And it begins...
- Michael Jay Tucker's explosive-cargo
- Mar 5
- 4 min read
Okay, last time I had us at the end of Covid, the Ice Storm, and a bunch of other stuff that got in the way of our doing much of anything. Put ‘em all together and they spell “You ain’t getting a Casita anytime soon, buddy.”
And things continued like that for the next couple of years. There were a couple more disasters -- Martha had her fall in 2022, for instance. You’ll recall that one. It was what started me doing these little columns in the first place. It was also the one that led me to hate people who illegally park in handicapped parking spaces. But that’s a story for another day. A day when we all feel strong.
(Oh, a quick aside, I’ve turned all the columns about her fall and recovery into an ebook. You can see it on my webpage here: https://www.michaeljaytucker.com/basic-01. I’m also working on turning it into a printed hardcopy book. I’ll let you know when it happens.)
And there were a couple more ice storms -- one caused a lot of tree damage. For days afterwards, you could hear limbs falling...usually on someone’s roof and causing all sorts of damage. And there was a heat wave and a drought. Then was a major hailstorm that smashed up the sunroof of my car (expensive to fix). And...well, you get the point. Neither circumstances, nor finances, favored going forward on the Casita project.
Then, along came 2024. Things seemed (at last!) to be settling down a bit. Texas weather remains ...a question...but we’d managed to avoid anything too messy for a while. All the appliances were working, so we didn’t need to replace anything. We were feeling a little flush.
So, at long last, the Casita looked doable.
And, well, we really did need the space. There was just no getting around it. We were falling over each other every time we needed to use our computers. And we are heavy computer users, both of us.
So...
About the photos: First, this is a shot I got from Martha. It shows the first day that trades folk showed up to begin construction. Very exciting. Second, here’s the inside of the Casita a few days after building began. Third, here’s Martha taking a picture from outside the Casita. This is some days later, after the roof and walls were up. Finally, nothing to do with the story, but I like the picture, here’s Martha in Old Town Albuquerque on our 2025 trip.
One day, we decided to take a ride. I don’t recall if we had a specific destination. Maybe we were headed to the town of Liberty Hill, which is only a short ways North of us. There’s an excellent barbecue restaurant there--Agape BBQ.(1) Tell them I sent you. They won’t have the slightest idea who I am, but, who knows? Maybe they’ll pretend they do. Nice little game for everyone.
Anyway, we were on our way back along Highway 29 when we looked up. There, along the side of the road, were a number of small buildings -- sheds, backyard offices, barns, even a vacation house. The sign out front said, “Moore Liberty Buildings.” (2)
We had, actually, driven past that spot a number of times. And we’d seen the buildings and the sign. And we’d said to ourselves, “Gee, we ought to stop there one of these days and see what they’ve got.” But, of course, in the way that you do, we’d never actually done that. We’d always been in a hurry, or we’d been tired, or whatever.
But this time, for no good reason...maybe only because we wanted to extend our outing a little bit, and we knew there was work to be done at home...we slowed down. I said to Martha, “Would you like to stop?” And she said, “Sure. Why not?”
So I found a spot to make a U-turn, reversed our direction, and, a moment later, we were pulling into The Outdoor Showroom of Moore Liberty Buildings.
We didn’t know it, but we were about to make an unplanned, irrational, impulse purchase that, under normal circumstances, we would have never even considered.
But, for once, mostly because we didn’t give ourselves time to think about it...
We would do it.
And it would turn out to be one of the best purchases we’ve made in years.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. Agape’s webpage is here: https://agapebbq.com/
2. Moore Liberty Buildings’ webpage is here: https://www.moorelibertybuildings.com/
Copyright©2026 Michael Jay Tucker
Care to help out?
I provide these blog postings for free. That’s fine and I’m happy to do so. But, long ago and far away, I was told that if you give away your material, that means you don’t really think it has any value.
So, to get beyond that, I’ve decided to make it possible for you to leave me a “tip” for my posts.
If you like what I write or the videos I produce, and feel you could make a small contribution to support my efforts, please go here:
That will take you to a Gumroad page where you’ll have the option of leaving me a few pence by way of encouragement.
Again, I don’t mind if you don’t. I just want to provide you with the option so that I won’t feel quite so much like I’m just tossing my works into the wind.
Either way, thanks hugely for dropping by the blog :-)
~mjt
That is a great story and not having to deal with a unknown contractor is a real plus +! Love the photos of the project.