During the early morning hours of January 8th, 2023, unprecedented winds toppled our neighbor’s 106-year-old redwood tree, sending it smashing through a significant corner of the neighbor's house, then snapping completely across the roof of our entire home before it snapped again, launching the treetop down onto our fence and neighbor's parked truck before coming to rest in the street, bringing down power lines and blocking the thoroughfare.

Remarkably, everyone emerged unscathed from this falling 65,000 lb. behemoth – which weighed the equivalent of five full-grown elephants. It's a number we still can't quite wrap our heads around. But most importantly, our neighbors are safe, we are safe, and all of our pets (for us, two elderly dachshunds and two cats) are safe. Everything else is just a bonus.

The good news in the immediate aftermath: Eben has a random connection with a tree removal company thanks to a freelance gig, who quickly coordinated with a Bay Area-based crane operator to get all this weight off our house less than 36 hours after it happened. It was quite a sight. We even made the news!

In the wake of the tree removal and coordinating relief efforts, we have begun to see the bigger picture of what it will take to recover from this life-altering catastrophe. Our journey is far from over.

While thankfully our home is insured and repairs eventually will be reimbursed, an emergency fund will help to provide a financial cushion to float immediate expenses, a luxury we currently do not have. Some of our immediate issues: A loss of access to many necessities in our home, which has caused and will continue cause increased expenses for food, transport, housing, and utilities until we can return home for good.

We also worry about the unseen and unknowns that lie ahead. We are hoping that our insurance coverage will be enough, but we continue to prepare to receive the assessments that will give us the full picture of rebuilding and returning home.

Thank you for your support.

About Eben Burgoon & Jessica Fearnow (The Feargoons)

Jessica Fearnow is a Society for News Design award-winning visual journalist having worked for The Sacramento Bee, The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, Kokomo Tribune, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She previously worked as a graduate assistant with the journalism department at Ball State University's London Centre program.

Jessica has brought her skillset as a journalist and graphic designer to her current work for California Air Resources Board. She enjoys traveling abroad, genealogy, journaling, a good charcuterie plate, sushi, activism, music festivals, and a good documentary.

Eben Burgoon is more fuzzy and ill-defined. As a cartoonist, artist, and author he has flung himself around the world multiple times as a fiercely independent creative. His creative workshops and hands-on art experiences led to collaborations that empower youth and under-discovered talent. For a short while before the pandemic, Eben's comic book series B-Squad was in early development for an animated series. His current series, Tiny Wizards, is available now on his website and was a Top 20 independent comic series of 2021.

At the close of 2022, Eben was recently employed by a local art museum as a public program coordinator and continues his comic book and cartooning on the side.