Sounds

[mjarrels]

I like clocks... have a grandfather clock in the living room, a cucko clock in the dining room and a Royal Navy clock (and wheather station). Two antique clocks in the garage that I bought in Korea... Great looking but don't keep good time until there is a earthquake (seems to get them started again in the Pacific Northwest and the Philippines). They all make different sounds and it is soothing to hear them tick, bomg or go cucko... Also have a train that goes buy about a mile away about three times a day... sounds so good as it passes the small road crossings... Day or Night, these are piecefull sounds that I like... Makes me fell that I'm home for good now! No more 1MC or 5MC blasts from a Navy ship... No more emergency brakeaways... No more living under the 3 wire or under a JBD (jet blast deflector) hydralic pump... My hearing is going but it's not gone yet!

mark

 

[Bird]

Mark, when I lived out in the country, I liked to sit outside and listen to birds singing, coyotes howling, even crickets and cicadas. I found those sounds to be a bit soothing. But, unlike you, I would not allow a grandfather clock in my house; could not stand that "tick tock" sound and chimes. Did you ever wonder why the same sounds are soothing to some and annoying to others? I think possibly the reason those old clock sounds are actually depressing to me may be the fact that one of my great grandmothers had one in her home. She also had heavy drapes in the house that were never opened. That house always seemed dark, dreary, and dismal to me when I was a kid, and that tick tock going constantly. HORRIBLE SOUND TO ME!

 

[davitk]

My wife has an old wind up clock that came over on the slow boat from Sicily..... every time my FIL comes over he winds it, I find it and hide it under the blankets in the back of the closet, I absolutely CAN'T STAND IT

 

[charlz]

I grew up in pretty much dead silence in rural Montana.... I like things to be quiet Ticking clocks are one that bug me... can't have an analog clock on my nightstand. ALTHOUGH... I pretty much grew up on one of my friends farms. Some of my best childhood memories are from there. When things were slow or after lunch some times my friend, his dad and I would just sit at the kitchen table drinking coffee, staring out the window, listening to the clock on the wall tick until it "was time". Maybe a topic of conversation would come up maybe it wouldn't. Amazing how many people these days can't just sit and be quiet... its a quality I admire

 

[LarryD]

Earlier this summer I was lying in bed listening to the birds singing and calling before I had to get up and go to work, then I heard horses come thundering past the bedroom window. Not an unpleasant sound but one that really needed to be investigated.

It seems the neighbor up the road left a gate unlatched and his animals found it. One of the horses was a rescue here before they adopted it and every now and then Murdock likes to come back for a visit.

Mark, if you want, I can record some late night high power turn-ups for your listening pleasure.

 

[scgargoyle]

I've got about 40 antique clocks, but I only run a few. I have a 200 y/o grandfather clock that has an annoying small bell. It seems that the fore-runner to the grandfather clock (properly called a tall case clock) was a wall clock, so the bell was rather small. Someone got the bright idea of building an encased stand, and so the tall case clock was born. It took about another 50 years before folks decided a clock that big oughta have an appropriate sized chime, and they did away with the little bell. Mine has wooden gears, and sounds like an ice cream truck! BTW, the name grandfather clock comes from a song that was popular 100 years or so ago. I don't hear the ticking, or even the chiming after a few days- I just tune it out. It drives my brother crazy when he comes to visit.

 

[Bird]

I just tune it out. It drives my brother crazy when he comes to visit.

I can understand tuning sounds out. When I was a teenager, we lived 3 years literally right next to some busy railroad tracks, and of course in those days, with no air-conditioning, the windows were nearly always open. And after a couple of months, the only time we even noticed a train was when it drowned out the sound on the TV.

 

[yankeerider]

I grew up on the edge of town with railroad tracks at the back of our property- about 300 feet from the house- and steam heat. In the wintertime you'd have the combination of trains at all hours and the frequent hissing and popping of the steam radiators. Did I mention that our house was on rock that they blasted through when they built the railroad, so the train would shake the house as well as make noise? My mom had canaries, so in the daytime there was a lot of bird songs.

I love the nightime sounds of frogs and insects, and the morning sounds of birds. My wife keeps threatening to kill the frogs in my backyard pond because they make so much noise in the early to mid summer.

