victory is mine
Oct. 23rd, 2005 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanI have finally achieved victory over a (previously) mysterious noise in my apartment, which tormented me all weekend.
The thing is, it was this very short blip/beep/squeak type noise. It would pop up, go "blip" and then thirty seconds of silence and then another "blip," repeat -- for approx. eight blips -- and then stop. Sometimes it would recur in half an hour or 45 minutes, other times I wouldn't hear it again for hours. Of course, often I suspected that it was really every 45 minutes and I just wasn't hearing most of them because I was busy playing with Isaac who is, well, not quiet. ;)
The other thing is, I have really bad hearing. Especially directional hearing. In order to determine where a noise is coming from, I have to hold very still and listen, and move toward where I think it's coming from, then listen to see if it's louder, then move again, and so on. This is difficult-to-impossible to do when a) the noise stops so often and I never know when it'll start up again, and b) there are thirty seconds between blips, and c) I am accompanied by a toddler who is in NO way capable of remaining quiet for anywhere NEAR thirty seconds. ;)
So it took me most of Friday night and Saturday to decide that I was about 95% sure the noise was coming from the basement. Then I couldn't do anything about it even when Isaac was asleep, because the basement door is right outside his door and squeaks loudly, and anyway the stairs are ancient and it's impossible to go down them at all quietly. All Saturday night/Sunday morning I kept hearing the noise (4:45...5:45...6:30...7:08...7:48...) and then of course when we finally got up on Sunday, it stopped. Arrggghhh!!
But then tonight, Sunday night, I finally heard that "blip" again while Isaac was conveniently in his high chair (i.e., contained). So I ripped the basement door open and barrelled down there and stood listening and counting the seconds. Success! The blip was coming from a smoke detector, which I didn't even realize we had one down there. I had been thinking it sounded like a smoke detector noise. Anyway, I changed the battery in the thing, and hopefully that is that.
I know this sounds like a silly frivolous story, but seriously, it pleased me no end to solve the mystery. Especially since I was entertaining some unpleasant visions of it actually being related to the heating system, which would have been severely NOT of the good.
Also, we had a fairly eventful weekend otherwise and this post in no way attempts to describe it all, but that'll have to wait for later. I know you're crushed.
The thing is, it was this very short blip/beep/squeak type noise. It would pop up, go "blip" and then thirty seconds of silence and then another "blip," repeat -- for approx. eight blips -- and then stop. Sometimes it would recur in half an hour or 45 minutes, other times I wouldn't hear it again for hours. Of course, often I suspected that it was really every 45 minutes and I just wasn't hearing most of them because I was busy playing with Isaac who is, well, not quiet. ;)
The other thing is, I have really bad hearing. Especially directional hearing. In order to determine where a noise is coming from, I have to hold very still and listen, and move toward where I think it's coming from, then listen to see if it's louder, then move again, and so on. This is difficult-to-impossible to do when a) the noise stops so often and I never know when it'll start up again, and b) there are thirty seconds between blips, and c) I am accompanied by a toddler who is in NO way capable of remaining quiet for anywhere NEAR thirty seconds. ;)
So it took me most of Friday night and Saturday to decide that I was about 95% sure the noise was coming from the basement. Then I couldn't do anything about it even when Isaac was asleep, because the basement door is right outside his door and squeaks loudly, and anyway the stairs are ancient and it's impossible to go down them at all quietly. All Saturday night/Sunday morning I kept hearing the noise (4:45...5:45...6:30...7:08...7:48...) and then of course when we finally got up on Sunday, it stopped. Arrggghhh!!
But then tonight, Sunday night, I finally heard that "blip" again while Isaac was conveniently in his high chair (i.e., contained). So I ripped the basement door open and barrelled down there and stood listening and counting the seconds. Success! The blip was coming from a smoke detector, which I didn't even realize we had one down there. I had been thinking it sounded like a smoke detector noise. Anyway, I changed the battery in the thing, and hopefully that is that.
I know this sounds like a silly frivolous story, but seriously, it pleased me no end to solve the mystery. Especially since I was entertaining some unpleasant visions of it actually being related to the heating system, which would have been severely NOT of the good.
Also, we had a fairly eventful weekend otherwise and this post in no way attempts to describe it all, but that'll have to wait for later. I know you're crushed.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 02:26 am (UTC)Murphy's Law of smoke detectors
Date: 2005-10-24 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-25 12:34 am (UTC)In this case, the noise turned out to be...you guessed it, the smoke alarm. I felt like a complete idiot once I had figured it out, but how was I to know?