Insomnia

[kenmbz]

We have a plane come by at 3:30am here and there, Shakes the house.
When I was growing up, neighbors kid was a bar tender, would come home at 2-3am in his VW.
Muffler had a big hole in what was left of it.
Think the neighbors made him invest in a new muffler !

 

[sree251]

More than happy to continue this discussion with you. It is rare to find someone who believes in "wine and good food go together".

Likewise, Mac. I could chat with you forever on wine and food. Perhaps, on another thread.

This thread is about insomnia. The reason why I can't fall asleep is when there are things on my mind. You mentioned that you borrowed heavily all those years running farms on a shoestring. This is not an unusual situation. Most people, including farmers, live from hand to mouth. Such a way of life is one of anxiety and fear. You must have worried about your crop of grapes making it to market every of those 30 years. And a farmer needs to be fit and healthy every day. Anxiety about illnesses could also keep one awake all night long.

You made it after a good life of farming. I am happy for you. There must have been hard times keeping you awake at night along the way.

 

[Jstpssng]

I had an apartment when I first moved to the area I lived in now. Windows were paper thin.

Had some college students that would wake everyone up in the middle of the night hooting and hollering.

Son happened to have a diesel with the loud exhaust.

Wife was driving it one night when those kids woke us up at hooting and hollering from around 2am to 3am.

Wife had to be up for work at 5am and on the road by 5:30.

Diesel was backed in about 4ft from one of the kids bedroom windows.

Wife went down and started it about 20 minutes before she left. When she did leave, she made sure and slammed the doors several times. Then when she left, she put her foot into the injectors when she took off.

Every picture in that kids apartment came off the walls

He approached me a little while later when I was leaving madder then the dickens.

I told him that him and his friends need to knock it the hell off and start showing some consideration for everyone else that lives here and to quit being a selfish little snot.

Or we will continue to let our son drive the Tahoe and keep the diesel parked in front of his bedroom window

I was staying in a motel down in Canton NY. About 11:30 on Saturday night a car pulled in and parked under my window. When they went inside they had to hit the alarm, and the horn blew about 5 feet from my head. I just got back to sleep and they did it again. This went on several times for the next couple of hours. When I left at 5:00 the next morning, it was hard not to try to set the alarm off in earnest.

I’ve lived in quiet places all of my life so staying in motels was sometimes a different experience. I got into it one night with two guys who were just sitting in their pickup with the Cummins rattling for several hours. I felt like an idiot afterwards, but the next morning the people staying in the room above us thanked my coworker for speaking up. I’m not sure if having a truck keep you awake counts as insomnia...

 

[Dftodd]

I was staying in a motel down in Canton NY. About 11:30 on Saturday night a car pulled in and parked under my window. When they went inside they had to hit the alarm, and the horn blew about 5 feet from my head. I just got back to sleep and they did it again. This went on several times for the next couple of hours. When I left at 5:00 the next morning, it was hard not to try to set the alarm off in earnest.

I’ve lived in quiet places all of my life so staying in motels was sometimes a different experience. I got into it one night with two guys who were just sitting in their pickup with the Cummins rattling for several hours. I felt like an idiot afterwards, but the next morning the people staying in the room above us thanked my coworker for speaking up. I’m not sure if having a truck keep you awake counts as insomnia...

I've spent quite a bit of time traveling for work. Lots of hotels and suites. I'm pretty good now about sleeping through the occasional bull going down the hallway.

But still have issues with a herd of elephants or water Buffalo in the room above me or next door.

I am kinda picky about where I stay for work and don't allow someone else to book my room for me.

I've had someone else book my room before, where I checked in, walked into my room. Walked back out and checked back out.

Then sat in the truck booking a room somewhere else.

I absolutely refuse to stay in a crack den, roach motel, or sketchy area.

