I was actually awake but it was pitch black and raining and I decided to get just another 40 winks in before getting up. It was not to be. SHREEEEEIIIIKK!

Can you guess? Yes. It was a smoke alarm. In addition to the shrieking, a voice was saying FIRE… FIRE… Well. There was NO FIRE and there was no reason for it to go off in such a dramatic manner. Jeebus. What do I do? I guess there’s probably a way to poke a broomstick or something up there and shut it off. But I couldn’t THINK! Because of all the frickin’ NOISE!

I do know that the only way I can get up there to change batteries or whatever is to go out to the She-shed and get the ladder. The step-stools inside the house can get me close but I have to extend my arms ALL THE WAY to reach the damn thing. Which somehow doesn’t feel as safe as it would have 30 years ago and I never have been crazy about ladders and things from the getgo. And getting the ladder out of the shed in the pitch black pre-dawn hours? Just unlocking the shed is a major process, one I won’t detail.

Also, because of our loverly planet building codes, we have FOUR (count-em) smoke alarms in close proximity – one per bedroom, don’tcha know? This particular rule seems like overkill in our little house. Does it matter that our three “bedrooms” all open to a teensy tinesy little “hallway” (vestibule?) where the fourth one is. I couldn’t even tell which one was shrieking. We don’t close the bedroom doors at night. If there was smoke anywhere near the vicinity, ONE alarm would pick up on it.

Just about the time I thought I was gonna go INSANE, the shrieking stopped and it hasn’t happened (fingers crossed) again since. What caused it? I do NOT know. To be on the safe side, my mouse monkey came over and changed the batteries in ALL FOUR of the blasted things. Fingers crossed that I won’t be shrieked awake again tonight although I have considered sleeping out in the Lyme Lounge, which is currently in the driveway.

I really want to replace these alarms with something a little “smarter”. I’ve had my eye on the Nest alarms for a long time. Some of the features I read about today? 1) They give you a couple seconds “heads-up” if they are about to shriek so you have a wee bit of time to check out what if anything is going on. 2) You can turn them off with your phone. 3) They SELF-TEST! What does this mean? They can sense a low battery and send you a message so you can replace it preemptively instead of scrambling around reacting to a shrieking alarm in the middle of the night and trying not to break your leg to replace the battery!

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