Well... taking what all of you are saying very seriously... and speaking of stepping back and remembering what's important...
There was some excitement at the Rb's house today, and I will tell the tale in hopes it may sound a worthwhile alarm (pun intended - read on!).
Out of nowhere, one of our Carbon Monoxide detectors sounded off. That often happens when the battery is low, so Kirby replaced/reset it. A little while later, a SECOND alarm went off. Oh, it was soooooooooooooo tempting to ignore it, but... when we couldn't reach our plumbing/heating guys for a CO level check, we called the Fire Department and they came over, detected a very high CO level, and set all kinds of stuff in motion. The Rb quickly found himself in our neighbor's driveway while the mystery was sorted out. Fireplace vent issue, now fixed.
The lessons...
MAINTAIN YOUR FIREPLACES THIS HOLIDAY SEASON (AND ALWAYS).
HAVE CO DETECTORS.
PAY ATTENTION TO THEM.
Rb in the car in the neighbor's driveway, Cavalry to the rescue.
Men doing mystrious things with guages and stuff; the squad took our vitals.
We're okay, gas company did something to something in the fireplace. Everything's okay. Here's the Fire Chief signing papers that say so.
The Rb rings the "all clear" bell (his favorite trick for visitors), much to the firemen's amusement. He was back in his cage after all CO levels were back to normal. They really had fun with him... had never seen a parrot up close, had no idea they lived so long, and the squad had fun telling me the canary-in-the-coal-mine story. They were surprised that he was alright. I was just GRATEFUL!
Take care, everybody!
