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00:00My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:05Yeah.
00:07I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:11If we don't do this right, the candy won't taste as bad as it could.
00:14Tell me you're not proud of that.
00:16Oh, jeez.
00:17Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:22You like this too much.
00:24I'm a child.
00:25Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:29The madness could go wrong in like a hundred different ways, couldn't it?
00:31It could, very quickly.
00:34Now get ready.
00:36Ooh, to get dirty.
00:42Coming up on Dirty Jobs.
00:45Never before seen footage of me taking aim at the job of sharpshooting.
00:50I think you killed yourself there.
00:52I was dead when I showed up.
00:55And later.
00:55I mean, I could actually make that. Look at that.
00:57No, no, no, no.
00:57My version of the dating game.
00:59We've got big dates, little dates, mostly the female dates.
01:02Where I help a couple of amorous date palms make whoopee.
01:05Ay-yi-yi, I'm a pollinating fool.
01:08Later, a crazy little job that ranks right at the bottom of my bucket list.
01:17Oh, God.
01:30In my spare time, I like to hang out in some of America's finest B&Bs, baking pies and reading
01:37fan mail from adoring and dedicated viewers.
02:09This one arrived mere hours ago.
02:11I'm shooting God's creatures.
02:12Warm regards, Wayne P.
02:15Thank you, Wayne.
02:17No, I don't have a lot of experience hunting.
02:20Nothing against it.
02:21It's just not my particular cup of tea.
02:24However, I do like guns.
02:30About an hour southwest of Dallas, Texas, you'll find a little slice of heaven.
02:34If you like guns and ammo, that is.
02:36And target practice.
02:37And rules.
02:40Lots of rules.
02:42And this is Cash.
02:43Which last name?
02:43Cash Wiley.
02:44Cash Wiley's got a gun range.
02:46He's got a gun shop.
02:47He's got a fabulous piece of property here.
02:49And where are we?
02:50Just outside of Wills Point, Texas, between here and Kent.
02:52All right.
02:53Sound in the background is a bunch of bloodhounds.
02:55You also have bloodhounds here that you can use to track down what you call your escaped convicts, miscreants, malcontents,
03:00that kind of thing?
03:01Yes, as well as missing children that wander away from home, people with Alzheimer's, anything that needs to be found.
03:07Well, that sounds great.
03:08Our official job that day was to shoot one of these rare Pared Davids with a tranquilizer gun so we
03:15could move him to another animal sanctuary.
03:17But we didn't get to that job until later in the day because, well, when I saw Cash Wiley's beautiful
03:23little target range, it just looked so sad and lonely, like it needed a friend.
03:28And since you've obviously got some guns here, and since we're in Texas, I thought it might be fun to
03:32get a quick tutorial on what to do and what not to do and all of that stuff.
03:36What have you brought out for us?
03:37I've got some .22s from .357.
03:39It's wide open right now.
03:41You can check the chamber.
03:42Anytime you pick up a firearm, you check your chamber.
03:44Make sure it's clear that it's not uploaded.
03:46The clip snaps in.
03:47Now, when you do want to chamber this weapon, you simply pull this back and let it go forward.
03:53Now, that weapon's chambered right now and ready to fire.
03:57All right.
03:57So this is what?
03:58You've got, I believe there's nine in that clip.
04:01Uh-huh.
04:02Chamber one.
04:03You're ready to rock and roll.
04:07You're doing great.
04:09You want a grouping like darts.
04:11And if you want to check your target, you can see where you shot at.
04:14That was pretty good, actually.
04:16He's had one out of the area right here, but everything else is right there.
04:20That could have been my shot.
04:21I bet it was.
04:22Probably so.
04:23You ready to step up and do something a little bigger?
04:25Let's do that.
04:25All right.
04:27357 SIG.
04:28This is going to have a little bit more recoil to it.
04:30Uh-huh.
04:30It's a shorter barrel, so it's probably not as accurate.
04:3325, 30 yards.
04:35You ought to be right on.
04:37Okay.
04:37Okay.
04:37Try not to let the gun come up.
04:39Try to put a little end to it a little bit where you keep it down and do like a
04:43two-round
04:43burst.
04:48Let's check.
04:48See how you did.
04:49That was terrible.
04:50You still.
04:51I was trying to do, I was just trying to bring him down with his leg shot, but he kept
04:54coming.
04:54Just wound him.
04:55It's not going to be serious up here.
04:55You don't want to kill him.
04:56Yeah.
04:56This is a Colt Python.
04:58Extremely accurate.
04:59Right now, we have 357 bullets in it.
05:03Dirty Harry might have had a bigger gun, but Dirty Jobs has a bigger, badder villain.
05:08I'm taking him down.
05:10Great choice of targets, by the way.
05:12Who are we shooting at there?
05:13That's Mike Rowe.
05:19Okay.
05:20Check your chamber real quick.
05:22We had five shots, and you hit five times.
05:24I think you killed yourself there.
05:27I was dead when I showed up.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Sniper rifle, military, police, what you carry in your trunk when you have major problems.
05:37And a major trunk.
05:42Good shot.
05:43Good grouping.
05:45On the one hand, much of the mystique around guns seems to be about bigger, faster, and longer.
05:56On the other hand, there's the romance and showmanship of the good old six-gun.
06:01Okay, easy, easy, easy.
06:03But possibly the ultimate test of cowboy machismo is the modern-day equivalent of the high-noon showdown,
06:09the six-gun shoot-off.
