Years ago, when our first dog passed away, we of course missed him in every way, but one thing I did not expect was how much I would miss the click of his nails on the wood floors. The whole house felt empty without that sound.
I think of this now, with our current dog. I appreciate his clicks.
Aug 27, 2023·edited Aug 27, 2023Liked by Rob Walker
Similarly, our dog would always bark when she saw our headlights on the garage door as we pulled in, so now her "alarm bark" rings in my head when I see my wife pull in. She passed away 3 months ago and it still happens every time.
I'm really sorry, Amy. That must be very difficult. I'm a recent convert to listening to bird calls, they've helped me stay present over the past year. One thing that has helped is an app that was recommended by a family friend who is also becoming more hard of hearing. Do you know about Merlin? It's put out by the Cornell University department of Ornithology, you use it to record bird song around you, and it identifies them for you. Not only that, but you can save the recordings and play them back with the volume up. Sorry for the unsolicited recommendation, maybe you already know about this and have used it before! I pretty much sing this app's praises to anyone who will listen 😊
I love Merlin - but there are certain pitches I just don't her - even with hearing aids... so I don't even know there is a bird song to identify. I should just turn on Merlin and see what happens! And thank you Rob and Christa for your kind thoughts. Life is really great for me so despite missing those bird songs, life is good.
Another sound I would definitely miss is the signal for a drawbridge at the other end of the neighborhood. It's funny how mechanical / industrial sounds can mean something!
For me it's the Tuesday noon siren in San Francisco. These ran until late 2019 (just before the pandemic, ironically) and then perchance were put on hold — first for refurbishing, and then due to municipal budget priority issues. In the past week or so, news suggested funding may have been found to complete the refurbishing and get them going again. Fortunately I made a recording around 10 years ago, and there are other recordings out there:
:) I am so glad I did, too. It's a good example of how just noting the things we take for granted — rather than the seeming major events — is so valuable.
We have a 10 am Tuesday siren. We are centrally located between two towns and sometimes, your hear the siren from each town at a slightly different time.
May I ask where this is? In San Francisco, there are over a 100 speakers for the Tuesday noon siren. When the speakers did ring off, a fascinating effect took place, where what sounded like echo was, in fact, as you describe, a matter of hearing the sirens from different distances.
Hi. Different places have sirens for different reasons, often for some sort of weather-related emergency, like tornados or earthquakes. In addition to emitting an actual siren sound, they can be used as a public address system in times of emergency. They used to ring out here in San Francisco on a weekly basis as a test. Here's some information on them:
Driving from New Hampshire to Vermont on back roads the other day I passed through a former mill town -- and lots of rusted empty train cars parallel to the road. When I got to the train crossing I thought of the sold style steam engine train whistle. I wondered how long it will be until it is gone.
We’ve lived in a Hispanic neighborhood for 42years. When we first moved here the neighbor’s parties would vibrate our house. Over the years the parties got more subdued. I miss that “let’s Get Loud” vibe from my neighbors. Rock the house, guys.
I have two large lemon trees providing a sight break between my house and my neighbor's. The trees are the house for a number of small birds who awaken about dawn, leave at 7ish AM and return in the afternoon to settle for the night. They are very loud and I miss them when they are not home.
The one sound above all that I would miss if it went away (besides the voices of my loved ones) is birdsong. When I moved to my current apartment, the first thing I noticed the first morning I woke up there was the twittering of birds in the trees outside my window. My last place was on noisy Main Street where the constant sound all day and all night was traffic. Suddenly, one block away, the traffic was replaced by birds. Magic! I never take this for granted.
When I first moved to Southeast Texas near the Gulf Coast in 2003, nightfall was accompanied by sounds I associated with tree frogs, lots of them. I don't remember when their chorus died. A single cricket appeared in my city dwelling many years ago; I considered his brief presence good luck -- I hope cricket songs still prevail in country nights. The disappearance of such sounds is ominous to me.
