Saturday - late afternoon

I did not get up early since I had second load and was really deep in sleep again.  Like, this all seems to have started when I started doing this 100 day pushup challenge.  If that's all it takes to get me sleepy, I'll do it the rest of my life! But I dunno if that's what it is or just not having had slept well for so long and my system time to reboot - or what.  

Anyway, when I got to the washout today, the dude that takes too long showed up.  I am guessing I got in the ear of the manager enough - he didn't like it either - taking an hour and a half to do the same job everyone else is doing in 20-30 minutes.  Being out of there in 40 minutes wasn't bad for him.  

Over to the plant, I got right in, waiting a few minutes and they started loading. I think it was 45 minutes total in that place.  Not bad for scaling in, backing in, loading, scaling out, walking to the control room, getting paperwork and leaving.

Then it was just fuel up and home.  

Unsure what the solution is here.  There are 2 Rottweilers from the house next door to my property that are let free to roam at night and just go through the trash cans, spewing everything all over the ground and who cares. The owners certainly don't. They are unapproachable and some have suggested killing the dogs. It's been going on for quite a while and the county won't do anything about it.  

I don't really want to kill dogs, per se, but I wouldn't mind trapping them and relocating them.  Or perhaps trapping them and contacting the owners: your dogs are on our property - for the billionth time - we caught them tearing open yet another trash can. If you want them, come get them but if they show up over here again, they may disappear.  I don't know what else to do?  I saw one of them eating a dead, feral hog in the middle of the street.  Fancy a dog eating road kill, a dead pig at that? Gross.

One of those dogs is the same one I mentioned in his blog a couple years back that was growling at me when I would get out of my vehicle to open the gate to get into the property. Several times, he had me pinned against the door of my truck, the only thing that would save me? The gun in my hand. I was tempted to shoot it, that's for sure.   

Day 16 of the pushup challenge. It isn't getting any easier, I can attest to that. In fact, it seems like it's getting harder to finish 100 pushups. I've done them for the day, no worries there, I am highly motivated.  I have no idea whether I will make it through 100 days, that will be up to my shoulder/arm and if the pain doesn't start up again to the point I can't do much of anything with it.  So far, so good.  I would really hate to have to stop now that I've made it this far and seeing results.  

The first load driver was at the plant very early this morning. I wish I would have known that, I could have just loaded at the first load time.  I contacted him and asked him when he thinks he'll be up in Gurdon tomorrow? 5 am.  Oh, cool.  I'll show up at the first load time I normally get there between 8:30 and 9:00 am and hopefully he'll be gone, I can get the truck unloaded and be done for the rest of tomorrow and 3 days after that.  Christmas was requested off, the rest of this stuff, no.  I have 2 loads in the tablet already for the 4 days after Christmas.  

Nothing else for now. It's getting close to bedtime.  

 Friday - late

Late load tomorrow, so I can stay up a bit late tonight.  Not too late, but getting up at 6:30 won't be a problem.  Or 7.  

Day 15 of the 100 day pushup challenge.  The results are starting to show even tho it's not really been that long.  The triceps are starting to bulge out and the chest is just barely looking to start leaving the man boob stage. I think that's what got me. Man boobs.  They are unsightly.  Might as well put on a bra! I did a 30 set and it was not that bad.  I did the rest 20's but I'm looking to get into 4 sets of 25 instead of 5 sets of 20. Get it over with quicker and just see that gain to be able to do more with less trouble.                          

When they call it a challenge, it most certainly is for a person that was sporadically doing 1 set of 20 pushups maybe once a week or every few weeks even.   Well, the few weeks before I saw that challenge and instantly accepted, I had started to do more pushups but nothing like this.  I am also working in bicep      workouts either every other day or every 3 days.  It doesn't take long and it's quite necessary to eliminate the possibility of an imbalance. 

Oh, yes, I don't at all want to do a late load tomorrow, the upside is I get 3 days off including Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day.   But, then I pay for it again with another late load starting the day after Christmas.  The manager tends to do that. You get the perks but you get the bs dished out right along with it. I intend on being in Nacogdoches around 9:30 am, leave there around 10:15, over to  Lufkin by around 11:20 and hopefully they'll load me instead of making me wait. It really depends on who's working at the plant.  If I have to wait, I have to wait.

Today, I went and got a new ignition switch for the 4 wheeler, went to eat with the boys who are now on a 2 plus week Christmas break, over to the property and an extended visit and gave the switch to the park host and informed I wanted it done today, thank you and then had a discussion with the boy.  The 18 year old. He got fired today. He was dared, he claimed, to send a di** pic (his) to a person who had just quit the same company. He did so and that person sent it to the owner who immediately fired him. Inappropriate? Obviously, stupid as well.  But, aside from his ridiculous and childish antics, he is a hard worker and he won't have a problem finding a new job.  I don't think anyway.  

I just looked at him and told him that was pretty dumb.  He didn't care. He's at that age.  I had my share of childhood antics tho I never did anything like that. Then again, we didn't have cell phones to send such pics lol.  

