Looking Forward, Looking Back
Colorado High Park Fire Update

(contains photos - please be patient as they load)
For those of you who wish to read or missed my past letters, they are posted on our website at http://rivercrossinginc.tripod.com/feature.html 

A Hundred Thanks
to every single one of you who has come out to our property since the fire to help us with the clean-up process. It means so much to us, and we can never adequately thank you enough. May God bless you abundantly for your continued kindness.
*******************************************************************
OK - I'm better now.  : )

My grateful thanks to all of you who sent encouragement our way after my last "Black Blog" letter. I spent a couple of weeks in Ohio with my folks in early December, and getting away from the "black zone" for awhile helped. When I returned, I found my emotions were transitioning (finally) from mourning the loss of our home, and the beautiful green mountain and landscape, to wanting to heal its wounds and move forward. I caught the holiday spirit, and shopping for replacement items finally became fun! Mike and I have begun re-stocking our wardrobes and household essentials.

Our insurance company has come through, and while most of the money has already gone out the door to pay for mortgages on non-existent houses, burnt tree and debris removal, and re-purchasing necessary items for daily life, we have enough left over to start to budget for the re-building process. We're working to make it stretch as far as we can, but thanks to your help, we are on our way!

Here's what's been happening since my last update:
Late September
A hard-working party of five joined Mike and I and we blasted away with everything we had to try to clear an area of burnt forest at the base of the mountain. Chainsaws, chippers, pullers, haulers and toters gamely slaved away all day long with barely a break. At the end of the day, a small but significant dent could be seen on the hillside. We estimate four hundred trees of all sizes were dropped that day.





While we worked, we were happy to see seed being dropped by helicopter on neighboring burnt National Forest Land. This should help with the erosion problem come next spring.



A Paradise Park neighbor who owns a construction company came by with his HUGE backhoe. He dredged our upper silt-filled pond, enlarged another, and excavated the area where Mike's utility shed used to be so we could begin construction on a new one. He also cleaned up and smoothed out the areas where the house and woodshed used to stand. That monster of a backhoe could rip out entire stumps without even breaking a sweat! Very impressive and very appreciated.





The day after the pond was enlarged, a thunderburst up on the mountain caused a river of inky water to flood back into the pond. Very disheartening for Mike.



Very Early October
(In case you missed this part in my last "Black" update:)  Grace Hood, with KUNC, has been following us since the evacuation. She came up to visit us in early October and produced this really nice radio and video clip. http://www.kunc.org/post/6-months-after-high-park-fire-we-re-not-all-better-yet-we-will-be

Early October
In spite of SNOW!, another dedicated work party braved the cold to construct a filter dam from brush and stumps in a neighboring ravine to hopefully keep that silt and ash from flowing back into our ponds come next spring with the snow melt off and rains.



The heavy frost that morning clung to every fried pine needle and branch on the blackened trees, and for a brief time, the mountain looked like it used to in the winter. I got choked up, knowing it was only a beautiful illusion.



Mid October
We gave up on the idea of removing four acres of blackened trees without professional help. We decided to allocate some of the insurance funds to bring in a tree-cutting team with a skid steer, a 15" chipper, and a forest masticator. They did a massive amount of work, but there was still much to be done when they left.





Late October
A forest fire burning in nearby Estes Park since October 9 got kicked up by strong winds, and the smoke came and filled our valley. Disconcerting. It was in very steep terrain and difficult for them to fight. It burned slowly for weeks, and finally in December, after another alarming high wind event, they finally got it under control.



Hooray! The first reconstruction project was begun! A concrete pad was poured for the "Bunkhouse" - a storage shed where we can stash our stuff and where Mike can re-locate his leather clothing workshop when we begin the remodeling process on the Studio. It's got two interior rooms, and an attic for more storage.



We did a lot of research into Fire Wise building techniques (www.firewise.org), incorporating fire-resistant siding and decking, and other options with the goal in mind that, God forbid, another forest fire sweeps through our land, this little building will be able to defend itself.



Early November
Ellie the Donkey (see September 27th posting) received her award as "Animal Hero of the Year" from Pet Aid Colorado, in a ceremony at the Pepsi Center in Denver. It had been hoped she could be in personal attendance, but it was decided she wouldn't fit in the freight elevator! Michele accepted Ellie's medal in her place, and the coolest balloon sculpture had to suffice for her presence.



Mid November
Construction continued on the "Bunkhouse," and we brought in another professional tree-cutting company to complete the section behind where the house used to stand and by the front gate. There's so much blackened National Forest which will have to heal on its own, and we'll be looking at it for years to come, but my goal was to clean up as much of our own property as we could before winter set in. That way, the land could rest during the winter, let the snows soak in, and grow in hopefully lush and green next spring. It would also give me all winter to start getting used to far fewer trees on our landscape.



All of the black trees you see in this photo are now gone:


We saved only the ones that we think might have a chance to make it. It's a lot emptier now than we're used to.


December
I went to Ohio to help my folks while my Mom had surgery, and during those two weeks, Mike worked his hiney off finishing, caulking, texturizing, and painting the new Bunkhouse, with helping hands, of course. He got that part done just before the holiday snow set in. Ain't it cute?...



Christmas Time
Since we WON'T cut any of the surviving little green trees outside for Christmas, we decided to decorate one for our annual email holiday card. Grace Hood was doing a follow-up story with us and kindly snapped a series of photos so we could pick our favorite. Since the tree was shorter than our heads, we counted "1-2-3-Bend!" so we could crouch down and get on its equal level. Hilarious, to say the least. It was good and very healthy to laugh our heads off. What a joy to have Christmas joy! I had planned to have the contrast of the green tree against the black mountain as a background, but God had other plans, and a beautiful snowstorm moved in just in time to paint a pretty white backdrop.

Here's a few of the fun outtakes we decided NOT to use for our "formal" picture, but we love 'em anyway...



New Year's Eve
We decided to lay low and stay put for New Year's Eve, catching up the end-of-year books and staying warm and dry, and feeling grateful we made it through and for all that God has provided us this year. Then, as icing on the cake, He sent a herd of over 90 majestic elk to graze and spend the night in our meadow - the first time we've seen the herd here since the fire. Mike was concerned the fire had changed their winter migratory patterns, and you don't know how special it was to hear the bull elk bugle and the cows chirp at each other that night. What a gift!



The Future
All the hired work crews have departed, and Mike and I are dependent again upon the kindness of volunteers to help us literally pick up the pieces and keep moving forward in the rebuilding process. The Bunkhouse still needs flooring and shelves, our goods need to be hauled up to it and organized, and the winter snows had delayed any further outdoor work for the present. We now must draft plans for building my own work studio/office. We're hoping that once we empty the middle section of the Studio, we can bring up our architect friends and designers to figure the best way to re-model this space into our new home. We'll have a thousand decisions to make, and budgets to figure, and then the sledge-hammers will start swinging as we raise floors and ceilings, add insulation, remove walls, and de-construct and re-construct this building. What a task we have ahead of us, but it feels good to be moving forward into a new and bright future!


There y'go. Time continues to fly by, and we continue to make progress. Thanks to all of you for your good cheer, words of encouragement, and prayers. It helps to know we are not forgotten, even if we are a couple of toughies who pretend everything's OK. We're learning to adapt to the "new normal," and while things will never be the same and we'll be healing from the summer of 2012 for some time to come, we are determined to make it.
Hope to see you soon!

Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512
970-221-2992

OK - The Black Truth Blog
Colorado High Park Fire Update

There's a real nice radio with video clip at the end of this story to cheer you up after reading this!  : )

Almost six months. Seems like yesterday in many respects. While the topic of the High Park Fire has fallen to little notice in the news anymore, and as the holidays, school, elections, and storms and news from across the country take precedence, the aftermath of the fire is still an everyday struggle for so many here.
 
If you’re wondering where I’ve been, well, lately I just didn’t have it in me to compose.
 
Great progress is definitely being made, but personally, I think I hit the wall emotionally about four weeks ago.  So many months of “stiff upper lip,” “keeping your chin up,” “think positive,” “be grateful for what you have (believe me – I am!),” “stay strong,” “move forward,” “what a great attitude you have!” and “roll up your sleeves and do what needs to be done” have finally taken their toll.
 
