5 Gallon Buckets and Broken Backs

Originally uploaded by Jamie Larson.

“Okay here is one I dug from the depths of my JPGS. Its been awhile since I have visited this memory even though my back remembers it like it was yesterday. This pool was located in Sellwood at the semi abandoned Rose Manor. I say semi abandoned because there were some sketchy people sporadically living in some of the rooms permanently. Even though we are spoiled here in the northwest by exceptionally creative parks and the world famous Burnside (I cracked a beer and listened to a Motorhead track just then) we don’t have many pools to skate. Buzzy Sullivan and I had the best idea ever to try and empty this very green brackish water with all kinds of nasty I don’t know what with 5-gallon buckets. For about three different mornings Buzzy and I visited the pool before work to empty as much as we could. It was some of the hardest work that I have ever done and became progressively harder the more water we removed. Our friend Eric helped us as well. Every bucket that we bailed began to collect into a very large puddle. It eventually started a mini creek which ran its way down the side of the highway next to it. Buzzy found some article on the intergalactic highway about draining pools. It said that if you drain a pool too fast the water will leach into the soil and eventually float the entire pool causing it to crack. Luckily this never happened. Eric got the bright idea to rent a water pump from Home Depot so we didn’t have to use buckets anymore. The only problem was that we needed an electrical outlet. The closest electricity was a really weird Mexican food restaurant about a block away. We were going to run extension cords from the restaurant to the pool. The only problem was the extension cord could be seen very easily and would have been a dead giveaway. Eric left the pump there over night while we contemplated what to do. The next day or two we came back about 1 am to plug the pump in and drain it. The pump was gone and we thought it was stolen. We got nervous and left. The next day we came back and discovered some other skateboarders found us out and plugged the water pump into one of the lights at the apartment complex and drained a majority of the pool. All that was left was thick brown and green goo at the bottom. I elected to to scoop out the remaining sickness from the drain. My hands attained some kind of stink that I could not rid my self of for days. Straight bleach wouldn’t even do the trick. Any way skating the pool lasted about two weeks and was filled up with mattresses, chairs, and other random pieces of deterrent. I’m sure I missed some funny story or info about this experience but I do remember it as one of the funniest things I have ever done despite the broken back”