row and then 40 and so on.  

Today will be day 7 of consecutive days of working in a row.  Yeah, I'm getting tired of this schedule.  I mean, I do want to work, I just need days off here and there to keep my sanity.  I will have to work through tomorrow before finally getting a break on Wednesday, but that entire day will be consumed with a field trip diversion.  It should be fun, I'm not saying it won't be nice I just really need a day to do nothing.  

No, cancel that: I need 2 days in a row to do nothing.  Oh well, I did say a while back I needed to work so here we are, I'm working! Lmao. 

I think the sleeplessness is tied to attempting to decide whether I should even try to get a loan for expanding the property.  I actually want to do it, I just don't know with my credit card debt if they'll even consider it, even if I am putting the entire property up as collateral.  I don't know.  I was thinking about them coming in there with all of that equipment and getting busy.  

I just really can taste the flavor of not having to get into trucks all the time and driving off into the wild blue yonder.  I can be happy just going to work at my property and spending my days there.  Get an office in there and have a place to hang out as well.  That dude called me again - we have a special going on in December!  I didn't hear what it was, I was in the middle of something and asked him to call me back at a later time.  

It would be a 16X40? I think that's what it was, the biggest barn he makes, for less than 10k.  That's half the price and less than anyone else, anywhere else.  I"m happy enough with the first one they built, it's paid off and I own it. It's part of the assets of the property adding at least 15k worth of value if not more.  It certainly wasn't cheap to build it out and part of what the credit card debt is all about . 

The only way to instantly get out of credit card debt right now is to get a loan to pay it all off.  And so far, the interest rates are just horrible.  I don't need a high interest loan to get rid of the debt -  excepting to jack up my score and show that I am "able to carry myself" with credit cards and not running them up.  The interest rates on those loans are almost as much as the interest rates on the cards themselves. The difference being there is a definitive payoff date with a loan, card debt can go on "forever".  

Well, anyway, it's Monday but to me it's just another work day. While everyone else is grappling with the idea of going back to work after a weekend, I'm just oh well, it's another day in a hoard of them altogether that I had to work.  I've got lots to do beyond this trucking nonsense but by the time I'm done driving, especially with some of the days I've had recently? I just want to go home.  People at the park apparently understand that, they hear that truck grumbling through the park at early hours and know that's the owner going to work!  

Yup, yesterday was particularly early.  I was glad I did it tho, considering I not only beat that other driver up there but I also got done just before noon.  I try to just idle through the park when I'm leaving, that truck is noisy.  Giving it the acceleration pedal just makes it even noisier.  

The newest competitor was asking some fairly pointed questions yesterday about my expansion plans.  I just cut him off after he was getting a bit too personal. He was using the information I was giving on an RV park owners forum as it stands to move in and try to take a bite out of the market share. The part that annoyed me was when I was telling him there's lots of competition in the area, including myself and he just brushed that all off. I'm not in competition with anyone! 

Oh really? He went off like that for a string of texted sentences and I just said no more. I try to be congenial with my competitors but if they're going to act like that, they can go stick it.  I gave him a ball park figure and then ended the conversation. I didn't have to do that but it really doesn't matter, I'm doing what I'm going to do, lol, in his way of thinking anyway, and that's that.  

The cost per site will be around 10 grand.  That's pretty good in this current market.  There's 64k worth of gravel in the cost of building it out alone, that doesn't even include the machinery to spread it and the labor costs involved. In fact, I guess the gravel is the biggest expense followed by electric.  The cost of the septic went way up but that's not only because of inflation, it's more than double the size of the one I currently have.  

I don't know what happened, but all of these people calling me all of a sudden? Maybe he filled his park up? I have no idea.  I think he has his spaces way too close together on the new ones he built out.

And I have to chuckle every time I pass by another new competitor in Jefferson.  The park is a "resort", there is nothing resort about it.  That's why I chuckle, it's seriously not a resort at all.  There is a bathroom and that is all I see over there.  It started filling up for a while but all of them left and now there are only 2 trailers in there.  I don't know who thought that one through, but they clearly did a poor job of it. This idea of building new parks right next to super-busy highways baffles me.  Yes, it's convenient for travelers but in this region, that isn't where the money is at. It's all long term, workers and retired.  

You aren't going to get them in there with all of that noise going on constantly unless you are giving such a low price that they can't pass it up.  

There is another one being built in Linden, about 40 miles up the road. It too is right off the main highway, Texas 59.  That's the other reason I'd love to get an expansion going and get it ready for the Interstate construction that is allegedly firing up next year.  

And then another one, brand new, they completed that one and yup, it's right next to the same highway, 59, in Domino, TX.  These parks are not that close but if they get any business at all, they're taking it from someone else. I get a lot of people seeing my rates and they come to me anyway.  My overnight rates are the best in the entire region.  My long term rates are right there with most everyone else, some are more expensive and some are cheaper, I'm keeping mine where they're at. 

Jack it up higher and people won't come, lower it too much and there is very little profit to be made.

Anyway, it's getting close to time to leave, so, just hoping for a quick day. Last trip down there to Lufkin wasn't quick. Wasn't quick, at all. 

G'day

 Sunday mid-afternoon

The third time's a charm!  That's what I kept telling myself this morning. I don't want or need another 10-11 hour day, please!  It was raining, it was cold and I didn't care.  I got up very early at around 4:30 am to get up there before that jackass driver who just shows up whenever he wants to got there.   It helped that my manager informed me of his normal habits when he's doing a full turn.  