Back home I did much of nothing anticipating I would  have to spend who knows how much of tomorrow on the road and Sunday as well. 

Anyway, I  really should get to bed.  Getting pretty late.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know it isn't Christmas day yet, but it is the Christmas season.

Now then.  The boy did well.  He brought up and old, rusted, home made box blade his family has probably had for - a long time.  I didn't care, as long as it works, rusted or not it's just a chunk of metal. However, this thing  is far heavier than that new one he brought several weeks ago.  

Yes, I got on the tractor today, that driveway was a nightmare.  The heavier weight of the box blade helped keep it down on the ground more than the previous one bouncing every time it hit a little bump.  It helped that it has been raining recently and the soil was still damp.  

It took about 3-1/2 hours and I was done.  I was asked to take one of the kids to their guitar practice and i was ready to be done anyway.  It's very nice.  I mean, until the next rain of course but still, it's in great condition.  This is why I wanted to get a tractor in the first place: to keep the driveway maintained until another answer to the problem can be done.  

Well, I can't do anything until I replace the culvert pipe at the front of the driveway and that is going to entail hundreds of dollars worth of pipe, a $400 plus mini ex rental and probably a truckload of some kind of material for the entrance.

Anyway, that's done for now. There seems no good reason to spend any more time on it for it's going to rain next week I think it is and the driveway will just look like it did all over again and then I'll just have to do the job on it again.  

I'm at 80 pushups for the day, just 20 more and that's done. I'm only saying that because it's getting late and I should probably go ahead and knock those out.  I also did 3 sets of curls on the curl bar, probably going to add some weight to it next time.  That's the second time this week, the minimum I have assigned myself to do, tho I'd like to do it every other day.  

It's day - 14 - of this 100 day pushup challenge and no, it's not getting any easier. In fact, from what I've read, week 2 and 3 are harder and then...well we'll just see. I'm undeterred at the moment.  My arms are getting noticeably bigger. I'm looking to get toned, not huge.  I'm also hoping it will burn off some fat.

I forgot to say in previous post that yesterday, when we went downtown to do the ice skating and such, we also toured the burned down church.  This church is on the National Register of Historic Places and also given a Texas Historical Commission marker.  This church is gigantic, taking up an entire version of this town's city block.  The sanctuary is not only destroyed, the roof caved in and you can see door on the top floor the open into nothing.  It is an amazing tragedy and one that will be repeated, this county is filled with old structures (the church was built in 1861) and they don't have modern day fire suppressing systems - auto sprinklers to be precise. 

They can add such things but it's very costly.  There was a child care center - a very large one and additions that had been added to it over the years.  Sad to see such an historic landmark go down in flames.  

Well, it's almost 10 pm.  I was reading about this revised bill that didn't pass.  Basically, if this stuff continues, we will have a repeat of Trump's first term with Republicans arguing and bickering with each other to the point nothing will get done. Trump will be left with Executive Orders as his only real piece of ammo to use.  I was just slightly hoping for a better outcome, but I know how Republicans acted out last time they had control of everything and get basically nothing of great importance done. 

And, of course, democrats are back to accusing republicans of wanting to dismantle SS again.  In my mind, that would be great, but only if it were structured in such a way that people that have been paying into it for 40 years don't get screwed.  In other words, a replacement system for it. If you're going to force people to save, put it into personal savings account that they can't access at all.  There would be a lot more millionaires walking around at retirement age.  

I'm no millionaire and I sort of put all my eggs into one basket hoping it will pay off.  I was far from enough money to retire on anyway, seemed the logical thing to do at the time. I'm not fretting it, I just need to be able to expand the operation enough that I won't need SS payments at all. That's my goal, whether I see that happen or not remains to be seen.  

25 more spots would either do the trick or come close to it.  

But, I'm not going to go into all of that again tonight. It's almost Christmas. There is no point in stressing over things I don't have a lot of control over.  

 Thursday - late morning

Today's load was cancelled, unfortunately and nothing I can do about it.  I was up there yesterday in Gurdon and after I unloaded, there was room for one more truck load which was coming up shortly after me.  I figured before it cancelled out that that would happen. Today and tomorrow off, work the weekend and then 3 days off for Christmas.  After that? Work Thursday and Friday and preferably just keep working for a few weeks.  

Well, not preferably, but I went from feast to famine mode in working.  

Anyway, today is day 14 of pushup challenge. Almost didn't make it last night.  Work, home, off to Christmas night with the church. Someone from the church paid for everyone who wanted to show up from church to do that activities that were opened, which included the ice skating rink, merry-go-round, train ride and slide house thing.

We got into a debate as to whether the thing is called a merry-go-round or a carousel.  I"ve heard them called carousels before but never encountered anyone personally that was calling it that.  It ended up 2 of us definitely call it a merry-go-round, 2 call it a carousel and one calls it either/or.  So, no one won that debate lol.

