In lieu of two more mass shootings, I feel I want to lighten the mood that you and I are feeling this morning, so this little tale is being shared. I’ll write a longer narrative with way more pictures, because you know I am long-winded, (oh yes I am), but these were my favorite pics from yesterday. Saturday was intended to be another “me day” … I figured I earned it after the past few months of house mishaps and my busy work schedule. It started off a little meh; I went to Grosse Ile and couldn’t find a place to park and walk, but I saw two bucks crossing the street at Horsemill Road and Canal Drive … I was in awe of that, but captured the images in my mind, not with the camera.
I wanted to go to Elizabeth Park but they had the gates closed due to a two-day Jazz on the River event, so I returned to Lake Erie Metropark and spent four hours there. I wandered along Cove Point, where I could, as there was mud and pools of water everywhere – I had on the vinyl boots, but they hampered walking, so I put on my walking shoes. There was not much to see and it was already getting hot, so I meandered to an area of this park where I’ve never been before. It was suddenly no longer a meh day, as I saw a groundhog, gorgeous patch of wildflowers, butterflies and a sweet fawn. Oh yes, the “Three Tenors” were singing, er … screeching away as well. I’m including my favorite pictures below, and then I’ll relay my latest tale of woe (thankfully easily resolved and far less costly or detrimental).
Last night, I sat down to chill a little … I say “chill” because I got a sunburn (ouch) and I just wanted a little R&R and to recover from my seven-mile (11 kilometer) trek.
Then the chirping started. I knew it had to be the smoke alarm. Or maybe the carbon monoxide alarm because it was nearing end of life (ten years) … I have to find a comparable model as my electrical outlets are all recessed, so most models fall out and I don’t want a tabletop model. This one had long prongs and never fell out of the outlet since it was plugged in a decade ago. It was not the smoke alarm; it was the C02 alarm. I figured “I’ll just pull it out of the wall and it’s going to stop” – nope, it continued to chirp every 30 seconds. So I figured I’d just pull the battery out – no problem. I had no directions as Flame Furnace plugged it in when I had them here on a routine visit and they were on sale for $25.00 and my former one had recently reached its end of life (in the middle of the night I might add). So the Flame Furnace tech plugged it in, no directions or box were left because he said to me “when it chirps, it is end of its life, get a new one.” I flipped the alarm over, pulled a square thing out and it was still tethered by a mess of wires .. inside it said “you have removed the battery” … (really, I kinda figured that out for myself). It continued chirping every 30 seconds. Evidently it had a back-up battery.
Next, I found the battery compartment and two arrows on the top – pushed them “up” in the direction of the arrows and the battery door cover broke as I could not grip it properly as my finger is still a little numb and not 100% normal yet from the June 28th “finger fiasco” which you know about. There was no other way to access the battery – it kept chirping every 30 seconds … I thought I’d lose my mind. I Googled the model number and there was no other way to remove battery but the compartment drawer cover plate which was now separate from the alarm. I decided to put it out front on the front porch, and it was just getting dark, but then I thought better of it as I still hear the occasional fireworks in the ‘hood, or, what if someone went down the street and flicked a lit cigarette and it was windy and it landed on the alarm and ignited the lithium battery. Yes, I worry about EVERYTHING. I went back and retrieved the alarm and put it at the side of the house … then it dawned on me that my neighbor could hear it … so I texted him from my computer and explained (in at least five or more 40-character texts) … I said if you hear a chirping noise, that’s what it is. He texted me back that he retrieved it and it was in his garage chirping away.
Have a great day!
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I was going to suggest putting it in your garage but sounds like you got to that end point. I’d be curious how long that thing chirped. Most of these devices crap out in the middle of the night so you are lucky!
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He came and got it after I put it outside – he could not hear it from inside his house as the A/C was on, but he said it was not good having it chirping all night outside drawing attention to itself. This was a Kidde alarm and the one before that was a different manufacturer and it went off in the middle of the night screaming like a siren when it reached the end of its lithium battery life.
I jumped up and was standing there with the smoke alarm and removing the battery and trying to figure why it was still making all the noise. I was lucky this time and when I spoke with him this afternoon it was still chirping away. He can’t get at the backup battery since the compartment door fell off and no way to access it. It could go on that way forever. Yikes!
