Friday, July 1, 2016

In The Still Of The Night

Do you ever lie awake in the wee hours of the morning, unable to sleep, and compose a blog post in your head?

Oh....you don't? 

Never mind, then....

Well, I do. 

And last night was one of those nights. 

Something woke me in the wee hours. 

The night was incredibly still. Not a wisp of a breeze in the treetops. 

Via
No crickets, no cicadas, no peepers singing their sweet songs. 

No owls calling out to each other, "Who cooks for you?"

Via
No coyotes with their eerie howls and yips.  

No horses stomping around or whinnying. 

These are the noises I've grown accustomed to hearing in the summer months. 


I sleep with my windows open whenever possible, and I adore the night sounds. 

They often lull me to sleep. 

Do you remember being a child and the noise of crickets outside the window in the summer months was deafening?

What happened to all those crickets? 

I miss that sound. 

Via
This was one of my all-time favorite books as a child. 

Coincidence? I think not. 

Perhaps, being on the mountain top with our cooler nights is the reason? 

Do crickets prefer a hot, sultry night?

Do you hear crickets outside your windows at night? 

I've heard about the 17 year swarm of cicadas infesting the Northeast. I thank my lucky stars that they haven't made their way to the mountain top....yet. 

I like the sound of a few cicadas....but a swarm would keep me locked in my house, afraid to go outdoors. 

What was the noise that woke me out of a sound sleep?

It was most bizarre. It sounded like a critter was trying to chew or claw its way into my house. 

I pray that was not the case, and will need to do some investigating, to see if I notice anything amiss. 

Perhaps on any other night, this particular noise would have been swallowed up by all the other sounds of the forest. 

But the absence of sound last night meant that any sound was almost deafening. 

I had to drag myself out of my cozy bed, throw on a robe, and use the spotlight that I keep next to the bed. 

As soon as I neared the window, the noise stopped. 

I guess I scared it off, whatever it was. 

I lay back down again, but sleep was a long way off. 

Via
So I wrote you this post....in my head. 

Just thinking about the still of the night. 

Isn't it interesting that some nights are so silent that the absence of noise is almost too much?

I could hear my heart beating. Tha thump. Tha thump. Tha thump. 

And my tummy growling. Already thinking of my morning smoothie

Via
Eventually an owl made his presence known....and I was finally able to sleep. 

36 comments:

  1. Hope you find out if anything was near your home. I do love to hear some sounds. We can hear the yips of the coyotes in the woods across the road 1/4 of a mile away. I don't always like to hear them...kind creeps me out. I sure do not want to hear things when Ted is gone . Just stay save honey. Blessings for a great holiday weekend. xoxo, Susie

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    1. It's definitely easier hearing those sounds when I'm not alone in the house. Generally, I'm not afraid, but there are times I just can't identify a sound, like last night, and my mind gets a little nuts!

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  2. I definitely do this, and in general I compose posts in my head. Late at night they usually sound a lot more clever than they usually are though - hehehe.

    Hope you have a great weekend, and I hope the incoming storm misses you guys! Just got a warning that NYC and Upstate have weather alerts!

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    1. I'm a brilliant writer in the wee hours, Pamela! I think I need a little tape recorder or similar next to my bed so I can record what I'm thinking! :) Yes, tornado watch here starting at 3 pm and until 10 tonight. Fingers crossed it passes us by.....

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  3. I've never read that book but now you've peaked my interest. I may have to order it. And it doesn't hurt that there's a cat in it. I do more 'composing' while I garden. How can you not be brilliant when surrounded by flowers and chippies.;-) Enjoyed your post, as always.

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    1. Perhaps you can read that book to your grandbabies, Deb! I hope they like it as much as I did!

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  4. I compose blog posts in my head quite often when I am trying to get to sleep, in the shower or just relaxing. There are times when I just have to get on my computer right them and get it all out there. ;)

    I'm with you on the sounds. I have to have a cool room to sleep in and the comforting noises that I am used to or I cannot sleep. I use a fan or our swamp cooler in warmer weather as "white noise" to help block out other sounds. I do enjoy hearing the frog choruses and that should be starting up in earnest here again soon. My neighbor's pond is full of tiny little tadpoles that are turning into tree frogs. :)

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    1. I am missing the sound of the peepers - I heard them in spring, but now? I don't know where they went!

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  5. I grew up in the country where we left the windows open and listen to the sounds of the whippoorwill. Hated that bird until I moved to the city. I miss it. Now all I hear is the sound of the neighbors dogs barking a-l-l n-i-g-h-t l-o-n-g!
    Lisa

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    1. Oh, that's awful, Lisa - I would hate that....and I am a huge dog person, but I don't think it's fair to subject your neighbors to a dog barking all night long! DO they leave their dog tied up outside or something? Not fair!

