Okay, I mentioned it briefly, so here it goes. The Fire. With pictures. And background. This won't make any sense without the background.
Organic Guy's parents own about 10 acres of land in Wake County in NC. One of the borders is a creek that leads to a local lake that has great fishing. We can launch a canoe or kayak directly from the house, and paddle up to the lake. It's a beautiful spot, and one I spend a great deal of time at. The folks house has a carport that's about 3 cars wide; at the far side of the carport is essentially, a small apartment, built above 2 single-car garages that are sort of dug into the hillside below the house. That apartment has long been called the Rec Room, due to Organic Guy's dad's plan to put in a pool table and have poker nights back in the 70's. Never happened, but Organic Guy turned it into his own little place some time along when he was in high school. I've also mentioned that Organic Guy's folks are getting older, and we had been planning on moving to the 10 acres to make sure we're close by in case they need us. Recently, Organic Guy was retrofitting the place so that we could move in there for a short time until we built a new house for us. One or both of the single garages below would be turned into rooms (not something I was thrilled about, but workable), we'd be a bit tight for room, but it was only for about a year until the new place was built. One of the current uses for the place was to start our tomatoes and peppers for planting in the garden.
Organic Guy came home one night after working over there. Had dinner, played cards or something with Dani, went to bed. About 1 AM the phone rings. He grabs it, sits bolt upright, and jumps out of bed. All he says is "there's a fire" and he's out the door. When he gets home, smelling of smoke, looking exhausted, all he says is "The Rec Room is gone. It's gone. Everything is gone." I ask about the folks, and their house; all is fine there. No injuries, the fire never crossed the carport, so their house was not touched at all. That was the good news.
The bad news is that Organic Guy was not kidding. The Rec Room is gone. It now looks looks like this: 
There was something wrong with the wiring on the light being used to grow the tomato transplants. Something sparked. Something caught. And it started burning. Organic Guy had many, many things stored in the Rec Room. Some of them were family antiques.
This was a family parlor organ, a pump organ from the Nineteen Teens. We think maybe 1913. It still had the original leather bellows on it. Still played. All the writing on the valves was still legible. I'm not entirely sure anyone every played it. It had belonged to Organic Guy's grandmother or great-grandmother.
This one is a glass-front hutch. We're not sure how old it is. The lower piece is all wood, pegs instead of nails, and the cabinet latch is simply a piece of wood that you turn. We think it's maybe from the 1850's or early 1860's. Fairly certain it belonged to Organic Guy's great-grandfather from before the War.
A few things that don't really hold an sentimental value, but where things that were used, things that we just had, for whatever reason. Organic Guy's Thorens turntable from college (and still played great!). These were a pair of hunting bows, and Organic Guy's creeper he used for changing oil and whatever other car stuff he did.
We lost camping gear (a family sized tent and a screen room, in addition to spikes, lanterns, camp stove...I still have my little dome tent, but that's it), a full Encyclopedia Britannica from 1925, of course all the tomato transplants, but worse, all the seed for summer direct seeding, and all my seed for fall crops (no broccoli, zucchini, butternut squash, or Brussels sprouts this year....). We found out weird things don't burn:
This is somewhat tough to see. But yes, those are cellophane wrapped starlight mints. The cellophane didn't melt, the mints still look pristine. And, in the bottom left corner of this picture, what so you see? Yes! Charcoal briquettes! They don't burn! The bag that had been holding them, the paper bag, GONE. No trace of it, but Organic Guy had just purchased two bags, one was stored on the patio by the grill, the other stored in the Rec Room.
So, for now, we're cleaning up. We're cataloging what's lost. We're working with the insurance guy. We're talking with some friends who are builders like Organic Guy, some he's known since high school, who want to help rebuild. We're finding the silver lining. Like we don't have to cram into a too-small space and build a bigger one. We can just find something to incorporate a new structures with the existing house, and not having 2 kitchens, and 2 washers and dryers, and 2 of all kinds of stuff no one needs two of. We're jettisoning lots of stuff. Losing things really made us realize how much things can hold a person down. Heck, why do I still have some college textbooks? We actually found out that between the two of us, we had (mostly in storage) three espresso makers, and 2 coffee grinders. And we're learning about the important stuff. The main part of the house is fine. Organic Guy's parents are fine. A little sad, like us, but fine. And the motorcycle. The one that's normally parked right outside the sliding door leading into the Rec Room...it was at our house that night. It had been a beautiful evening, and Organic Guy just happened to ride it home. We think it's a sign. So, stay posted...I'll be writing soon about the impending NC-NE-SD-ND-MN-IL-IN back to NC motorcycle trip we're planning for August. Seriously. We may be asking to flop on your couch.
