Just like Chinese water torture, but dry

A couple of weeks ago we lost our power for a few hours during a thunderstorm. When the power went out, the smoke detectors reverted to their batteries (or bat-trees as my grandmom would say). During those few hours, I kept hearing the one in the bedroom chirp and chirp and chirp. All was well when the power went back on, but I thought to myself, "Gee, that'll suck when the batteries go low, because it'll chirp."

So, I go out to the store today and when I came back: "Chirp....chirp....chirp....chirp..." Could this have happened before I went out? I could have bought batteries and a step stool. Yeah, I forgot to mention that the ceilings are kind of high and there is nothing for me to safely step up on to change the batteries. Peachy.

Well, at least I won't be alone tonight, I'll be visited by the smoke detector's chirp every freakin' few mintues. Guess I'll have to go to the store again tomorrow.

I'd get my cousin to do this, but he's about five inches shorter than me. I'd stand on a chair, but they have bar stool type chairs (not safe). I don't even know what kind of batteries to buy, either.

A little annoyance, but a sucky one. I could call the fire department down the street....hmmm...

Never a man around when you need one. Geesh.