I miss the sound of my father's voice. The strange thing is, I can't pull it up in my memory. I have aphantasia which effects pretty much all of my senses. If I heard his voice, I may know it, but he's been gone for 33 years. One of my last memories of him was the weekend before he passed away. We went out of dinner and sat chatting about his retirement and he was guessing what his company would give him as a gift. A friend of his received a new set of golf clubs and he thought he would get them too. I knew that they were going to give him a golf cart for my parents to drive around in in Arizona.
I love the sound of frog calls. I participate in a Frog Calling Survey and each spring and summer I head out at night with a friend or two and listen for frogs at our forest preserve. I am always so overjoyed when I hear all the calls. This year was a little sad as the drought meant less frog calls which means less mating, which means fewer tadpoles. The project started because frog species were disappearing from areas and they realized they should track their existence and see how populations are doing.
Like others here, I miss sounds made by the passing of my dogs during the last 12 months. Their sounds as they slept, dreaming of who knows what, their nails on our timber floor, their barks, all of their noise. Whilst I still sometimes ache for their sounds, they are now replaced with sounds of two puppies, bringing their own sounds to my life
Toddler chatter. The learning of a language is incredibly creative. I love conversations with very small children. I will definitely miss those sweet moments of language development when my grandkids all are past that learning stage.
My late husband used to play a blues riff on his guitar and it would drive me nuts-- especially when we were watching TV or chatting away about our day. But, damn, now I really miss it and wish I'd recorded it.
And the sound of the wind in the poplar and pine trees at my parents rustic cabin. Nothing says "up North" in Minnesota like that sound.
I remember a couple of sounds from when I was a kid that I haven't heard since, but often think about. Just about the time I woke up for school (7am) the morning whistle from a local factory would go off signaling the start time of the work day. For some reason I always felt comforted by it, (probably not the factory workers though!). The other sound was the weird ramming clang of the drop forge. At the time I had no idea what it was and only learned years later. The drop forge plant was probably a mile or more away but the sound traveled. I still think about it.
Those are both amazing examples. They really strongly suggest a specific time and place. I particularly like that the clang sound is something whose meaning you learned later -- but was so distinct! Great stuff, thank you
My husband wakes up every morning whistling or humming - and he has a remarkable repertoire... everything from classical to jazz to rock to tv jingles. It's always a surprising delight. I treasure it now and hope to hear it for many more years.
Sparrows are disappearing very fast… they used to be a very common Bird in cities but their number have dropped by 75% between 2003 and 2016 in paris…
What makes me sad also is the « shifting baseline » : children born nowadays will perceive as normal Not to hear to sparrow’s chirp (just like it’s normal for me to drive for 8 hours without having to stop to clean the windshield because there are not as many insects nowadays as when my parents were kids)
Wow, until now I hadn't realised I haven't seen a sparrow in... decades? This makes me so sad. And the bug thing - I would never have thought of that. I can't remember the last time I cleaned a bug off my windscreen
So many others have mentioned bird calls, but there is one bird that used to be as consistent as sunrise back home in Caracas, Venezuela. It's called the great kiskadee in English (it's found in southern Texas as well) and we call it "cristofué". Both names come from the distinct call it makes, and it almost always calls early in the morning. Now that I've emigrated to Florida, I appreciate the mockingbirds and the blue jays and even the crows and occasional cardinal, but nothing says home like my "cristofué". I miss them as much as I miss my parents back home.
Wow I just looked up kiskadee - what beautiful birds! I'd never heard of them so thank you for introducing me. Last year I left south London (where I'd lived for over 30 years) and I miss the sound of parakeets - there were huge flocks of them near my old home. Parakeet squawks may seem out of place to many in London, but for me they were part of everyday life and, as you say, the sound of home.
We moved into a house last summer that is visited by swifts from May - August and when they leave everything sounds far too quiet. I miss their screams so much in the weeks after they depart and I'm sure I will throughout the winter too!