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Your neighbor ended up with your chirping gadget? That’s a proper good ending to this story.
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I thought you’d get a kick out of that Ally and when I visited with my neighbor after my botanical gardens trek today, the alarm was still chirping. I had to share it in a post as it was just too funny to pass up.
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I have never heard about CO2 alarm! Is it perhaps because it is common with gas stoves in the US? Here in Sweden most people have electric stoves, but there are those who have gas stoves, they think mate will be better. Have lived with a girl many years ago who had a gas stove, but thought the food tasted the same.
Wonderful picture Linda! Love “Bambi”😊 and the gulls that seem to stand in line to get food!😄
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Hi John – The C02 alarm is primarily for the furnace in the Winter time – it can break down, like a broken heat exchanger for example, and emit noxious C02 … the thing about carbon monoxide is, it can be in your home and is invisible and odorless. Many people here in the U.S. choose to run a portable generator inside their homes – you are not supposed to do that, but people do it during a power outage and the odorless C02 will kill them. Whenever we have storms and power outages like we had about 3 weeks ago, there is a public service announcement warning people not to use portable generators in their homes and risk carbon monoxide poisoning. A whole family a few years ago had that happen and they died in a room, living room I believe, just sitting in chairs and looking natural. They were not slumped over or on the floor. They were just watching TV and died – very scary.
My mother told me that their first house had an incorrectly installed furnace. My mother had a terrible headache and went outside for some air and felt immediately better. The carbon monoxide was leaking but not enough to be deadly – she went back inside, same horrible headache – she realized there was a problem and called a furnace repair person right away. The furnace was malfunctioning. I don’t have a gas stove, but my grandmother had one for years – I’ve always had long hair and I worried about my hair or even clothes catching on the flame even though there was a pot or kettle sittng on the burner … we have a lot of natural gas explosions here too. Whole houses will have an explosion and the house will just blast apart and the owner(s) always perish. The alarms last about 8-10 years. I have to find a model that won’t fall out of the plug and had looked for it a few years ago because the last time, it went off in the middle of the night. It was a different manufacturer and while this one only chirped, the other one was a screaming siren type of alarm – OMG. Glad you liked the pictures – I took tons of wildflower and lotus pictures too, but these animal photos were my favorites and I always like seagulls because they seem like they pose for you. The fawn had a twin and they were both cute but the one stayed back in the bushes and this one was curious. So sweet and those beautiful eyes!
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Those pictures were great Linda! The fawn, and the three seagullls lined up in a row, so perfectly. I find C02 detectors always go off in the middle of the night. Next time I’m going to buy one of those C02/fire ones even if they are more money. I’m especially saddened by the shootings after I read this morning that it was number 250 and 251 respectively. It does make one feel like it’s not safe to go out in public spaces anymore.
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Thanks Joni – glad you liked them and I’ll use the wildflowers and lotus pictures in a separate post – these were the animal highlights of the day. The three seagulls reminded me of “The Three Tenors” and I’m guessing younger readers would not remember them as that is at least two decades ago. I had some other seagull photos but they weren’t singing. We had a storm here that lasted several hours – I was ready to get online and it started rumbling –
I did not get as much as I wanted done in Reader and catching up and no housework, but I did enjoy myself immensely. I should just go ahead and get a combo alarm – good idea. I have a smoke alarm that was built in the 90s and it still works fine – I test it, not as much as I should, and I thought it was that initially as I’ve been meaning to put a new 9V battery in it. When I spoke to my neighbor when I came home from the gardens today he said it was still chirping and it has to be disposed of properly due to the lithium battery. The shootings leave me shaking my head. I had the news on before I went to bed last night and heard about the Texas shooting, then turned th enews on as soon as I get up and heard about the Ohio shooting, some 14 hours later they said. I’m not going to plan on going anywhere there is a crowd going forward. The only place I was would be the 5K events.
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Well it’s better that you got out and enjoyed yourself! Send that rain here, everything is drying out, but we may get some rain the next few days. I just don’t get why they don’t put better gun control in place? Is the gun lobby that strong or is it just an accepted cultural thing to own a gun. I know the right to bear arms is in the US constitution but that was written centuries ago when guns were needed? I don’t like crowds at the best of times, and try and avoid them if possible, but shopping at a Walmart should be safe. I read somewhere that there were now courses offered in how to protect yourself if you were ever involved in a mass shooting scenario, where to hide etc. I’m not sure if I would have thought to run with my hands up?
