You're setting off my charm alarm....

So, the ParisPeking house is not a burned cinder and the dog is still alive. But everything did NOT go smoothly.  Allow me to explain:

I got to their house right after work.  I opened the front door, walked to the alarm box and promptly entered the wrong number.  Even though I had the correct number on a piece of paper right in front of me.  I hit one number wrong.  But I knew I did.  So I pushed one of the colored buttons, thinking that may...I dont know allow me to reboot and start over or something.  But the beeping continued, so I simply entered the correct number.  And the beeping stopped.

I figured I had better call the company just in case they got some kind of report.  But the dog was practically clawing her way through the door, so I opened it to take her out. I figured if they were going to send the cops of whatever, it would take the cops longer to get here than it would take to let the dog out.

So out we went and she did her business.  I brought her back in and gave her her dogfood.  And then I called the number on the alarm box.  I told the woman I had come over to let my friend's dog out and I think I might have set the alarm off.

She asked for the phone number.  I gave her mine.  She said she needed the one that the owners would have given.  I didn't know his number off hand, and while I was trying to locate it in my phone, she just said, "Well how about the address?"

I told her i knew the street but not the house number.  And then I remembered they had it on the mailbox outside.  So i told her I'd go out and get it.  But I had to give it to her three times, cause either we had a bad connection, or she couldn't hear me through my panic.  Also, while I was outside I heard a siren approaching.  So naturally I think it's coming this way.  But I believe it was on the way to the nearby hospital because it didn't come to the house.

So after getting the address correct, I had to spell the name of the town "H, as in Harry, A as in Arnold, G and in George" cause again, she was having trouble hearing me.  But when she got it all, then she said, "Is this the house of (their first names)?"  And said it was.  So then she tells me she needs some security number or passcode or whatever.  David had written by the alarm box two code numbers, which I gave her.  And she was silent.  But I remember David had told me some password or something, so I gave that to her, and she said that was what she was looking for.

And then she said, "No there's no code coming from that house."

So I was all like, "Okay, that's good sorry to bother you."  I think she hung up without saying goodbye.  But maybe I was just so relieved I didn't hear her say anything.  So then I let the dog out again, and she had to do some more of her business.

When we came back in, I decided I had to go potty now, so I came out of the kitchen, started up the short flight of stairs and saw someone standing up at the top of them and promptly screamed like a sorority girl in a slasher film and almost fell back down the stairs.  I'm lucky I didn't piss all over thier stairs.

As it turns out, it wasn't a person, but one of those standup, portable heaters in the middle of the hall.  And while standup portable heaters don't really look anything like a person, in the dark of the hallway and the quick glimpse I initially had, I just figured that's what it was.

While I was peeing, the dog laid right outside in the hallway (right next to the heater), looking up at me the whole time.  So when I was done, we went to the couch, and I played with her a bit and rubbed her head and tummy and talked to her and stuff.  Just cause I figured she might want some contact.  Then I took her out again one last time, and she did some more of her business.  Coming back inside, I had difficulty getting the back door shut, which David told me I would have as it was tough to shut, but I got it done.

I then put the dog back in the room she was staying in, said goodbye to her, and went to the alarm box.  I typed in the on code, slowly, to ensure I got it right.  But after doing so, I didn't hear it beeping like it did when he set it the night before to show me.  Or, then I though, was it supposed to beep like that when I turned it off?  I didn't remember.  So not wanting to put the number in again and possibly screw things up, I just left the house, locked the door, got in my car and started driving home.

"Even if I didn't turn the alarm on," I thought, "They won't know it.  And I can just make sure tomorrow I do it right and dont screw it up like i did tonight."  But then I immediately thought, "but what if someone breaks in?  How will I explain that to them?"  So after driving less than three minutes, I made a u-turn, turned the car around, and headed back.

Going back inside, I went to alarm box again, but it wasn't beeping at all.  And then I noticed the alarm light wasn't lit.  So obviously I hadn't turned it on.  So I punched the number in again, slowly...and still nothing. SO now it was time to call David.

When he answered, I told him I couldn't get the alarm on.  he told what to do (inadvertantly giving me to off code for the on code, but I caught that one, and he gave me the correct one), and at the end, mentioned that the front door needed to be closed.  Which I didn't know and which had been hanging wide open both times I tried.  So I shut the door, entered the code and everything went swimmingly then.  So I went outside, locked the door, swore at David a bit, hung up got in my car and came home.

There were NO problems Saturday morning before work when I let the dog out, except that I couldn't get the backdoor open and I was afraid she was gonna go right there in the kitchen.  But she didn't, and instead spend about ten minutes walking around the backyard taking care of her business.  And she would not go back into the room willingly, I  had to pick her up and carry her in.  Other than that, no problems.

So while I had no problems with the dog, the alarm system was an entire other story!

POLT