Antler Mountain Lodge

08/21/2024

Today, this is mostly known as a peace sign. When Sir Winston flashed it, it meant V for Victory. It could also stand for VRBO, with whom my dispute is now settled.

VRBO has paid us back all the penalty fees they withheld for the bookings I had to cancel when our cabin burned down. And they have restored our "Premier Host" status, which puts a fancy little badge on our listings, and usually puts us on Page 1 of search results. So that's pretty important.

This required a lot more effort and frustration than it should have, but they have apologized for all that. I am satisfied with the resolution and happy to post this update.

08/12/2024

I have temporarily (or perhaps permanently) removed a couple of posts regarding my personal war with one of the big online travel agencies. There is a potential resolution on the horizon. I am monitoring to see if it actually happens.

It's amazing how a letter from an attorney or a TV newsroom's call to a big organization's PR department can suddenly spur action that seems impossible when you're just David fighting Goliath. Thank you, KOB-TV! I will post an update here once things are definitely resolved one way or the other.

07/12/2024

A few lessons learned, fortunately, not the hard way:

You never think your property could be a total loss until it is. We were very fortunate that Antler Mountain Lodge was a rental. We have hundreds of photos to jog our memories about all the contents we lost, and to prove to our insurer that we actually made all the upgrades we claimed. We are also very glad we kept our coverage updated to reflect the serious inflation that has impacted the construction industry the past few years.

My strong recommendation would be to take some quick pictures or videos of all the rooms in your home. We kept going back to ours and remembering things we’d completely forgotten we own that we’ll now be getting paid for.

It’s definitely worth paying extra for replacement cost coverage, rather than actual cash value. They depreciate the value of many items 10% per year. A perfectly good piece of furniture that’s 10 years old could be worth almost nothing to an insurer with an actual cash value policy.

Last but not least, do a little googling to get a simple cost per square foot estimate of what a rebuild would run you, and make sure you have enough coverage.

You see articles with this kind of advice all the time. It’s not a big secret. But if you’ve been putting off a good inventory, or checking your coverage limits, there is no time like now to be sure. Once the unthinkable happens, it’s too late to update anything.

07/02/2024

The hummingbird feeder Gayette Huseby put out last week is almost empty. We didn’t get the phone out in time to snap a pic, but we saw one drinking out of it. Also saw a deer munching grass across the street. Nature carries on!

06/27/2024

It looks like we have a lot of work to do!

06/24/2024

I was a news manager at KVIA-TV, the ABC affiliate in El Paso for about 30 years. My old friend and colleague, Paul Cicala, has been covering the fire for the station. Among the stories he did was one about our cabin.

RUIDOSO, NM (KVIA) -- Former KVIA employee Eric Huseby is dealing with the loss of his cabin in Ruidoso, after the South Fork Fire swept through. "I was just kind of numb," said Huseby, as he described what went through his head the moment he learned his cabin was burned down. Huseby says, even thou...

06/20/2024

It is my unfortunate duty to report that Antler Mountain Lodge was destroyed by the fire in Ruidoso. It is a real punch in the gut to spend 15 years of your life, thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars continually working to improve something, and then have it suddenly disappear. It is infuriating to know that arson is the suspected cause, that at least two people lost their lives in this fire, and many others have lost everything they own.

Please don't unfollow. Right now we are leaning toward rebuilding. I look forward to posting pics of that process as we recreate everything that was great, and add a few things to make it even better.

Sincerely,

Eric and Gayette Huseby
Antler Mountain Lodge

05/02/2024

Magnificent beauties at Antler Mountain Lodge this evening!!

03/18/2024

Ruidoso is currently ranked #4 (as of 6:30p, Sunday March 17) in the USA Today’s list of small town cultural scenes. If you love Ruidoso, please follow the link and VOTE!

The Village of Ruidoso has been included by USA Today’s 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards as a contender for the “Best Small Town Cultural Scene”. Help us win by voting for […]