Saturday - evening

The ordeal started yesterday.  What is this ordeal you speak of?

Well, I got to the loading plant 20 minutes before my loading time. I was instructed to go ahead and back into the loading bay.

10 minutes later, a dude walks up, says he was told to tell me that I was there early and ;they had to load another truck first - THEIR truck.  I hear this story all the damn time from these people.  But I just complied and said ok, moved out into the parking lot and waited.  And waited.  Watched the loader take a truck into the back and load it, then come out and put a truck into our bay, load that, then honked at me to move into the bay, but then started unloading another truck that had shown up and hour and a half after I arrived.  

I was pretty much fuming at this point. I'm waiting 2-1/2 hours to load? Waiting on their trucks? 

When I got into the control room after they loaded me I let loose. Hadn't done that up until now, but enough is enough.  I sarcastically stated "I figured you'd load a third truck before getting to me". He thought I was joking, my next words confirmed that fact that I was not joking at all. I let loose.  I don't mean in anger or condescending or threatening, just facts.  It ended with "you loaded those 2 trucks ahead of me and they are still sitting in the parking lot". And why did you start unloading that other truck that came in late?!

I was there 3-1/2 hours because of it. My manager called just after I had texted him, but he hadn't seen the texts. He wanted me to lose my Monday off for "drivers are sick and broke down trucks".  I know he's lying, he does that a lot. Someone probably asked for the day off, he could just tell me that instead of making up a bunch of stories that aren't true.  So I went off on this plant and how they are constantly loading their trucks before they even think about getting to us,; what is the point of having an appointment time if you aren't going to come even remotely close to the time you are going to actually load?

I would rather sit at home and wait than sitting in that truck.  I could have left 2 HOURS after I actually left and arrived near time to start loading. MORE than 2 hours, actually.  He said he hears this alot and it's time to confront them on it.  I didn't believe a word he said, he's told me this before and nothing changes.  This time, however, I will call him up late next week and ask if they agreed to do anything about this situation?

After that; I go to Love's, fuel up and then drive another 30 minutes and Kablaaaam!!!

Another trailer tire blows out, this time the tread came almost all the way off, slapped up against the rear bumper and the light box and destroyed all of that. I pulled over onto the 'shoulder' - almost nonexistent there - mostly in the grass - got out and looked. Left side bumper - destroyed. Mud flap - destroyed.  Left side light box bent all the way back against the trailer, lights destroyed and wires hanging out the holes where the lights used to be. 

Yup, I made the phone calls and then got out my Switch game.  If I'm going to be stranded, I might as well do something I like to do while waiting endlessly.

It was close to 3 hours before i got out of there and they mechanics did not replace the mud flap.  We went back and forth on that one, they were supposed to do it.  You just need to drill holes in that flange and it will work.  No, it's too thick, look at it, it won't work.  If you have a drill, yes it will work.  They refused to do it.  It's not legal to drive around with no mud flaps back there for obvious reasons.  

I drove it back to the park, it was getting late and no one that could actually do the work would be open.  And no different this morning, no way I was going to waste many hours of my day trying to find a place to take it to to do all of that work.  The trailer is junkified nicely, it needs to go back to our yard and have the mechanics there fix all of it.  I just hoped and prayed today that I would make it past all 3 weigh stations and not get pulled over.  

40 miles out, the fender came off.  Unbelievable. Fortunately I had bought the U bolts to fix it previously and had left overs, put that back on and got back to the Park safely. I do not want to pull that thing like that any longer.  I'm not sure what to do, for they want me to bring it up there to fix it but the manager wants me to work Monday. I'm off tomorrow/Sunday.  I'm sure as all get out not dealing with this nonsense tomorrow.  I have gone through an earthly hell this week with all of this s***, I'm due a day off.  

Not to mention the AC still doesn't work and the heater is still stuck on and it's going to start warming up quite a lot this coming week.  It is likely that I will load Monday, deliver Tuesday and then back to the yard Tuesday after loading and then - probably spend another night up there while they try to figure out this wiring nightmare on the truck concerning the AC system.  

The only other thing of consequence today was that a couple called desperately looking for a place to park their travel trailer.  Park it, not stay in it. I said sure, I have plenty of room - which I do.  They showed up later, they were coming up from Houston. The issue is that the man is starting a new job in Chicago on Monday and they need to get home by tomorrow so he can get ready for it. Pulling a trailer, they said, would drag it down and take too long.  No problem, it can stay here as long as you need it to.  It's a bumper pull, if I happen to need to move it I can do that with my truck or SUV.  But I had them park it in a place where it shouldn't need to be moved at all.  

As for the rest of the evening, we are going out to eat.  The youngest birthday party was earlier, a bunch of family friends and their kids came over, cake, party, playing and they all left.  Short affair comparatively speaking to other times when they all come over and we play cards for many hours.

The newest proposal is go to the zoo next Sunday and have a group outing.  Sunday isn't a good day for outings for me, if I'm off work, I just want to go to church, go to my usual Applebee's eating and then go home.  But, I haven't been to a zoo in ages so that actually should be fun.  

I'm tired.  The next door neighbor's dogs started barking around 3:00 am and it went on for an hour and  a half or so before they finally shut up.  I  was getting irritated and was going to text the people and ask them politely to silence their dogs, I can't sleep, I have to get up early, please.  If it happens again, I'm definitely going to contact them, unacceptable.  This town has noise ordinances as most towns do....not trying to start a neighbor war but I like whatever sleep I can get.

The fall out from Democrats childish and selfish outbursts at the Trump speech is becoming brutal. Even party members are bashing the representatives that engaged in that ridiculous and heartless action especially. That senator from Pennsylvania Fetterman I think, just blasted them all and that dude is a flaming democrat. 

The party is falling apart at the seams and these politicians are completely clueless.

Anyway, I'm done.  Just wanted to write about the latest happenings.  

 

 Friday - early

Sickness rages on.  Coughing is just endless, I have to constantly take cough medicine or I just start hacking away without stopping.  However, last night was the first night in over a week that I finally got a good night's sleep.  Most nights, I've been awake most of the night, coughing or not.  I don't feel particularly good simply because I slept well, but  it's good to have gotten that sleep.

Much more info has come in about Trey now that he's gone and people feel the "freedom" to speak.  Why they didn't before is a mystery excepting one clue where a person said he didn't want to get involved.  Not only was Trey smoking pot, he was also doing crystal meth.  As far as the  consequences goes on a person's life, I consider that to be the worst drug.  People on meth almost always turn to thievery to support their habits.  They usually do not work, they have no motivation to, they just live to take that drug.

I know this after having been around such individuals. Lots of them, especially the house in Phoenix.  There were actual meth labs in our neighborhood many moons ago, a thing that normal people finally got sick of and starting making demands that the police come in and intervene.  Anyway, who knows how much stuff Trey stole from me?  I have a lot of stuff packed into boxes and have to dig everything out when I need to use it.  I don't have anywhere to put the stuff in an orderly fashion and exposed so you can see all of it, such as hanging on a wall.  Lots of tools, I can tell ya that.  

As I said in a previous entry, I am not entertaining any more workampers at the moment but I do know that if a person wants to take such a position and offers it, I will probably turn them down.  It's the people that really want it that end up being total - ________ - and I a am not interested in having any more of those people around..  In fact, if a person moves in and automatically says they want to work right after paying rent, I will likely hand the rent back to them and tell them to go find somewhere else to live.  

Yesterday, I got up for work, took a shower, etc.  Got out the tablet and then realized that I wasn't working yesterday, no load in the system, that after the manager telling me I would be working yesterday and today and then the weekend off.  I'm not even going to say anything.  I ended up taking the kids to the bus stop and then going back to bed.  I didn't get out of bed until around 11 am, when I forced myself to go so I could get some things done, such as going to the bank, Harbor Freight to exchange a non-functioning air compressor for another, Lowe's for a bag of cold asphalt patch, the park to fix the driveway pot hole - which I found out needs probably another 3 bags - and then to Applebee's. 

Yes, I know, I should not be going out to eat but I felt like it and I've been doing really well in the "don't eat out" department.  Saving a lot of money just eating at home or just not eating at all.  The only variation is buying a salad at Love's.  This is usually lunch down south after loading.  The salad isn't particularly large, IMO, for the price tag at over $7.  

Speaking of eating, it is far past time to get back on some sort of diet.  I have been contemplating that, I just don't know which diet to do since I can no longer do keto.  I weighed in at 228 pounds the other day at the doc office, that is just too much. 

So, I am going to spend some time looking at different diets and attempting to decide which one to do.  I want to get down at least below 200 pounds.  I am still doing the pushups but I can tell ya, it's been really hard during this sickness.  I know that bronchitis can take a long time to get past, I didn't want to stop doing the challenge simply because of an elongated sickness.  

We're getting close to the time of year I dread: tax season.  Only because I have a business and I have to try and account for everything spent.  I have not written myself a paycheck in a long time, but that's only because several people pay me via Paypal or Cashapp to my personal account. Yes, I report that as income, I add it all up for the year and include it as income on the sheet. I try to be honest about all of this, not because I think the government should have that money but because I think God wants us all to be honest about it.  It's a motivation to stay involved with politics and see where our money is going.

