I was awakened at 0-skunk-30 by the dreaded chirp of a smoke alarm running out of battery. Actually it didn’t wake me up. It wasn’t all that long before I was gonna *get* up so I was already awake but I was still pretty p*ssed off when I heard that damn chirp.

I notified the GG of the issue. I don’t actually think he *hears* those things chirp, at least not when he’s asleep. It ALMOST makes me wish it had done the SHRIEKING thing it did the last time this happened so he could experience it. Like a woodpecker pecking incessantly on a metal chimney, it WOULD have woken him up.

Anyway. I got into the shower and I could hear him fumbling around as the chirping continued. For one thing, FOUR of our smoke alarms are situated within a circle of about eight feet in diameter. In other words, it’s pretty hard to tell which one is chirping. This was mandated by city code after a tree fell on our house.

In the end it turns out it was the CO alarm that chirped, not a smoke alarm. The issue was complicated but it if does it again, I now know WHERE IT IS and HOW TO TURN IT OFF. I *did* know we had one. Not that I am cavalier about the protections a CO alarm offers. But this is an older house (1959 ticky-tacky). It is probably drafty as all get-out and at this time of year we start turning off the furnace and opening the windows. Like last night when “someone” (not moi) left the back slider open all night. He changed the batteries in ALL the smoke alarms today, which I greatly appreciated.

I have always been freaked out about smoke alarms. I know how important they are. When I had my baby girls, we had them in our house (not four within a small radius though) and I made a special effort to ensure they were in both Hoton Lake and the moomincabin, which were rustic northern cabins.

I continue to lust after smart smoke/CO alarms. They check themselves for battery strength something like 400 times a day. They notify you via a phone app when the battery is getting low instead of waking you up with chirps or shrieks. They can tell the difference between steam and smoke. And more. When Hurricane Ike dragged a finger across southeast Michigan, the moisture he generated set off our smoke alarms.

Brain Day? I had a very productive work day today but I’m sure Mr. Bear will find ways to poke holes in my temporarily inflated ego 🤣

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.