Full turn simply means doing the entire route in one day or finishing one and doing half of the other in one day - a full turn in and of itself even if the route isn't completed.  `

I arrived up there a full hour ahead of my normal arrival time, which is already an hour earlier than my appointment time and thankfully, he wasn't there. In fact, the entire plant was basically deserted, at least on the outside. Place is always buzzing on the inside.  

The only glitch up there today? Walking into the main office.  A dude got up and rushed at me, saw who I was and then backed off. Huh?  Then the plant manager looked up and asked if they could have a few minutes, please.  Considering the dude sitting on the chair was going off on them when I walked in there, I figured immediately they were having an issue with an employee and yes, I will leave and wait outside.

I went to the bathroom and then stood outside the office for a few minutes, another employee showed up and stood out there as well.  She was facing the opposite direction and pointed at me.  Why is she pointing at me? I thought, turned around and there was the manager looking for me, lol.  He's cool, dunno what that situation was about but then again, none of my business : )

In fact, the jerk driver never showed up while I was there. My manager said he was coming up today, apparently he decided to wait until I leave or just take his time. I'm guessing the latter.  One hour and twelve minutes to drain out the tank, not bad in this cold weather.  No issues besides idiot drivers on the way back.  

I was back just before noon, an all time record and I thought, gee and yes, this is the "third time is a charm" situation.  2 long term people have moved into the park today since I  started writing this blog entry.  The man with my last name - which isn't really that normal and I have never actually met anyone that I can remember with my own last name and it's spelling beyond my family - moved in with a huge 5th wheel that looked very new and a pulling it with a very nice looking welder's style truck.  He's got money, no need to worry about him paying the rent. The other guy just got out of school locally for lineman (power lines) and he apparently is doing well enough. He's young and just starting out, I thought - not too shabby for just getting started.

I try to see the good things in new people until/if/when they show me that they don't need that kind of respect.  I always hope they don't show me that kind of behavior, it happens - not often thankfully. 

I'm in a good mood today. Much better than yesterday or the day before.  

Well, not a bad mood maker but the third person was a no show.  That one was allegedly coming in for extended period of time.  Still, currently down to 2 regular lots open, 1 of which is for overnighters (tho that can easily change, I'll put a long term in there if the overnight traffic doesn't pick up).  

This is where I'm at with upgrading the park:  Yes and no.  Yes, let's do it, no I don't like the current interest rates, but yes, when are we going to do this? And no, I wonder if my credit card debt will hinder a bank from lending me money?  I have no late payments, no judgment, etc.  But, in the world of credit, simply making your payments on time isn't enough.  It IS something, but there are so many more factors.  

I just have this feeling they are going to deny me a loan regardless of high collateral offering. I've wrestled with this for quite a while now....it may be just time to get the higher interest loan to pay off credit card debt and at get the score going much higher.  And then do what? I don't know.  Get a loan for a septic system and then do the rest of the work myself, in phases and add lots as I can afford them?

Anyway, the weekend is basically over and I have nothing but more work.  Tomorrow and Tuesday, Wednesdsay off and presumably picking it back up again on Thursday. No idea when the driver stranded in Africa is coming back. Until that happens, I can expect a heavy work load unless one of the plants shut down again and right now? I'd very much like that to happen for at least a few days...

The 100 day challenge. I'm trying it.  Not haphazardly, either.  Day 3 for me, it's 100 pushups per day. First day was 40, yesterday was 60, I'm up to 80 today and going to try to hit 100.  No, I can't even come close to doing 100 pushups all in one set.  If I ever get to that point, I would imagine I would have dumped a lot of fat as well.  Will I make it 100 days? Maybe. The oldest kid started doing it with me, he's highly motivated.  Short for his age, extremely skinny, he wants to bulk up. We were weightlifting until he got sick, so we need to ramp it up with the pushups and doing light weight workouts as well.  Once I get him going long enough doing this, he'll see some results. 

He once told me he isn't getting bullied and then he told me 3 boys were taunting him and threatening him.  It's hard for me to relate in this age of "tell the teachers" s***, they won't do anything anyway.  In my youth, you either stood up to them or you got bullied and beaten up until you did. It's exactly how I learned. Now? If a kid hits you, you can't hit him back! You will get the same punishment as the offender! Whatever. He has skin and bones for arms and that's going to change.  He also wants to get involved with martial arts. I don't care to do that but if his parents want to, I'm not opposed to it.  I just don't care for the eastern mysticism involved with it. Learning how to defend yourself? No problem with that at all. 

Ok. I hit 100 pushups today.  Sets of 20. If/when I get stronger I'll do more per set. Right now? I'm lucky to get 20 in, by the time I hit the 20th pushup I'm already toast. 

 Saturday - evening

The day started out not so great and got progressively worse from there. I woke up at 3:45 am and couldn't get back to sleep to save my life.  I ended up getting up at 5:30 am, got my stuff done and got out of here by 6.

I was tired, unhappy that I had to work today and basically hoping that this day would at least go by quickly.

Well, the fact that I got home 40 minutes ago and it's almost 5 o'clock should tell you that didn't happen.  

First, it was cold and raining. The entire day, actually.  Not the end of the world, but certainly didn't help anything. Then, after getting to the washout and waiting for the dude to show up, I saw him pull in. This is the dude that wants to have the thing perfectly, completely clean.  

Not only is that not necessary, at all, it's also a complete waste of time.  He was washing that thing out of an hour and a half. Not the 20-30 minutes everyone else takes, oh no, we can't have that.  It was completely unecessary.  And it threw off the rest of the day. 

