Early Morning Fire - UPDATED

I couldn't say anything earlier (ongoing investigation), but now that it's public - the other part of the bummer of this fire was that the 89 year-old man started the fire and then shot himself. So unfortunately there was no hope of saving him - he was already dead by the time the fire had been reported by a neighbor.

http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=297008

This video link best sums up the scenario and you can even see me (look for my name of the back of my jacket - 36seconds in...) as we headed back in to the building after changing out our air bottles to finish checking for hot spots on the top floor.



My (Mark's) engine company was first-in to a 2 alarm fire this morning on Capitol Hill. We had an intense fire fight - when we arrived (only about 8 blocks from the station), the fire was already blowing 30 feet out the windows on the unit and swirling around with intense heat and fire-created wind. (The picture from the newspaper shows what the fire looked like just before we arrived.)

We attacked the fire on 3 floors of a mostly abandoned building scheduled for demolition. We had to break down 2 doors to get in - one outside the building and one to his apartment unit. The fire started in the apartment of the lone tenant left in the building - a pack-rat apartment with debris piled floor to celing in most of the 2-bedroom unit. Unfortunately the lone tenant appears to have died in the unit.

Here are a few links to the articles online with some good video footage:

http://www.komonews.com/news/33355744.html
http://www.kirotv.com/video/17810170/index.html
http://www.kirotv.com/slideshow/news/17810052/detail.html
http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=296980
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_102708WAB_apartment_building_fire_LJ.15342bf1a.html

~Our "new" backyard~

Backyard re-landscaping.

We spent the last few weeks working outside in the yard. Our home had a very small, often described as "pathetic" backyard when we moved in. You can see it in the picture above. Our grass was not even big enough to adequately be used as a putting green, and most of the yard was hill sloping up to the woods behind our house.

We've had plans for a while, but of course had to wait and save up to make the changes we wanted to make. So finally in the end of September we were able to undertake our project.


The kids were great helpers, we borrowed lots of different tools from friends to make it possible, and even enlisted a few friends in our slave labor. And three weeks later (with some days off for torrential rain and work) - we finally made it!

Final tally was around 25 yards of very rocky topsoil dug up and moved out (what we here in town lovingly refer to as Covington Bedrock - including several rocks that took 2 people to dig out and move), 4 yards of gravel put down under and behind the retaining wall, 5 yards of fresh topsoil under the sod and behind the wall, 320 square feet of new sod (and yard!), and 250 concrete blocks to make the retaining wall. Here are a few pictures of the progress and final outcome.

Thanks to everyone who either helped out or loaned us wisdom and/or supplies to make our new yard possible! The kids (and we) are loving it! We were done just in time for Jadyn's party, too - you can see those pictures in a previous posting below.

First one, then two, then...

Late January 2009 we'll be adding a 3rd little one to our growing family! The pictures are a few weeks old (sorry - busy month), but for those of you who are good at making out these alien-like pictures, here are a few shots of our new little one!

Most of you know that we opted not to find out the gender of our first two kids. So this time... we decided... to wait again! It was so fun finding out on the day of their delivery, so we're sorry - we know it kills some people out there to wait, but we'll be finding out sometime late January ans we'll be sure to share the news.

The best news of all is that baby looks very healthy!

Happy 6th Brithday, Jadyn!

It's hard to believe our Jadyn turned 6 years old yesterday. Where has the time gone?

We had a very fun birthday party at our house. 13 friends came over and decorated pumpkins, ate lots of ice cream and cake, and jumped around in a giant bouncy house in our backyard.

The only hickup in the party was when Jadyn went to blow out the candles on her cake. She had insisted earlier in the day that she wanted her hair down, not up in a ponytail or braids. So when she leaned over to blow out the candles, a few strands of hair fell into the flames and caught fire. Mark quickly snuffed them out, but not before she singed a few hairs and frightened a few party goers. If you look closely in the picture of Jadyn blowing out the candles, you can see her hair beginning to brighten up as it comes into contact with the flames.

Hair catching fire

Opening some presents

Some of the kids playing in the woods behind the house

Some kids on the bouncy house

Eating yummy birthday cake

Then last night our family came over and we had a second party - Jadyn got to pick her favorite meal for dinner... cheeseburgers, of course. And then we had more cake and ice cream and cousin Caelan got to jump in the bouncy house with the girls.

Family Dinner

Fun with Grandpa

Happy 6th Birthday, Jadyn!