And if you have been following the DOGE news at all, you are probably disgusted by now.  Or at least, you should be.  I am not going to go into the list, I have some of it memorized for the audaciousness of it.  These people that were doing this must have thought this stuff would never be found out. There must be a reason democrats are so vehemently against Musk going through all of these departments?  And then they start lying about Musk wanting to get rid of SS and Medicare. Those are pure fabrications, but they are the same lies democrats use endlessly and people are not buying it anymore, obviously.

It was a huge percentage of Americans that say they support Trump doing this auditing, far more than just Republicans alone;

And the unbelievable outbursts of childishness at the speech Trump gave from Dems! These horrible people wouldn't even stand to clap for a 13 year old boy fighting cancer!  Most of them just sat there like the idiots they are.  And citizens actually vote for these people?  These politicians really believe that they are somehow in tune with their constituency, but the polls are telling a different story.

Well, journaling time is over, it's time to head out the door and get started about today's business.

G'day

 Tuesday - night

Almost 40 hours later and I'm home-sweet-home.  

Yesterday, I contacted my manager on the way up to Gurdon to deliver that I would be needing to bring the truck in for it has several issues that need to be addressed.  I had texted him that message, he called me back. He asked what was wrong and I started giving him a list, hesitating at the fuel leak.  I pretty much knew that as soon as I said there is a fuel leak, there would be immediate repercussions. Namely, get it fixed immediately.  

Just a little interjection here: I'm watching Trump walking into Congress to give a speech.  I have been following the news and there is talk of Democrats walking out, making noises, basically interfering with the speech. I am glad I just barely  got home in time to it on a large screen tv versus watching it on my iphone.

Anyway, when he heard the fuel thing we went back and forth - not in a bad way just discussing it - and then the mechanic got on the phone who was sitting right there. I knew I'd end up having to bring it in but I didn't really feel like it's a good idea driving a truck around with a fuel leak, even if very small.  So, I delivered the glue and then headed to El Dorado.

The list expanded. Various issues with the trailer as well and issues I didn't even know existed were found at the end of this story.  New brakes, new bearings, a new tire, lights, etc.  That's just the trailer.  I knew it would be an overnight deal and that is exactly what it ended up being.  They got me a room at Super 8 - it wasn't that bad, they tried to get me into the Hampton but it was booked - and I sat there the rest of the day, night and all the way up until checkout time this morning.  

Back at the yard, they had just finished with everything and I left.  For Nacogdoches, then Lufkin, then home. Much more driving than normal, I was still in Arkansas, not starting at my town much closer.  

Well, Trey was using meth I am finding out well after the fact, which explains a lot of things.  

I don't really have a lot of time here, wish I had more and I really wish I had had my laptop with me so I could get caught up on my journaling.  But, I have my 100 pushups to do and other minutia and then go to bed. 

 Sunday - night

I've been struggling for many days now.  It started out as flu, that was confirmed by another family member actually going to the doctor and getting a diagnosis, they got it from me. Then it evolved into full blown bronchitis, which is something that completely knocks me out.  Deep, painful coughing, difficulty breathing, sore throat, intermittent headaches and spaciness - not a good feeling I can assure you - and other things that have been going on. I know it's bronchitis because I eventually ended up going to the local urgent care and the doc didn't waste any time. 

She gave me a steroid injection, some prescriptions and good to go.  I have been working, yes, mostly because I had already had 4 days off - not asked for - just couldn't afford more time off.  I'm trying to stay ahead in my finances.  The steroid injection worked quickly and the coughing subsided quite a lot. It didn't go away completely and I am still having horrid coughing attacks, but it is better.

Did I say I don't like this new keyboard that came with this new computer? Yes, I did. It's a piece of junk. 

So Trey took my chainsaw, a heater, gas cans, etc.  I called him out on it, he denied it - lying is a way of life for him - and now I have to decide whether I want to file a complaint with the police against him.  

The people that came in a month plus ago left.  They didn't like my demands. You know, things like not having raw sewage pouring out onto the ground because of a broken hose?  Bringing in more equipment without asking? Letting their 4 dogs run rampant all over the place?  I didn't ask them to leave, I'm glad they're gone. They took an antenna with them that's mounted onto a pole that does not belong to them. I have already sent them two messages - bring it back. Ridiculous nonsense, just illustrates the need for a storage barn that only I have the key to.  And secured with video surveillance. 

I dunno what to do about that yet.  I have turned away a lot of people in the last few weeks - at least 15 of them, all long term prospects, 4 of them actually made reservations online.  That was a mistake, I don't do long term online.  I could be close to having another 25 spots filled up by now.  I have it figured out now. Half of the income would be expenses - at most anyway - the rest would be mine to keep.  I'm thinking out loud about attempting get another loan or just get the barn on it's own loan.  I really don't need any more payments right now without whatever the payments are going to bringing in extra revenue - a barn isn't going to do that.  

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting to old to be dealing with all of this. Especially the part about people who are taking things that don't belong to them and getting away with it. 

Anyway, just a quick update. It's getting late and yes, I do have work in the morning.  I went down and loaded today, unload tomorrow and then I think another load Tuesday.  I'll do that but tell the manager tomorrow that the truck needs serious attention and I can't really do any more without going up there first to have all of this addressed.  It's what happens when you are driving old, junky trucks. They break down often. 

 Wednesday - night. 

I'm very sick right now, flu and chest cold.  The lady of the house is also down, she's worse off than me tho I had it first.  She actually went to the doctor today, they gave her a tamiflu prescription but the demand has far outweighed the supply and actually getting the stuff doesn't happen right away.  I was reading from a local clinic that said get the DM stuff so I did today, the highest strength and high dollar. It's working a little bit, at least my coughing has gone down a little.  

Working yesterday and today was a chore and I suspect tomorrow won't be any better.  

Why am I working? Because I just had 4 days off and got sick on Monday night, the night before i was going to start working again.  The thing is, it wasn't that bad Monday night, it was Tuesday morning where I was like, oh goodness, this is horrible. I went to work anyway and since I had a loaded trailer, I worked today as well.  

Other than work, don't expect to hear me doing much of anything else besides making dinner today and taking the boys to the Wednesday night youth church.  

I have work early am and intend on going to bed early tonight, like in about 25 minutes.  

As for the park, it's completely full and I am turning a large number of people away, unfortunately.  4 of them tried to come in together, I had to cancel them and refer them to another park.  Several people called today and one got online as well.  l just have the overnight spot available, which is booked until Friday morning.  

Fortnite - My View Of Things

 I will first say here that I am new to the game having only had played it about 9 weeks now.  Compared to most other players I have been encountering, that is basically a brand new player or a "newb" as they like to call us.  

Fortnite Battle Royal, which is what I mostly play, is an open world battle ground where 100 players are dumped into this world and you must survive until the end to win the game, otherwise known as Battle Royal victory.

You jump off of a flying bus and glide to wherever in the world you want to land.  People learn where the good stashes of loot (guns/ammo/health etc) are and they pretty much land at the same places every time.  You try to loot up as fast as possible because other players will be doing the same thing and instantly trying to find others to destroy.

Anyway, the game is interesting because it is so realistic.  Footsteps, leaves bristling as you walk through a clump of plants, swimming and the sound of the water, the action with holding a firearm, all of it s crazy real.  You get into a car, it runs out of gas eventually and yes, there are gas stations, but player beware, people like to hang out at those gas stations and ambush you!  

But there are some very bad things about the game that I find disturbing.  First, most of what you will find with players that actually have microphones to be able to talk to your team and try to coordinate where you are going and what you will be doing next not to mention helping out in the heat of combat are very young kids.  You come to find out they mostly don't have adult supervision and they are sitting there letting out strings of F bombs and cussing other players out because .... they can.

Fortnite has an answer to that tho, all conversations are recorded, the last 5 minutes of it.  If you report a player, they can hear exactly what is being said.  Many of these children don't understand that and just act out, but with some of them it's ridiculous. 

Second, this idea that it's only for kids. It's actually intended for mature audiences based on the content of the game with shooting other players. A large percentage of players are over the age of 18, so that dispelled that myth that kids bring up all the time: this game is for kids only, I am going to report you if you don't leave.  Notwithstanding the fact that THEY joined MY party. 

In Battle Royal, there is the option for solo, duo, trio and squads.  I far prefer solo for I don't have to put up with the nonsense from other people who are demanding you do this and that.  I will play the game the way I want to, thank you, I have won enough victories to prove that point.  But, when I do play a squad or a trio, you almost never find adults with microphones. Occasionally, yes, but few and far between. Most players don't have microphones at all as it stands. 

Well, got off the topic, people joining your party.  I don't go looking for other people, at all. I don't have to, they always find me.  For whatever reason, I level up quickly and was at level 638 on the last season, they just launched a new season so the level meter went all the way back to level 1.  I don't quite understand why they find me, but my lobby fills up quickly with people once I get online.  When you first turn the game on, you are in a lobby, standing on a circle style platform. As people join your party, they come into your lobby and they are also standing on 1 of 4 platforms. After 4, they are just standing around all over the place.  

