My house apparently sits directly under the flight path from Baton Rouge (our state capital) to the oil-challenged Louisiana Gulf Coast. This year, along with the usual summertime sounds of chirping birds and buzzing insects, we regularly hear the whup-whup-whup of helicopters overhead. I don’t know whether the frequent flyers are government officials or news reporters, only that so many of them fly over each day that Butch and Kadi no longer pay the slightest attention to them.
Of course, this isn’t the dogs’ first exposure to the whirlybirds. The many helicopters that flew overhead during hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Gustav (2008) may have desensitized them to the sound.
To me, though, that sound is still a little unsettling, especially when two or more helicopters are traveling together. It isn't the noise that bothers me; they fly high enough to keep from creating a disturbance. It's the sound itself. Somehow, in my mind, the clacking of those propellors has morphed into an aural symbol of suffering and urgency, and I feel just a little bit anxious every time I hear it.
It’s been a rough five years here in Southeast Louisiana.
That would bother me too-it's a sign that all is NOT well with the world, and I agree that Louisiana has gotten more than its share of hard knocks this decade.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I sure do agree with you. Helicopters and the sound they make are unnerving to say the least. Every once in a while we get several of them in my area and I always wonder what's up. Usually I find out later that someone really important was in town. One time it was the vice-president and I couldn't even get home....they had the roads blocked off with those all black with super black tinted windowed SUV's. (just like in the movies) Now THAT was frightening. (I've read too many Koontz books me thinks).
ReplyDeleteTrue dat, Velvet! It makes me so sad to see my homeland suffering.
ReplyDeleteJanet and Holly, I'm hoping that if we can get this oil mess cleaned up, Louisiana will get a break from calamities for a few years so we can catch up. Although, looking at tornados, floods and fires scattered across the nation, it appears there are plenty of calamities to go around.
ReplyDeleteVal, I know what you mean about the black SUVs. In 2008 I got caught up in a George Bush motorcade and thought I'd never get home.
I'd take a pill///maybe 2
ReplyDelete4th Sister, the only way those 2 pills would work fast enough would be to plug my ears with them.
ReplyDelete