Our First Experience with the Smoke Detector

Today I am standing in the kitchen, just about to pour out last night's coffee. Just as I tip the carafe this ear shattering screech rips through the silence of my Monday morning. "Oh my..." I think, "The fire alarm!"

I run over to the security panel, panicked, and try to see which sector the alarm was set off in. They're ALL blinking! AHHHH! Lights are flashing, sirens ringing, I'm trying to figure out why, if the panel says the alarm was set off in the sitting room, I'm not on fire.

And then. Silence. *sigh of relief*

I go back to the panel, and it now shows that the alarm was set off in Room 10, the bottom level of our Eladesor cottages. Za, our housekeeper, and I run to the cottage and intercept a very frazzled looking Dan on the way. I tell him where we're going and the three of us head off to see what happened.

We open the door to Room 10 and an impenetrable wall of smoke faces us. Thick, grey, odorless smoke rises and falls in waves. "Odorless? Is it carbon monoxide?"

Dan (being the silly, slightly foolish, and sometimes too-brave soldier that he is) decides he's going to go in an see where it's coming from. I, of course, am panicking and reminding him not to breathe while I wait for the fire engine to come screaming into our driveway.

And long, seemingly exciting story short. A pipe burst. It was steam. The plummer came. All is well.


It's funny, because when people ask if Dan and I own the Inn, I always jokingly tell them, "Nah, John owns it, we're just here to make sure it doesn't burn down." And boy am I glad that today wasn't the day Dan and I stood outside and watched this 228 year old Inn burn. Whew!

With love and RELIEF,
~Brande N.