Most of the smoke detectors are installed.

I bought seven new smoke detectors to replace the ones last installed in 1999. There are eight in the house, but one was replaced last year.

There's one high in the peak of the two-story room, over the corner of the loft upstairs, which I can't reach without help (or a braver or taller person). Also upstairs, the one in that bedroom is mounted high in the vaulted ceiling. On the wall, about 10 feet in the air, which I could change if I had a little bit taller ladder. There's just the five-foot ladder here, and a 25-foot in the garage. The 25-foot wouldn't help in the bedroom, but would for the one over the loft, and I need a friend to move that through the house and to make sure the ladder I'm standing on stays put.

I did change the other five, though. Flipped the circuit breaker so I wouldn't have to worry about getting shocked or causing shorts. I had to replace the mount and connector in each, because the new and old aren't the same (there should be some standards). Well, there are standards, because each of the interconnected detectors use the same 3-wire system, and are in junction boxes, which are a standard size, so mounting the brackets was a breeze. I don't understand why people put 2-inch or longer screws into them, though. An inch is probably enough to pass the sheet rock and still embed in the "bolt" on the junction box. I didn't have different screws, though, so I just used what was there. On a couple of them I was able to just loosen the screws and twist the bracket to let the screw go through the screw "keyhole," but on the others there either wasn't a keyhole or they didn't use one on the old bracket. I disconnected the old connecter and connected the new one. Each one provided its own level of frustration as I had to push wires back into the crowded junction boxes and try to catch the hooks between the detector and mounting bracket. People who make peanut butter have this nailed down, so maybe the smoke detector people could take a lesson from them.

I finished with the last, put the ladder away, and flipped the circuit breaker back. No snaps or pops, and the breaker didn't flip back, so I must not have shorted anything out. There's a smoke detector right by the circuit breaker panel, so I long-pressed its button to trigger a test, and I heard wailing throughout the house, and "fire, fire, fire" coming from the closest one that talks. I went to the bedroom down by the machine room and pushed its button to stop the test. They all stopped! That wasn't what happened, although it was expected, when the adventure started on Monday, when the alarms were going off.

As I walked past, the voice alarm in the basement said "ready to connect," and its light slowly pulsed. I checked its brand and hit the web to search to see if it was a smart one. It is! I had wanted to get one so we could remotely detect the alarms, but they're all out of stock at the stores on my route. I took a few minutes and got it set up, so now on my phone, and presumably through Alexa, I can tell if the alarms trip again and supposedly stop them from wherever I am!

During the installation, I occasionally tried the wood burning stove again. Its pilot has remained lit, but it still burns out quickly if the big flame kicks on. There must be something blocking the chimney. I've pounded on it (it's a stovepipe in the porch), but I don't hear anything shaking within, and it doesn't appear anything is dropping into the fire box. It unfortunately goes out the side of the roof away from the deck, so it's a knee-deep tromp through the snow to try to see it. Since the snow on the ground is knee deep, it's conceivable that it's also deep on the roof. There is a thick blanket of snow on the parts of the roof I can see, too, so doubt is small. I'm going to leave the pilot lit and see if it'll generate enough heat to maybe melt through, but it's only 13°F out there now, so it's going to take a lot more heat after floating up 10 or more feet.

I've done some sweeping, the fireplace is roaring, the house is warm with thermostatic temperatures, and I've fixed all the lights that I can without more tools (or an electrician). It's very dark and very cold, and home is a couple hours away, so I'm going to just settle in for one more night. I brought enough food and clothes, and town is only a few minutes away if I decide to eat out (which I probably will do for Saturday morning breakfast). I did bring the sleeping bag in from the camper in the garage, so I'll have that as a blanket tonight, too.

I'm going to sit in a more comfortable chair for a bit.