Carbon monoxide is nothing to fool around with

Blissfully asleep, I was pulled from my dreams by the shrill sound of our carbon monoxide alarm.

My husband, Grit, was a bit panicked. He'd tried resetting the alarm then had to take it outside where it stopped.

When he came back in the house it screeched again, which the instructions on the back of the alarm designated as a problem.

Being half asleep, all I wanted to do was return to dreamland.

Grit was having none of that.

He thought my wooziness confirmed the alarm and started opening doors, freezing me to death.

Realizing the only way I was going to be able to crawl back in that cozy bed was to call 911, I reached for the telephone.

When the operator answered, I suggested the call was possibly a fool's errand. She assured me that carbon monoxide was nothing to mess with and her people would be right out to check.

You know what that means — flashing lights on trucks that wake up all the neighbors.

When the firefighters arrived, our sweet young neighbor, Shannon Miller, came running into the house.

Upon finding out what was happening, she broke into tears of relief.

It is nice to be cared about.

The firemen brought a special CO detector and were very kind, understanding and thorough.

They could have said, "Duh! Why didn't you try replacing the battery?" — because that's what it turned out to be.

The operator at 911 and Grit were right.

Even though it was a false alarm, carbon monoxide is nothing to mess with.

If I hadn't been half asleep I likely would have been more cooperative because my dear nephew, Van Jepperson, died from furnace fumes.

He and his wife, Jean, were baby-sitting her younger siblings while her parents took a vacation. On the morning of Oct. 4, 1989, Van, a recent college graduate and soon-to-be father, was sleeping in as he had an appointment for a job interview later in the day.

It was a cold morning for so early in October, so the furnace turned on.

Jean and the children went off to work and school, leaving Van and the family dog.