Yes, we will make it. As Mike said this week, “We’re fighting through it.” Ha! Literally and figuratively. When every day you must make the decision to ignore the black, face the black, clean up the black, cry about the black, or somehow else deal with the black, eventually it all adds up. And I can’t even imagine what my fellow fire survivors are going through who lost everything!
 
Some of them have sold out and moved away, some have already purchased property elsewhere “that won’t burn,” as one neighbor said, some are still sifting and sorting through the ashes and debris of their homes and dealing with insurance companies, and some appear to have abandoned it all. But others are already re-building, with hopes and dreams to put this behind them.
 
Thank you so much for your continued thoughts, support, and prayers. The insurance company has come through for us wonderfully, and now we’re in the process of stretching every dollar. Each day we have to decide what to cover, what to put off, and what likely won’t happen after all. I’m also finding there’s no way I can run my business, heal the land, and take care of myself all at the same time. Something’s gotta give. It’s overwhelming to face it all, and make all these decisions, and then feel guilty I’m not bouncing with joy, when things could be so much worse.
 
I think I’ve got about half my brain back now. I’ve realized I’m speaking in fragmented sentences (which reflect my thoughts), and will completely lose track of what I was saying at all. I’ll walk five steps and have to literally go back to remember what I was doing. It’s rather disconcerting. And this is improvement over three months ago!  : )
 
I have little patience, I’m fried, and I really, really need to get away. I live with burnt trees around me every day, and so now even when I’m in a beautifully un-burnt area like Estes Park, I still “see” burn everywhere in my mind. Not good. This will change eventually, I know it will.
 
Shopping for replacement clothes has not been as fun as I’d hoped. When every kind salesperson asks me, “How are you? Are you finding everything you want?,” I sometimes struggle not to burst into tears, and have to resist the urge to say, “No! I’m not alright! And I want my own (name particular favorite lost item of clothing) back, and you don’t have it!” So selfish and self-centered of me, I know.
 
Warning – if these days you ask me, “How are you doing?,” I might tell you!  Sorry if I’ve been crabby to you, my dear friends. Thank you to those who have been here helping us out when I have a controlled outburst. You’ve been so kind…
 
Good days and bad days. Emotional ups and downs. A high point in this last month was our annual Victorian Ball in Estes Park on November 17. What a joy to see all of you! You lifted my spirits and kept me happily distracted. It wore me out, but was worth every minute.
 
Quite a few of you have expressed concern for our wellbeing. It is appreciated. We will make it, but it’s been rough going lately. We’re both too stubborn to cave, and we know this is to be expected after what we’ve been through. Experts say it can take a year or more for folks to “bounce back” after a disaster like this. The whole community was affected in one way or another. Mike keeps telling me to cut myself slack for not “getting over it” yet. He’s right.
 
We still need help, on many levels, and I’m willing to admit it. We need physical help with the land, emotional help when I’m pretending everything’s OK, and spiritual help with continued prayers. Not just for us, but for our entire community, as well.
 
Well, there you have it. Perhaps writing this is my own therapy.  Hopefully this will be a turning point, and I can start to get it out of my system. Trust me, I hate this part. I am so grateful God made me a person of great hope and with a naturally positive attitude, and I know this is only a temporary season. I’m looking forward to when this passes, because IT WILL!  : D
 
Thanks again for your love and prayers. A “normal” update will follow soon, full of news and photos and all the cool things that are happening here. Thanks for listening, my friends. You are like a warm, cozy blanket to me. Just understand if I don’t feel like being cheerful right now, and know it’s temporary. Flashes of joy. It will be alright.
 
Carpe diem,
Sharon Guli
God is Good

Postscript:  Grace Hood, with KUNC, has been following us since the evacuation. She came up to visit us in early October and produced this really nice radio clip you can listen to on the internet, with a video at the bottom of the article. I hope you'll listen to them and enjoy! If Mozilla Firefox won't play the audio and video clips, it should work on Internet Explorer.  http://www.kunc.org/post/6-months-after-high-park-fire-we-re-not-all-better-yet-we-will-be

Here's a link to the first story she did on us, too, right at the beginning of all this:  http://www.kunc.org/post/day-life-wildfire-evacuee  

Work Parties and Donkey Story
Colorado High Park Fire

(contains photos - please be patient as they load)
Two Work Party Weekends!
this weekend and next:
September 29 & 30 and October 6 & 7
Great news! - We've just been approved by the USDA for funding to help cover the cost of some of the debris removal and erosion control on our property. We're going to have two intensive work party weekends to plant grass seed, place straw wattles, and continue the process of cutting, chipping, and hauling away the hundreds of burnt trees on our property.
Please RSVP by clicking here if you want to join us for the fun

We know it's a busy time of year, and the kids are back in school, so we don't expect the sizable turnouts you've blessed us with the last two work days. Any help you wish to give will be humbly welcomed and appreciated, whether it's all day or just for an hour or two, or whether it's one person or a whole team. It's a dirty job, but we have a great time while at it.
Yes, we have a bathroom, electricity, a land phone line, internet, and a working refrigerator.
Please bring munchies for the potluck meals.

Please RSVP by clicking here!
We'll email you detailed directions to our place and our physical address. Campers are welcome. Hope to see you!

*********************************************************************************************
ELLIE the DONKEY Story

Yes, you read correctly! During all the sadness of the fire, people got a "Feel Good Story" in the tale of the "hero" donkey, Ellie, who regretfully had to be left behind in our meadow when Mike and I were told to evacuate. Reporters, both local and national, called us to hear all about it, and the story "went viral," as Mike likes to say. Good news - she made it out safely, and for your reading pleasure, below are photos and the whole scoop...

NEWS FLASH! - Just before sending this email, I was notified that Ellie has been nominated by Pet Aid Colorado for their "Colorado Animal Heroes" award for helping keep her herd safe during the fire. Pretty cool! Best wishes, Ellie! 

ELLIE, THE "HERO" DONKEY - For several years, Greg and Michele Van Hare, active Victorian dance friends of ours who run a carriage/wagon business on the side, have boarded their four Percherons and two mammoth donkeys on our pasture during the summer. What sweet, gentle giants. We have enjoyed getting to know their personalities, especially of Ellie, one of the donkeys. While she is the most gentle and loving equine we have ever met, we have also seen her "face down" any creature or thing she viewed as a danger to "her" herd. Throwing those hugely long ears forward, she would calmly and deliberately stride toward the object of her attention, and never once did the perceived threat refuse to back down, whether they be bull elk, moose, neighboring mustangs, or a strange dog.

Michele Van Hare shows off two of the Percherons. 

On Saturday, June 9, the fire exploded too fast and too close, and Mike and I were unable to evacuate the huge animals, as the only trailer on the property was a gooseneck, and we were driving a Hyundai and a Chevy van. Having called the Van Hares right away once the evacuation order came in, and knowing they were on their way and almost there to get their animals out, Mike and I pealed out with the smoke cloud looming over us, having reluctantly left the horses in our 25-acre enclosed pasture, with plenty of food, water, and open space. The fire department was already going door to door to get everyone in our neighborhood out ASAP, in fear that the wind could shift and sweep the fire over us all. Unknown to us as we left the property, when we reached the front entrance to Paradise Park, we found the fire department had already closed our road to any and all incoming traffic, including the Van Hares who were less than ten minutes away at that point. I cannot express how distraught I was at leaving those animals behind. In addition to the horses on our property, nine other horses on our neighbors' properties to the east and west of us also had to be left behind by their owners.  

For four long days, we prayed and cried and prayed some more for a miracle for those helpless creatures stuck in the middle of the firestorm. I filed reports with the rescue team of the Humane Society and daily checked with them to see if any news was to be had. The Van Hares had the difficult job of preparing their children for the worst. As if losing our home wasn't enough, it was heartbreaking to think the animals left in our care may have suffered a horrible fate. In the midst of all the other stress and shock we were already going through, I couldn't stop second-guessing my actions that day regarding those poor creatures.

