Noise in our neighborhood

Helicopters going to Saint Francis Medical Center often come over our house flying so low they suck the shingles off our roof and make more noise than a freight train in a tunnel.

Emergency vehicles regularly go up and down Mount Auburn with their sirens screaming, and in case you don't hear the sirens, big bullfrog grunts are added. Mount Auburn also carries a lot of loud motorcycles, roached-out pickups, NASCAR wannabes, and stereos thumping young minds to mush.

Our neighbors have a little yappie dog, plus a dog as big as a horse that barks with such force that it rattles the dishes in our kitchen cabinets. (I like dogs, and when we lived in the country with no real close neighbors we had one.)

Firecrackers pop, rattle, and boom for several days around the Fourth of July, making the neighborhood sound like the Russians are coming.

The events at Arena Park, including tractor pulls, demolition derbies, and concerts (if you can call them that), blanket our area with noise that drowns out the TV, which is usually running commercials, so no big loss.

The yard crews arrive in the spring with their commercial mowers, blowers, and trimmers that rival the sound of 747s on takeoff, and when the snow flies the snow blowers come out.

I tolerate all the noise pretty well most of the time, but occasionally I get a little yappie myself.

Gary L. Gaines, Cape Girardeau