 

[MossRoad]

I was staying in a motel down in Canton NY. About 11:30 on Saturday night a car pulled in and parked under my window. When they went inside they had to hit the alarm, and the horn blew about 5 feet from my head. I just got back to sleep and they did it again. This went on several times for the next couple of hours. When I left at 5:00 the next morning, it was hard not to try to set the alarm off in earnest.

I’ve lived in quiet places all of my life so staying in motels was sometimes a different experience. I got into it one night with two guys who were just sitting in their pickup with the Cummins rattling for several hours. I felt like an idiot afterwards, but the next morning the people staying in the room above us thanked my coworker for speaking up. I’m not sure if having a truck keep you awake counts as insomnia...

That brought back memories of a camping trip my wife and I took. It was a cool, foggy evening. We were trying to get to sleep and someone across the campground was playing Robert Plant's Tall Cool One really loud.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
It stopped. I almost fell asleep, and about 35 minutes later, that same song started playing loud again.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Then stopped. I laid back down and half hour late it does it again. Just that one song, like clockwork.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
About the 5th time it happened, I stepped out of our tent in my underwear and started wandering around the camp sight roads. I could hear soft music playing, but couldn't tell where it was coming from.
Then all of a sudden, a car door opens and...
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Blaring out of the car.
And the guy goes to his trunk, opens a cooler, grabs two beers, closes the trunk and starts heading back to get in the driver's seat.
I ran up to him in my underwear and yelled "HEY! Turn that **** off. We're trying to sleep here!"
He stares at me as a cheer goes up through the campground! People start clapping and yelling THANK YOU!!
He says "Sorry man." and turned it off. The cheers die down and I wonder off grumbling into the fog in my fruit of the looms.

That's the first and last time I was cheered in my underwear.

 

[Jstpssng]

I absolutely refuse to stay in a crack den, roach motel, or sketchy area.

I used to travel with my dog, so often got the worst rooms in a motel. It was frustrating, as I also was paying extra for the privelege of having her there. The place I mentioned previously wasn't a 5 star, but was livable. I stayed in that room for a month; went home for a weekend; then checked back into the same room on Monday. I thought something wasn't right when I threw my gear in, and went off to work. It smelled musty, not like it was when I left it three days earlier.

When I got back that night and sat on the bed something crinkled. WTF? I turned the bedsheet down, and there was a shower curtain on top of the mattress. When I stood back up my knees were wet...
I went to the office and they gave me keys to another room... upon entering I saw that it hadn't been cleaned. I went back for a THIRD key, and found out what had happened. Apparently there had been a party in the room over mine, and they plugged the toilet, but they kept flushing it until it flooded the downstairs room. I spent the rest of that project working out of a motel 15 miles away in Potsdam.

 

[Dftodd]

That brought back memories of a camping trip my wife and I took. It was a cool, foggy evening. We were trying to get to sleep and someone across the campground was playing Robert Plant's Tall Cool One really loud.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
It stopped. I almost fell asleep, and about 35 minutes later, that same song started playing loud again.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Then stopped. I laid back down and half hour late it does it again. Just that one song, like clockwork.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
About the 5th time it happened, I stepped out of our tent in my underwear and started wandering around the camp sight roads. I could hear soft music playing, but couldn't tell where it was coming from.
Then all of a sudden, a car door opens and...
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you.
Blaring out of the car.
And the guy goes to his trunk, opens a cooler, grabs two beers, closes the trunk and starts heading back to get in the driver's seat.
I ran up to him in my underwear and yelled "HEY! Turn that **** off. We're trying to sleep here!"
He stares at me as a cheer goes up through the campground! People start clapping and yelling THANK YOU!!
He says "Sorry man." and turned it off. The cheers die down and I wonder off grumbling into the fog in my fruit of the looms.

That's the first and last time I was cheered in my underwear.

Camping in Ocoee Tennessee on labor day weekend.

Some college kids were in the campsite next to us. This one kid would just randomly start Cackling. From 2am to about 5ish.

After other campers failed to get him to knock it off, I finally lost my cool at 5am.