Let me insert here that I play the game because I have a lot of waiting time at my job.  Sitting there doing nothing but waiting for the next thing to happen, surfing the web on my mobile phone is nice, but it kind of gets boring after a while.  The family I live with got me started on the game, I had been watching them playing it for a long time, I just never ventured into it.  I kind of shy away from video games, I find them mostly boring.  This one is far from boring and time passes quickly while playing it.  

Anyway, the other thing I find disturbing is the number of kids that stay up until midnight and later playing the game and then get up for school in the morning. And, playing the game constantly.  I don't understand parents allowing their children to play games like that constantly, day in and day out and again, having no supervision. There have been a few times I've heard a child cussing out another player that a parent comes storming into the room and starts cussing out their child, lol.  One of them went so far as to call their kid a racist and to "get the hell off of that game, NOW!"

I have heard that there are groups that you can join to find the types of players you are looking for. I haven't really looked.  I'm sort of in this funk where I am not that great at the game, at least not compared to a lot of what I come up against, so finding people of a certain bracket isn't really in the cards yet.  Most of these people have been playing for years and they don't remember the time when they first started and really weren't good at it at all either.  

I just felt compelled to give my view of this game. It's "new" at least to my world, I gave up on video games long ago, never really thought I'd get back into them but everyone here plays some version of them on various consoles and Nintendo Switches and the like.  

 So Trey left a lot of junk over there. Far more than I realized.  I ended up having to get the trailer hooked up to the SUV to lug it all off of there.  I now need to get the kids over there and pick up the small pieces of trash laying everywhere. Trey was not a clean freak at all, much the opposite.  There is also a huge pile of wood his dad - now-deceased- had stacked up in the far corner of the lot that I'm  going to have to do something with. I might just advertise it as free wood and see if anyone comes to get all or some of it.  I have no use for it and I wouldn't use it on any projects that I might intend on starting at some point. 

Forgot to add the kids aren't forced to go over there to help clean up. They are offered money - which they have learned is an invaluable tool for acquiring things - to complete the job.  

It was time to restock the pantry.  Ordered a huge lot of stuff coming from Walmart and then started in on looking at expiration dates.  We hadn't gone through any of that stuff in quite a while, as became obvious looking at best-if-used-by dates.  Most of it expired last year, but there was plenty from 2022 and 2023.  The food is undoubtedly edible, but that would be a "gee, we have nothing because an electromagnetic pulse was detonated in space above the US and now we have nothing" type of mentality than a "gee, this looks good to eat today!" type of thing.  

So there is a lot more I am  going to get back in there after I go through everything. I have already filled up a large trash bag full of cans.  I like to have emergency stores in place in case the unthinkable happens or some natural disaster hits.  I may restock my vegetable garden seeds as well.  I'm not planting vegetable gardens, I'm having it available in case something happens.  I am particularly concerned about the Chinese and their world domination desire, the latest news being a naval ship or fleet off the coast of Australia. Still in  international waters so legal but what are they doing there?  CCP is communist, you know what they want to do. Intimidate, harass - but they have been building up their naval fleet for quite a while now.

Do I think WW3 is coming any time soon? Who knows. Not living my life in fear but I do like to be prepared at least.  I know what it's like to be hungry and have nothing to eat, it isn't pleasant or fun.  

It is major clean day for me since I have 2 days off, spend one of them working around the house and getting stuff done at the park.  The park isn't a big deal, I need new trash bags - I don't know what happened to the stock pile I had over there but they are gone, a new toilet seat and a new shower curtain.  I am not going to Lowe's today, thanks, I have enough other stuff going on.  Just taking a break to watch the news right now.  If you want to keep up with Trump and his newly installed administration, you are going to have to watch or read the news on a daily basis.  It's  happening that fast.  

I am a bit interested in this separation of powers and judges telling the Trump admin they can't shut down payments flowing throus USAIDS and other things that democrats are suing about EO's and Musk's seemingly endless revelations about wasted money.  It seems that the judicial branch of the government wants to dictate terms to Trump. The legislative branch - or the current majority - is mostly on Trump's side.  

___________

So I may be getting a bit carried away with this new computer setup, It's been many years, however, since I got a new PC and the one I bought years ago was refurbished as it was.  Meaning it was already old.  New wireless mouse was a bit pricey and just ordered new speakers, these are far better than the things I have now. Not to mention the things I have now, the subwoofer is blown on it.  Lol. I'm not sure about this keyboard either, don't really much care for it. The style I like, however, is a cheapie and works far better. The one I've had on the old computer is many  years old, to the point many of the letters are worn off of the keys..

I don't look at keys while typing.  Maybe the F1- F12 row for I rarely use those keys.  I don't have the numbers keyboard memorized either, that's because I have the numbers row memorized. Probably not as fast as those people that can pound out a bunch of numbers quickly on the numbers keyboard, but then again, this is one area that I can claim at least some level of expertise having had taken 4 years of it in high school and some in college. 

The keyboard I'm used to is a clackety old thing that makes a lot of noise which I frankly like.  The action on this new one isn't the same, perhaps I'll get used to it.  

As for the game I started to like immensely, they just did an update where they change everything - or most everything anyway - in the game and IMO it totally sucks now.  It's a fight game with guns, very realistic as far as video games go, but they got rid of the great guns and replaced them with nonsensical garbage that doesn't even exist in the real world. Note that many of the guns in the old version do actually exist.  I might just quit for the month and wait until their next version pops up.  They do in-game surveys, however, so I want to last that long and tell them that I despise many of the changes. 

_________________

Wrote that yesterday.  It's Saturday and I just got a call from my manager: loads cancelled. I'm not going back to work until Tuesday and honestly, I've been hoping for some time that this would happen.  I might be better off taking the truck up to the shop on Monday and getting the issues fixed, but the sound of having 4 full days off is too luxurious to pass up.  

New person showed up a little while ago to take Trey's former spot.  He was on the waiting list, I turned 3 other mid to long terms away, I have no place for them.  I gave them local options, it is unfortunate to have to turn people away but atm, there is nothing I can do about it.  

Well, there is/was the idea of adding 2 to 3 lots in an area that could accommodate for them, but it would mean intentionally overloading the septic system.  With the other 2 I added, it would mean 4-5 more spots than the system was designed for, meaning probably monthly visits from the honey truck to suck out the septic system.  I suppose I could add one lot and sort of tone down on the idea of putting too much into it. It's really the laundry that is doing it, there is so much laundry being done even if only one machine, there is a lot of water being dumped into those septic tanks and then out into the sprinkler system.  

I've thought about doing an underground barrel system where you hook the water from the washing machine into it and it just fills up the barrels which then allows the water to go into the ground. But I'm not sure that's legal.  

Friday - morning

The new computer came in a couple of days ago, decided to wait until today to set it up. 

So here I am, taking everything out of the box.  No monitor cable included, I have extras, neither style works.  Lol, ok.  Looks like I can unhook the other monitor I was still going to use for this computer until I can get the files transferred.  

No biggies there, but there are no instructions anywhere.  So, I hook up the power cord and turn it on.  Immediately hear the fan inside the computer making a noise consistent with it rubbing against something.  There is a glass panel on one side with 4 screws on it, I take those off. Inside is a huge piece of foam apparently to protect it during transport.  

_____________

Many hours later.  Pulled that new computer out of the box, couldn't find any instructions so I just set the thing up and turned it on. Immediately a loud noise started coming from inside the computer itself.  Huh? I turned it back off. There is a very dark tinted glass panel on one side. I unscrewed that and lo and behold, there was a giant piece of foam stuffed in there presumably for shipping purposes and the instructions.

The instructions tell you to remove that foam before turning on the computer.  Why oh why would they put instructions inside the  cabinet?  They are not visible at all from the outside of the computer and it's just plain stupidity.  Anyway, I got the foam out, the instructions  on what to do and then fired it up and yes, this entry is now being made from the new computer.  There is a lot of setup you have to go through and is probably why I haven't bought a new one before now.  I'm not a fan of the keyboard that came with it.  I will probably go to walmart and see about finding a much plainer thing that is functional instead of this ridiculous nonsense.  

I do know how to type, very well in fact, but keyboard setups can disrupt the efficiency.  

I"m going to keep the old computer set up for now as well.  I have 2 monitors so that isn't a problem.  Not to mention the new computer wouldn't fit where the old one is.  I am keeping it because it has my old files on it and downloading the files to the external memory device is going to be painfully slow and tedious. I want to see if I can hook a cable up to both computers and transfer memory that way or transfer it through cloud.  Cloud would actually be the easiest but I doubt computer files are stored in there.  

I am also charging up the mouse I bought to go along with this thing.  I am elated that this computer has built in wifi, a thing my old one doesn't have and also bluetooth.  It came with antennas to screw into the back of the thing as well and it's working perfectly.  

It appears the Microsoft transferred at least some information through cloud and also signing into Google helped.  

The temp right now is 31 degrees and only slated to get up to 36 .  I need to go over to the property and clean up Trey's mess.  The new guy is moving in tomorrow.  

