really yucky jobs you just had to do

[Firea100]

Sitting here thinking about "yucky" things, back in the mid-seventies, I was stationed in Norfolk Va. assigned to a harbor tug boat(YTB-757). I was a "snipe".That's an Engineman, Electrician, Hull Technician ect. Anyway every Friday before we went off duty, one of the jobs that needed doing was to scrub the decks (floors) in the engineroom.

We would use a bucket of diesel fuel with a stiff broom and scrub the decks,rinse it with fresh water, which went directly into the bilge and then was pumped over the side right into the Cheasapeake Bay! When we had to change out the starter battery for one of the aux. generators, we would go back ashore pick it up at the "ships store" bring it back aboard and install it. It was about a 1/4 mile to the dumpster to dispose of the old one. Nope, "KERPLUNK", you "deep sixed" it into the water, all gone! Clutch rings, as tall as I was, went up the ladder (stairs) and over the side!

We now live along the beautiful St. Clair River here in East China Mi., are avid boaters and love the beautiful view and sparkling water. I shudder to think about what was S.O.P (standard operating procedure) back then! But that was the way it was!
Yeah that was YUCKY!!!

 

[Phu Cat]

PCWell Firea, scrubbing the deck with diesel fuel then trying to rinse it off with water sounds like a job in itself sinse the two won't mix. Didn't that just turn into a slippery mess?

PC

 

[Trent]

I am a real estate appraiser. Got an order to do an historic home 100 yr old in N Boise. When looking at the preliminary paperwork, I immediately noticed the possible selling price was about $110K below what it should be selling for. When I called about getting entry I found out why. The owner was an old, very obese and reclusive guy that kept to himself, and neighbors rarely saw him, and no one ever talked to him. This was in July by the way. Neighbors began noticing a bad dead animal smell outside, and it was getting worse each day. Someone finally called the city and they figured out it was coming from this home. Cops and FD broke in the home. The old guy had died in bed, laid there in the 100 degree heat for a couple of weeks, bloated up and exploded.

He had no family, no friends, nobody... so no one ever checked on him. After they got the body out, the city took over the home and put it up for possible sale. Potential buyers needed an estimate for cost to cure the problems verses actual value. I have never seen or smelled something so bad and this was a couple of weeks later. When he popped, it went to clear up to the ceiling, into the walls, and had soaked down thru the bed, flooring, and into the basement. Even the wood framing was contaminated as stuff had soaked thru the sheetrock. They could not even find a hazmat company that would touch it unless paid a purposely insane amount of $$.

After I went and gave it a look, and smell, I turned down the order, and while holding my nose, very un-professionally suggested they scrape the whole thing off the site and just the sell the lot, which was worth about $75K. I would drive by it all the time and see that someone bought it, didn't tear it down, and renovated it. It had a for sale sign in the yard for a couple of years!!. Someone lives in it now. I will never forget that smell and taste in the air.

 

[Papa Zook]

I am a real estate appraiser. Got an order to do an historic home 100 yr old in N Boise. When looking at the preliminary paperwork, I immediately noticed the possible selling price was about $110K below what it should be selling for. When I called about getting entry I found out why. The owner was an old, very obese and reclusive guy that kept to himself, and neighbors rarely saw him, and no one ever talked to him. This was in July by the way. Neighbors began noticing a bad dead animal smell outside, and it was getting worse each day. Someone finally called the city and they figured out it was coming from this home. Cops and FD broke in the home. The old guy had died in bed, laid there in the 100 degree heat for a couple of weeks, bloated up and exploded.

That would have made for a great "Flip This House" episode.

 

[Phu Cat]

Would the bed have contained most of the 'juices'. Double yuck!

PC

 

[Trent]

That would have made for a great "Flip This House" episode.

Yeah it would... I would like to see what the cute little blond lady and her big hammer would have done with that one!

- - - Updated - - -

Would the bed have contained most of the 'juices'. Double yuck!

PC

It held as much as it could.. Even a sponge can get too full.. the guy was huge.. very obese I was told,, so there was a lotta fat to convert to liquids. Just soaked clear thru the mattress and was dripping onto, and thru, the floor. There was a little bit of a fly issue also.