Hidden in Plain Sight
Last week, one morning at 4:00 AM, I woke to the dreaded sound of a low battery on a smoke detector. This may not seem like a huge deal to most, but to me was a big inconvenience as three of my four smoke detectors were located nine to ten feet along the angled walls and ceilings that are hard-wired to my house. To make matters extra special, the chirping only repeats for so long before a piercing alarm sounds, that remains constant until the battery has been replaced. You can imagine my mood………frantic!
First problem of the morning, besides being groggy, I couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from. Each time I stood under the alarm until it chirped, never sounded like it was the one I was directly under. I kept repeating a round robin of all four since it didn’t appear to be coming from any one them. Each time it chirped, I’d swear it was in a particular room only to be foiled once I was directly under it as it sounded again. It was like the noise was purposely throwing me off like a ventriloquist…haha.
Needless to say, I headed into the garage to grab a ladder. I was hopeful my easy-to-carry-and-open model was the only one I needed, unfortunately, it would only work for the lowest placed smoke detector. I decided to try that one first……I climbed up, figured how to twist the unit open and couldn’t get the damn thing to unplug. After what seemed like several minutes I was able to unplug, remove the battery, replace the battery…….CHIRP! Damn it wasn’t the easy one.
I headed back to the garage to grab the other ladder; one I had purchased a few years earlier but never used, since my son always came over to change the batteries. Well…..my never used Little Giant ladder was heavy, cumbersome and I couldn’t figure how to open it. The ladder had fancy sliders, locks, and several positions you could use. I tried Googling but couldn’t find quick directions……CHIRP. By this time I was a ball of sweat as I kept walking back and forth to figure out which one was making noise…….CHIRP.
I finally figured how to extend the ladder tall enough to reach, but couldn’t figure how to open the two sides. YAY….a lock/unlock button on either side at the top…..it worked. The ladder was at the tallest and widest option and up I went (feeling a little shaky since it was high above the floor). Just then I realized I was still in my jammies and thought, “If I fall and have to be rescued, I’d better be decent.” Down the ladder, got dressed and back up, unscrew the unit and pry to get it unplugged, take the battery out, put in new battery……..CHIRP!
OK, it’s not number two…..back down the ladder to head to the next bedroom. It won’t freaking fit through the door. I don’t have enough room to maneuver it and I can’t get it unlocked to bring the sides together……..CHIRP. Oh my gosh, I tried and tried to get it unlocked until I had the brilliant idea to lower the height on both sides to make it easier to maneuver. Voila…..I could get it through the doorways, into the next room, extend and lock both sliders, up the ladder, unscrew the unit, pry out the battery, replace with new battery……..CHIRP! FOR THE LOVE OF, “So much for number three.”
Having to repeat all the same steps in the next room…..up the ladder, twist the unit, pry open, take the battery out, replace the battery…………CHIRP. OH….I forgot to mention I might have gotten the old and new batteries mixed up…..NO WORDS!
It’s now 5:00 AM and I needed to run to a 24/7 local store to acquire new batteries……however, when I arrived it was COVID closed. I sent an SOS text to both my son and brother if there was something I was missing. In the meantime, another store in a neighboring town opened at 6:00 AM so I waited and prayed the alarm wouldn’t go off, retrieved new batteries and sped home. At this point I had to maneuver the locked ladder from room to room again to replace all batteries again with a different brand…….CHIRP! I thought I was going to lose my mind.
At this point, my son called and could stop after work to help solve the problem, but after talking to my brother Jeff, he was on his way. Jeff arrived and as I told him the story……he listened and thought he heard where it was coming from only to be wrong once he was directly under the unit. He asked if I had any other units and I said no. After retracing the steps over and over, he finally decided to take down all four of the smoke detectors, remove the batteries and place all four of the units outside……….CHIRP!
The look on our faces was priceless. How could it be? He checked closets, the pantry, laundry room, furnace room looking for another unit but found nothing. As I was standing in between the kitchen and dining room…..CHIRP…….I think by the grace of God, I suddenly remembered my handyman had installed a CO detector knee-high on a wall behind a plant! SERIOUSLY? We laughed and laughed and laughed. The five-hour-later problem could have been solved in about five minutes without a stinking ladder.
The moral of the story: don’t ever underestimate things that might be hidden in plain sight. Something could be right under our noses and we don’t take the time to discover or re-discover them. One thing I know to be true…..I owe that boy a beer!
xoxox…..Sheryl
PS….The good news, all my batteries are changed for the season, and I can change my own future batteries with confidence.
PSS….As a side note, the day before Jeff and I were talking since he had just changed our Mom’s smoke detector batteries and that I needed to have my son come over to change mine. Law of attraction, perhaps….LOL.