That is all for now, just updating that the new computer is functioning very nicely and currently uploading stuff onto it. 

 Thursday - night

No work tomorrow or Saturday, thankfully, the first 2 days in a row I've had off in quite some time now.  There are a few reasons I haven't been posting as much and that is one of them.  The other is reflection on things such as how the park is going.  Having to confront Trey for the umpteenth time but to finally get rid of him took it's toll on me. I am tired of dealing with people who have ulterior motives.  Lying, they know they aren't going to do what they promise to do. I expect a little of that baked into the deal, not "gee, I'm not going to do much of anything and even when he asks me to do something, I'm going to do bare minimum and half assed".  

I was already approached for the spot and I said no.  NO NO NO.  Who is going to mow the grass? Me for now.  Giving away free lot rent for almost nothing in exchange? No thank you.  Will I do the work for free rent thing again? Maybe.  But it's going to be a written contract.  You are going to do 30 hours per month minimum work.  around 7 hours per week.  I want that work and I will give you  a list to keep you busy.  You will keep a written record of your hours worked and what you did.  If you do not meet the 30 hours per month on any month, this contract is terminated and you will leave the property immediately.  

Something like that but with more on it, just giving a synopsis of what's going through my mind.  I will not be screwed again, or if I am, it's only going to be for a month.  Not a situation dragging out month after month after month.  For $450 per month, I could pay someone hourly wage to mow the grass twice a month.  I don't want another Trey or the others before him. People that simply don't listen, won't work and don't give a damn.  For now, anyone moving in saying they want to work? Are going to be told flatly to their faces a resounding NO.  I am not ready for that, not after this Trey fiasco.

Trey spread some poison - gossip/backbiting/stab-you-in-the-back type of thing before he left.  I haven't seen anyone showing signs of leaving, not that it's going to bother me much. If people don't want to be there, they are free to leave, I will fill their spot/s back up with someone else.  Trey's spot is allegedly filled on Saturday.  We'll see, of course, if it doesn't, I'll advertise it and it should go quickly considering it's an end lot.  I am going to go over and clean up that lot tomorrow, there is "stuff" on it Trey left behind and move the equipment back behind the shed.  But after that, I doubt I will do much of anything and I won't be getting out of bed early - at all.  I intend on sleeping in. The kids will be at school and if any other adults are home, they do not make much noise.  

Enough of that, tho it's hard to erase that stuff out of my mind.  Trey and all of those before him will have a lasting effect on finding someone to take their spot.  I want the help, I need someone who has a good work ethic. A side hustle, something they'll do when they aren't at their job.  I used to think well, they aren't working so they'll at least do what i want them to do - which I can assure you isn't beyond the pale.  But that's not the case at all. If they don't have a job and aren't looking for one, they aren't motivated to do anything. They don't care about anything but themselves. Their cigarettes, their booze, their marijuana, the money they can make taking advantage of their presence in the park by "helping" people there who will be expected to pay them.  Mooching is the name of their game.  

Live and learn.  

I have no idea what day it is of pushups.  I have been faithfully doing 100 of them every day for a long time now. I figure I'm in the 70's by now.  I need to add other stuff to it, I haven't done it because it's been so cold outside and that's where the weight set is.  I"m not going to make claims of some magical transition to a Mr. Clean type of man, but there are definitely some noticeable changes.  I would need to start dieting again to also get rid of the fat. I don't eat a lot of sugar and I've been slowly cutting back on portion sizes at meals.  But if I get hungry, I eat.  I don't want to do a starvation diet and I can't do Keto anymore unless I want to cut out 75% of foods.  This would be keto on steroids to also try to get the cholesterol count down. 

I really haven't been looking for different types of diets.  Used to be I would just start eating a lot of salad and nothing else for extended periods and the weight would drop.  I might do that again, who knows.  Not quite there yet. It's been extremely cold - it was 15 degrees with a real feel of 3 today and I was out in that stuff for a couple of hours.  

The truck sprang a leak today.  It's a slow drip of diesel coming out from underneath the truck in the sleeper area.  I uh didn't want to waste 2 days off having to go up to Arkansas to get it fixed and there are other issues the truck needs tended to, I'm waiting until next week to get it all done at once.  In other words, going up to the yard and sitting there all day long or however long it takes.  I figure Tuesday to get that stuff taken care of.  

Following this Musk/Trump stuff, it's amazing the statements coming from the left.  We didn't hire na unelected bureaucrat!  Lmao.  The government is FULL of unelected bureaucrats dictating policy to the masses almost virtually unchecked.  Far reaching powers to affect the lives of millions of people with little or no accountability.  

Why are democrats banging their drums so loudly against this idea of finding waste, abuse and fraud in the federal government anyway?  Are they fearful of the things that are going to be found out?  Who is on the dole and getting truckloads of money in exchange for nothing?  Or over charging?  Or a myriad of things that could potentially be going on, such as the DOD having over 4 trillion dollars of money that was paid out with no names of the people it was given to or what it was given to them for? Musk is a brilliant man and undoubtedly has the finest minds working to weed all this stuff out.  I think a lot of this stuff they have found already is just precursory and that they are going to find a lot more upon deeper scrutiny.  

Patel was voted in as head of the FBI, I fully expect heads to roll and a lot of upheaval to occur very quickly. People will be fired, or if they can't be fired, reallocated to useless roles of eternal boredom offering no challenge.  It's going to be a Musk type of scrutiny but on individuals who have used their positions to influence and coerce people/corporations into doing things to alter the outcome of an election.  We shall see, of course, but as the days tick by and Trump continues to upend the federal government, I can only stand in wonder and marvel at the thought of  a person who for all intents and purposes cannot be bought or coerced into agreeing with leftists and their demands to abide by their rules. 

They've tried to cancel Trump six ways from Sunday including trying to kill him, where do you think a man who has been through all that he has stands when it comes to his political enemies attempting to bully him?  Yea, it doesn't work, at all.  He's even taking Zelensky to task now.  As he should, IMO.  

Well it's getting late and I am going to go to bed soon. 

 Tuesday - night

I've been consumed with thought and things going on lately, hence not posting.  It's not that I don't want to post, I just find that time flies by to the point it's time to go to bed.  So, it's almost time to go to bed, but here are a few things that have occurred in the last week.

Trey.  You know from my previous postings that he has lied to me about selling firewood. He told me one of the guests he bought a huge pile of it from an outside source and then I later learned he was cutting up felled trees on my property and selling it to him. That's both a lie and theft.  

I don't think I've posted since Trey "moved" to Fort Worth, some 175 miles away. Or maybe I did? I don't have time to go looking through previous posts.  He decided to take a part time job over there, where his girlfriend lives and come back on the weekends.  He also decided to tell me nothing about this.  I found out through 3 different people as I asked an overnight guest who told me someone had told him he was in Ft Worth and it eventually got to: He's staying there Monday -Friday and coming back here on weekends. 

Yea - no thank you.  The man did this without bothering to say a single word to me about it.  I'm skipping over a lot of stuff here, I don't have a lot of time. I texted him after I found that out and told him it's done, I am through with this, this relationship is over. You can either pay $450 per month for that lot or you can leave. No, this happened after that. That's right, I found out he was going to spend 5 days per week over there and that's when I texted him telling him this is over with, I'm through. 

I had originally given him 2 weeks to get out.  He came back last weekend.  I didn't bother to talk to him, he had his 2 week notice, get your stuff and get off my property. But then, I get a phone call.  Well he's telling everyone how you screwed him over and what you (me) are doing is wrong. Etc.  I became infuriated at that point. He had already crossed the line with me, now he is in MY park taking s*** about me? NO.  I got in my vehicle and drove over there and got right in his face. 

His mother was standing there- she's a sweet lady and nothing like her son or if she is she certainly doesn't let it out. I informed him I know he's talking trash about me, I am trespassing you from the property effective immediately. He kept mouthing off and I finally lost it.  After all of this time, putting up with his used-car-salesman type of lies approach to life, it was too much. I yelled at him so loud I heard my voice echoing off of trailers.  SHUT YOUR MOUTH< SHUT UP!  I realized immediately that I had lost control of my emotions.

But I couldn't contain myself and told him to get off the property right now.  The guy is so mouthy.  Are you going to help my mother finish up here? NO.  He got into his car, but I thought about it. I don't want to take this out on her, she really is a nice person. I told him to keep his mouth shut, he can help his mom.  I got in the Tundra and went off by the shed. No need to sit there, I'll just wait this one out.  It was about an hour and they had that trailer loaded and pulled it out of there. 

This is the end of workampers and park hosts for now for me. I've not had any good results with these people, they are all moochers and they want something for nothing.  Trey was giving me maybe 5 hours a month of work for lot rent including electricity.  He's gone and I don't know what kind of damage he has done in the park, I don't care either. If people don't want to stay, they are welcome to leave.  I have been checking my business google review account, so far nothing from him.  In his mind, he has been wronged by me.  Again, yea - no.