On Sunday we saw on the reports the fire had swept Paradise Park. On Monday morning we were told by the fire chief himself that our neighborhood had burned heavily, and he believed only one or two structures had survived. Still no word on any animal rescues. On Monday afternoon, I was told by the Humane Society that a "posse" had attempted to get up to Paradise Park to check on the horses, but had been refused access as it was still too dangerous. Monday evening, Mike and I heard through the grapevine that our home had indeed burned to the ground. Through all of this, I had to keep calling the Van Hares with the increasingly bad news, and urge them to keep praying for a miracle.

Tuesday we received it! That afternoon, Mike met with the lady organizing the handling of all evacuated animals brought in to The Ranch, the large fairgrounds complex in Loveland. Turns out she knew the Van Hares personally, and we'll probably never know who pulled what strings or if it was simply meant to be, but Tuesday evening we received a phone call from a posse member with the incredible, amazing, wonderful news that all but one of the horses had indeed been rescued from Paradise Park, including those of our neighbors! Hallelujah! One of the draft horses could not be found, but having only one missing was wonderful news! Right after I notified the Van Hares, a second phone call came in saying the missing Percheron had actually been located and brought in earlier in the day. Apparently he had busted out of our pasture and fled over the hill to a neighboring property, where he was found lonely and dejected with a strange herd of other horses. Another hallelujah!

While I had the lady on the line, I asked her, if she could, to please tell me what she had seen while in Paradise Park. Paraphrased, she said, "As we drove in, while a number of houses had definitely burned, we were shocked at how many homes were still standing. I don't know what those firefighters did, but so many houses had been saved. There was black all around, but in the middle of it all was this lush, green meadow where they found all of the horses. It was amazing." I say it was our miracle!

These photos were taken by the rescue posse that day. In this shot, you can see, on the far left, the beginning of the stretch of "lush, green meadow" that continues further on into our pasture where the horses were found. You can still see smoke rising in the background from the ridge off the edge of our property.

It was reported that when the rescuers approached, "...the lead donkey, with singed whiskers, walked up to (the volunteer) and laid her head into his chest," which was just like Ellie!

I had asked the posse member on the first phone call if she thought Greg Van Hare might be allowed to go back in with them the next day to look for the missing horse. She got real hesitant with me, and said she didn't think that would be allowed, as things got "dicey" as they were pulling back out of Paradise Park. The next day, I saw these photographs taken by a fellow posse member, and they weren't kidding. On the last few frames, you can see the smoke billowing up in front of them as they were trying to to leave Paradise Park.

Quite alarming, to be sure, and by the next day the fire department stated they were changing the way the Humane Society was going to proceed with any further animal evacuations, probably due in part to the close call encountered by our own posse, I'm guessing. I was told later that someone had seen seven horse trailers lined up at the entrance to Paradise Park on Tuesday to get in and get all fifteen of those animals out of there. Our humble thanks and grateful appreciation to those unknown volunteers who risked their own necks to save these sweet animals!

Click here to see the full slide show of photos taken by the posse as they drove to and into Paradise Park to rescue the horses.

After seeing early photos of the scorched meadow, I can only cringe at the thought of the hell those poor creatures went through that terrible day of the fire. Imagine their terror as the fire swept around on all sides of them, and the massive heat wave blasted over them with those blowtorch winds, as our house and five outbuildings burned within their sight, as embers dropped down around them and set the meadow on fire, as fire trucks surged in and helicopters roared overhead and men charged about, yelling in the storm as they had to pull out to save their own lives. I get goosebumps even now.

This is what our meadow looked like two weeks after the fire, to give you an idea of what the horses lived through. 

At the Ranch, the talented CSU vet team checked over every animal as it was brought in. The horses and donkeys were processed, doctored, and a UPC barcode was slapped on each ashy hindquarter. When we arrived, Mike quickly suggested putting all the Percherons together, pair by pair, into double-wide stalls. How happy the lone Percheron was to be reunited with his "family" again! Ellie and Belle, the donkeys, smelled of smoke and were coated with black soot, poor Belle's nose was quite scorched, and their whiskers were all singed off. Ellie was decidedly not herself, as she stood swaying in the corner of her stall, not even acknowledging our presence at first. This behavior was most unusual from a creature who usually pushed her way in front of you for loving attention every time you stepped into the pasture. I slipped into their stalls and began immediately to pet and love on them, and pretty soon Ellie started to hesitantly nudge me in her familiar way. I was almost in tears.

Ellie's pasture buddy, Belle, enjoys an ash-free meal at The Ranch in Loveland after being evacuated.

That Thursday evening, Mike and I had dinner with the Van Hares to recount the details of the story. In spite of my stress and my doubts, they reassured me we had made the right choice to leave the animals enclosed in the safety and provision of the pasture instead of turning them loose to fend for themselves. In fact, when we had passed each other on the road the day of the fire, they told me they were so relieved to see we had made it out safely, and from that day had given the fate of their beloved animals to God, whatever the outcome would be.

I asked Michele straight out if the animals were okay, as I know smoke inhalation can cause lasting and serious health issues. She said while the eldest Percheron was obviously stressed and wasn't himself, they were all going to be alright. She said all four of the Percheron's tails were singed, because likely they had turned their butts to the blowing wall of heat as it passed over them, as horses are prone to do in a storm. Of most interest to me, however, was that the donkey's noses and insides of their ears were scorched, leading us to believe, just like Ellie had done time and time again, she had "faced down" the danger as it approached the herd. We'll never know exactly what transpired during those terrifying days, but we do know it's extremely likely Ellie did her part in following her instincts as always in leading her herd to safety and facing down anything that threatened them. If it had always worked in the past, why not face down a forest fire, too?...

If you do a Google search under ellie the donkey high park fire, you'll find over eight pages of links about Ellie. Here's just a few...

http://www.pawnation.com/2012/06/20/heroic-donkey-keeps-buddies-calm-and-safe-in-wildfire/#page=1

http://www.wusa9.com/news/nation-world/article/209274/381/Donkey-Saves-Four-Other-Animals-From-Fire

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20869704/vets-think-donkey-minding-draft-horses-did-pasture

http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/20120614/NEWS01/306140031/CSU-vets-care-livestock-rescued-from-High-Park-Fire

http://www.care2.com/causes/heroic-donkey-keeps-buddies-calm-and-safe-in-co-wildfire.html

Closing note: The Van Hares are looking for a new home for Belle, who is also very loving and gentle. If you know anyone who is interested, here's their Craigs List ad: http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/grd/3232623946.html. They can be reached at 970-663-4201.

Hope you enjoyed the story, and hope to see you soon!
Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512
970-221-2992 

After Fire Progress Update
 Colorado High Park Fire 

NOTE: Tree-cutting work parties being planned for Sept. 29 & 30, and Oct. 6 & 7! Please RSVP to Events@guliproductions.com if you need more info, or want to come and need our physical address and detailed directions to our house. Campers are welcome. Hope to see you!

Wow - three months have gone by already since we lost our home to the High Park Fire. Hard to believe. So much has already transpired.

Last week we FINALLY finished our Home Inventory Contents List for the insurance company. What a chore, and what a blessing it's done. Our insurance company (State Farm) has been absolutely great through all of this, but trying to remember every single item we lost, how old it was, and researching what it would cost to replace, was time-consuming, labor intensive, emotional at times, mind-bending, and exhausting.

In the meantime, thank you all again for your tremendous support with gift cards and donations. We're not used to being on this end of charity, but your kindness has helped us obtain needed items while waiting for the insurance details to get worked out. There is no way I can properly express the emotions we feel at your generosity.

While I am eager to return to work, after being "out of the office" for most of three months, I'm finding my focus still is not where it used to be. I'm sure it's asking too much to expect my mind and my body to be operating at normal capacity this soon after such a blow. I'm grateful I'm able to fulfill as many duties as I am able, and look forward to the day I have my full vim and vigor back. In the meantime, thank you for your continued patience as I slowly slog though the backlog. Each week brings improvement, and it's SO nice to be focusing on planning dances and events again instead of looking to the sad past.

So here's all the great stuff that's been happening since my last post... 

On August 6, Mike hired a professional arborist to come up and remove three large pine trees that were too close to our studio.

They also sprayed over 40 trees to try to prevent pine beetle infestations, and save the trees closest to the studio that were untouched or only partially burned by the fire.

