Soybean Plant Revisited

Back in March of last year, I wrote of how a loud humming noise had been echoing across downtown Raleigh, traveling through my walls and driving me absolutely batty. The night of the Superbowl (2009), my sweet hubby rode his bike down Martin Luther King Boulevard to track down the source so we could possibly fix the problem, file a noise complaint, or at the very least have a name by which to cuss. The noise was coming from the Cargill plant on Blount St, and after calling several times at 11pm when the noise was the loudest and being greeted by voice machines, I did get connected with a wonderfully helpful man named Joe, who promised to figure out where the noise was coming from and rectify the situation. Within a day or two, we no longer heard the noise and my blood pressure dropped back down within a healthy range.

About six months later, we could hear a faint return of the noise, but it wasn't bothersome enough to make a call. We were still just grateful our walls weren't vibrating and our overnight guests weren't awake at night wondering what crazy neighborhood we'd sold our souls to. A couple months back, though, it was obviously getting worse. Finally two weeks ago, I called up Cargill Joe and thanked him again for how he fixed the noise problem last year but was sad to inform him the noise was back. Just like a guest on Car Talk, I did my best imitation of the noise on the phone for him, and he said he and the guys would go back to the plant that evening to listen for the humming. We ended up not hearing the noise for about a week, but then two nights ago it was back. It was loud. We could even hear it during rush hour traffic when the highway noise usually drowns it out. I can even hear it right now as I type!

Well, I just got off the phone with Cargill Joe, and he told me that after I called, they took a look, and the sound insulation around a drying fan had folded over in a spot and they were getting it fixed in a day or two. It explains why I'm hearing a constant hum that intensifies at intervals. WWWEEEEERR mmmmmmmm WWWAAAAARRNNNN mmmmmmm...

Thanks, Cargill Joe!