Monday, I'm coming back from Lufkin.  A tire blows up in Mt. Enterprise.  There was a truck parking area right there, pulled into it.  Called the company. Lots of communication later, they had a tire truck coming from Longview but they can't come right now, it will be 2 hours (at least).  I had already told them about a tire shop across the street from where I was at.  I heard a lot of nothingness on the phone.  We can't really do that, the company will ask questions and they don't like it.  I don't give a damn what this half rate company likes. I'm not sitting here 2 hours - which would probably be more like 3 - waiting for a damned tire truck to show up when I can hobble the truck literally straight across the street to a tire shop. 

I was ready to quit.  I don't care that much about this company.  I've been through earthly hell with them from the get-go.  I was asked "what do you want to do?" I DO NOT WANT TO SIT HERE FOR HOURS WAITING ON A TIRE TRUCK WHEN THERE'S A TIRE SHOP ACROSS THE STREET. 

I get a call back a few minutes later: we called over there, they have the right size, get yourself over there.  Note that I did not threated to quit, but it certainly was running through my mind quite vividly.  Tires replaced immediately, no waiting, I was out of there in 25 minutes.  

I just found out tonight the entire family is going to Colorado this summer to see her folks.  For a month.  Oh she didn't tell you about this already? No.  I got the details.  They are free to do whatever they want but why not tell me about it?  Sometimes I feel like a part of this family, sometimes I don't. This is a time when I don't.  This isn't until summer, but still. I'll be here alone. I don't mind that, at all actually.  I like being around people but it's certainly nice to have some alone time as well. 

The plane that ended up upside down. And the vivid videos of it.  It is quite amazing that no one died, at least not so far. I heard 3 people were in serious condition and one older gentleman is or was in very serious condition. I have watched a lot of air crash video and I don't recall any of them showing a commercial jetliner ending up upside down. Astonishing the video, especially the man crawling out of the thing directly after it happened and someone telling him not to video.  It's amazing footage and he wasn't holding anything up, I am glad he got that content. Another video was someone taking footage of it landing, they had no idea what was going to happen after they started filming it.

The DOGE train roars on.  Democrats can't help themselves but to launch lawfare, they have been calling it in the last few years, against Musk, Trump and the federal government.  They hit a nerve and it is a big one.  200 year old people getting monthly payments. Trillions   spent in DOD, none of that money had any identifiers of who it went to or for what purpose.  I am not going to go into all of it, but we are seeing the waste and fraud that has been festering for many decades now.   

I ordered a gaming computer a few days ago and it arrived today. I have been too busy to even pull it out of the box.  I need to find out how to transfer the data from the old computer to the new, presumably a cable hookup will do it.  Google is your/my friend.  

100 day pushup challenge is still in effect. I have 20 more to do today and then I'm going to bed directly after. 

And yes, its time to go to bed . Work early am, trucking job that is, deliver on Thursday and then 2 days off.  Sunday work, but I haven't had 2 days off in a while, I'll take it.  

 Wednesday - night

Another rainy day. Long, dreary road, plant, loading, getting wet.  Getting home is especially nice after such days, I just go to bed for a while.  

Tomorrow there is no rain in the forecast tho it's going to get down below freezing. I don't drive my mom's truck in such weather, it doesn't have remote start and I'm a bit spoiled in that department.  My SUV has remote start and the heater is on, just remote start it, warm it up and by the time I get into it, the interior is nice and toasty.

Anyway, I've heard nothing from Trey. Don't really expect to but he certainly hasn't been back.  I'm issuing him a 3 day notice, 3 days before the 2 weeks are up.  I just want him completely gone at this point.  

Then there is the long term that hadn't paid his rent.  It was due on the first and I let everyone know that I do not want to chase down rent.  You come to me, bring it to me, call me, send it, whatever, but don't make me chase you down looking for it. If you have a problem, need a little time, I can deal with that.  This guy? I blew up his phone with texts. The first one was just "when are you going to pay your rent?', followed by more text and then I stopped.  

If he wasn't going to reply, he was also going to get a 3 day notice, I don't care if he is a friend of the family, he has a full time job, he owns the trailer outright and his vehicle, it shouldn't be an issue.  If it is, that isn't my problem.  He finally replies a few hours later and says "My fault, I lost track of the date".  If you think I believe that nonsense, think again.  People don't forget out paying their rent. They may put it off, they may try to avoid it or even if they do forget, they don't forget about it for 11 days.  

I simply replied the same as I wrote above: I am NOT a fan of chasing down rent.  He doesn't even have the money, he's allegedly paying it on Monday. That's 5 days from now.  If'/when he does pay it, we're going to have a short, to-the-point conversation. Don't let this happen again. If you are having an issue, let me know about it before the rent is due or at least on the day it is due. Not 11 days afterwards.  

The Trump train barrels forward with DOGE, Musk and now Trump has set his sights on the DOE - Department of Education.  He's calling it a con game and wants it shut down immediately.  This after basically shutting down USAIDS.  Can you imagine that all of this would have ever happened, much more in such a short period of time?  

Musk is his own force to be reckoned with.  150 year old receiving Social Security benefits?  When is the last time you heard of the government coming down on itself and going through every department to weed out waste, fraud and criminal activity?  NEVER.  Ridiculous nonsense.  I hope Musk stays at it the full 4 years of Trump's term.  I don't think he's politically motivated, I think he is who he is.  He got rid of 80% of the employees at Twitter/X when he bought it, if that gives any indication of what motivates him.  

Anyway, it's getting late.  Trying to force myself to go to bed a bit earlier than I have been. Up to Gurdon in the morning.  

 Tuesday - night

Getting late.  Just finished cleaning the kitchen, running the dishwasher and made dinner earlier.  20 more pushups and I'm done with those for the day as well.

One thing I absolutely do not like, at all, is having to chase guests down for rent.  This is the long term people.  No one in the park now besides one does that. Everyone else seeks me out, as they should. If you are in a rental situation with a landlord, you don't think, gee, I 'll wait and see if they ask me for it.  You know what will happen. They will charge you late fees and if you keep on with it, they will issue you and eviction notice.

This guy is a friend of the family. Not my personal friend, per se, but of the folks living here.  But enough is enough.  I just sent him a text asking him when he's going to pay the rent. Well, I sent it half an hour ago and have heard nothing back. If he keeps it up, I'm giving him a 3 day eviction notice.  This is not a game I am willing to play.  Pay the rent or leave.    It's not even that much.  

The trucking day went by  - well I didn't much care for it. It rained all the way to Gurdon, the entire time up there and most of the way back.  I got wet and I was ready to just go to bed for a while when I got home this afternoon. Which was all well and fine until the smoke detector went off. Our oven needs a deep cleaning badly.  It's just one of those things where you turn it on and you're lucky if it doesn't start smoking. It's on the list to get cleaned. I'm not even sure how you go about doing that, I think they sell some seriously bad ( as in, works very well) stuff that will eat the junk out of there.  

I'll be googling that and find out what the best approach is.  I want it completely clean.  

My manager sent me work for the next 7 days.  2 more loads in a row, Sunday off and then late load on Monday/Tuesday.  After that, I"m going to want this truck fixed.   It's cooled down again so heat only is fine in the truck, but that isn't going to last forever.  It's supposed to start raining here again in the next half hour and basically rain all night long and all the way up  until around noon. So, another lovely rainy day. I do like rainy days, when I can stay home, sleep in and enjoy the sounds while having to do nothing. I do not enjoy it while having to drive and loading and such.  

 I didn't ask for that schedule, btw, I think it has something to do with the fact that I worked 3 weekends in a row during Christmas and I was bringing that up for the 50th anniversary of our church.  Like, I want to be there and I don't want to be working.  

Anyway, the mechanic says that none of the shops are going to be able to fix the problem, you're going to have to bring it here.  I concurred, actually. Don't much care for driving up there but when there is something that needs fixed that needs an expert in these particular trucks, that guy is the one to go to and not have to go to endless shops or spend forever trying to get it fixed.

Everything else is good, or good enough anyway.  I just stand in awe of the transformation of the federal government that is occurring under the Trump administration  They are all on the same page and the change in such a short period of time is stunning.  They are working at such a rapid past, it's hard to keep up with all of it. The news constantly changes.  One head is doing this, then the next head is doing that, Trump signing executive orders, DOGE doing an amazing job finding garbage, especially with USAIDS. Good riddance to it.  Homan is attempting to find out who the leak is that is giving out liberal cities intel on raids ICE are going to do in major cities.  They think it's someone in the FBI.

Fancy that.  The FBI. Dems are still losing their minds over all of this, but especially DOGE.  What do they have to hide? Because all they are doing  is seeking out waste and fraud.  And boy have they found a lot of it and they are just getting started.  Now Trump wants to get rid of a lot of federal employees, something that we needed to do long ago. A bloated government consuming so much of our income.  There are ways to bring the deficit down, the amount we spend just keeping the government running is definitely a major one.  

Well, that's enough. Time to go to bed.  

 Monday - evening

I've only received one text from Trey and that was telling me that he needs to the end of the month.  Well, you didn't even tell me you were moving, I had to find out from 3 separate people that you had not only left the park for Ft Worth, you are moving over there. A person spending 5 days a week at one location is living there no matter what they say.  I had my doubts that he would be coming back very often even if I hadn't fired him.  