I did go ice skating with the 9 soon to be 10 year old.  I would have gone with the 7 year old but he emphatically declined.  Yes, there may be some pain involved.  But not if I am holding your hand.  He still didn't want to go so it was just the older kid.  He grabbed firmly onto my hand and eventually let go of the side rail.  He lost his footing, began to fall and was yelling out my name. Lol.  Dude, I have you, I'm not going to let you fall.  And I didn't, that time or any other time.  I mean, it's sort of the bragging rights that you fell umpteen times got up and kept on trying.

But, this is a different generation being brought up differently.  

As for today, I slept like a baby.  I woke up at 4:00 am, said no thanks and went back to sleep - until 9.  It is now 11. The grandma and the oldest are here until Christmas Day.  It was a good day to be able to sleep in and actually sleep.  Even the kids getting up for school didn't stir me at all.  Nor did vehicles taking off. I must have been sleeping heavily during that time. I still feel a bit groggy - I haven't been sleeping well so on a day off when I don't have to do anything, it's good that I could get that rest. 

I have tractor work to do and I am contemplating leaving here within the hour.  It's the driveway, it needs fixed again after the last rounds of rain. The rain basically destroys the driveway and it will stay that way until I dig a drainage ditch and install a large pipe to channel the water across.  

I think I have a big enough pipe for that in the back, I don't have a big enough pipe for the deal in the front. I am not renting a mini-ex without being able to do the front.  The county won't do it because "you're a business".  Well whoopdee doo. I pay taxes, what the hondurans do you want? 

It's buy enough pipe to span the entrance, it's more than 20 feet wide so I'd have to buy 2 sticks, rent the mini-ex to dig the old one out and install the new one and also a truck load of that black material I"m seeing people using along the road for driveway entrances.  It must be shaved asphalt? It's got to be cheaper than that SB2 stuff.  

That is a priority, but it's going to cost and right now, I want to be able to be sure that I have enough in the account to pay the excessive property taxes.  

As for now? I am going to drink my coffee, look at my finances, ponder life and probably get over there and try to do something about the driveway. The boy did end up bringing his box blade and they did finally get the old pins out and the new ones in.

G'day

 Monday - mid morning

Well, turns out Walmart "free" delivery - for $100 per year - isn't free after all.  The delivery fee is waived but the driver tip is not.  I do not get to determine the side of the tip, either. It's pre-determined and you pay it whether you like it or not.  I definitely believe in tipping, I also believe tipping should be dependent on the quality of the service received.  

Oh well. I only actually paid $50 for the subscription for they were offering a $50 credit to your account to be spent on whatever you want. I have a love-hate relationship with Walmart. I like a lot of what they offer, I hate going there. I especially despise them standing at the door demanding your receipt as you are walking out.  I just feel like you are being treated as some sort of criminal.  And the revelation that Kroger's is actually videoing you AND showing YOU a video of YOURSELF while you are checking out when it believes you are stealing is especially unsettling.  

Maybe if they just got rid of self checkout, the self checkout theft would disappear, customers would generally be happier and there wouldn't be so much animosity?

That's all I have accomplished today, it's 9:00 am. Well, I put away the dishes out of the dishwasher.  

I didn't say I wasn't going to do anything, it's just a day off and tho people are home, there is no noise in the house.  I think the oldest stayed home from school - not certain about that. He started puking badly yesterday afternoon, then the runs, then more puking before he decided he was going to go to bed. I haven't seen him since.  He did a sleepover at a hotel with friends and they stayed up late the night before, I am thinking whatever went on there? Probably didn't help. He clearly hadn't had enough sleep, but being tired doesn't make you throw up, not that I know of anyway.

There is a lot of sickness going around these parts lately and I'm trying to avoid all of that. Pneumonia being the one of biggest concern for me, my respiratory system has always given me trouble since I was a child with asthma.  Somehow grew out of that but that doesn't mean that I was Scott free from the effects of it all throughout my life.  I've had walking pneumonia before, it messed me up for over 30 days.  I couldn't do anything. 

I get that you can't just avoid everyone all the time, well some people can but I work and it's out in the public and that's that.  

What I want to do today is get on the tractor and get to fixing that driveway yet again.  Trey is reliably unreliable, I can't really trust that he'll do anything he says he'll do so I'll just have to go over there and see if he was able to get that box blade hooked up.  It had old pins on it that wouldn't connect to the tractor, they bought new pins but couldn't get the old ones out.  That was a week ago.  He said he'd have it ready by today...

My Christmas shopping is almost done, but I spaced getting my son his present.  I am doing that today and it should arrive in time for Christmas. Everything else has been taken care of excepting maybe a few knickknacks for the folks here. 

I have work tomorrow, presumably I'll be working into next week? No idea, but if I'm not, I'm going to have to say something. This is day 4 of being off in 6 days time, I love not working but my checking account isn't in love with it.  

I have a few people wanting to move in, but not until next month.  I don't really hold lots like that, I need them filled asap, not a month later.  The only thing that mitigates it is if the person is stating they are staying a really  long time, like years, then I will make exceptions.  I've had too many people no-show and I just can't afford to tell other people no and then find out the first people aren't coming.  

