Oh, SurpriZe. Drew began “spelunking” on Sunday, two days after the fire – while the rubble was still smoldering!!! With the help of some neighbors, he burrowed into the “basement,” hoping to salvage things that may have fallen through and escaped serious damage. (Everything above-ground had been collapsed to assist in extinguishing the fire.)
His helpers managed to wrestle Drew into a motorcycle helmet for protection from falling debris. However, no one was ever able to impress upon him the need for BREATHING PROTECTION. When I saw the smoke and particulate content of the “air” he was breathing in that confined space, I really wanted to SMACK HIM UP-SIDE THE HEAD. But, I didn’t.
Drew was especially hoping to find his COMPUTER. If it were only superficially melted or crushed, the likelihood that the main drive – and all the files contained therein – could be accessed and salvaged was high!
Surprisingly enough, Drew managed to pull a lot of PHOTO ALBUMS from the rubble! All had burned covers, but the photos sandwiched inside were relatively unburned. Most pages were water-logged, and their photos may not be recoverable. However, a very, very helpful neighbor – Michelle – just happens to be a Photo-Restorer!!! She and Annabeth (and other volunteers) are working to extract, debride, dry and recover all the photos they can.
Steve, Jodi and Kidz drove to Lincoln on the Tuesday following the fire (arriving on Wednesday), so that we could all be together for THANKSGIVING. Certainly, we had some serious things to be thankful for this year!
Although Drew and Annabeth were stressed and busy with “recovery” tasks, we were all able to gather at the Fandamily Manse for Thanksgiving Dinner. (Two turkeys: one roasted, one smoked. Mmmm, Mmmm!)
PS To the Eastern-Miller-Related-Folkz:
Jodi makes OYSTER DRESSING!!!
Yeah, Bay-bee!!!
By Thanksgiving day, Drew and the Annas had already obtained a rental home, located near “the lot.” On the day of the fire, Annabeth had vowed NEVER to go near, or live at, the site of their burned home. However, five days later, she had recovered enough to share in Drew’s decision to REBUILD their Papillion home.
They have already developed the design for a completely different structure: a ranch-style dwelling, with a finished full basement, and lots of windows. Although Drew plans to “help” build it, he (wisely) has elected to contract the majority of their new home’s construction to OTHERS. (You KNOW that Annabeth heaved a huge sigh of relief upon learning this!)
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving – one week and a day after the fire – Kim, Steve, Jodi and I moved most of the stuff I’ve had in storage for two years (contents of my Denver condominium) into Drew and the Annas’ rental home. Thus, they are relatively well-supplied and settled-into their new abode.
That same day, as a crew worked to remove rubble to dumpsters, we briefly assisted Drew’s salvage efforts. All in all, very little was recoverable. Some silver was found (blackened but un-melted). “Also, several bags of debris were removed from an area where we found a RING-BAND and the remnants of Mary and Wes’ luggage.
Just prior to visiting Drew and Annabeth, Mary and Wes had had the gems from several historic Deats-family rings combined into two (or four?) NEW rings – so that the diamonds could be worn and cherished. These irreplaceable rings were lost in the fire.Personally, I don’t harbor enormous hope that the debris we bagged and removed will yield the Deats-family gems. After all, they’re likely to be only blackened bits, and extremely difficult to distinguish from other (unimportant) blackened bits.
However, there IS THE POSSIBILITY that, should Annabeth wash and sift through the debris we recovered from the ring-band site, she may be able to find some of her family’s diamonds.
Drew’s computer ended up (he surmises) being completely buried under the collapsed fireplace stonework. It was never recovered. Thankfully, he had “archived” the entirety of his hard drive to the QA3 computer system in June or July of last summer. Thus, only the document files he’d created in the previous four months were lost.
(Dear Reader, In case you’re not familiar with computerized work: the loss of even ONE WEEK’s documents represents an enormous amount of work! Consider the fact that it took one week to create each week’s-worth of loss. Thus, it takes an equal amount of time to recreate that week’s-worth of work. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the work can be recreated as accurately as it was originally written.Certainly, it could have been much worse! Had Drew not archived his hard drive when he did, years and years and years of work could have been lost. Additionally, many of his “lost files” were attached to Emails he had either sent or received. Since those Emails and attachments were “stored” on the Internet, they are completely recoverable!Then again, it is also possible that recreated work, by virtue of subsequent knowledge, might be “better-written” than the original work!
One way or another, it’s a LOT of work to recreate lost files.)
PRIMARY LESSON: BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE!!!
Archive it somewhere. Anywhere. You never know!
Although much of the home’s landscaping (all the trees and bushes and plants that Annabeth worked so hard to cultivate) was irreparably damaged, perhaps 50 to 75% of it may be coaxed into surviving. Incredibly, the landscaper who assisted Annabeth in the landscape-development for their property happens to be one of Drew’s Air Force Academy instructors, who retired – years ago – to work as a landscaper in South Omaha. Thankfully, he anticipates being able to quickly restore their property to a state even better than before the fire! That’s it for now. Depending upon the significance of any further developments, I may or may not add more to this site before reporting the completion of Drew and Annabeth’s new home (something that is likely a year or more away).
Certainly, when the photos we took during Thanksgiving and the “search and rescue” efforts are developed, I’ll scan them and post them here.
BSK, CHAS
As before:
