As I sit here trying to figure out what next for the day, it occurs to me that something is bothering me. I’m irritable, figity and in general getting in a bad mood. It’s noise! When you move to the country, peace and quiet are the two things that come to mind. You can hear the birds sing, you go hours without hearing a single sound of any kind and its just peaceful. You know what, that simply isn’t true. The thing that’s so funny about what I’m getting ready to write is I grew up in the country and as a child I can remember the deafening silence (especially as a teenager). Not a lot of traffic, no horns blowing, lawn mowers, weed wackers..there just wasn’t that much noise.

So far today, I’ve heard heavy equipment running..for hours. The farmer next door is cutting and putting up hay. Apparently this is not a process that is done sitting in the tractor but one that requires a person strutting around, swinging their arms and yelling! So what do you think happens when this occurs? That’s right, the dogs go nuts, the sheep and goats take off running for fear that their lives will surely end soon and I am jumping up and down like a “pogo” stick trying to see what the problem is. As if that isn’t bothersome enough, another neighbor (not a farmer, but son of the farmer) has just returned from a weekend of  “truck pulling” (tractor truck style). So there’s the banging and clanging of pulling these trucks off the hauler. Well, he must not have done well because those trucks sound like they are on the fast track to explosion. All the while the neighbor and another dude are standing around yelling at each other at the top of their lungs because they can’t hear over the trucks idling. Keep in mind this neighbor shared his feelings about our dogs barking at the UPS driver all the time and how it just had to stop!  The military has more than obviously changed their “day’s of thunder” helicopter flight pattern to go right over the house. Each time this has happened (of the 6 times) the windows shake and you guessed it..the dogs bark, then the sheep and goats take off running again..it’s an aerial assault don’t ya know.

So, what have we accomplished today? The dogs have exercised their vocal cords, the sheep and goats have run to the point of exhaustion, I have spent hours going from window to window, field to field just making sure that all of the commotion is what I think it is and not some predator ready to eat the flock or herd. Maybe I expect too much from country living but it would be nice to have a 30 minute stretch of time when my ears aren’t being abused. Oh my I really am in a bad mood. Sometimes we must vent and even rant a bit!

OK, that’s it, no more fussing. I’m off to make soap for the rest of the day!