Why? Because I arrived at the plant 6 minutes late because of this dude and what happened? Well, I got in there, was about to back down the driveway when I saw the only loader there today waving me off. Nope, I have to load this truck first.  This is one of THEIR trucks, nothing that HAD to be loaded right then. But because I was a few minutes late?  Nope.  It took 2 HOURS for him to load that damned thing and then?

I guess  make me pay more for being late? I didn't start any trouble with him at all when he waved me off, btw, I already know this guy is a disgruntled worker and it doesn't take much to set him off.  If you rub him the wrong way, he's going to just let you sit there and you will not got loaded any time soon. I typically don't tend to start trouble in plants anyway, they can just throw you out and you lose your situation.  

Yes, he took a truck that came in after me and loaded it over by the lake.  At 2 hours and 45 minutes, I had had enough.  I texted my manager who called the plant rep who communicated to him that they "had a truck that came back that needed some product taken off". LIARS.  That truck came back and a different person went with 2 portable storage tanks and took care of that, the loader had nothing to do with that situation. I was really getting irritable at that point. 

My manager called and we got into a very long discussion.  He could tell straight away I was irritable with this entire day, a day I shouldn't even have to be working to begin with, so he offered me a substantial amount of money not just for waiting at the plant but for even having to work today and tomorrow.  I can tell you that that did absolutely nothing to change my ever-increasing foul mood.  It just welled up inside of me and I didn't do anything to stop it.  The entire situation weighed on me and I was done with it, not to mention other things besides trucking.  

Endless phone calls.  Do you have a space available? Do you have long term available? I normally like those type of calls but today? I didn't feel like talking to anyone.  I have at least 2 people moving in soon, one tomorrow and the next sometime this coming week.  In fact, I just looked. This dude made a reservation clear until May of next year! It says balance owing is well over 3 grand, lmao.  He is planning on staying around for a while, he says anyway.  He didn't really need to make the reservation that long, but whatever. His friend also made a reservation, but only for 3 days.  

He is allegedly staying as long as the friend, so that's fine by me.  Young guys, fresh out of college, line workers, they should fit right in with some of the crowd at the park.  No money issues, it's fine by me.  Another lady wants in next week I think she said.  

Ok.  So, the 2 people that came out of the bathroom yesterday, obviously - well in my opinion anyway - having had sex in the shower - the dude got rid of his camper, took it out today and moved in with the lady.  He gave me notice today that he was moving that thing out of there.  Thanks bro, that's so great! How long did you know about this?  I couldn't keep telling people I have a place for them, I had to tell a person today I'd get back to her. I don't even know what to say?  Yes? No?  Who's leaving? Who's staying?  

So these people contacted me and said Trey was full of s*** saying that about them, yada yada yada. I didn't bother to tell them I have a video of the both of them coming out of the bathroom, the dude still putting his clothes on.....Please...

 So, the party is over. Just an informal get together of a couple of families. The man of the hour -  I think he turned 19, maybe 20 - was giving me funny looks. I was talking to the lady of the house from that side and he finally interjected.  Are you saying 50 hours is part time?  In the trucking industry it is.  They pretty much want 70 official hours out of you every week if you're doing "full time".  You really work more than that off the clock.  But 70 hours is plenty and way too much for me any more.  I just don't want to sit in a truck 11 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week.  

He was just shocked. I do wonder if the general public understands how grueling and invasive the trucking industry is to drivers.  People I've encountered with negative views of truckers say we just sit around in a truck all day long, why do you call yourselves professionals and it isn't that hard, you aren't really doing anything more than driving. Well in my case, that is hardly true, but for a lot of OTR drivers, they don't load or unload.  But we all have to put up with the constant bs.  

I didn't go into all of that with him.  I just think about it and understand most people have no idea what we go through.  And most people don't want to know. They just know they go to the gas station, grocery store, Lowe's, etc and everything is always there unless there are dire or unforeseen circumstances.  

I've got people wanting to move in.  Lots of them. They say that anyway, I don't turn anyone down or tell them others want it, it's first come, first served. People say they are thinking about it all the time and you never see them.  I want that place filled up and that doesn't happen telling a potential customer: Well, there is someone else that wants it.  Nah, bro, I have no problems telling a person who said they wanted a spot but never showed up or even committed to it that the spot is no longer available, please visit one of the other parks in the area.  This is the time of the year where I make more money with lower electric bills and I want that place filled up.  

A dude just called and said he'd like to move in Sunday. Another showed up today in his pickup and said he's likely moving in on Sunday as well. A repeat customer said their daughter might be interested in moving in. A couple of others have called and said the same thing. BUT UNTIL I HAVE MONEY IN MY HAND, IT IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.  I have 3 lots open, tho I like to keep lot 1 for overnight/short term.  The other 2 are fair game.  

I had a talk with the park host today.  He left a half bag of grass seed sitting in one of the wagons and it's in a pool of water.  He had debris laying all over his lot.  Orange peels, cigarette butts, plastic wrapping material, etc etc etc.  Russ and I (Russ is an older gentleman who has been there getting close to a year I think) picked most of it up.  The boy was told in no uncertain terms he's going to have to do better. He apologized and said he would.  

Maybe, but really? You just have to constantly keep on him to keep him in line.  He does ok work when he actually does it.  It's just getting him off his ass.  A bit ridiculous, but I'll take on that role for a while just to keep the park moving along and have someone there.  I also told him  I need him available, ie: answer the phone when I call or reply when I text.  Please. A lot of times, it's something that needs done right now.  Like collecting money, showing somebody their lot, dealing with a situation.  