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  6. Beautifully written! My readers always react more positively to posts that are in story form. I have to have a noise machine tuned to rain, set very low so it just barely covers the quiet.
    Brenda

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    1. I used to have one of those noise machines when I lived in the city. I haven't needed it since I moved up to the mountains!

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  7. I love sleeping with the windows open too but we need to get some screens. The cicadas are crazy this year.

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    1. Oh yes, I wouldn't be able to sleep with the windows open without screens - I can just imagine what I would wake up to!

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  8. Summer night sounds can be very soothing. Do you have a stream near your home? That's one of my favorite sounds.

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    1. I do - I have a creek at the edge of my property. I can only hear it from my bedroom which is at the back of the house after the spring thaw, however. From the deck out front I can hear it most nights, which is nice!

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  9. I remember growing up and hearing the crickets every night that would lull me to sleep. I really think we had hotter nights back then than we do today. Now I hear tree frogs, but not as many of the crickets. Loved reading this post that came to you in the still of the night. BTW, I hope it wasn't a bear or raccoon trying to enter your house.

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    1. I hope not also, Carol! I did a thorough inspection of the outside of my house and I didn't see anything....perhaps it was just a bird making a nest or something....I hope.

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  10. Thank goodness it wasn't the bear(s)!

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  11. Do you ever wake up at the same random time every night? For months I have woken up precisely around 4:02 am and can't go back to sleep cause I am thinking about things. I don't think anything actually wakes me up. I had another time when I woke up around 2 am for weeks and would lay awake thinking for an hour or so. The sounds of nature at night are the best - sleeping with the windows open is like camping in comfort. I would be terrified if I heard something trying to get into my house - you are very brave!!

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    1. I do often wake up around the same time every night - it's like my body thinks it has had enough sleep, and my brain starts racing!

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  12. I always think of crickets when fall comes or late August. Their noise is fine outside but have you ever had one get in your bedroom and it doesn't start chirping until you turn your lights out? And it sounds like it has a microphone? I've been known to get up and stalk them until I find it. It's either that or moving into a guest room.

    Right now there are fireworks going off--they have been for 3 nights now--and my dachshund is clawing at my leg and trembling so I'll say goodnight and pleasant dreams, Mountain Mama!

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    1. I had a cricket in my bathroom earlier in the season, which was bizarre! And although I love their sounds outside my window, I don't want to see them on my bathroom floor!

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  13. Yes, I do wake in the middle of the night...unable to fall sleep again - uugghhh! Love sleeping with windows open whenever possible. Here's to us both getting a good nights rest ;-)

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  14. A wonderful post.. we too sleep with our windows open in the summer, and the wonderful night sounds are always a comfort to me! Unless, of course, the coyotes take up residence close by, lol! Hope you can find out what it was that made that noise that woke you up!

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    1. I saw nothing amiss outside, thankfully. I still have no idea what it was...and I hope whatever it was stays away!

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  15. I love the sounds of the night. We have a few frogs in our pond and it's a real treat when they speak to us!

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    1. That's so nice, Kim - I didn't know you had a pond, how lovely!

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  16. Why does everything - sounds, thoughts/worries - seem worse in the middle of the night? And yes, I do compose blog posts in my head when I'm lying awake, lol. I only sleep with our bedroom window open if hubby is home, too (he often works the midnight shift) since our bedroom is on the ground floor. Otherwise, I don't feel safe leaving the window open when I'm sleeping/home alone. And then when I get up to pee in the middle of the night, I end up closing the window anyway, because I don't want the sunshine or the chirping birds waking me up at 4:30 - 5 a.m. in the summer! We have a lot of crickets and frogs around here (lots of woods and water)...love those sounds as I'm falling asleep.

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    1. Oh, that's nice that you have all those sounds to soothe you, Melanie!! I heard a lone cricket last night as I was driving home with the windows open - he was down the road a bit...I should have put him in my car and taken him back to my gardens!

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  17. The other night an owl was hooting so loud I thought something might be wrong. Right now I'm on the porch and I hear several birds chirping (it is 6:30 pm). There is always some kind of animal making some kind of noise around here,whether it's a bird, an owl, a coyote or cicadas. And yes, we have them this year, but not too many.

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    1. Your loud owl was probably just very close to the house, Doreen - isn't it eerie when you hear them screeching? You just know some poor little critter just bit the dust....sad, but the cycle of life at the same time. That's nature, right?

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  18. Great post - and yes, I often do my best blog post writing in bed! I wish we could sleep with the windows wide open, but our bedroom gets so hot, even on a no-so-warm day, that we are forced to use the air conditioning most nights. We do crack the windows even with the ac on, so I do get to hear some of summer's wonderful sounds!

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    1. The sound of the rain outside my window lulled me to sleep last night, Amy - it was glorious!

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