There are just too many 6’s in today’s post – #1666- indicative of last night’s new home trauma. Sometime in the middle of the night, the smoke alarms went off, echoing throughout the walls of our empty rooms. With no furniture – trauma in and of itself – there was nothing to cushion to sound. Our schnauzer Tally ran for cover. I went to the electrical box hoping to find a switch to temporarily disable the detectors. The master bedroom circuit seemed like my best bet, but it didn’t do the job, as shrieks of sound and fire warnings continued to reverberate around me. Tally tried the front bedroom and waited by the front door for relief. The noise must have been overpowering for her sensitive ears. To make matters worse, my wife left her in the car for a few minutes this morning to pick-up the mail and the car alarm inexplicably went off. Poor pup! For me, it’s good to be partially deaf. 

I tried calling the 24-hour hotline for assistance, but the woman on duty insisted that it was not on her list of dire emergencies and we’d have to wait until morning. I pleaded that we couldn’t sleep and the dog was traumatized, but nothing could be done from her perspective. She suggested I call the fire department, but I did not want to dial 911. Of course, I got no answer. Under normal circumstances I would have gotten my ladder and climbed to the 12-foot heights where the detector was located and disabled the culprit. However, our ladder is packed away in a Portland warehouse still awaiting a delivery driver. I searched through all the warranty information that they left me, once again without a solution. The noise stopped for awhile – and then restarted. So, I called the hotline back. In the meantime, the shrieking stopped again but an annoying red light flashed across our bedroom ceiling. I thought I would never get back to sleep or get our pup calmed down. 

This morning I’m on the phone to electrical contractors and the builder trying to resolve the problem. At first, they indicated a two-week wait to get a service appointment, but are currently trying to find someone working in our neighborhood. Certainly, with homes going up all around us, someone will come to our aid. I still don’t understand why shutting off the power didn’t work – maybe they mislabeled the electrical panel? So here we sit helplessly in a new house, with no furniture, and flashing red lights. The alarm could come back on at any minute and no one would hear  our screams. It’s alarming!