Well, That's a First.

In all my years of setting the kitchen on fire, I never had to actually call these guys:

PVFD

Have you ever actually called 911?  On purpose?  It is scary business. 

Don't worry friends, I didn't actually set the house on fire.  I came home from yoga class this morning to hear a funny high-pitched beeping noise.  I let the dogs out and then went in search of this silly noise.  After some digging through piles of junk in the guest room I found out that we have a carbon monoxide alarm.  And that alarm was beeping loudly and flashing, "SEEK FRESH AIR." 

I spent the next 10 minutes standing outside on the deck with frantically calling everyone I know.  The puppies were visibly annoyed at having to stand in the snow, but I explained to them that the alternative was to slowly slip into unconsciousness and that if their father would answer his phone the first time and not wait to see if I call back three times, then maybe we could move off the deck a bit sooner.

The dogs and I jumped in the car, heater full blast, and called 911; per Drew's instructions.  I must say, the Prairie Village Fire Department didn't waste any time getting there.  I joined them in the house while the puppies watched from the car.

"Um, hello?  We are very cold out here."

I walked three firemen and a carbon monoxide detector through our house, checking all of the rooms, and paying lots of attention to the gas stove, furnace, and hot-water-heater.  They made me stand in the garage while they ran the heater and checked the vents because they didn't want me exposed.  Poor little me.

One of the firemen came out into the garage to debrief me.  There was lots of carbon monoxide but they couldn't find the source.  As he started listing the people I need to call and the things I need to check, his eyes started wondering to the ceiling... more specifically to the opening to the attic.  It was half-way open.

"Did you heat up your car in the garage this morning?"

Shit.  No way this is my fault, right? 

Wrong.  This was completely my fault.  Apparently when I was warming up my car this morning*, the exhaust went up into the attic and then was recirculated through our house by the heater.  Awesome.

The fireman had me sign something before they left.   They had me open up all the windows and turn the heat on full blast to air out the house.  Then they told me it was probably a good idea not to hang around the house today.  Um, yeah.  I'm probably not going to hang out here with all the windows open on the coldest f-ing day of the year.

I grabbed some cookies, puppies, and booked it to Katy's.  Since she wasn't answering her phone or the door... I had to break in.  Thank goodness I had cookies because I totally woke Kate & Kait up.

Good morning sunshine.

Thanks to my forward thinking (in a panic I grabbed the carbon monoxide detector and stuffed it into my purse) we were able to test Katy's house and determine that it is carbon monoxide free.

Portable detector.

 Unfortunately, the puppies don't get along great with Katy's cat, Oscar.  So they had to sit in the car while we drank coffee, ate cookies, and watched Glee.



"What the hell is going on today?"

So, please take my advice and get a carbon monoxide detector!!!  Although I didn't really know we had one, I am eternally grateful that we do.  So please do me a favor and make sure that your smoke alarms are in order, and if you don't have a carbon monoxide detector, please go buy one.  Katy just ordered one on Amazon for only $19.99!  That's a small price to pay for the safety of your loved ones (and puppies!).

*I didn't mean to leave the car running for so long this morning!  I had to move Drew's car, so I started mine in the garage with the door open and went to move his.  Then I ran his car into a huge snow drift, got it stuck, and had to dig it out.  This took a long time and looking back I surely should have taken this as a sign of things to come.