Cleaning Up for a Party

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This is the best story I've heard so far. The weekend before last, Ali's mom was having a family gathering at her house in Orinda, an upscale community just over the hill from Berleley, CA. Ali's sister, Sandy came early to help clean and prepare. They found some old paint cans and decided to take them to the dump. Unlike some places, toxic materials including paint need to be signed for with address and phone number because there many legalities regarding toxic disposal and you must be a resident of the area where it is disposed. Mom and Sandy took care of this technicality, signing all the appropriate forms and such. Now the story gets interesting. Mom mentioned to the attendant at the dump that she had some small bottles of chemicals back at the house she and her husband used to use to preserve animal specimens for study. Did I mention that Ali's dad used to be the Chair of the Biology Department at Cal Berkeley? He took some of his work home with him. So, when the attendant asked what type of chemicals were at the house, Mom said that she was fairly certain that she had picric acid in the animal preservative. It was yellow crystals. The attendant, who prior to this admission had a slight stutter, became white as a sheet and began stuttering profusely. He told Mom and Sandy to call the hazardous materials agency immediately to have the picric acid removed. It was very dangerous. Mom assured the man that she would, left the dump and proceeded to run errands and have lunch with Sandy before returning home. After all, the chemicals had been stored in the crawl space under her bedroom for 4 decades. The call to hazmat could wait until after lunch. So she thought. In the meantime the the boys at the dump must have phoned hazmat themselves because, upon returning home the neighborhood had been evacuated and Ali's mom's house had been secured by 18 of the areas finest. Police and firefighters from Orinda, Lafayette, Berkeley and the bomb squad from Oakland were all there to dispose of the picric acid. It seems that over the years, when this stuff dries and crystallizes, it becomes highly volatile. Not to mention, this was the biggest training exercise any of the local departments had had in some time. After Sandy showed them where the offending substance was stored, over 100 vials were carefully retrieved, 2 holes were dug in the backyard and the stuff was detonated. Ali's mom exclaimed that the explosion was impressive. She also noted that the securing of the vials was like watching a rerun of the Keystone Cops. It is a good thing that Ali's mom is in her 80s and her last name is Pearson and not Hussein or Jabbar. No homeland security/patriot act maneuvers were necessary for this dear older woman. All the police, fire fighters, bomb squad, etc. thanked Mom and went on with their days forgetting to turn any utilities back on but that was easily remedied after dark. The next day at the family gathering, Ali reported that more picric acid was found and her pyro relatives tried to detonate it as a party game. It seems that, all along, the preserving solutions had only trace amounts of the acid in them so, they were, in reality, inert. There was just enough picric acid to turn the crystals yellow but not enough to make them combustible. So the family's efforts produced less than a fizzle. All the attempt did was upstage Ali's goats that she brought to the party for excitement. But what an excellent story they all now have to tell. Remember it the next time you are cleaning the house prior to a family gathering.

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Photos

Sandy returns home
When the party decorators show up

Taking a break
Who wants pepperoni?

We found some more
Let's blow it up

The voice of discretion
"I'm not taking you to the hospital if you blow yourself up, got it?"

Comments

[Debby]

Exercise is Good!
Great story! And loved your point about last names...pause to think. Kind of an only in Northern Cali story...or not, this "terrorest stuff" makes me real happy about where I live under the trees, trying to keep it simple. (well...relativly, etc...)xoxo