Alarming

 Our house came with a then state of the art burglar/smoke alarm, and I have dutifully paid the annual monitoring fee though we never use it. Fortunately, there have been zero break ins in our area, and we have a gate and some lights, as well as an off duty FHP trooper who patrols and makes our 'hood less attractive to miscreants.

Still, I dutifully call Aressco, a local company whenever the thing goes on the blink, or needs an upgrade. Some years ago, we got rid of the landline part of the system -- it's now totally 4 G. So if we DO use the alarm, a master thief couldn't disable the thing just by cutting phone lines. We don't have any particularly valuable stuff, anyway.

But we now have a very active toddler grandson, and it occurred to me we need to start using the chime function of the alarm whenever he is over the house. That chimes when a door is open, and though we watch him like a proverbial hawk, it is good to know if he decides to leave without permission.

So Sunday night, I checked the chime function, and sure enough, the one most critical door -- leading out to the pool -- wasn't working. So Monday am I called Aressco, and arranged for Tony to come out. He's been their maintenance guy for over 15 years. I last saw him a year or so ago when we got a new front door and matching impact glass windows -- he came to put in new contacts.

Today he came by, and figured out the problem -- probably the roofers who repaired an overhang above the door cut the wires by mistake. But no problem -- everything is wireless now -- and so he put on a new sensor that transmits to the unit -- problem solved. He even showed me how to change the battery -- which he says will last 3-4 years. Hell -- at my age, those durations mean more and more.

Speaking of that toddler -- Sunday Wifey and I walked him and his baby brother over to his friend Mason's house. D1 and Joey's hood is amazing -- the young people have free run of each other's playgrounds -- and Mason and his family were out of town.

We walked, and came across a large woman with a small dog. We knew she was a new addition -- her son, an NBA star, had bought her a house there! Wifey and she chatted -- she was very nice, and duly proud of her son, who is 25 and looking each year like a superstar in the league. Wifey said she must be so proud of him -- Marilyn said she was, but because of his character as much as his athletic success.

Anyway -- at Mason's, the dog sitter came out to visit -- Mason's paternal grandmother, who was house and dog sitting. Karen is delightful -- a native Montanan, who married Howard, and raised her kids near D.C. She moved to Miami last year to help with the grandsons, and is living in the Grove. Wifey is going to fix her up on a social meet with our friend Diane, who lives a few buildings away.

And as I hung with the toddler, it occurred to me: he is ALL boy. I'm used to having small girls, who sit quietly and play. Not our grandson -- he is unstoppable energy, who is adorable and mischievous and amazing.

But the good thing : when he had to pee, it was just a trip to the corner of the yard -- no indoor bathrooms necessary. He will learn that is a MAJOR benefit to being a boy.

Anyway -- now we have another measure of protection when he comes to visit -- and eventually for his baby brother, too.

Meanwhile -- we're off Thursday -- Wifey and I are headed to Maine for 4 nights at Joelle and Kenny's house. It's my first time on a plane since December of '19, and Wifey and my first trip together other than Key West and Key Biscayne.

We have to change planes in D.C. and hopefully we make the connection. If not -- I guess it'll be a darkened drive up to Oxford from Portland.

We have a very nice young girl house and dog sitting -- Talia. She is an FSU grad and starting nursing school soon -- we met her dog sitting in the 'hood, and it turns out she's best friends with another neighbor. Talia lives at home with her radiologist mom, and enjoys getting away for a few days at a time.

Coincidentally, D2 and Jonathan have Labor Day plans in Atlanta -- a reunion of Yellow House friends and now their 4 husbands. So tomorrow night, after I fetch the toddler from school (his parents are on a one day stay cation), I will fetch the enormous puppy Betsy on Miami Beach and bring her here -- Talia gets to watch her, too. So while we're gone, it'll be a true hotel for dogs -- with a guest innkeeper.

I'll be missing the first Canes game, but my consuegro Ricardo is happily taking my tickets. A lot of my crew is missing the game, too -- Norman is the only regular going, I believe. It's hopefully a tuneup game, against Bethune Cookman. I plan to go to the second game -- against Southern Mississippi, the Saturday after we return from Maine.

So here's to some cool air and laughter with dear friends at their beloved lakeside house. There are far worse ways to spend Labor Day weekend.