## 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
+Our home which was the hosting site for gag.com fell victim to a forest fire
+which began on 11 June 2013. Our house was <em>very</em> close to where
+the fire started, so we had no real 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.
+Our property is on an edge of the burn area, so while we lost the house,
+greenhouse, and one of our sheds... our other shed and many of our trees
+survived. So we quickly decided to re-build on the same property, and hope
+the new house will be ready by late summer 2014. In the meantime, we're
+living in an apartment in nearby Colorado Springs.
+
###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*
+thank you. We put together several wishlists and a registries of items we
+needed to get started in the apartment, all of which were quickly and
+completely filled. We are extremely grateful to have so many kind and
+generous friends both in the Colorado Springs area, and all over the world!
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
+established an
[emergency relief fund](http://www.ppcf.org/products/emergency-relief)
that specifically benefits victims of this fire.
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
* 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="http://blackforestauto.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bfs.png" width="300" height="300"></center>
+<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
projects / web / gag.com / blobdiff