I don't miss him. He wouldn't reply to infrequent texts asking him to check on people coming in and what-not that might take a few minutes at most to do.  The lying is what pushed me over the edge.  

Lot 1 is conundrum for me.  I could shut it down, cancel future reservations and just refund their money. Plenty of time to find other accommodations.  There isn't that many overnighters coming in to it, a trickle here and there.  

Anyway, not a lot going on here beyond attempting to start thinking about getting taxes going, wondering what my next move might be and just trying to enjoy life.  I am not married to the park, it doesn't need a lot of attention when I have someone tending to it, the way I really want it.  I over see things, point out what needs to be done and it's always good when the person you are asking to do something actually listens, doesn't make excuses for not getting it done and then lies to your face about whatever.  

I haven't had a lot of luck with the "lot rent for free in exchange for work" department.  Trey's father was ok, not bad, not great, but Trey? I didn't ask for him and they didn't even ask me about him working, they just installed him and decided that was that. Now, I have decided that that was that isn't that anymore.  It's done and over, I just need to get it out of my mind. That probably won't happen until that trailer is moved off of that lot. 

Next moves are always tough for me.  It's the money part.  You spend money, you want to make that money back plus profit.  And you don't want to wait forever to see that happen. To that end, I'm going to direct the kid (18 years old) to start tearing out the interior of that coach.  I should say, I will ask if he'll do that as well. No more hours involved than he would have to work and probably some cash incentive at the end of the project to motivate him more.  That thing has just been sitting there.  

Anyway, that's it. I'm watching some weird move about Barn Elfs gone crazy lol.  

 Friday - late afternoon

Today was different.  The slow guy wasn't loading - he was there but he was doing something else. So another person got me into the bay and started loading within 5 minutes of my arrival.  I was home by 12:23 this afternoon.  2 plus hour difference from yesterday.  Simple, just get us loaded. It doesn't take that long and there is no reason to abandon your plant's appointment times. 

_________

Many hours later. Lol. We went to one of our favorite mexican food restaurants for my birthday celebration. The kids were in a bad mood for whatever reason but I didn't let it sour the festive atmosphere. They brought out a crew of people to sing happy birthday, I was looking around for it but didn't see it. What is it?

IT is a plate full of whipped cream.  And sure enough, they got me right in the face!  It was all good fun and the entire place was laughing lol.  I saw them doing that to James a few years back, I wondered if they were going to try that on me and yes, they did.

I've heard nothing from Trey.  Not that I expect to, he's not been back either.  It's the verge of the weekend. I'm wondering what he's going to do about this situation.  Surely he'll come back for his dad's tools if nothing else.  There's a lot of them and high quality.  If he leaves the trailer, I will have it moved out back and apply for - I think they have an abandoned title in this state or something like that. He's living with his girlfriend, he doesn't need a trailer. Maybe the mom will want it? I surely don't.  Just more stuff to deal with. I have no idea what condition the thing is on the inside, I have envisioned a rather trashed out place especially with Trey living in there and his parents gone.  

The boy - that's what I'm going to refer to him in this blog, he's 18, has a job and goes to a local college - took the Park Host sign just as I asked him to.  He's all over free rent.  I'm all over someone to do the stuff I really don't; want to do.  

I have tomorrow to deliver and then Sunday off.  And then Monday and Tuesday early load, amazingly enough. Usually they dump me with 2cd load after a weekend day or entire weekend off. 

I dunno what else. I think about expanding the park and then I put it out of my mind.  It's been currently out of my mind, it'll pop back in again after I start assessing my situation.  My situation being my age, my life span, the ability to get it done before "things" start happening to the extent that mobility might become a problem. Happens to a lot of people at whatever age - old - and I'm certainly approaching that age.  I've seen people younger than me experiencing that stuff. I don't wish it on them or me, just saying it happens. 

I really just want the thing to pay my expenses, all of them, and not have to do anything else.  I don't need to get rich. But if it comes down to it, I will sell that place, pay off debt and be happy.  I can tell ya, I am much happier right now, now that I've dumped Trey. He was a burden. He was a drain on me, he wouldn't communicate, he wouldn't reply to texts until hours later, usually.  Even this electric job he claims he did that was worth 5k, lmao.  The guest sent me a pic of his fill job of the trench, there is still a foot deep that he didn't back fill. 

He just left it like that and stupid me didn't check his work.  A hole in the ground, nothing can go wrong with that, right?  

Well it's late now, I'm going to bed.  

 Thursday - night

I was driving up the main driveway this morning to get to the truck.  The overnighter was outside, so I stopped.  We had a nice discussion about his travels, he's trying to see as many state parks nationwide as he can.  At the end of the discussion, he said he'd tried to go over to the Park host site (there is a sign in front of it), he wasn't there but someone had told him he was in ft worth.  

I took his money, fired up the truck and got on the road.   I started thinking about it. Trey had told me the other day that he had gotten a part time  job to pay for his car.  Fancy that. I he can work somewhere else but can barely lift a finger for me to earn his lot rent.  The man has become a burden to the point I don't want to deal with him anymore. He simply has no work ethic, I now know he's a liar and he's been taking money for firewood that doesn't belong to him.  

I then find out he's taken a job IN Ft Worth and that he's going to be staying over there Monday through friday and come back on the weekends.

Mind you, this man told me literally nothing about this.  His girlfriend - who is his now-passed best-friend's wife - lives there and it was obvious why he's over there. Stay over there, I thought, this relationship is over. I texted him exactly that: this relationship of you being the Park host is ended. I am through with this, I am tired of contending with you.  You have 2 weeks to get your trailer and junk out of here or you can start paying lot rent, I don't care at this point.  

His numerous replies were that his "job is 3 days a week in Ft Worth and it shouldn't matter where I'm doing it".  I was beyond the arguing stage with him, I've already been through that, I am not going to entertain him trying to change my mind. If he likes that woman so much, stay with her permanently.  Just get out of my park.  I'm skipping over a lot of stuff for it's late and I really don't want to go into all of this again. The end of the story, he kept writing and I simply told him it's over and I'm moving on.  

One of his last things was "I called around that electric job I did would have cost like 5 grand and you don't think that's worth a month or 2 shit really more like 3 months of rent????"

I busted out laughing at that.  I had to call my friend over, then I ended up calling the contractor out who built the park to help figure out what to do. In the end, I decided to have Trey dig out the pedestal, Trey wanted to do a total hack job in running another line from the meter to the pedestal - 100 feet anyway - a foot underground. Insanity.  The contractor looked at him and just shook his head, I had already dismissed it.   The contractor told him vehicles driving over it only a foot deep would bust the line.  Trey was the manual labor, not the brains the figured out what to do.  In fact, I just figured this whole thing was related to those people running over the pedestal and hence made the decision to start there and that hunch was correct.

Even IF he could take credit, that job wouldn't have cost 5 grand.  I can see an electrician charging maybe 2 grand for that.  It's why I decided in that freezing cold weather to at least try to identify the problem. I called the contractor after the problem was unearthed and HE came back with the parts, gave them to me for free and helped put the mess back together.  The contractor is a stellar man of integrity, he flatly stated he just didn't want to see people suffering in this cold, it was 18 degrees, I think, that day.  It was definitely below 32. 

So, Trey is fired. He brought that upon himself and I"ve been dealing with his nonsense for many months.  Now, before anyone says you won't have a park host, think about this. Trey being gone 5 days a week? I wouldn't have had one anyway! The 18 year old that brought the tractor is now taking his place. Not as a park host but for cutting grass and maintenance.  He offered it a while back and when I texted him today, he immediately accepted. This kid has a real work ethic.  I don't think I'll have to endlessly ask him to do the same things, over and over. 

I feel like a giant stone has been lifted off of my back with Trey now terminated.  He was far more effort than it was worth, he didn't give a damn and he was only out for himself.  I only kept doing this with him in deference to his father who basically passed away at the park. It happened in a nearby hospital but he stayed at the park the night he came back defying everyone telling him he needs to go.  It was too late by the time they got him to go, sepsis killed him.  He probably could have been saved if he would have gone when they asked him to.

I have a business to run and Trey is going to go through his life living the way he does until something gets a hold of him. Clearly, living at the park wasn't doing that.

I also contacted the old man and told him to stop throwing cigarette butts everywhere and I contacted the porch people as well.  Their excuses have gone on long enough.  They were out there today sanding the porch down and will stain it tomorrow.  The old man was out there picking up his cigarette butts all over the place.  I'm going to regain a definitive handle on the park, Trey was an infection that was growing and I wouldn't be surprised if he was talking smack about me behind my back. 

Oh, btw, the 18 year old I was already giving a discount to for the tractor use.  Now, he'll get the free lot rent and hopefully Trey will leave and I will rent that lot out for higher than the other lots. It's an end lot and it's arguably the best lot in the park, that and lot 1.  So, I will only be losing rent on one lot now instead of 2.  I gave Trey 2 weeks. 

I have work tomorrow. Run to Lufkin and then Saturday to Arkansas and then Sunday off again.  I didn't ask for Sunday off but I'm glad! I'll be celebrating with the family here my birthday that was yesterday.  We were just too busy to go out yesterday and we often postpone birthday celebrations to the weekend after.  

