insanity and mortality

On Wednesday of last week, the G.C. finished tiling the upstairs bathroom. It looked about 7,000% better than before, but stark without any of the normal bathroom fixtures, just bare white tile. Oliver put his finger on it when he said "It reminds me of my days in the mental hospital." (Working, not committed.) This was not the ambiance we were aiming for, but appropriate in a way. Restoring this house could make a person insane.

And the mortality part: There was an article in the local paper recently about a man who died when a trench he was working in caved in on him. From the article:

People who get caught in the "collapse of soil are at very high risk for being either killed or seriously injured," said Elaine Fischer, a spokeswoman for Labor and Industries. "Soil weighs between 2,000 to 3,000 pounds per cubic yard."

Tragic on its own, and horrifying in light of the work Matt undertook on our sewer, eight feet underground. It was an insane risk that neither of us were aware of when Matt decided to do that work himself. The "what if" paralyzes me.