When most people think about Palm Springs the last image that enters their mind is snow, but that's exactly what you'll find riding the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up the San Jacinto mountains that sit above the desert town. Before anything can be done Mike helps clear snow off of the tram. Then he is off to help oil the sheaves (wheels) on the carriage-the part of the tram that houses the wheels that carry it up and down the track. Before they sheaves can be oiled, however, the carriage must be hoisted. In order to do this, Mike must crawl down below the carriage and set up a hydraulic ram. Not a tough job, but a little scary when dangling from a cable 60 feet above the ground.
To do his next job, Mike must travel another 5,000 feet up the mountain to the top camp where it's 8,516 feet in elevation and a chilly 25 degrees. Here the task is also quite simple, replacing a worn sheave, but there are some hiccups along the way, including someone forgetting the tools needed at the bottom of the mountain.
For his last challenge of the day, Mike ascends 227 feet off the ground on one of the towers holding the track cables. Here, Mike greases up the tracks and tempts fate as he crawls to the edge of the tower to change out a wind sock. A task few would want, but a view few will ever have.
EROSION CONTROL TECHNICIAN The location of this episode of Dirty Jobs is a new home development project in Orinda, CA where Mike works with a crew to prevent erosion problems on the hillside. Right off the bat it's easy to see that erosion is definitely an issue in the area as Mike's camera operator manages to get the van stuck in the mud, not just once, but twice.
After that minor setback Mike sets out to learn about the work he'll be doing. His first task is hauling wattles to the top of the hillside. Wattles are large tubes of biodegradable plastic filled with straw that help secure the land. Once he gets to them to the top he learns how they mark where to place them. Though Mike thinks he's got the formula figured out, it turns out to be a little more complex than he originally thought.
Next he must dig the trenches for the wattles and then, of course, he must lay them. They are then secured to the hillside by pounding wooden stakes with a mallet. This again, proves to be a task much harder than Mike anticipated and he is not shy about airing his frustration.
Once the wattles are all set it's time to blow the hillside with more straw. Wanting to be helpful, Mike offers to drive the large truck carrying the straw bails up the hill. He does well at first, but after getting the rig stuck in the mud, he concedes that the challenge was more than he thought. After a quick tow Mike heads over to the straw blower where he learns all steps in the process from cutting the strings on bails, to loading them into the machine and best of all- getting to operate the blowing cannon.
TURKEY INSEMINATOR EPISODE, (5/12/08)
MASTIC SLINGER In this episode of Dirty Jobs, Mike makes a house call to join a construction team working to improve the energy efficiency of older homes. Mike gets covered in insulation, foam, and mastic-a sticky marshmallow-like goo that seals holes under houses and attics where heat escapes. But before the fun can really begin, Mike gets good and dirty while cleaning out the crawlspace.
TURKEY INSEMINATOR Mike bravely jumps into action harvesting turkey semen on a farm in Minnesota. It all starts with Americans' love of big, fat large-breasted turkeys. Because Americans like white meat so much, turkeys are bred to produce large breasts. Domesticated turkeys have such large chests that the male, "tom turkey" is not able to fertilize the eggs of the female, "hen turkeys" in the natural mating position. These days, turkey eggs are fertilized by artificial insemination, and it's a dirty job sucking semen from the Tom Turkey. It's a dirty job that you have to see to believe!
CAR CRUSHER Mike feels the power of destruction at a salvage yard where cars are crushed into cubes of scrap metal.
SNOW OIL SEPERATOR (5/19) Mike Rowe travels to the fishing community of Dutch Harbor, Alaska where he join forces with a crew of hazardous waste experts that have the dirty job of cleaning up a diesel oil spill that has the potential of polluting local water supplies as well as fish populations. Since the oil spill was mixed with snow, Mike's job is to load the toxic snow onto a truck where it is then brought to another location where it then goes through the oil removal process. It's a dirty job that solutes the men and women who get dirty to protect our environment.
ICE SALVAGE CREW Mike Rowe teams up with Tri-State Diving in Minnesota for the unusual dirty job of recovering sunken vehicles from the bottom of lakes. Usually these cars break through the ice and sink to the bottom of the lake - it's a dirty job that requires Mike to brave frigid cold weather as he cuts a giant hole into the ice. Mike then works with the crew to connect the car to a special extracting device that pulls the car out of the water. It's an unusual Dirty Job that gives mike a new appreciation for the men and women who brave cold weather and get dirty to make a more civilized life possible for the rest of us.
More information to come!
DJModChickie
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJModChickie,
Hi, I've been lurking for a bit. Love the site, but I have a question pertaining to this post, sort of. It says here and on the ticker on the main page that DJ is on Monday nights, but when I click on the TV schedules lists, it's not anymore! All the dates, especially the new ones, now seem to be in the middle of the night. What happened to prime time? Please tell me the schedule is wrong, or even that I am wrong. I am addicted to this show (and Mike) and I'm already starting to go through withdrawal thinking I won't be able to watch unless I'm up at 1 a.m., which is rare. See, look, I'm already shaking. Please clarify! Thanks!
DJ has new episodes on Monday nights at 9:00 through May. At some point, I'm not sure when, DJ will return to it's regular time slot, Tuesdays at 9:00. As for the hyperventilating, just get yourself a paper bag and breath into it slowly. The dizziness should pass shortly.
i bet that dj mod chickie and mod ivy will have thier hands full as the turkey inseminator episode is disccused round here . i am more lookimng forward to the car crushing myself !
I’m sure that I’ll have a good time watching Mike mock the turkey, Barsky, and anything else that comes into firing range. Of course, I’ll be watching it with Khay and I’m never sure which I enjoy more…the sarcastic sense of humor of Mr. Rowe, or the sarcastic mocking of Mike by Khay.
I am sorry this was the funniest episode my wife and I've seen in awhile. The best part Mike was the hens. I just want to know if the camera guys are giving you grief about sucking semen and dropping your load prematurely (twice). We are still laughing..
Mike thank you for the show. After a hard day at the office, I can never complain after watching the show!
DirtyViewer
PS. Please add this episode to the "Best of the Best" outakes.
