Cancer, Covid-19 and the Houston Artic Blast
Pat, my youngest sister died in Houston in early January. She contracted Bacterial Pneumonia as a result of a compromised immune system from Cancer treatments.
My sister Susan and I discussed visiting her when she was ill but decided to forego travel until we could be vaccinated for Covid-19. After she passed, Houston experienced a cold snap which resulted in frozen pipes in her home. Leaking pipes caused damage to her dining room ceiling which collapsed. The carpeting in most of the home was destroyed. The only blessing is that she did not see the damage to her beloved home.
Cleanup and Organization
A local church group removed the saturated carpeting and the collapsed drywall almost immediately. In the Houston climate mold and mildew can develop quickly. As executor of the property my sister Susan was able to remotely arrange for a plumber to fix the broken pipes before we arrived in March. Susan and I flew down shortly after we received our second dose of vaccine. Our first order of business was sweeping up the bare concrete floor and clearing an area for items that we were not going to take back to New Hampshire.
We spent a week going through paperwork and her items sorting what was meaningful and what we would donate to charity. Pat kept all her paperwork, so we spent time looking for items with identifiable account numbers to shred. We ended up with 100 pounds,
An art teacher took much of her artist supplies and we were able to donate some of her clothes.
It was a week of reminiscing about our sister. Neither of us slept very well. Susan spent much of the time on hold with banks, lawyers, the insurance company (who refused to pay for a “flood”) and remediation experts. On Thursday the “POD” arrived.
Pod People
I ordered a 16 foot shipping POD to be sent to Houston before my arrival. Susan informed me that I had no sense of spatial awareness and that the smallest 7 foot container was more than adequate for the items we were shipping back to New Hampshire.
She was correct, when we finished packing we actually had extra room with the 7 foot cube. The key to preventing damage is filling every nook and cranny so things don’t jostle around.
This is our “blank canvas” just waiting to be filled up. It was like a game of Tetris.
Let’s DO This.
We started by building the back wall with our tallest item, a shelf. We packed every nook and cranny.
These two septuagenarians needed to take some breaks between carrying boxes and wrapping furniture.
Susan studied online tutorials on tying a trucker’s hitch to tighten up the load. I was useless, I flunked knot tying class in the Navy.
Finished
We both wrote notes about Pat. I liked Susan’s comment.
Enroute
Next stop, New Boston, New Hampshire. Will it make it? What will break? Stay tuned.
