So, our homestead in one of the western counties is under contract to be sold, and since we’ve vacated the premises for less rugged pastures, we occasionally have to trek out to collect from the pony express. Recently, an ice storm responsible for bringing down trees and power lines for many residents thawed enough for us to brave the trail to check up on the property. We identified numerous damaged and uprooted trees; some neighbors still had freshly cut lumber out for collection, but we were fortunate as our own land was not adversely affected by the harsh winter.

It did appear that power was lost at one point, which puts the security system into “beeping” mode. Now, we never activated the service when we bought the house, so it no longer calls big brother when there’s an issue (don’t start getting ideas, we’ve got nosy neighbors watchin’), but it’s annoying, so I’ve learned to hit a button to switch it to the “not beeping” mode. However, this time, I noticed the word “chime” on the panel, and even though I kept hitting that button, it wasn’t going away, and every 15 seconds I’d hear another beep. So random button pressing ensued in attempt to discover the secret combination of the unknown security code + action sequence. I had not appeared successful to Kelly by the she found what I was up to, and pointed out that instead of the panel making noise, it was the smoke detector above me asking for a healthy replacement battery. After removing the inadequate 9-volt, I returned to my security panel … to discover I had succeeded in Arming (!) the alarm.

Knowing it would likely be worse if I pretended that wasn’t going to cause problems if we immediately left the house, I tried to replicate my random button mashing to disarm the alarm, but saw no change in display. So I opened the door to trip the alarm and force its hand. A few seconds later the panel and a second as-of-yet unidentified source began wailing so painfully I instinctively plugged my ears and tried to figure out how to stop the noise without removing my fingers. I sought out the louder second source first, as it was likely upsetting the previously mentioned neighbors, found the innocent looking box next to the house’s original door chime, popped open the housing and surgically separated tore the wires from that damned noisemaker. The security panel received a similar treatment (I’m sorry, house buyers).

As things have turned out, the buyers already switched utilities over to their name, and as soon as my ears stopped ringing enough to think straight, I tried to remember if they were activating the security service. So, I dialed them up hopefully before some service might, and fortunately found they did nothing of the sort, so the alarms would only have disturbed those within earshot.

But I was cautious leaving the house, keeping an eye open for any sharpshooters anyway.

I hear it’s going to storm again this Sunday.