Outside Sounds

I've started to notice unusual sounds at night. We've always had noise from I-44 and freight trains, which have become like soothing auditory blankets at night. We've even acclimated to nightly police, fire and ambulance sirens speeding down Watson or Hampton - plus the occasional police helicopter. In the last few years, the macaw across the street has joined in at intervals CAW! CAW! CAW!

A couple new ones have begun mingling with the usual. Are they new or am I just noticing them more? Is it that I awaken every three hours to go to the bathroom? One is a church bell on the hour. How did I not notice this before? It's undoubtedly been there the entire 8 years I've been in this house.

And then there's the rooster. Yes, the other noises, such as the highway, trains, and sirens imply we are in fact in an urban area. And we are. The City of St. Louis allows up to three chickens per yard. I think their flexibility is terrific, and it's extra considerate when you acknowledge how many immigrants and refugees live in the city. Many of these populations have come from countries where it's quite common to have farm animals in their yards.

So now we regularly year the crow of a rooster from about a block away. I feel like I'm getting used to it. But did you know that roosters don't just crow in the morning? No, they pretty much do it at all hours.