[petecat1]

So is that (Google's common firmware image) something I should be able to find and install?  I have the ChromeOS backup from the Chromebook Recovery Utililty, but I'm pretty sure thats no use to me until I get the BIOS back, right? 

the Recovery image is what gets downloaded/written to USB by the recovery tool (which you should not use until you actually need to restore ChromeOS. Restoring an older version can be very problematic). And yes, the Recovery media is not useful until you restore the stock firmware. There's nothing useful you can do with it at this time. If/when you actually want to revert back to stock, just PM me and I'll build you a custom stock firmware to flash back. Next time, listen to the script and make a backup ;-) 

Thanks Matt.  Duly chastised. It may be sooner than later that I call on you.  But I will let you know if my various plan B's are not working.