We're learning more about which burnt trees might survive after all, and which ones really need to go. We plan to remove all the torched ones from behind the old house, and thin the remaining ones, so we'll end up creating our own mini "Paradise Park" right here, which will have more mountain meadow grazing for wildlife. Should be real pretty in a few years.

Speaking of wildlife - we've had twin spotted fawns running around here the last six weeks with their mama. They've lost their spots by now, but are still adorable. It's great to see the wildlife.

An erosion control specialist walked our land two weeks ago, and has given us advice on treatments. A weed control expert should be coming soon, too, and hopefully there will be funding available from both sources to assist.

We've had two incredible work parties, with friends (and strangers!) driving from as far away as Laramie, Parker, and Colorado Springs to come help in the clean up process. On August 25 & 26, we had multiple teams at work. Even two of my sisters came, Stacy from Boulder, and Sheila all the way from Minnesota to surprise me and lend a hand!

Stacy humorously demonstrates the proper stance to take when shoveling debris.

"Team Chainsaw" cut down and limbed burnt trees,  

while "Team Trailer" loaded the blackened branches to be driven across the meadow.

There the branches were quickly and noisily disposed of by "Team Chipper," (so sorry - I didn't get an action photo!) friends who towed their own personal chipper to our land to help with the massive project. The trunks and branches that were too large to chip were taken, one tractor bucket load at a time, by Mike and stacked on the edge of our property for future disposal.

The "Ditching Team" - brave, weary, determined men! - dug a 125-foot-long ditch in which to bury our phone line from the pedestal to the studio.

The "Trim Team" clipped and removed every dead piece of brush they could find,

while "Team Sharon" raked, hauled, stacked, and removed all kinds of flammable underbrush from around the studio in order to better fireproof it for the future. Here's my team getting Mike's version of an amusement park ride. They loved it - even if they did scream a lot!

 And "Team Sarah," a team of one! spent hours going over the areas where six buildings used to stand, collecting over 400 fallen nails and other tractor-tire-punching hazards. Of course, after all that work, she was rewarded by Mike and her brother by being thrown in the pond! Here she is hanging up her ashy, soggy laundry to dry... 

 Speaking of the pond...it was a great way to cool and wash off after a long, hot day of hauling sooty trees around!

This was no tea party! It was hard work, sweaty, and filthy, but these great people kept smiling through it all.

Even the dogs got dirty!

 

I wish I had pictures of everyone who contributed that day. I cannot possibly begin to properly express my appreciation enough. It blows my mind what kindness and willingness everyone is showing to us. Thank you so much!



Dog tired.


 
We ended Saturday's work day with a fabulous potluck by the tipi Mike put up to commemorate how he first lived up here on the land 31 years ago. Smoked salmon and chicken, salads, fresh corn on the cob, and lots of other homemade goodies! Afterwards, we were treated to a special gift by our musical friends, and then danced a few by starlight. On Sunday, after wrapping up a few more projects, we relaxed the rest of the day with more friends and neighbors who stopped in, brought more tasty food, and good cheer. Good company, good food, and good times - just what was needed!

Even our local sheriff came by for our "open" house. The big tough guy brought the cutest fuzzy puppy along...

And then last week we had a professional roofer friend of Mike's come up and replace the shingles on our deck overhang with metal roofing. Hooray! One less thing to fret about during fire season.

So - where do we go from here, you keep asking?
Step one - continue cleanup
Step two - rebuild a storage/work shed
Step three - remodel our studio to make the "rough" half of it a home and better work space, and to prepare it for winter. This will be a massive and intensive project.
Step four - continue to ponder the possibilities of rebuilding something where the house used to stand, based on finances and energy left.

What can I say? We can't do it without you - your prayers, your words of encouragement, your willing hands of labor, your generosity, your kindness and friendship. There is way too much for just Mike and I to accomplish, and I am humbled every day and honored to receive your blessings sent our way.

In closing - in the morning, just at sunrise, the mountain turns copper, as all the fallen pine needles catch the light. For a brief time, it glows beautifully golden, before fading again to black. What a beautiful and rare sight...

We're so grateful for your continued prayers and support. I know the fire is ancient history for most you, and it doesn't make the news anymore, but we are still living through the aftermath, and it touches us to continue to receive your kind emails, cards, and calls. We know we'll still be working it for years to come. Progress forward...
 

Most sincerely and with continued great appreciation,
Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512
970-221-2992 

Before and After Fire Pics & Update
  Colorado High Park Fire

(contains lots of photos - please be patient as they load)
For those of you who wish to read or missed my past letters, they are posted on our website at http://rivercrossinginc.tripod.com/feature.html

 
Thank you so much for your continued encouragement, advice, and support. Mike and I are still slogging through the mind-bending process of preparing the House Inventory list for the insurance company. It's frustrating to have to spend time researching and logging the price of everything from a can of hairspray to a custom-made kitchen table, but it has to be done. I'll be so glad when we can successfully put this step behind us and focus on moving forward. One positive aspect - this project has forced us to concentrate and get the brain juices focused. It's hard and exhausting, but it's helped us jump-start the process of moving out of mental zombie land.

In the meanwhile, we have made our fist shopping trip to town to start restocking my new office with everything from paper clips to Post-it notes. Hooray for Post-it notes! Friends have also donated various pieces of office equipment and supplies, and I've cobbled together enough items to start the process of catching up on my business. Hopefully by the end of the month I can get back to the FUN STUFF like planning dances and other events to share with you.

I'll start with a series of photos taken on June 9, the day the fire first burst from a smoldering lightning strike the previous Wednesday to a dangerous fire. This first photo was taken by me around 10 AM that morning from my driveway, after a neighbor phoned to inform us of the fire. At first Mike had hope the northwest winds would drive it around us, and since the firefighters were already working it both on the ground and in the air, it looked at one point they'd stomp it down. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong, and the fuel was too dense and dry.

Photo taken around 10:00 AM from my driveway, before any evacuation order was issued.
We think we pealed out of there somewhere between 12 and 12:30 PM
(we weren't watching the clock anymore).

Laurie, my firefighter neighbor's wife, shared with me several dramatic photos she took of the fire literally IN Paradise Park before she evacuated a few hours after us on June 9. What a scary sight. While we know our house survived until the following afternoon, her photos appear to show the flames already surrounding and possibly in our meadow, just behind the ridge of trees in the foreground. Part of me wishes I could have been here to see it, and part of me realizes better now why Mike vehemently hustled me out of there before it reached this terrifying point. It's one thing to see photos of the forest fire on the news from a distance, but quite another to see it surrounding your own home.

12:22 PM, photo taken by Laurie less than a mile from our house, probably about the time we left.



12:51 PM, taken at our closest neighbors.
The ridge of trees you see just beyond the snow fence are ours.



1:10 PM - Here's the really scary one.
Again, the flaming smoke you see is from our property, just beyond the trees.
Good thing Mike got us out of there when he did.

Thank you, Laurie, for your photos and for sharing your brave husband, Jim, throughout this whole ordeal. Jim spent almost every night in Paradise Park after the fire raced through (he was dispatched elsewhere when the fire "blew up" on our road on June 10), doing his part to make sure no additional homes were lost. Jim and his fellow local volunteer fire fighters were among the first responders to the fire. They are our heroes.

2:14 PM. One of the massive water-dropping helicopters sucks water from a neighbor's pond.

Photo below taken at 2:49 PM, as firefighter Jim and his wife Laurie help evacuate more of our neighbors, and the helicopter prepares for another drop.

By the next day about the time this photo was taken, the ferocious winds had caused the fire to spread to 14,000 acres, and 20 miles away, entire towns were being evacuated, and you know the rest of the story...

Most of you never had the opportunity to visit our home, so below are a few photos to give you a better perspective of "before." Mike moved up here 31 years ago and built this house from scratch, piece by piece and part by part over the years. It had a glass solarium on the front, which provided solar heat during the winter months. We had a wonderful cast iron wood stove which provided cozy warmth at night and on cloudy days. It was a good house, with plenty of room for me to have an office, and host family, friends, and clients.

We had five outbuildings that burned completely, too. Here was our woodshed and utility shed.


