Dark and Quiet, something's not right

One night I was asleep in the trailer I was renting on a hill behind Little Rock A.F.B. 

It was, as usual fairly quiet, until there was a noise of some large animal outside and then some branches breaking.  That isn't what you need you hear at oh dark thirty.  I listened for a few seconds, then carefully looked out the window with my hand cannon nearby.  I couldn't see anything and the sound had moved off.  The next morning I checked the area before heading to work and found a few good size branches had been broken and some bushes flatened.  Whatever it was never returned while I lived there.

https://youtu.be/9ZIbmBqRxBw

There is nothing more annoying than a male Koala grunting and carrying on trying to chat up a young lady at 2am, or possums cutting hot laps on the roof. Or, for that matter, the wind whistling through yatch rigging on one of the many windy days in my part of the world.

I've been into the Australian outback on a several occasions and the silence there has to be experienced to understand it. Where we live now, a few odd car noises and the surf. Usually I'm a heavy sleeper until I hear a 'wrong' sound and then I'm instantly awake, and colplete silence is definately a wrong sound.

When I went hiking on a ridge trail, the quiet was striking.  I paused and looked back to where we started and could not see it.  Even the noise from helicopters and aircraft disappeared. The only sound was the wind, which was like great, slow breaths of some unimaginably large being. It was an  unearthly and wondrous experience.  I then noticed we could hear other hikers from quite a ways off.  Their voices seemed to have an unnaturally sharp contrast to the low background noise, to the point where we could clearly hear what they were saying.

And when the pandemic started last year, I noticed the highway noise had dropped considerably, to the point where you could count the cars go by.

Seals and surf.

Bill

We live in a small town and our community is tucked away so it’s very quiet. The only time we have dead silence is when both grandkids are either in school or sleeping. 

Tinitus isn't fun, I've had a bad case of it since teh early 70s.  It's amazing how much noise can be made by military aircraft, not just fighters but bombers, command ships, and soforth.  I always have background noise, but sometimes I can ignore most of it by concentration on other things a at least putting it even farther in the back.  It doesn't last long though.

When I got to my first overseas base we were launching several bombers and tankers every hour on their strike missions, plus everything that would come and go in the mean time.  It took me almost a week before I could sleep through the night, partly from exhaustion I guess.

WHen my parents visited us at Little Rock A.F.B. they coiuldn't believe the noise, especially at night.  At night they would hear the A.P.U.s, light all units and other things needed to get the C-130s ready for the next days flying.

Here at Orlando the airport, which used to be a base and was always busy wouild have been almost as noisey.  Now it is probably noiser for those living closer to it. WHen the attack came and all aircraft except military were grounded, the silence was defening.  The only time I heard that effect before was after we had to evacuate as many aircraft that could still fly from our base  as possible, as quickly as possible. Back in high school one teacher used the silence was defening phrase but I never understood how that worked, until then.

Very true. We lived in a very rural area for many years and it was not unusual for the electrical coop to have outages. We got used to them and they were rarely more than half a day. But it is funny how quiet things get with no computer fans, no HVAC, no fridge compressors etc. The first five years we lived there we actually had no phone of any kind. The phone company told us the lines were within 100 yards when we bought the property then after we built and called them to hook up the phone they informed us there would be several thousand dollars in construction fees because the nearest line was over a mile away. We told them to keep the phone and got a SSB CB base station for emergencies. Back in those days the only cell phones were "bag phones" that cost a couple grand to buy and over a hundred a month in fees and you had almost no coverage because there were no towers. It was pretty funny when they finally did get land lines run to our area and we got a phone it scared the crap out of us the first few times it rang lol.

Seems these days my tinitus has gotten to the point that I am guaranteed 24/7 background noise

Pretty quiet out where I live.  Unless kids are drag racing or the Cayotes are hunting.

With what's going on on this side of the hill, it's a wonder there was a line crew around.

Kind of the old flight or flight mode in reverse.

Even more of a shock when it goes out before you go to bed, and can't remember what was on.  Then it comes back up and the place is lit up like times square.

Know the feeling. Wake up to dead silence and know something is wrong. First clue, the c-pap isn't running so I'm not getting any air. That gets you moving pretty quick. Get it off quick so I can breathe. Then notice that there are no little green or red lights glowing anywhere in the room. Pitch black. Had a few of those nights in the last couple of years. Luckily around here, they only last for a couple of hours. Only one lasted for 1-1/2 days. 

Have a generator if needed but only had to use it once since we moved out here. We keep it gassed up and test it twice a year.

Jim 

Stay Safe.