We've had an alarm system in two of our homes.

I never set the one in this house.

I find alarm systems, monitored or not, can lead to some strange stuff.

Still, they are probably a good idea.

We had ours monitored in Florida.

Here's a good story though:]

I woke up out of a dead sleep when our alarm went off. I leapt (well, sort of leapt...more like fell) out of bed; I stood there rocking back and forth trying to be awake.

DH was no where to be 'seen'. I was confused; the alarm was blaring.

If you think about it ....should you open the door to the bedroom or just 'wait'? If someone is out there you don't want to confront them. If the alarm company calls to see if you are okay what do you say when you don't know if someone is in the house?

Actually, in this case DH was the culprit.

He set the alarm and locked the doors at bedtime. He put his 'gun' (a water gun) next to the door to the lanai/pool.

Next morning when he heard our friend the Blue Heron arwk'ing as he relieved himself over the pool, DH made a dash for the door. He was in his underwear since that's what he sleeps in.

He whipped open the door, which set the alarm off. There he was illuminated in the security light, gun in hand like Rambo gone wrong. I was clueless and so that led to me standing there in mid/sleep/wake mode.

The Blue Heron just did his thing, squawked and flew off.

The alarm company called, DH had to explain he'd set the alarm off.

I had another similar thing happen when I burnt toast.

DH, his sister and bro-in law (they were visiting us) had gone for a walk and were saying "geez, someone's alarm is really blaring!' As they got closer to home they realized it was our home!

Hubby came running in to find me with the broom, wrong end up, trying to push the button on the fire alarm. Meanwhile the alarm company had dispatched the fire department.

I could have punched in the alarm code to turn it off, but I forgot the number (later we hid it near the alarm system).

I told them to call the fire department off as if they came they'd charge us for a false alarm!

So....alarms can help, but they can also lead to some funny stuff