+## 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 ###
+* 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="http://blackforestauto.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/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!
+
projects / web / gag.com / commitdiff