06:14Five inches from the bull's height.
06:16Roger.
06:20All right.
06:21At 100 yards with a pistol shooting, you've got three on paper.
06:25Yeah?
06:26Three on paper.
06:27Pretty good.
06:28You're not a bear?
06:28Good.
06:29You're probably going to out-shoot me.
06:32Right.
06:34In the dirt.
06:36Number eight.
06:37So you've got one outside the seven, and you've got one in the eight.
06:41Like I say, a 100-yard pistol.
06:43You know, you're not going to be extremely accurate.
06:46You did better than him, didn't you?
06:48Yeah.
06:49Yeah, that's weird, dude.
06:51I don't want to say that out loud.
06:53Here in Texas, one of the unwritten laws of the Old West is when a city slicker outshoots a cowboy,
06:58you just tip your hat and quietly walk away.
07:07Truth is, there are a lot of things on this show that happen that we don't have the opportunity to
07:13show you,
07:13and that's too bad.
07:14But as it turns out on that particular day, Cash Wiley was not only an expert with firearms,
07:20he was proficient with some fairly unorthodox engineering techniques.
07:24A couple of his trucks got stuck back in the mud when we were hunting for those deer,
07:29those pair of Davids, you know.
07:31And Cash's ability to get the trucks unstuck and still forge a bond of communication and trust
07:38with his workers, unparalleled.
07:42I'm going to miss him.
07:46Oh, man, he's going to be stuck.
07:48I figured I'd tell you that a while ago when they pulled in.
07:52Look stuck.
07:53Don't sink it any further.
07:55Let me get a tractor back here.
07:57Well, I'm no expert, but, yeah, that's stuck.
08:01We need some chain.
08:02Back in the corner over there.
08:05Around the axle?
08:07It was apparent that Cash and his boys were good at finding unique ways of problem solving.
08:12Actually, I think this will work.
08:14I mean, who would have thought that pulling a two-ton pickup loaded with a trailer
08:18and a 1,000-pound pair of David could be accomplished with a tiny chain wrapped around an axle?
08:24All right, you ready?
08:30Tim, put it in four-wheel drive.
08:33Go ahead and go.
08:36All right, easy, easy, easy.
08:37Tim, don't.
08:38Don't.
08:38Oh, Tim, do not do any more gas.
08:42Stop the tractor, bring it back, get another bite.
08:45Right over here.
08:45Whoa, do not bury the tractor.
08:48Yeah.
08:48I see it going wrong in a lot of different ways, potentially.
08:53Well, you're on a hill and it's wet, I'm just telling you.
08:55I've been around here a little while.
08:57Well, if you've just joined us, we've got an exotic deer, a pair of David, in the trailer.
09:03Trailer's stuck in the mud.
09:05Tractor's trying to pull the trailer out.
09:08Now that, you all right?
09:11That hit your leg, man.
09:12You all right, Chad?
09:13Did it hit you?
09:14Yeah, it hit him in the leg.
09:15Who hooked that up underneath?
09:16Oh, I think the chain must have broke.
09:19There must be some sort of...
09:21Yeah, see, there's your problem.
09:22It's not who hooked it up.
09:24It's a chain's only as strong as its weakest link, right?
09:26That's true.
09:29Did anybody see a weak link?
09:30Take the tractor.
09:31Once you break the topsoil in this ground, it sinks.
09:34Bring the tractor around, we're going to unhook this trailer from it
09:38and bring the trailer out, then we'll try the truck.
09:41You all right, Chad?
09:41A lot of shows would have ended by now.
09:43Ira's just getting started.
09:46Everything was going a little too smoothly.
09:48Don't you think, Troy?
09:49A little too smoothly.
09:52Don't you think?
09:53Don't you think, Ira?
09:55Don't you think, Dave?
09:57So much for not disturbing the animal.
09:59A little too smoothly.
10:02Let's go up slowly.
10:05You reckon that wheel's going to stay right on that plank?
10:07Low gear.
10:08Slow.
10:11Hurry.
10:12I mean, don't spin, but come on.
10:14This way, right here.
10:16All right, get the tractor out of here.
10:19We're just going to hook it to the Kubota.
10:21Come on back.
10:21Left.
10:22That'll do.
10:23Come on, hold.
10:27All right, you're clear.
10:28Right there, there.
10:29You're clear.
10:31Huh.
10:32What do you think?
10:33Well, I was about to say the buck stopped here, but apparently it didn't.
10:36Not even more yet.
10:36The truck's still not.
10:37The truck stopped there.
10:39I can work on getting the truck unstuck.
10:41It might be simpler to just leave the truck there.
10:43It's kind of a monument to all other trucks that might want to come in here.
10:45Well, that's fine with me.
10:46Leave that truck on the ranch since the truck doesn't belong to me.
10:50Oh, yeah.
10:50We're good enough.
10:54Coming up, I play matchmaker for a couple of lonely date palms.
10:59Why do the dates need help hooking up?
11:02But as romance blossoms, things get a little dirty.
11:06We're going to be rising up into the leafy forbidden parts of the female tree.
11:10This is the area that we're going to be attempting to go to.
11:14And later, I find that when you have style and rhythm and job, well, it's still hard.
11:23Sometimes it just gets personal, Yanni.
11:32I think it's fair to say that I've had a lot of dates over the years.
11:35I don't want to brag, but what can I tell you?
11:38I like variety.
11:39Now, it's true, not all of my dates have been equally satisfying.
11:44Some of them taste funny.