Jason, he was staying in one of the alternate lots for 8 months, left but is allegedly coming back next month as well. I will probably just hold that lot for him, those lots aren't particularly easy to rent out which is why I give a bit of a discount for them.

Workout. Well, it's 11 days today.  Last night I did all 100 pushups but it certainly wasn't easy.  I don't expect it to be today either and I'm adding some bicep stuff to the mix.  I know you aren't really supposed to do biceps and triceps in the same day, I'm on this 100 day challenge and I am hopefully going to see it through. But you can't get huge triceps and not work on your biceps as well.  It  would look funny and I've seen people that have done that end up having serious problems.  

Enough. I'm going to drink another cuppa and then get out of here.

G'day

 Sunday - morning

9 lucsious, beautiful hours of sleep, only waking up once and going right back to sleep.  Amazing. If only that could happy every day.  

My take on the drones: The Feds know exactly what these drones are about, who is doing it and why.  Some  are now speculating that it's actually an operation being done by the US to test readiness and security.  I don't have the answers, what I do know is that people are becoming increasingly uneasy about this situation and now there are videos of civilians attempting to shoot them down.

I saw one of the videos.  I don't think the bullets hit the target even tho they shot off multiple rounds at it.  Probably too high or the firearm being used not a big enough caliber to do much of anything to it.  That's likely what we're going to see until this situation is actually defined by authorities.  

So whatever. Let them sit in silence about what's actually going on and civilians will take matters into their own hands and then we'll see what happens.  Fortunately, we only have a little over a month left of this Presidency called the Biden Disaster.  Just watched yet another video with the poster claiming the things were hovering over Maryland with what appeared to be extraordinarily large drones.  

As for today, it's church for the first time in 3 weeks, probably Applebee's after that and then home.  At home? I will do nothing.  I would do laundry but they do laundry on Sundays, a very convenient day to do it and wish I had access as well. The only alternative is a laundromat, no thanks.  Probably do some cleaning tho.  Oh, and the Christmas tree still needs to be decorated. That sort of needs to be done today...

I did, indeed, complete 100 pushups yesterday but I can say with assertion that it was quite difficult doing the last 2 sets of 20. I was ready to give up, to be honest, for it was getting painful. I have worked out a great deal of my life up until early 50's, I know what it takes to push through, but this is a bit ridiculous. 

The ridiculousness is on me, however, for I am the one that allowed myself to go to waste, so to speak, in terms of physical fitness. This is day 10 and besides forgetting to do it one day - and making up for it the next - I have kept to 100 per day once I actually got to that point.  Do I see any results yet? Yes, a bit on the triceps but nothing on the chest, yet.  I wouldn't know my weight, my batteries died on my scale a few months ago and I'm afraid to find out how much I weigh now, so it's kind of by design lol.

After giving the newest people a - professional, I"ll call it, but determined list of things they need to fix around their place - they didn't throw up a fuss at all and the washer-dryer thing is gone.  There are other things that need to be done and they told me yesterday they will do it as soon as the weather is permitting. I had to agree, it's been raining, kind of hard to paint or stain wood that is still wet.  the good thing is that they are complying without getting into huge arguments. The other thing that was annoying me is the outdoor storage.  

I am coming to understand the owner of the other park where these people moved from, therefore I can understand why he would allow such junky looking setups in  his park. Namely: he is afraid of confrontation.  Just let people do their thing, apparently. But, in an RV park, that will eventually spell out the demise of your park in terms of getting people in there with the really nice rigs, such as the one that moved into mind last week. It's a 150k 5th wheel, easily pulled by a one ton dually truck, late model but not new. Still very nice setup.  And his buddy, pulled in with a very nice looking bumper pull trailer.

Now, those guys are making bank, as they like to call it, affording a nice unit is understandable.  I would afford myself the nicest one I could get as well if I were going to be living in the thing. The newer ones are pretty much like a house on wheels.  Nothing like the old stuff.  They have full sized kitchens, living rooms and tho bedrooms aren't the size you'd get in a house, they are very nice. The bathrooms are jealousy-inducing in their luxurious appointments and certainly something you'd actually like to go into every morning to take your hot shower.\

Nowadays, they don't have the 5 gallon, useless water heaters in them, they either install electric or propane operated, in-line heaters that give you as much hot water as you want. It's likely why so many people take showers in my laundry room - it has a 40 gallon tank and a person can take a very long shower in such niceties.  If you have ever taken a shower with a 5 gallon water heater, btw, you know what I'm talking about.  It lasts a few minutes and then it's cold water.

Well, speaking of showers...it's time to get ready for church.

Have a great day! : )

 Saturday - evening

Not a long day per se, but a stressful one, definitely. You see, anytime you are driving a semi, fully loaded near 80k pounds on a highway with medium to heavy rain coming down, you are going to experience problems with other motorists.  Just another day in the life-of, no need to go into all of that nonsense.  The driver that was stuck in Africa is obviously back.

