ANOTHER JOY OF BEING INDEPENDENT

           

 

Ah, the joys of being independent. Once again, very early this morning, I experienced one of the joys of living with just me, myself and I as well as Kuma. I simply must share this wonderful new experience.

Over the last few days, I would notice a funny sound that would come now and then. It didn’t last long enough for me to actually track the source and the two individuals who visited during this time didn’t hear it at all…or if they did, they didn’t ask me about it.

The source became very apparent just before 3:00 am this morning. It was the smoke alarm which is located just outside my bedroom door. I thought perhaps I could simply ignore it, but the eeeeeeeeepk that came periodically like maybe every thirty to sixty seconds wasn’t going to allow me to go back to sleep. And, Kuma, such a disappointment. While me, myself and I wanted to scream with frustration, he simply curled up and snored.

After a bit, I decided I had to get up and remove the dead battery from the smoke alarm. I thought doing that would eliminate the noise. So, there I was in the middle of the night, hauling my stepstool from the kitchen to the hallway and climbing up those two steps to reach the noise maker. Again, Kuma was a huge help…he got out of bed and laid down right by the stepstool so I had to make sure I didn’t step on him as I came down.

Amazingly, I managed to get myself up and down those two steps without falling or tripping on the dog. Since the location was the hallway, I did have lots of support on both sides to keep me upright. Also amazingly, the smoke detector cover popped right off and the battery right out. I put them on the bathroom counter figuring I’d put in a new battery when I actually got up for the day.

So, was that the end of that annoying noise…NO, a huge frustrating NO. It continued to beep throughout the rest of the night and eventually, like Kuma, I was able to ignore it and return to sleep.

Even before coffee this morning, I dug out a new battery and put it into the smoke detector. The beeps continued, so I must have put it in incorrectly. Back up on the stepstool to reverse the battery. That time I waited on the top of the stepstool to see if the beeps continued.

They did. I tried to figure out how to remove the entire thing from the ceiling and came to the realization I would need to get a screwdriver. I gave up, made my coffee and watched the first part of Good Morning America while throwing Kuma’s ball down the hall multiple times to wear off his excess energy.

Eventually, I was surprised to no longer hear the eeeeeeepk sound. Guess the new battery just needed to make good friends with the smoke detector. Another success for me, myself and I…well, maybe typing just a bit too soon since the cover still has to be replaced.