I was that redneck idiot that slammed my truck door after seeing it was 5am.

Then called him some colorful language, told him it was 5am and he successfully kept everybody up all night. And to knock it off with some more colorful language.

Surprisingly enough, he shut up

Later some of the girls were in the restroom and the talk of everyone in there was the idiot and how someone finally got him to shut up.

My friend kinda gave them a sheepish look and said "yeah...... our buddy was the one that got him to shut up!!!!!!!"

 

[tradosaurus]

I live in the country, but you can hear the bastards for a couple of miles in the summer.
I reported one jackass that came up my road wide open at 5:00AM every work day on an HD with the loudest pipes I ever heard. Called the Sheriff's Dept. and complained a half dozen times before they pinched the guy. I think part of the problem was that HD owner was a good friend of a Sheriff's deputy that lived a couple of doors down from him.
Now it's the a-holes with the Duramaxes and Cumminses with no mufflers that make a racket in the early AM.
It was so quiet when I moved here in 1974.

My house is 1000 ft from the Farm to Market Rd. I do hear some noise but it's not too bad. I would hate to live right next to a well traveled road.

 

[Jstpssng]

My house is 1000 ft from the Farm to Market Rd. I do hear some noise but it's not too bad. I would hate to live right next to a well traveled road.

I spent a month on a hill, on a major artery from Canada into the US. (US Rte 9, AKA "The Airline.") All night long I'd listen to jake brakes as the truckers made their way through.

 

[Dftodd]

I spent a month on a hill, on a major artery from Canada into the US. (US Rte 9, AKA "The Airline.") All night long I'd listen to jake brakes as the truckers made their way through.

Worst was my apartment behind the college in town. Apartment was 150' from the train tracks. And paper thin windows.

Lots of college kids in the complex. Then the bloody trains.

They happened to redo some sections of tracks near us. This would back up the freight trains during the day, so they all rolled through at night.

Every 1/2 hr for weeks, the trains would roll through at night.

Just before I moved out, there was one idiot train conductor that would roll through town around 3am.

This idiot would lay on the air horn from one end of the city to the other. One solid tone. Lasted about 15 minutes or so.

Guy I knew in town had a father in law that was big with that railroad. He sicked his father in law on that yahoo.

We are about 2 miles from the tracks at the closest point now.

You can occasionally hear the train on a quiet night. But barely, unless your outside

 

[jyoutz]

Thank you for an informative reply, Mac. You have a great farming lifestyle, one I can relate to. Wine and good food go together. I could easily finish off a bottle of wine with a stranger at the bar while waiting to be seated at my table at a restaurant. Cooking a proper meal every night and eating the way you do is very European. My only concern about wine-drinking is the sulfites in wine. What is your opinion on this?

As I mentioned elsewhere, a nightcap is recommended for a good night's sleep. I occasionally have a bourbon (American whiskey, that is) while I read before I sleep. The Queen of England has a glass of champagne, I hear. I will try a Glenmorangie. Although Scotch has a smokiness that is absent in bourbon, it can be incredibly smooth.

Irish whiskey is also very smooth.

 

[Jstpssng]

You can occasionally hear the train on a quiet night. But barely, unless your outside

Probably now you find it rather enjoyable.
When I'm at my mother's house you know that it's going to rain when you can hear the train off in the distance. Otherwise you'll never hear it.

 

[Jchonline]

What was the last audiobook that put you to sleep? I want to try it.

Oh I’m a fiction junky (Sci Fi, Fantasy) so I just listen to the normal genres of books I enjoy. If you need some Sci Fi/Fantasy recommendations let me know!

 

[Jstpssng]

I used to put a song on Youtube, and try to get to sleep before it ended. That's also become useless though because when the song ends they have to have some stupid commercial... if I hear one more Liberty Mutual commercial it will be one too many.
I did bring up the entire "Rush 2112" album last night, and barely remember any of it before falling asleep.