There's other things, nothing major. It's getting late and I want to start getting ready for bed. I'm taking great pleasure in what's going on in this nation now that Trump is in command and especially with DOGE. Democrats are losing their minds over it but have you seen some of the stuff our money has been being diverted to? Outrageous nonsense. I have no time to go into that now, open up the news or search "DOGE" on Google and you'll see what I'm talking about.   

Finally, this is day 63 of the 100 day, 100 pushups per day challenge.  My chest is slowly beginning to take a different shape beyond man boobs.  They're still there but not near as pronounced as they were when I started this thing.  Still a long way to go before 100 days, hopefully a bit better results I'm not sure if I'll continue or not, just need to get to day 100 and then decided.  

                                                     

Tuesday - night

I gave Trey Ultimatum 2 today. It was much more severe in nature than the 1st one.  This one is a "my way or the highway" type of deal.  After finding out he lied about selling firewood, that was the end of my patience.  I'm not going to give him hell, I'm simply going to give him a couple of weeks to show whether he's going to give me the hours of work in exchange for the lot rent and also clean up his act or he is going to be told in the final part of this deal that he is now leaving. If it comes to that, I'll give him 2 weeks to get him, his stuff and that trailer out of my place.  I'm afraid it is going to come down to that.  I've put up with his bs long enough. 

Unloading went quickly. 1 hour and 9 minutes, which is lightning compared to several previous episodes.  The driving sucked, people drive like idiots out there.  One person came flying up beside me, cut directly in front of me and slammed on their brakes.  I shut that truck down much faster than I thought it would considering it was loaded at near 79,000 pounds.  These stupid people then proceeded to put on their flashers, then flipped a u-turn in the middle of the highway, cutting off even more people and took off in the other direction.  

It wasn't the only driver that cut me off like that today and it just plain sucked.  

Lot 1 is available for overnights.  I just can't rent it out when I know that, even if it is 3 weeks from now and several other reservations in the future, I have all the other lots filled up.  The problem is that everyone in there now is "long term".  There is no set departure date. Could be a month, months, half a year, a year, permanent, who knows?  

What I'd like to do is just do that other thing I was talking about in adding 2 or 3 lots at the other end of the park. Overload the septic, yes, but as long as it doesn't need pumped more than once a month, we're good.  I just would like to figure out how I could make them pull throughs.  I mean, I can but it's a long way from where they pull in and getting back to the main driveway.  

No, that's out of the question.  It's just too much money in gravel.  I want to keep the cost down on this and I can do that by cutting a few corners.  Back in lots mean no new driveway.  2 truckloads at most of gravel for the pads.  I can install 2 separate outlets on each one for 30 and 50 amp - we're talking $250 for all of it instead of $700.  It's not bad or improper, just doesn't look the same.   Wiring not sure, it's expensive, yes, but I won't need a lot.  Well, probably 100 feet worth so still probably a grand worth of wire. Another panel, a meter and a 200 amp breaker, water and sewer line and connectors, mini ex rental.  

Even cutting corners? It still adds up.  I never did get over there to measure it out so I can come up with an exact length for pipe and wire.  I've been distracted by numerous things.

Regardless, I've got 20 more pushups to go and then bedtime. Yes, I'm still doing the 100 day pushup challenge.  It's going ok.

 Monday - night

Getting kind of late but I haven't posted an entry in several days.  In fact, the last entry didn't go through for whatever reason. 

Anyway, the park was completely full, but now I have lot 1 open and I"m not sure what I want to do with it.  I have some reservations I need to honor but they aren't any time soon. I'd like to rent it long term, however, everyone else at the park now is all long term.  Yes, someone could leave, no doubt, I have no guarantee of that. I just opened that lot up, the people staying there said their house purchase went through. 

They left this morning for Florida, then Minnesota and then to their new home in Nacogdoches.  Well, I might get some overnighters in there now that I've opened it up, we'll see. 

Trey has been gone 3 days now.  I am seriously considering revoking this park host setup with him and just doing away with it altogether. It wasn't my idea in the first place, that was Allen's, Trey's now-passed father.  He did ok, Allen that is, Trey is a liar and a thief I am just now finding out. 

I had my suspicions. He's cutting up wood from felled trees, splitting it and then selling it to people in the park. He didn't say anything about the fact that he is profiting from my wherewithal and actually lied about it. One of the guests has a huge stack of wood next to his trailer.  I was looking at it last week and Trey told me he bought it from someone who delivered it. 

I found out yesterday that Trey sold the wood he's been cutting to the guy. Trey is also one of the people throwing cigarettes butts all over the place.  Basically, he doesn't give a s*** about anything but his own desires, which is what he's doing now.  He went to Fort Worth to have sex with his best friend's wife.  Now, the best friend is dead. But that, to me, is just creepy.  Trey thinks I'm stupid. He doesn't understand I have eyes and ears in the park and people report things to me.  

Trey hasn't been doing much for the park, either.  We're talking mowing the grass once in the last 2 plus months.  It didn't need it. He tries to tell me he cleans the bathroom, but one look at the toilet tells a completely different story.  He doesn't pick up trash all over the place and basically, as I said, he's just doing stuff for himself. He'll happily do mechanical work and get paid for it. I'm sure there's more I don't know about, I'm going to confront him the next time I see him.  

How can you trust a liar?  He's completely unmotivated in life and I'm just getting to the point he needs to go. He does serve some useful purposes, but the cons are outweighing the pros. 

Yesterday, we went to the 50th anniversary of the church.  It was a truly great service, I really enjoyed it. They went through the history of the church, sounds boring but it wasn't. 

I'm just trying to catch up here quick. I need to go to bed soon. Going up to Gurdon in the morning to deliver.  I am working through Saturday and then presumably Sunday off. I actually have the second load tomorrow but the other driver said he has to be home by noon for whatever reason so he plans to be up there early.  He said he'd be there at 7 or 8. I figure if I arrive at 10, I should be safe. 10 is the actual appointment time for the first load and I typically don't show up until after 11 on the second run. 

Oh, the truck heater is stuck at one setting.  Vehicle heaters are pretty simple affairs. The hot coolant from the engine is diverted through hoses to a radiator type thing that the hot coolant travels through. Air is blown through that little radiator via a fan and then it blows out your vents. When you adjust the temp for the heat, you are actually just opening and closing a valve.  The valve restricts the amount of fluid traveling through it.  All the way open is hot air all the way closed is no heat at all.  Those valves get stuck sometimes, especially old valves, and then you have to go in and replace it. 

That's an hours-long job.  It hasn't been an issue until today. Why? Because it's been cold outside and so I've needed the heat.  But temps have risen quite  a lot and now we are going to be seeing 70's range temps, which is crazy considering the freezing cold we just got done with. 

Anyway, I've got to get off of here. 

 Tuesday - night

Today was a much easier day than yesterday's nonsense. Even tho it was the second load, I was still home by 3:00 pm, which is really good for second load time.  The deal is, the outside temps have risen considerably and so the product in the trailer doesn't cool way down at night.  I was done offloading in an hour and ten minutes compared to the 2 and a half hours 2 days ago.  

I am loading in Lufkin tomorrow, 1st run and hopefully that means I"m home by 1:00 pm at the latest.  I need to finish the laundry tasks I started yesterday before I got called out.  

As of tomorrow, the park will be full, including the 2 alternate spots. That because the power plant worker is coming back.  The family is coming back soon, not sure when, there is a lot opening up for them in a few days.  Then there's lot 1.  

Some people simply showed up.  They do that a lot more than I care for.  Is this lot available for at least 7 days? They ask Trey, I was still on the road. Trey calls me, yes, let them take lot 1 but I can't guarantee it's available until I get back and get in front of a computer.  But sure enough, the bookings were empty for the next couple of weeks, actually, for overnighters and I just blocked everything out for the next month.  I don't want overnight bookings when I don't have a place to put them.  If that family moves back in, the only lot available will be lot 1 for overnights. Or anything else for that matter and I have another guy practically begging me to move in to the park.

As I have stated previously, I have been trying to switch my theme to long term for quite some time now.  Besides lot 1, everyone in there is long term. The guy leaving on the 1st was there for some 6 or 7 months.  I just have too many empty lots trying to do overnight stuff, just wasting money to be had.   

I've actually thought about adding lots to the existing structure and not going the full fledged route of getting a massive loan. You see, I could probably put in 3 more lots near where the power meter stand is at and just add another meter to the stand. 

I've thought about this before, but I like the little area with grass and a nice pine tree.  My sewer system would be overloaded so I would have to have them come pump out the thing more often. That's the only drawback I can see.  This would be along the end of the driveway.  I have room there.  I just didn't like it because it's kind of a steeper drop, but I've seen parks with people having their trailers sitting up on blocks and such, they can make it work if they really want it.  I wouldn't use such lots for short term, but long term I think it could work.  

I pay the septic company to come check the system every month, it's required by the state because it's a business.  It's $30 per month, paid in advance.  They'll pump out just the first chamber of the septic set up for $120.  That's really what would end up filling up quicker, the rest of it wouldn't really need pumped out too often. 

