Day Two of WCSS Exercise (May 6, 2026)

 I had another spill exercise to go to today only this time it was in Whitecourt at the casino.

There were two sessions, a morning one and an afternoon one.

Then each session started off with an indoor presentation then outside for a dryland deployment of the equipment.

It was an awareness training on cleaning up a spill in a wetland.

Sherri is a biologist that has worked on a lot of spills all over North America - from Texas up to the Arctic.

Pretty cool job!

She showed all these wildlife deterrents, how to use them, pros and cons.

I find it very interesting.

Some of our team, Shannon, Fabrizio, Neale, Amy, Rick and Sherri.

We finished up just after 3 pm and I headed back home.

I finished up Life, Death and Giants on the drive home.

It had me crying.

I thought it was a great story, I loved the characters.

I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

When 1 got home, I painted a couple mats so I could frame a few more of Freya's drawings then I went for a walk.

I started listening to a new book that I bought, I Who Have Never known Men.

I didn't really like it, I don't think it's for me.

I should give it more of a go and maybe down the road I will, we'll see.

When the mats I painted finished drying, I got those put together.

The girls both came over for a visit and we had a thunder and lightning storm which took out the power.

It took awhile for it to come back on, the girls had gone home and we were getting ready to go to bed.

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would look so cute in the girls room.

Got all my steps in.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy.

WCSS Spill Exercise (May 5, 2026)

Our WCSS exercise was today in Slave Lake, actually in Wide Water which is just a few minutes outside of Slave Lake.

We had two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The first half was classroom training inside then the second half was outdoors which was great because it was quite nice out.

I enjoyed the drive, I got to get lots of listening in on my book.

I got home around 4 then I went for a nice long walk for about an hour.

After the walk, I framed some of Freya's artwork.

I can't decide if I want to paint the frame on this one or not?

I painted the mats for these two last night and put them together today.

This is one of my favorites of hers!

This one I got hung up already.

While I was doing that, Jason made a tiny book for Freya "from Ivy".

Dear Freya.....

Love Ivy!

Got all of my steps in.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy.

Weigh In Day (May 4, 2026)

Weigh in day was not good.

 

I was 244 lbs.

What is happening?

I have to get myself under control but I just am struggling to do it.

I hopped on the treadmill on my lunch hour and got a walk in.

Can't wait until I can start running again.

Jason saw a mama grizzly with three cubs while he was out in the field working today.

He watched them for quite awhile and did manage to get a shot of the cub looking at him.

He was able to get a shot of her with two of her cubs.

You can see all three of them in this picture.

I was working on painting some mats to frame some artwork of Freya's so Eden wanted to paint too.

I found this kit we had on hand and she painted it - pretty good job for a 2 year old.

I tried to get a picture where I could see her face and the painting she did - this was the best I could do.

Jason took the girls for a walk to the skate park.

Kids of all ages hang out there.

Eden was getting cold - Jason had her all bundled up and she was still cold so I went down and picked her up.

These two drawings are some of my favorites that Freya has done.

She did them 2 years ago - I think they are pretty amazing for a 5 year old to have drawn.

It feels good to finally get them framed and hung up!

Got all of my steps in.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Family Visit (May 3, 2026)

 Good morning.

The princess found her crown!

She loved the dress so much she insisted on sleeping in it.

The Peace sign is a new thing she started doing for pictures.

Needed to get a picture where I could see all of her pretty little face.

Theia and Freya came over for breakfast, Jason made pancakes then took the girls all to the skate park.

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Crazy dancer.

Guys, look at my spider.

While he had them out playing I got to work cleaning the house.

My cousin Tricia and her partner Gilles are in Edmonton working.

They have a few days off so they were visiting Jen and all three of them were coming to pick Jen's cats up from Rob's and have a visit.

Morgan, Kalem and Whitney came over to visit.

So did Rob.

Eden wanted to put on a new princess dress.

Giving the Peace sign again - her new thing.

Whitney.

Her little outfit was so cute.

They stayed and visited until around 8 - it was nice to see everyone.

Crystal posted some pictures from Freya's dance competition that they went to last Wednesday.

They got gold for that one too.

Eden trying on Grandma Crystal's glasses.

She got a hold of Crystal's phone and took a few pictures.

And a few more.

Got all of my steps in.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!