Alarms

I learned something new yesterday - that it is illegal for arbor services to spray trees when the wind is above 15 mph in Colorado. I was also happy to learn that information. This morning has been very interesting: the power went off, and that caused alarms to go off all over the house, which freaked the dogs out. Of course, there were no lights, and I forgot where Laura showed me the big flashlight for just such an occasion..... First, I had to run and shut off the alarm system, then I grabbed my stack of "what to do if..." papers - and realized that I couldn't read them without light. I found a candle, but no matches. I finally had a brainstorm that said if I looked in the kitchen drawer that contained boxes of replacement batteries, I might find something. I found a tiny flashlight inside by feel, turned it on, and relaxed a bit. Then I had 8 places to go and turn off alarms and shut down equipment, like the pool heater and pool pump. That took me 45 minutes. Then I had to convince the kids, Indi and Steve, to come back inside, realize that the alarms were not going off, and give them a treat. Then I went back to bed. I awoke two hours later and was horrified to hear voices, speaking casually, from the pool room; I'm so happy I decided to peek in before calling 911, as the TV had turned on when the power came back on. I certainly would have felt extremely foolish if I had made that call! When I arose for the day, I had to go around and turn everything back on, including all the pool equipment. Steve and Indi are fine, but I'm somewhat short of sleep, and I have to go see Dr. Shapiro this morning. Yuck.
Besides yesterday's Chinook winds (and the damage they caused), the big news around here was that Dr. Oz and his wife will be running in Monday's Bolder Boulder 10K race on Memorial Day. As the course runs right in front of my apartment building, about a half-mile from the finish line, I'll probably see them, as I'll be out cheering on my brother-in-law, as usual. The thing is that I don't know what Dr. Oz looks like.... so I guess I'm out of luck. I usually give a big yell for the ROTC squads and the Armed Forces squads that run the race; and sometimes I'll yell for a certain costume that takes my fancy. We'll see what happens this year. And I might head down to the Boulder Creek Festival on Saturday or Sunday, just to see what they have for exhibits this year. It's all free, so why not?