Back in the day, smoke detectors worked as long as you wanted them to work. After 10 years, their effectiveness dropped, but the detectors would quietly stay mounted as long as you wanted, without kicking up a fuss. That’s no longer true. I replaced all but one of the smoke detectors a little over 10 years ago. I received notices and emails from the detectors. Instead of a calm green light “goodnight promise” the detectors emitted a dire red warning. It was time to replace them. Now. I installed one detector about 9 years ago. Back in the day, nobody would put a smoke detector in the garage. Car emissions would trigger an alarm daily. Today, car exhaust is cleaner than “fresh air” on a bad air pollution day. And there is a new garage threat – electric cars. Battery packs are susceptible to overheating. Chevy had to replace a huge number of Bolt battery packs, advising owners to park their cars at least 50 feet away from everything while waiting for replacements. I installed that last detector after buying our old Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. I decided to replace all of the the detectors now. Our indoor ceilings are high. The garage ceiling is higher. Fortunately, the HOA owns a tall ladder and doesn’t mind if residents borrow it. So I’m good for 10 years. I think this is the last time I will replace detectors. If we are still living here10 years hence, I will no doubt find somebody else to do the ladder work for me.

Danita and I really like our new Nissan Leaf. It’s a huge improvement over to the 10-year old car in every way. Except one. That’s Sirius XM radio. Every few days, the car sets the radio source to the Sirius XM preview station. If the radio isn’t on, it will helpfully turn it on for me. A couple of days ago the car turned on XM as I was backing out of the garage. I turned the radio off. The car turned it on again. I don’t understand why a car manufacturer would subject proud owners of their new cars to such a nuisance. Internet searches turn up no solutions. At least I am now adept at changing the radio back to my normal channel.

April 16 was a big day for us. We received permission from the HOA to replace our tree with a smaller one. The down payment has been paid. We are looking forward to replacing the old tree with an Eastern Red Bud. They will also remove that ugly creeping juniper with grass. The old tree is way too big for our tiny front lawn, as shown in this picture. Now all we need is for the tree company to do the work,

We had a nice neighborhood concert last night. This afternoon we will go to another concert at UMBC.

I hope this finds everyone doing well.

We had quite the time for Easter this year. Mark & family joined us, as did Ed & Lynne, and Mom. Mark came down a day early and stayed a day after. That gave us time to do some extra fun things. For example, we went to College Park Airport and Aeronautics Museum. The great stuff included flying a helicopter climbing to the very top of the “control tower”.

Easter has lots of traditions, from ham and potato salad for dinner to egg hunts for the kids. The girls had a great time. Mira found the best hiding place ever in the pocket of the child’s chair. It was such a great spot that when it was time for her to hide eggs, she put as many as possible into the pocket.

Everybody had a great time, and all of us hope you had a terrific Easter.

This weekend there were so many activities we had to pick and choose what to do. Going to one of the Baltimore Museum of Art brunch/art talks was a sure winner. The talk was about how Fratino ,a living artist, is influenced by Matisse, with side-by-side paintings. Tomorrow we will attend a concert in UMBC’s amazing auditorium.

It’s also time for spring cleaning. My last major project is the back porch. I’m looking forward to getting these projects finished.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.