He texted me this morning, what time are you going to arrive?  Around 8:30.  Well, he beat me up there, not that I was racing him and he never even said when he was going to get there, got to the delivery shack and then informed me he would wait.  Yes, yes please do, I'm only 15 minutes out.

I do not want to wait for that dude to offload when he's almost 6 hours too early.  I'm not sure what brought about the change of behavior.   The manager? Although I haven't said anything in a while about these errant drivers for he doesn't want to hear about it (he won't tell you that but he gets the point across "subtly"). My getting in their faces after they do it more than once? Someone else saying something? I was glad he didn't do it, that's what I can say.

What wasn't fun was the fact it rained the entire time I was up there.  I have a large umbrella and yes that helps immensely, but you still get wet.  Still, I was home by 12:30 pm, that's a darn good day for going up to Gurdon.

I noticed that my manager had dumped another load in my tablet.  I assumed that I would be working Monday. I don't want to work Monday, but then again, when do I ever want to do any trucking? Never.  I just take it when it's dumped on me but if there are days off, I certainly won't say anything about it unless it gets excessive.  Well, sure enough, I have another 2 days off!  

I can't say that I will complain about that considering the grueling schedule I've been working.  It gets a little bit ridiculous.  I am happy to have Sunday and Monday off, but, I will need to work the next week or longer after that. I suspect with the driver back I will not get as much work and then, I'll have to say something. Uhh, you just had me working all the time and now you don't?  I'll wait and see tho, my manager does treat me as well as he can.  

Enough of that. When I got into my bedroom, the oldest came in with me. He always comes in with me, like a magnet to steel.  He wanted me to play my Switch so I did, for several hours actually.  Nintendo Switch, I should  clarify and playing Fortnight.  I'm not very good at that game, brand new to it and pretty much everyone I run up against is ..not.. brand new to it.  You can play with friends in that game and you can talk to them. I haven't upgraded to that "talk" part, I figure it's a lot of kids on there and I really don't want to listen to all of that nonsense. 

However, the oldest boy watches endless videos on YouTube about the game and all of those people are adults, so apparently there is a quite the following of "mature" audiences playing that game as well. I haven't really played video games in many years. I've dabbled in it but I get bored with it quickly. This game, however, is quite intriguing, at least for me. 

I wore the battery down to almost zero on the game and the boy left for a birthday party, so I got off of that thing and got on here.  It's actually dinner time tho I have no gumption to start cooking, I doubt anyone else does either. Leftovers, I don't feel like going out to eat and I certainly don't feel like spending that kind of money on it.  Especially when considering it's the whole family minus one boy.  

So what am I going to do with the next 2 days? Tomorrow is Sunday and I can tell ya, I ain't doing nothing but going to church tomorrow and probably my Applebee's ritual.  I'm doing well in the "don't eat out department" besides the Applebee's thing, but that really isn't terribly expensive.  It's 2 kid meals which are reduced price and I don't order the most expensive thing on the menu, but if I did, it still wouldn't be terrible.  We went to a local TexMex place last night to take the kids to a Santa they had in the restaurant.  Nope, didn't order a thing.  Of course, that was easy: I don't like their food at all.

Their breading, which they put on almost everything, tastes like hell to me, it isn't appealing at all.  I hadn't been there since the owner offed himself and that was at least 3 years ago.  I really, really, do not like the taste of their breading, it has a flavor that is akin to eating toxins.  IMO of course.  Other people love that place.  

Monday? I am going to force myself to get over there and do the driveway again. It's rained so much that the soil on the driveway is much more pliable, I can get that thing leveled out much easier.  That is, if they are able to get the box blade attached. It has pins that don't fit on the tractor that are stuck in there.  I have been doing the bare minimum over there what with all the trucking work, I try to get the park host to do the things that are absolutely necessary.  

Pushups. I've mostly been doing well with it except..today. I have only done 20 so far.  It was not fun. I don't know what's up.  I mean, there is no rest period between days for it, it's day after day and I'm at day 9 now.  Very sore.  I'm going to try my best to get up to 100 today, in fact, I'll do another 20 right now...I think...

Yeah that was rough. Burning with pain.  I mean, I'm at fail at 16 or 17, just pushing through to get to 20.  I did do some research on this stuff.  There are many sites dedicated to 100 push ups per day. Many of them want you to do X amount, then rest for 60 seconds, then more, then 60 seconds, etc.  

No thank you.  My goal is simply DO 100 per day.  If it takes me 3 hours, so beit, I don't really care.  I have been out of the working out zone for many, many years now.  The whole point is to get a start back into that lifestyle and not attempt to get back to what I used to do right off the bat.  I can't lift the weight I used to, I'm not even close to it.  I don't care, either, that I can't do that.  I am not working a job where I am lifting hundreds of pounds worth of fittings like I used to.  It's a whole different realm to just try and motivate yourself to do stuff like this without the factor of working making you do it.

So there it is.  The day - not over but close enough.  I still have 60 pushups to do anyway, I am really going to try and do it regardless of how hard it is.  It's that part where you just have to push through.  Because at some point, it will have to be more than 100 per day.  Now? The goal is to be able to do more reps per set.  I did 30 the first set yesterday. That was great! Not today tho, lol.  