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I am glad I got out Joni – I really needed it and I feel we have to cram it all in in two days, so we don’t feel cheated when weekends are ruined by rain or storms or extreme heat. The lawmakers are set to go on vacation for the month of August and the public uproar is so great for them to pass something as to gun control, but they have lots of excuses not to stay in town and the right to bear arms is always going to come up unfortunately. I didn’t know about running with your hands up – that’s a good idea. I have only heard “run, hide and if that doesn’t work, fight.”.
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LOL – we’ve had that happen too, way to find a way to get the chirping outta your house. That’s a great neighbor! I LOVE the fawn photos, so adorable!
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Glad you liked the photos Shelley – it was so sweet, a pair of them, but only one was really curious. He retrieved the alarm and said not so much for the chirping noise which he couldn’t hear at his house, but he thought it would attract attention and someone may go over to see what it was – I never thought of that. I had the last C02 alarm go off in the middle of the night – scared me and I was standing with the smoke alarm in my hand, having removed the battery, and still half asleep and trying to figure out why it was still making the noise. 🙂
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I’m glad you got to post this….
(((hugs)))
Maybe your neighbour can help with it?
Love, light and glitter
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I was going to save it Ellie and you said the other day – get out some short ones and do longer ones other times … so I did. I’ll take the rest of the pictures and make them all flowers … this cute fawn had to be shared. I stopped and talked with my neighbor and the chirping was going strong at 2:00 p.m.. 🙂 Love, light and glitter back at you
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you should of used a bucket of water.
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I never thought of that Wayne. I only wanted that incessant noise gone and with no way to reach the backup battery to do so. I spoke with my neighbor when I got home from today’s excursion and it was still chirping away.
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just like a bird wanting to be fed……….I’d feed it to the river.
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Should have thought of that – it was out of control!
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a trusty hammer does always come in handy too,but the plastic shrapnel can blind you!
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I’ll remember that 🙂 He is going to dispose of it at work – I said “don’t put it in our trash because the garbage man might think the chirping is a bomb inside the can. It was faulty design that I pushed on the drawer cover and it fell off and I couldn’t access the compartment any longer … we’ve not had power many times in the last 10 years so I am surprised the 9V regular battery has that much juice in it – we’ve lost power for a few days at a time so the battery backup would have kicked in. I never thought of that backup battery when I pulled it out of the socket. That failure for end of life usually happens in the middle of the night – grrrr.
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Love the beautiful photos. Sorry laughed at your chirping problem, but it made all the woes go away for a bit. Thx. Xo kim
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Thanks Kim, I had a wonderful day despite coming home with a bad sunburn and enough mosquito bites to play connect the dots on my arms and legs. There have been a ton of woes the past six weeks or so – does everything have to break or malfunction at the same time and my smashed finger did not help matters, despite cramming a whole (albeit small) package of Oreos into my mouth? It was a funny story and the chirping alarm now resides at my neighbor’s house merrily chirping away until he finds a safe place to dispose of it – he thinks at work today. Sigh.
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Your photos are fantastic. I’m glad you found something to do with that alarm so that you could sleep. Did it ever die?
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Thanks Anne, glad you liked them … I will use the rest of the flowers, mostly wildflowers and a few water lotuses, in a separate post. I was happy to see the fawn – there were actually two the same size, but the one stayed back in the bushes, but this one was curious. I stopped next door when I got home today and he said it was still chirping and he put it inside the house as he said he thought someone might hear the noise from the street. He has to dispose of it properly as it has a lithium battery … it was the backup battery that has continued on and that is strange as the Flame Furnace tech never told me to replace the battery at all – he plugged it in and said forget about it for ten years (my kind of device). 🙂
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I guess some things don’t know when to die.
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Well the manufacture date was in 2010 and I had been expecting it would go in the near future and had I been able to get a comparable model, I would have changed it before it went wacky in the middle of the night. I think they discontinued this model and I’ll write to the company and ask them a comparable model … the last time it went off in the middle of the night and I was dumbfounded thinking it was the smoke alarm but it only makes petite chirps, not this annoying one chirp every 30 seconds. But it was nonstop … I could not have endured that all night.
