I have been in this new house long enough now that I know all its sounds. A different sound will wake me. The walls are thin enough that I easily hear traffic and can tell my neighbors aerobics. Canucks sneakin' across the border.
As a Marine in Vietnam your life depended on how fast you moved from the “Hootch'' you slept in, to the bunker outside your door. A mortar round leaving the tube makes a real distinctive “whuumph”. Hearing that sound usually gives you 7-10 seconds to reach the bunker, where unless its a direct hit, your chances of surviving a mortar round penetrating the sides of your bunker are good.
Anyhoo, this “whuumph” is also made during firework displays on or near the 4th of July, and I've been known to jump up and scream “incoming” when this sound occurs. I don't mind the little explosions when the fireworks reaches its altitude, it's only the “whuump” sound that precedes it. Fireworks are sent skyward out of mortar like tubes and that's why they make that distinctive sound.
I read where a lot of municipalities are too broke to afford a display of fireworks, which just breaks my phuckin heart.
Back to new sounds. A few nights ago, Minnesota got some “bad weather”- in fact real bad! Thirty-six tornadoes were reported over the entire state. A half-mile wide twister flattened villages. Three people were killed. That new sound I heard was “warning sirens” which means find shelter. Wife and kids were scared. She called the grandkids to tell them to take shelter in their basement. Hey, wait a sec! We don't have a basement. There's wheels where the basement should be. This is a flimsy “manufactured vehicle”- bet I could knock it over with one of my chili farts!
”I know where to go Dad!” announced my autistic son John. “Down the street about a block or so is an earthen covered bunker, open entrances on each end, it stinks inside, but I think we're supposed to go there when the sirens go off.”
Meet my old and new bunker.
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