Be Careful Of Your Toys!

Several months ago I walked into the bathroom and heard an unfamiliar noise. I listened intently to determine from where it was coming.

We live in an old house, built in 1924. Anything strange or different usually means…..trouble!

I checked out the pipes under the sink. Drains were alright. Commode was working fine. I finally decided, in all my intelligence, that the whining, motor-like sound was coming from the air conditioning vent in the ceiling. Oh no! Our A/C unit was going out! Or so I thought. Of course, hubby was not at home to give his *expert, intelligent*, advice.

Well, wouldn’t you know it? By the time he got home, the whining noise had stopped. No more noise. You’ve heard the old saying “out of sight, out of mind”. In our case it was “out of earshot”, out of mind.

Fast forward a few months.

One night, in the wee hours of early morning, I had to go to the bathroom. I took care of my “business” and as I was leaving the bathroom, guess what? I heard it….the whining, motor-like noise had come back to haunt us!

It almost drove me crazy! (Yes, I know. Some of my readers are thinking….”So what else is new”?) But mainly, I was worried that we had a real problem with which to deal. After enduring the noise into the second day, hubby finally decided to have out local a/c repairman come to check things out.

Naturally, when Jimmy got here, hubby was away from the house. But I invited Jim in, took him to the bathroom to “listen”. He checked all pipes, drains, and asked for a step ladder to check out the vent. He admitted he had never heard a sound quite like that before.

I suggested that possibly, it could be coming from a vent on top of the house that vents the attic. We went out in the back yard to check it out. Jimmy told me to stand there and yell at him when the vent motor stopped running. He went inside to the breaker box and started turning switches on and off. I continued to wait for him outside.

Suddenly, I heard a tapping from the bathroom window. I looked up and Jimmy was motioning for me to come inside. Walking into the bathroom, first thing I heard was……..nothing! No noise! No whining motor sound! Total silence!

Jimmy said, in all his expertise and wisdom, “I located your problem”.

Dumbfounded, I asked, “Well Jimmy, what was it”? He pointed to a vintage, enamel ware chamber pot sitting by the commode where I keep rolls of toilet tissue. But ALSO in that pot were two hand-held, electronic poker games that we have used to “pass the time”. One of the rolls of tissue had fallen on one of the games and activated the sound.

Needless to say, I was mortified!!

Jimmy’s comment was, “That thing must have lifetime batteries!”

Granted, those electronic games must have batteries, that like the Energizer Rabbit….just keep going, going, going!

As he was leaving and walking through the back gate, I said to him in my most apologetic voice I could muster, “ Send us a bill for your time, Jimmy.”

Jimmy’s reply, “Don’t worry! I will!!”

We’re still waiting for the bill.