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So funny, Linda. Those alarm systems keep chirping forever! I am not sure about CO2 detectors, but smoke alarms have a radioactive source in them. They should not be disposed of in the trash. They are actually low-level radioactive waste!
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Hi Laurie – I went on another long trek today and when I got home I stopped next door and it was inside the house because my neighbor was working outside – he says he has to dispose of it properly. He tried to pry the battery compartment area off to access the back-up battery and he could not and took it into the house and it kept chirping. He said he was going to smash it with a hammer, but I said not to because it is a lithium battery. It was a funny story – not as horrid as my other lit of house issues this year, but I thought it was blogworthy. 🙂 Thought of you today as I went to the Taylor Conservatory & Botanical Gardens … I’ve been there before at the height of Summer and many blooms – 120 pots of flowers the one volunteer told me and many perennials around the garden – lots of butterflies. I have not looked at my photos as it has been storming and still rumbling outside. You would love the flowers – was disappointed no hummingbirds – they were there, but I was too slow to catch them in action.
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The battery is one thing, but the detector is another. The detector actually works by detecting (radioactive) alpha particles. You are not in danger from a functioning detector, but the alpha particle emitter should not be thrown in the trash.
Those gardens sound absolutely wonderful! What a beautiful place to visit. have a photo of a hummingbird out in Colorado that is not publishable either. I was just not fast enough.
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I didn’t realize that Laurie – my smoke detector is from the 90s and when I pulled the battery out of it first because I didn’t detect it was chirping downstairs, not in the cellarway, there are very few cautions on the back as it uses a regular 9V battery and it is a First Alert, one of the original smoke alarms;, this C02 alarm is a Kidde. I have never gotten a hummingbird’s photo, even when my neighbor had hummer feeders all around her house. I was never fast enough. She took some photos and sent them to me and I used them in a blog post once.
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Miss Linda………………………you learned what we learned about Grosse Isle……………………………you can’t ever fish there because they won’t let you park anywheres!!!………………………I’m enjoying your little disastrous episodes!!
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The walker at Council Point Park who suggested I go there to see all the deer that he sees every morning, lives right on the Island – no wonder he sees this on his walks – he is not worried where to park. I found nowhere to park and it was quite frustrating. I need to go back and visit Westcroft Gardens before the end of the Summer and I was going to find the lighthouse and take a look at it from the outside. I’m having a Summer of disastrous episodes and the alarm was still chirping as of mid-afternoon today. At least I am giving you a laugh Ann Marie.
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Nice photos of the groundhog, butterfly and fawn (what a cutie!). I hate the chirping sound that alarms make. Glad you retained your sense of humor through it all and found a solution to the problem.
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Thanks Rebecca – when I got the second set of groundhog photos in a week, I said to myself “wait until Rebecca sees this one!” I had a few of him eating grass, then he climbed up onto the boulder and posed … I had fun despite coming away with tons of mosquito and fly bites from where the fawn was and a bad sunburn. I am usually home much earlier than I was and it was hot so no long sleeves. This wildflower patch was gorgeous and butterflies as well. A few lilies but that’s all. I saw the patch of yellow flowers from afar and was hoping it was sunflowers as I’ve found no sunflower patches to take photos of after an exhaustive search last Summer. Ford Motor Company plowed over their huge field of them – should have gone while I had the opportunity. I was exasperated with the alarm as it’s been a trying six weeks with other things breaking in the house – I stopped at my neighbor’s house after walking yesterday and it was still chirping and he has to find a place to dispose of it since the dead battery is lithiium, the backup battery is 9-volt regular battery.
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Yes, the mosquitoes have been awful this year. It’s hard to get photos when you’re getting bitten.
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What a wonderful neighbor. Isn’t it nice that we can go into nature and forget all our problems. You’re pictures of the critters are not only beautiful but they look so relaxing. Isn’t it crazy how fast time goes when you spend it in nature?
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Diane – had the last few weeks not been so hectic and topsy-turvy, I might have just taken it into the basement and put it into a box to silence it and been more calm about it, but the fact that it was a lithium battery (even dead) and the other regular 9 volt battery was still alive, made me leery. I had visions of something exploding -in the past I’ve ordered new lithium batteries for my camera through Amazon – the box arrives with stickers all over the place about dangers in shipping and it does not come via air, but land travel. After it was all over, I decided it was blogworthy. 🙂 I could get lost in nature for hours too – are you going to take the grandchildren to your Metroparks now that you are retired? They’ll love feeding those needy squirrels and maybe even the ducks … ours our gone while they get their plumage back, they are molting.
