Colorado fires
Bad news.
Sister-in-law just called, in tears. The house, barn, and 5 acres of timber burned to the ground. An adjacent 10 acre tract that was sold off when my mother-in-law died, a few years back, also burned to the ground.
The worst part is all the memories that went up in smoke. You can buy new furniture, but you can't entirely replace the old furniture that was passed down to you, and the times that you spent there with family. The house was a log cabin, parts of which dated back to 1923. We spent many a happy Christmas season and summer there with them. Now, it's gone.
So, as they say, "Get your house in order."
Sister-in-law just called, in tears. The house, barn, and 5 acres of timber burned to the ground. An adjacent 10 acre tract that was sold off when my mother-in-law died, a few years back, also burned to the ground.
The worst part is all the memories that went up in smoke. You can buy new furniture, but you can't entirely replace the old furniture that was passed down to you, and the times that you spent there with family. The house was a log cabin, parts of which dated back to 1923. We spent many a happy Christmas season and summer there with them. Now, it's gone.
So, as they say, "Get your house in order."
Experience - the ability to instantly recognize a mistake when you make it again.
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- Passionate
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- Chuckwagon
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Russ, ol' pard, that's a tough one. So sorry to hear the bad news. It's hard to believe the fire was in the exact same place as last year. Seems like just a continuation - like the fire just took a few months off and then started all over again. What a nightmare. Have your relatives got a place to go now? Keep us posted pal. We'll keep all the fire victims in our prayers.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill!
Thanks for the good wishes, everyone. Yes, I'm sure that it's hard on the Colorado Springs community after last year's Waldo Canyon fire and now the Black Forest fire.
Some of those old pines bore marks of Indian trails from 150 years ago. There was a wonderful meadow in the back with an intermittent stream and a beautiful view of Pike's Peak framed by the pines. Pine forests take many years to regenerate. In that particular Colorado climate (Palmer Divide), there'll probably be 20 or 30 years of aspen trees before the conifers can re-establish themselves. ∞
Across the road from our family's former house, there's a 16-acre forestry management area. No doubt the students will have their work cut out for them.
Some of those old pines bore marks of Indian trails from 150 years ago. There was a wonderful meadow in the back with an intermittent stream and a beautiful view of Pike's Peak framed by the pines. Pine forests take many years to regenerate. In that particular Colorado climate (Palmer Divide), there'll probably be 20 or 30 years of aspen trees before the conifers can re-establish themselves. ∞
Across the road from our family's former house, there's a 16-acre forestry management area. No doubt the students will have their work cut out for them.
Experience - the ability to instantly recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Here's what my sister-in-law's place in Black(ened) Forest, Colorado, looks like after a wildfire burned it to the ground. This was a two-story log home, 2500 square feet. Note the lack of rubble. The fire was so hot, inside and out, that nearly everything was reduced to ash. Note that they had recently cleared all brush and trees away from the house, as advised by the insurance company and local fire marshals. Incredibly, the house next door survived with nothing but scorch marks. (This was the southern edge of the fire.)
They aren't allowed in for longer than 20 minutes at a time, while wearing a HAZMAT suit and breathing filter, due to the toxicity of the metals used so widely these days in electronics, televisions, etc. The state requires "sifters" to retrieve anything left in the way of china, silver, etc.
So... "Be careful out there," says Smokey the Duck.
no smileys on THIS one.
They aren't allowed in for longer than 20 minutes at a time, while wearing a HAZMAT suit and breathing filter, due to the toxicity of the metals used so widely these days in electronics, televisions, etc. The state requires "sifters" to retrieve anything left in the way of china, silver, etc.
So... "Be careful out there," says Smokey the Duck.
no smileys on THIS one.
Experience - the ability to instantly recognize a mistake when you make it again.
- sawhorseray
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- Chuckwagon
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