I like quiet. I don’t like the television blaring or traffic humming or weird mechanical noises you often times get in a house. So, when I get to have some quiet time out at the farm, the last thing in the world I’m going to do is turn on the TV or listen to music. Consequently, I have discovered my tinnitus has cranked up a few notches since the last time I stayed out here on my own. I can really hear the ringing when everything else is still.
The refrigerator crapped out sometime last fall, so we bought a small dorm fridge and that thing is so quiet, you don’t even know it’s there. The old fridge used to run all the time…rarely cycling off…and it was just on the other side of the wall from Grandma’s bedroom. Fortunately, I sleep with earplugs or I’d never last a night. But now it’s so quiet, all I can hear is my ears ringing…and birds…and the occasional car going up and down the road.
We are supposed to get hard rain here today. I finished the laundry last night and put it in my truck so I don’t have to drag it out in the wet. I do love to hear the rain on the tin roof here. There are two levels of roof here so when there is a gentle rain, it drips down off the upper edge down onto the lower porch roofs. That’s when you hear a dripping “plink” sound that is somewhat like a wind chime. And of course, when there’s a good rain, the creek runs hard and loud about ten or twelve feet from the bedroom window.
I sleep with the bedroom window open, no matter what the temperature is outside. I have an electric blanket on the bed and it makes for cozy sleeping. I’ve read it’s healthier to sleep in a cold room and I believe it. Between always having fresh air and wearing masks, I haven’t had a cold in two years. I usually have one or two every winter and this is a welcome change. I do believe I’ll continue the mask wearing in public during cold and flu season from now on.
Speaking of the bedroom window, the shade has long since deteriorated to the point you cannot put it up or down. There is only a sheer curtain and the window is right beside the bed. Now, granted, you’d have to be about eight or nine feet tall to see in that window, but I always kinda feel exposed when I sleep here alone. I went upstairs to look for something to cover it with and came across this narrow twin sheet. I put it up and laid here feeling the good quality of the fabric. Who know how old it is. Then I noticed a marking stamped in the corner. Turns out, it is a top sheet from an old Pullman sleeper car. I have no idea where it came from or how it got here. My grandparents were NOT travelers. I do have two aunts that would have traveled by train and I suppose it could have made its way here through them. My best guess is, my great grandfather brought it. He was all the time buying lots at antique auctions and dragging the stuff over here. It very likely could have been in a box of things he brought here in the ‘50s and ’60s. However it got here, it’s pretty cool and works perfectly as a window curtain.
We are supposed to get down in the 20’s the next three nights with a chance of snow showers. March came in like a lamb so I suppose it’s going to go out like a lion! It’s always shocking when you have a nice day in the mid 70’s then crash down into a hard freeze. But this too shall pass and before we know it, there will be days so hot we can’t breathe and we’ll be wishing for some of that cool air. Staying in the present and enjoying what we have is always the best way to live. I’ll be heading back to the Ponderosa sometime today so I can see what Mr. FixIt has gotten himself into while I was gone. It’s kinda funny…my phone pings me when motion is detected on the security camera and there was my sweetheart, mowing and trimming around the yard.
It’s the last day of March already! Hokey smokes…time flies!
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“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Colossians 3:14 ESV