 In our house, many a happy hour was spent with friends around the custom-made butcher block dining room table, and, being the artist that he is, Mike had on display a beautiful collection of Tiffany glass lamps, Italian glass vases, and hand-signed Western art, along with historic clothing pieces and irreplaceable Hudson Bay blankets. When it was time to evacuate and he saw the smoke cloud exploding over our shoulders, there was no time left to take any of these valuables along. They will be missed.

Below is a photo time line of sorts, of the house burned, sifted, and cleared.

We have already met with two highly skilled architect/builder friends of ours who are advising us on how we can remodel the Studio to make it better suited for our needs now. We plan to build a Western-styled storage unit where our old Utility Shed used to stand, in which to temporarily move Mike's leather studio and our storage items while we gut and rebuild the Studio. We need to build this new unit soon, before the weather turns for winter. In the spring, when we've had time to breathe and ponder our finances and options, we will consider what we want to do with the large dirt platform that used to be our home. Mike has suggested a tennis court and swimming pool....  : )

Here's a cool comparison of the meadow on June 30, taken 3 weeks after the fire came through, and again a couple of weeks ago, after receiving more rain and the meadow grass grew back. We are so grateful to have this oasis of green to look at every day. It helps us to cope with the poor burnt mountain, which hopefully will blossom with healthy plants and underbrush by next spring. The baby aspen trees are already choking many of the mountain's gullies with beautiful greenery.

Photo taken June 30, three weeks after the fire swept Paradise Park:


Photo taken July 24, three and a half weeks later:

Yesterday we received a letter from the Forest Service, stating they plan to "bomb" the mountain across from us with wood mulch and weed-free straw by helicopter to help prevent erosion and encourage the native plant life to grow back by next spring. Hopefully I'll be here that day to get photos. Should be pretty exciting. I was shocked to find ash had flowed all the way from the mountain to the middle of our meadow. The grass is absolutely loving this free fertilizer; however, Mike is concerned it could be too much of a good thing, and he's already taken steps with the help of kind friends from Cheyenne and Parker to cut down burnt underbrush, take it into the woods, and stack it in the gullies to try to prevent too much washout.

The ash pouring off the mountain in the early weeks after the fire had already choked up our upper pond. It's starting to settle, but Mike figures he'll need to get a backhoe up here one day to do some cleaning up on the property. Where our meadow burnt completely down to bare dirt, weeds like thistle are taking over, and will need to be mowed down in some places and pulled by hand in others.

Our upper pond was filled with ash runoff from the mountain.

For those of you who think "Studio" means "studio apartment," let me clarify - by no means! Our studio, for which we are immensely grateful survived the firestorm, is over 2500 square feet in size, and the upstairs is quite lovely. It is fully liveable, and we lived here for a year when we were first married. It was originally a barn, and so the half of the building which serves as our workshop (Mike's leather studio, his painting studio, his office, my sewing studio, our research library, storage), is rather "rough" in places. The tree poles which were used in constructing the original horse stalls are still visible, and the east side of the building doesn't even have a concrete foundation, which is how the skunk got in.

The upstairs of our Studio. Downstairs is where you can still see the barn poles.

We are so appreciative God spared our meadow of green, our studio and garage, and gave us a familiar place to which to return. So many people in our county lost everything, and their whole properties are now in the "black zone." We have such a good network of neighbors, and this tragic event has helped draw us together. Everywhere you go, you see evidence of folks cleaning up, helping out, and planning fund-raisers for the fire department.

This photo of our exhausted local volunteer firefighter neighbor and hero, Jim Terrell, was taken on June 11, the day after the fire exploded out of control on our north road. Along with two HotShot teams, Jim personally kept watch over Paradise Park and our surviving studio for the next three weeks as the fire raged on. We are so grateful...

Wanna help? There's plenty of work for everyone! Just on our 40 acres alone, we need to plant seed, cut down burnt trees, clear burnt underbrush, move fire-risky items into safer zones, build a new storage shed, gut and remodel our workspace, critter-proof the home, dig out ponds, pull thistle, and more, and more...it's rather overwhelming and certainly too much for just the two of us. We will be announcing "Work Party" days, but anytime now if some of you find you have a day free and really meant it when you said you wanted to come help, please call or write and we'll gratefully book a date.

As always, thank you again for your continued support, both via prayers, kind words, donations, and gift cards - blessed gift cards! - while we slog through everything necessary. Almost every day shows small steps in a positive direction. Tears still flow when they need to, but that's to be expected, and they are balanced by laughter with good friends. You know we'll make it.
 

Most sincerely and with continued great appreciation,
Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512
970-221-2992

 

Progress Report & Pics on the Fire -
  Colorado High Park Fire Update

(contains photos - please be patient as they load)
 

Progress Report

 
People are so great. Today we had our first cleanup work party, organized by a church group in Cheyenne, and supplemented with friends from Parker. Don’t feel left out – it came together quickly and we will certainly be scheduling more for the near future and will let all of you know! In the meantime – please pencil in the afternoon of Sunday, August 26. Mike is planning a surprise… an email will come soon with details.

The youngest volunteer for our erosion-control work party didn't mind getting dirty at all!

 
Hard to believe it was exactly eight weeks ago yesterday that we lost our house to the fire. So much has happened so fast, and every day goes by and I can’t account for it. I know each day is filled with taking care of necessary things, but unexpectedly I’ll find I can’t even remember the end of a sentence. It's a frustrating and funny side effect of all of this stress.
 
This week I made great strides in getting my new office set up, and I’m feeling more peace already. I’m looking forward to making headway on the massive project of catching up on two months’ worth of mail, phone calls, emails, and business.
 
So many of you have sent us gift cards and donations, and we are so grateful. The insurance company has been great, but your generous help has allowed us in the meantime to put gas in the car, groceries in the pantry, buy household items, and given us the ability to focus on taking care of the mess. I honestly don’t know how people with full time jobs can do everything that needs to be done in this kind of situation. It takes so much time to contact all the banks and insurance people, make lists, get necessary items, make arrangements for sifters and debris removers and tree cutters and still keep the business details from falling through the cracks…it can feel overwhelming.
 
I’ve been trying to write for weeks, but we had to spend 10 days tending our booth at Cheyenne Frontier Days, and each night I came home exhausted. Please accept my apologies for the delay.

Our booth at Cheyenne Frontier Days. I'll admit it was hard to focus on work right now.

So – I took inventory, and I have a comfortable little set of almost-matched dinner plates, bowls, salad plates, and a few extra saucers. We have plenty of glasses, and a friend loaned us silverware and plastic storage containers. It’s really rather humorous – a few nights ago, Mike and I decided to make spaghetti. We located two pots for sauce and pasta, found an appropriate frying pan to brown the meat, and then were almost stumped when we remembered our colander no longer existed. What to do? Ah ha! I remembered I used to have a little sturdy plastic one I had been using the past year to wash brass casings to make my bullet reloads. I fetched it, washed it, and voila! Spaghetti was served!
 

Wildlife and Greenery

 
I asked my sister, Stacy Moore, a professional photographer who lives in Boulder, to please come to the land before the sifters arrived, so she could document what had happened and help me start our inventory list. We walked the mountain, and were surprised and thrilled to see so much greenery already sprouting on the lower slopes. Rich green grass was spreading where the ash flows had provided nutrition, and little aspen trees were popping up everywhere. At this rate, I’m guessing the mountain will have green underbrush all over it by next spring. That will be very nice to see.

 
I spotted a mother elk and her little brown baby calf coming out of a surviving aspen grove across our meadow a few weeks ago, and a few days ago I saw a mother deer and two darling spotted twin fawns scampering across the road as we drove home after dark. Yesterday we saw four mule deer bucks in velvet. A little red fox was out hunting, and birds and ground squirrels are plentiful.

Sifting

 
On July 17, the cavalry arrived in the form of 20 wonderful people from Franklin Graham’s ministry, Samaritan’s Purse, in white plastic protective suits. They removed all the warped roofing, what was left of the appliances (the refrigerator burned so badly it came out in two pieces), and piled all the metal into a huge stack. Then they began sifting the rubble from any area where we thought they might find valuables. Mike found a couple of trophy belt buckles and other melted nostalgia items, and I found my hematite necklace collection fused together, as were my seed beads. They found a fair bit of stuff, but unfortunately, the majority was not salvageable. It has been estimated the fire hit our house at about 2700 degrees, and that extreme temperature melted glass and ruined everything. Of all the broken dishes and warped items they fished out of there, I was able to salvage – (drumroll, please) one saucer. Ah well. At least we could list things for insurance, and say goodbye.