11:46Others didn't go down as easily as I would have liked.
11:51Now, on the positive side, there have been, well, there have been evenings where I've had
11:55literally a dozen dates, one after the next.
12:00Unforgettable.
12:01Of course, I'm careful with my dates.
12:02So, after all these years and all these dates, I can tell you with a straight face that I have
12:06never fertilized one.
12:10As far as I know.
12:15Maybe you've heard of the Bunny Ranch in Nevada.
12:18Well, here at the Seaview Ranch in Coachella, California, there's almost as much action going
12:23on.
12:23There's chicks all over the place and back rooms where you're welcomed in only to be
12:29stripped and spanked and displayed bare naked.
12:31And out back, there's a whole bunch of well-endowed males and females just hanging around waiting
12:37to make, you know.
12:40Well, that's a handful of dates right there.
12:42And the hand in question belongs to Dennis.
12:43And Dennis, you're the man here at Seaview Ranch?
12:47Seaview Ranch, that's correct.
12:49And describe the place to me, you know, if I were looking down at it from above.
12:53Is it bigger than it looks from here?
12:55Well, it's 40 acres of medjool dates.
12:58It's a nice-looking grove.
12:59Big dates, little dates?
13:00We've got big dates, little dates, mostly the female dates, the ones that we're going to
13:03produce these.
13:04I see.
13:05So, I mean, really, the action here today is the deliberate fertilization process of dates.
13:10We'll be pollinating.
13:11Why do the dates need help hooking up?
13:15The males got to have some pollen and the females got to receive the pollen.
13:20But dates have been around for time immemorial.
13:23How do they pollinate when we're not in there helping them?
13:26They used to have bees years ago.
13:28Is there a bee shortage in this part of the country?
13:30No, there's not a bee shortage.
13:31We have too many dates that need to be pollinated.
13:34And I'm assuming because there's a ladder in that tree, that's going to be one of our guys?
13:38No.
13:38Why is the ladder in the tree?
13:39Ladder was put in there because at one time, our ladders only went that high.
13:43The trees kept growing.
13:44How do we get up into the...
13:45We've got a nice forklift and a canasta on the end of it.
13:48A canasta?
13:49Canasta.
13:49That's correct.
13:50What will we do then?
13:51We'll remove a pod, the male pod that has all the pollen in it.
13:55What's the male pod look like?
13:56It's anywhere from three to four foot long, five foot long inside of the pollen from the
14:03stems.
14:03Is the pod analogous to like the, was it the stamen in a flower?
14:08I believe it is.
14:09Okay, so that is a male tree.
14:11That's correct.
14:12And what is a female tree?
14:14They're very similar with one exception.
14:15They don't produce pollen.
14:16They have the flowers.
14:18This is one of the fronds?
14:20That's razor sharp, isn't it?
14:22It is.
14:22It'll go through the tire of your car.
14:24Seriously?
14:24The sole of your shoe or the flesh of your hand.
14:27Pollinating dates is a dangerous job?
14:29It is.
14:30What are the big hazards aside from falling and being impaled?
14:34Well, falling is one of them, but usually it's the palm fronds that attack most people and
14:40they're not looking.
14:41So an unanticipated prick can ruin an otherwise, you know.
14:45Beautiful day.
14:47Date.
14:47Beautiful date.
14:53I don't want to say this is a moist date.
14:56This is.
14:56This is our majestic date.
14:58And who will I be?
14:58Will I be working with you?
14:59We'll get to work with one of our palmeros.
15:01Why don't we bring in the canasta and the palmero, whose name was Jesus.
15:07Bring in the canasta.
15:10What's he holding?
15:11He's got a machete.
15:12He looks, uh, well, he looks like he means business.
15:17Howdy.
15:18What a fascinating machine.
15:20Come on in here, Dennis.
15:21It's hollow in the middle, so what, it goes around the tree?
15:23It will go around the tree.
15:24We can open it up right now if you'd like.
15:26Here we go.
15:29Jesus, Mike.
15:30Oh, Jesus.
15:31Nice to meet you.
15:33So, um, we're going to take this canasta, and we're going to put it around that tree.
15:39That's correct.
15:40And this will raise up, and then we will, we will begin to work.
15:43Now, obviously, Jesus has been a palmero now for.
15:47He's been working for us for almost 30 years now.
15:4930 years.
15:50Ask me if he's still having fun.
15:52Jesus, are you still having fun?
15:54Oh, yeah.
15:57Okay, so, do you speak Spanish?
15:59A little bit.
16:00A little bit.
16:01Very much.
16:01And no English?
16:03No.
16:03He understands English.
16:05Does he?
16:05Yes.
16:06Do you?
16:08Sometimes.
16:09Okay.
16:10When I need to understand English, I understand.
16:12So, will it be the three of us up there then?
16:15That's correct.
16:15All right, so we go up into the tree, we get the pollen from the boy tree, and then we
16:19pick
16:19one of these girl trees.
16:20That's correct.
16:20We take the pollen from the boy tree, go up in the same device, and then, uh, how do we,
16:26what do we rub it on?
16:27We, how do we put the pollen in the girl?
16:29We have a special puffer just for you.
16:31A fluffer?
16:32Puffer.
16:33Oh.
16:33We're going to puff the pollen into the female flowers.
16:38What, what, what's that, what does that look like?
16:39Or is that for later?
16:40That's for later.
16:41Okay.
16:42The puffer.
16:42You're teasing.
