On A Personal Note: The Conex

We interrupt this quilting blog to share current happenings on a personal level concerning our continued post-Harvey dealings.

I once had a lady tell me to my face, in the presence of multiple peers, that “no one cares about you” in reference to personal stories on a blog, stating instead that my blog should be all business. Well, I don’t know if she’s right or wrong, but this is my story that I want to share today.

What Did You Do This Summer?

This is really more my husband’s story as he is the one doing all the work.

See, we have this conex in our yard…since November 2017 when we purchased it to hold our storage of the items we “saved” from Hurricane Harvey with plans to move items back into our home after reconstruction.

It’s hard to realize that the two year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey is later this month. In a few more weeks it will be our one year anniversary of being given “the keys to the kingdom” to begin moving back into our “new house same location” after reconstruction. So many blessings, so much work!

Tear Down That Garage!

Our attached garage was added on, we think, after the “real” garage was enclosed as part of the house (which is now my studio). We don’t know for sure, but the house was built somewhere around 1968 and we purchased it in 2005…

Irregardless, the garage flooded during Harvey and continued to flood when we had large downpours. We made the decision to replace the garage when we purchased the conex knowing that it would be a work in progress to tear down the old garage and then move the conex in its place.

Work in Progress

Work indeed! And what a progress it has been. Although I have to admit besides making sure everyone stayed hydrated I have had very little to do in the actual work process besides being the photo historian. That said, here’s my photo account of this summer’s progress thus far.

June Workdays

Johnny and Jake (our youngest son) would work on their days off to clear the contents of the garage and begin the tear down.

Over the course of the month they made good progress of emptying the contents and removing the walls. As you can tell, the wood was rotting due to so much continued moisture. I can’t remember how many loads we took to the dump, which was quite costly. There was a small break when the county had a “free” dump location for large debris for two days. We took advantage of that as the truck bed was loaded multiple times during that particular weekend.

Meanwhile, the conex continued to be filled as it now had to hold garage items such as tools and lawnmowers in addition to our boxes of things that hadn’t been moved back into the now occupied home.

One Sunday morning in June I decided that it was about time I found the box of “good shoes” in storage as I wanted to wear a dress to church for the first time in the almost 2 years of displacement. Johnny was sweet enough to go on the search for my “shoe box” as I dressed for church…

My joy was soon turned to dismay as I discovered while wearing my shoes to church that they had deteriorated – due to being in storage for so long? Who knows. Someone commented on facebook “Harvey, the storm that keeps on giving.”

Hello July – The Continued Process

By the time July came the fellows needed new recruits to help with the demolition of the garage roof. They were joined by our eldest son Eric, and Jake’s friend Gary. These guys knew with the summer heat that everything needed to be done by noon, and by golly! They met that goal!

The Work Continues – August

Summer, in my opinion, has always been too short! This week Johnny & Jake are taking some vacation days to speed up the process…with the heat index well past 100 degrees work starts early around here and ends at noonish. Yesterday’s agenda was to clear my classroom floorspace to receive items out of the conex to reduce the weight…

Since this is a busy time of year for me with traveling to speak at guilds and do workshops, not to mention secret sewing for upcoming blog hops, quilt market quilts, etc. I know I won’t have time to unpack these boxes – therefore I am having to cancel all fall Land Locked Quilting Cruise events here in The Quilt Rambler studio classroom.

By the way, the black totes are full of family antique quilts, the clear totes are my fabric “stash”, and the boxes are family books as well as quilting books. I have no idea where or how these will fit in the studio…a decision for another day!

The morning’s agenda was to remove the cedar tree and part of the fencing. Things always take longer than expected but the fellows were pleased with their progress by the time the sun hit high noon.

Tomorrow’s Another Day

Yep, recovery from Harvey is an ongoing adventure. This past week while I was teaching in Corpus Christi I met several ladies who were “ground zero” living in Rockport when Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast – one lady lived in an RV park and all her belongings (and housing) were totally washed away, another lady had the same experience yet someone found one of her quilts caught in debris and returned it to her. So many stories, so many lives touched by just this one natural disaster among so many trials we as a nation go through all the time. When I get discouraged by all the work (and still dealing with the paperwork) I have to remind myself – “it’s good to be alive”. And then when I am feeling low I just take a look at my beautiful granddaughter and all is right in the world again!

Thanks for letting me share a personal story. Hopefully soon that big blue truck container will be out of the front yard and next to the house as our “new garage”. Time will tell.

This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, eager to move past this “Harvey event” on to more quilt-related adventures!

Regan’s first rag doll made by her Oma (me)

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