Of all the things they found, only one solitary saucer was salvageable in the end.


Mike hams it up with the remains of a pair of his goggles.

 
One of the cutest things found in the ruins were two nests of baby bunnies – 15 in all! The mothers used to nest under the deck of our house and behind the woodshed, and must have come in after the ashes cooled and made their little families. We collected them and took them to the Humane Society, since I feared they would be easy prey and we were having a debris removal team come soon. I was contacted by phone a few days ago, and the Humane Society wanted to let me know they plan to use the bunnies for a promotional piece. Such fun!

Debris Removal

 
They came and took away our house this past week. It’s odd and disturbing inside to see your home carted away, bucket load by trailer load. The professional debris removal team did a wonderful job. They were polite, hard workers, thorough, and respectful. In only four days they were able to do what would have taken me and Mike so much longer, caused more pain, given more grief, and worn us out even more than we already are.

 
It was a strange mix of sadness at seeing the ruins hauled away, and a feeling of peace as the land was restored to bare earth. We have up to two years to decide if/how we wish to rebuild, so we will probably let the land rest through the winter, and take our time making such a large, important decision.

Mike and I are still emotionally, mentally, and physically whupped. We’re getting things accomplished, but only one at a time, and it takes everything we’ve got to stay focused. In a way, it feels like we’re recuperating from a long illness – we have to pace ourselves, we have little reserves, and are easily tired.
 
But something happened a couple of weeks ago – I started to have momentary flashes of feeling normal. For just a few minutes at a time, I forget the constant focus of the fire and its results, and my mind strays to an inspiration for a new show, or wants to design a new historic outfit. Granted, it’s like someone with a broken leg getting a fleeting notion to run across the room, but it’s still a nice change, and definitely a move in the right direction.
 

Things you don’t think of…

 
We came home about a week ago, to be greeted in the door by the strong smell of…skunk! Nuts! Just when we had the house cleaned head to toe by the smoke removal team, some vagabond skunk, possibly a fire refugee, had passed by and we suspect spent the day under our house. Critter-proofing our studio from skunks was yet one more thing we hadn’t expected to have to do, but the fire has pushed our hand on the matter.
 
We’ve never owned a dryer up here, and I always hang our laundry to dry in the sun. I have to time it carefully these days, since we are prone to God-blessed afternoon showers. I have to make sure I bring it in before the rain hits the mountain and the smell of burnt campfire infuses my sheets. And now… the smell of skunk, too!  Ha ha.
 
As many of you know, we have had a pine beetle infestation in this part of the country for years, and thousands of acres of forest have already been killed off across the mountains of Colorado. The trees around our house were relatively unscathed, but since the fire, the beetles have been attacking our charcoaled trees mercilessly, since they are attracted to stressed trees. At night, you can actually hear the beetles grinding their way into the trunks. It’s eerie.

One of the thousands of "ash pits" across the landscape - weird alien footprints where entire trees used to be, now burned completely away to their very root structure.

 
Now that the debris team has carted away the ruins, we are left with a large empty dirt space where there used to be our home and five outbuildings. We’re having trouble wrapping our brains around it. It’s so odd to see nothing there. We can still see every detail of our home in our minds, and now, it’s just vanished. It’s so weird.
 

Upcoming projects

 
Mike and I are formulating ideas of how all of you can help (since so many of you are asking), and I hope my next email to you will list some specifics. We are already starting to schedule a number of “work party” days. We need to clear underbrush, plant grass, rake up remaining debris and burnt areas, build a storage shed, remodel/improve and fire mitigate our studio, and hopefully have a fundraiser for the local volunteer fire department, all just for starters. Thank you for your continuing offers to help. I promise you we’ll gratefully accept. And remember... hold August 26!
 

In closing…for now…

 
Good news – Squiggy (the neighbor’s lost cat who miraculously survived the fire and was finally reunited with his owners a month after the disaster) is OK! He’s turned the corner, his poor burnt feet are healing, he’s putting on weight, and his owner says he’s turning back into his finicky, loveably cantankerous self.

Squiggy at his owner's apartment, getting healthy and lovingly ornery.

 
Well, once again I’ve gone on longer than I intended. Thank you, thank you all again a hundred times for your love, prayers, and support during all of this. I wish to stress for you again the fact that while we’re not “alright” yet, we’re getting closer, bit by bit. We’ve already begun sketching plans for a sweet new storage building on the site of the old utility shed, and we have kind and highly skilled friends giving us advice and ideas on how we can rebuild and/or remodel. It will be a long time until things are “normal,” but it feels so good to have flashes of inspiration now and again. We are finally sleeping better and longer, I'm using my "eye-pad" far less often, our cat loves us, God is good, and so are all of you!
 
We will keep in touch. Please call or write anytime. We will continue to try to catch up with everyone as we can.
 

Most sincerely and with great appreciation,
Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512
970-221-2992
(Yes, our land line is operational!)
 

Ash Day Reality Check -
  Colorado High Park Fire Update

(contains photos - please be patient as they load)

(In between everything else, I'm still working on getting links to photos and articles put together for you. Thanks for your patience…)

 

Okay, so I’m here alone for the first time. I admit, it’s kinda weird. Reality check time.
 
Mike left this morning to meet with State Farm to give them the floor plan of the burnt house and photos of what it and the other four lost outbuildings used to look like. He’ll be back in a few hours, but being sandwiched between the poor scorched mountain on one side and our carcass of a house on the other is affecting me.

Part of Paradise Park before the fire:

Part of Paradise Park during the fire:

 
Sunday morning, I rode horseback up the burnt mountain with a neighbor, and I think seeing the damage that close and realizing the enormity of the loss knocked me off center for the rest of the day. I came back from the ride, and that afternoon I just stood outside, looking from the black mountain to the ruins of the house, and cried and cried.
 

 
Other weirdnesses – in town earlier this week, I stepped outside the hotel, and the wind was blowing, and I realized I had developed the habit of my stomach clenching, wondering if the fire was kicking up again and threatening our home or someone else’s. You look west to the clouds on the mountains, and my first thought is to wonder if what I see are storm clouds or smoke clouds billowing up. I turn on the A/C in the car, and the smell of smoke from the mountain comes out.
 
The second time we visited the mountain, every time there was a breeze, dead pine needles rained down by the thousands, ash grit blew in your eyes, and clouds of ash wafted up from the mountain. When it rains, the black gets even blacker, and the whole valley smells like a campfire. I washed my face this morning, and black came away.
 

Ash drifting from the burnt mountain in the wind before the rains came to wash it away.

 
At the little local post office in Bellvue, which had to be evacuated at one point because the fire came too close, locals now gather to share stories, and when no one is there, you see the ash tracked in on the carpet, ash that used to be homes and the beautiful forest.
 
All this is strange, but part of the cycle. The good news – we have had enough rain now to give us reassurance, and the pre-evacuation status on our neighborhood has long since been lifted. However, lightning still makes me flinch, and since an intense forest fire can cause the ground itself to become water-resistant, there are now washouts and mudslides closing certain local roads.
 

Rain water makes rivers coming off the mountain in a recent storm.

Paradise Park neighbors discuss the best way to repair a crushed culvert on our road.

 
Mike and I moved back “home” for the first time yesterday afternoon. We’ve been visiting the mountain daily for about a week, meeting with insurance adjusters, neighbors, working the road to prevent erosion, and taking care of things while the professional cleaners spent four days wiping down every surface of our studio (including the ceilings and walls) to remove smoke residue. Then they evicted us for 24 hours while they ran an ozone-generating machine to cleanse the air of the smells, and then steam-cleaned the rugs. While we have been comfortably housed during this evacuation, we still had slept in seven different locations in 31 days, between hotels, business trips, and family. We were ready to come home and put things away in drawers. So we checked out of the hotel, collected our things from storage, and slept for the first time on the mountain last night since June 9.
 
