Recent Indoor Activities

I thought I would take this time to mention some recent cool and uncool stuff that has been happening inside our house.

We really enjoy the outdoors here in Arkansas. This year we were blessed a mild summer so we spend a lot of time outside. However, living in the rural area that we do we have several ponds within a close vicinity. Which in Arkansas means mosquitoes and a lot of them. So we use what is called a Therma Cell. It uses a small propane cell that heats up a treated pad and works quite well to keep them little buggers at bay. One simply clicks the On button, waits just a moment and then PRESSES the ignition button. This takes quite a bit of pressure for obvious safety reasons. When they are not being used we keep them on a shelve in the utility room that's just off the kitchen.

So one morning as we were scurrying around getting the last stuff ready to leave for work we heard a very distinctive CLICKING sound. We both stopped in out tracks and looked at each other. It had just clicked three times and stopped. We were asking each other if we both heard it when it clicked again two more times.

We both turned our heads towards the utility room as I said it sounded like a Therma Cell it clicked again. We walked the 8 feet to the utility room staring at the shelves that had the Therma Cells (2) on it. We stood there only a moment when...CLICK,CLICK! Right in front of us. We were not able to see the top of the item to actually witness the depression of the button but it was only two feet in front of us. GEEEZZZZ we both backed up a couple of steps and were amazed at what had just happened. It was kind of "IN YOUR FACE", "DIDN"T MISS THAT DID YOU?!?!"

We both got quite a chuckle over that. I picked them off the shelf and demonstrated each one. Each had it's own different clicking sound so we knew which one had made the noise. Now we are unsure IF it actually depressed or if something just mimicked that sound. We thought it was cool. We went off to work with grins on our faces.

This next one happened this past Friday night. We decided to lay low for the evening and were sharing the loveseat watching a movie. We had been watching the movie for a bit when all of a sudden the smoke alarm started going off in our changing room directly behind us. Naturally I jumped up and ran the very short distance to see what was on fire. Nothing was on fire, there was NO smoke of any kind, and everything was as it always has been. We turned on lights sniffing, looking every inch of the room and bathroom that joins it. There was absolutely nothing. I examined the alarm and it was in perfect condition. I had just recently changed the battery when we had the time change. I need to make the point that it only screeeetched twice.

So after deciding everything was fine we continued on with our movie. About twenty minutes later it did it again. I did the same as before, checked everything out and nothing was amiss. Then it dawned on me. I went to the utility room and got a measuring stick and took it to the changing room. I reached up with the stick and pressed the "Test" button and there it was. Two long screeeetching sounds. Something was pressing the "Test" button. That made me mad. Really mad and I said out loud how "UNCOOL" that was. I explained that that wasn't a toy to play with and we relied on that for our safety.

Well it has not happened since that second time. I will add that it has never happened before and that when one does go off it is a continuous screeeetching over and over again. Only when the "Test" button is pressed does it do it only twice. We've had things get smoky in the kitchen from time to time and know how the alarms behave.

So that's some of the cool and uncool things that have gone on in our active house. There are a bunch more. Just thought I would share these two for now. As always I appreciate your time reading and comments.