First day of work: 7:30 to 4:30 with a 1.5 hour lunch. I was brought on with the framing crew that's putting together walls for a new school. Foundation is due to be complete tomorrow or Wednesday and we hoping to have the framing ready to transport to the site (we are blind framing it in the HODR compound and will do final assembly on-site) on Wednesday.
The compound is open to the sky but has four walls. The concrete floor if finished very smooth. The net result is that it's quite hot with the sun and the concrete radiating and reflecting. No breeze get into the compound.
I worked too hard in the morning...apparently totally common. We took water breaks every hour or so. I drank a 24oz bottle of water every time we took a break and I was still only able to piss once during the day. It's the strangest thing, but I swear it seems like I sweat more profusely in the 5 or so minutes of the breaks than I do while I'm actually swinging the hammer and I've never experienced sweating like this. I can feel it coming up thru my pores like I'm a sponge that someone is squeezing.
The afternoon only got hotter and folks on the framing crew starting falling victim to the heat. Two fellows had to sit out some of the afternoon. I was close to sitting as well, but I didn't think it'd actually do any good as there's no way to cool off. Can't even find a cool concrete pillar to lean on: they are all fully as hot as the sun it seems.
Tomorrow I will bring out my camera and little heat sensor that tells me surface temperature of anything I point it at. I'll also keep track of the amount of water I consume...it's going to be a staggering number especially since I still feel like crap even after all that water (had a terrible time with food and had to force myself to eat at lunch and dinner...I know...crazy, eh?).
Took our first rain tonight. It's been threatening for days but tonight it delivered in great fashion. One minute was dry and the next we were sopping wet. It was wonderful as I took a shower and actually got just the tiniest teensy bit cold. The bad news was that the roof top where we pitch tents is hit or miss regarding slope and drainage - especially at the rate of this rainfall. Hence many tents were awash as the water got to nearly 3" deep in some spots. Many tents are raised on scavenged cinder blocks covered in plywood. I've gathered a bunch, but not enough yet (I found that out as the rain hit and I had belongings everywhere on the rooftop...grr). Luckily, I am managed to snag a spot that is a high point so, while some rain damage occurred due to being exposed, overall I faired pretty well. That rain was the coldest thing I've drunk while I've been here. A breeze kicked up after the rain and that was nice too. Now it's all gone...only a few hours have gone by and it's all hot hot hot and muggy as the dickens.