It’s good to be here. We’re still chock-full of positive attitude and future plans, but the reality is, the month of stress has taken its toll, and I’m finding myself “crashing” at unexpected times. We’re both short-tempered, but don’t mean to be. We’re both tired all the time, and are having trouble concentrating or finishing sentences. We’re jumpy and hyper-sensitive. We’ll be alright, but we know this is going to be normal for awhile.
 

 
Imagine leaving your house rapidly, never to return. You reach for things, then remember they’re gone. Little things, like jackets and your comfy slippers. Big things, like a family memento or an expensive item you forgot to grab. I’m keeping a list nearby now, to write down everything we need to replace for daily living. Last night we picked up a monitor, speakers, keyboard, printer, and ink so I can set up a new office (I worked out of the house). I need to get all the little silly but handy stuff, too, like a stapler and paper clips. We have to replace everything from bread and eggs to salt, ketchup, and mayo. Three days ago, even before we moved in, Mike bought a quart of milk and some Cheerios, just so he could feel “normal.” All we had in the studio was soup, tea, hot chocolate, honey, and popcorn. Kinda hard to make a meal…  : )
 
Today I have to make a bunch of phone calls, and try to get caught up on having been gone from the office for a month. This is a busy time of year for us with gigs and events, and we have to maintain. At the same time, we have five buildings that need to be sifted through and hauled away. Assessors need to be called, along with the phone, gas, satellite, and power companies. Actually, I got a huge laugh when the phone company representative on the cell phone said to us, “I understand you don’t have dial tone at your home?” Understatement of the year, considering the entire thing is burnt to the ground!
 
I’m also now surrounded by piles of stuff that need to be put away somewhere. I have spent very little time in this building for the last five years, since my office was in the house, and Mike had settled in very comfortably in the studio. Now we have to work out a whole new system of being in each other’s space in this smaller living area. He has moved his office into his painting studio, and I will set up my office where it first was when I moved up here over six years ago. I have to remember where to put things like in the old days when we shared this bathroom and bedroom. We have one dresser to share, instead of two and a wardrobe. But that’s OK – we have fewer clothes!  Ha ha. And I am very grateful we have a place to return to, as so many others do not and will have to live in a hotel, shelter, rented apartment, or with friends for a long time to come. Between our fire, the one in Estes Park, and the one in Colorado Springs, over 600 homes were lost.
 

Our local power company, REA, has done an incredible job getting electricity restored to our damaged neighborhood.

 
We have had so much love and offers to help sent our way. Friends are chomping at the bit to come help us remove debris and rebuild, but we’re still in a holding pattern until the insurance people finish their paperwork and approvals. Our homeowner’s insurance company, State Farm, has been great, but things must follow a path, and we have to be patient. The business insurance company has been less than satisfactory so far, unfortunately. We greatly appreciate the sales we were able to make in New Mexico at the SASS End of Trail festival, but other than that, Mike has basically been “out of work” for a month now.
 
For every one of you who gave us a donation or gift card, thank you so much! Donations are being put to good use, either for paying for a mortgage on a house that doesn’t exist anymore, or gas or food, and the gift cards are so helpful to buy clothing, toiletries, and countless other items most people already have. Mike and I have two teaspoons, seven forks, miscellaneous bowls and plates, and enough pots to cook spaghetti, and I’m grateful we have two sets of sheets and towels for the guest room. I’m really looking forward to when the insurance is resolved, and I can go shopping in the right frame of mind to pick out my own set of dishes and cutlery again.
 
More good news - we have everything we need to get the business back on track, and Mike and I are strong and creative. Yes, of course we’ll have emotional fallout and be running behind schedule for awhile as we re-settle. That’s to be expected. Yes, being here alone with the ruins is disconcerting for me, but I have to get used to it sometime. In the meanwhile, I have all of you to share with, and whether you read this letter or not, it helps me to talk about it.
 
I am compiling lists of what needs to be done, and believe me, I will certainly be sending out the call when we need a team up here to take care of a job. There will be plenty of work for everyone who still wants to help. Out of eight structures on the property, we lost five, and a thousand trees.
 
I’m also planning to host a fundraiser ball for our cherished volunteer fire fighters, six of whom lost their own homes in this fire while they were defending others. I’ll keep you posted.
 

My favorite of the scores of signs of appreciation lining the streets of the High Park Fire area.

 
I’m not nearly as depressed as this letter may sound, but some of you may want to know what it’s really like, and I do have my moments. We are dealing with a loss, after all, and our whole world has been rocked. The view from my kitchen window will never be the same. But in the meantime, we have a job to do, and we will do it well, because that’s who we are. There is still plenty of laughter, and God is taking good care of us, and has blessed us with a home to which to return, a lush green meadow and a surprising number of untouched trees, and good friends and family. We’re mountain people, and have the pioneer spirit, and we’ll be fine.

Here's a good note to end on - tonight, after Mike had returned, a stray cat came by our place. With the patient help of a friend, we were able to catch him. The bottoms of his feet were burnt, he was skin and bones (he only weighed just over 5 pounds), was covered in fleas and terrified, but still sweet. We made a call, brought him to our vet, and were able to reunite him with his owners, who are our next door neighbors who lost everything on their property, and who had not seen their cat since the fire broke out. Poor guy - with his damaged feet, he must have suffered greatly and was starving. They thought he was lost forever, but Squiggles is now in good hands, receiving love, care, and medical attention, and it sounds like he has a good chance of making it.
 

Squiggles, belonging to our neighbors, lost when the fire broke out, found and rescued today!

 
Thanks for your continued thoughts, prayers, and support.
 
Sincerely,
Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512
 

Our First Trip Back to "Paradise" -
the latest Colorado High Park Fire Update

(contains photos - please be patient as they load)

OK, we’re back from our first trip to our mountain neighborhood, Paradise Park, since we were evacuated three weeks ago. First fact – the house is TOAST! It’s now just a huge hole with burned out pieces of blackened metal junk. The fire was so hot it melted glass. However, I was surprised to clearly see a few clean-looking mugs and at least part of a plate. We could also make out the charred outlines of things like the washer, stove, microwave, two file cabinets, and the warped metal frame of what used to be Mike’s favorite recliner.

 
Mike and I were both surprised at how practically we handled it, even making jokes and laughing when we identified something in the rubble. I think this was due in large part because we were thrilled at how much prayer, firefighter, and angel-protected green surrounded our place. And the studio – the blessed protected studio! – looks like it was gone on vacation for all this disaster, and was plunked right back down in the middle of it all. It’s beautiful and perfect! We walked in, flipped a switch, and power had already been restored! The water is good, and all of our sewing machines, business machinery, resource books, and costumes stored in this building are wonderfully safe! Of course there is a smell of smoke, but we’ll see if insurance can help clear that out.

The miracle Studio/Shop - our new home.

 
So, while we will certainly mourn the loss of our beautiful house and its treasured contents, we’re so glad we can return “home.” The studio is where Mike and I lived the first year we were married, so coming home to it is a warm experience. Besides our work rooms, Mike’s office, and storage space, it also has a guest bedroom, a cute little kitchen and dining area, and bathroom. At this point, we’re talking of moving into the studio, where we already have a collection of second-best dishes and towels, and sheets for the guest bed, and everything we need to live while we start the cleanup and rebuilding process. One current idea we’re considering is to rebuild a new studio on the site of the old house (complete with a new guest/client quarters), and then once that’s finished, move into it while we gut and rebuild the current pieced-together studio into our new home. That way, I’ll get the sewing room of my dreams, Mike will have a painting studio with perfect north lighting, and we will redesign our new living space together.
 

Mike's beloved Spencer Mountain, viewed from our front door across the meadow, was scorched to the top. This is one of Mike's greatest regrets. Hundreds of other trees on our property will need to be removed, too.

  



Mike views an ash flow across our property, caused when any little bit of rain falls on the burnt areas. Erosion control is now a concern.
 

In the meantime, Mike will begin the financial task of juggling filling leather orders again with having to take time off from leather work to do the necessary months-long job of cutting down and removing hundreds of dead trees, making sure the neighborhood road stays passable due to possible mudslides and erosion, removing debris, and planning and re-building our outbuildings and home.

The point is - we have a plan, and we’re gonna be OK!