He just disappeared for 2 days and said nothing to me.  If he wants to go out with his friends, fine, but LET ME KNOW about it. Don't just disappear and leave me hanging, wondering if you left permanently, or coming back and when are you coming back?  It turned out a friend came and got him and took him back to their home town to party.  All well and fine until the friend said he couldn't bring him back. It's a 2 hour drive, lol.  He eventually got his mom to bring him home, home being the trailer.  I'm trying not to overwork the dude but at the same time I want my money's worth out of him.  He's got one of the best lots in the park....in fact I think it is the best lot in the park.  

Annndddd, the days of Pierre, that person occupying the position of press secretary  in the White House, will be immediately gone and a person that will probably actually answer questions and not play word salad games, non-answers and all the rest of the nonsense she engages in, such as getting mad at Peter Doocy and storming out of the room - will be completely gone.  Even liberal outlets were tired of her antics.  

In fact, there are so many people in positions of power that will be leaving that makes me so happy.  Just wonderful.  People put in those positions because of woke/DEI policies, not because of merit.  Like, are they qualified by any real experience or is it because they are trans, minority, gender, etc that they got the position?  Do you really think Pete Buttigege is qualified to be the Secretary of Transportation?  That was purely a DEI measure putting him in there.  He'll be gone, thankfully. Not because he's gay, but because he has no idea what he's doing.  

And I do not have any mixed feelings about Musk manning the helm of this newly created agency, DOGE, to weed out fraud, abuse and waste in the Federal government. It's about time.  If I thought anyone could do that job efficiently, Musk would definitely be near the top of the list.  I also don't care what the left thinks about him, the left hates him now because he bought Twitter and got rid of endless censorship.  There are 3 things that immediately come to mind with what is going to happen. Homan at the helm to deal with the border crisis. Musk and Ramaswaney (spelling) at the head of this DOGE adventure and Trump putting us back in leadership on the world stage. There are many more things, of course, such as reigning in the powers of the EPA ONCE AGAIN.  

Ridiculous EV mandates that have no basis in reality.  Deal with all the problems first, then tell everyone they should buy these electric cars. I hate electric cars, I want a gasoline or diesel powered engine in my vehicles, but that's me. I don't hold it against anyone to want to drive electric vehicles, I just don't want them rammed down my throat.  There are serious issues with this mandate, the first and most complex and undoubtedly the most expensive to address is power grid capability to deal with all of these cars and semi trucks that are going to be added to the mix.  We don't have that and experts tell us we don't have it.  

Anyway, I could write far more from memory the stuff that the Biden administration either kept going with Obama policies or made new garbage up that needs to go.  The military doesn't need to be paying for trans surgeries to turn a man into a woman or a woman into a man.  

It's getting late. Well, it's not that late, it's just that I have to get up at 5:20 am on a Saturday morning.....gag.  I don't want to, lol.  I will, but I wont want to do it. It was rough getting up this morning because I didn't sleep well, but eventually did get into a deep sleep sometime late in the night.  It was pretty bad trying to wake up out of that. I came home from work today and passed out on the bed for over half an hour. It wasn't just a desired nap, my mind, body, whatever told me nope, you aren't doing anything else til you nap.  

So, g'nite!

 Friday - evening

The manager calls me yesterday, he wasn't hinting at his need for me to work the entire weekend. I stated that I had worked last weekend and really want some time off.  He was desperate.  I begrudgingly agreed to it.  I don't like missing church 2 weekends in a row and I haven't had 2 consecutive days off in many weeks now.  

So, I'm checking the tablet this morning and he had put the next 2 runs in already - yes 2, not only this weekend but Monday and Tuesday as well. I have Wednesday off because I asked for it off.  I got pretty mad pretty quick when I saw he had put me in for second run.  I instantly got my phone out and texted him: I do not want to work 2cd load this weekend. I did that last weekend and my entire Sunday was completely wasted by a driver showing up late, taking his sweet old time and keeping me out on the road until 5:00 pm.  

I mean, it was bad enough he had me working the holiday weekend after working Thanksgiving, even worse that he had given me 2cd load. I was not going to take the 2cd load this weekend, just not happening.  I didn't say that to him in that first text, I figured I'd give him a chance to find out if it was an oversight or if he'd just change it without a big fuss. It was an oversight, he said he was going to give me first load and just spaced it.  

It was cold this morning.  Down in the 20's up there in Gurdon.  I hooked everything up on the trailer, turned on the air pressure and then went and found a supervisor deep inside the operation doing whatever he was doing.  I got him to sign off on it and went back outside. The pressure had only built up to 5 psi.  

What.  By now it should have gotten to at least 20.  I stood there for several minutes looking at it.  This started an hour and a half ordeal to find out that water in the hose had frozen and choking the amount of air being delivered through the line.   Yes, it was a 3 hour offload today because of that, but, I was first load so I still got back at a relatively reasonable hour.  

Whatever.  Day is done.  Allegedly going to a birthday party at a local Tex Mex restaurant.  I don't much care for their food and I haven't been there in several years since the owner offed himself.  It was quite surreal, he was a popular person locally, seemed to have his life together and the next thing we found out, he's dead. Suicide. Never heard if there was a reason given, a note left, etc.  

I'm entirely off right now.  I had fully expected a weekend off, not yet another weekend working.  It just sucks getting up and doing this stuff every single day.  I agreed to help him this weekend because he was out of options, I was the last resort, he already knows he's been working me like crazy.  That doesn't really make it any better, however, I just want a few days off, please.  Next weekend?  I work the weekend, Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday off and then work Thursday and Friday - maybe that will work out.  I don't have a Thursday-Friday run - yet.  

