[web/gag.com] / blackforestfire.mdwn

## Black Forest Fire 2013 ##

Our home which was the hosting site for gag.com fell victim to forest fire on 
or about 11 June 2013.  Our house was <em>very</em> close to where the fire 
started, so we had very little warning and feel very lucky to have escaped 
with our lives, our pets, and a few of our most precious possessions. This was 
the second really significant forest fire in the Colorado Springs area in less
than one year, and is the worst fire in Colorado history in terms of 
structure loss... the count of destroyed homes is over 500.

###Helping###

For those of you who have asked how you can help us restore and rebuild, 
thank you.  We are working on several wishlists and a registry of items we 
need in the short term.  Please watch this space as we will update the list 
of lists and the contents of the lists as we find more time to work on them.  
Here's what we have so far:

* [Crate and Barrel Registry](http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Elizabeth-Garbee/r5059713) *COMPLETELY FULFILLED*
* [Bed Bath & Beyond Registry](http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?wrn=-280550117&) *COMPLETELY FULFILLED*
* [Amazon Wish List](http://amzn.com/w/2UTFPG4214HV4) *COMPLETELY FULFILLED*

Many of the others in Black Forest who lost homes actually need help much 
more than
we do.  The [Pikes Peak Community Foundation](http://www.ppcf.org)
has established an 
[emergency relief fund](http://www.ppcf.org/products/emergency-relief)
that specifically benefits victims of this fire.

If you'd rather send money to help us rebuild, PayPal transfers to 
bdale@gag.com may be the easiest way to do that.

We are also deeply indebted to the three local fire departments that we know
were directly fighting the fire on and around our property:

* <a href="http://www.bffire.org">Black Forest Fire/Rescue</a>, the 
        department that serves us directly and were likely first on the 
        scene.
* <a href="http://www.wescottfire.org">Wescott Fire Protection District</a>,
        an adjacent district whose personnel were fighting the fire literally 
        along the edges of our driveway when we tried to drive out, and who 
        ended up walking us out through the already-burned area to safety.
* <a href="http://www.falconfirepd.org">Falcon Fire Protection District</a>,
        whose members showed us immense generosity in the days following the
        fire.

### Journal ###

* 2014 April 9<br>Roof trusses installed.
* 2014 March 25<br>Framing started.
* 2014 March 14<br>Concrete poured for the foundation / basement walls.
* 2014 March 3<br>Concrete poured for the foundation footers.
* 2014 February 26<br>Ground broken!  Excavation underway...
* 2014 February 19<br>Building permits issued!
* 2014 February 7<br>While visiting the site for other reasons, Bdale observed
        that [Mountain View Electric](www.mvea.coop) has installed a new
        transformer, riser, and meter base on the last electric pole on our
        property.
* 2014 January 22<br>After some iteration between the architect and engineers,
        we now have a complete working plan set with engineering stamps on
        the way to Regional for issuance of building permits.
* 2013 December 16<br>Got our "last" set of questions answered by our
        contractor, and signed the contract for constuction of our new house.
* 2013 December 10<br>Met with contractor to review cost estimates for our
        revised plan.  We're within budget now, so gave him the go-ahead to
        write up a contract!
* 2013 November 25<br>Met with contractor and architect to deliver our
        proposed updates to the plan and discuss.  We're actually happier 
        with the revised design, they both seem to like what we proposed,
        and everyone is optimistic it will come in within budget.
* 2013 November 18<br>Met with our contractor to discuss costs.  Not too
        surprisingly in hindsight, what we designed would cost more to build
        than we are prepared to spend.  Back to the drawing board, literally!
* 2013 November 2<br>Met with our contractor to provide information he needs
        to put cost estimates together for us in parallel with waiting for 
        structural engineering work to be completed.
* 2013 October 21<br>After several iterations, we now have floor plans and 
        elevations that accurately represent what we'd like to build.
* 2013 September 19<br>First draft of main floor plan received from the
        architect we're working with.
* 2013 August 16<br>Demoliton work completed. The remains of our house, shed,
        and greenhouse are now gone.
* 2013 July 26<br>The remains of the two cars that burned were removed from
        our property and sold as scrap metal.
* 2013 July 21<br>After a week spent interviewing contractors who might help us
        build a new house, we made a decision!  We'll be working with Doug
        Strecker, dba <a href="http://www.rampartcustomhomes.com/">Rampart
        Custom Homes</a>.  At his suggestion, we'll be using David Woody as
        the architect tasked with turning our sketches into working plans.
* 2013 July 4<br>all web sites formerly hosted returned to normal
* 2013 July 3<br>gag.com web presence returns to normal
* 2013 June 28<br>gag.com mail service returns to normal
* 2013 June 20<br>Intenet service connected in the apartment
* 2013 June 18<br>First night sleeping in the apartment
* 2013 June 17<br>Started populating the apartment, almost entirely with 
        donated things.  Initial registry links posted for things we could
        use immediately to re-establish ourselves in the apartment
* 2013 June 15<br>Signed lease on 2-bedroom apartment in Colorado Springs.
* 2013 June 11<br>House destroyed by forest fire

<center><IMG SRC="bfs.png" width="300" height="300"></center>

We're not sure who created the original artwork, but thanks to Eric and the 
gang at 
[Black Forest Automotive](http://blackforestauto.com)
for the cool bfs.png!