Saturday, October 08, 2005

Silence... How Rare ...

I just came back inside from a quick trip out to the Jeep looking for my little tape measure...no luck of course, ...I seem to buy one weekly. Neither my beloved Jeep nor my missing measure is the point of this "off the cuff" post.

It was the silence.

Every once in a while, I take this place for granted. I forget how rare it is to look up into a sky undimmed by city lights, or to not see or hear any sign of another human.

No neighbor's stereo, no bass car thumping, ...no car sounds at all. No sirens, no lights, no nothing. (double negative I know...it was for effect)

There was one noise, by the jeep, a herd of deer were moving through the woods. I couldn't see them in the moonless dark, but I could hear them clearly as there simply was no other noise to interfere.

I stood in the front yard savoring the moment. Inside my house, my son was up in his room with a video game. In the living room, my wife and daughters were watching the Vandy vs LSU game so you can bet there was noise inside the house.

Outside, silence and stars.

..and me.

8 comments:

robin andrea said...

I don't think it gets any better than that. Silence. We sometimes hear cars on the road, but it's not a busy road, so we never hear anything at night.
Great description.

R.Powers said...

RD,
Thanks. Sometimes it takes a power shortage to make me realize how noisy a house is on the inside. Even at night when everyone is asleep, there are lots of humming little electric things.

Anonymous said...

color me insanely jealous.

signed,
One who lives in the city, unfortunately.

R.Powers said...

Laura,
The flip side of all that quiet is if you forget something at the store, it's 15 miles back...so we usually do without the forgotten item.

Deb said...

I love the silence here at my country place, and the view of the stars unobliterated by light. If we forget something, we'll have to do without...unless it's beer, which merits a 15-20 mile drive...

We just got electricity here a year ago, which means before our evening hours were illuminated coutesy of a generator. The first thing I appreciated about the electric hookup was not having to hear the whine of the generator.

Suzanne said...

Fabulous....

Our area is being invaded by civilization...and I can hardly wait to get further "out there".

R.Powers said...

Deb,
Great minds...I almost said.."unless it's beer" in my answer to Laura, but Pablo and Thingfish were wondering if I ever touch the stuff on a post last week and I was keeping them guessing. Electricity for only a year...wow! I'm impressed.

Zanne,
You almost need to hit the lottery to get enough land to be sure your "out there" stays "out there" anymore.
I'm not sure that makes any sense.

Karen Schmautz said...

That's one of the things I love about the country...the quiet. When I visited some city slicker friends who live in Southern California, I had a hard time sleeping with all the street lights and cars driving by...never mind that I forgot to close the curtains before going to bed that night and when I woke up in the morning the next door neighbors, who were eating their breakfast 5 feet from my window, waved at me.