But how I would relish the idea right now, in this very moment, that I'm sitting here in my bedroom, lazing around and not having to get up in the morning for anything.  Nice pipe dream I guess.  

Anyway, my complaining about and to Kroger's yesterday netted me $30 on my Kroger account.  So, it's $30 off the next purchase. All well and fine, but I don't want to see a video of me playing on the checkout screen in front of me committing an alleged act of shoplifting.  I'm pretty confident most people don't steal and I'm also pretty sure at least a lot of people would have the same type of reaction seeing that nonsense.  Speaking of Kroger's, They have their version of 12 days of Christmas. Each day, they are apparently giving away something free you need only clip to your coupon box.  Go in by/on the 17th for the items and receive them free.

I say allegedly cause I saw this on their site earlier and it didn't specify whether these are freebies or money off, but it appears to be freebies.  

Ok, well I hope the affair at the restaurant isn't terribly long. I have to get up at 5:20 am....

Kroger's is using AI on self checkout. It's showing videos of YOU while you're checking out ON THE SCREEN IN FRONT OF YOU. Kroger's thinks YOU are a thief.

 Thursday - afternoon

@krogers

#krogers

Let's just jump to what just happened maybe 20 minutes ago.  You see, I went to Kroger's to get some stuff for dinner tonight.  I was at the newest self-service area. They had the first one forever, now they have expanded to another one, it's not the same area, it's next to it.  I knew they were taking video of people doing their transactions.  That only makes sense.  People inclined to shoplift can easily get away with stealing if there isn't not only employees standing there -which in this place usually is always busy with something else - but cameras. 

What I didn't expect?  It is apparently an AI run system.  I was trying to pay the bill, I was done checking things, when I video from the camera above me was displayed on the checkout screen in front of me, apparently attempting to tell me that I was trying to steal?  Get away with something? 

It really took me by surprise, for I haven't read about this anywhere and I had no idea they were doing this.  It also set me off, badly I must admit.  I didn't have to call an employee over there, the thing called it over there for me. Yea, that set me off even more.  

She got over there and I asked her straight off: Is this thing accusing me of stealing? Why is this screen showing a video of me scanning an item?  Does this grocery normally accuse people of shoplifting through an AI system?  "I can call a manager if you want me to". Yes, yes, please do. 

The manager came over and I asked her the same questions. When we got to the part about "is it accusing me of stealing?", she replied: "Not necessarily".  I pressed her, so it does  think I am stealing?  The employee standing there started arguing with me. "They've always had that here!". No, no they have not. Yes, yes they have.  I gave her a glare, I'm not going to argue with you, this store has not always had this here.  Back to the manager, so you are telling me that you are taking video of people doing their checkout and then showing that person a video of themselves, accusing the person of stealing?

She wouldn't look me in the eye and she acted like it's totally normal to be treated in this manner.

I just said enough, I've had enough.  She told me that also it can do that if there is an issue with any of the items you have scanned. "Well there was no issue. Nothing came back saying it was wrong or too much on the scaled shelves to hold your scanned groceries".  Please just go away.  I went over to the service desk afterwards and asked for the number for the district manager.  She called "them" over, which I said, no, I don't want to talk to them. 

Another guy came over, I explained the entire situation and he agreed it was not good. Whether he actually meant that or not? Who knows.  I have never seen him talking to anyone that way, he's always cheerful so I kind of  took him at his word. I then asked how long those 2 over there had been working here? I have never seen them here before.  The associate manager has been here a week and the other a few weeks.  

Totally figures.  I have been going to that store for 10 years and have never had any kind of encounter from anyone working there like that. Not that bad anyway. 

Sure enough. I just did a Google search of Krogers using AI at self checkout to catch shoplifters".  Oh, there's a plethora of articles including people who have been on the receiving end of the AI abuse such as I just experienced.  That's a good way to lose customers.  I mean, paying customers, not thieves, people who have morals and don't believe stealing is any kind of option.  

Yeah, there is Super 1, Cash Savers and Walmart in town. I have been going to Super 1 a lot more than any of them lately, I'll be thinking long and hard about going back to Kroger's - ever  again - after this experience.  

It is a rainy, overcast, gloomy, dreary day and I wanted nothing to do with any of it. Getting up to Gurdon, it was even colder up there than it is here plus more rain.  What are you going to do?  Get out, get signatures, hook up lines and drain the tanker dry.  

Out of there, the blooming idiots were out in full force today.  It is amazing the risks people take on the highways in foul weather.  Actually, it is utter insanity.

Got back to the park, went into the bathroom to find the toilet covered in poop and blood.  Yes, I said poop AND blood.  It was so disgustingly gross I had a hard time cleaning it all up.  It was all over the bowl, the rim, under AND on top of the seat.  How do you do that?  WHY do you do that? Why don't you clean it up? Why would you just walk away from a disgusting mess like that to leave someone else to clean it up for you?  What kind of person does that? Toilet bowl brush right there and sprayer cleaner - RIGHT THERE.  

And someone dumped trash all over the ground AGAIN in front of the dumpster.  This is getting really old, it's happening literally every single day.  Someone is doing it on purpose and I just have to get a memory card from Walmart for that new hunting camera and get it set up out there.  

Just one of those days.  I'm home, I'm in my bedroom, the dog is in my bedroom - I always bring him in in inclement weather or if it's too cold outside. I also have a bottle of dog perfume, half the time he comes in the house he stinks to high heaven.  I don't think they want that smell up there, either.  

Yeah, I'm not going to go into too much here, I think I'm going to get into shorts and crawl into bed.  