Why would I do this? Because I want this park to make me more money than it is. There are too many expenses that add up to a lot.  3 more lots would be very helpful and cost a lot less than going out and starting 25 lots from scratch.  The driveway is already there.  That leaves installing a meter, a panel for the meter, the underground wiring, 3 pedestals, sewer line, water line, create the lots and gravel.  I'll have to do some figuring.  Let's see....probably a grand to install a meter, panel and run the underground wiring, but that may be conservative so lets' go with $1,500. $1,500 for the company to come out and run a line from the power company side to the meter.  3 pedestals @ $400 a piece.  Probably $540 worth of sewer pipe and another $200 worth of water pipe.  A couple truckloads of gravel. Rent a mini ex to dig out the trench.  

Try using the tractor that is at the property to do the lots.  It's about 7 grand to do all of that. Sounds expensive? It's 10-15k to have a contractor come out and do all of that, tho we're talking a new septic system included in that price, a whole new driveway, fix the main driveway and a lot of other stuff.  

I'm going to take a look at that area tomorrow after work and figure out whether this is really doable, because I can probably come up with the money to do it.  I have no choice but to install another meter, the 2 I have are already well loaded up with lots and the shed and the alternate lots.  Can't add anything to it and really, since the meter setup is right there, it doesn't add a lot to the bill excepting having someone come out to attach a main line from the meter to the power pedestal next to the power pole. 

Be nice if I could add 4, but I'm not sure there's enough room there.  

I kind of get a little bit unsure about this stuff, tho, I had 6 lots empty for a while and it wasn't looking good. Then all of a sudden everything fills up and there's hope again?  It's weird, the RV park business stuff. 

The guy begging to move in? He's already at a park near town somewhere, he didn't say which one, but he did say he's right next to "a major highway and I'm tired of all the constant road noise".  He's on one of the ones next to highway 59 for sure.  He's been to my place, he got out of the vehicle, listened and said, gee, this is great!  See? People get sick of constant road noise, especially if you are living there. Overnighters take in stride for the most part, just part of the game when they're going from point A to point B. But, they do like it when they find a place that isn't noisy.  

I think I am getting closer to realizing the goal of long term - meaning really long term. Not just a month or two, but either retirees or people coming to the area on long term work assignments.  

 Monday - late

Today was day 2 of 2 days off - I only wanted Sunday off but whatever.  Started in on laundry, went to the bank and deposited checks, quarters from the laundry and cash into the business account. Over to Kroger's to get some stuff that we don't have at the house.  Pretty much we all pitch in for "main" groceries - dinners mostly but also some household goods, if you want anything beyond that, you are on your own.  

Which is fine, I don't expect anyone else to buy stuff I am eating to help lower cholesterol and eat less calories.  And other things I like that may not be so low on cholesterol or fat, I just have to have something here and there to make eating a little more interesting.  I'm also basically the only one that eats salads.  Others will eat some - infrequently - I like to have them often.  

After that, I went home, put all the stuff away and cleaned the kitchen.  In my bedroom, I was looking at - what was I looking at? I think it was the campground software. The park is now almost completely full.  Even the alternate spots - Jason, the guy that was living here while running the maintenance operation at a local natural gas fueled power plant - is coming back Wednesday.  I think.  The student taking back in lot 8 came in - yesterday? I have no idea, really.  They paid and then they showed up, apparently. Even Trey hadn't seen them come in and didn't notice the lot was occupied. Oh, I noticed alright.  

Lot 5 is leaving at the end of the month, which is only a couple of days from now.  Funny thing is, the people that bought a house - or rented? - that had been living there for close to two years are coming back. I had no details why they would want to move out of a house and back into a trailer.  I'd think you'd not want to go back to living in such confined quarters, especially with a 6 year old child and 2 dogs, but who am I to judge? I'm not judging, I just think it would be difficult attempting to transition back to a 30 foot long by 8 feet wide (plus a couple slideouts) trailer.  Maybe they are trying to save for the property they want, I will find out if they actually  move back in. 

Oh, well it's getting really late and I'll get to that.  See, I ended up back in here, at my bedroom office desk, thinking what I was going to do next, when the phone rang.  I looked at the caller ID, it's the manager.  What does he want, I wondered and thought: probably nothing good.  I said hi to him upon answering and he said, well you haven't left yet.  Left for where?  You have a load today.  Umm, last time I checked I was going on a run tomorrow.  

I got pretty irritated.  It was near 1 o'clock (afternoon) and he wants me to start now?  We went back and forth, I wasn't about to let him tell me that he hadn't changed the load information from the time he originally put it in there and today.  He had clearly changed it, I had double checked the dates to ensure I had it correct.  He finally apologized for not letting me know while I am sitting there telling him I'm in the middle of doing laundry and other things. 

Then he lies.  Well, so and so is off on vacation and the other guy's truck is broke down. I know and confirmed after the phone call that the other driver is not on vacation.  I don't know about the broken down truck, but I am coming to the belief that he just throws s*** out in the air and hope it sticks somewhere, ie: making up completely false stories to try and get sympathy for his problem of getting a load covered.  

I was disgusted at this point, it was obvious he wasn't going to give up and I was very close to telling him I'm simply not going to do it.  Why the fork would you wait until this late in the day to call me? I'm wondering. He even told me that he had seen I hadn't left at the normal time I would have left for the second load, but he thought it was too early? No. No. No. The man lies too much.  He KNOWS because he's TOLD ME "you normally do such and such".  The only thing that tipped the scales for me is when he finally resorted to offering me more money. Even that wasn't all that convincing, but it was better than nothing.

I abruptly ended the phone call, ran out of the house, got to the yard and got out of there. I didn't get back until after  7.  Most of the run went ok excepting coming back.  Road construction on 59 was funneling traffic from 2 lanes to 1 and we all know people don't know how to do that without backing up traffic for miles.  It was crawling speed for quite a while and then, there was a flashing sign saying "lane ends, merge left" or whatever it said.  The right lane was empty and I just kept on going down it all the way until the merge point.  It's almost universal that the lane that ends is also the one that goes much faster. In this case, it was over a mile.  Why sit in the left lane? There is no law saying I can't just stay in the right lane until I am forced over and that's exactly what I did. 

People will let you in, that's guaranteed.  

It's almost 11 pm.  I don't have to get up until 7 or even 7:30 if I really want to. I want to leave the yard by 8:30 am.  I would actually leave even later but I didn't get fuel today, didn't want to stop seeing how late it was already and the truck has around 100 gallons of fuel in it. I can stop at a Love's on the way up tomorrow.  Oh, the fuel gauge isn't working again, I just know how far I can go on full tanks.  

There is on thing that can come good out of all of this.  I can work the next 5 days and have Sunday off.  The church is celebrating it's 50th anniversary and I'd like to be there for it.  

Anyway, I'm getting tired, time to go to bed. 

 Sunday - night

 Haven't been posting much, not a lot to talk about. Well, there's plenty of politics.  Trump basically trolled Colombia after the leader over there turned away to flights worth of illegals being repatriated to their nation.  50% tariffs on all goods being shipped into the nation from there and a ban on any officials coming into our country. And whatever else.  

The FBI - new interim leader and weeding out the "untouchables".  Leftists are having a meltdown on Trump's nominee for the FBI spot, Patel.  I don't care anything about what leftists have to say about any of this, not after the last 4 years of shoving s*** down our throats and gloating and denigrating republicans constantly, day in and day out.  

Hegseth - another one the left didn't want. Well, they mostly don't want any Trump picks, it doesn't matter who he nominates, most of them would be unacceptable.  But we already knew that.  

ICE doing wide spread raids and collecting these illegal criminals and the left of course having more meltdowns. I've seen plenty of it online.  Farmers don't have enough pickers out there. I find it humorous that they want these people out there but don't care that they are getting minimum wage. Isn't the left all about a "living wage"? Doesn't it seem rather hypocritical to sit there and protest Trump's intention of rounding up millions of illegals doing the "work we won't do" at the lowest wages that exist legally while at the same time promoting a "living wage" everywhere? 

Why aren't these people worthy of a "living wage"? 

And the late night leftist comedians. LMAO!  They're SO confused.  They still don't understand why the left lost the battle. But, now many leftists are coming out and facing the reality of it. Harris was a flawed product and some of the more known names are finally admitting it.  I could go on about politics right now, I haven't even watched that much of it but I take it all in quickly.  

Oh! And the Secret Service dude that was right there protecting Trump during that first assassination attempt!  I put up a post in a mostly right filled political group with his face right next to Trump, calm, cool and collected even while bullets are flinging around him.  He's been nominated for the SS high post. I figure if anyone deserves it, that dude should get it as long as he has the decorum and knowledge, which he undoubtedly has being on the then-candidates detail.  

There isn't anything major going on at the park. I pulled in yesterday to find another tractor trailer rig parked in the back. I kind of need people to ask permission to do that, I really don't want a bunch of trucks rolling in and out of there.  I don't really even like doing it myself, but I don't want to pay to park somewhere when I can park on my own property for free.