Grumpy the Gator

In Grumpy the Gator, a group of children playing encounter a grumpy alligator. The story teaches children to always keep a safe distance from animals in the wild, and to find an adult if they see an alligator.

Grumpy the Gator

Its Always A Story With The Hendersons

3 Chirps don't equal a beep…

I am thankful for smoke alarms.
After changing batteries and STILL being annoyed by constant beep, Alan and I decided to research the cause. We learned there is a difference between beeping and chirping when it comes to smoke alarms!
Interesting to learn that 3 chirps meant our alarm was beyond use and needed to be replaced. Yes, I am thankful for websites that give information to people like me who have no clue why their alarm just won’t be quiet.
So, if your smoke alarm gives 3 chirps after you change the battery, its time for a new smoke alarm! Don’t delay. Get a new one now. 🙂
This leads me to our next story in the life of the Henderson family. Since we had just experienced the smoke alarm situation at home, imagine our surprise when the alarm sounded at the hotel we were staying in during a recent trip. After an exhausting day of travel, we settled in for the night and after about 30 minutes of sleep, an alarm blared through the hotel. Being exhausted makes us do silly things. For example, my sweet husband jumped out of bed and reached for the smoke alarm in our room, thinking we were at home and it was malfunctioning again!
The sight was truly funny as I watched this sweet man in his underwear trying to find the alarm before realizing we weren’t at home.
After remembering we were in a hotel room, Alan quickly reached for shorts and a shirt. My pajamas looked good enough to wear outside, so we grabbed our other essentials like my purse and his wallet.
I opened the hotel room door to find other guests in the hallway, filing down the stairs. Everyone had a bewildered look, somewhere between fear and grumpiness.
The hotel guests gathered outside in the parking lot. No one knew what was happening. We waited for a fire truck or someone to let us know it was safe to go back inside.
Time passed and finally we noticed everyone filing back inside. Seems someone wanted to have some fun (fun for them) and pulled an alarm. The blessing is there was no real fire.
Alan and I were thankful there was no danger. As we settled down for sleep, we started laughing at the whole experience. Alarm sounds, we jump out of bed, make sure we have on appropriate clothing before heading out the door to follow the directions on the back of every hotel room door. In case of emergency, use the stairs.
Each day our family motto rings true… “Its Always a Story with the Hendersons”.
Blessings and giggles, and check your smoke alarms,
Mimi

14 Comments
  • readywriterbr
    Posted at 14:25h, 11 August Reply

    Always have a laugh when reading your posts, Mimi, and that’s good since laughter is good medicine.

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 14:39h, 11 August Reply

      Thank you for reading my posts. I appreciate you taking the time to read my thoughts. 🙂

  • Jill Weatherholt
    Posted at 16:23h, 11 August Reply

    I’m happy to hear it was a false alarm, Mimi. Since I was a child, one of my biggest fears is being in a fire. Great post!

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 16:27h, 11 August Reply

      My husband and I are thankful it was a false alarm, too. We learned a lot about smoke alarms. 🙂 Thank you for reading my blog. 🙂

  • June Foster
    Posted at 17:14h, 11 August Reply

    Melissa, I giggled at the visual picture you painted in my mind of your husband bounding out of bed. So glad there wasn’t a real fire.

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 17:30h, 11 August Reply

      June, it was quite a sight. 🙂 Thanks for commenting.

  • Karen
    Posted at 16:22h, 13 August Reply

    Great story! My former mother-in-law had an experience like that once, but in the winter. She said she grabbed her fur coat and purse and hightailed it out to the parking lot, leaving her husband behind. He apparently had trouble waking and couldn’t figure out what was happening. Eventually he got it together and made it out, too. For them, also a false alarm but another funny story. 🙂

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 17:31h, 13 August Reply

      We just never know what we will do in any situation. 🙂 Glad it was a false alarm. 🙂

  • Angela Arndt
    Posted at 18:20h, 14 August Reply

    The same thing happened to me while at a conference. I was so tired that I almost slept through it, but my roomie heard it and woke me up. Taught me to always pack a robe and slip-on shoes. 🙂

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 18:24h, 14 August Reply

      Good idea to always have slip on shoes and robe nearby. 🙂

  • Jill Kemerer
    Posted at 23:58h, 17 August Reply

    My little doxie went nuts when our fire alarm started beeping a few weeks ago! I changed the battery, and it still kept going. Then I realized I’d changed the battery for the wrong one… Ugh!

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 00:00h, 18 August Reply

      Oh my goodness! That must have been frustrating. 🙂

  • jpcallenwrites
    Posted at 16:06h, 28 August Reply

    We’ve been driven out of our house by a malfunctioning smoke alarm because all the alarms are wired together, so when one starts, they all join in. One evening, the alarms kept going off for no apparent reason. My kids and I ended up eating supper on the front porch.

    • mimionlife
      Posted at 17:08h, 28 August Reply

      Those sounds can be annoying, even if they are supposed to be helpful. 🙂 Supper on the front porch sounds nice.

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