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Today's volunteering task was to don a rain slicker and rubber boots and use a power washer to clean out algae from a huge holding tank. I both looked and felt like an applicant for 'Dirty Jobs'. The tank was roughly 10 feet in diameter and 4 1/2 feet high. I needed a stepladder inside the tank to get in and out of it.
It was especially fun when I slipped -- just for the record, algae-encrusted plastic floors are SLIPPERY and went - Whomp! - down on my side in a foot of green saltwater. It gushed into my raingear and drenched my hair.
Then, the stepladder broke (aluminum stepladders + salt water = less than 6 months usability) and I was stuck in the tank until the aquarist checked to see how I was doing.
By gum, that tank was CLEAN when I climbed out of it!
All in all, though, it was fun -- in a 'better than sitting at desk answering voicemail and trying to stay on top of my email' kind of way.
It was especially fun when I slipped -- just for the record, algae-encrusted plastic floors are SLIPPERY and went - Whomp! - down on my side in a foot of green saltwater. It gushed into my raingear and drenched my hair.
Then, the stepladder broke (aluminum stepladders + salt water = less than 6 months usability) and I was stuck in the tank until the aquarist checked to see how I was doing.
By gum, that tank was CLEAN when I climbed out of it!
All in all, though, it was fun -- in a 'better than sitting at desk answering voicemail and trying to stay on top of my email' kind of way.