 

[MossRoad]

Limu Emu and Doug just doesn't do it for you, eh?

 

[RSR]

I was staying in a motel down in Canton NY.

Not words you hear very often ... Most people have never heard of Canton. That's my neck of the woods (I live about 10 miles away).

 

[Jstpssng]

Not words you hear very often ... Most people have never heard of Canton. That's my neck of the woods (I live about 10 miles away).

I thought that I got a pretty good start in the AM, yet it wasn't uncommon to hear the Amish horses clip clopping past the motel before I left. I was there on Sept 11, 2001, cruising timber in some nearby township. I didn't have a clue anything was going on until I got out at 5:00 that afternoon. I'd gotten a late start and was listening to the radio trying to decide if I wanted to work a couple more hours or go back to the motel; that's when I heard what had happened. As I had driven through time that AM I saw where a Budweiser tractor trailer had T-boned a school bus; I've always wondered if one of the drivers had been listening to the radio, and had blown through the light because they were too engrossed in hearing what was going on.

 

[Molalla1]

I'm always interested in the customs of the area...

My time in Austria it was beer the number one choice for just about anything unless you distilled or had a close friend distilling schnapps.

That said California wine was always welcome...

The first time I hosted a group from Austria in California was an experience... Over the course of a weekend I was able to clear the liquor cabinet even from half full bottles sitting around decades... maybe even from grandparents era...

I just don't know anyone that drinks anymore other than an occasional beer/wine with dinner...

Very unlike when I was growing up and cocktails were the big thing... neighbors always inviting each other over for a highball, snort, upper lifter, vodka martini, screwdriver and always lots of 7up on hand... wine and beer very seldom in the offerings...

"Snort" ? . . . .

 

[OldMcDonald]

Likewise, Mac. I could chat with you forever on wine and food. Perhaps, on another thread.

This thread is about insomnia. The reason why I can't fall asleep is when there are things on my mind. You mentioned that you borrowed heavily all those years running farms on a shoestring. This is not an unusual situation. Most people, including farmers, live from hand to mouth. Such a way of life is one of anxiety and fear. You must have worried about your crop of grapes making it to market every of those 30 years. And a farmer needs to be fit and healthy every day. Anxiety about illnesses could also keep one awake all night long.

You made it after a good life of farming. I am happy for you. There must have been hard times keeping you awake at night along the way.

I agree that I took it a bit off thread - but really no more than others posting about being woken/kept awake by extraneous noises. That is not insomnia either.

I did not sell grapes. Just had enough to make my own wine. I am not particularly good at it, and did not have enough to warrant employing a proper winemaker. No point in worrying about lack of money or health issues, that is likely to give you insomnia. I had a heart valve replaced in August 2019. I believe I have had that problem all my life after a cardiologist told me how it affects your daily routine - lack of blood supply to muscles causes fatigue to the point of having to sit down (several times from my teens onwards) and when it gets bad enough it also means not enough to the brain and that causes unconsciousness and collapse for a very short time. After the 3rd time that happened in 2019 I decided I had better see somebody about it. Result a new valve and not problems since. Still on no medication or supplements.

A bonus - which appers to have been related to the problem is that having had leg cramps on frequent occasions since I was at school, I have not had a single episode since.

 

[sree251]

I agree that I took it a bit off thread - but really no more than others posting about being woken/kept awake by extraneous noises. That is not insomnia either.

You are quite right about the other posts not related to insomnia which is an inability to fall and stay asleep. Extraneous noise nuisance is not an inherent inability to sleep.

You have a sharp mind for someone who has been farming all his life. I am not saying that farmers are dullards. They are pretty good at what they do on the land. Your grasp of things, however, is astute across a wide range of subjects. Perhaps, the farmer of your British cultural heritage is not quite the same as those in other lands where people toil for a living off the earth. I have the same impression of the Afrikaner whose bearing is that of a landowner, not a peasant farmer.