 Wednesday - early

Supposed to start raining in a few minutes.  I don't know if the park host got it done, but I asked him several times to get the remaining grass seed out. 150 pounds worth needed to be spread, especially in the dog park where he missed it last time.  There was no reason given why he didn't do it, I wasn't particularly happy about it.  Say, well, why not do it yourself? Because this guy is getting lots of freebies to stay at the park and him not getting basic stuff done doesn't cut it for me.  He knows that, too.

I am delivering to Gurdon today, not sure what that is going to entail with the weather about to hit us, just glad I don't have to wait until late in the day to leave here to try and get it done.  

In a shocking twist, the 7 year old was up before anyone today.  He is already ready to go to school and they don't leave for at least another 35 minutes. Why is that shocking? Well it isn't really shocking, lol, just very unusual. He's usually taking a long time to get up, get dressed, has to be goaded, told, instructed, please get your clothes on!!!!  

Well I don't have a lot of time here all of a sudden. It was so nice before kids started bombarding my room with comments, questions and statements, lmao.  Taylor isn't feeling well so I'm taking them to the bus stop today before heading over to get into the truck and cruise off into the Arkansian wilderness, if that is even a word.  

The park is actually full, if only temporarily. Even the alternate spot is taken for 5 days.  A bunch of people all decided they were going to visit our area for whatever reasons all at once.  And last night, at 8:30, people called sounding rather desperate: do you by chance happen to have a lot available for tonight?  Why yes, in fact, I do!  We've had a very long day without going into detail. It happens, usually it's a breakdown or some rather irritating inconvenience that just makes the day suck.  So, I was happy to help them and obviously take their money, lol.  I think my site says to call if it's late - I want to talk to anyone coming in late to ensure they actually understand how to get into the park and not take the wrong entrance - which has a "exit only" sign - and not to run over things such as expensive pedestals. 

I left it to Trey to go over and collect from them, I heard nothing back from him, he's not the greatest communicator on earth.  I'm not sure how long he's going to last there, I hear nothing from him about what his intentions are.  I do ask, of course.  I think he doesn't want to say because he has no ambitions in life and doesn't want to sound .... like...that kind of person.  No worries, I am definitely working on a more structured lifestyle for him while he's there. I give him stuff to do on a daily basis.  Nothing too much, it's only on month's lot rent free so I don't want to abuse the situation.  

His main duties are - were - keeping the grass cut, I have greatly expanded that. People coming in? Greet them. If they owe money? Learn how to tactfully ask how they are going to pay.  Keep your area clean and clutter free.  So and so needs this.  That lot needs that. Etc. His mom comes around every so often and pretty much whips him into shape as well.  

Anyway, time to get offa here.

G'day. 

 Tuesday - semi early

Second late load in a row.  I do not want a repeat of Sunday.  That just plain out sucked.  If this other driver is ahead of me again and he shows up late again, I'm saying something.  To the manager, it's going to be: this guy says he doesn't want to show up early, what's the point of giving him the first load?  I get pretty direct while attempting to remain respectful.  There is no point in giving this guy an early load when he refuses to show up early.  I don't mind doing my share of late loads - well I do but I just swallow it and deal with it, just no sense in giving it to a person that doesn't appreciate it.

We did, indeed, go get a tree yesterday.  We being me and the 2 kids. I didn't tell them what we were going to do, I just left it up to them if they wanted to go. The oldest was like, Lowe's? I don't want to go to Lowe's.  The youngest was all over it. Yesss!  The oldest begrudgingly changed his tune and went with us. We looked at a lot of trees and narrowed it down to 2.  I let them make the decision, with a wee bit of persuasion.  It's a beautiful tree if I do say so myself.  

And trees? Well inflation didn't leave them sitting in the shadows. I've never seen trees so expensive.  I remember the days when they were less than $20.  

Trump.  I'm telling ya, this guy has no filters, at all. Many people love him for it, many hate him for it.  It's been reported that when Trudeau - the PM of Canada - talked with Trump and told him their economy would be devastated with a 25% tariff, Trump suggested they become the 51st state! LMAO.  

On the flip side, Biden pardoned his son.  Now, no one is going to gaslight me about this.  I distinctly remember Biden being asked if he would pardon his son if found guilty at the time and he said no, definitively, without hesitation.  Kareem Jean whatever her name is, the soon-to-be non-existent White House correspondent also relayed that Biden wouldn't pardon his son.  I knew better.  I knew it at the time and it was no surprise to me that in his final days, he did it.

He originally denied he would do it, obviously, to save his presidency.  People would find it pretty hard to swallow that the dude was convicted of several felonies and now is just going to get away with it.  And they are, even leftists/democrats are pushing back on this one.  Biden played the harassment game saying his son was unjustly singled out because he's the president's son.  Yeah, a bit ironic, isn't it?  Actually, it was some dude in a computer repair shop that outed him by seeing the files in his computer.  

But with Trump? Political hit jobs all the way around, IMO and nothing you are going to say to me is going to change my mind about it.  I've watched the news - all kinds of different sources for it btw - endlessly about this situation for years now.  

If you haven't noticed, basically the entire world is gearing up for a Trump presidency.  He isn't a Biden, he isn't a pushover.  He's already threatened "hell" to Hamas if those prisoners aren't released when he is officially sworn into office.  China and Russia will stop mocking us, or if they continue, they are going to get a lot of pushback and not just from Trump.  Homan or whatever his name is, is already telling it like it's going to be. They're going to get the illegal criminals picked up and deported (or imprisoned I guess) and then everyone else that has gaily walked illegally across the Rio Grande, got a court date and then? Most of them never show up for that court date for they know they will lose their case and be deported.

