Is living in the country peaceful?

So many times when people come to visit us they say, “Oh, my, it’s so peaceful here.”

Saturday night at ten my mom said, “I just have to get used to this quiet.  I think I’ll go out on the porch and just sit there for a  little bit.”

It is so quiet here.  It took me awhile to describe it as peaceful though.  For a long time I felt almost claustrophobic.  As though I’d been cutoff from the entire rest of the world.  People and crowds energize me.  While other Mom’s talk about being completely overwhelmed at a homeschool convention, I walk in and get more and more excited.  I love the feeling of a crowd.  I love busy intersections.  I loved being outside and looking up at any given time to see airplanes criss cross the sky.  I love the hum of traffic.  It makes me feel connected to the world.  Not just in my corner, but everywhere there are people going, doing, moving, living, breathing.

{Baby tree swallow who had a little trouble learning to fly. His parents swooped down to feed him.}

This land is quiet.  It’s reeeeeaally quiet.  On an average day we might see six cars go past our house and I can pretty much guess who it is by what time they drive past.  On a nice weekend when people are heading back toward the Middle Ford we stop and stare at all the traffic. TWENTY cars in one day!  Airplane sightings are less common than seeing deer or wild turkey.

 {wild turkey create traffic jam when they all decide to cross the road}

Living in the country where it’s quiet doesn’t necessarily mean nothing happens.  In the last two weeks we’ve lost power for over 24 hours (which means no water either), hosted friends from out of town three times, and then had our well pump go out (another 24+ hours without water) while hosting one set of guests. Nothing like having ten people in the house and no running water.  I told David we must have had every appliance in the house go bad since we live here and he said, oh, no, not yet.  The furnace hasn’t quit yet.  Anyone up for a visit, say mid-January?

But quiet {or peaceful, whichever you want to call it} can be delightful.

I love that we get to see so much wildlife.  Besides the more common deer and turkey, it’s not unheard of to see a black bear.  Coyotes yip in the neighborhood and nearly every evening we are serenaded by the song of the whippoorwill. The birds are the best.  We’ve spotted hawks, woodpeckers and even an occasional bald eagle.  The boys both put up nesting boxes they made.  Bluebirds claimed Adam’s and tree swallows settled into the one Liam made.  Last year there was a wren nest in one of my ferns on the front porch, a robin nest in the cedar tree in the front yard, and a mockingbird nest in a pine to the side of the house.  We’ve always loved watching the hummingbirds, but this year we really got to see them up close and personal.  In the early spring when they were just returning from the South, someone found a hummingbird just barely flying in a building at camp.  It looked weak and exhausted and maybe sick.  It tried to fly but after several feet would collapse.  David had just hung a feeder outside his office window so he took the bird over to the feeder and tried to get it to drink.  The poor bird was too exhausted to lift it’s head.  He laid it on the ground and expected it to die. At lunchtime he checked on it and found it still alive.  After finding a medicine dropper, he syphoned some of the nectar from the feeder and fed little drops into the hummingbirds mouth.  Surprise, surprise, it was just enough energy to let the little bird take off!  Last month Liam found a dead one in our flower bed near the bird feeder.  It appeared to have been stabbed by one of it’s own. 🙁  Silly birds.  They could just share.  But then we’d only have half as much fun watching them.

I love that there is so little traffic the boys can bike on the road in front of our house.  I can go walking on a paved road with a stroller and two little people on bikes way out ahead of me and the biggest threat is the black lab on the corner.  You would think I’d get exercise regularly.

But the best part of quiet living is the moments stolen on the front porch.  Our ridiculously full calendar hasn’t made for too many moments; but when they happen, they are perfect.  Even if it’s just for a few minutes.  With a cup of coffee to sip in the cool morning air. (Yes, I said cool and it is July. We also have yellow leaves on the tree and few to crunch through on the ground. Don’t you dare say that word that reminds us of pumpkins.)  A few moments stolen to watch the rain roll in across the fields.  Sitting with a friend and watching the hummingbirds at war.  Or my favorite.  Those twilight moments when the world outside is going to sleep.  A few last drinks of nectar for the hummingbirds. The loud chirping of still hungry almost ready to fly tree swallow babies.  The lazy walk of a dog headed for her favorite corner.  The deepening pinks of the sky and then, there it is.  The call of the whippoorwill.

• ← It’s quiet
• Kitchen Remodel →