Over Before You Know It

I'm not sure if this is an actual title to a song but I know that it is some of the lyrics to a favorite song of mine by Natalie Merchant. This week in Birmingham, not far from our job, a rival construction company had a man killed on the job when a large pipe fell on him and crushed him. Of course, when something like that happens it gets around pretty fast. Deaths don't happen a lot on construction sites nowadays but I have known of several since I've been in the business. There have been some deaths with my company, on our sites, but it has always been a subcontractor, not one of our boys. Our lunch time conversations sometimes turn to the morbid but it is a reality that we keep in the back of our heads. You have to constantly be on the look out for hazards but if it ever comes, we'll probably never see it until it's too late. Just the other day we were talking about stuff like this and we all agreed that the worst place or situation to "buy the farm" would be while you are in the Port-A-Pottie. I mean, when you are in there you are essentially blind. You really can't tell what is going on around you and they always put those things pretty close to the actual work. Nothing sends chills racing up your spine quicker than to be in there, doing your business, and to hear a back-up alarm very close to you from one of the pieces of machinery. I mean, if we have to leave this world on a job site please let it be doing something somewhat dignified; you know, saving a buddy from death or injury, something. Not squashed while you are trying to take a dump.
The photo is from our Christmas lunch but it is only part of the crew. This is probably the best bunch of guys I have ever worked with. We have all gotten along really well and had a great time. We have had several guys sent to other jobs already and today we had two more leave as our job is beginning to wind down. I suspect that I will be next to leave. I am usually a little sad when jobs end if I have been there for a while. You go through so much together on these jobs that you either end up hating each other or become great friends. We all thought we were going to die of heat strokes when the job started and now we are all freezing our butts off together. It has been very cold this week. I was working grouting handrail posts in today and one of the men that works with a subcontractor brought his little propane heater over and set it up right next to me so I could warm for a while. Of course, I could not stay in that spot for long but it was sweet anyway.
I plan to run some trim at the house this weekend and maybe work on enclosing the spring. I am still having a little bit of a problem with murkiness in the water from storm run off. We'll see what happens and hopefully I will show you my new washer and dryer too!
Be safe!!