Outage Started

Bay City, Texas

Weather: low 50 degrees, high 72 degrees, clear skies

The shutdown at work began today, and everything seems to be going well. This shutdown has a different feel to it, and that’s meant to be a positive statement. Many lessons learned were taken from the last outage and applied to this one, and experience tells us that this site is very good at using lessons learned. One month to go, if everything goes as planned!

Normally, when I’m driving to work, I try to review in my mind what’s going on at work and what I need to be concentrating on for the upcoming day. As I was driving in at 0430 hours, the early morning was so beautiful I just enjoyed the drive. The moon was nearly full, the sky was clear, the stars were shining brightly, and I didn’t see any other vehicles during the drive. Although I’m sure I could have slept a little longer, the beauty and serenity of the early morning made getting up so early a little easier to bear.

The outages at this plant take place in the fall or spring, during the time of the year that has the nicest weather for the entire year. The outages usually last about a month, and a common complaint heard around the site is why do we always have these outages when the weather is so nice. The short answer is that the electricity is not needed as badly at those times of the year. Today was no exception to the nice weather, as the sun was shining brightly, the humidity was low, and the temperature was a moderate 60 to 70 degrees. With the wind, it was even a little cool. Just another typical day at the plant during an outage.

When I arrived home from work, Carolyn had prepared one of our favorite dishes, Oriental Beef Stew, for supper. Ummm, ummm, good! She must be feeling a little better. I hope she is, since it looks like she's too stubborn to go to the doctor.

This is the first day of what I'm sure will become a grind before it's finished. I'll try to keep everyone up to date on how the progress of the outage is going, and who knows, maybe we'll finish early. I could handle that.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Temple Terrace, Florida: A City For Living

Not all who wander are lost.