From Sea to Shining Sea

Kay Johnson, PhoneSmart Bog Editor reflects on the weather.

Welcome to the PhoneSmart call center bog, an inside view of the self-storage industry.

One thing for certain, bad weather creates need for self storage. In the 2 years that I have worked here hurricanes, tornados, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and mudslides have disrupted people’s lives throughout our nation. It seems that the weather rules are changing. As I recall mudslides were usually in California. The recent heavy rains and mudslides in Virginia, Washington D.C. and the Northeast have created havoc in many communities. No doubt there will be a need for storage while evacuated and displaced families wait to move back to their homes. Insurance may very well pay for contents before the home is habitable again. Where will all of those folks go until things are set back in order?

When I was a little girl my Great Aunt Verse lived just over a levee from the Mississippi River near the Missouri and Iowa border. Every spring the river would rise and threaten to come over the levee. Even if the levee held what they called “seep water” would encroach upon the homes at the base of the levee. The water was muddy and when it receded, it left a thick, gooey, smelly mud that had to be cleaned out very soon before it dried. There would be snakes in the walls of the house and the floors and wallpaper were generally ruined. Every spring she would put up new wallpaper and every spring it would be ruined. The furniture was usually moved to the attic as the water was rising and sometimes into the hayloft of the big barn that stood across the road. This was all that was available to keep from harming priceless pieces of furniture and memories that had been carried from Ireland on a steamship and then carted through mountain passes and river valleys on horse drawn wagons and carts pulled by oxen to this life of freedom and plenty in the heartland.

I can sympathize with people who are faced with the destruction and loss of things that symbolize their history. I am happy to be able to assist them in finding a safe space for these treasures.