Had a bit of a scare tonight, a reminder for those with home alarm systems

[Sharon in MD]

My only child has gone off to college this fall and so DH and I are mostly on our own. I had a bit of a scare tonight, for the first time in over 20 years.
Everything is fine, except my adrenaline levels. I really thought we had a home intruder. But, in reality it was probably a perfect storm of pussy cat movements. (as silly as that may sound).

Seriously though, the reason I am posting is that as a result of this experience we realized that the batteries in our panic button system were dead. I've never pushed it before, and if I had actually needed it tonight, it would not have gone off. Fortunately, it was not a real alarm. But, it certainly was a wake up call for us. I'm not a nervous nelly...but I was shaken tonight. I will make sure my system is operational from now on.

Fortunately, I was able to talk to my husband and we left the phone line open on speaker phone while I cleared the house as he made his way home. He then cleared the house with another man to be sure that we were okay....but really, it was the first time I've ever felt that we were compromised in our home.

Check your batteries and back up systems...they only work if they are live.

Thank you God that this was just a wake up and not the real thing.

Sharon

[Thea]

Thankful that it was a false alarm. Thanks for the reminder!

[Chris in VA]

We have an alarm, but rarely turn it on. About 7 years ago, Dh was out of town, and it was just the 3 kiddos and me here. A man tried to get in one of our downstairs, living room windows by standing on the air conditioning unit--he was stone drunk, and fell off, knocking it over, but not before making all kinds of noise and breaking the outside storm window on another window. Whew!
I flew down the stairs (middle of the night) screaming, "Get the h#ll out of my house!" and ran into the office, where the phone was. WE did not have a phone upstairs.
The police couldn't find us--located on church property, I told them my addy and they got confused, so for about 15-20 minutes, I was hidden in the office on the phone with 911, watching the stairs to see if he would attempt to go upstairs where the kids were (terrified, in their rooms--not the baby, just the 2 boys). I had the heavy, metal music stand in my hands and I swear I would have beaten the man to a bloody pulp if I had seen him. I honestly didn't know if he was in the house or not.

All's well that ends well--

I know how to arm the alarm if I need to, now, and you better believe I keep the battery utd.

Now, I thought you were going to say your college student came home for a surprise visit in the middle of the night and set off your alarm! lol

[Nan in Mass]

Yikes! I am glad you are ok!
Maybe your cat had a mouse?

[Sharon in MD]

Thank you for your kind thoughts, all!

I think what must have happened is the cat managed to pull open the linen closet door, that has to have been the door opening sound that I heard from the office. The closet is also just outside the Master Bedroom. So, when I locked myself in there and loudly talked to my potential invader, I probably saw the cat move across the light at the bottom of the door....curious no doubt as to my ranting.

It was really weird...but it may us realize where we had some vulnerable spots. And we are making corrections.

Chris, I can identify with the music stand....I armed myself with a stout 18th Century style ladies walking stick and a large blade and a wished for a pump action...gotta love that sound...nothing says you mean business like that particular noise.

Chris, your story is particularly scary....wow, I can't imagine the frustration and fear you must have experienced....yikes.

I think we will move to change our batteries just like we do for the smoke alarms at the "spring forward, fall back" points...that will be the easiest to remember.


Thank you all!