Posted by: Brenda Kula | April 16, 2009

Here I am, in a beautiful spot in the pines of East Texas…

With beauty all around me…

And every time I venture outside, I hear monstrous machines tearing up dirt and doing what monstrous machines do. They are building a two story bank across the street on my west side.

I go out with the dogs to my sweet little pond to enjoy the trickling of the water, and noise berates me at every turn. There is no getting away from it. Last night it went on until nearly 10 p.m. In the dark!

Inside I’ve got water fountains going. And air purifiers turned up to try and block out some of the noise. They say it’s going to take six months to build it!

And just around the corner, scarcely two blocks down, they’re building a Marriott Hotel!

When I moved here four years ago, it was so quiet. Here in my little garden house in the pines. But then, time marches on. And things change…

I still have a maniacally beeping refrigerator driving me up the wall and back. It’s like a refrigerator gone mad on steroids. I am so stubborn I refuse to call the repairman. Nope. I’m going to wait it out a little while and just buy a new one. One with a warranty and boy, it better not beep no matter what it’s trying to tell me. I would never have imagined something so simple and innocent as a beep telling you to change the water filter could go so awry. But it did. I have no idea what happened. Just that it got louder, and beeped more and more. Until this. It is a symphony of demented beeps. It may as well be a blasting horn at this point, cause it’s driven me on round the bend!

Posted in Gardening & Nature | Tags: commercial building nearby, Gardens, refrigerator

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Responses

1. Hi Brenda,

   I am so sorry about the noise. They are building a new road behind our house. So far the noise is several hundred yards away and muffled by the underbrush. The area directly behind our house is in beginning to be developed into a new neighborhoos. UGH! That will mean more noise–dogs barking, vehicles, etc.

   Blessings,

   Lorilee

   By: Anonymous on April 16, 2009

   at 4:36 pm

2. Love the picture of the lily pads…soooo cool! Sorry that it seems you are losing the peace and serenity you had surrounding you 4 years ago with construction “monsters”. =/ Still wish I had the beautiful garden that you have!! =)

   **Hugs**

   By: Paris on April 16, 2009

   at 4:46 pm

3. Noise pollution is a real bother! I like peace and quiet! That’s why I like camping high up in the Rockies–no one to bother you there!

   Brenda, what is the green plant in the foreground of the first picture?? There is an iris coming up through it.

   By: Linda at Meadowview Thymes on April 16, 2009

   at 5:18 pm

4. Your garden is beautiful and I am sorry about the noise pollution caused by the construction. It was bound to happen eventually. I used to live in the Piney Woods in Splendora and in Athens. Which part of the Piney Woods are you in? I love East Texas and I hope that it never gets as congested as where I live now (North TX). Hopefully I will be able to move East again soon. I have added you to my links so that I can visit again. Please keep posting the beautiful photos!

   By: debsporch on April 16, 2009

   at 6:27 pm

5. Building can be so noisy. They built a house across the street and boy did it ever upset things-and not just when he was done. No, because then he had to demolish his grandmother’s house (also across the street) and then burn it all. Yuck. The smell was awful for several weeks. I feel for you especially with that beep. Hope peace comes before you know and I think it will. Hang tough.

   By: tina on April 16, 2009

   at 6:48 pm

6. I can sympathize somewhat with your refrigerator problem. Mine has started making sounds like Chewbacca during the defrost cycle.

   By: Tabbie on April 16, 2009

   at 7:20 pm

7. 6 months….. oh no…… your tranquil corner of the world has been changed…… I am so sorry….. maybe ear plugs….

   HUgs

   Linda

   By: Linda’s Blue Gate on April 16, 2009

   at 7:20 pm

8. Brenda, I asked Manly how he got out beep to stop. He says he either hit the water button three times or pushed the light and lock button at the same time three times. Did that make any sense?

   By: deb on April 16, 2009

   at 7:55 pm

9. Brenda, one thing for sure, your garden is certainly gorgeous and peaceful to look at. I hate construction noise, too, but the good news is that the earthmoving machines won’t be there making noise forever and maybe it will ease up. But I think that you better go refrigerator shopping this very weekend, right after you’ve spent some time at the spa. You deserve peace and quiet indoors if you can’t get it outdoors, for sure. I hope you have hair left when this is done!

   By: Robin on April 16, 2009

   at 9:30 pm

10. well I only wish the garden here looked the same, though I have been collecting for the last few weeks tropical plants (on a big budget from the auctions) and this weekend I am hoping to put them in – shoving them in the soil and hoping for the best! eeek!

    sorry you having to put up with that, I know it is awful, we have a new home being built over the road from us (they just ripped down and old cottage like ours with heaps of history, sooooo sad) and the noise has been not dreadful but just there, droning in the background every single day

    the fridge thing, good lord, that would be absolutely too much for me, I am one who can’t stand the hum of a digital alarm clock

    anyway, have a good weekend, I am hoping to have a green thumb time…!!!

    S x

    By: abeachcottage on April 17, 2009

    at 4:20 am

11. OMG, is that parsley in that first photo, it is huge! Funny, how peaceful it LOOKS in your garden, glad we can’t hear the noise.

    By: nola on April 17, 2009

    at 7:02 am

12. I am honestly sad for your predicament. If you recall, we spent all of last summer having two houses on our street rebuilt. Months and months of endless noise, trying to drive around endless trucks and vans, and then one day it stopped. There’s not much that can be done about it. Hopefully, you will figure out the fridge issue and stop the beeping. Maybe a good pair of headphones and some tunes will help with the noise outside…it won’t be peace, but it might sound better. Have a wonderful weekend anyway.

    ♥, Susan

    By: Susan at Black eyed susans kitchen on April 17, 2009

    at 7:52 am

13. I can totally relate to your noise from the construction. We have a road going in behind our house. They are building a business park all around us and the first step is the road/sewer/water/elect. etc. That went on all summer last year from 5am till 11pm on most nights! It was unbelieveable. We lived in the country all our lives and now this)-: My dad owned 700 acres so we were right in the middle on our 5 acres. He sold the 300 acreas of the property and this is what they are doing now. Its a nightmare! Not sure if any businesses will ever actually build in this economy but they are getting the road done for the future. Sorry you have to hear all that. And all the dust too that doesn’t help with the asthma. Grrrrrr

    By: cindee on April 17, 2009

    at 9:48 am

14. thanks for your comment about the book and the table, I had wondered about plywood and if it would work, now you’ve made my mind up, I’m gonna ask mr bc if he could pick up a piece next time we got to the hardware…

    sarah

    By: abeachcottage on April 17, 2009

    at 4:33 pm

15. Time for some earplugs Brenda! Noise can be such a drain on energy etc. Right now we are putting up with a demolition job several blocks away and IT is driving me crazy too. Hope the noise stops soon, for you and for me. In the meantime, your garden is looking as lovely as ever.

    Hugs, G

    By: Geraldine on April 17, 2009

    at 5:24 pm

16. I feel for you, Brenda; I’d hate to have to live with all that noise. I am finding that the older I get, the less I can tolerate noise.

    By: Renna on April 17, 2009

    at 7:40 pm