I think the rain is over for the day.  We got a lot of rain, I put down that grass seed and we have decent chance of rain the next 4 days.  I'm certain the seed I put down will grow. Might be a week or longer before we see anything, but it will happen.

That is enough.  If I decide to go into other subjects later on, so beit. 

 Friday - early afternoon

Amazing.  I got to the washout and the only one there was the manager. I knew I wouldn't be there long, he'll want to spend more time chit chatting than cleaning out the tanker lol.  Out of there quickly, down to Lufkin, into the plant and the same dude that has been taking forever was there again today.  I just resigned myself to having to sit around for 3 hours and that would be that.

However. It did not turn out that way. There were no other trucks in there that needed to be loaded.  I got into the loading bay and he was out there in 3 minutes.  I wasn't even at the plant for an hour.  

Back to my yard, a bit cranky admittedly.  I did not sleep well last night at all and that is likely due to an overly enthusiastic workout regimen.  I did 170 pushups instead of the 100 plus the other stuff I had done and it just kept me awake.  I only did that because I completely spaced and missed the previous day.  Today, it will be back to 100 pushups and maybe some curls and that's it.  

I got on the park host's case for parking that tractor in front of his trailer. No, no and no.  After that, these new people with the ugly porch and junk laying everywhere? Yup, I got on their case as well. For being a manager of an RV park previously, she certainly didn't seem to grasp the concept of clean and decent looking.  Looks more like a trailer trash mobile home park.  I gave her a list of things that need to be done, including getting that stacked washer/dryer setup out of my park immediately. They certainly didn't ask me about bringing it in there and I would have emphatically stated a big sized NO! - well maybe not that dramatic - but I would have said no, lol. 

They actually agreed without putting up a fuss.  I do have a reputation about not tolerating crappy living conditions, but they are new there so unless someone told them about that, they certainly didn't try standing up to me.  Trust me, people will try to stand up to you even when they are wrong and they know that they are wrong. Their attitude determines the type of response I give them, lol.

And this morning. This computer - it just sat there with a blank screen.  I had turned it on and after a half an hour, it was still blank. So, doing what I do and taking the risk (this is an older computer at this point) I just turned it off and turned it back on.  Then it said "Automatic repair", I knew what all this meant. The thing did and auto-update without my permission and then it just sits there and gives you a blank screen forever. Well, it finally got to "try restarting the computer" when I got home today and walaah, here we are.  Because I can tell ya, I was ready to go buy another one if this thing wasn't going to work.

Oh, I also spread 50 pounds of rye grass seed out front before I even came into the house. 

And now? No thanks.  No thanks to what? Anything else, that's what.  I'm going to take a nice hour long nap. There is no one home, I only need bring the dog in.  I have learned. You leave that big ole' dog outside and eventually? He's going to start barking. He is a very large dog, when he barks, you are definitely going to hear it - or in my case - be awakened from a nice, refreshing nap. 

 An hour and 15 minutes on the second call wasted with T-Mobile yet again. That is how long it took, being flipped around from person to person, before someone could finally identify what was going on.

The problem was that the wifi located in the laundry room wasn't working.  The issue, as I found out the other day, is that it isn't listed on anything in my T-Mobile account, as I searched it out.  The reality is: it's either a completely separate account of which I have no access to or they discontinued the account altogether.

Neither was improbable, not with this company.  After talking to a myriad of people, one finally figured out that "you haven't paid your bill in 2 months". Oh really?  Is this the same s*** as telling me that I didn't make a payment at all?  In fact, they didn't want to hear all of it.  The entire story would take 30 minutes to tell.  I was giving a synopsis of it and the first person I talked to didn't want to hear about it and continue to interrupt me. 

Manager please.  I won't waste my time with people who don't have the same respect I am giving them in hearing them out.  

I did eventually find a person that went through the entire history, account and fixed everything - I think.  I dunno, she wanted me to confirm things I couldn't confirm. The reason being the system wanted to send a text to my other phone, of which I didn't have with me, and so, she just ended up saying it works, when you get to your other phone, just have it send the text again.  

So, yes, they did indeed have a completely separate account of which I thought was connected to my primary account. The bill is certainly big enough, I didn't know I wasn't paying for the one, single Gateway internet device.  That's all that is on that account.  It was also determined that my billing was being sent to "another email". Which email? I listed off the 3 emails I use for accounts and none of them were the one she was referring to.

Well what is this email you are talking about? Well I'm sorry, we can't divulge that information. No, but you can sure as h*** shut the account down, ding me with a late fee and  a reconnect fee?  So you are sending the bill to the wrong person and you think little old me is going to pay for your errors? You do know I have never received a bill either through email or snail mail from you ? Which is why I thought it was connected to my primary account?  

She finally went ahead and deleted the late fee but, she said, since it's a business account, I'm going to have to speak to the billing department.  I knew right away this wasn't going to go well, having to start this all over again speaking to someone else in a different department that has no idea what is going on. 

