Get Outside!

 

I get asked from time to time as a function of some of my volunteer work about what it takes to get into camping, where to go, is it expensive etc. So, I thought I’d take this post and talk through the top five concerns I’ve heard through the years.

Question 1:

Isn’t it expensive to get all that camping stuff?

Answer 1:

Nah. I mean you can blow all the money you could ever want on camping gear, but in actuality you don’t really need much. This is especially true if you are going on your first outing. In fact, for the first outing I always recommend that would be campers borrow the gear they think they need from a friend or family member.  Camping isn’t for everyone, but everyone should try it at least once in their life. I’m going to say this again, don’t spend a ton of money upfront. A simple tent works just as well as the high dollar ones. If you waterproof it before heading out and have a good set of stakes and a hammer to draw it down well to the ground, then you will do just fine.  You should grab a simple tarp that is large enough to set your entire tent on before steaking it down. You will need some sort of a sleeping bag to throw in the tent. Preferably one that is going to keep you warm during the season that you plan on being out. You can get by just fine with simple foods like sandwiches and fruit, which means you don’t have to buy any cooking tools! Some beverages get thrown in the same cooler as the food. Bring something to start a small fire and a tool to either cut up some wood or bring it cut and split with you. You need some personal hygiene stuff of course, even for a single night out, but you can decide what you really need there. Finally, you need a place to go. If you don’t have access to any rural areas to setup a night camp, then a state or private park might be you next best options. Single night passes in state parks are reasonably priced between 10 and 20 dollars in most cases.

Question 2:

How do you know where to go?

Answer 2:

There is no hard and fast rules on where to go camping. I’ve camped in federal lands, state parks, private parks, in pastures, in the woods, in the mountains, in the desert, and on the beach. It truly is up to you. The only thing to know is what resources are near where you are interested in going and what type of terrain do you want to try out. Importantly though, think about your own health and physical ability. If you live on the coastal plains and decide to drive up to Colorado to camp, you will find that your body isn’t ready for it. High altitude camping can be rough if you are not in decent physical shape and in overall good health. The same can be true for most any terrain depending on seasons. Your best bet is to go online and google “camping near me.” There is a plethora of information online about potential campgrounds, state park camping, sometimes you can even find posting for camping on someone’s land that might be near you. These can be some of the coolest trips since you get to meet new people that are likely very well-seasoned in the camping and outdoors living, without the feeling that you are still in the city or surrounded by too many others.

Question three:

How do I learn how to camp?

Answer three:

You learn as you go in most cases. I had my first camping trip with my grandparents when I was about 7 in the family camper. It was awesome, but it was “glamping” to be sure. What I did learn from that first trip was plan. Plan everything out you need up front, then double check that.  In my cases I had forgotten to throw anything in my bag to entertain myself. So, while I hardly noticed since I did remember my fishing pole and tackle, it still would have been nice to have some cards, or games to play when the sun went down. In stead there was just lots of talking. As I’ve gotten older, I realized that the talking and the memories were worth far more than any games would have been. But a good book and a light to read by once you settle down for the night can be a peaceful end to the evening. Also, if you have a friend that goes camping, just ask to tag along once. This is by far the most common way folks learn the basics. That said, no two people camp the same. We all develop our own little tricks and ways of doing things. So take it all in. Ask questions and learn if you get to go with someone who is more seasoned. 

Question four:

What do you do when you go camping?

Answer four:

Well in my case, I take a ton of pictures and make lots of notes. Admittedly I’m an environmental guy, so you could just sit me down in the middle of no where and I’d find rocks and critters to watch. Take pictures of, you name it.  If you are going with a friend or two, then you end up exploring more likely than not. If there is water around you, you will end up there at some point. Probably just staring at it when the sun gets low. You eat. You laugh. By the same token, I’ve done more than a few solo camp outings where its just me and my thoughts. Point to all of that is you can do pretty much anything that your heart desires. Just be respectful of the land and the people around you and you will do fine.

Question five:

Is it safe to be out camping?