And I can tell you from ample experience, a lot of illegals are already leaving.  I saw this repeatedly at construction sites when I was driving a truck in the Phoenix metro area.  Whenever a president would even hint at cracking down on illegal crossing and especially if they started going after them already in the US, they would leave in droves.  They weren't going elsewhere in the country, they were going back to Mexico.  They might show back up 6 or 8 or however many months later.  I remember an entire chain of fast food mexican restaurants - Filiberto's - being shut down because ICE went in and found so many employees who were illegal and arrested them, they didn't have enough personnel to keep the business running. I think all of their restaurants shut down for many months because of it.

Well, we are still awaiting the arrival of the new refrigerator.  They didn't deliver it the first day they promised to - they being Lowe's - because they "forgot to load it on the truck" and then yesterday, I don't know what the excuse was but they didn't deliver it then, either.  Today is the day, allegedly.  No ice maker for days now because the old refrigerator was moved to make room for the new one. It's plugged in but there is no water line going to it.  And someone took the last bit of ice in the thing out this morning, leaving me nothing.  I mean, they could have left at least a little bit in there.

I fill a cup up with ice every morning before work and then fill it with water. I drink a lot of water while driving.  

I have to go to the store today anyway, I'm getting a bag of ice. Even if the new fridge shows up, it takes quite a while for a fridge to fill up a tray full of ice.  

Well whatever.  Life goes on. Another one showed up 2 days ago for a month stay, yesterday the people wanting the cheap spot also showed up.  Speaking of that, I need to check my records, they owe me money....yup, $398. And another that showed up yesterday owing $100. They pay an amount to make the registration but I have to collect the rest after they show up. I could make them pay the entire amount if I so desired, but most of the industry charges one night up front. 

I have lots of people interested in moving in, none have shown up. It's first come, first served as far as long term goes, they get the spot if they show up.  If someone else comes before them, unless they have definitively reserved the spot with cash down, they will just have to go somewhere else.  The next overnighters aren't coming until the 6th.  But, you never know, people show up out of the blue as well.

Anyway, it's time to get ready to leave.

G'day

 Monday - late morning

I got up at 7:30 am to let the dog out and went straight back to bed and to sleep. I eventually got out of bed at 10:00 am.  It doesn't happen often when there are no kids around and the only other adult in the house is not making any noise, either. I now have the entire house to myself.  The only thing I've done today is thoroughly clean the kitchen. A special green chili dish was made in the crockpot for last night's Friendsgiving, it was delicious, but then again, so was everything else.  Lots of good food, good company, what more can you ask for in life? 

Well, Jesus of course, He's on the top of any list.  

And so it is, we are in the Christmas season, I have bought nothing for gifts yet but I am thinking about the Lord.  He has been so wonderful to me during my lifetime, even through times where I haven't exactly been so great back to Him.  He loves us through the good and the hard times and helps lift us up when we fall.  We all fall, btw, if you say you never do, I would have some interesting words back for you.  Flesh and blood, we all are tempted by one thing or another.  Sometimes, we give into those temptations and then we have to ask Christ for forgiveness, but the good news is: He does forgive us!

Over a month ago, I quit smoking cigars.  At least for a while.  They aren't particularly good for you and i was smoking too many of them, too frequently.  I find going cold turkey works well for me.  It's also an expensive habit but the reason I quit is my health.  Smoking is not particularly heart friendly and cigars in that department are probably worse for you than cigarettes even if you don't inhale the smoke.  I cut way back on fats and cholesterol laden foods as well, attempting to get a bit better in the healthy living arena. Still a ways to go but I have a really good start on it.  

The folks decided this year we would finally get a real tree! I was the only one in this house that wants a real tree every year, they always get an artificial tree so I just either bought a small real tree for the porch or just shrugged it off.  I don't really try to get my way about things in life excepting in specific situations that demand it.  Trees are not in that category.  So, after the kids get home from school today, we are going up to Lowe's and see if we  can pick out a decent tree for the whole family to enjoy, including the cats which seem to have unusual interest in Christmas trees. 

 Very long day.

I get up to Gurdon and the security guard said the other driver had just arrived 30 minutes ago.  It was 11:07 am, he should have been there and gone by then.  So whatever, I pull up behind him and get out and look, he's got a long way to go.  Like, it took over 2 hours to unload that thing.  

We get into a conversation since I had never met him before and he informs me that "I usually come up here early but since the product is so cold, there was no sense coming up here at that time, it will take hours to unload it.  Let the warmth of the day heat it up" - something to that effect and made no sense whatsoever.  

3 or 4 hours is not going to make any difference on the internal temp of that trailer.  It was 55 degrees inside that thing, it was probably 55 degrees at 6:00 am.  His logic was completely illogical.  I just informed him I'd like to know if you aren't going to be showing up here early, I will come up early and not spend the entire day doing this run.  

So, I was there over 3 hours.  My trailer didn't take near as long to offload, but again, I had to wait for his sorry, well anyway I had to wait on his trailer to be emptied out.  

BTW, the traffic was horrible out there today. I fully expected that, however, because it's the final day people can leave wherever they were visiting for holidays and get themselves home. But I didn't expect that much extra traffic. I-30 was a literal nightmare and on the way back it was even worse.  There was a huge traffic back up that went on for miles.  When I finally got to this "accident" it was just a cop with a vehicle pulled over. No tow trucks, no ambulance, no crews of 1st responders.  

