It always take my body a few days to adjust to Daylight Saving Time. The dogs seem be a little confused too. But at least the hour we sacrificed in the middle of the night brings with it the promise of later sunsets and an anxiously awaited Spring. Every six months when you tinker with your clocks, it’s time to complete another household chore — checking the batteries in your smoke detectors. Check Your Batteries Day is always the second Sunday in March, coinciding with that lost precious hour of slumber.

Chris did the honors this evening, checking the detectors throughout the house. I was with the chinchillas as he tested the alarm upstairs, and the beeps it emmitted as it chirped to prove its competence sent the chins running in all directions. But whatever momentary panic the noises may have instilled in our animals, smoke alarms are of the utmost importance — especially out here in the country, where we’re far from any fire hydrants and every moment counts. And if my clutziness and bad luck are any indication, we really need to make sure our alarms are alway in working order. Although only two of the following incidents caused the smoke alarm to go off, here is a brief history of my family’s unwanted run-ins with the Fire Department and/or fire:

#1) In the ancient days when my parents were still smokers, my dad would always throw his last morning cigarette down on the car port foundation before getting in his car for work. One morning something stopped him — and it was a good thing because it turned out his Lincoln was leaking gasoline! The HazMat crew came out at some insane hour like 5:30 AM and took a couple of hours to clean up the spill. I was really little at the time but I think I may have been allowed to stay home from school because of all the excitement.

#2) While I was busy getting ready for prom my dad thought it would be a great idea to set fire to the woods behind our home. He was mulching leaves and a pile got to close to the mulcher’s hot engine. Fortunately, he’d distinguished most of the flames before the fire department arrived. It was a dry season, and the woods were covered in leaves so we were all pretty lucky this didn’t turn into a disaster.