 

[frank_f15]

I can understand tuning sounds out. When I was a teenager, we lived 3 years literally right next to some busy railroad tracks, and of course in those days, with no air-conditioning, the windows were nearly always open. And after a couple of months, the only time we even noticed a train was when it drowned out the sound on the TV.

strange you should mention that, train sound. i don't live by train tracks maby 2 miles at closest. but i sometimes wake up and i can hear their wistles in the distance, find it comforting for some reaso

 

[Bird]

Frank, when I was doing gas leakage surveys, one job was in Duncan, AZ, and there was only one RV park (if you could call it that), so I had my motorhome parked with the back end about 25-30 feet from some railroad tracks. That first night I had just gone to sleep when the whole world shook; I thought we were having an earthquake, and then I realized a train (a long one) was going by. So when it was gone, I went back to sleep. The next morning I was awakened again by the ground shaking and all the noise as the train went back the other direction. I later learned that an empty ore train went to the big copper mine every night and came back loaded early the next morning. And I do believe he shook the whole town twice a night.

 

[tallyho8]

I have 2 antique clocks with beautiful sounding gongs on them. I love to wind them up and listen to them chime the hour. My wife can't stand the noise. I haven't wound them up in years now.

 

[Tig]

This reminds me. I have to get my cuckoo clock fixed. I love that sound.
Trains used to run down the other side of the lake. Love that sound too but it's been gone 30 years since the mine closed up north.
I also lived at the leeward end of an air force runway for two years. I could go to the airshow tomorrow and ID those jets by their sound. I don't miss that one bit. It's hard to enjoy a sound that consumes all other sounds.
We are planning a house build and my wife did not like my ideas for the location of the master bedroom. This year she got to hear the waves on the shore at night. Now she understands why I want that sound to come in my bedroom window.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Growing up there was a piano musician living downstairs in the apartment building. I listened to him practice for 20 years of my life. Since every player has a personal touch, listening to him from a CD or life concert takes me back like magical carpet

Our Virginia home, the most distinguished sound are frogs. Love that noise, it really spells spring to me.

And there come dogs barking their heads off, sheep yelling for grain, horse kicking the gate to get some attention and extra food....

 

[polo1665]

We also have a couple of "chimers"/"gongers" in the house. A grandfather clock downstairs and a surprisingly vocal mantle clock in the bedroom. I also enjoy the ticking, chiming on the quarter hour, and gonging on the hour.
I've always thought the ticking of a clock was relaxing.

Of course I always enjoy sleeping with the window open so I can here all the critters at night and the birds in the morning, also very relaxing.

Mark

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

The only clock that made a sound around here was one of those stupid battery powered bird clocks that makes a different bird sound every hour. The novelty of that wore off after about a day. I yanked the bird sound battery out of it and now it just makes a clicking sound when it tries to "tweet"

For me, there is nothing like relaxing on the back deck listening to the sound of cicadas "singing" on a hot summer day or hearing the distant whistle from the Tottenham Steam train about 8 km away. Time seems to stand still.

 

[Bird]

Whether a sound (or noise) is good or bad just depends on the individual. We moved to our present home 3 years ago and heard a rooster crowing every day for awhile, but then someone complained and there's an ordinance prohibiting such "noise" in the city. So the kid had to get rid of her pet rooster. A rooster crowing, cattle lowing, donkey braying are kinda pleasant sounds to me, but I can understand how that might not be true for others.

 

[Blagadan]

The sound of a rooster in the morning is what its all about for me bird. Nothing better to wake up first thing in the morning, open up the windows and hear a rooster call form the neighbouring farm. Makes me automatically want to fill my lungs with fresh air and get on with the day, I now firmly believe it is an involuntary response to the sound of the rooster!!

Had thoughts of setting up my own coop but not for another while.

Theres a grain store half a mile up the road from me that gives me plenty of "sound" this time of year. Extractor fans, conveyor belts and grain drying machinery. Not so loud that its uncomfortable, but a background noise similar to hearing a tumble drier running in the utility room... only outside.

At the beginning of the harvest, I enjoy the sound of tractors going to and from the site and all the other sounds associated with the processing of the grain. After 4-6 weeks I JUST WANT IT ALL TO STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

I came home from work last night and started to do a few chores out in the garden. I had this strange buzzing in my ears and it took me a while to figure out what was causing it... I had grown accustomed to the background noise of the grain store. They had everything shut off lastnight and what I was hearing was a deafening silence!!! Harvest and grain processing must be coming to an end for the year....

I cant complain though, for the other 46 weeks of the year its nice and peaceful where I live. Grain store was there before I built my house so we knew what to expect.