(Author Note: written September 2, 2021)
I was in my basement at midnight last night cozied up with the two Sheltie pups, Gracie the cat, and my wife. No, we weren’t binge-watching Bosch on Amazon. And no, this time I hadn’t been chirped out of a sound sleep by the cellar’s smoke alarm warning of a low battery. Why this only happens during the nighttime I have no idea, can’t the smoke alarm let me know at lunchtime?!
Nope, we were awakened by a tornado warning for Southeastern Massachusetts, strongly advising to TAKE COVER NOW!
Wait, what??!!
Anticipating more than a few groggy skeptics – who would want to abruptly abandon their Sleep Number Sleep Bed to duck and cover just because their smartphone told them to? – the message warned that since the rain was so torrential “you’re just not going to hear this sucker coming, pal.” So…TAKE COVER NOW!
We don’t do tornadoes in Massachusetts. Do we?
I’m from the Jersey Shore. We do hurricanes. And just last week Plymouth dodged Henri. We are not in Kansas, Toto.
To be honest, the NWS advised retreat to the basement or any interior room away from windows. Darn it! This expanded ranch we call home has 11 skylights and 36 windows, give or take. And an open layout. We don’t have interior windowless spaces. OMG, into the basement we go.
(Credit: Boston.com)
Truthfully, my basement sucks. The only good thing about it is I have a nice stash of coveted craft beers cellaring away down there. And the basement is always dry. It’s unfinished, dusty, has spider webs in the rafters, and except for the 90 square foot space leading to the bulkhead walkout, it’s a crawl space. Of course, it’s dusty and spidery in my basement, we don’t have tornadoes in Plymouth!
In 8 years of residency, the cat and dogs had never seen the basement before last night. To them, the door leads down to the not so vast unknown. They were not impressed.
Ultimately, we are unscathed and safe, and with a win record the Red Sox would die for this late in the season, 2 for 2 dodging huge weather events this last couple weeks.
I know what you’re wondering. Yes, of course I checked the smoke alarm battery while hunkered down in the basement. Yes, it was a bit stressful. No, I didn’t crack open any of the Founders KBS. No bottle opener in the basement. I might have looked for one, though. We’re going to have to plan much better for the next crazy weather event.
The cat and dogs were not impressed–Hahaha –I love this one!
I was asking the same question about smoke alarms last week when mine chirped. At night!
You made me Google this now and this is what I found:
Why does it always occur in the middle of the night, and scare you half to death when it happens??
Answer
Temperatures drop during the night. When you have a battery that is near the end of its life, it may produce just enough power during the warmth of the day to satisfy the detector. However, when the evening temperatures drop enough to slow the chemical reaction of the battery, and thus the electrical output, the detector warns that the battery is too weak to function. And that is why they almost always wake us up in the middle of the night!
@Mike Kusmin – I love that you looked this up.
@Sandra – We should know by now in New England to expect the unexpected when it comes to weather.
We have a slab, no basement and open plan with no windowless rooms. Expect unexpected – love this
Thanks everyone for the comments! One of the rules of Project Mgmt = expect the unexpected, love it!