What a Day!

Despite the sign we actually had a few customers come in. One of the salesmen came back into the rubble to announce he'd sold a jacket! The front of the building which is primarily retail was fine, the middle portion which is offices, sewing and embroidery had minimal damage but will take some clean up. The back area, which is screen printing, was completely destroyed. You can see the dividing wall here between the middle section and utter destruction.Here's Andrew surveying the rubble. The sun is shining through a hole in the roof.

Here's a destroyed printing press. This is just peeking into the back area, you can see the door frame is charcoal.
The employees were amazing. I really appreciated their support and attitudes. Some came in the middle of the night and stayed until after the fire was out, assessing damage and trying to grasp the reality of the fire damage.

Here's Chad sorting through damaged orders so we could immediately call customers. Sadly these orders were in the finishing department! You can see how the canvas rolling cart was melted away.

The Statesman Journal came out and did an article and took some great pictures. Keep in mind that, as all newspapers do, the article had a few facts incorrect and there is some drama that may not be accurate, etc. Also, we've received some very kind comments online but also some that are borderline slanderous. It's sad that people feel obligated to kick us when we're down. I definitely appreciate the people who've reacted to the negative by supporting us.

We are still in shock from this but given what we've come through in the past we are confident that we will come through this as well and are so thankful that no one was hurt. It definately reinforces that stuff is temporary, one minute you've got it, the next it's gone. In this economy I know many of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Also, we have to give a huge thank you to Salem Fire Department. They did a spectacular job in containing and extinguishing the fire quickly. I was so amazed at the care they took in protecting the other parts of the building.

So, *deep breath*, after surveying the scene, the kids and I went out to lunch and as we were pulling up to Carl's Jr. we see a little bantum rooster right in front of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits Restaurant on Hwy 22 (not a great location for a chicken to be on so many levels!). So, being the chicken people that we are, we went right over and Josiah caught him as he got tangled up in the bushes. Since Carl's Jr. provided the box for us we decided to name him Carl.

The funny thing is we found out he's a celebrity. The chicken was briefly on TV tonight!!! You know what? I needed that laugh. What a day!