In The Field: Log 005
In my experience as a geologist, there are two types of people in the industry: People who plan the work, and people who do the work. Both are very much important. Those who plan the work likely do it from an office, or from their home. There are some that do both! Shoutout to the small business owners and managers who still get their hands dirty. Those who mostly do the work, like myself, have to go to where the work is. This blog post highlights some of the cool, interesting, boring, and weird places my job has taken me and maybe some interesting things I’ve seen or experienced during my travels throughout the northeast.
Totes on totes on totes…. on totes.
I have never been involved in the world of hunting, but this was a neat find.
Every manhole I’ve opened has been completely removable, just resting on the ground… except this one. This manhole has a hinge! First and only time I’ve ever seen that.
This was in a boiler room in the basement of a school in north Jersey. It’s called a “tank-o-meter”. It was a way of remotely monitoring how much fuel oil was left in their tank. They must have left it up even after the switch to gas. Great news for me! I put a signal on it and followed it straight to a UST outside. The client was happy.
Biological hazards are sometimes the most common that geologists have to face. If you’ve had to work around Canada Geese, you understand.
This is the brains of one of the geophysical instruments I use pretty often. It wasn’t working so I took a look inside to see if anything obvious seemed out of place. Sometimes these tools remind me of cars - I know how to use them, but when it stops working or is having problems, I look under the hood and feel like a complete moron!
When you need water, drainage, electricity, and HVAC all in one spot.
Is that to code?
This is a “bodega cat”, found in a basement in Yonkers, NY. New life is a beautiful thing.
Sometimes I see the whole circle of life. RIP basement rat.
A recent birding stop on the way home from a job site blessed me with a nice photo of a Great Blue Heron, or GBH as my fellow birders might say.
Every so often I’m able to bring a rock home from a job site. This is a slightly metamorphosed felsic granite. Likely glacial float based on the site location. Looks good in the front yard and was warmly welcomed by the little guy!
