The fire pit in the living room

When I got home from work this afternoon, there was no power. We had quite an ice storm last night and it was pretty darn cold. I lit some candles and decided to put a fire in the fireplace. It warmed up the living room nicely - except for the fact that I didn't get the flu opened up far enough - and the smoke just rolled into the living room.

I finally got it opened up - but then I had to slide back the deck doors so that the smoke would go outside. That kind of defeats the purpose of the fire to warm up the living room.

About an hour later, the power came back on - and so did the two smoke alarms. Loud and clear. I could not get them to quit for the life of me. I turned on THREE fans, all blowing the smoke out the deck doors. But no. Finally I called maintenance - and he said that I needed to shut the breaker off and let it be off for a minute - then turn them back on. Finally - they quit.

Now - the deck doors are still open, I'm finishing up the log in the fireplace, there is a smoke residue on the fireplace mantle, and its chilly in the living room because there are still three fans going to air out the smoke.

But I have power now.