False alarm

When my parents came I took them over to my grandpa's house where they were going to be staying. While there we heard a beeping noise that after some investigation turned out to be a carbon monoxide detector. Because it was downstairs where my parents were going to be sleeping and my grandpa sleeps upstairs and carbon monoxide is known to pool in the lower floors I had visions of finding my parents dead in the morning and decided to call the fire department just to make sure I shouldn't be concerned.

So you know, if you call the fire department they may or may not send out about six or seven emergency vehicles with flashing lights complete with firemen in their full gear. That comes after the police show up with their cars and flashing lights ushering grandpa out of his house when I had barely finished confessing that they were going to show up. 


It was cold and they had us all sit out in our little Honda Civic in the driveway. My parents, my grandpa and I all sitting there watching the firemen walk in and out of the house. Neighbors are approaching, people are stopping and I was pretty sure my grandpa, a man who doesn't crave unwanted attention, was about  to strangle me.
As I sat there trying to shrink under the dashboard my grandpa says, "Well April, you really did it this time."
I can now report that the air in grandpa's house is perfectly safe and it was only a faulty detector. I console myself with the knowledge that my grandma, who was grandpa's constant companion for fifty years, had many incidents of this nature happen in her life so he has been through this before.

A couple of weeks later it was time to celebrate grandpa's birthday. We had a great dinner with my Aunt Carol's family and I made him a crown.

Our family's present to grandpa was a fire extinguisher thanks to the advice of one of the firemen who said the one in his garage was outdated. Grandpa was ready to put it to use on me already:)