I showed up at his office at 6AM to get my wire. It's not very subtle; the microphone clips to your collar and its foam cover is about 3/4 inch diameter. Not exactly surveillance equipment. The wire went behind my neck, under my sweater's hood, and the little recorder box sat in my pocket.

"See you at 11," he said. "Now I'm going to have breakfast."

My shift starts earlier than most.

I have been assured that the little box only stores noise levels and not the actual sounds. Not that it really matters, the only people I talked to all day were the industrial hygienist and my boss.

He got a ride out with one of the big contractors who drive past the plant regularly. After confirming that I'd drive him back to town when he was done, his ride left.

In our emergency shelter (aka the office) we looked over the plant's floor plan to choose the points he'd measure sound at.

He took off the jacket over his coveralls, the jacket under his coveralls, and his scarf. I laughed and said, "it's not that cold out yet!"

"I'm not used to being outside," he replied.

It's hovering right around freezing right now, but then there are a lot of people who only go outside to get on the airport bus.

We wandered around the plant for just under an hour, and I helped him figure out where he was standing on his little map. He took the measurements at different places than we had discussed mere minutes earlier.

Worker's Comp specifies safe limits based on exposure time and to my relief my average exposure was well below; my peak exposure was right around the 12-hour exposure limit.

My boss had asked me to do the measurements myself, but I wasn't about to argue when the industrial hygienist said he'd have to do it and that I should wear a wire for a day. He was right about needing to know how to interpret the results, for one thing - and last time we were officially noticed by health & safety we got a lockout/tagout kit we should have gotten last year, so I like it when they come to visit.

Miner's recycling

Ok, all that was general industrial stuff, so here's some mine-specific comments.

A load of muck was delivered to us yesterday, and packed up against the exposed foundation on one side of the building. I didn't ask where the muck came from, but it's almost certainly mine waste - acidic, and too toxic to dump in the environment. So, like the acid rock the plant is built on, waste material is used inside containment areas as a construction material. After all, it's better than free - if it isn't used, it has to be stored safely.

Mmmm, waste muck. The thrills.

Snow in September?

It's been snowing at night most of the week, and partially melting during the day. The last few days it's snowed during the day as well.

Already?? Actually, the snow is late this year. Everybody was expecting it at the end of August.

We didn't get snow at the end of August, but we got our emergency shelter. Before that, the emergency shelter was the truck. Not exactly ideal, but it does have an independent power supply...

The shelter is pretty nice. It's 40 feet long, about a third of which is fresh and waste water tanks. It is now our office and lunch room, and is far superior (and quieter) than the old office, which was supposed to be a lab. It's not on permanent legs though, just on its wheels, so when the wind gets up it can rock quite a lot. My co-workers have complained of getting sea-sick. I joke about it rocking me to sleep.

Unfortunately, they don't want to turn on the plumbing this year, because we'll only use it for a month or two then it'll be another thing to winterize. Only a month or two?! That's two months of increasingly ugly weather, and I was really looking forward to not having to get in the truck and leave the plant every time I had to pee.

Yes, a toilet is a luxury, in our little uninsulated, gravel-floored plant. I want it turned on!