If someone hasn't already posted this, the site linked above is fascinating to listen to. That clip is a longer explanation of the site itself, but just go to aporee.org and start listening.
El sonido diario de mi vida es sobre todo Gina, mi perrita de 11 años, una bichón maltes preciosa, adorable, entrañable, es mi amor, mi compañera de vida. Un sonido que extraño?, uff que difícil, me cuesta recordar, quizá escuchar a mi madre preparando chocolate los domingos en casa, el sonido del vinilo cuándo mi hermano ponía los discos de supertramp, el sonido y aroma que extraño, sí, ese puede ser uno de tantos momentos.
Probablemente el sonido que extrañaré serán los gruñidos de Gina, los momentos con ella. ya tiene 11 años, eso me apena, me pongo triste. Gracias por tan bonito post, me hizo recordar muchas cosas bonitas que ya no están en mi vida. 💙
When my father was alive, he used to play this particular beat everytime he knocked on door. Sometimes on wooden tables or just randomly anywhere. I miss that beat and now I play it for a while whenever I miss him.
I live one suburb over from Port Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. I'm moving soon and you've reminded me of the sounds I'll miss. The cruise ship horns as they leave the port, usually at night, are hands down my favourite sound. I'll also miss the church bells on the hour from the church across the street. And the youthful chatter of the group of schoolkids who walk past my windows at 11am every day, going from one campus to another. Oh yes! And the basketball-enthusiast kid who I hear from blocks away bouncing his ball as he walks to the courts at the end of my street. Thanks for making me take note of these things :)
I miss the sound of my father's Alpha Romeo car horn when I was a child. He had several Alphas over the years, but this one was Italian red and imported from Italy in the 1970s. The horn had a distinctive sound, a beeb, beeb in sort of an alto range. My Dad would hit the car horn twice on Sunday mornings when he came to pick my sister and I up at our mother's house for our Sundays together. (My mother didn't like it that he would beep the horn.) Dad sold real estate, and sometimes he would be in the neighborhood where my school was, showing houses to clients. He would hit the horn twice anytime he passed my school, and I knew it was him passing by outside, and he was thinking of me.
Years ago, when our first dog passed away, we of course missed him in every way, but one thing I did not expect was how much I would miss the click of his nails on the wood floors. The whole house felt empty without that sound.
I think of this now, with our current dog. I appreciate his clicks.
My Main coon cat is still here but her distinct and menacing howl when she plays with her favorite faux animal will be missed
Our current dog actually makes a number of interesting yowl sounds. I've even tried to record them but mostly I just enjoy them:)
Similarly, our dog would always bark when she saw our headlights on the garage door as we pulled in, so now her "alarm bark" rings in my head when I see my wife pull in. She passed away 3 months ago and it still happens every time.
That's a very sweet one. Thanks ...
Oh, those sounds. We can tell when it's time to get the dogs nails done by the change in tone of their clicks. LOL
Ha ha that's some very good listening :)
Thought the very same thing about my own dog...and the sound of her clicking nails. Always present...always underfoot.
Best place for her to be!
I am slowly losing my hearing and I can't hear a lot of bird calls... I really miss that.
Ah I'm sorry to read that but I hope you savor the calls you can. A great example of something so many take for granted. Thank you ....
I'm really sorry, Amy. That must be very difficult. I'm a recent convert to listening to bird calls, they've helped me stay present over the past year. One thing that has helped is an app that was recommended by a family friend who is also becoming more hard of hearing. Do you know about Merlin? It's put out by the Cornell University department of Ornithology, you use it to record bird song around you, and it identifies them for you. Not only that, but you can save the recordings and play them back with the volume up. Sorry for the unsolicited recommendation, maybe you already know about this and have used it before! I pretty much sing this app's praises to anyone who will listen 😊
I use Merlin sometimes, too. It's surprising how well it works.
