True Romance
Rex Ray in the company of Elizabeth Peyton. Both contemporary modernists. When I watch Rex Ray his work there is a joy to it that is so fresh it makes me happy. Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who moves paint around like the rock stars she loves as her subjects. To me they both attack their craft with the passion of a person possessed. Just the way I like it.
Recognizing a Meth Lab / Meth Lab Cleanup
- Strong, unpleasant smells. Anyone who has ever owned a cat will recognize the acrid smell of ammonia. If you notice a “cat urine” smell strongly emanating from a nearby building, or notice any other strong chemical smells, it’s unlikely that cats are to blame – especially if any of the following observations coincide with the smell.
- Deliberate attempts to prevent anyone from seeing inside the building. Often the questionable building either has no windows or, more suspiciously, the windows are covered somehow.
- Lots of traffic. A meth lab will have many frequent, brief visits at strange hours of the day, often at night in the hopes that all neighbors are asleep.
- Copious quantities of garbage. A meth labs uses lots of chemicals like stove fuel, white gasoline, ammonia, propane tanks, paint thinner and antifreeze, not to mention cold and diet pills. And equipment like glass containers and tubing is always in use. If your neighbor is careless enough to leave all of the empty containers out on the curb for garbage pickup, then the sheer quantity of trash should make you suspicious. But you should never inspect the garbage yourself; meth lab equipment and waste are extremely hazardous. It’s far more likely that your neighbor will never leave the garbage out at the curb for pickup, but instead always ship the garbage elsewhere so as to avoid detection.
- Secrecy. Whether in an apartment or a house, your neighbor will likely want nothing to do with you. If you’ve tried to interact with your neighbor, but always found yourself talking through a closed or barely cracked door (and notice any other strange activity or smells), the neighbor may be hiding a meth lab from you. However, you must never approach a building or residence where you already suspect meth cooking. Not only might the lab explode, but also the toxic fumes of a meth lab can kill a person.
- Rent paid in cash. If you’re a landlord, a tenant running a meth lab would almost certainly pay rent in cash.
- All this, and then nothing. The cookers often abandon their meth labs, but that hardly means you and other neighbors can breathe a sigh of relief yet. An abandoned meth lab is still a toxic environment containing hazardous, volatile waste.
Meth is typically cooked in a kitchen area or some type of sink area because the process requires lots of water and somewhere to dump waste.
The danger of fire and explosions is always present in meth lab operations. Even after they’re dismantled, meth labs leave toxic chemical dust that can seep into adjacent rooms and neighboring homes. Walls, floors, toys, furniture, ventilation systems, plumbing fixtures and septic systems may require professional decontamination.
Among those at risk of exposure are real estate agents, landlords, property managers, prospective renters and homebuyers, garbage collectors, utility workers, plumbers, social service agents and first responders. About one third of meth lab houses have children living in them. Visitors or neighbors can be put at risk by the poisonous fumes that vent from meth labs, or from the toxic cooking debris that is sometimes buried outside or flushed into the septic system. Each pound of meth produced generates approximately six pounds of toxic residue.
more here on cleanup
