For a field surveyor that is. At what age (range) are you too old to get out and beat the bushes and still be efficient. I know we would all like to think that we are bullet proof but when does you body say enough and it is time to move to the office only?
I was too old in my mid-fifties.
Depends on what's in the bank account for me...;-)
Depends on many things. Mostly judgment and endurance. I'll be 69 in a couple of months, still get around fine, a little slower climbing up out of canyons and I want nothing to do with blue tops but can still drive property pins just fine.
jud
good question snoop - I am 55 and still can keep up with the bucks - I love going out and helping the crews - the idea is to marry someone 20 years younger:-)like I did and stay fit.
good job Jud!
Dead is pretty much too old, at least hypothetically.
It all depends on how your body feels/responds to the field work.
My party chief just retired at 75
:good:
Dang Jud - that is awesome.
> Dead is pretty much too old, at least hypothetically.
Not necessarily, ran into several recorded maps in [redacted]County, Ca. signed and stamped by a surveyor who'd been dead for three years at the time.
The firm he'd worked for was taking liberties with his stamp while they "were searching for a replacement."
I agree with Robert
"Dead is pretty much too old."
I hit this year what was considered retiring age when I started work......65...
Can say I am enjoying the technology doing more or of the mundane work than ever .
At least SA is generally flat compared to much of the US.
About to head out into the field blue sky, no wind, 26C . Just who would want the alternative of sitting inside doing nothing? That is a recipe for toes pointing to the sky...
RADU
Good question though ....I've always thought about that ...a lot of people I know have moved into the office younger then myself and I can see it is a challenge to stay physically active and healthy...I tried it once and the office almost killed me with the insanity of inaction...
..that being said this last January I tore a ligament in my ankle...Not from running up a mountain side to set a section corner but by running down a stairwell to a seafood buffet in a hotel... not exactly how I wanted to go out...its healing fine but certainly takes a lot longer these days and with the surveying season barreling down like a freight train I just cant afford injuries ...
...also reminds me of a 70 year old telecommunications field tech guy in an Alaska Bush Village I ran into...he told me anybody who has an occupation that involves standing or walking is guaranteed an automatic 10 year extension on their life span.
I'm 70 and I'll admit I'm starting to feel it. Last week I worked on a large commercial site and was really dragging at 2 pm. I solved that with a visit to Arby's and a jamocha shake. I normally avoid high-calorie food, but that sure perked me up and I was able to finish the same day.
For the first time I'm pondering the wisdom of my annual Grand Canyon hike, down to the river and back, same day. All the signs warn against it, and for good reason, but I do it anyway. Maybe that last one will indeed be my last one.
I think that old is too old when you are not in the game anymore.
My father had a business of plants & trees: horticulteur (we call it in French). I recall clearly his words at a later part of life where he simply told me one day (I was a teenager then) that "he was not in tune with the business anymore." He said it simply, in an humble way, just stating a fact. He closed the business. After having made this decision, he was a much happier man for the remainder of his life.
:beer:
That would depend greatly on the physical demands of the specific fieldwork. I never enjoyed standing on my head trying to excavate the smallest possible hole in a paved road to recover a bar. I start panting a lot sooner now than I did 20 years ago. Providing assistance to someone else doing the digging is a much better job as you mature. The same applies to hacking and sawing through the underbrush. A little bit goes a long ways. Playing I-man or even rodman is not too bad at all. But, stooping, kneeling, climbing and such should be passed on to the grunts. My skills are vital to the research and delivery phases and far less critical to the hardcore manual labor.
Ask Mick Jagger.
Stephen
Bruce I work camel hours. In between drinks and wee breaks.....
I now have thrown away the must work 8 hours in the field....
.....and tomorrow is another day ...
RADU
Pst instead of next Grand Canyon walk U should drop DU to SOZ...
