My Dad Should Be Dead #1

I’m sure it started much earlier than this. But this is the earliest story he has revealed at this time.

My dad was in the 8th grade. He and a friend of his were in the same math class. But in my dad’s word, “we didn’t get much math”. Instead they put their wits and wisdom onto paper for a much more practical application.

They designed a home-made scuba rig. This set up included the following:
* scuba mask
* long garden hose
* compressor
* lawn mower engine to run the compressor
* hot water bottle (for an air reserve)

I’m not good at figuring things like this out, so the best I can gather is somehow they hooked one end of the garden hose to the compressor (powered by the lawn mower engine) and the other end to the scuba mask. Somehow it was also attached to the hot water bottle and I think another end was hooked to the other side of the scuba mask, as the air outlet, or something. (?)

Anyway, it worked. My dad has a picture of himself with his head underwater wearing that thing. A continuous flow of air moved constantly through the mask – in one side and out the other. So they could breathe - normally, relaxed, happily.

There was just one little problem. They weren’t always breathing nice, pure air. If the wind shifted just right, the exhaust from the lawnmower engine was sucked up by the compressor. So instead of a steady flow of air, they were often inhaling a steady flow of carbon monoxide – or what ever the heck comes out of a lawn mower engine.

They discovered this while submerged several feet underwater at nearby lakes while in the process of tickling the feet of unsuspecting girls hanging out at the dock. Suddenly they were feeling a bit queezy, dizzy, and not quite right in head. Out of the water they came, staggering slightly, realizing there was an interesting, not-quite-right smell in their air.

My dad should be dead.

- Chel