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Slowing Down?

It's hit that odd time of the summer where Independence Day has passed, which generally means things should slow down some? Yeah, right.

It seems as though we've been 'booked solid' through the middle of the month. Even after that. The calendar seems to fill up so fast -- after all, it's as though the summertime is nearly half over (not to take the pessimistic view). frown

July 4th Weekend!

Well, another Independence Day has come and gone, and I was able to celebrate in a particularly flame-boyant way. Introducing... The Rodenator!

It's a RodeNation!

Okay, that's a rather silly play on words, simply because my experience with The Rodenator took place over the holiday weekend. See more about The Rodenator online!

Anyway, the moral of the story is that you essentially blow things up underground, thusly killing the underground rodents (in our case, pocket gophers). While most of the time the explosive effect is minimal (low thump, small cracks in the ground above the tunnels), once in a while you encounter the "Explosion of a Lifetime." This is what happened to me...

I was on my second attempt at [personally] using the Rodenator when I stumbled across what I thought to be a potentially 'explosive' situation. Of course, by the time I realized this, the gas was already flowing...so 'we couldn't just leave it' if you know what I mean. smile In fact, I believe my exact words were 'how much you want to bet this is going to blow up my ass?'

I wasn't far off...

I have never seen so much dirt fly in my life. At least not as the by-product of an oxygen/propane combustion. I wasn't personally blown up, but two fairly good-sized holes (a few inches in diameter) were right at my feet. But, an area quite literally about 20 feet square was quite literally disheveled. This tunnel system was quite close to the surface; that said, the concussion from the explosion blew the roof structure into orbit. Several-inch wide trenches were visible to the naked eye. Where the tops had gone is anyone's guess, but some dirt definitely flew during this visit. smile

It was absolutely hilarious to see, and even better knowing that I'd blown this up. smile

So, I can guarantee that blowing things up is a huge stress reliever and source of great fun on occasion (as long as you have something to blow up).

Aside from that...

...it's been life as usual, pretty much. Until next time...

-- MattZaske - 07 Jul 2005

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