Patio Pondering: Different Quiets

This morning’s Patio Pondering came a little later than usual. I was playing handyman, making a trip to Menards for parts to fix a leaking toilet. New bolts, a new gasket, everything cleaned up and back together. As I headed downstairs to turn the water back on, I noticed something else.

The sump pit was full.

That alone wasn’t alarming. But when I reached in to check the pump, the water was warm. The water isn’t supposed to be warm.

The toilet leak was fixed, but I also discovered the sump pump had seized and wasn’t working anymore. The silver lining was timing. I found it now, before snowmelt or heavy rain would have really needed it.

The sump pit wasn’t alarming. It was just full. Quietly.

It reminded me that not all quiet is the same. Some quiet is peace. Some quiet is focus. And some quiet is a signal that something isn’t working the way it used to.

You see this with livestock. A down ear. A calf not quite moving with the herd. A dullness in the eye. Small things that don’t set off alarms but catch your attention if you’re used to watching closely.

The warm water in the sump pit was a quiet warning.
And not all quiet means the same thing.

I’ll be thinking about that on my way back to Menards.