Ding Dong Bell

Measles have made a comeback in this country recently.  There is a big debate about whether children should be vaccinated or not.   Apparently back in the days of the Brady Bunch, the measles were not a big deal.  Remember the episode where all the kids are sent home from school with the measles.  I vaguely remember it, but my daughter reminded me of this episode.  I think it originally aired in 1969 well before she was born, but the reruns played forever.  The episode was titled "Is There A Doctor In The House".  It was about the girls wanting a woman doctor and the boys wanting a man doctor, but that isn't what my daughter remembered.  She remembered all the kids ordering their parents and Alice around.  Each kid had a different way to get attention because they were sick.  One had a whistle, one a cow bell and so on.  Whenever they wanted something, they would use the noisy gadget.  Alice and the Brady parents were running themselves ragged, and then Mr. Brady and Alice got the measles too.  Here's the link if you want to refresh your memory.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaKgoObr2cc

I found a Public Domain photo of the Brady Bunch.

Now to the point of this background story.  As I have mentioned before, my 90 year old dad has had some health issues recently.  He has pretty much recovered from an infected gall bladder, sepsis, atrial fibrillation, and aspiration into his lungs.  He did have the stomach flu the past few days, but he is feeling better from that as well.  The first few nights after he came home from the hospital, I slept in a chair near his room so I would hear him during the night.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well.  I am the type of person who needs all conditions to be perfect before I can sleep well.  Since I needed to sleep in my bed, we came up with a variety of things to get my attention if he needed me, just like the Brady kids.  We tried a soda can with pennies inside, we tried a small bell, we even tried knocking on the wall.  I really couldn't hear any of these methods very well.  Then it dawned on us that perhaps a wireless doorbell would work.  I found one with the chime for $7.96.  It was much less expensive than a baby monitor, and I could put the chime portion in my room.  We have not needed it, but we tested it to make sure it worked.  I can hear it loud and clear, giving me peace of mind.