Mike's garage and tractor were unscathed! It started right up - good thing, because we're gonna be needing it for all the cleanup.

Thank you to everyone for your continued care and prayers. As you have bountifully offered, we will gratefully accept your help, because this task is too great for just the two of us. Some help will be financial, some for comfort, some with the loan of heavy equipment to clear and build, and some with physical labor. We have a long road ahead of us, but it’s ahead, not behind. Behind us is the pain, tears, fear, and loss, and ahead is the joy of a new road. We’re both artists and designers, you know, and the challenge and joy of what we will plan and what is to come has a great appeal.

Not visible in these photos, our green valley is now surrounded by about 1/2 mile-wide band of black, some of which was torched so fiercely the actual ground is burnt. Too many of our neighbors lost everything, and have nothing but blackness and ash to which to return, if they have the heart. Our miracle oasis has encouraged us to return to Paradise Park and rebuild. Thank God for you and your prayers, His angels, and the brave firefighters from across the country and beyond.

For all of you who wrote and called, I hope in the coming weeks to be able to speak with each of you personally to give you my heartfelt thanks. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Every single email, card, and phone message was read, heard, and appreciated.

This is not the last you’ve heard of us!  : )
I’ll try to keep you posted as our journey progresses….
Most sincerely,
Sharon & Mike Guli
PO Box 127
Bellvue, CO 80512

PS: I plan to post more photos soon on Facebook to be viewed publicly, and will let you know when and give you the link.

Colorado High Park Fire Pics & Update

(contains three photos - please be patient as they load)

Dear Friends, Family, Fans, and all of you who reached out to us,

Once again, thank you for your continued prayers, and your patience for news from me. I never knew being evacuated would keep me so busy. We've been putting on about 100 miles a day on the car, driving from insurance appointment, to Citizen Briefing Meetings, to the storage unit, to WalMart to buy necessities, to the post office, to the hotel, etc, etc. In between all this, I've been helping maintain daily contact with our immediate neighbors, as we stay in touch with each other with the latest updates, concerns, and for support. Twelve homes were lost in Paradise Park, and numerous outbuildings. We were the first to be evacuated, and are the last to return. Yes, folks...

WE FINALLY GET TO GO HOME!!!    : D
It's Day 19, and today it was officially announced that at 5:00 PM all who wish to return to our neighborhood, Paradise Park, would be allowed in with the proper credentials. Even better, we've been informed our local electric company has already replaced poles and lines and has power back in that area. Amazing!

Due to Mike's heavy schedule this weekend (he's the venue coordinator for a mounted cowboy shooting event here), we don't know for sure what day we'll be able, or emotionally ready, to drive up the charred mountain to view our place. We know from photos sent our way by kind firefighters that an oasis of angel-protected greenery surrounds our standing Studio/Shop, so we've got that to look forward to. However, the beautiful mountain across our meadow was scorched to the top, and those trees will not return in our lifetimes.

Our house, which burned on Sunday, June 10. These three photos were taken by Channel 7 News from Denver on Tuesday, June 12.

Not only will there be emotional issues to deal with, but I never thought about all the hazards they are warning us about when we return. Things such as rotten food, wildlife and foraging bears, dangerously-burned trees and power poles, safety of wells and septic systems, along with the dangers of working with removal of debris, downed metal roofing, inhaling too much ash, and disinfecting everything after smoke and fire-fighting chemicals have filled the air. The list goes on and on.

The fire is 85% contained, and they have been sending troops and equipment to help with the other very serious fires in our state, including the new devastating one in Colorado Springs. They are letting us back into our neighborhood under a "Pre-Evacuation" category; in other words, we need to keep our eyes peeled for anything bad, and need to stay prepared to leave again immediately if need be. Smoke and smoldering can go on for days, weeks, even months, and if we see anything "green" catching fire, we need to let the authorities know immediately. They also told us to make sure we all had a "safe zone" picked out to run to, in case a fire flares up, roads get blocked, and we can't get out. They advised us to go to one of the "black zones," that is, an already-burnt area, or to the center of one of the green meadows that survived the first blast, on the theory it hopefully would survive another. Pretty sobering stuff.

Because of this fact, I plan to leave my evacuated valuables in storage until this fire is truly out. "Contained" means they don't think it will spread anymore; "controlled" means they think they've got it all out in the interior. "Controlled" can take months.

The lost house is in the center, the garage is on the left, and across the driveway you can see our beautiful, saved studio/shop. What a miracle!

During the past 19 days, I found that "normalcy" became very important. Things like purchasing and using again my usual shampoo and soap gave me comfort. I became somewhat obsessive about keeping track of my remaining "stuff." For the first two weeks or so, I was glued to the phone and Mike's side. I find myself babbling incessantly, even more than usual.  : )  The fire chiefs are now referring to the "New Normalcy," that is, getting used to a new landscape as we return to our "moonscape" properties, in some cases.

My quote to folks is, I'm fine until I'm not. One day I'm good, joking and comforting others. Then, any little thing can bring tears, especially unexpected kindnesses. One evening complete strangers paid our dinner bill and left without us knowing. Hotel clerks have done us favors. Or hearing bad news about a neighbor can throw me for days.

But funny things happen, too. I joke about my "Eye-Pad" - the folded up hanky I carry constantly in my back pocket. I have my "closet," a large cardboard box in which I stash my non-summer clothes I grabbed as we left the house for the last time. I carry from hotel to hotel my "refrigerator," a brown paper grocery bag in which I transport our snacks.

Part of Paradise Park. Our property is located at the left of the large green meadow that survived the fire. Another miracle!
You can see how the fire swept around from the back to take our house, then winds carried the burning embers from torching trees across the meadow to the other side. The bottom left of the photo is what's left of Spencer Mountain, which we view from our front door. It looks flat in this photo.

For those of you wondering - all gigs are still on! I haven't cancelled any events yet, including one I had to do the day after we evacuated. That was hard, but I was surrounded by love. I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming dances and programs this summer. Normalcy.

For those of you who have generously sent us donations, gift cards, emails, letters, phone calls, and love - thank you so much! While we do have good insurance, the mortgage still has to be paid on a house that isn't there anymore, and bills, gasoline, food, and other necessities are still needing to be taken care of. Mike has been unable to work in his studio for almost three weeks, and he will be losing more work time as he gets the tractor fired up to start making our neighborhood safe again by removing burnt trees and other hazards, and of course, removing our own debris and starting the rebuilding process.

I'm not used to being on this end of charity, but someone asked where they could send us stuff. Currently, we actually don't need "stuff," since we have to take an assessment first of what was lost, and when we finally finish our list of items that we need, I may open a "Fire Registry" at Bed Bath and Beyond or something like that. Since Mike and I all but eloped and cheated you out of throwing a bridal party for me, maybe now we'll have a do-over!  : )  In the meantime, we are doing fine, but if you want to send donations, or gift cards to Macy's, WalMart, Home Depot, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond, or such, be assured they would be humbly accepted and put to good use. Our mailing address is PO Box 127, Bellvue, CO  80512 (We're not asking, but you did).

Believe me, I will be compiling a list of help we will need, too, and I promise I will ask for help when we're at that point. The clearing and rebuilding process may take years. In the meantime, hugs, prayers, and love go a long way. Oh yes, and a good meal with friends is always welcome!

Last thing - Mike and I were interviewed for NPR's "Marketplace" radio program this week. They wanted a perspective on how the evacuation affected us from a financial point of view. It will be airing this weekend on KUNC.

And apparently the story of the evacuated brave donkey, "Ellie," from our property has intrigued the press. I've had at least four different news agencies express interest in her story. Maybe another day I can share that one.

Enough for tonight. I'm tired, and have an emotional day to prepare for tomorrow. One friend said, "Sharon, when you view your lost home for the first time, and see the burnt mountain and blackened surroundings, and smell the smoke and ash, it will be the worst moment yet.  But it will be the last of the worst. It will get better from there."  I believe she's right.

Thank you, my dear caring friends. I will take new photos and share them in a future posting. Hopefully soon we can get back to using this email list for happier things. In the meantime, thank you for your love.

God bless every one of you.

Most sincerely,
Sharon & Mike Guli
Guli Productions/Michael J. Guli Designs/River Crossing Inc.