Sleep Wasn't In the Cards

So after a great gourmet meal with Mirta, my sista of another mista, I headed home.  He ate at Chef Adrianne's, the only gourmet place in West Kendall.  They've been open 10 years, and I've heard about it, but last night was our first visit, and it was fine.  Adrienne had worked at French Laundry in Napa, and her food was terrific.  She also wasn't shy about charging Coral Gables prices even though the restaurant is on SW 147 Ave -- East Naples, as we call it.

I fell into a deep sleep, as the wind and rain pounded outside, and then at about 1 am our alarm went off.  I fell out of bed as Wifey slept on like a dead woman, and shut off the alarm (happy I could remember the code, as we never use the thing) and then answered the phone from central station.  The happy attendant said a smoke alarm from our south detector has activated -- was everything ok?  I didn't smell smoke, so I said it was, but figured I'd better make sure the two dogs weren't roasting.

All seemed well, but there was a puddle of water near the door leading to the pool.  As I toweled it up, I was dripped on -- sure enough, from the smoke detector.  There had been a roof leak, and the water found its was to the holes I had drilled to mount the detector.  I took the thing down, and water poured out.  I put a bucket there, and went outside to look.

Sure enough, above the leak area, there is a dryer vent.  I'm not handy but I AM good at diagnosing home breaks -- I concluded that, at 20 years old, the caulking around the vent must have cracked, allowing the leak, which found its was through the ceiling into the mounted detector.  Hopefully it'll be a $500 repair -- supposedly clay barrel tile roofs last forever, grossly.  I guess I'll see.

So I went back to bed, and tried to fall asleep, but heard a faint, loud whine, almost like my mother in law was calling me from another dimension.  I closed the windows thinking it was the across the street neighbor's water alarm -- they have a rare Miami basement, and when the sump pumps kick in (we probably had 2 inches of rain during the early am storm), it emits a whine.

No -- the closed windows didn't help -- the whine was coming, like the classic horror tale, from INSIDE THE HOUSE!  I came back downstairs, and sure enough, the now dismounted detector was chirping, to remind me I had taken it down.  I de batteried it, and it shut up.

I fell back asleep around 4, and then got a call at 7.  I got up again, and went downstairs.  The dogs had decided to reward me -- two turds and a pee to clean up.

Wifey, of course, slept happily through all of this.

She helpfully added "NOW do you think it's time to move???"  No, I told her, I'm about to invest in a roof repair to go along with the thousands of dollars she's spending on landscaping -- I ain't going nowhere.

I could use a nice nap, though...