Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Sunday, December 7, 2014

Strange and then stranger


It all began rather strangely and ended even more so….  It was early in the morning and Mrs. T was sleeping in while I was at the computer in the basement den.   It was then that Miss Lily came bounding down the steps and immediately tried to climb up on my lap.  Now Lily is a sweet, gentle and well behaved dog but having an eighty pound female German Shepherd sitting on your lap is not acceptable. I pushed her back and yelled NO!  She laid down whimpering quietly watching me closely. This was not normal behavior so I ventured upstairs signaling for her to follow me.  Then I heard the high pitched beep.  It took me a while to locate the source as one of our several fire alarms was signaling every few minutes a dead backup battery.  These batteries provide a backup in case the electrical power fails to the house. Getting a ladder to climb up and remove the culprit I dropped it in my pants pocket and headed into town for a replacement.

Focused on driving as I went into town, I absentmindedly scratched my leg a few times. A bit later the spot seemed more painful like a spider bite or something and I speeded up into the Dollar Store parking lot. As by then the pain verged  on excruciating, I knew I had to pull my pants down to take a look and not wanting to park by the other cars and risk potential charges of indecent exposure, I pulled over to an empty area on the edge of the lot. Ouch. And there it was a large red area on the inner thigh of my left leg with an even uglier blistered spot in the middle.  Then reaching into my pants pocket I was not EVERREADY for the very hot 9 volt battery I managed to pull out and drop quickly on the floor.  The battery hadn’t leaked and lacking much in the way of electrical engineering expertise, I returned home dumbfounded to consult Mrs. T. who was quite skeptical of my story till she saw the burn. As I said strange and then stranger…..

28 comments:

  1. Did you have some coins or other metal stuff in said pocket? Could explain it.

    As to the first part......"Lassie, you say Timmy fell in the well, and we should bring a rope?"

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  2. wow! that's rather scary! good dog, lily, for picking up on the alert, but bad, bad battery!

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  3. Ouch!!

    Tht could have turned out even worse. I never heard of that happening.

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  4. Ouch!!

    Tht could have turned out even worse. I never heard of that happening.

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  5. Yikes. That's weird. Good dog, Lily, on the alert!

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  6. Good grief! That's a rather harrowing story. Could have been worse, I guess, but glad it wasn't!

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  7. Perplexing. Batteries that remain hot? Lily is quite the dog -- she knew to tell you something was wrong. -- barbara

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  8. Good girl, Lily! That's weird about the battery! Would be curious to know what caused it and if it was something in your pocket with it.

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  9. Very surprising. I wouldn't think dry cell would do that but it must have been shorting in the device. Oh well, no great harm done and maybe a lesson learned.

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  10. She deserves a T bone for alerting you that something was wrong. I have never heard of that but what if it had continued over heating in the detector?

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  11. Ouch! I love that dogs try to alert people to things that seem "off." Cats, not so much.

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  12. She's a good dog, and she did her part. I also have never heard of that happening. Strange, indeed.

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  13. Glad you found the culprit. I get bit a lot in the field and they never can tell me who done it.

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  14. Goodness. That is scary. I wonder what caused the malfunction. I did just hear of batteries catching fire when bunched together and causing fires on airplanes.

    Actually, I just had an experience with a carbon monoxide battery last week. The furnace man, here just to do yearly checking, had barely driven off when the alarm in the laundry room went off. I knew it was just a battery warning because only one went off. I too had to take the battery out, reset our alarm, and drive to the store to get a new battery. Now, I have an extra in the house.

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  15. I wonder if it was a lithium battery. There has been much on the news about them overheating and even starting fires.

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  16. Strange about that happening, but glad it wasn't worse. I do hope Lily gets a treat for being such a good dog!!!

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  17. Yes that has happened to us, a nine volt along with coins or keys. Makes a great hand warmer in an emergency...but then it probably wouldn't work. We changed out all our batteries with the time change:) Good thing you weren't arrested how would you explain that! :)

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  18. I didn't think that could happen. Btw, do women sleep longer and better at your place too. I am thinking of blogging that.

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  19. WOW!!
    Thank you for sharing.
    I am glad you are well.
    And 3 cheers for Lily!!!

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  20. Sounds worse than 'ants in the pants' for sure. Maybe it was a warning to change your batteries with Daylight Savings??

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  21. OMG how awful for you but how great that Lily detected it. Just shows how we need to pay more attention to our pets, especially dogs. I hope your wound is no longer troublesome.

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  22. Hi troutbirder, Wow, what a story. Maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t toss that battery, thinking it was out-of-juice, into a pile of flammable trash. Of course, you wanted to dispose of the battery properly, so understand pocketing it. Ha ha. Thank you for your comment on my post about the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. I’m not an aficionado either, but I like to go down there and mingle with ‘em … see what they are up to. As for coffee, normally I’m good to go after 2 or 3 cups of my home brew in the morning. Have a good day. John

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  23. Wow! I had no idea such a thing could happen. Kinda funny and kinda scary at the same time. I'm with Lily...when the smoke detector sounds, all bets are off.

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  24. *giggle* I'm trying not to get the mental picture of you in the parking lot. LOL! Hopefully you healed quickly!!
    xo Catherine

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  25. Wow! and ouch! That's quite the dog you have. I hope my daughter and son-in-law will pay attention when their dogs behave strangely. Phew and oh my! Glad you were able to find a secluded spot.

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  26. Dear Friend, Just stopping by to say HI. Hope you are having a good December so far. This will be a very different kind of Christmas for George and me this year. But—all in all, we are both enjoying being together and sharing our love with each other. What more can we ask for!!!!

    Other than a post today, I won't be blogging much until I start feeling better and get this knee/leg taken care of... I will try to at least read your posts (even if I don't comment)... I will however be posting off and on on Facebook (since it's so simple) if you want to check there when possible.

    Well--that's one I have never heard of before... Glad your sweet and SMART doggie alerted you about the problem...
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  27. Really? Never heard of such a thing. Wow!
    And good girl, Lily! Very impressive.
    only one thing would have made this story better - that you had been caught with your pants down and Mrs T had to come bail you out!!!!! (Sorry, sleep depravation here..)

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