And so it was.  I'm not going to bother going into all of that. Too exasperating.  The end of the story was I was canceling that account.  The heck with it.  I'll figure something else out.  Seriously, I was at that point. I'll keep everything else, just cancel that account altogether, I am not paying a reconnect fee for your errors.  The next thing I know, the fee was not only eliminated, they gave me a $25 credit to my account. Gee, why didn't you do that in the first place? I thought anyway, at that point I was speaking with a manager who apparently had a bit more of a mind for this kind of thing - and juice to make anything happen - than the employees under her.  

So, I gleefully paid the account down to zero and then was informed my next bill would be $30 with the credit. Great, and please, right now, make this an auto pay.  That is how I do everything, auto-pay. Gladly!  

That is the only thing of substance I have done today besides folding socks, lol.  You see, I was informed that there was nothing wrong with the account last week or the week before, whenever it was, when I called about the thing not working. It's just the old style Gateway, he told me - which it definitely is, pile of junk but that's a different story - and they break a lot.  True, but after research, it became evident that something "else" was afoot here.

Whatever. I have the first load tomorrow. I dunno why my manager decided to give me 2 days off, I didn't even hesitate, yes!  .... when he called me yesterday asking if I would take a Friday load instead.  And then I told him I wanted Sunday off, regardless.  Ok!  Sunday off as well!  Yes. They owe me.  And then the office worker called today. "We have a gift card for you, do you want me to send it to you?". A gift card for what? Well, you got a clean inspection, we give a $25 gift card whenever that happens!  Ok, yes please. 

It's a little after 8:00 pm and I am at the point of calling it a day. Working on my second set of 100 pushups for today as well. As expected, very difficult. Not sure I will make it through all of them, whatever happens, I won't be too upset with myself about it.  Forgot last night, oh well, made it up this morning but doing more workout after all I did this morning is definitely pushing it!

 Thursday - late morning

True to my word, I am being lazy this morning. That is not likely to change this afternoon since I'm enjoying sitting in my bedroom, watching movies, drinking a bit of coffee, working out with pushups, leg workouts and situps.  

I missed yesterday's pushups, it was a long day and I didn't even think about it until bedtime .... so...I did the 100 earlier this morning and I will do another 100 this evening.  I'm still not being able to get past 20.  I'm not sure if that's a mental block or not, but my arms start giving out around 17 and by the time I get to 20? We're all done.  Rest for a while and do 20 more.  I weight 220 plus pounds (not sure, the scale needs new batteries) so I am pushing up some weight here when I am doing these pushups.

My computer has gotten so slow that I had to get out the Glary utilities software and see what's up.  Well, the boy has installed a bunch of junk on this thing unbeknownst to me so I am busy uninstalling it. And defrag. And all kinds of stuff that has already improved the performance. I was clicking on whatever and it just sit there and stare at me. Now I click on something and it does it right away.  He had some "cookies" game on here that takes up half a gig of space. Yikes.  A "Wavebrowser" that was practically taking over the computer, dumped that and all of a sudden everything is working fine again.

Right now I'm doing a defrag. There are lots and lots and lots of red blocks on there.  Haven't done that in quite a while.  Glary is free, btw.  It has the paid version of course but the free version does quite well.  Been using it for many years.  I just have to actually use it to be of any use lol.  Oh and there was a gigabyte of "junk" on there the software got rid of.  Yeah, it's been a while since I've done this.  Just got very old taking forever to do anything on this computer.  It was either get this thing working again or dump it in the trash and get a new one.

Not particularly cheap, it's definitely worth trying to get the thing working normally again.

Anyway, the replacement wifi in the shed is not working - again. And looking on T Mobile site for my account, it is only showing 2 internets on there.  It should show 3. I have been through the wringer with this company about this situation, they allegedly set it up under business account so I could have the third one.

Well, under my business account, I am showing everything BUT the wifi in the shed.  So, I have to go through all of this all over again. The only reason I persist with T Mobile is because they are so cheap compared to everyone else and the service is good enough, especially the internet, everyone loves it, there are no complaints.  

So that is a goal today. It's not even noon yet, in fact it's not even 11:00 am. I'll have to go over to the shed, get the thing and go to their corporate office and attempt to deal with this in person. And yes, I have tried my phone numbers and everything I can think of to access a mystical account.

And why that did that in large font I have no idea.  I also need to get my hair fixed - last haircut they butchered it.  Great Clips is a mix of really good hair stylists, mediocre hair stylists and terrible hair stylists. This haircut was on the "terrible" side of things, as noted by my friends who pointed it out to me. Gag.  

So, now that I have my exercises done for now and the movie is over, I am going to head over to the property, get the wifi device and take it up to corporate store and see what we can find out.

Wish me luck.  I haven't had much with them.

G'day. 

