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,
I love Mike's shows and most of them I sit and say "I could do that...once" but after watching the Aerial Team Greaser I found a whole NEW and IMPROVED respect for Mike (and the guys that do that living all the time). I am not scared of heights, as a matter of fact I enjoy heights, but that job takes it to a whole new level. That was so crazy!!! As I sit on the couch and watch it my feet and hands got sweaty just thinking about riding on the top of that thing (right next to the wheels turning). You can have it man...my hats off to you and your camera crew, I give up. WAY TO GO !!!!! Thanks for the entertainment...Now I will have dreams about falling for the next month. (REALLY....GOOD JOB)
In the Aerial Tramway episode when Mike is on top of the 200 ft. tower changing a windsock,why did Mike and the guy helping him have lanyards on when the 2 camera people above him did not? Working in the manufacturing sector it was always preached to me that safety is first. Should'nt that be the same when doing a Dirty Jobs Episode as well?
As a huge fan of Dirty Jobs, I was a little disappointed with Mike's laughing response to global warming. I realize that it was snowing on the first day of Spring in Minnesota and he was probably playing off that. However, global warming isn't about Minnesota; it's about the poles, and glaciers, and the warming of the truly cold parts of the planet. Snow in the midwest isn't the problem. In the same vein, I suppose you could stand in the middle of the Sahara and say "What population explosion?". Get my point?
It was pretty awesome to see Mike working on the Arial Tram in Palm Springs. I have been on that. I also really enjoyed the Turkey insiminator. All the innuendos were hilarious. I love this show!
Mike, you have brought us another amazing glimpse in the nasty, stinking, disgusting world that only humans can create. Aren't we wonderful in all our glory? In your last epiosode, your dry wit really sparkled as you spent the day with the Mastic Slingers. It was so dry it evaporated the tea right out of my glass. You see Mike, even though we enjoy your rapid and intellectual (a nice way to say sarcastic) banter in the midst of oozing muck and mud, I alway feel that by the end of the show that you have shown the true need for the job. As for the Mastic Slingers, somehow I did not get that warm and dirty glow that usally eminates from your loopsided grin as you list the "blessings" of this position. If fact, there was no amusing synopsis for me to reflect upon. Does this mean that this specific job (Mastic Slingers) finally proved to be too much for your "I can bear all" brain to handle?
Mike, i must admit i love your show... But this time around you have outdone yourself...
When you were doing the Turkeys (no pun intended), and the Turkeys were poo'ing all over the place... I was on the floor laughing my rear end off (no pun intended)
I have NEVER laughed so hard in my life... That was GROSS!!! But awesome in a funny way!!
This is truly one of my favorite shows. My TiVo makes sure I don't miss an episode.
In the shop where you were buying your dry suit, you mentioned an "ex employee." Was that literal or a joke that someone said you had a big head? If literal, which employee is no longer with the team? Is it someone we saw from time to time? Barsky wasn't mentioned, but is still on the site. He afraid of snow?
Keep up the awesome work. I've loved the show since ep. 01.
why would you mike make DIRTY jobs a how about CLEAN jobs or COOL jobs but dirty jobs where just bored just wonderin
