Gamebird, Thirteen trucks at $200 per truck sounds excessive to me, but I only know how we do it here in Love County...and we don't do it that way. Everyone does it differently, but 13 of our 14 VFDs in this county rely on a small state subsidy (we're talking about a few thousand dollars a year), a small county tax subsidy, (there again, only a few thousand dollars a year) and their own fund-raising efforts. Our fire dept. members spend as much time (or more) on fund-raising projects as they do fighting fires and working at other disasters, including motor vehicle accidents. Sometimes you can qualify for grants that pay for the cost of firefighter protective bunker gear, which runs about $2000-$3000 per firefighter, or other firefighting equipment but those grants are hard to get and you only get 2 or 3 per decade. Our VFD is the newest one in the county and it is about 6.5 years old. Starting a VFD from scratch is hard....you can't qualify for grants for equipment until you have a station, and you can't build a station, which easily costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, without grants. Our fire dept. would not exist without the kindness of the Ardmore-based Noble Foundation which provided a grant that helped build our station, and many local residents supported that effort too. There are 14 volunteer fire depts. in this county and the only one I know of that does not have to struggle to get enough money to remain in operation is the Marietta Fire Dept., and its' operating costs are subsidized by the city of Marietta. Most of the rest of the VFDs are in unincorporated county areas so get nothing but the small state and county subsidies. One dept. in our county uses a Billing Service and they bill for every call they run. It has made them extremely unpopular and I don't want to get into a discussion of all the whys and wherefores, but I know from comments made to us by community members that the use of the billing service has antagonized many community members (including members of other fire depts.) and is, in my opinion, a public relations disaster for them. I don't even know if that fire dept. is aware of the bad PR though. We sometimes seek voluntary reimbursement from "customers" served by our VFD but we don't demand it and we don't expect it. We're just glad if we receive some reimbursement. Normally, if our firefighters save something that is insured, like a structure, vehicle, cattle or crop, etc., we send the insurance company a letter asking for a donation to the fire dept. which saved them from having to pay a fire claim, and most of them routinely respond with a donation of a couple of hundred dollars. We have a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs which means that, if we fight a fire on "Indian land" (and I never know if we are on Indian land or not, but some of our members do), we are reimbursed for that, although we have to file a "claim" similar to an insurance claim to get that. Once again, the amount is not very large, but every $ helps. (The BIA is very good to work with and very efficient and they send BIA firefighters to help us with big wildfires, and I can say nothing at all about them except good stuff. Hurray!) The members of our community are very supportive. We are in a part of Love County known as Shady Dale (I think Shady Dale actually had a train station decades ago, and a school and businesses and stuff but now it is just homes and churches, farms and ranches, etc.). The Shady Dale community members support us every way they can--attending our fund raisers, bringing food and cases of water and Gatorade for the firefighters, etc. Many community members pull out a checkbook and write us a check before we leave the scene of a fire on their place, or mail us a thank you card and check afterwards. When you said he had 13 fire trucks there at a cost of $200 per truck, I was stunned. We're lucky if we can get $200 total reimbursement from a landowner--and, even then, that is voluntary. In Texas, you can buy a "membership" to support your local VFD and I like that idea. If you have a "membership", which is different amounts in different areas, but let's say it is usually about $75 to $150 a year, the you aren't billed if they respond to a fire at your place. If you don't buy a membership and you do have a fire, they will bill you, but I don't know how the billing system works. Our county's law enforecement is paid for via county taxes and they don't charge for calls. They do have to survive on a shoestring budget though. Our county's ambulance service does bill, and I think it is about $800 to $1000 per run. Our local air ambulance service, based in Ardmore, is about $5000 per run, but you can buy a family membership for about $50 or $75 annually and, if you have the membership, you aren't billed the $5000. So, as you can tell, volunteer fire dept. funding is a hodge-podge and a mish-mash of small tax subsidies, grants, donations, insurance payments, etc. Every volunteer fire dept. I know struggles to come up with the money to put gas in the trucks and repair the trucks as they break down (which is constantly, but not surprising considering most of the trucks are 20, 30 or 40 years old). In our county, most of our VFDs are currently operating in the hole because they have spent more money for gas and repairs than they have.....the county "carries" them up to a point, but I don't know what they do if a VFD stays in the red all the time or gets too deeply in debt. I was kind of shocked when my hubby came home from a county fire association meeting and said most of the VFDs are operating in the red. It makes me think that we need a better funding method. The Shady Dale VFD is not running in the red and hasn't, as far as I know, since my husband became chief a couple of years ago, and I don't know if they've ever operated in the red----we are very, very fiscally conservative. We are blessed to have a great bunch of guys, including some very, very talented mechanics, builders and welders who can repair trucks, build trucks almost from scratch, build and expand their own fire station, etc. Without this bunch of guys that we have now, I don't know how our dept. would survive. And, all of that is just my way of saying that, if they bill your dad $200 per truck, I understand it because running a fire dept. takes a lot of money, but I hate that they have to bill him, if you know what I mean. I wish there was a better way. And, sometimes I am amazed at how good people are. One day, well over a year ago, our guys responded to a fire at an investment property. We were not the closest fire dept. to that location, so we were responding to provide "mutual aid". The owner of that investment property watched our guys work and was so thrilled by how quickly they put out the fire that he set up an account for us at a local fuel supplier and he pays $175 per month on our fuel bill. He's done it for well over a year now and I guess it is his way of supporting our VFD. I don't know if he does the same thing for the VFD in the part of the county where he lives, but we appreciate him and his financial support so much. If "karma" means anything, this gentleman should expect only good things to flow his way. In the state of Oklahoma all so-called "controlled burns" are illegal, technically, unless you jump through a lot of hoops and get a "Prescribed burn" permit and then there's a gazillion more hoops to jump through after you get the permit. Those hoops include having plowed firebreaks (and wide ones at that), and only burning when wind levels, temperatures and humidities are at certain levels. So, really, without a prescribed burn permit, no one should be burning pastures, garden or field stubble, trash, brush, etc., but the reality is that everyone does it. And, when one of those "controlled burns" gets out of control and fire departments have to respond, I guess someone is expected to pay for that. Finally, when fire depts. respond to certain "declared disasters" like tornadoes, massive wildfires and floods, sometimes you can get FEMA reimbursement for certain things--like damage to a truck that occurs at one of these disasters. To get FEMA reimbursement, though, you have to file tons of paperwork and then, if you are lucky, you'll get reimbursed a year or two later. Dawn

