In this day and age, an alarm system for your home is both unfortunately necessary and a luxury.
We received a message from the Homeowners Association that there had been a few thefts in the neighborhood and they were advising us to make sure we parked our cars on the driveway, to make sure that all gates were locked, and the garage doors were well secured. This was a little disconcerting for us.
When you reach a certain age, you want to believe that you can still defend yourself under any circumstance. But then, reality steps in and you realize that you may need a little extra help. We decided our extra help would come in the form of an alarm system.
Holy Moly! This system has so many bells and whistles. I didn’t know an alarm system could do all this. We can turn on the alarm from anywhere in the world. We could even lock a door from Canada. We can watch the house from anywhere via the indoor and outdoor cameras. (I must admit, when the front door bell rings and we are not expecting anyone, it is great to check the camera to see who is waiting outside.–Most of the time the only thing at the door are my daughter’s packages delivered from UPS.)
Now learning to use it is another issue. Yes, it is simple to use, but in the middle of the night, your brain doesn’t necessarily kick in and engage when you would like it to.
The dogs were our previous alarm system. Max barks at everything and anything or even nothing. Pepper welcomes people into the house and barks fiercely at dogs. It must have been two in the morning and Pepper started barking. This is her alarm that she needs to get out. Nasr grumbles and stumbles down the stairs , uses the special easy key to turn off the alarm and lets the dog out.
I am half asleep and I mumble the alarm and tell him to punch a 2. WRONG!!!
The voice of the machine speaks in a very firm loud voice. Exit now! Oops. We set it to leave, not to stay.
Remember, it is the middle of the night and our brains are not functioning. Nasr is pushing keys and is very confused.
Virginia to the rescue! Ok, that is what I do too often and this time I should have stayed in bed. I rushed downstairs and unwittingly set off the motion detectors. LOUD horns blared into the still night like a dragon blaring fire. Luckily, my brave knight punched the right keys and slayed the dragon–as in he turned off the alarm.
No. We did not reset it that night again. I am sure our neighbors are using our names in vain and wonder about the abilities of the dragon slaying fools of the castle next door.
However, our confidence has strengthened and we now set the alarm and let the dog bark in the middle of the night. She is in the garage and we can guarantee that she is less of a nuisance to our neighbors than our dragon alarm.
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