16:43No, it is.
16:44It's for later.
16:44You're teasing me on my first date.
16:45The date.
16:47A canasta can hold up to five palmeros, lifting them as high as 55 feet.
16:52Kick it with your foot.
16:53There you go.
16:55That's exactly the way they do it.
16:56Now, don't jump over to get it.
16:58You sure?
16:58Yep.
16:59I can do it.
16:59I mean, I can actually make that.
17:00Look at that.
17:01No, no, no, no.
17:01It's so close.
17:02It's so close.
17:04The Seaview Ranch employs up to 80 palmeros to manage the pollination and harvesting of their
17:0910,000-plus date palm trees, which produce 95% of the commercial dates grown in the U.S.
17:17It's about a million pounds of dates every year.
17:20Oh, I see one up there.
17:21See one what?
17:22I see one of the pods up there.
17:23It's got all the pollen in it.
17:25You're looking right at me.
17:26Keep your eyes on these fronds.
17:28Remember how sticky they are?
17:29Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:30Keep pushing them away.
17:31Okay, we ready to close the door?
17:33That was the second stage, I think.
17:35Stage two?
17:36Yep.
17:36Stage two.
17:37Where I crap my pants?
17:39Coming up, I give my date palm tree a bad haircut.
17:45Yay!
17:46You got it.
17:47Oh, no.
17:48That's a bad date.
17:49And my date palm tree gives me a little something to think about.
17:53Well, my date's ended disaster.
18:03Sure.
18:04Are you ready to grab this?
18:05Yes.
18:06Grab what?
18:06I'm going to go on the other side of you.
18:08You aren't?
18:09Yeah.
18:09Unless you want to close that.
18:10Oh, I'll close the door, yeah.
18:11All right, then let me get out of the way.
18:12Heck, yeah.
18:12The other side goes first, remember?
18:14I do.
18:15How would one get to the other side?
18:16We have to go around the other side.
18:17Well, the other way.
18:18We've got to walk over this way.
18:19Really?
18:19I could...
18:20No, no, no, no.
18:21We don't step across.
18:22We don't?
18:22No.
18:23Jesus?
18:23Wait.
18:24Can you do me a favor and close the door on the other side?
18:26Uh-oh.
18:27Okay.
18:30Okay, now we can walk all the way around the tree.
18:32All right.
18:32We need to go find that pollen now.
18:34It's up above us about 10 feet.
18:37So this can go up higher still, or do you use the ladder at this point?
18:40We need to go a little bit higher.
18:41Okay.
18:41No, we will not use that ladder.
18:43No.
18:43But Miguel, arriba.
18:44Por favor.
18:45To reach the pods at the top of the tree, the canasta has to stop in stages so palm fronds
18:51can be cut away.
18:53Jesus is going to have us come onto the other side, because that's where we've got some
18:56good-looking pollen pods over there.
18:58We're going to do some action over on the other side.
19:00So he's chopping right now.
19:02Hold on.
19:02Let me tie off so I can be somewhat safe.
19:05Oh!
19:06Jeez!
19:07That'll do it.
19:07Okay.
19:09All right.
19:09This guy?
19:10Yeah.
19:11Yeah?
19:13A little bit more.
19:16A little bit further up.
19:17Or down, down, down, down.
19:18Here.
19:18Take this.
19:19Dave.
19:21Whoa.
19:22Whoa.
19:23Good job.
19:24Whoa!
19:25Almost one swift.
19:26Almost one.
19:27I'm trying to do this and at the same time not cleave Troy's head in hand.
19:30I can't get around.
19:31Whoa!
19:33Whoa!
19:34Whoa!
19:43Oh, I see the big pollen.
19:44This?
19:45Is that a big pollen?
19:45Yeah, this one right here.
19:46Uh-huh.
19:47This is one of the pods.
19:48They've already been up here.
19:48They've tied it.
19:49They kept it from opening because we want to save that pollen.
19:51Oh, that's a good idea.
19:52It's what we're looking for.
19:53This is a boy.
19:53Very impressive.
20:00Keep looking up, guys, because there's stuff coming down all around us.
20:03Yes, I can see where these are.
20:05Oh, excellent.
20:06All right, that's what we want.
20:08So we have to take this down, so we just use the machete?
20:12That's correct.
20:12Oh, we just use this little mini machete?
20:14Mini machete.
20:14Does this have an official name or something?
20:16Cuchillo.
20:17Cuchillo?
20:17Uh-huh.
20:18Wouldn't that be ironic to take my eye out as I was putting on my safety glasses?
20:21This is like the Darwin Awards.
20:22Oh, I'll put my safety glasses on it.
20:24And there it is.
20:25That's how it ends.
20:27All right, so where do you cut it?
20:28Right in this area?
20:29Well, wait a minute.
20:30Wait a minute.
20:30Why don't we have him do one?
20:31Oh, that's a good idea.
20:32We got four other, three other.
20:33Yeah, I'll just start swinging away at stuff.
20:35Okay, is this, you ready?
20:36A little premature pollination.
20:38Okay, hold on to it, Mike.
20:39Oh, yes.
20:39The bottom part.
20:40Hold on.
20:40Put your glasses on.
20:41Hold on.
20:43Okay, it looks like he scores the side of it.
20:47It does look like that.
20:48And then inside, notice there's something inside it.
20:50I don't know if you can see it or not.
20:51Probably not.
20:52There it goes.
20:53And that's it.
20:53Well, let's have a look.