By the time I got back, it was already 5:00 pm.  I got out of the truck, into my SUV, over to Jucy's, got the taco bar and then to the house where the Friendsgiving was being held.  

It's 8:00 pm, just got home 20 minutes ago and I'm toast.  Oh and as I was pulling out of the park this afternoon, some people were pulling in. Are you the Upchurch's? No.  Oh, well who are you then? I guess I should have identified myself for they were giving me strange looks lol.  They were the people staying for a month, I had them mixed up with the people coming in tomorrow who don't want to pay full price so they are getting the space behind the shed.  Even if I have open lots, they aren't getting them, they want the cheap stuff they are going to get the cheap stuff.  

I'm tired and I'm going to get into bed. 

Sunday - not terribly early (7:25 am)

Since I have the second load there is no sense leaving the house before 8.  Or even 8:15 actually.  I just don't want to get there and wait an hour plus for someone else to get done, especially in this cold weather when it's taking longer to offload a tanker full of product into their tanks.

Yesterday was a little strange, when I showed up at the park to get the truck fired up and get everything going, a man that's been there quite a while walked up to me and said: "You are a workaholic".  I mean, how do you respond to something like that?  I thought about that for a second and replied something to the effect of ... this is the trucking industry, I have little control over my hours, if you don't do what they want, they get rid of you and find someone who will.  

People who aren't in the trucking industry don't understand the trucking industry unless someone who is in that rat race tells you about it.  Most companies will run you the full 70 hours per week and there is little you can do about it except find a company that doesn't do that to you.  I am rather neutral about my current situation.  The run is good, I'm home every day and I don't spend over 8 hours doing it normally. The down side is junk, trash old trucks that break down frequently.  And, as most companies, there are no "sacred days".  I was originally informed when I finally got over to this side of the equation - versus the Oregon operation which is quite different - that I would have every other weekend off.

Well, the last 3 weekends I have worked at least Saturday, this weekend I am working the entire weekend.  It's obvious what's going on, people took time off take a holiday and that's fine.  I asked for the 11th of December - well this month now, it's the 1st isn't it?  - off and I pretty much informed them I am taking Christmas off.  I haven't heard back, it's the weekend, might not hear anything until tomorrow or the next day. 

The 11th is the field trip day, the youngest still insists I go.  As long as he is still in that train of thought, I'll plan on going.  Other than that, I've been going to church the last several weeks so missing one isn't going to hurt my feelings.

I also don't know if I want to go back to that adult "ministry".  It's more like a free breakfast and then they go over the last week's sermon.  Certain people have no problem constantly expressing their opinion while the rest sit in silence. It's all older people and there is very little energy going on in that place. I'm not quite ready to wind down and be an - old person.  I am  slowing down by mere force of age but that doesn't mean I need to subject myself to a mindset of slow and go.  That's just not an option right now unless, of course, life dictates otherwise. 

On the other hand, is a 60 year old even welcome in say, an empty nesters group? I'd like to be in a group of mixed, where you have young, middle and older all together.  I've thought for quite a while this church really isn't my flavor and I don't know what I want to do about it yet. The boys like it and I am quite sure they won't like other places as much.  This church's childrens ministry is pretty good, I will give them that.  I didn't like it at first, after a while I understood they were training the kids in the ways of the Lord and the oldest kid's mouth began to be filled with scripture and things that recognize the boy is really trying to learn. 

The people at church said they think he is ready to be baptized, the parents say otherwise, I'll defer to the parents.  I think if you're getting baptized, your life should be of a mindset of God always in there somewhere, putting Him first in all things and wanting to do His will.  I don't see that in the kid yet, his mind is on video games, namely: Fortnite and it's a pretty consuming game. I've played it and I can see how addictive it can be, especially for a young mind.  These kids are not allowed to play games during the school week and are often times limited on the weekends. You can do anything else, you just can't play games right now or even for the whole day.

Well anyway, the new people haven't started any trouble - yet, I'm not hoping for that of course - and they have mostly cleaned up the mess around their trailer.  It's a situation I'm monitoring, I am assuming they are planning on staying a while.  Dunno, but so far, I haven't found anyone that they have been cordial to. They just stay in their trailer when home. 

A 3 night stay - that was interesting lol.  I walked up to their brand new rig, it's a Ford version of a motorhome, and saw 2 little kids standing there.  I saw a middle aged woman and an older man.  I know I cross the line sometimes asking personal questions that are none of my business, but I know how to do it with a smile on my face, lol.  Oh, are these your grandkids?  No, these are our kids.  

I had to take stock of the man while attempting to continue on in pleasant conversation. He looks like he's at least in his mid 50's and these kids are 3 and 5 years old.  I really don't have a problem with this kind of situation excepting I don't think it's very fair to the kids.  The man is going to grow old while his kids are in the prime of their lives, he will be very old before they have even his their 30's and so, you are leaving your kids behind at a very young age, imo.

I had another one show up yesterday, he's there 6 days I think?  and then today, another one is showing up to take the space behind the shed.  Trey is being rather useless in these days, so I am taking care of all of this stuff. I am going to have to say here, however, that it's the holidays, their dad just passed away not long ago and holidays can be a bad time for people when they are missing someone who has passed on.  But in this case, I really need him available for the guy isn't going to know where to go unless someone shows him. 

Uhh, I best get offa here.  It's about 30 minutes until departure time and I want to make a lunch, I'm going to be out much later than normal and on the Gurdon portion of the run, I typically don't stop anywhere along the way either going up or back.  It's just a waste of time unless I'm forced to do so for having a mechanical issue. 

G'day

 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!