It's the time of night that most of the world that I know (living in Tennessee) is sleeping. This happens to be when my brain usually either works the best or just goes randomly roaming through endless thoughts that I can't control. I guess I'll leave that for you to decide.
So, Starr was going to bed earlier--she almost always goes to bed before I do--and something interesting/annoying happened. About 20 seconds after I left the bedroom (because I tuck her in and show her love when she's going to sleep), the smoke detector beeped. As annoying as that is in itself, it's worse when you keep reading. Now, that might not seem like a big issue, right? I mean, smoke detectors beep. That's what they're made to do. However, they're only supposed to beep when they're supposed to beep, not randomly. We have five SD's in our two-story townhouse. That seems a little like overkill, but I guess it makes sense to have one in each of three bedrooms, one in the upstairs hallway, and one in the downstairs living area. There might even be one in the attic; who knows? I guess I could go look, but I really didn't think of that until just now ^_^.
Anyway, this is not the first time that this has happened. Actually, it never just beeps once. Here's an example of what it will do. It's always the one in the upstairs hallway that instigates this whole debacle. It will beep (not chirp like it has a low battery, but a real beep) either one, two, or three times in succession. Then, it will stop for about thirty seconds. Then, it will beep in either one, two, or three times, but not the same amount that it did just beforehand. No, it beeps a different amount. Then, about thirty seconds, it does it again. Sometimes, it even starts bringing the other smoke alarms in on the fun and those start beeping in exactly the same time and manner and culprit number one!! They are all hardwired into the ceiling, and they all have battery backup. The batteries have been changed. You wouldn't guess how many Google searches bring up "Change the batteries" as the solution to this problem, even though a million people said, "I changed the batteries and it kept beeping."
So, I've changed the batteries; I've reset and tested the alarms; I've even blown the dust out of the main culprit. Evidently, smoke detectors are supposed to be changed every ten years and there are some duds. Well, our townhouse is less than five years old. So, the SD's should be also. They haven't always done this; so, I doubt it's a dud or it would have always done this. Here's what I've noticed the last couple of times this has happened (because it always, except once, happens in the middle of the night): our bedroom door is shut and our a/c is turned on. I've never heard of a SD being pressure sensitive (and, no, there's never any smoke, just in case you thinking that). So, why would this happen at such a time? The only time that it happened during the day, that I know of--I've been home most days for the past couple of months--was a similar situation. I was in the bedroom, just falling into a nice sleep...then, BEEP! I wanted to throw the alarm into the next county. They're disk-like and Davidson County isn't too far from my house...
So, that's my dilemma. I wonder if it's funny that I finally got out of being too lazy to start a blog because I was annoyed by the stupid smoke alarm. If you have any thoughts that aren't obvious (like changing the batteries), I'll be happy to hear [read] your suggestions. So, I guess that's all for now. I guess one of the best things that I can take from this is: it's better that it happens to me and my family since we are capable, both physically and emotionally, to handle this stress. I know many people who would fail to function properly in this same situation. I know that I'll never face anything that I can't handle.
"It is an observed fact that the art of becoming is composed of the acts of overcoming." --Leonard Read
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