Firing Up the Neighborhood!

On our first, official, full day in the house, we excited the entire neighborhood! Back in July when we bought the house, the previous owner asked if we wanted her to transfer the ADT security system account to our name. We told her to deactivate it, and we would restart the system after moving into the house. We assumed someone had deactivated everything completely. To be honest, we really did not know what the system was supposed to do. When we plugged the system into the wall, we assumed we would have to call ADT to reactivate it. We assumed too much!

Steve saw an innocent looking wiring hanging off a smoke detector in the ceiling. He hauled the latter upstairs and tried to figure out how to make those wires disappear in their hidey-hole. Suddenly, a noise blared through the house that sounded like he had dropped a hammer on a banshee's foot. It was the smoke detector, but it was no ordinary one. The shrill alarm pierced our ears much more sharply than your average pathetic chirpers could. He turned off the sound, and we all went back to our housekeeping duties.

He looked out the window and noticed a Sears' delivery truck stopping out our house. We were puzzled because we had ordered nothing. When two fire trucks showed up at the house a minute later, we slowly realized that parts of our security system were not only activated, but also in tip-top condition. The deliveryman, part of the volunteer fire department, asked us where the fire was. Even if we had known to call 911 to alert them of a false alarm, it would have been impossible. We are getting by with cell phones, which lack 911! The phone company transferred our landlines over to the new house, but our phones are hiding somewhere in the storage shed!

By this time, the whole neighborhood was out on the street, wondering what the Glasers had done to their house now! We are quite sure they were laughing with us! (This was because it happened at eleven in the morning, rather than six.)

Besides helping Steve make a joint to-do list in Excel and joining him on another Lowe's shopping spree (area rugs, oak registers, door stops, window latches, and other minutia), Tammy unpacked clothing from the trip, but did not do any laundry because the appliances are not installed. She discovered something awesome about the kitchen window above the sink. Some variety of camellia shrubs line the yard due east of the kitchen and dining room, and they are blooming right now during the gloomiest season of the Carolina year. All she needs are some bird feeders, and she will happily wash dishes all day long. We will figure out what variety they are after we address more pressing concerns, like the security system and a telephone connection!