That's hilarious. Not sure why.?ÿ Lol. Just spent half the day dealing with frozen sump pump pipes and a burned up sump pump that smelled like the house was in fire.?ÿ
Mother nature must be really pissed at Florida, going down to 31?øF for 3 or 4 hours. Just enough to freeze my winter tomatos, and to sweeten the honeybells due for pickin' in January. ?????ÿ
Completely independent of the lower 48 we have our very own blizzard today with 70 mph winds and 3-5?? of snow that fell, on the march. Power is out. Now to go out and hook up that 8k generator to the transfer switch I just got installed and tested two days ago. This is why I put away a shed load of split and dry firewood.?ÿ
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Wife had accumulated a long grocery list, despite being caught up just a few days ago. We just got back from a successful grocery trip. People seem to mostly be getting into winter driving mode after getting several inches of snow over the last couple days. The driveway depths varied between 4 and 9 inches yesterday.
It's -4F and windy and blowing the snow. Visibility ranged from a couple blocks down to one place that I couldn't see headlights at 25 yards.
Was -3 here this morning with a wind chill of -25.?ÿ It got up to +6 about an hour?ÿ ago, but now it's started back down.?ÿ Power went out last night just after bedtime, temp was 0, so had to get up and fetch some firewood from the barn to get the wood stove in the fireplace downstairs going.?ÿ We hardly ever use it but it's handy when needed.?ÿ Upstairs fireplace has gas logs so got them going.?ÿ then my brother and I met up at my 92 year old mothers place just down the road and got her gas logs lit and battery lights going so she could stay there.?ÿ Got back a little after midnight, then the power came back on about 1 AM, which meant we could have all just stayed in the warm bed and missed all that action.?ÿ Took a walk around outside this morning for about an hour just to experience that kind of cold, sure glad I wasn't having to start tractors and carry out hay to a bunch of cows like we used to do.
Not getting it as bad as everyone else. I can't picture three feet of snow.
My assignment, that was scheduled for the 'don't have any staking until next year sometime' suddenly
got moved up to wednesday, the day after two rain days, in the world's largest subdivision mudhole.
You can't make any time because of the slick mud is like walking on ice, had to cut back carrying about a dozen irons at a clip because twenty - plus the lath bag, shovel, dc & pole - became a dangerous balancing act in the mud. Had to carry everything until you staked within a foot or so so you could strategically set down the supplies within reach, because some places you couldn't stand still for more than a minute without getting your feet stuck in place - property corners near manhole excavations became a lot of fun.
Set one underwater, too.
Found that anything could get muddy, except for the handles on the lath bag, iron bag, and sledge hammer. Pulling the old irons, clipped by the utility contractors, was fun. I remember setting these in permatized rolled-out ground. Some of these three footers were actually bent at a 90 with the spun out hole still good. Others were twisted into crazy shapes, with most of the holes still good.
You can't keep wiping the mud off your hands every time you need the dc - you can scrub your hands with some weeds nearby though.?ÿ
Gave up on having a tip to the dc pole, after two stabs in the mud you had a baseball size knot of mud on the tip that didn't come off without a balancing act on one foot, using the other muddy boot to .. sort of remove the mud.
When you got through the dozen irons there was the trek back to the truck over the silt barrier at the pavement edge. The skid steer operator who excavated behind the barrier may have left a mudhole or not,
you had to place the equipment strategically before the crossing in case you didn't make it.
Never minded the staking jobs, and actually liked the work. Just can't make any time in this sub after a rain. It'll be dry +/- next week. Staking should be easier.?ÿ
Last weekend we had a dry cold snow storm. We call it lake effect. 1" of rain creates 12" to 18" of snow. On Monday we were digging for monuments through ~30" of soft fluffy snow. With Thursdays heavy rain and Temps now in single digits that has been reduced to 10" of frozen hard snow and ice. Boundary work is now done until spring. Glad I have indoor layout work for Nanotech tools inside a clean room for the next few months.
When I was a teenager many decades ago, working for my dad, he would send us out in any weather - cold, rain snow, even darkness. "Yes, I really need you to get this shot at 5:30pm on Christmas eve in a snow storm!"
We would work until the old vernier transit would fog up. We started bringing both transits so we could switch when the first one fogged. Needless to say, as instrument man at the time, I got very good at fogging transits quickly. We never accomplished a thing under those conditions. I never saw the point of even trying.
Now, solo at age 63, I have in my contracts that field work could be significantly delayed in the case of winter weather, especially snow or extreme cold. If questioned about it, I explain that the electronics don't work well in cold weather, but really it's me that doesn't work that well.
Life lessons need to be provided early in life, frequently.?ÿ Allowing a child to always be pampered into believing life is fair harms the brain much more than what the elements would do to the body.?ÿ One must learn early that the worst case scenario will happen as often as the best case scenario, so be prepared.
In the early years of my survey experience, I made an expensive mistake.?ÿ We did not box the total station between turning points as we didn't want to pack that extra weight as we traversed in to a section center corner and back on foot.?ÿ A rain storm came up as we were about o get the last shot.?ÿ The skies opened up as cats and dogs pelted us mercilessly.?ÿ The only shelter available was under my tee shirt, which was already soaked.?ÿ It was a miserable trek to the vehicle through the downpour.?ÿ Did our best to dry the instrument.?ÿ The end result was that I spent more dollars on getting it repaired than I received for doing the survey.?ÿ Plus, having only the one unit, no fieldwork could be done until the repaired unit was available.
Working in extreme heat or cold or gusty winds or other extreme environmental conditions is generally a wasted effort in boundary surveying.?ÿ Make hay when the sun shines is an old farmers way of saying focus your efforts during good working conditions.?ÿ Avoid trying to achieve the best results when Mother Nature is having a bad day.?ÿ It will cost you one way or another.
As a youngster our farm had a few milk cows that had to be rounded up, fed amd milked twice a day every day no matter what.?ÿ Environmental issues were harsh as often as not.?ÿ But, we did what had to be done when it needed to be done.?ÿ That experience provided some great cautionary life lessons, including knowing that having a random neighbor fill in for the chores was a poor option as the cows did NOT like strangers.
The surveying life provides similar experiences. You must be adequately prepared at all times.
