All posts by Eric Gladhill
Interesting People
While surveying in the field, you never know who you might meet. When we worked in a residential neighborhood, there are always some property owners who come out of their houses to ask about the project. On one such occasion around 1989, a gentleman came over to the instrument and started to ask what we...
Safety First
If you look at a list of the most dangerous jobs in America, you won’t see surveyor listed in the top 25, but I believe that is because most of us only spend a small percentage of our time working along the highway or on a construction site. As many can attest, those situations are...
It’s Hard to Find Good Help
It seems that “Help Wanted” is posted everywhere these days; from billboards to hand-written signs and everywhere on websites seeking to help employers who are hiring. We hear it discussed at surveying society meetings, around the office, and in casual conversations on the street. Some people try to place blame on the government for handing...
What’s the Buzz?
While I was employed at Rettew Associates, Inc. in the late 1990s, I worked with a great survey technician by the name of Craig West. Craig and I got the opportunity to work together on a big boundary survey for the National Park Service along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. The boss sent me because...
A Hard Day’s Work
I’m sure some surveyors love doing construction stakeout. Even with the advent of GPS machine control and the associated modeling that goes with that type of work, there are still a lot of stakes being driven into the ground. I am one who would be happy to never pound another stake. Some states require these...
Careful Where You Step
Any surveyor who has spent more than a few days in the field knows insects, reptiles, and other critters that exist in the wild can ruin your day. Yellowjackets and other stinging bees are some of the more common causes of pain for surveyors in the eastern United States, but venomous snakes are the critters we worry most about encountering. I think...
