Carbon Monoxide!?

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Weird The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured oout what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heating eff...
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Llama Things

Fawn is doing better, but it is clear she is not recovered. She is still not walking around. The boys run around in their yard just before bedtime to get their bodies ready for the cold night. Fawna has never done that.

I heated up some Gatorade in the microwave and put it in a thermos. We used a turkey baster to squirt some of the solution into her mouth. For a while she really liked it. Now she does not want water or anything. She did eat a few handfuls of grain though. The warmer weather 10 degrees above tonight helps a lot. We have both the heaters going and I think I could sleep ok out in the llama house if it wasn't for the boys stepping on me. They are clumsy. When I was out there a few minutes ago.. there was some good forceful steam coming from her nostrils.

There is no doubt that she would have croaked if we didn't intervene last night. I hope she can still recover. She may not. This bitter cold made me think about all the farm animals that die when we get hit so terribly bad with continued cold. It was so cold here the basement door froze shut. The double pane windows had frost on the inside. This morning was the first time I can remember in my life that it was below zero temperatures and it was snowing with 40 mph winds. That combination is absolutely brutal. At work, we agreed, it was an extraordinary weather situation. Cold, snowy and windy. I am surprised that the weather people did not harp on that a bit more. Very dangerous weather indeed.

I will be checking on fawna. Bonnie is getting sick (probably from the outdoor activities).

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Carbon Monoxide!?

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Weird The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured oout what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heating eff...
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