All through the house not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.
No one should be stirring!
It was 2:30 am.
Chirp. Chirp?
I don’t hear anything.
*pause*
*silence*
*keep listening*
*nothing*
Chirp. Chirp?
CRAP.
Where is it coming from?
*pause*
*silence*
*keep listening*
*nothing*
Chirp. Chirp.
CRAP.
Where is it coming from?
*turn on lights*
We spread out to listen.
The chirp. chirp. is not frequent.
The chirp. chirp. is separated from the next chirp. chirp. by at least 90 seconds.
90 seconds feels like 10 minutes at 2:36 in the morning.
We devise a plan.
When we hear the first chirp. we are going to run around to see if we can figure out it’s origin during the second chirp.
There is a lot of running and listening.
There is
very little chirp. chirp. origination identification.
We run.
Chirp. Chirp.
We listen.
Chirp. Chirp.
After
more running and more listening and more chirp. chirp.ing we finally narrowed it down to a smoke detector that we thought might be located near the middle of the house…
There is a smoke detector in the middle of the house in the stairwell!
Let’s sit down and listen.
Chirp. Chirp.
YEAH!
Origination identification completed.
I will go get a nine volt battery to place in the complaining smoke detector…
I will go get a nine volt battery to place in the complaining smoke detector that is on the ceiling
two stories up.
I think I will also get a
ladder.
A tall ladder.
Chirp. Chirp.
That doesn’t look safe.
That doesn’t look
tall enough.
Chirp. Chirp.
Let’s have a strategic planning session at 2:43 am!
It was like one of those
corporate team building exercises.
Without the corporation.
Go team Nirvana!
Get to the top of the 2 story ceiling and replace that nine volt battery in the complaining smoke detector and
learn to trust each other…
Chirp. Chirp.
We planned.
Chirp. Chirp.
We built.
Chirp. Chirp.
We balanced.
Chirp. Chirp.
We overcame…
It took 2 wooden boxes, a large left-over piece of plywood, a 10 foot ladder, Holly’s yoga balance
2 steps above ladder manufacturer’s warning, blog-Stedman’s strong grip and a 9 volt battery to
overcome the complaining smoke detector obstacle.
Go team Nirvana!
Team Nirvana figured it out.
Team Nirvana deserves to go back to bed.
All through the house not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.
No one should be stirring!
It was 3:24 am.
Did you hear a bang?
Yes.
Do you hear a chirp. chirp?
No.
Let’s go back to sleep!
The next morning I looked up and saw this:
That was 18 months ago.
I am not about to get out the
corporate team building exercise for anything but a chirp. chirp.
Oh, and when I DO get out the corporate team building exercise for the chirp. chirp. please remind me to replace that burned out lightbulb…
No one should be stirring!
It was 2:30 am.
Chirp. Chirp?
I don’t hear anything.
*pause*
*silence*
*keep listening*
*nothing*
We spread out to listen.
The chirp. chirp. is not frequent.
The chirp. chirp. is separated from the next chirp. chirp. by at least 90 seconds.
90 seconds feels like 10 minutes at 2:36 in the morning.
We devise a plan.
When we hear the first chirp. we are going to run around to see if we can figure out it’s origin during the second chirp.
There is a lot of running and listening.
There is very little chirp. chirp. origination identification.
We run.
Chirp. Chirp.
We listen.
Chirp. Chirp.
After more running and more listening and more chirp. chirp.ing we finally narrowed it down to a smoke detector that we thought might be located near the middle of the house…
There is a smoke detector in the middle of the house in the stairwell!
Let’s sit down and listen.
Chirp. Chirp.
YEAH! Origination identification completed.
I will go get a nine volt battery to place in the complaining smoke detector…
I will go get a nine volt battery to place in the complaining smoke detector that is on the ceiling two stories up.
I think I will also get a ladder.
A tall ladder.
Chirp. Chirp.
That doesn’t look safe.
That doesn’t look tall enough.
Chirp. Chirp.
Let’s have a strategic planning session at 2:43 am!
It was like one of those corporate team building exercises. Without the corporation.
Go team Nirvana!
Get to the top of the 2 story ceiling and replace that nine volt battery in the complaining smoke detector and learn to trust each other…
Chirp. Chirp.
We planned.
Chirp. Chirp.
We built.
Chirp. Chirp.
We balanced.
Chirp. Chirp.
We overcame…
It took 2 wooden boxes, a large left-over piece of plywood, a 10 foot ladder, Holly’s yoga balance 2 steps above ladder manufacturer’s warning, blog-Stedman’s strong grip and a 9 volt battery to overcome the complaining smoke detector obstacle.
Go team Nirvana!
Team Nirvana figured it out.
Team Nirvana deserves to go back to bed.
All through the house not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.
Did you hear a bang?
Yes.
Do you hear a chirp. chirp?
No.
Let’s go back to sleep!
The next morning I looked up and saw this:
That was 18 months ago.
I am not about to get out the corporate team building exercise for anything but a chirp. chirp.
Oh, and when I DO get out the corporate team building exercise for the chirp. chirp. please remind me to replace that burned out lightbulb…
Sooooo Clever. I love it!
Why do those #*@% things ONLY go “chirp chirp” in the middle of the night? Never. EVER. during the day??? NEVER!
I would have ripped it out of the ceiling then and there so as to avoid the team building exercise in the future. But I have to hand it to Blog-Stedman, because Prince Charming would never have allowed me to do that on the ladder, ESPECIALLY the way it was held up. I’m impressed!
Okay, I thought it was funny BEFORE I saw the “after photo” for the “BANG.” And then I spewed a lot of Dr. Pepper through my nose. 🙂 You’re all that AND an artist, girlfriend. 🙂
OMG. Amazing. You and Stedman…what a team.
I have a few chirping stories that are similar. Will tell you in person. It will be even better – trust me.
Bummer. But kudos to you for risking life & limb to fix the chirping; we staged an intervention when some neighbors let theirs go on for the ENTIRE SUMMER.
Flat out STINKIN’ HILARIOUS!!
Loved it! Wouldn’t it have been easier to move?
One funny post. Probably because it sounds like the goings on in our house. Beep!
You made me laugh out loud.
We have a light fixture in a high-ceiling’ed segment of the house. It started out with 6 bulbs and now has 2 – which is enough to do its job. It has me worried though, because once we’re down to one bulb I’m going to have to sell the house and the market is really down now. I’m not sure what else to do, though.
this was almost like a scary movie LOL