I love Merlin - but there are certain pitches I just don't her - even with hearing aids... so I don't even know there is a bird song to identify. I should just turn on Merlin and see what happens! And thank you Rob and Christa for your kind thoughts. Life is really great for me so despite missing those bird songs, life is good.
Thanks, Amy!
I love foghorns and miss them when they are replaced. 🌫️
Another sound I would definitely miss is the signal for a drawbridge at the other end of the neighborhood. It's funny how mechanical / industrial sounds can mean something!
For me it's the Tuesday noon siren in San Francisco. These ran until late 2019 (just before the pandemic, ironically) and then perchance were put on hold — first for refurbishing, and then due to municipal budget priority issues. In the past week or so, news suggested funding may have been found to complete the refurbishing and get them going again. Fortunately I made a recording around 10 years ago, and there are other recordings out there:
https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/siren-san-francisco-tuesday
I should have guessed this answer :) I love that you made a recording! Thanks, Marc.
:) I am so glad I did, too. It's a good example of how just noting the things we take for granted — rather than the seeming major events — is so valuable.
Exactly!
We have a 10 am Tuesday siren. We are centrally located between two towns and sometimes, your hear the siren from each town at a slightly different time.
May I ask where this is? In San Francisco, there are over a 100 speakers for the Tuesday noon siren. When the speakers did ring off, a fascinating effect took place, where what sounded like echo was, in fact, as you describe, a matter of hearing the sirens from different distances.
In Illinois. I think it's the whole state. I'm 65 miles west of Chicago near open farm land.
Thanks for that.
Why do you have sirens? Sorry, I'm in Australia and don't know what this means.
Hi. Different places have sirens for different reasons, often for some sort of weather-related emergency, like tornados or earthquakes. In addition to emitting an actual siren sound, they can be used as a public address system in times of emergency. They used to ring out here in San Francisco on a weekly basis as a test. Here's some information on them:
https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-sirens-emergency-911-department-of-management/13664811/
Here's general information from the National Weather Service:
https://www.weather.gov/dvn/sirenFAQ
The sound of my cat's meows. She's 12 now and doing well but she'll get old and sick and eventually be gone...
It's good that you appreciate them -- savor every meow!
Driving from New Hampshire to Vermont on back roads the other day I passed through a former mill town -- and lots of rusted empty train cars parallel to the road. When I got to the train crossing I thought of the sold style steam engine train whistle. I wondered how long it will be until it is gone.
Another great example. So much of what's cool about trains is wrapped up in sound!
Record it. The ones through our town are mostly digital and not nearly as pleasant.
We’ve lived in a Hispanic neighborhood for 42years. When we first moved here the neighbor’s parties would vibrate our house. Over the years the parties got more subdued. I miss that “let’s Get Loud” vibe from my neighbors. Rock the house, guys.
Ha this one is unexpected -- someone calling for more neighbor noise!!
I have two large lemon trees providing a sight break between my house and my neighbor's. The trees are the house for a number of small birds who awaken about dawn, leave at 7ish AM and return in the afternoon to settle for the night. They are very loud and I miss them when they are not home.
What a lovely example!
In my little NYC apartment, I always loved the clanking and banging of the radiators coming on in the early morning.
Ha yes we had that in NY, too, but honestly I never got used to it, it always made me tense!
‘Cause of this conversation I just made a connection. I am one of the few people I know who falls asleep during an MRI!
That is CRAZY! But it's also an excellent trait : )
The one sound above all that I would miss if it went away (besides the voices of my loved ones) is birdsong. When I moved to my current apartment, the first thing I noticed the first morning I woke up there was the twittering of birds in the trees outside my window. My last place was on noisy Main Street where the constant sound all day and all night was traffic. Suddenly, one block away, the traffic was replaced by birds. Magic! I never take this for granted.
Love this, nicely said!
