Spill Exercise (September 11, 2018)

I was up and on the road early this morning so I could get to the venue for this morning and set up.

I do administrative work for WCSS Spill Services and our annual spill exercise was scheduled for today.

They have a meeting room in the casino by WCT so I rented that for the classroom portion of our training today.

It doesn't actually open until 10:00 am but I emailed yesterday to make sure someone would be there in the morning to let me in and they assured me that wouldn't be a problem.

I had registration set from 7:30 to 8:00 so I made it there for 7:00 am.

Wouldn't you know it - the doors were locked.

I knocked and banged and I could see a couple of security guards but they kind of ignored us (the trainer for the day had arrived by then and was knocking as well).

I finally had to call to the casino and get put through to security.

When I told her who I was she came to let us in but grudgingly.

She was kind of rude and acted as though we were putting her out which annoyed me - if they rent out the facility outside of their normal hours, then they should have some kind of protocol set up to let folks in.

She refused to unlock the door and just stood there until 8:00 am then she promptly left and it was basically nobody else in, nobody out.

The lady I actually dealt with to set up the event came to see me when she arrived and I let her know about our experience and she wasn't happy so I am certain it will be dealt with.

I don't like getting folks in trouble and I realize the security guard was just trying to do her job but albeit in an unfriendly way, but there definitely needs to be a different way.

Anyway, after that curfuffle, things improved.

I sat at the registration table as usual while everyone signed in.

We started a new thing this year where folks have to sign out at the end of the day so I numbered all the sign in sheets then spent the rest of the registration reminding everyone to remember their number to sign out.

Mostly everyone was here on time and we were able to start right on schedule.

The morning went off pretty well.

One of the trainers did the safety presentation.

Our area chairman did the presentation on our coop.

We had speakers from both AER and ASERT/AEP as well.
Everything stayed right on schedule and we were heading to the second location at the river by 11:15am.


My Honey was at home busy smoking things.

A local supply company provided lunch for us, they came and cooked it as well so everyone was lined up getting some lunch when I arrived.

They had hamburgers, salads, desserts and drinks.

They provided a really great lunch actually.

I told them I would be sure to include a shout out to them and their picture that I took in my Exercise Report that would be posted online and they were happy about that.

After lunch we headed over to have a look at the equipment.

We did the dryland deployment of the equipment but then last minute decided that we wouldn't be able to actually deploy the equipment in the river.

It had been drizzling all day on and off, and the ground was soft, the bank was high and it just wouldn't be worth the risk.


So we went over incident command roles and wildlife deterrents.


We got to see this banger in action.
It was pretty loud.

So we ended up getting out of there much earlier than expected.

I was on the road and headed home by 2:30 which was great.

It was raining pretty good when I left the site but about 20 minutes away from home it cleared right up and it was beautiful, it wasn't wet or anything so I don't think it rained at home at all today.

I thought about going to work but was tired so decided against it and headed home instead.

My Honey was busy smoking things.

He picked up a new vacuum for my son and Miss H last night - the one I got them for Christmas crapped out and he found a good deal - so I wanted to go over there and drop it off to them.

Plus I hadn't seen Baby F since the shower where I didn't even get to hold her so I wanted to visit and see her.

My Honey came with me and we headed over.

She was sleeping away as usual.

I love her little booties.

She is growing but she still looks so tiny to me!

Her mama let me pick her up anyway and it didn't disturb her at all.

I just held her and looked at her - I could do that all day long.

I think I'll try to go over this weekend so she and I can cuddle and watch a movie together again.


Once I got a bit of a fix, her handed her off back to her daddy.

She didn't even stir, just kept right on napping in his arms.

We headed back home after about an hour so we could have some supper.

My Honey had smoked some wings and then he deep fried them.

I added lemon and seasoning salt and they were absolutely delicious.

He had cooked some chicken breast for me as well so I had a piece of that too.

He was working on business stuff so I got caught up on some of my TLC shows that had PVR'd.

Counting On, Outdaughtered and Little Life on the Prairie.

By then it was time for bed and I was ready.

I think that I am going to try reading a little of a book when I go to bed each night to see if that helps me get to sleep any better.

I started tonight and read half a chapter of Game of Thrones.

I am almost finished reading it!

That is all for today, until next time, be happy!