MY 1000th CAREER PROPERTY SURVEY

  Well, today was the day. The day that I had hoped would be my retirement day. Today I completed the preliminary fieldwork on my "One Thousandth Career Property Survey". That's 1000 different properties that I have had the privilege to walk upon. One thousand different properties from grassy subdivisions, to rural dwellings, to large industrial sites, to in-town surveys (including the dreaded City of Lancaster). From woodlands, to landfills. Mansions to shacks. From cultivated lands to cemeteries. Construction stakeouts for homes in the woods or in the fields. Small Subdivisions and multi-lot Subdivisions. Land Development Surveys, Boundary Surveys, Topographic Surveys, Creek surveys, wetland surveys. Nursing Homes to Mobile Homes. Railroads to airport runways. On Honda three wheelers and four wheelers. In vans, in my Jeep CJ-7, in nice Chevy Suburbans, in Jeep Wagoneers. Treasure hunting for aerial monuments. Bushwhacking through brush. Up hills and down hills. Sitting in a canoe with Nels and taking soundings of the Conestoga River for a bridge project. River valleys and mountaintops. All seasons and all weather. Rain and snow, hot and cold. Discovering birds and receiving carving inspiration. Traveling mostly in good old Lancaster, Lebanon and Berks Counties, but some long runs to State College, Altoona, Philly and etc. And always dressed as the Surveyor wearing my Boonie hat and glacier sunglasses.

  What a career it's been. An angry neighbor approaching Nels and me with an Uzi machine gun and dogs. "O.K. Dude, we'll leave the premises immediately" (later we would be having coffee with the Dude in his homey kitchen). Sitting with the Amish in their kitchens. Coffee and conferences in other kitchens too.

 There have been many highs and lows during these past forty years of Surveying. Fun and easy days and long and miserable days.

 And today I started my 1000th. A large six acre open field in the middle of Terre Hill. Only thing being that it was surrounded on all six sides with multiple adjoining properties. I spent seven hours looking for corners. Seven hours spent searching for hardware with the metal detector. Finding a hit and digging to expose the pin, then bending down to tie pink ribbon around it. I did that twenty-eight times. My lower back would be stiff that evening, but overall my health is holding up. I can still do the physical work and it is good exercise.
 
  One thousand individual properties that I have had the privilege to have been able to walk upon, to explore, to enjoy, to love and to hate. And all the while in awe of nature and the atmosphere. It's been a great career. Whew!