20:56Yes, well, it looks like a lot of white, fleshy meat there.
20:59That's the bunch arm that holds all the male pollen flowers.
21:02Oh, there's pollen.
21:03Holy smokes.
21:04Look at that.
21:05Did you find it?
21:05Well, I'm looking at something that looks a...
21:07Oh, it opened.
21:07I see, yeah.
21:08Right?
21:08They get plump, and then they eventually split.
21:11And then the bees can come in and do what bees do.
21:13The bees and the wind, everything blows it around, and it goes all different directions,
21:17and not necessarily on the female trees.
21:19Yeah, and that kind of chaos is no way to run a going concerned.
21:23You know, I mean, you need to, you know, you want this to happen on purpose, and so that's
21:28why we're up here, obviously.
21:29I'll just keep saying some very obvious things until somebody shuts me up.
21:33Mike, shut up.
21:33Thank you, Dave.
21:35Okay, then.
21:35Do we do anything else with it?
21:36No, we're just going to set this.
21:37We're going to take this back into the drying area.
21:39I'm going to hand that to you.
21:40Where we'll go ahead and dry it.
21:50This just seems like a nasty thing to do to another fellow's pod.
21:56It really just doesn't seem like a good end to a first date.
22:01We're trying to hack through the whole thing.
22:02Just keep scoring it.
22:03I just don't understand why we don't use that big machete.
22:06Yay!
22:07You got it.
22:08No, no, I scored.
22:11That's a mighty fine-looking pod.
22:14It's plump with pollen.
22:15Can I open it like the other one was a little bit?
22:17You can if you'd like, sure.
22:20Whoa, there it is.
22:21That's the seed.
22:22That's the stuff, the business.
22:23That's what we're here for.
22:24How about that one right there?
22:25It's just hanging down there.
22:28Pendulous and prime.
22:30Hello, big boy.
22:32Harvesting the pods begins early, every March.
22:35About 18 pods per tree are harvested.
22:38Perfect.
22:39How much does that weigh?
22:40I don't know, 15 pounds or so?
22:43Maybe eight?
22:47Oh, I scored.
22:49Yes.
22:49Thank you, Mike.
22:50I think we got two more.
22:55He's telling me it's going to hit you in the head when you do get it cut off.
22:58I hear that all the time.
22:59I've never been hit in the head by a giant date palm weenie.
23:05Hit you in the head, didn't it?
23:07Well, actually, it was all part of the plan, Dennis.
23:11There we go.
23:12There you go, Jesus.
23:13That's a nice one.
23:14I see one more tide up here.
23:19Excellent.
23:20A pile of seed.
23:22Let's go find a girl.
23:26This tree appears to be shedding its skin in a fairly dramatic fashion.
23:34Oh, no.
23:35That's a bad date.
23:40Well, my date's ended disaster.
23:44It'll get wiggly right now.
23:46A little bit.
23:49All right, so we got all the, uh, we got all the boy stuff.
23:52When we come back, we're going to climb up a girl and rub the stuff around.
23:55See what happens.
23:57But first, we do some stuff with the stuff in the room.
24:02Does the room have an official name?
24:04Pollination.
24:05Pollination room.
24:06Lots of action at the hotel hay fever.
24:10Ah, that's too bad.
24:20It's like a petting zoo.
24:22You got roosters, you got chickens, you got a dog.
24:25We got stuff going on here.
24:26We're going in here?
24:27We're going to go inside here.
24:28This is a depollination room.
24:30Depollination room.
24:31You go first?
24:32Yeah, we'll go in first.
24:32We'll come on in.
24:33Push all these in?
24:33Yeah.
24:35Okay, so this is, if you're allergic to pollen, we're in a bad place.
24:40Very bad place.
24:40Lots of pollen going on.
24:41All right, and does the room have an official name?
24:45Pollination room.
24:45Pollination room.
24:46All right, and this is, what's this called?
24:48This is a sieve that's going to catch all the pollen, catch the flowers.
24:53These are the flowers.
24:54Those are the flowers, the pollens.
24:55And this is the pollen all over me.
24:57That's the pollen all over you and me and everyone else.
24:59Great.
24:59How does it work?
25:00Go ahead, Jesus.
25:01Show us what you're going to do.
25:06There you go.
25:07Husk, where's this go?
25:09It's right on the ground.
25:10I'll place this here.
25:12Perfect.
25:18That's good.
25:19That's good?
25:19All right, now we're going to put a little hook in the side of it so we can hang this,
25:22because it'll hang for about seven days before we actually get most of the pollen out.
25:26This was just some of the pollen that was ready to come out right now.
25:29These have been hanging in here now for how long?
25:31These have been in here for about three days, four days.
25:32The longer they hang, the drier they get.
25:34And the drier they get, the more pollen comes off.
25:39So when they come out fresh, you give them a shake.
25:41You get what you get.
25:42Then you hang it, and then you keep going.
25:44Then you keep going.
25:45And this is all pollen in here.
25:47There's lots of pollen.
25:48You want to look underneath it?
25:49Sure.
25:50Just kind of, there it is.
25:52Put your finger through there.
25:54See how soft that is.
25:56What does it feel like?
25:57Kind of like flour, but even finer than that.
25:59It's almost like a gypsum, talcum, yeah, something like that.
26:03Wow.
26:04All right, so bees love that.
26:06I don't.
26:08So we go through our pods, open and shake.
26:11Let's open up a couple pods.
26:12That sounds like a good idea.
