Help, I need an ambulance...no, wait, it was an accident.

Here's another chapter in the security alarm saga...Last fall Jay was working a turnaround at work, which means he works a whole bunch of days/nights in a row.  It was a short one, so I think it was about 28 nights...but a very long 28 nights for Jay (and even for the rest of us).  Jay was kinda just going through the motions, in a haze or fog.  Not super chipper, if you know what I mean, and I can't say that I blamed him.

I had to take the kids to a 4H meeting in Marshall later that evening.  Earlier when I had got home from work, there was a light on the security panel flashing, but I wasn't sure what it was.  It wasn't signaling an alarm to the dispatch or anything, it was just supposed to be some kind of signal to us to reset something maybe.  I tried to figure out how to correct it and couldn't so I left it alone and thought I would tell Jay about it later.

Either Jay was finishing up his turnaround or he had a day off, I can't remember exactly how it was, but he was going to be around that evening, although he was in this fog, haze...zombie-like.  Sort of better for us not to be around, if you get my drift.   So the kids and I headed out to our meeting before he got home.

I'm sitting in this very-crowded room of 4H'ers and I hear my phone ringing in my purse.  I had it on silent/vibrate, so it wasn't too disturbing.  I look at the screen, don't recognize the number, reject call.  A minute later it rings again.  I look at the screen, see that it's my friend "Beth" calling and reject it as well.  I text her that I'm in a meeting, I'll call her back in a bit.  Not even two minutes later, I hear the vibration.  It is my uncle.  Okay, something is going on...I excuse myself and call him back.

My uncle tells me that he has just heard on the scanner that an ambulance has been dispatched to our house.  What is going on?  I tell him I have no idea, we are not even at home.  Jay was at home but went to the fairgrounds, so I was puzzled.  I hang up and try calling Jay.  I try over and over and cannot get him.  Weird.  I wasn't necessarily worried because I had talked to Jay and knew he had made it home and was on his way to town.  I then decide that I need to call the dispatch center.  So I found the missed call with the unrecognizable number and dial.  Yes, they have received an emergency signal from our house for paramedics.  What?  Does our security system do that?  Yes, it sure does.  You push a series of buttons and you can request an ambulance.  Wow, okay.  I told the dispatch lady that there wasn't anyone home and I was sure it was an accident.  Can you call off the ambulance?  She told me she would try, but it had already gone through.

Apparently, Jay, in his sleep-deprived, over-worked, semi-induced coma, had tried to clear the system of the blinking light I mentioned earlier and in doing so, called himself an ambulance, got in the truck and went to town.  I was assuming this is what happened as I still could not get a hold of him.  I called my uncle back and asked him to track down the ambulance and tell them there was no emergency.  By this time my mother had called me and asked what was going on because there was an ambulance at her house refusing to leave (our address on a gps will take you to my parents because that is where our mail box is, go figure).  My uncle arrives and they go back to my house.  The ambulance people, doing only what they are called to do, searched the house, outbuildings and barn, and after repeated assurances from my uncle, finally left.

I decide to try calling our horse trainer friend and see if perhaps my husband is standing nearby or did he even show up at the horse barn in town?  Sure enough, he was right there...oops, he 'forgot' his phone in his truck.  I told him about the chaos he instigated by punching buttons willy-nilly on the panel.  He laughed and said, you know, I met the ambulance on my way into town and wondered where they were going...And would you believe that on his way home a little bit later, he met the ambulance returning to town?