When I first moved to Southeast Texas near the Gulf Coast in 2003, nightfall was accompanied by sounds I associated with tree frogs, lots of them. I don't remember when their chorus died. A single cricket appeared in my city dwelling many years ago; I considered his brief presence good luck -- I hope cricket songs still prevail in country nights. The disappearance of such sounds is ominous to me.
Wow, a powerful example. Thanks for that ...
I miss the sound of my father's voice. The strange thing is, I can't pull it up in my memory. I have aphantasia which effects pretty much all of my senses. If I heard his voice, I may know it, but he's been gone for 33 years. One of my last memories of him was the weekend before he passed away. We went out of dinner and sat chatting about his retirement and he was guessing what his company would give him as a gift. A friend of his received a new set of golf clubs and he thought he would get them too. I knew that they were going to give him a golf cart for my parents to drive around in in Arizona.
Memory is so tricky, but savor the memories you have! And thanks
I love the sound of frog calls. I participate in a Frog Calling Survey and each spring and summer I head out at night with a friend or two and listen for frogs at our forest preserve. I am always so overjoyed when I hear all the calls. This year was a little sad as the drought meant less frog calls which means less mating, which means fewer tadpoles. The project started because frog species were disappearing from areas and they realized they should track their existence and see how populations are doing.
Like others here, I miss sounds made by the passing of my dogs during the last 12 months. Their sounds as they slept, dreaming of who knows what, their nails on our timber floor, their barks, all of their noise. Whilst I still sometimes ache for their sounds, they are now replaced with sounds of two puppies, bringing their own sounds to my life
Yes to dog dream sounds! So good! And congrats on the puppies : )
Toddler chatter. The learning of a language is incredibly creative. I love conversations with very small children. I will definitely miss those sweet moments of language development when my grandkids all are past that learning stage.
That's a great one! Thanks
My late husband used to play a blues riff on his guitar and it would drive me nuts-- especially when we were watching TV or chatting away about our day. But, damn, now I really miss it and wish I'd recorded it.
And the sound of the wind in the poplar and pine trees at my parents rustic cabin. Nothing says "up North" in Minnesota like that sound.
Wow what an amazing example, that blues riff. Thanks for that.
I love the wind example too -- I think about wind sounds a lot
The bubbling sound of our birdbath/fountain just outside our bedroom window. It is muted by the closed window in winter and I miss its soothing sound.
Very nice example, thanks!
I remember a couple of sounds from when I was a kid that I haven't heard since, but often think about. Just about the time I woke up for school (7am) the morning whistle from a local factory would go off signaling the start time of the work day. For some reason I always felt comforted by it, (probably not the factory workers though!). The other sound was the weird ramming clang of the drop forge. At the time I had no idea what it was and only learned years later. The drop forge plant was probably a mile or more away but the sound traveled. I still think about it.
Those are both amazing examples. They really strongly suggest a specific time and place. I particularly like that the clang sound is something whose meaning you learned later -- but was so distinct! Great stuff, thank you
My mother saying hi hon
Very nice example, thank you
My husband wakes up every morning whistling or humming - and he has a remarkable repertoire... everything from classical to jazz to rock to tv jingles. It's always a surprising delight. I treasure it now and hope to hear it for many more years.
You should record one! (Or not -- maybe it works best in the moment, or would make him self conscious. But still!)
Bird’s chirp !
Sparrows are disappearing very fast… they used to be a very common Bird in cities but their number have dropped by 75% between 2003 and 2016 in paris…
What makes me sad also is the « shifting baseline » : children born nowadays will perceive as normal Not to hear to sparrow’s chirp (just like it’s normal for me to drive for 8 hours without having to stop to clean the windshield because there are not as many insects nowadays as when my parents were kids)
This is super interesting and very well observed!
