Just Close Your Eyes and Listen

When you walk out the door, do you ever really hear the noises around you?

The sounds of the city are totally different from the sounds in the country.  I grew up in Chicago, where there is constant noise.  The block we lived on was half a block down from 2 major streets, so we always heard cars braking and horns blasting.  On the other side of one of the streets was the rail road line.  At night I could hear the gentle click-clack of the train rolling down the track and the lonesome wail of its horn.  On the other side of the railroad tracks was the expressway.  There were always cars and trucks traveling on it.  On top of all that, the airport was only miles away, so we could hear the planes taking off and landing.

Now, when we're at home, our ears are constantly assaulted by loud noises.  We live right in the middle of the city, a block away from a fire station and just a few blocks from a hospital, the expressway, and 2 different sets of railroad tracks.  We're very near the airport and planes are always lined up overhead, either taking off or waiting to land.  So when we're sitting in our front room at home, we hear a steady orchestra of fire and police sirens blaring, car horns beeping, brakes screeching, ambulances whining, airplanes roaring overhead, kids shouting in the church lot across the street, and lawn mowers humming.

But when we're at the lake, the noise is totally different.  We're out in the country, 10 miles away from town.  At night, the silence is hard to get used to.  It's so quiet.  But during the day, the sounds at the lake are actually pleasing to me.  Yesterday I was sitting on the deck, enjoying the afternoon sun, and I leaned back and closed my eyes.  For 5 minutes I laid there and just let the sounds of the country ring in my ears.  Here's what I heard in my 5 minutes of listening...

• 3 different types of boat motors racing across the lake.  The noise that the huge cigarette boats make is totally different from the sound that a bass boat or a pontoon boat makes.  Even the way their hulls slam against the water sounds different.
• geese honking
• ducks quacking
• carpenters shouting to each other over the constant banging of hammers and the buzz of table saws
• a lawn mower
• a leaf blower
• a dog barking
• 4 distinctly different bird calls
• a car driving down our street
• the wind rustling through the leaves overhead
• kids shouting
• a motor cycle on the street across the bay

So here's the weird thing.  During the day, I prefer the sounds of the country.  They are less harsh and much more relaxing.  But at night, I need the noise of the city in order to sleep.  I love to lay in bed with my window open and I actually like to hear the truckers shifting gears on the interstate and I strain to hear the rumble of a train going down the tracks.  If I'm lucky and the conductor pulls the horn, I'm asleep in seconds.....

Try it the next time you're out in your yard.  What sounds do you hear??

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