Answer five:

Yes, it is very safe practice. I mean that comes with a bit of self-acknowledgement that you need to be aware of the area your camping in. Initially, until you would be a well-seasoned camper, you should probably be in an area with other campers within a reasonable shouting distance. That way if you hurt yourself or run into some sort of serious problem you can literally scream for help. The thing to remember is that the people around you are there for the same reasons you are, to disconnect from the daily grind, if even for only a while. In state and federal parks, they are patrolled by actual peace officers. Real cops, who took the extra step to learn environmental laws. They aren’t ones to come up and hassle you to be sure, but they are comforting to see driving or walking through once in a while, especially if you are perhaps a little nervous on your first couple of outings, or if you are going alone.  Speaking of safety, what you really need to be worried about is hurting yourself out on the trails, or getting bitten by a snake, or perhaps spider. Those are real concerns, and with proper training  you can handle those sort of issues to. ALWAYS pack a good first aid kit, know the number to the ranger station (assuming you have cellular service) and know where the location is nearest you of a hospital. Also, and this is especially true if you are going out alone, leave a detailed plan with a trusted friend or family member. Lay out what vehicle you will be in, along with a description of it and its license plate. Make a note of the path you will be taking to get to the area you are camping in, and most importantly in your plan spell out what day and general time you should be returning home. As your skill level increases in camping and outdoors living, you will still want to leave the plan with someone. Finally, just keep a level head about yourself. Know you limits. Know your strengths.

So yeah, there are the big five. I would encourage you to all get out, even if its just once to experience a camping trip. You sleep better. You feel better and I guarantee that you will appreciate the world just a little more after its done.

Until next time…

A day in the life of a water utility operator… Drinking Water Plant Operator Version.

Howdy y’all,

A friend suggested that one of my posts needs to be about a normal day for an water treatment operations professional. So, with that, let me share a little about what the normal water treatment operator does in his or her day. And yes, I said her.  I have had the pleasure of working with several female operators before, and without a doubt, they were some of the most competent operators I have ever known.

Once you arrive at your duty assignment, be that a surface water plant or groundwater pumping station or even the company shop, the first thing that you have to do is check in on what fell apart the night before. Now generally it will not be anything too terrible, but the normal fare of problems will mostly be telemetry system related or pump related. Occasionally there will be some calls from concerned citizens at 2 or 3 am wanting to know all about their water quality, those are sure to be fun call backs.

If you and your utility are lucky, nothing went sideways in the night, so it’s time to grab a cup of coffee or something similar and check out the work orders for the day.

Work orders are both a blessing and curse.  They are great for documenting what you do, but they are such pains in the butt when it comes to filing them. All utilities however demand work orders and tracking on them. It is the one main way that a utility shows its work effort, and indeed its needs during budget season. In the bad old days, our work orders were just print outs, but as technology has evolved and the role of the operator has become more and more infused with technology, the paper gave way to the computer or tablet.

Now that you have your work orders you can head out to get started on them.  Your coworker will start running the first of the shift samples on the water. First however, the process control lab equipment all has to be calibrated, and those results logged.  Any equipment not functioning properly must first be repaired or replaced before any samples can be run.  In general, an operator will spend about 45 minutes of the first hour grabbing samples and running process control analysis along with state and federal analysis.

While you are running analysis on the water, someone else will be filling up the “day” tanks for the shift.  These day tanks hold the allotment of chemicals that are expected to be used for the shift. Bulk chemicals are pumped or fed into these day tanks, where the amount added can be carefully measured to accurately count the chemical usage. In newer plants, these day tanks may be designed out, and instead computers monitor the feeding rates of the chemicals and record and report those to the operator constantly.

So now that you have managed to get your hands wet and bogged down in paperwork you get to go back and record all this data. As soon as you get that done, it’s time to get samples collected for the laboratory. Now, depending where you are, and what water you are treating there could be gallons of water to be collected from different locations around the plant.  If you work at a surface water plant, there will be more testing than that needed for groundwater only sources.

In many utilities, the plant operators also act as the radio dispatchers and phone operators. You will receive calls by phone for complaints, water leaks, cats up tree’s, neighbors who hate each other and want you to do something about it. Honestly, the list of odd and bizarre calls never ends. Once I had a customer called the utility I worked for. She was terribly upset that the water was too cold. Someone had given her the impression that we would warm her water up for her before it got to her home. Needless to say that was 30 minutes of my life I’ll never get back. All is well that ends well though, as the old saying goes.

From here you have samples every hour that must be taken for process control if you are in a surface water plant. That takes about 15 to 20 minutes each time.  In between those samples, the filters need to be washed and cleaned. These filters trap all the bad stuff in the water like cryptosporidium or giardia.  Those filters can run from a day or two up to maybe a week just depending on the water and the flow rate through each filter.  The way the world works however, you end up with 3 or 4 filters to wash on a normal shift. That process takes over an hour when you are a junior operator. By the time you have seasoned out, you can do it in 30 to 40 minutes, while dispatching calls on the radio and eating your lunch because you don’t actually get a scheduled time for that in most cases.

