Awful Night
Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 10:06AM 
We had a perfectly AWFUL night last night. The Abigail pups were fine but our smoke alarms went off for no reason. They need replacing but still this was absolutely ridiculous waking us and the dogs up from a dead sleep including the Fiona pups. It started at 4am and wouldn't stop. As they are hardwired in it was hard to get them to stop. Dennis and Nathan finally figured it out at 630am. Oy....
Dennis being the individual he is went all over the house opening up windows incase we had some unsmellable smell so to speak. He also went down to the son's room in the basement in case he was having a party that he isn't supposed to have here. Well, at 4am you think of strange things.
He also opened up a window in my office and said the pups have a heat lamp. I shut that window immediately as they can't have a draft heat lamp or not. He was not happy with me, I was not happy with him but as I said it was 4am.
I thought of what it would take to get us out of here if we had to. It wasn't a fun thought.
Then he unplugged everything in my laundryroom thinking it was my grooming equipment. I have 4 dogs to wash today so I had to plug everything back in - no biggie but reorganize everything cause as I said he is the guy he is.
I am a TOTAL crab today. We have class tonight and the last one so I am going. It's raining so I have to wash certain dogs then keep them inside so timing is critical.
Now we have to get new smoke alarms. We don't smoke here. Nathan and I are ex-smokers. Dennis never smoked in his life and well Jonathan we won't talk about what he smoked but he's not supposed to HERE and he says not anymore - heh. But we checked anyways and no he was actually sleeping through that nonstop beeping that the dogs wouldn't stop barking at and remember Dennis opened the windows.
So, if I don't have an update today on this blog, I am tired. I am crabby. I have 4 dogs to wash and its raining. I think I earned my crabbiness. Here's hoping the dogs get me over it!
Reader Comments (8)
Oh my gosh Darlah, what a night, I can't image what that was like the worry and the panic that would set in. Your son Jonathon reminds me of our son, we have had similar discussions with him and reviewed the landlord agreement and the no smoking (anything) clause!!!! Hope you have a somewhat relaxed day and we are looking forward to our visit on Saturday!!!
The Spicy pups will put a smile back on your face tonight! heehee
We had smoke alarms go off for what we thought was no reason and it ended up being the alarm in the basement got dusty from renos. It happened more than once as it was gradually coming down from the ceiling after new flooring was put in. Just thought I'd mention it just in case you have something similar going on. Trouble is, they are so darned loud that it can take a while to figure out which one it is that's alerting you.
Hope everyone sleeps well tonight! :-)
Just read about your night! That is so scary when it happens at any time, more so during the night. The dogs must have wondered what was happening. I had to laugh though when I read about Dennis going though the house. Hope you all catch up on your sleep tonight.
Karen: He hasn't partaken in a long time but when you are half awake you think of really strange things like how to move all these dogs and what to take and is he doing something he shouldn't be....
WE had 2 going off at once. They are now replaced. I hope it doesn't happen again or I will shoot myself.
I am very tired and of course I had several dogs to groom today. Nathan took a nap though. :-) I just told him he feeds the dogs as I am done or I am not going to class. How is that for a grump? I am rather exhausted.
The dogs went nuts as the alarms went on and on and on. I think they are old but to have 2 go off at once - how strange. These things should happen during the day when you are coherent and can think instead of dreaming up possibilities.
PS: the dogs napped too - Dennis and I not...
I am so happy that this was a false alarm for you guys, and I am not sure what set your alarms off, but I would urge you to have them replaced asap. You mentioned thinking what would it take for you to get out of there with all of your precious dogs and I urge everyone reading this to have a fire exit plan and even practice. I say this because, early on Good Friday morning, there was a fire on my street, in Sharon, and a family of four: mom, dad, two teenage sons and their beautiful Golden Retriever pup never made it out. The youngest son was a student of mine at my school and the middle son was one of my sons best friends. The mom had sufferd a stroke a few years back and was not very mobile, one of my best friends was her caregiver. We believe that this is the reason the boys didn't make it out. They would have never wanted to leave their mom. We also know that they did not have a fire alarm on the first floor, which allowed the fire to spread way before any of them could make it to the first floor to exit. The fire alarm on the second floor was only hard wired but since the fire started in the laundry room the wires were burned causing that alarm to not sound. I am also certain no fire exit plan was in place, because let's face it, how many of us have one? Most of us never think it's going to happen to us, or that if it did we wouldn't naturally somehow get out. The only remaining family member is the eldest son who was still at Brock at the time. The loss of the Dunsmuir's family is a tragedy that our community will not forget anytime soon. It was the first time, I ever went to a funeral with four caskets, and seeing Rolph's dog collar in between them, well, I can't even begin to explain the tears that were shed. My hope from sharing this with others is that we realize the importance of ensuring we have working fire detector's on every floor and a fire exit plan. My husband ran out and purchased ladders for each bedroom, replaced our fire alarms with wired and battery operated ones and we have discussed a fire exit plan with our kids. There isn't a day that I drive by the Dunsmuir home, and I still don't shake my head asking myself how something like this could happen in this day and age. I pray each and every day for their surviving son, David. One can't imagine what it would take to move on in life after such a loss. I hope the rest of us learn that life as we know it can change in a matter of minutes. Spread the word!
Glad to heare you are all well. Having fire alarms go off in the night totally make you jump out of your skin. Hopefully tonight will be a "silent night". :)
Sad story, Sylvia. Not something I want to deal with. When I lived in California I had fire running up the canyon and we had to evacuate. They came down in planes telling us to get out. The fire stopped 100 feet from the tri-level i lived in and bedrooms were at the top. Very familiar with fires. It's also why we dug out a walkout for our basement. But we don't have ladders and we are scattered all over the house. Things to think about. We heard the smoke detectors right away. They are LOUD! We have since figured out that they expired. It seems they do that and have them expire during the night so it has the most impact. We already have new. Ours are hard wired but they also have battery backup. It's why we couldn't get them off easily. They were both 8 years old. In reading online they usually expire in year 7.