Until today, there remained one last corner of the Lightsmith building that has not been touched by its new owners: the old coal and oil storage room behind the boiler room. Chris wants to clean up the area, paint it white, and put in shelves for storage to take up some of the stuff that is overflowing the other storage areas.
So this morning we started hauling stuff out–old rotten boards, burned out lightbulbs, a moldy drinking fountain, and other forgotten items–all covered with coal dust and looking like they had been through several floods (which may well be true, as the area used to leak water before Chris sealed the holes). Then I took a wire brush to the concrete walls, setting loose so much dust that I was spitting black goo in a few minutes–after which we bought respirators and breathed much easier. As of tonight we have all of the worst dust and junk out, and we are ready to paint the walls tomorrow.
I spent yesterday working on my application to Oregon State’s Biological and Ecological Engineering program. I remain much more excited about bioenergy than I ever was about ecology, but I won’t know for sure if I want it as a career until I see what these folks do day-to-day, sitting in front of computers or microscopes.
