I was too stubborn to turn on the heat, so my cat just got as close to me as possible and balled up. When I finally caved and put on the heat last night, she was on top of her condo ASAP.

We turned the heat on yesterday, and within half an hour, got this: [link]

Tennessee County’s Subscription-Based Firefighters Watch As Family Home Burns Down

Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won’t respond, then watches it burn. That’s exactly what happened to a local family tonight. A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.

The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn’t do anything to stop his house from burning. Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay. The mayor said if homeowners don’t pay, they’re out of luck. [...]

We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception. “Anybody that’s not in the city of South Fulton, it’s a service we offer, either they accept it or they don’t,” Mayor David Crocker said.

Oh dear.

I don’t love Wolverine THAT much

An inflatable Wolverine toy. Guess where the inflation thingie is....

I think the cats are feeling the cooler temps. Me, I just put on long pants and a fleece. Them, they're rolling into tighter balls and burrowing further into the covers or me.

Last night, for the first time, all three animals slept on the bed with me. The cats had ceded that territory to Frankie since he got here. But last night I had Frankie at my left knee, Bella at my right, and Xusa up by my left shoulder. Chilly weather makes strange bedfellows, I guess.

Tennessee County’s Subscription-Based Firefighters Watch As Family Home Burns Down

And this is why taxes are a GOOD thing. What if a whole street didn't pay, and all went up in flames? Herd immunity - not just for vaccinations. And it seems ridiculous that they couldn't pay retroactively, although I suppose it could set a bad precedent.

We turned the heat on yesterday, and within half an hour, got this

Ahahahaha!

And this is why taxes are a GOOD thing. What if a whole street didn't pay, and all went up in flames? Herd immunity - not just for vaccinations. And it seems ridiculous that they couldn't pay retroactively, although I suppose it could set a bad precedent.

Though I think subscription for fire-fighting is an awful ideal, in all fairness it has been done other places with non-subscribers still getting their fires put out and then being billed $15,000 or $20,000. That is big enough bite to encourage subscription.

in all fairness it has been done other places with non-subscribers still getting their fires put out and then being billed $15,000 or $20,000.

Well, yeah. That could work. But to stand there and watch it burn? Seems pretty heartless and pointless, when you could get a new subscriber and potentially a large contribution.

Maybe the homeowner only wanted to pay insurance prices, not the full firefight price.

Not that I think explicit subscription is a society-friendly idea--institutionalise it as taxes already.

But if you have it, I guess you have to enforce it, or what's the point?

I totally got Toasted skin syndrome before I got a thing to put my laptop on!

Yeah, I have to say I empathize with that family. Our local fire chief absconded with what amounts to a couple of million dollars, leaving the firefighters unpaid, and us without any fire service for about a year. We have a new chief and a volunteer firehouse now, but it only operates bankers hours. So I`m good if I have a fire during the day. And of course, although the guy is being indicted, I`ve still been paying taxes, first into his pocket and then into the void when we didn`t have service. I would like my money back please or fire service. I don`t think that`s too much to ask for my local government.