Wow, until now I hadn't realised I haven't seen a sparrow in... decades? This makes me so sad. And the bug thing - I would never have thought of that. I can't remember the last time I cleaned a bug off my windscreen
So many others have mentioned bird calls, but there is one bird that used to be as consistent as sunrise back home in Caracas, Venezuela. It's called the great kiskadee in English (it's found in southern Texas as well) and we call it "cristofué". Both names come from the distinct call it makes, and it almost always calls early in the morning. Now that I've emigrated to Florida, I appreciate the mockingbirds and the blue jays and even the crows and occasional cardinal, but nothing says home like my "cristofué". I miss them as much as I miss my parents back home.
Wow I just looked up kiskadee - what beautiful birds! I'd never heard of them so thank you for introducing me. Last year I left south London (where I'd lived for over 30 years) and I miss the sound of parakeets - there were huge flocks of them near my old home. Parakeet squawks may seem out of place to many in London, but for me they were part of everyday life and, as you say, the sound of home.
Amazing example!
I didn't read all of these, so someone else may have said this already, but I miss the sound of the rotary dial phones.
Oh that's a good one!
We moved into a house last summer that is visited by swifts from May - August and when they leave everything sounds far too quiet. I miss their screams so much in the weeks after they depart and I'm sure I will throughout the winter too!
https://aporee.org/aboutRadioAporee.mp3
Great subject, thanks Rob.
If someone hasn't already posted this, the site linked above is fascinating to listen to. That clip is a longer explanation of the site itself, but just go to aporee.org and start listening.
This is really cool! And someone DID tell me about this at some point, but not in this thread. I had forgotten about it, but it's amazing! Thank you!
When I’m out for a walk, and come across a leaf, that needs to be stepped on, to hear that satisfying crunch...
That IS satisfying :)
El sonido diario de mi vida es sobre todo Gina, mi perrita de 11 años, una bichón maltes preciosa, adorable, entrañable, es mi amor, mi compañera de vida. Un sonido que extraño?, uff que difícil, me cuesta recordar, quizá escuchar a mi madre preparando chocolate los domingos en casa, el sonido del vinilo cuándo mi hermano ponía los discos de supertramp, el sonido y aroma que extraño, sí, ese puede ser uno de tantos momentos.
Probablemente el sonido que extrañaré serán los gruñidos de Gina, los momentos con ella. ya tiene 11 años, eso me apena, me pongo triste. Gracias por tan bonito post, me hizo recordar muchas cosas bonitas que ya no están en mi vida. 💙
My mother’s voice
<3
I get that for sure
seagulls! i live in brighton, uk right on the beach
That's a great one!
Birds. Yes the sound of the chirping.
Excellent example; thank you!
When my father was alive, he used to play this particular beat everytime he knocked on door. Sometimes on wooden tables or just randomly anywhere. I miss that beat and now I play it for a while whenever I miss him.
That's a lovely example. Thank you
I live one suburb over from Port Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. I'm moving soon and you've reminded me of the sounds I'll miss. The cruise ship horns as they leave the port, usually at night, are hands down my favourite sound. I'll also miss the church bells on the hour from the church across the street. And the youthful chatter of the group of schoolkids who walk past my windows at 11am every day, going from one campus to another. Oh yes! And the basketball-enthusiast kid who I hear from blocks away bouncing his ball as he walks to the courts at the end of my street. Thanks for making me take note of these things :)
These are all such great examples. You should try to record some of them!
I miss the sound of my father's Alpha Romeo car horn when I was a child. He had several Alphas over the years, but this one was Italian red and imported from Italy in the 1970s. The horn had a distinctive sound, a beeb, beeb in sort of an alto range. My Dad would hit the car horn twice on Sunday mornings when he came to pick my sister and I up at our mother's house for our Sundays together. (My mother didn't like it that he would beep the horn.) Dad sold real estate, and sometimes he would be in the neighborhood where my school was, showing houses to clients. He would hit the horn twice anytime he passed my school, and I knew it was him passing by outside, and he was thinking of me.
This is such a wonderful example -- Thank you!