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I have talked my husband into going for walks in the parks!
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That’s great news Diane! I’m glad you convinced him to take walks with you – there’s so much to see and always peaceful.
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Lovely photos after such a sad few days. I loved your story about the alarm. Ours usually goes off full-force in the middle of the night. No chirping as a warning.
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Thanks Janis – the story about the alarm was funny – it was driving me crazy but it least it did not go wacky in the middle of the night which has happened before. This Summer has been a string of things going wrong: garage door breaking, smashing my finger in the new garage door, my computer had a meltdown during a simple Windows update and last week my hot water tank broke – not even 9 years old and needed a new one. The chirping alarm was just the icing on the cake … I wanted to pitch it out the window.
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Lol! I’m not convinced alarms don’t have an evil sense of humor…
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You’re right Rachel – this thing was out of control and I was trying to have a nice quiet evening between all the house mishaps that have happened the past six weeks and my smashed finger, the bad weather and a busy work schedule … I’m so behind in reading posts and writing them, and I’m looking to catch up hopefully soon. I have all these blog posts and photos floating around in my head and the picture file, ready to go, just need the time to do them. 🙂
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You’ll get that evening eventually… The traitorous alarms shall not prevail!
If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one who’s a tad behind. 😅
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I am happy to hear that Rachel – I barely made a dent last night, my first “total night off” in weeks. 🙂
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WOW!!! These pictures are breath taking- I loveeee the ones of the deer! You could sell these!! Right before moving our alarms decided to act up while I was trying to studying. It can be a pain!
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Thanks! The fawns were so sweet – one was very shy and kept staying behind. I got bitten alive by crouching in this swampy area to get those pics. But it was worth it – those big eyes and trusting to come that close. The alarm was beyond annoying and I guess I’m happy it didn’t decide to go off in the middle of the night like the one before.
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I am glad it got sorted in the end and fair play to your neighbour on putting it in his garage. 😁 Hope your sunburn is easing and well done on the long walk ❤
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I was glad he came to the rescue Zena – the chirping was really getting on my nerves as there was no way to silence it. I talked to him yesterday and he disposed of at work. My sunburn is gone now thankfully – thank you for asking. Between the red skin and I must have had 25 mosquito bites trying to take that fawn’s picture in the swampy area, I was fit to be tied! I did another 8 mile-walk yesterday but I was nodding off while replying to comments last night. I am getting the miles in while the weather is good – we’re getting several bouts of stormy weather again this coming week.
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Wow well done on 8 miles, that’s amazing 😁 I so admire your dedication to sticking too and smashing your goals. You are inspirational Linda ❤
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Thank you Zena – I’ve been walking to get those steps done, but will welcome the cooler weather, that’s for sure. The month of August sure has been like a jungle here. Are you getting out and about with ease after your knee surgery – hope it is recuperating nicely in anticipation of the book tour.
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Oh you have done really well with your miles in such hot weather! Amazing. Yes I am getting out and about just fine thanks and am walking up to 3 miles on it to get things back to normal 😁
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Yes, I see only four more months left in the year and who knows what happens with November and December this year – we could have an icy or snowy last two months.
So I’ve been pushing myself. That is great that you are up to three miles on your repaired knee Zena- you’ll be in good shape for the book tour. Bet you are getting excited!
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It is surprising how much you will do in four months and really looking forward to reading about your walks ❤. It is exciting about the book but been doing lots of interviews for Newspapers, magazines and radios so been caught up in that have not done much planning in terms of a book tour. Doing a couple of things locally but we are back in work this week so not much free time.
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Hopefully you’ll be able to get the word out for Christmas buying too … that would be good Zena. Maybe hit the local small bookstores as the holiday approaches … your weekends will be jam packed for months!
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Yes I have a couple of events planned and have been asked to take part in a local literature festival so some stuff planned. Been approached to possibly do 2 different talks too so all will be good 😁
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How exciting Zena – soak up every minute of this adventure!
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