That weird sound coming from the laundry room behind me happened again this morning. It was loud again too. Several people suggested it could be plumbing related, which made some sense, seeing as the hot water heater and washing machine is in there, as well as the water line that feeds the ice-maker in the freezer. All the plumbing though is on the opposite side of the room from where the sound seems to originate, and after hearing it again today, it sounds like it’s IN the wall. Well, there’s no plumbing in the walls in there, because there are no walls in there. Oh well sure, there are walls, obviously, but they are unfinished, meaning there’s no inside to the wall. I can reach out and touch the back side of the den wall in the laundry room, for example … or the back side of the exterior wall. No insulation and no drywall. So plumbing doesn’t seem to be a likely source, though I am not ruling it out entirely yet. Sound moves oddly sometimes.

Also after hearing it again clearly this morning, I can better describe it. It sound for all the world as though someone were in the laundry room holding a sheet of thick Styrofoam against the back side of the den wall or the outside wall in that corner and hitting it with moderate force with a claw hammer. I know it’s a somewhat obscure way to describe a sound, with a sound not everyone has likely heard before, but that’s exactly what it sounds like to me. Of course, going into the room immediately after the sound I find no person, no Styrofoam and no hammer, so it isn’t really that. In fact, nothing in there has moved an inch, nothing appears to be able of making that sound on its own, even taking temperature changes and shifting weight and all that.

I did notice this morning there was quite a stiff breeze when it happened. I don’t know about the other morning, maybe there was a breeze that morning too. Maybe there has been a stiff breeze every time I have heard that damn sound. I wasn’t paying that much attention to it until lately. It used to not be that loud. So my next area of exploration will be the various utility wires that attach to the house at that corner. Maybe one of them is doing something when it gets breezy. I wouldn’t think that was it, because it is often breezy and I maybe hear that sound once a day, sometimes twice. So it doesn’t repeat non-stop at any time. Just one “thwump” and then silence again. But still, it’s worth exploring what the wires might be doing.

I’ve also wondered if it might have something to do with the gate into the back yard. It’s tied off to the house with bolts. I’ll be poking at it today too.

I’m getting determined to find the source, because it makes me jump every time it happens, especially now that it seems to be getting somewhat louder. Really, it always makes me jump. It’s just a really strange sound coming from a location which shouldn’t be producing any sounds at all. It’s been going on for years too. In fact, the first time I mentioned it in my journal/blog was about a year after we moved into the house. Back then, it was happening most often between 4 pm and 5 pm. Maybe it still is. I’m going to set my alarm to remind myself to be in the den at that time just to see. That’d be truly strange if it was thwumping between 4 pm and 5 pm and then again between 4 am and 5 am. It almost looks like a pattern, but I’m not in the den 24/7, so that might be confirmation bias.

Anyway, the noise has to stop, therefore the source must be found. If you can hear it, it’s moving. I may be moving on a scale you can’t see, but anything that makes a sound is causing vibrations, and therefore something, somewhere in the laundry room or back corner of the house, is moving. I have to find it before it makes me completely insane or something bad happens. Another rule is any sound coming from a house or car that you can’t identify and begins to get louder over time will end in sorrow. I mean, it seems harmless. It’s been going on for years, but what if it has never been a harmless sound. Maybe we’ve just been incredibly lucky. I’m not going to sit around worrying about what disaster a sound like that might foretell though, because I know there is no way in hell we would ever be so lucky as to not have a potential disaster happen over the course of four plus years. Our luck usually runs more along the lines of there never being any sort of warning noise at all, and then … unexpected disaster!!!

Time to go make the coffee and get Lin moving. Then I have to get on with the end of my “day” and decide when to get some sleep. Yeah, still on a screwed up sleep schedule. Nothing to be done about it. It’ll roll back around when it wants to do so. I am tired of trying to fight it. All that does is leave me tired and awake all night instead of just awake, which sucks worse than being on a nighttime schedule.