This time of year, I love the sounds of nature. All day and all night, I hear the insect sounds that proclaim the glory and wonder of the last lazy days of summer. However, I find the beeps, dings and chimes of electronics are more annoying to me. Do you suppose that the inventors of these artificial noises were trying to imitate the sounds of the end of summer?
My coffee pot makes 3 high pitched beeps every morning when it has finished brewing---like I don't know that it is finished brewing? It makes more beeps when it automatically shuts itself off after 2 hours. By then, I really don't care to recognize its existence.
The seatbelt buzzer in my car is funny. It clearly wasn't calibrated for the average weight American because it thinks my gym bag is a person. When I pull away from the gym with the bag on the seat, it starts with the gentle beeping that accelerates to a higher pitched warning and finally sounds like the noises right before they say "blast off" for the space shuttles. My bag weighs less than 20 pounds. No humans of that weight sit in the front seat.
Last week in Florida I rented a car that I really enjoyed driving but it had the flashing light-honk-beep combination with the remote lock function. Who needs that much acknowledgement that they have simply locked the car? It discouraged me from locking the car.
When I was selecting my new refrigerator, the salesman pointed out that it had an alarm on it. I jokingly asked if that meant it made rude comments to you, or pig noises, when you needed to lose weight. He corrected me and didn't find my comment particularly funny. Since then I have left the door open dozens of times only to have the loud beeping remind me to close it. When I have it open on purpose - to fill it with groceries or trying to clean it out - it still beeps but at least it has a disabling function. Most of the beeps in my life do not. I wish the alarm would sound when I reach in for something I should not eat.
The microwave would beep into the next century if not opened when it finishes a job. It rarely works more than a minute or two at a time, not long enough to get any distance away from it. So why all the noise?
When I use the transponder/EZ Pass at most toll boths, there is a beep when you go through. My Mother's hearing loss restricts her from hearing it. In Florida I think a lot of people don't hear it. There are deaf drivers but no blind drivers; everyone can see the stop/go light change, even if they are color blind. Isn't the light enough?
I started thinking about this topic yesterday. Last evening I invited a friend over for dinner. As we sat on the deck and it grew darker, the night noises expanded with the darkness. This time of year, it is amazing how many natural noises we hear. They drown out the hum of the traffic or the clacking of the metro running above ground more than a mile away. We were blessed with the appearance of what I now know is a "false katydid" on the screen. I wasn't sure what it was and examined it. When left alone, it finally heard another katydid and then it started talking. We enjoyed its chatter. Later, one followed us indoors and I gently let it back outside.
This morning when the coffee maker finished brewing and made its five beeps, I heard an echo. Another katydid had gotten inside and was answering the coffee pot with its chatter. Now when I hear the coffee pot beep in the morning, I will think of the katydid and the other night noises of late summer. It's a wonderful time of year. I am going to focus on the natural noises.
If you want to know more about singing insects, visit this University of Florida site: http://www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/index.htm I found it to be an interesting resource. It helped me to identify my false katydid. Thank you to Tom Walker of the Department of Entomology & Nematology for the photograph.
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