Things That Go Chirp in the Night

Last night, about 1:30 A.M.,Oreo let me know she needed to go outside. She doesn't usually awaken during the night, but because she was quite insistent, I let her out. When she didn't come right back in, I left the door standing open, crawled back in bed, and went back to sleep. Now, my smoke alarm has self-recharging batteries that are unfortunately sensitive to the cold which was streaming in through the still open door. When it is too cold, the batteries don't hold a charge and consequently the low-battery chirping signal commences. And it did. By this time, Oreo was back in the house, in my bed, and scared to death of the chirping sound. She burrowed under the covers, pressed tight up against me, and jumped with a startle reflex every time the chirp sounded. Normally, she sleeps atop the covers at the foot of the bed. I could have slept through the chirp with a pillow over my head, but I couldn't sleep through the twitching dog synchronized with the chirping. Finally, the room and the batteries warmed up and all was quiet. Some watch dog!