The Whale Job: More Cleaning

This cleaning thing is proving to be really, really not fun. I mean, getting hypothermic the first time I tried to remove the head was more fun than this is. I've been switching the water on it whenever the opportunity comes up, so once every couple days. Starting to be difficult now, as it's nearly November, cold makes the process significantly slower. There's been barely any change in its state since early October on account of it being anywhere from 10°C to -5°C. And snowing. But that's not really relevant. Anyhow, I pulled out the most cohesive bits to scrub today. It was...unpleasant to say the least. On the upside, the braincase is clear, which I was rather concerned about. The downside is that I believe the skull may be spawning an Elder Thing, as it's covered in worm-like protrusions. God, I hope it's an Elder Thing, because otherwise it's some kinda bone maggots, and that's horrifying. The jaw sockets are terrifying as well, infested with whatever the hell the worm things are. What I'm going to do with it...okay, I have honestly no idea at this point. It's a foul-smelling wormy mess of bones that still need to be worked over, degreased and have any remaining flesh removed. And bleaching, but I figure I may just let that go by sunlight. Not like the birds are going to carry it off.

The Whale Job, Cleaning

So the ammonia idea was a no-go. Couldn't get enough, and even if I could I'd have needed more. Time for plan B. Extended soaking in water and enzyme-based laundry detergent. Might take a while, but seems to be working so far. But the smell...it's quite literally worse than when I was sawing the thing off in the first place. I choked a few times, and had to get upwind from it.

The Whale Job, Part 8

Somebody stole my box. What in the name of god would posses somebody to dump whale bones out of a Rubbermaid tub to take it continues to baffle me, but it's gone. Not that I particularly care, because that box was a writeoff from the first moment the head was in it, but I just have to ask why. I bought a new box and decided it was about time I took the whole mess home before anyone got the idea to make off with the interesting bits. Wrapped in garbage bags, the new box with the skull inside it was brought home. It's currently sitting behind the shed, waiting on the ammonia to clean it. Once that's done, I've got to figure out a way to repair one jaw segment that's been gnawed by bears.

The Whale Job, Episode 7

Bears. It had to be bears, didn't it. First we run a Toyota into one, and now they're around the skull. Well, they've always been around it. But I actually saw one in the process of fleeing today. Apparently they got to it more than I'd thought, because the left jawbone segment is in about four pieces with gnaw marks on it. Figure I'll bolt it back together with some 1/8 steel or something. Aside from that, it's doing great. Gathered up all the bits I could find and put them back in the box. No teeth, though. Going to haul it up next time I get a chance and start the degreasing process, which should be really fun. I'm thinking I'll take the tub and fill it 50/50 with water and ammonia, and leave it for a while.

 

The Whale Job, Part 6

So I missed an interval because of vacation. Technically this is the 7th two-week period, but whatever. All I care about is how well it's progressed. And by that I mean it's going great. I'd give it another month before I can bleach it and seal it.

An amusing side-note to the Whale Job

  

So I've been trawling the usual sources, and I come across a picture of a "sea monster" that washed up in Aberdeen, Scotland. So of course I check it out a bit further. Apparently this isn't the only place that's had a dead pilot whale wash up and make life strange for the local population. Only thing is that the response of the couple who found this one was "what the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] is that", not "hey look a dead whale, I'm going to decapitate it." Looks like I know where I'm going for vacation. Only thing is that this one's a bit bigger than the one I worked with, given at 30 feet long, although I'm doubting that from the comparison pictures . But given the state of decay, I'm thinking it'd be a good bit easier to take the skull off this one. Could also be a killer whale, they look rather similar to pilot whales, but to me at least it looks a good bit smaller than a killer whale would be.

Thirty feet, yeah right. No bigger than the one I found.

The Whale Job, Updates 4 and 5

Yes, I'm behind. Deal with it. So today it's a two-parter. Doing the pre-mentioned two-week checks. This one's for the June 30th, and July 16th.

June 30: went down mid-afternoon.  It's been flipped over again, now back to left side down (point of reference being looking at it front to back, with the cut point at the rear). Looks like one of the mandible sections has been detached, probably from where it was rolled. Gotta be bears, what else is going to touch this thing?

The mandible fragment (I think)

And today, July 16th. Warm temperatures seem to be speeding the process up quite well. The oil-filled sonar organ (melon) seems to have deflated significantly, and a number of bones are showing. No movement that I can see. Black stain of various decay fluids noted around object, about three feet in diameter.