What you find is the job in many cases is routine. Things happen at specific times for specific reasons. You start or stop pumps to keep the system full. You work with maintenance staff to clean up the site on your free time. Take out the trash. Clean the bathrooms. You name it, you must do it.

As the shift starts to come to an end, you will most likely see the next shift of operators about 15 to 30 minutes before their scheduled time to start. In large facilities, this is the “pass on” period. Where the shift about to go off explains what they have done, what problems they had etc. to the shift about to come on duty. Logbooks are transferred, as are keys, radios all the tools of the trade.

Then finally that magic time rolls around, and you can punch out for the shift. Sadly, you will probably be back in 8 hours. As the years go by it has become harder and harder to keep utilities fully staffed. Staff will commonly work 8 to 16 hours a week of overtime to fill shortages in staff. The truth is that its not glamorous work. You will not be a social media influencer showing off pictures of you taking water samples. You will not get rich. You will miss many holidays, birthdays, and precious family moments because you are on shift or responding to an emergency call out.

Truly, very few folks know how much goes into making that water flow out their tap at any given time, and even fewer care. That is until the water isn’t flowing, then suddenly it’s a crisis of epic proportions. Over worked and under appreciated are the hallmarks of being a water treatment professional these days.

Until next time…

 

 

Voting when you’re a Libertarian…

Howdy all,

I could have sworn I updated this blasted thing just a few months ago…turns out that was two years ago. I swear even time isn’t passing correctly under the trump regime.

This, however, is the perfect opportunity to talk a little about voting. Hopefully, most Americans know we officially go to the polls in less than 30 days. Early voting has already begun in many parts of the country.  Its exciting. Its nerve racking. Its complicated. Its cumbersome. Well when I put it that way it doesn’t sound nearly as cool as it actually is. Make no mistake it is cool, and it’s the foundation of our system of government.

When you are a libertarian, you really are never happy about the candidates that come from the right or left. You often see them as much the same thing, just painted a different color. In your mind, government has a well laid out set of things it needs to do, and plenty of things that it should never do. You expect that government is thrifty with your hard-earned money and that when questioned about its activity, the government will be honest about what has or has not happened. Finally, you do not believe that morals or ethics are ever to be handed down from up on high. Rather the ethics of the elected officials should always be open for public review.

But that said, we find ourselves in perilous times both as a nation and as individuals. Those expectations are well dead and gone at this point. From the federal level all the way down to the most backward and piss-ant of city councils have shifted much toward the authoritarian end of the spectrum over the last four years. There is a clear trend, especially to a government employee, that the ride is nearing the end of the cliff. A hard and fast correction is required. 

On the one hand, most people knew what trash trump and his clan were before he was elected. What seems to have surprised many, myself included, was how quickly the GOP rolled over and showed trump their belly…all in the name of winning and the power that came with it.

So that gets us to now. Now we are gripped in the thralls of a global pandemic that has not been managed by our government at all. Local cities or counties and even some states may do ok but there is no comprehensive plan for the nation. No supply chain stabilization. No nothing but hot air about how its no big deal that over 200,000+ of our brothers and sisters were taken by it. 

In short, we have to all recognize that we are in a situation where we need to think in terms of country over party. I find myself very clearly seeing that the only hope we have for this country is to vote blue through and through both in ‘20 and ’22. Joe was not my first choice for sure, but right now what we need is someone who is calm. Someone who doesn’t make policy decision on Twitter. Someone who will have smart advisors around and frankly a hell of a VP to bounce off a fresh perspective on whatever comes up.

We are going make it through this nightmare.

So first things first... Check your registration, see the link below. Make sure you have got a good face mask. Stand 6 feet apart or more if able. VOTE EARLY if you can. Do not wait for the big crowds. Also, one last thing to remember, your right is to vote for whomever you want to, even if that vote is for Donald. Do not let someone question you about who you are going to vote for or why. Report voter intimidation in Texas to the number below.

 

To report intimidation at the polls in Texas: 1-800-252-8683

If you live in another state, contact your local secretary of state to file a complaint.

https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote

https://www.votetexas.gov/your-rights/

https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/contact.shtml

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/election-crimes-and-security

 Until next time...