Ring, Ring Goes the Bell.

It has been raining pretty much non-stop here in Boston since Sunday. The temperatures are hovering in the low 60’s, I’m wearing sweaters and Wellies into the office. This would be fine if it was, say, the middle of November. But it’s August. If anything I’m supposed to be able to complain about the HEAT not the FRIDGED oh-my-God-I-am-not-putting-another-blanket-on-my-bed-in-August cold.

But I digress. I realize it’s a tad uncouth to discuss one’s sleeping habits and dreams on a blog because – hello, boring – but bear with me on this one. Last night, after several rounds of tossing and turning and falling in and out of fitful dreams (one being a complete nightmare, where it began to rain so much my entire apartment was flooded AND the rain washed all of the paint off of my living room walls) I fell into a deep sleep around 3am. And then my smoke detector went off. The one inside my bedroom closet. Which is ironically funny, actually, because up until last night at 4am, I never even realized I had a smoke detector in my bedroom closet. And I’ve lived in my apartment for over two years. Go figure.

Now, one would think, if a loud, bleating alarm started buzzing overhead in the middle of the night, I’d be inclined to jump out of bed and immediately check for any signs of smoke or fire. I live in an apartment building, after all, with two levels of apartments below me – and a (blech) smoker living directly underneath me. What I learned last night? I didn’t do that. I mean, sure. On some unconscious level I smelled for smoke and looked for flames. But apparently the thing I was truly focused on for those long minutes standing in my closet in the dark was just figuring out a way to MAKE THE DAMN THING STOP BEEPING. Half-asleep, I grabbed my stepladder, pulled the detector off the ceiling, and buried it under pillows until it stopped making that horrid bleating. I did look back up to the ceiling, thinking perhaps there was a leak in my roof, causing water to seep into the alarm, but came up with nothing. And so back to bed I went. Cursing my errant alarm as I went. I suppose it’s nice to know the darn thing works and all…though I suppose tonight I will need to dig it out from underneath all of those pillows. Good thing I haven’t had any issues with the detector in my living room. Yet.