Update from Gene on Harvey recovery.
Bill
Bill Moon
713-340-1018 ( Home )
281-610-8612 ( Cell )
billmoon1942@xxxxxxxxx
From: wjmoon@comcast,net
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2017 8:08 AM
To: billmoon1942@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: FW: Old Friends
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Eugene
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2017 1:14 PM
To: VonEhrenfried, Dutch; Armstrong, Cheri; Carline, Wayne; Deiterich, Chuck;
Dunn, Mike; Felix, Father; Greenfield, George; Hankow, Steve; Henry, Chris;
Howard, Father; Huynh, Lana; Jones, Alice; Keppler, Jim; Kleine, Marlena; Lamm,
Tracy; Lewis, Chuck; Lovell, Jim; Miller, Harold; Mitchell, John; Moon, Bill;
Natemeyer, Walt; Nicolson, Dave; Panza, Joe; Rodriguez, Rosa; Spowart, Amy;
Tetley, Sandra; Utterback, Mitch; Wade, James; Watkins, Julie; Weede, Jan;
Welsh, Rose; Wininger, Barry; Wright, Rebecca
Subject: Old Friends
Gang,
We have floors... real honesty to God floors. Tile in the kitchen area and
"engineered wood" throughout the rest of the house. The rooms now are virtually
empty with the exception of many old friends...the piano that we bought when we
believed we were a "musical family" it suffered also from the flood but it
still, sounds like a piano that needs tuning. and for decades sat in the
entrance to the house....Marta used to play and several of the kids took their
shot. I took lessons for several years.. but was skill limited. I could read
the music, but rhythm was not in my bones. My teacher Charlene Battestoni
would clap her hands to the music as I played the keys... one day in
desperation she finally said,"Gene you are wasting your money and my time!" My
dreams of playing piano in a cabin at the top of our Colorado property(10,300
feet near Alamosa) vanished. Another old friend is the solid pecan table we
bought.. our first real piece of furniture, when we lived in South Houston in"
flight controller alley" . It was at the center of many holiday dinners,
graduations, birthday parties....there was no way we could put it on the trash.
Amazingly as we cleaned it there were a couple pieces of gum underneath...
like petrified wood in the painted desert.
The house looks very large...1,400 ft square on the first floor... bare empty
except for the piano, table and a couple chairs we salvaged... it would be
great for dancing, but there is no record payer or tape. Our "sun room" has a
salvaged sofa, two new reclining chairs, TV, reading lamp and a couple end
tables. It is really all we need except when some of the kids come over, or our
next door neighbor comes over the swap stories. In the coming week I hope to
finish drywall in the kitchen, laundry room and around the fireplace. The next
step will be to demolish our makeshift cook top and sink and prep for kitchen
cabinets due November 6. For several weeks it will be like early marriage
with toaster, coffeepot and small electric appliances... one thing we did not
have in marriage was the microwave...we will adapt to the new environment.
Since we now had floors we moved much of the furniture in the house to clear
the garage for the cabinets. My workshop, using the damaged base cabinets is
really slick. I now need a map to show where I have put everything.
The street while clean of debris is still not showing any significant repair
construction and I wonder how many are planning to return. The residents are
living in trailers, FEMA apartments, or with family and friends. The wrecker
driver and his family that lived next door has taken up housing above a
combination sports bar/carwash a half mile away.When I consider the flood
impact on the street population, I often think about how so many of the
thriving early civilizations abruptly ended... disappeared. Did an
environmental disaster trigger a mass movement of the young, leaving only the
old, less mobile as the remaining population. I have seen this for years along
SH #3... the Old Galveston Road. When we came here 50+ years ago it was a
thriving agricultural and farming area. dozens of small families with 4-6 acres
planting 2-4 row crops yearly...cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, onions,
etc...now there is only a single farm remaining. Soil turned in expectation of
pending rains, tilled and worked right next to a new Middle School on the
highway. I think of what those driving the highy today have missed.
Thursday I accompanied our parish priest, Father Larry to ISS Mission control
to sit in on Pope Francis speaking to Paolo Nespoli in the space station...twe
were in place with about 30 other priests and parishioners for about two
hours...sitting there in the controllers high techworld I thought of the Apollo
Mission control room we were going to restore... the first impact was stark
difference of the technology used by todays teams and that we used in the 60's.
The second impact related to the people... many females in the ranks, mixed
races, but generally not as young as we were... I got the feeling that they
were in the mid 30's. The major difference however was the political culture...
throughout the AG communications and the briefings there was nothing but
glowing words for the Russians, team members, their program committment...In
some ways it seemed to me that they were over selling and one of the major
benefits of the ISS was the US/Russian relationship that was established. I
guess I still go back to the cold war, the early years in space and the fact
that we are paying 75% of the station costs and that if we would close the ISS
maybe we could get back on track to the moon.
The Church and school fall into two different status areas but I dont know
why.. The priests house is condsidered a total loss, it will be demolished and
a new house built. Other than clean out and remediation the school is still a
skeleton structure. The kids are still being schooled in Texas City and we are
awaiting and input from FEMA before generating a plan to get the school
operationsl. The church has two different elememnts... the new chapel addition
that was under way before the flood is continuing to progress and there is a
good chance we will have the chapel operational for Christmas....at mass today
we were briefied that they were doing the electircal and flooring of the old
church, the pews that were damaged are being repaired and flooring is going
in....so we may have the main church, opr some semblance thereof also at
christmas
Well that is about it... we are progressing slowly. I now believe it will be
several months more before we are back on track. To date we have spent $56K
out-of-pocket for the materials and work done with still no word from
FEMAS/Insurance. We are lucky because we can afford it and I feel very soorry
for those totally dependant on FEMAS.
Most every day is a bit better..
Cheers, Gene
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