26:13Don't let the pace we're moving at fool you.
26:15During the pollination season, palmeros can remove pollen from 250 to 280 pods per day,
26:22making my efforts look like slow motion.
26:25You might want to use that knife again.
26:26I will.
26:29Something like that.
26:30A little bit harder.
26:31More down here, down towards the bottom.
26:33So you don't want to shake them so hard that the flowers come off, right?
26:36No.
26:37The flowers will open by themselves in about four or five days.
26:40In a week, they'll be pretty well dry.
26:42Mm-hmm.
26:43Is it done?
26:44It's done.
26:44You sure I'm done, Jesus?
26:46But okay, I'll be done.
26:48All right, now this gets hung.
26:49I got to put a notch.
26:50You got to cut it where?
26:51About in here?
26:51Yeah.
26:53Like that?
26:54Yep, similar.
26:57There you go.
26:59Yeah?
27:00Ah, that's too bad.
27:03What do you think is that?
27:04Four angle?
27:05Mm-hmm.
27:09Okay.
27:15Not much pollen yet.
27:17Keep turning it around.
27:19You're doing good.
27:21Okay.
27:21We got to put a notch in it now.
27:24I think you're getting a lot better now.
27:26Perfect.
27:27Okay.
27:28Much better notch.
27:32Big manly pod.
27:34Beautiful.
27:36Oh, look at all that manliness.
27:42Excellent.
27:45There you go.
27:49There you go.
27:58Okay.
27:59All right, so now...
28:00Cut the pollen with the flower.
28:01And now what do we do?
28:02Then we get to do the fun part.
28:03We go up in a tree.
28:04That's correct.
28:05With the pollen, and then we rub it on the something.
28:07We rub it on something.
28:10Good.
28:11That should work.
28:11Let's do that.
28:13So we've got our pollen now.
28:14And the pollen gets cut with the flower?
28:16That's correct.
28:17And the flower and the pollen cutting happens in this tin shed?
28:21This is our workspace.
28:25Come on in.
28:26All right.
28:28I'll just lay it out or dump it.
28:30You can open it up just like it is.
28:34That's correct.
28:35Okay.
28:38So that's the stuff.
28:40That's the stuff.
28:41Now we've got to mix the stuff.
28:43We're using flower.
28:45Oh, flower, flower.
28:47Flower, flower.
28:48I thought you said we cut it with the flower.
28:50I was thinking there was a, you know, a flower, like a growing flower.
28:55He's going to have you sift it through here on the top of that.
28:59Right.
28:59Here.
29:00You want it over here.
29:01Well, he had a 50-50 shot there, Dennis.
29:08Two of those to one bag of this.
29:11Two to one.
29:12And we found that this particular combination seemed to work well.
29:16And we're trying to thin out the amount of pollen that we have.
29:18We can save on the pollen.
29:20We don't need it that concentrated.
29:21You don't need it.
29:22That's too...
29:22You don't need it too strong.
29:23Too strong.
29:24Too much fertilization.
29:25You'd wind up with quadruplets and that octomob thing going on.
29:30All right.
29:31He's the master.
29:31Two of those.
29:33You do one at a time, I think.
29:36There you go.
29:37Okay.
29:38Lower, lower.
29:38Lower, much lower.
29:39Why would I go so high like that?
29:41Oh, it comes through so much faster because it's so much finer.
29:45Good pollen.
29:46We're going to have fun with this in a little while.
29:48Why wait?
29:49Having fun now.
29:50How many date trees can we pollinate with the bachelor maker?
29:53I would guess we could probably do around 100.
29:55Quite a mountain going there.
29:57Mount pollen.
29:58That's fine.
29:59Is that enough?
29:59Yeah, yeah.
30:00So now what?
30:01Now we're going to go ahead and put this in a bucket.
30:02We're going to head out into the fields.
30:03And we'll go ahead and pollinate the females.
30:06Great.
30:07A good date palm can produce 300 to 600 pounds of dates per year and will bear fruit for 100
30:14years or more.
30:15The tree will grow continuously and can exceed 100 feet.
30:18But commercial growers usually keep trees around half that height so they can reach the
30:23fruit that grows at the top.
30:31Okay, so here we are again back in the canasta.
30:34We're in the canasta.
30:35And we're going to be rising up into the leafy forbidden parts of the female tree.
30:39This is the area that we're going to be attempting to go to.
30:43These are puffers?
30:46Puffers.
30:46Puffers.
30:47Pumpa.
30:48Pumpa.
30:48Pumpa.
30:49Pumpa.
30:50Pumpa.
30:50Pumpa.
30:51Puffer.
30:52Puffer.
30:52And inside of the bucket we've got the stuff that we've mixed.
30:57We're going to put this inside of this.
30:58We're going to put the pollen inside the puffers.
31:00Is it already in there?
31:01No, not yet.
31:02Let's load these up here.
31:03Make it simpler when we're up there.
31:04Sure.
31:05I've also got bags and strings attached to me.
31:07For what purpose?
31:08We're going to put the bags over the top so that as they get a little bit older the flowers
31:12will come out and the pollen will stay there once it's been pollinated and the bags placed
31:17over.
31:17It doesn't blow away from the wind.
31:19Gotcha.
31:19There you go.
31:21You've got plenty, huh?
31:23Here we go.
31:24Oh, there's a professional.
31:26Oh, man.
31:26He's been puffing for years.
31:28Can you puff with two hands?
31:31You know what?
31:31Sometimes I'm going to squirt.
