I was quietly sleeping, snug in bed, having a very entertaining dream. The silence was pierced at 4:40am, with loud, teckno screeching. The trip from sleep to awake was shorter than the moments it took to realize it was the smoke detector was sending the alarm. My sweet Bella was beside herself with distress so I took the time to hug her. Then started looking for fire or smoke but found neither. Apparently the alarm goes off when the battery is getting low although it had enough power to shatter my world. Loud noise hinders my ability to think and this was really loud. After finding a sturdy chair and climbing up to get the offending thing from the wall, I could not remember how to open it. I pulled and tugged and twisted to no avail. At this point I congratulate myself for not taking a hammer to it to shut it up but I thought about it. I stopped to take a few relaxation breaths and calm down in spite of the noise. Once I put my glasses on, the battery door became more obvious and after ripping out the battery, silence returned. Ahh so lovely. I tried to go back to sleep which was not happening so I wrote this. Maybe someone else if finishing my dream.
mountainmae 
Well at least you know it would work if it had to 🙂 Ours just does this sad and continually random beeping when the battery is low – which is somehow more annoying. :Z
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I would have been so discombobulated to wake up like that. Good you remembered to go get your glasses! hee hee.
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He he…I suspect smoke detectors the world over lack batteries as this story is so common. I was watching a TED the other day which indicated that the technology is being developed so we never need batteries again. That would be a big step forward. The reason this technology was developed was because the inventor was woken up three nights in a row by his wife’s mobile beeping because its batteries were going flat.
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I have slept through one once but I am glad it was a false alarm.
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Why does this seem to happy only during the night? A few years ago we had a similar experience during the night. When my husband got up, set up the ladder, and pulled the battery, the screeching stopped. Well, it stopped for a couple of minutes then proceeded to screech again. It was like we were trapped in an episode of Friends, as when Phoebe ripped out the smoke detector, threw it out in the hall, and it continued to screech. Too funny!
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Talk about a rude awakening. Rest well tonight 🙂
*anna
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Now I am looking forward to finishing that dream.
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Great story! I beat my smoke detector to death with a broom handle when it did that once. You have a much wiser and cooler head 😉
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I used the broom handle to get it off the wall. That noise is really loud but serves a useful purpose. I had a habit of changing the battery in the smoke detector on my birthday- the fire department suggested it but now is the time to restart that habit.
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Hope you get a good night’s sleep tonight!
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My daughter is coming in tonight for a visit at 1am- will I be awake to greet her? We shall see.
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gadgets… 🙂
such a pain sometimes…
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If it had been a real fire I would called it a blessing – I called it a few other names this morning.
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I know this sound and I am impressed you didn’t take a hammer to it. Not a pleasant thing to wake up to.
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Putting on my glasses sooner would have helped a lot! I got to see dawn and hear the birds start their day. I felt very mature- times was the hammer might well have been my go to answer when I could not get it open.
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Seems somehow appropriate, in a literal sense, to start the day with a start. (Loved that hug moment. Made me smile.)
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It got me up early enough to see dawn which I love and get a load of wash done before I would have even gotten up. Glad I made you smile.
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