Construction Girls, like any apprentice, sometimes get stuck with what can only be described as grunt work. If you are observant, however, lessons will still sneak up on you.

Yesterday I worked at a house that is still recovering from a major fire. What wasn't burned was water logged. Some of the dried out possesions had been heaped in the large furnace room along with various scraps from the rebuilding. A mountain of...stuff needed to be sorted into keep & toss, the toss pile needing to be compressed. It is interesting sorting through a strangers belongings. Some things were obvious keepers and some made you wonder what they were thinking. Some was clearly trash.

After sorting a heap of garbage about the size of a VW, the tiles on the floor needed scraped up since half of them were loosened already by the water damage. That was actually fun, permitted destruction - a chance to get out some frustrations. But the mountain of trash had to be moved from one side of the room to the other. The subsequent sweeping created a fine cloud of dust. I was happy I had put on gloves. I wished I had put on a mask, but kept thinking I wouldn't be in the dust for long.

That was a dirty day. I came home and showered and scoured. I was grateful I had thought to protect my hands, making them better for touching skin later. I thought I had scrubbed off all the dirt, until I blew my nose and realized I missed a spot. (Sorry, I know that was gross.)

So here's the lesson.
Construction Girls - and guys too - should always use protection.