31:34I'm going to puff.
31:34That's correct.
31:36The female flowers that haven't quite made it out yet.
31:39Right.
31:39And then we're going to put the bag over the top of them.
31:41That's correct.
31:42Why are we going to bag them?
31:42Because we want the pollen to stay around them so that when the flowers do open in another
31:47four or five days, the pollen will be there.
31:49And then we'll tie the bag around the female flowers.
31:52The whole thing just becomes misogynistic.
31:55All right, then.
31:56Okay.
31:58Like the male pods, the female flowers are on the very top of the trees, requiring the
32:03palmeros to once again chop their way through the fronds.
32:07Oh, she's a good looking date.
32:10Leggy.
32:12Well, it's just the one leg.
32:14Because the pods yield so much pollen, for every male in this grove, there are 50 females
32:19looking for love.
32:20Time to close the gates.
32:23All right, so it's wrong to step over there?
32:24Yeah, it is wrong to step over here.
32:26Ask a simple question.
32:27You're 55 feet in the air.
32:29All right.
32:30I don't know.
32:30I'll see what happens.
32:31Oh, I'll see what happens again.
32:32Dennis.
32:34You know, I asked him once.
32:37Get your little safety hatch over.
32:38Magic word.
32:39And hold on a second.
32:41I don't understand why we don't have a machete.
32:45It sure seems like you come in super handy this time.
32:47Oh, okay.
32:48Alto.
32:50Okay, now this is the fun part.
32:51So up there, that's the female stuff.
32:54Those are the flowers.
32:56Well, once somebody's arms are like twice as long as I think they are, we're climbing the
32:59tree.
33:00Pretty much.
33:01I think maybe Jesus.
33:03Maybe Jesus should demonstrate.
33:04Yes.
33:05That would probably be a good idea.
33:06Come on, Jesus.
33:07Give us an idea.
33:07What do we do in here?
33:10Jesus, do you want to hook on?
33:12You want these fronds.
33:13Very strong.
33:14I sure hope so.
33:15It's just my luck to stand on a rotten one.
33:17Okay, I'm watching you.
33:18Starts by cutting the flower, exposing.
33:22That's the frond?
33:24Those are the flowers.
33:25That's a bunch of flowers.
33:26Those are the female flowers that are going to produce the dates.
33:28Jesus just cut the center out of that.
33:30Why did he do that?
33:31To allow for better aeration when it grows, when the dates get larger.
33:35And now he's going to tie them with the string.
33:37And once they're tied, he'll go ahead and puff them.
33:39Now, since these are big, I don't think he'll put the bag on these.
33:44So he's cutting off all the bad ones on the bottom.
33:46Because when it gets bigger and they grow, those will be poor dates.
33:50The quality of those dates on the very bottom will not be very good.
33:54And now we're pollinating.
33:56So this is the actual exciting part.
33:59That's happening.
34:00You can almost imagine on a microbial level.
34:03All right.
34:04It's done.
34:05That's it.
34:05That's it.
34:06You don't need the strength.
34:07Nope.
34:08Okay.
34:08Are you ready to do it?
34:09I'll try this one right here.
34:11You want to do that one up here?
34:12Yeah.
34:12Can you?
34:13There you go.
34:15There you go.
34:16That's your safety harness.
34:17You all right?
34:18I'm good.
34:19Good, good, good.
34:19You're good.
34:20Good-ish.
34:21Those are your steps.
34:22There you go.
34:23I think I can work right here on this one anyway.
34:25All right.
34:28Very good.
34:30There you go.
34:32Take a look on the inside of there and you'll see the very central part of it.
34:35Yep.
34:35Have you found it?
34:36I do.
34:36Go ahead and cut it out.
34:37The whole thing?
34:38Just the center part.
34:39Watch your fingers.
34:40Watch it.
34:42Seems like a big part of the plant, you know?
34:44Once it's pollinated, the dates will grow on each one of those strands.
34:48And the center would just make, what, too heavy?
34:51It'd be too big, too heavy.
34:52It won't allow for air to circulate.
34:54And we're going to thin a lot of the strands, the dates, on each one of them anyways.
34:58Okay.
34:58Perfect.
34:59That gets thrown onto the ground.
35:01You got them all together.
35:03Yep.
35:03You put a string around it.
35:04Wrap them in some kind of crazy string.
35:07That's a good one.
35:08That's a fine job.
35:08Just cut off the bottom three or four inches.
35:10Like that?
35:10Uh-huh.
35:11I see a lot of fingers coming off here.
35:13A lot of fingers.
35:14Are you ready to do this?
35:16You got it prepped now.
35:17I got it prepped.
35:18I bet it ready is...
35:19Stay right there.
35:20That looks safe.
35:21All right.
35:25There you go.
35:27Be manly about it.
35:28I'm trying.
35:31Just take it.
35:32There you go.
35:33Look at that.
35:34There you go.
35:35Well...
35:35All right.
35:36So now we want to put a bag overhead?
35:38No.
35:38He doesn't want a bag on the head.
35:39We're going to bag the other one right now.
35:40Right next to it.
35:41I was excited for the bag.
35:45Awfully close to your safety line.
35:47Sure is, Dennis.
35:48Super close there.
35:50All right.
35:51Okay.
35:51Can we find the center of that one?
35:52Yes, we can.
35:53Or is it too far down in there?
35:54No, it's not.
36:01Hair cut.
36:03Tie him?
36:05I think you want to tie it first.
