About 3 weeks ago I was sitting in my bed either reading or crocheting (both of which I do every evening) when I heard a definite "chewing" noise coming from the wall opposite the bed.
It started and stopped and started and stopped and I finally got out of bed and walked over to the wall to try and determine where the sound was coming from. As you can see by the photo, our wall is a display area for a lovely quilt I bought before we came to the island. What you don't see are all the wires running for the phone antenna, the TV and the computer, etc. When the house was finished and we moved in I expressed my distress at the sight of the ugly cords hanging for all to see. My husband said those famous words that I tremble at when I told him I wanted to cover up the ugly cords - "I'll take care of it." When those words are uttered I know that it will 1) be a long, long time before it gets done or 2) it will never get done and/or 3) he is not interested in the project as he doesn't think it is necessary. So, I offered a suggestion. I said I wanted to hang my quilt "temporarily" to cover the cords. He agreed and 14 years ago we proceeded to hang the quilt and, as you can see, it is still there!
Because of this step, I saved myself a lot of stress worrying when the job would be done and I saved him from having to do a lot of work he felt was not necessary at the time. Behind the quilt, besides all the cords, we have shelf after shelf of books - so the quilt served a dual purpose.
Now, however, the chewing noises that distracted me from my past time seemed to be coming from behind the quilt. I could not pinpoint the source and gave up. Off and on, for several nights that whole month the chewing would commence and quit. It would wake me up at 3 a.m. and once out of a sound sleep there was no chance of going back to that blissful state and I would get up and listen and search.
I walked up the stairs on the other side of the bedroom wall to see if I could pinpoint the sound. I even went to the outside roof above our bedroom, checking the outer wall to see if something was trying to chew its way in. If you have been a constant reader of my Blogs you will remember that one year we had an invasion of little "pocket possums", mouse like creatures with a mask across their eyes. I certainly did not want these creatures back in my house so I was being very diligent in my search.
Finally, the other day, my husband announced that he found the source of the "chewing".
I hung these little metal creatures outside my bedroom window and being metal and exceptionally light, when the wind would pick up at night they would bang against the house creating the chewing noise! Who would have guessed?
I have since secured their little flippers to the house proper and they should remain silent and still. A big thank you to my husband!
Kinda funny, the frogs making noise like that after all this time. Thankfully, that's all it was. In my last house, my bedroom shared a wall with the garage. Something got in and was chewing it way into my room. This went on for a week (with me waking up in the night hearing it) before I figured out a solution. I noted the position of the noise next time I heard it and then drilled a hole into the wall void. Then I got a can of expanding foam insulation and inserted the tip into the hole and filled the void then spackled the hole. I imagine whatever was in there got encased (entombed) in the foam and I never heard from it again. : )
ReplyDeleteB1llymo