The Whale Job, Episode Three

Checked on it again today (June 19 in case the date function breaks). Real improvement over last time, bone showing all over. And man does this thing stink. Aside: I learned that the road into it is utterly painful on foot.

The Whale Job, Update 1

 Site checked out again as of June 5 2011. Decay very evident, but no movement noted. The box has been flipped upright, however. No insect larvae noted. Decomposition seems to be proceeding as planned.

The Whale Job, or I Am Ahab

A break from the usual fodder for a while, since I'm slightly out of ideas. Don't worry, the usual supernatural schedule will return in due time. And this is pretty weird as well.

The specimen, as found.

 So, back in mid-April, around the 23rd by my records, I found something weird floating in a stream on North Side Beach, approximately halfway between the towns of Eastport and Clay Cove. Looked like a log at first, but closer examination revealed it to be some kind of biological thing. After the thought of it being a monstrous trout crossed my mind (and was summarily dismissed), I came to the conclusion that it was some kind of whale or dolphin. After a bit of examination, and some searching of references, I determined it to be a long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas), locally known as a pothead whale, a fairly common species of dolphin. How it wound up in a freshwater stream continues to baffle me, but I Occam's Razor would dictate that it washed ashore on a high tide and was pushed down into the brook. The first idea to cross my mind was that I'd love to have the thing's skull, which means waiting for a while as it rots away and hope the thing is still there. After some thought, I decided to...uh, retrieve the head myself and keep it safe. On the 26th of April, we went to give it a shot.

The kit.

The first attempt at retrieval was a mess. Both literally and figuratively. Done on a budget of approximately $60, with exactly zero knowledge (practically at least) of what I was doing, I set out on a quest to decapitate the thing. That didn't go so well. The thing proved to be a bit bigger than I'd bargained for, and the tools I'd chosen were not really that great. Specifically, a dull skinning knife and a 21" bow saw were some bad choices. The saw, while preforming quite well on the fleshier bits, snagged as a result of the design on the bone. The knife just sucked. Compounding the issue was the weather. Specifically, it was cold, with a heavy wind off the water, and driving rain. And of course my plans to seal my gear with duct tape failed miserably, so I wound up with half the stream in my gloves and boots. Oh, did I forget to mention the smell? For something that's been sitting in a clean, icy cold stream it stank like...well, like a dead whale. After much sawing and more blubber than any man should ever have to deal with, I struck a problem. The thing's spinal column. The saw wouldn't cut it, and with hypothermia setting in (no, I'm not exaggerating, I actually was mildly hypothermic), I gave up, rather dejected. A second expedition was planned for some time in the future, once I defrosted.

A wonderful glamour shot.

The second try went a lot better. First off, I was better equipped. Saw with unidirectional teeth to reduce snagging, a full suit of chest waders to stay dry, various ropes and grapples, and a V8 pickup truck. We decided that it would be a much better idea to tow the forequarters of the specimen ashore and do the cutting there. A length of braided nylon rope was run through the original incision, as can be seen in the provided image. I managed a crude slipknot into the rope, and by some miracle it didn't snap under 245 horsepower. Of course, all cameras were forgotten on the expedition when we actually got the damn thing. Anyhow, we got it ashore with relative ease, and I went to work. Oddly enough it didn't smell quite as bad. With a significant amount of effort, cutting of a vertebra, and more application of horsepower, we detached the head. Another problem soon presented itself, however. The damned thing weighed over 200 pounds, and all we had was a big Rubbermaid box. Keep in mind this had to be moved from the ground four feet up into the pan of a truck. Lifting it directly in would've been possible, but the box would've split open. Improvisation time. Using locally-available materials (AKA a big stick), we fashioned a crude ramp and grunted it aboard.

The head, as of mid-May.

The next problem was what to do with it. We discussed a number of ideas, but most of them proved rather unfeasible due to the thing's size and horrific smell. We eventually settled on the time-tested trick of "dump it the hell out of the truck, drive like scalded apes, let nature take care of it and hope nobody makes off with it". We picked a location in the absolute middle of nowhere, a nameless woods road halfway between Northern Arm and Point Leamington, a half mile off the highway. Current plan is to allow it to decay naturally for a time, and dose it with quicklime at some point. At present, it's on location. There's been some noted animal activity in the area, including something, likely a bear, rolling it over and away from the box. Checks planned every two weeks, give or take. Updates when I get'em.