36:06Tie him up before you squirt the stuff on him?
36:08Yep.
36:11Okay.
36:12Pollinate?
36:13All right.
36:14Okay.
36:16Okay.
36:21Now we have a bag.
36:26Nice.
36:26There you go.
36:27That's beautiful.
36:28Thanks.
36:29Remember how to tie it?
36:30It's all coming back to me.
36:31Don't tell me.
36:32All right.
36:32You'll never learn if you tell me.
36:34Perfect.
36:34Okay.
36:38Oh.
36:39It'd be so nice to be able to sit down somewhere.
36:43There you go.
36:44Hey, Mike.
36:45Yeah.
36:45We'll get a chance to look straight down.
36:48Thanks, Dennis.
36:49Extraordinarily helpful.
36:53Crap.
36:53Every single thing is sharp.
36:56Uh-oh.
36:57Once a flower is pollinated, it takes six to seven months for a date to grow to maturity
37:02and be ready for harvesting in September.
37:08My right foot is completely asleep.
37:11In the course of a typical date palm season, about 60,000 of these flower bunches are pollinated
37:16and bagged.
37:17This is some job.
37:19Ay-yi-yi.
37:19I'm a pollinating fool.
37:21I was going to say a little more gentle, man.
37:23Gentle schmantle.
37:23I'm not up here to propose marriage.
37:25You know what I mean?
37:28Dennis?
37:29I believe I'm nearly out of seed.
37:31I do believe we got them all.
37:33Just say yes.
37:34We got them all.
37:35There you go.
37:35Good answer.
37:36Jesus, how you doing?
37:37Everything good?
37:38I'm going to come back in six or seven months and see if it has my eyes.
37:42Thank you very much.
37:43All right, Mike.
37:43Thank you so much.
37:44Absolute pleasure, Dennis.
37:45Thank you, Jesus.
37:47All right.
37:47Give him the magic word to get us down.
37:50Coming up.
37:51Buckle up, ladies.
37:52Because when I cut granite, I also cut a very stylish figure in the stone factory.
37:58My pants are falling down.
38:07Got this in the mail just the other day from an adoring fan, someone named Patricia O'Brien,
38:13who writes sweetly,
38:15Dear Mike, after watching Dirty Jobs now for several years, it has become apparent to me
38:19that you are not an expert at anything.
38:24Consequently, you often seem frustrated on your program.
38:29Hey, Pat.
38:31Wait, Mike.
38:31Are you sure this is a job?
38:33Impatient.
38:34No, no, no.
38:34Put it back.
38:35I'm going to do it.
38:36That's a huge pain in the ass.
38:37And sometimes, dare I say, downright disgusted with your own level of seemingly bottomless
38:42incompetence.
38:49What makes you the most frustrated?
38:52Believe it or not, it's not the fact that I don't know how to do a particular job.
38:56It's not the fact that I don't know how to operate a particular tool or drive a particular
39:00machine.
39:01It's the little things.
39:03In this case, an apron.
39:07So this programmed tool...
39:11On paper, the job was to cut this slab of granite with this laser-guided circular saw.
39:16Never look directly in a laser.
39:18That's bad.
39:19In reality, the big job came before we even did the job.
39:24Want to wear the...
39:25Oh, yeah.
39:27Any chance to put on an apron, I'm there.
39:44It's a $70,000 saw.
39:46How much did you pay for this apron?
39:47Because it ain't coming together for me.
39:49Not that much.
39:50Right.
40:06Hold on.
40:08I've got problems with my apron.
40:11Oh, the salt's coming right at my head there.
40:20You see what I mean, Patricia?
40:22I've been there for over an hour, trying to do a job that I'm untrained to do, but continually
40:28bedeviled by my apron.
40:29You got smaller buckets?
40:31And when I wasn't bedeviled by my apron, I was bedeviled by a little plastic bucket.
40:39How are we going to do this?
40:41Let's try this way.
40:49Let's try this way.
40:51Right.
41:03My pants are falling down.
41:07Oh, yeah.
41:07That looks great.
41:11Just be awesome if we could get these apart.
41:31This boat.
41:42Sometimes it just gets personal, Yanni.
41:44I want to be able to say I got these buckets apart.
41:48And I no longer care what it takes.
41:53Uh-huh.
41:57Yeah.
41:58Yeah.
41:58Yeah.
41:59Huh.
42:01I want the buckets apart.
42:21All right.
42:23It's the little things.
42:25Small victories.
42:27And it's those little things that make me rank this job at the bottom of my bucket list.
42:36They say that making TV is a lot like making Scrapple.
42:41Neither one is easy to enjoy until the process is over.
42:45But the process here doesn't begin until you go to discovery.com forward slash dirty jobs
42:50and send me on my next delicious adventure.
42:54That's discovery.com forward slash dirty jobs.
42:56Let's do it now.
42:57And I'll show you the secret ingredient of Scrapple.
43:03Hey, uh, if you're over there, my bad.
43:05This is footage that we might actually use.
43:07So to the extent that you're able, stop shaking and see if you can find that focus button.
43:11All right, Amber, what are you doing?
43:12That's it.
43:13I've always been cautious.
43:14So I've never fertilized any of them.
43:19As far as I know.
43:24This is comedy gold.
43:26Yes.
43:27Oh, took one on the head.
43:30Ah.
43:31Ba-dum-bum.
43:32Chapman on the head.
43:32He's going along.
43:33He's going along.
43:33He's going along.
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