For almost eight years
there has been a sound in our house that I couldn’t identify.
Took a while before
I first heard it, truth be told. When you move in to a new place,
there are all sorts of noises that are strange and different.
Heating or cooling systems turning on. The way the wind comes
across the yard, moving trees and bushes, and just creating that
whooshing. Even the way traffic sounds come off the street and
into different rooms isn’t quite the same.
I heard it in the
winter to begin, and I shrugged it off as part of the heat kicking
on. But the next time, as I was working on something else, it
dawned on me that I didn’t really feel the heat coming through
the floor vents. So, I went downstairs, and sure enough, it wasn’t
the heating system.
Over the course of
time, I began to wonder if maybe I had left the air conditioning
on and for some reason that was running on that winter day. Perhaps
the compressor. It had been a slightly warmer day, maybe the other
days were as well. Nope.
Hot water heater?
No.
Dehumidifier? No.
Did the house have
something strange I didn’t know about? Maybe a system in the attic
with a fan. Of perhaps some radon or other harmful this-or-that
ventilation. Again, no and no.
But tonight, I figured
it out. It’s the water softener system.
Now, I will admit,
I’m a bit embarrassed it took me years to discover that. In fact,
even though I’m now positive it is, part of me wants to believe
I’m wrong. After all, I spent a lot of time running up and down
stairs… looking at the heating and cooling units… examining the
duct work… heading outside and walking lap after lap of the house,
looking for exhaust pipes and staring at the roof for some additional
clues… and, grand total of nothing.
On at least one of
those times, I must have been in the basement, not even thirty
feet from the water softener, staring at other options but for
some reason not hearing that running. Either I have horrible timing
and managed to get downstairs seconds after it shut off every
time, or, I’m the worst player of peek-a-boo outside the age range
of newborn to eighteen months.
But it gets worse
as an admission. I solved the mystery with a combination of another
chore and random timing.
The reason I figured
out was because I had been doing laundry. Heard the noise, couldn’t
place it. Went to empty the washer and the echo of water running
in the pipes caught my ear. Suddenly dawned on me the water softener
had to be running.
Ding ding ding… we
have a winner. (Finally.)
Now here’s the crazy
part when it comes to sharing that story. Over the years, one
thing that really scared me was that the noise had to be something
running. And, so, what would happen if it didn’t? In other words,
what was going to happen if a time came when this this thing stopped
running, only I didn’t know what it was, so how was I going to
figure out it was broken? Would something go wrong, or, would
it just dawn on me that I hadn’t heard the noise in a while and
maybe I should look for something that didn’t seem right anymore?
Around the house,
we’ve had some funny things happen. Nothing crazy when it comes
to home ownership. One of the caps of a pipe on the roof… the
heating exhaust… had the top portion snap off. Had to replace
that and the wire mesh that goes along with it to protect the
pipe and keep birds from flying down it. (Which, yes, a thrill
to experience.) Replaced some electrical outlets. See? Nothing
unusual.
But to twist on the
tree falling in the woods classic… if something that had been
running is no longer running and you never knew it was there,
does it need to be repaired?
In one of the bedrooms,
we have a clock. Kind of a decorative display thing with a pendulum
on it. And it does make that metronome-like clack-clack-clack
sound. We don’t even notice it most of the time. It’s just there.
Sister was staying
in the house several weeks ago. And every morning during her stay,
I would find that bedroom door shut, even though no one was staying
in that room. Finally, I asked about it, explaining the doors
didn’t need to be shut. She pointed out the obvious… noisy clock.
Trees in the woods,
noises in the house, and I seem to be oblivious to all of it.
No clue if that’s good or bad. But I can tell you when the water
softener is on, and that’s a start.