So, I recently moved for the second time in 3 months........but its a good thing- once I get all my boxes unpacked. One of the things I love about my new place is that it has a fireplace that works! The previous tenant even left a lot of firewood by the back door. The only thing I was told about this fireplace was that sometimes if the fire got too big you had to crack the living room window so smoke wouldn't build up. (Now, I've never had a non-gas fireplace but I thought the point of a chimney was to allow the smoke to go outside and not "build up" inside, but what do I know).
The other week my boyfriend decided to test out the fireplace and got some firewood and built a fire. It was really fun but I did learn something that night (and by watching Survivor) and that is that it is a lot of work to build a fire from scratch. I decided then and there I might need those logs you can get where you light the paper and it lasts for 3 hours. The next day I went and got some.
So, last night I got home from work late and thought, "Hey, I'll turn on the Christmas tree lights, start a fire and prop my feet up." It sounded like a great plan. I put the log in the fireplace and lit "at the arrows" as instructed and in 2 minutes had a great fire. I went into the kitchen to start cooking dinner. After about 15 minutes it was time to drain the pasta. I poured the pasta into the colander in the sink and as the steam started rising up my smoke alarm went off. Now, this was the first time I had cooked in my kitchen so I thought, "Wow, that is one serious smoke alarm." I went and got a broom and waved it in front of the smoke alarm and it went right off. One minute later it went off again- but this time my brain started functioning and I realized it was my beautiful fire in the fireplace. I waved the broom again and this time cracked my living room window. Two minutes later- beep beep beep beep beep. I wave the broom and crack the window a little further this time. I then prop my feet up, sit back and get ready to enjoy my pasta, my tree, and my beautiful fire.
Now, I'm sure you can guess what happened two minutes later- smoke alarm. I waved the broom in front of the smoke alarm and this time open my living room window as high as it will go. (Keep in mind my couch is directly in front of this window, so the chilly night air is starting to blow right onto me- yes, totally defeating the purpose of my beautiful fire.) I felt satisfied this would work and it did- for about ten minutes. It went off again. This time I waved the broom, and then turned on the ceiling fan in the sunroom. This seemed to work pretty well, albeit I was freezing. So, for the next hour and a half the smoke alarm only went off about ten times.
Around this time my boyfriend calls to check in and I fill him in on my night with my now not-so-beautiful-but- more -liked- a- damned fire. To which he says (in not the most supportive of tones), "Why didn't you just take the battery out of the smoke alarm and put it back in before you go to bed?"
Duh. Why didn't I think of that? The good news is I got a great arm work out by fanning the broom.
4 comments:
When the battery dies on my smoke alarm, it beeps until a new battery is in...even if there's no battery at all. Though this is just an annoying chirp rather than it actually going off.
Every time I make anything in the oven at my house, the fire alarm goes off. NEVER have I considered just taking the batteries out while I'm cooking. Never. That's one smart boyfriend you have.
That was a fantastic story. I need to read it again and again.
Guys just think they know it all! :)
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