...hearing things

the other day, early in the morning...
I walked through the kitchen on the way to let Molly out...
my ears were a bit "plugged" and as they "popped"...
I noticed a faint, pinging noise...

kinda like the sounds we used to hear when "dial-up" was connecting...

it sounded like an "alert" of some kind...
so I checked the GFI outlets... nothing...
the microwave... radio... stove... phone...

*nothing*... except that sometimes, it seemed louder...
depending on which way I was facing...

I checked the 'fridge... coffee maker...

*nada*...

so I went on about my day, completely confounded as to the source...
but every time I went through the kitchen...
there it was... unnerving and frustrating me by turn...

unnerving, because I was sure it was some sort of alert...
frustrating, because I couldn't find it...

so I "lived with it"...



becoming more & more annoyed...
all the while becoming more & more mystified, as to the source...

then Monday, when I was released from jury duty...
I decided to tackle the stove & kitchen counters...

in the course of putting away a pan...
I open the doors of the storage drawers where I store pots & pans...

and noticed that the sound was louder...

after storing the pan...
I closed the drawers and opened the top drawer...
as I pawed through various gadgets...
searching for the noise that was now quite loud...

I located meat thermometers of different kinds as well as timers...
all silent... but the noise continued...
so I pulled the drawer all the way out...
and there in the back, hiding under some stuff, I found the source...



the probe wasn't connected...
but the alert button/power had been pressed...
by a "board scraper" that had gotten pressed down onto it...

I depressed the "alert/power" button for a few seconds...
and... the annoying noise was gone...

*peace*

it's a relief to know I wasn't imagining it...
but an even bigger relief to find & silence it...