sewage

Sludge

/ Leland Olson Hoel / Leave a comment

sludge

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/sludge/

Daily Prompt:

Sludge

When I saw the daily prompt was Sludge. A memory instantly went through my mind. I knew something about sludge? The most common sludge is no doubt that which comes from processed sewage. That took me right back to my childhood when my two brothers and I raised pigeons. We were always on the lookout for a different kind of pigeon that we could mix with the breeds that we had in our old barn. At one time we had close to 100 pigeons. We spent a lot of time with those birds, they were very loving each one had his own personality and disposition.

To get back to my story we lived in a small town and our barn was right on the edge of town that we kept our pigeons in. About a half a mile out in the field from where we lived was the towns sewage treatment plant. The roof of that long old wooden building had a very large cupola which I would imagine was for a lot of air circulation for the fumes that were in that building. The whole building was full of sewage ponds. The three of us armed with only a flashlight went into that pitch dark building during the night. My older brother volunteered to climb up to the cupola and catch a couple of the choice pigeons that were sleeping up there. He was a fantastic climber and pigeon man he could twist their wings together locking them so the bird couldn’t fly. When you lock their wings together like that they were very easy to handle you could set them down they would just walk around and look at you. It didn’t hurt their wings one bit.

He started climbing down with two pigeons in one hand which became very precarious, yes, he lost his grip and slipped then plunged into one of the ponds of sludge. That was a real close encounter of the worst kind with sludge. Needless to say, the pigeons untangle their wings and flew away doing their little pigeon laugh I would imagine. That took all the Zeal away from our pigeon hunt for that night. We walked the half-mile back to our house, staying a good distance from brother Corky. He was still leaving a trail of sludge, we tried to go in the back entrance to the basement of our house.

The sludge covered one was quick to shed his clothing my other brother Harlan started to hose him off over the floor drain. I used the iron poker from the furnace to push his clothing into a large old bag and I threw them out the back door. After the first layer of the Sludge was sufficiently removed he quickly made his way up the back stairs to take a warm bath. I believe he put all of our mother’s smelly stuff in the water.

We had big old Eagle Claw bathtub he soaked in there most of the night. My dad was no rocket scientist but he recognized what our predicament was and he said I thought I told you, boys, “to stay away from that sewage treatment building?” There Are No Pigeons worth drowning in sludge for. The sludge aroma is possibly a good base for perfume because that initial scent lasts for days.

Sludge is a semi-solid slurry and can be produced as sewage sludge from wastewater treatment processes or as a settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatment and numerous other industrial processes. Sludge

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Dirty

/ Leland Olson Hoel / 2 Comments

dirty.png

DAILY PROMPT
Dirty
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. Not sure how to participate?

Pros
Soil is a dirty  mixture of clay, sand and humus that lies over the bedrock of this planet. The dirt varies in components almost by the mile. It makes no difference what part of the globe your on, it varies. Soil can be tested to determine which fertilizers and chemicals should be added to it. Farmers want maximum crop yield from their soil, that requires adding the proper nutrients to the cropland. The food to keep civilization alive comes from the ground and from the trees growing all around the world. Some nations are much farther ahead than others at making farmland as active as possible. Each farmer in the United States at the present time feeds 155 people around the world.

Many earthen, or dirt filled dams have been built around the world. Earth filled dams may be over a mile wide at the base. That is a lot of dirt! They hold back millions of acre-feet of water, that water in turn is used to turn electric power turbines. That hydro-electric power is transmitted to provide electric power to millions of people. Hydro-electric power is a must in the fight against global warming. There are no doubt be many more locations where earth or dirt filled dams can be built.

Cons
Dirty comes in the form of dust too. Millions of dollars are spent daily getting rid of dust and chasing it around with a wide assortment of feather duster’s or dust magic rags, handy wipes or whatever. Often times a dirty car will have ‘wash me’ written on the back window dust. Dust is a nuisance the place were dust mites live to multiply by the millions and we don’t even know they’re there. Surely that is a good reason to be chasing after the dust with whatever is available.

Dirty dust storms ravaged the central plains of the United States in the 1930’s. We certainly don’t want to relive those days. Strong winds blew the dust and dirt back and forth across many states until it changed the landscape dramatically. The black dirty blizzards even buried some fences, nothing would grow in the dirty, dusty dry land. People migrated west searching for a new life. That era of hard times was known as the dirty 30’s.

Dirty also may fall into the category of foul matter such as human excrement. We should feel thankful to be living in a country with functioning sewer systems. No matter how good sewer systems are built floodwaters come along and get into the sewer system. They can back up into people’s basements and you are confronted with dirt and filth. You see it with your eyes, smell it with your nose. Your whole house almost has to be redone the basement cleanup cost can be very expensive.

The inside of your computer gets dirty, it accumulates lots of dust and dirt. The intake cooling fans move large amounts of air through your computer. While your computer is running you are also circulating dust that is stirred up in your house. It is wise to have your computer cleaned regularly. You can do it yourself by removing the cover and getting a can of air with a spray tube. Give the computer a good dusting, be careful not to move anything out of its place. You will see a fan on the processor. It is best to remove the fan from the processor to get all of the packed dust out of the cooling vanes. If you have doubt about removing the fan just spray air at it from all angles. That is one place where the most dust accumulates. It also can cause the processor to overheat and burn out. Be careful not to let any liquid from the spray can hit the processor. Let the computer cool off before you try cleaning dust out, ice cold air on the hot processor is a no no. You will add new life to your computer by cleaning the dust out.

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