aggienaut | Tartarus in the Roof

   Yesterday at work I was in the truck with boss Dave all day. Since he and senior technician Ryan had taken the day off yesteryesterday to go fishing, and now Ryan's gone to Vegas for the weekend, Dave was very anxious to get as many jobs done today as possible.

   Anyway, today we were working in the attic of an apartment building in Santa Ana. The colony was in the corner about thirty feet from the entrance to the attic. Since it was really hot in there, and Dave was wearing the bee suit and a respirator, and Dave couldn't easily get out of position in there to take a break or get out, him passing out from heat exhaustion was a real concern. Of lesser note, one of the straps on his respirator broke, but he tied it back together and it looked sufficient.
   He told me he was going to holler out to me every ten minutes, and if I didn't hear him to call out to him for a response, and if I couldn't get an answer out of him to get concerned.
   He got into position and we tested hollering to confirm we could hear eachother. At about ten minutes I heard from him. A few minutes past the second ten minutes I casually leaned in and yelled his name. No response. "Hey.. Dave? ..Dave! Dave!!" Nothing.
   So into the attic I go and try again, no answer. I start moving towards his corner calling out his name loudly but no signs of life. Eventually I'm almost where he should be and I can barely see (I didn't have a flashlight) and it smells strongly of pyrethium gas (I didn't have a respirator) I wonder if maybe his respirator had failed. I'm still not getting a response and I see no sign of him, though visibility is extremely poor and there are a number of nooks in the attic here. I wonder what I'm going to do when I find him, since I don't have my cell phone with me, and hauling his unconscious body out would be well nigh impossible to me since it requires monkeying to traverse the beams successfully even without an unconscious body that weighs much more than you.
   I concluded that the best solution would actually be to just go for it and bring him through someone's ceiling to the livingroom below us. After all, a man's life is worth breaking that taboo on coming flying through people's ceilings.

   Anyway, it turns out he was around a corner or two in the labyrinthine nooks of that area. We completed the job successfully and hauled three buckets of honey out of the attic after 51 minutes. Dave came out for a break halfway through (and this guy definitely doesn't believe in breaks except in life threatening situations) and he was soaked in sweat. In the picture above (which is strategically placed for maximum suspense) he is sitting next to the attic entrance in question. See the corner in the background? It was about 30% further from the entrance than that.

Previously on Emosnail
   2004-07-27: Diedrichs Floods - I receive a tearful call from Diedrichs, where I find the place flooding.
   One Week & Two Years Ago Yesterday: The Fate of Nakamichi - Nakamichi America, once an a major national electronics firm ends its life in my trashcan - photos to prove it! Also, pictures of cute catapillars, newts & lizards.
   A Week & Two Years Ago Today: Livejournal Madlibs I - The original livejournal madlibs.
   Two Years Ago Last Sunday: Commercial Photoshoot - For work I do a photoshoot of Caroline Blevins modelling a poncho. Jeff Whetstone approves.
   Two Years Ago Last Tuesday: Rating the Rating Communities I - I propose the brilliant concept which eventually because ratecommunities ... which I have since totally neglected. But it will rise again!!
   Two Years Ago Last Thursday: Picturing Petey - A bunch of pictures from hanging out with Shalane & her then-boyfriend Petey at Diedrichs. Also my photography is working its way up the yarn industry. Also, Peasant's Quest comes out!!
   Two Years Ago Yesterday: Drawing Trogdor - Some drawings I did at Diedrichs earlier in the day, of Trogdor, the emo snail, etc.