 Does every single day have to be completely busy? Just seems to be endless.  I thought the day was over until the city's automated system called me to inform me that there is constant water usage going on at the park. So, took the kids to church and then over to the park.  I had 2 people in tow looking for this leak.  We walked the entire park, the entire path of the water line and only found one, tiny leak that couldn't possibly have shown on their system as a big enough leak to warrant them to call me.

So, then we started removing sewer hoses from trailers connecting to the sewer line coming out of the ground.  No, I didn't ask anyone, I just did it.  I don't have time to be knocking on 15 doors telling them we're disconnecting their sewer line for a minute and who cares? Nothing is actually shut off.  There was only one line that I couldn't access without a great deal of hassle and that was the new people, well, the new people 3 people ago, lol.  Their setup is actually nice but that doesn't mean there isn't an internal leak in the trailer. 

I did ask them tho, they were outside.  No, we don't have any leaks.  I don't necessarily believe people anymore.  Anyway, the meter was showing water usage.  But how much water? And is it simply because everyone is home from work and taking showers, cleaning dishes, etc?  But that never sends me a notice like that from the water company.  I eventually gave up on it after over an hour of searching, it was dark and there was no sense in continuing with it.  Besides 3 trailers worth of new people - 2 of the trailers are new, the 3rd is old (which is why I'm thinking those people's trailer have a leak and they just aren't admitting it).  

Just left there after discussing it with Trey and Russ (Russ an older gentleman, very nice fellow, likes to walk around socializing with everyone).  Well, I did go to one of the new trailers, I hadn't received payment from him.  He has a brand new, 150k fifth wheel. He let me inside and we talked awhile. He has the same last name as I do, same spelling.  It's the dude I was talking with on the phone where I was a bit shocked that I had finally, actually met someone beyond my family with the same last name.  Beautiful trailer.  Anyway, we worked out his payment and I will be running that tomorrow. He said he needed to shift some money from one account to another, I just said I'd run it tomorrow to give him time to deal with that.  

Home, did some research on things and then back to church, got the kids, home again and here I am.  Almost 8:30 pm and I'm just done.  

BTW, there is a hot tub show going on in the convention center in this little town all weekend long.  Lol.  It's a half mile away from the house.  Between that and a 16X40 barn? Hard to resist.  Didn't say impossible....

I'm done. This day started at 5:20 am and I'm ready to call it toast. 

Wednesday - evening

The Yesterland was a bust.  Half the rides were shut down.  I mean, there were all of these different school districts from all over the place that showed up today and all of those rides were shut down?  What on earth were they thinking? 2 railroads, 2 rollercoasters, the Ferris wheel, several kiddie rides, a bunch of stuff was just not open.  This place isn't that big to handle all of those kids coming for a fun time.  We were just in awe of the disregard this place had for the kids and parents showing up - driving themselves over there. 

ALL of the food shacks were closed - and there are a lot of them - excepting one. The gift shop? Closed.  Cotton candy shop? Closed. Hot beverage shack? You know, where you get hot coffee and cocoa and a very cold winter day (it was 32 when I left this morning, it was 36 when I got there)? CLOSED.  Absolutely appalling.  In the entire time we were there, the kids got to go on fully FOUR rides, one of them was just a slide.  

Whatever.  

My manager contacted me on the way back, well texted me.  Sorry to bother you on your day off, is Friday the 13th okay to work? I had to laugh at the way he put it, even tho I don't think he was joking, probably didn't even think about it lol.  Yes, but I need Sunday off.  I have missed 2 weeks of church in a row.  Okay, work Friday/Saturday, off Sunday.

So what does that mean? It means that I don't have to work tomorrow! Woooohoooootenhooooo! Now that was good news. I actually get to just sleep in tomorrow. Oh, the goodness of that thought. Just lay in bed, do nothing, think about nothing, just lay there, sleeping or not, in the morning. Yeah, I don't care what needs to be done, or do I?

Oh a hot potato in your hands yes, I care.  I just got an automated phone call from the city saying my water has been running for a long time, please check everything. They have upgraded meters that apparently can talk to the system.  Good thing, yes, because by the time they call me about that? Someone has already wasted a LOT of water.  

So, in about 10 minutes, I'm taking the boys to church and then I'll head over there to check every single outlet out and see if there is a leak. If not, then I will start pounding on doors.  There is a major water leak going on, check your faucets please.  I will try to get to the bottom of it, if it's external that's easy, if it's internal and someone isn't owning up to it? Then we have a serious problem that will have to wait until tomorrow for it's going to get dark soon. I'll have to just listen for water running through the pipes at every lot.  That could take quite a while. But again, who knows? Maybe someone left an outdoor faucet on again?  No clue. 

It's concerning because it can rack up quite a water bill if not caught quickly.  I dunno, several older units in there, it's been cold, tho I don't think it got below freezing last night. It did get to 32, I believe. That isn't a hard freeze and I don't get issues with it.  

Meanwhile, the Rottweilers.  They are going through trash cans at night. People think it's the next door neighbor's dogs. They do have Rotties over there.  Just let them run free!  Who cares, right?

I need to get offa here. Gonna be time to leave soon.

 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.