Prolly a business competitor, upset with the impact on her niche market of selling sea shells by the sea shore.
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Awesome! I took a virtual tour of the driveway. Technology rules.
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Eventually. But in a thick layer it takes a while. And it attracts wasps. We used to rot them out in an old feed bin before spreading them. Or burn the stink off in a burn barrel.
Surprisingly not. Bigger thicker quahog shells can do that, I saw it happen once. But on the whole they’re pretty brittle. And surf clam shells or oysters shells even more so.
Couple of fancy lads here. What are you paying for your clam shell drive way.
I’ve certainly never seen these things sterilized. And I know some people tumble the bits first. But growing up I never heard of that being the default thing. You needed to clean them of course. Which we did by letting them rot out. Which created a dandy “stink tank” to trap little brothers. And they needed an initial break up if the shells were big. That was accomplished by backing over them with the truck, smacking them with a paving tamper. Or very occasionally hitting them with one of these:
But for the most part we just tossed them out there and let them work themselves out. Even when we were laying down a thick fresh bed.
I think we tried tumbling them in an old cement mixer bodged to a lawn mower engine once. My uncle almost lost a finger and the resulting shells wore down too fast. That may have been another home improvement project though.
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Why would you wash clam shells when they just came out of water in the first place?
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I used to get bags of tumbled oyster and quahog shells at the nursery. When broken, and not tumbled or dulled somehow, those can be sharp enough to pierce a tire. You’d have to hit it just right. A razor clam might be able to puncture a tire, but probably not. I bet a conch shell could if you got it just right. Those can be thick. I like your driveway packer. I had one that I rolled behind the tractor, a lot like yours, but I filled mine with gravel.
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Well, that escalated quickly.
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Razor/jack knife clams have reaaaaallllly thin shells like steamers. I doubt they could damage a tire. Thicker quahog shells could do it if broken just right, but I only saw that happen once. Oyster shells are weird. When the reefed up shells are insufficiently broken up they can do all sorts of damage. Shit’s dense, I’ve seen it used as an anchor. But the individual shells aren’t all that solid. They’re many crumbly layers, often honey combed with worms. They can split in a way that’s lethally sharp. But it’s brittle like glass. Never seen one puncture a tire. And I’ve spent a lot of time driving on them.
Let’s just say they’re about as likely to pop a tire as any drive way rocks. Right one in the right tire, at the right time sure.
We got our shells the old fashioned way. My father, most of my uncles, most of our friends were baymen. And my grandfather was an autobody guy with a side line in making commercial fishing and shellfishing equipment. Had these massive BBQs where we’d blow through 25 bushels of clams and 10 of oysters. At least. Most of the leavings went in the drive way. Smaller ones, lobster shells, And steamer shells were crushed fine or burned off to mix with chicken shit and charcoal for fertilizer.
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Drove by it the other day! Seriously! Was wondering what the fuss was about, rolled down the windows… and phew! It was amazingly awful.
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So your saying this is a great way of hidding any smell of decomposition…
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It’s such an ancient joke it must be past its best before date*.
Like the clams.
*Made, in fact, by Linnaeus. Scientists were allowed to not be politically correct in those days.
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Not to be confused with the Unix company in the Bay area that sold C shells by the sea shore. Unfortunately they took a bashing when Linux appeared.
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Are you asking for a friend?
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That would be an awesome opening for a novel!
Band name or real street somewhere?
David Rose evidently.
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Good point, that whole area is covered with oysters (the old Drake’s Bay Oyster Company as you mentioned, but also most of the side of the road in Marshal). It makes a great dirt road fill material and will stop stinking in a couple of days. Surprised there’s so much negativity in the comments, this is a great way to re-use a mountain midden of shells.
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That should be a badge.
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True, all the razor clams I have seen now are small. I have seen razor clam shells from the past that were a foot long and almost as thick-skinned as a quahog. Those are the ones I was referring to that might be able to pop a tire.
And you’re right about the burning… I had forgotten that burning clam shells is a fantastic way to make lime. Which can then be used in concrete and for other things, too.
We have been discussing this long enough for the stench to die down. What’s the latest from Stanky Clam Estuary? Are people still honking because of the stink?
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There is a kernel of truth in what you’re saying. It’s also true that unwashed C shells will attract bugs.
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That is utterly hypnotic.
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Not a big deal, unless you happen to live next door and have to smell it all summer. I would be right angry were I a neighbor.
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