Noise

We spent a good portion of yesterday picking hot peppers- Serrano, jalapenos, Bhut Jolkia, and sweet bananas for a large order to go out today.

While sitting in the barn last night cleaning and polishing them the music from the Popcorn festival was way too loud. We are 4 miles from the stage in downtown. We closed the barn doors and even with the fans running the noise level was not pleasant. I remember back in the day I covered the festival for the newspaper and Pat Regulas was an integral part of the festival he kept the sound in check at the festival and he was always cognoscente of respect and courtesy to others in all aspects of the festival especially those who lived nearby. We never heard the music clear out here until a few years ago. Each year it gets louder and louder out our way. Even when we had finished packing our produce and went in the house and shut the doors & windows you could still hear it inside. If it was that loud here I can’t imagine what folks did who live a whole lot closer, especially those who had young school age children in bed or those who had to get up early for work. There is absolutely no reason for music to be that loud ever.

Growing up in the days of the “boom box” my dad always told us our music had better just barely be audible for if he could hear it then it was too loud and he would take the necessary precautions to put a stop to it permanently. I never pushed that barrier although I remember a disrespectful sibling who did. Dad had put a speaker up on the antennae in the barnyard that he had hooked up to the base station CB radio. This was used in emergencies to contact one of us should we be out of ear shot in the barns or fields. Dad worked second trick at a factory and left for work around 2pm each day for the drive to work. One summer no sooner than dad had left that disrespectful sibling set his boom box up on the desk in the dining room beside the CB radio base station and he proceeded to set the audio on high, and locked the button down so he could broadcast his music over the loud speaker outside. Unbeknownst to said sibling, dad had stopped at the neighbors up the road on his way to work when he heard the music blaring and he knew immediately where it was coming from.

Meanwhile I had mentioned to said disrespectful sibling that he had better not continue for if the neighbors complained to dad we would all be in trouble. He proceeded to tell me in no uncertain words what I could do with my business.
Long story short we didn’t have boom boxes anymore and the chore list got a bit longer as well as being grounded for most the summer. Even though said disrespectful sibling was at fault I always seemed to get the devil for their mis-deeds for I was always told “you’re the oldest, you should know better, you should have prevented it.” Ahh yea, like siblings would ever listen to their older sibling. At any rate I was always getting extra chores. I can only guess it was because I was older and knew better, right?

Here are some pics from yesterdays harvest and a few pics of flowers too..