Funny noises in the kitchen - which I was ignoring......

March 4, 2015
So I tripped over the dog/cat water dish - again - and tossed dishtowels on the floor and mopped up. Forgot about it.
So why am I stepping on wet carpet (throw rug) hours later???
In FRONT of the fridge???
Why is water running down the front of the freezer door?
Hmmmmmm. (Unit is 8 years old even if I wasn't living in the house full-time.)
So I dumped the ice-maker bucket - because it was a frozen block of ice - making chipping the cubes rather impossible.
I mopped the floor and the front of the freezer - and mopped and mopped - still dripping! - a LEAK? REALLY?
I turned OFF the ice-maker.
Then I looked in - the place where cubes fall to be chipped is FULL OF WATER.
OH THERE’S A HINT
So I stuck a cup in the slot on the front of the door and WHOSH - water (where ice chips should be).
OK - water sources located.
WTF???
Wait - door closes weakly - Magnets dead??? (Door seals do age.)
I look closer
Oh yeah - it looked cockeyed this morning when I was running around to get out of the house.
Seems the BEAD on the HAT STRING had fallen down and BLOCKED the freezer door because where else do you keep your gardening hat???
OK - FOUND IT  (THE PROBLEM)
I can now reassemble the ice maker in peace.
The leaking air coming into the freezer from the not quite closed door was hitting the essential parts - caused a block of ice to form since the top cubes were melting and that’s why I kept hearing the thing run even though I wasn’t using any ice! And the water pooled under the block.
NEVER IGNORE WEIRD SOUNDS IN THE KITCHEN!