Is It Wednesday Already?

I was finally able to get a video of the bright red (male) Cardinal that has been visiting our fountain on the deck outside our breakfast room door. I was too afraid to speak while filming, lest I scare him off, but you will hear the soundtrack of the AMC movie "Christopher Columbus" on in the background. Odd choice of music, I know...but I couldn't exactly ask Mr. Cardinal to "wait a minute while I mute the TV."

Where has this week gone? It's hard to believe that we've already arrived at Hump Day. Wasn't it just yesterday when I was leaving for Atlanta? No...it was last Wednesday!

I had a good trip to ATL last week. I took this picture (right) from my exit row window seat on my Delta flight home on Saturday. It's the first time in the four years we've been here that I've actually seen the Arch from the air...woo-hoo!

It hasn't exactly been the greatest week (so far, of course...it could get better any minute now). Mom's got some health issues, including a new medication that caused her not to be able to sleep for 48 hours. Hopefully, we've got that part under control. Hopefully.

Speaking of lack of sleep...last night around 2:00, I was awakened from a lovely, deep sleep to the chirpy, squeeky beeping of the smoke detector in our bedroom. Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep! Every 30 seconds. Chirp-beep! Sounded like a bad battery, but how could that be, as Mr. T had changed all 9 of them mid-summer? And, there's a really good reason that he gets the chore of changing them...I'm too short. Even using the step-ladder we keep inside the house, I can't reach the dang things. So last night...or rather, early this morning, I tried everything I could do from my 5'2" height. Was a sensor covered in dust? Tried "sweeping" the detector with a towel-covered broom. No luck. Thought maybe the test button had gotten stuck, so I used the broom handle to activate it...this only made ALL of the smoke detectors in the house go off. Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep!

Then, Duchess got into the act. She did exactly what you would hope a loyal pet would do when the smoke alarm is raised. She tried to get me out of the house. She wouldn't get back on the bed while the beeping was going on...just whined and whined and whined for me to leave the room. Then, she went to Nana's room and "herded" her out by jumping on her bed, circling up around her head, and then sitting on her pillow...all while whining, mightily. Nana, who you will recall hasn't had much sleep this week, was baffled at the commotion. What's going on with Duchess?
I know, I know...but I just want to get some sleep!

I finally stuffed cotton in my ears (didn't really help), turned my floor fan on "high" (which sounded like a jet engine...in addition to the beeping), and told myself to pretend I was in the hospital with a heart monitor by my side. Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep! Chirp-beep!

When the real morning arrived, I managed to get a tall-enough ladder from the disaster area AKA the garage and replaced the almost-new battery with a brand new battery. No more beeping. Ever the optimist, I've kept the taller ladder inside...just in case.