1. Our house echoes like a cathedral due to the vast amount of hardwood and scant amount of furniture/decor it contains, making it beyond difficult to locate the source of the beeping.
2. It only beeped intermittently, about every 5 minutes or so, and would go hours at a time without beeping at all. We often just ignored it.
But after a few days, we decided it was time to solve the mystery and put the annoyance behind us. So we actively searched the house. And we took turns standing beneath the various detectors in the house, waiting for one to beep. Still, we couldn't find it. Wherever we stood in the house, the sound came from somewhere else. When we were upstairs, it sounded like it was downstairs, and when it was downstairs...you get the idea.
It was maddening. I wanted to disable the blasted thing, if only I could find it! But that didn't work very well for Phoebe Buffay, and I knew it wouldn't work for us. So, after a process of elimination, we decided it must be the smoke detector in Jeff's office, as it had a light that periodically flashed red, and Jeff got the ladder. We changed the battery, and hoped that the mystery was solved.
It wasn't. The beeping continued throughout the night, but abruptly stopped yesterday morning. All day long, I heard not one beep. I thought maybe it just took a while for the detector to reset and we had figured it out after all. Then it started beeping again last night, and continued throughout the day today. I offered the kids $5 if they could locate the offensive detector, sure it was sealed inside a wall somewhere in the house. But the kids came through. Tonight they were checking my tomatoes in the basement, and came up panicked. They had heard the "low battery" voice clearer than ever. Was there a smoke detector in the unfinished basement? Jeff and I had checked most of the rooms, but had failed to check them all.
For there, indeed, was the offensive detector. As soon as Jeff got home from the BYU game, we all went down and changed the battery together. At this point, we were all heavily involved. And when the beeping was at last silenced, there was much rejoicing. Allie and Damon were bragging about the $5 they get to split, and Jeff and I were thinking that $5 was a bargain for a little peace and quiet! Well, peace and quiet when everyone is sleeping, anyway. Peace and quiet during the daylight hours is still nothing but a dream.
3 comments:
Funny story. That beeping is maddening. I know from experience myself!
That is funny and it totally reminds me of the episode of Modern Family from a couple of weeks ago. They spent all day trying to find the smoke detector that was out only to find out that it was a bunch of old ones that were stored in the attic! Glad you figured it out!
Best $5 you ever spent, I'm sure. That beeping can drive you absolutely bonkers!
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