Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Gina Norman <gina AT vnet.net>]

I have sallied forth, due -- more than anything else -- to the fact that
my heat pump was making a funny noise.  It sounded sorta like someone had
tried to be clever and had affixed a playing card to the blades, like we
used to do with our bicycle wheels. However, my knowledge of heat pumps
is, at best, spotty, so I wasn't even sure if this was a Bad Thing.

There were, however, footsteps leading to the heat pump from my neighbor
Gary's house, adding substance to my suspicion that the noise was, in
fact, not normal, and was something that bore investigating, as Gary had
obviously done before I'd managed to even get off the couch.  ASIDE:
Gary is chock full'o'energy... since he moved in a few years ago, he's:
turned his backyard into an all-organic garden that could probably supply
in a week all the produce I consume in a year; built a two-story
"workshop" (I use the quotes, 'cause it's only a wee bit smaller than my
houselette); and added a new kitchen and dining room addition to his
house!

So, anyway, Gary is a real sweetheart and was worried that I might be out
of town (as I would've been but for the inclement weather), and was in the
process of trying to find my work email to he could drop me a note about
the whole HPS (Heat Pump Situation).  Gary suggested that the HPS was 
not caused by neighborhood kids trying to make my heat pump sound
like a bicycle but rather by the fact that the innards of the fan
mechnanism had become encrusted with icy badness.
 
Do-it-yourself fix:  long extension cord and blow dryer.  So, there I was,
in the Southern equivalent of cold-weather wear (tights, jeans, socks,
t-neck, polarfleece pullover, earmuffs, hat, coat, gloves, and little-boots-
with-plastic-grocery-bags-over-them), with a really long extension cord (I
was sure it was for outdoor use since it was bright orange, a color not
meant for indoor extension cords) and my blow dryer, ever so patiently
melting the little (stalagmites?  stalactites?  what are they called when
they stick to the *sides* of something?) icicle-protrusions from the
inside of the heat pump.

I am proud to state that I succeeded!  HPS is resolved and HP is blessedly
silent once more.

On the downside, I am sad to report that the quality of my cable has taken
a marked turn for the worse in the last few minutes, apparently on account
of ice-related issues.  And right in the middle of Molto Mario too.  : (

I may have to go take a hot bath to properly warm myself.  With cocoa.
With Kahluha in it. mmmmmmmm.

End of update:

-gina 



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Really.

Gina Norman                                      And the only bit that
gina AT vnet.net (me personally)                    really matters:
ginanorm AT nortelnetworks.com (me at work)         http://users.vnet.net/gina
gina AT earthling.net (me personally, again -- sick of me yet?  ;)
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