That's a great idea about the cards OJ. You are very kind. I don't want to post an address here but if anyone wants to send a card email me through my page and I will give the address. Work address won't do. Our office is close after tomorrow until after New Years. Leslie, all the dogs were safe from the beginning. 7 were in the kennel away from the house and the 3 that were inside and Simon got out through the doggie door. The agent was the idiot that was telling them they couldn't stay there and had to go to an apartment. The insurance adjuster told them to ignore him. I think they may be getting a mobile home until they can rebuild. I don't know the details but I think it will take awhile to get that in place because of the holidays. They are still having trouble getting an electrician to get power to the barn, greenhouses and well pump. I don't know why he didn't do it when he came out to put the breakers and outlets to use for the camper. Linda

Yes it's very frustrating to have a beautiful perfect looking hosta one day and then the next.... BAM! Sun and heat scorch! Whee has a few leaves burned. But, I think I've nipped it in the butt.... I put a really large palm plant in front of them. It's normally an indoor plant but I put it out there to shade the hostas further. It seems to work. And the palm likes the extra sun, too.

I did the candle thing for quite awhile, a mirror on the back wall really ramp ups the look. The above is alcohol fueled. You pour it on and the fire will last a few hours? Not sure on that. Until the alcohol is burned up anyway. It might be a good option for you. People from warm climates who want the LOOK, but need to HEAT made them popular. Electric is not the ambiance of gas...but that's the sacrifice for whatever your HOA gives you.