UPDATE: I've been scrolling through old bloggings, looking at the ones that have accumulated a lot of comments and re-posting if I think the comments are funny or good or both funny and good. The comments about Wind Chime Pollution are funny and good...I hate wind chimes. I think they are a public nuisance. I think anyone who would hang a wind chime outside their abode is a public nuisance. I am not alone. If you Google "wind chime complaints" you will see that wind chimes annoy people all over the world.
Some towns have ordinances to control how wind chimes can be used, how loud, how many and how close to a neighbor.
Humans have different tolerance levels for annoying noise. Some people are not bothered by noise, others are. I happen to be one who is. I think someone else's right to a noise stops at the point I have to hear it.
One of my siblings has a low tolerance for repetitive noises. And the soothing sound of a waterfall. I have the soothing sound of a waterfall outside my bedroom window. I like it. I've got the window open right now, listening to it. And the wind. I can hear wind chimes in the distance.
When you have low tolerance for annoying noises you can be driven to extreme measures. I've seen my sibling with the low tolerance for repetitive noises come unglued at a dear elderly lady who was trying to locate some photos to show on her digital camera. Each time she pushed the button there was a beep. Sometime after 10 beeps my sibling started to lose her composure.
Little camera and phone beeps don't bug me. But those gas-powered leaf blowers do. They should be banned.
Yesterday as I sat in the Wal-Mart Neighorhood Market parking lot trying to talk to my sister, an idiot pulled up with rap-like type music blaring so loud I had to get out of the vehicle and walk away from the noise so I could continue to talk to my sister.
With the wind chimes I have been driven to extreme measures, as in some time ago one of my neighbors had the wind chimes from hell. Three of them. They actually were more like wind gongs. I called 911 to complain that my hearing was being damaged. In Texas I got no help from the authorities to help with my serious case of being victimized by noise pollution.
So, I had to take matters into my own hands and launch a guerrilla operation. Under cover of darkness, I put on my camo wear, put on a ski mask and slithered my way to the location of the wind gongs. I figured I had about a minute, tops, if I was heard, before the noise polluters could make it outside. So, I moved fast, grabbed the gongs and ran fast. I disposed of them discreetly the next day.
That's my personal solution for dealing with wind chimes that disturb my peace. I don't recommend it for everyone.
Amen to that! I can't believe people are so clueless. I hear my neighbor's windchimes 24/7 inside my house. It's the same as me playing jazz out of my windows for the neighborhood to hear. Some would think it's relaxing, while it would probably annoy most people.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not the same as playing jazz because jazz, even improvisational jazz, like anything else that counts as music, is structured sound that has a logical sequence to it that engages our aesthetic sense in meaningful and stimulating ways that random sequences of sounds do not. Wind chimes do not make music. They just generate random sequences of six or so sounds. That’s not music. It’s just noise. The fact that those sounds have specific pitches doesn’t mean it’s not just noise. Any more than if you programmed an electronic piano or a saxophone or a drum set to play six or so different sounds based on wind speed and direction. It’s all just noise, and people who hang windchimes in the acoustic environment shared by other people are inadvertently being extremely inconsiderate. Just because one person thinks that wind isn’t noisy enough obviously doesn’t mean everyone around them should have to hear whatever extra noises that person wants wind to make.
DeleteOkay...I'm taking mine down now.
ReplyDeleteYours likely isn't the loud gong type noisemaker clinking just a few feet away from a neighbor. But if it is, yeah, take it down before an irate sound sensitive person does it for you!
ReplyDeleteMan, I made a big mistake of saying to my neighbor (in an attached development) that it would be appreciated if she took down her wind chime. Now she has 3: steel stars that sound like chains rattling, the tingle-tingle one, and the huge open tube ones; and we live in an all year round windy street. Of course, if they were gone - everyone would know I hate them. - Should have kept my mouth shut.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous #2----Damn the consequences, if I were you I'd wait til dark and take down and destroy the offending gongs. You can also call the police with a disturbing the peace complaint. Wind chimes really should be banned from use any place where others besides the wind chimer can hear the racket.
ReplyDeleteI bought an inexpensive sounds of windchimes CD and sent it to my neighbor asking if they could take down the chimes and instead listen to this in the privacy of their own home. Still waiting to see what happens as these windchimes are HUGE.......they hang from a post on their back deck that looks like a hangman's noose device. If my diplomacy doesn't work....I'm going Navy Seal on the thing.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, all you haters need to get a life.
ReplyDeleteWhy are those who want to stand up for their right to privacy (i.e. the right to peace and repose within their own abode without neighbor's intruding on it) called "haters"? I see the same thing where I live in St. Louis. Anyone who stands up against neighbors who pollute the acoustic environment is thus called a "hater." We're not haters. We are sensitive, conscience people who believe everyone has a right to peace and quiet within their own homes without any neighbor intruding upon it.
ReplyDeletePathetic!! If people want windchimes, they are perfectly entitled to windchimes!! They are not illegal otherwise they would not be able to sell them in the first place! If you want complete peace and quiet, go live in the middle of nowhere with no1 around! Honestly, do people have nothing better to worry about... very sad lives they must lead!!
ReplyDeleteSpoken as someone who HASN'T been up at 2AM trying to get to sleep while random chimes note incessantly just outside your bedroom window. ALL NIGHT LONG! Sorry, but radios and speakers aren't illegal to purchase either, ,and neither is a train horn, but there are reasonable expectations of self control on when to use, and NOT use them. If you insist on hanging these chimes during the night, you are simply a closet bully, looking to inflict your will on others, and your time will come!
DeleteLatest Anonymous----Many municipalities ban wind chimes unless you are a certain distance from a neighbor's ears. People are not entitled to disturb the peace and quiet of others. Who said anything about the noisemakers being illegal? Methinks it seems to be you who seems to lead a rather sad, clueless, ignorant life.
ReplyDeleteExactly, its not illegal so those who hate windchimes need to put up and shut up. Nobody is entitled to live in complete peace and quiet, otherwise you would have to start banning EVERYTHING on this planet that makes noise, and so no police cars, ambulances, cars of any sort, birds singing, people mowing their lawns... If someone has windchimes near to them there is nothing they can do!!!!! If yo wanna put them up in your garden, go for it! Why should you spend your life worry thats others around you may not like it, tough!!!!! You can't complain about living next door to screaming babies, you can't complain about living next door to barking dogs, so you can't complain about living next door to wind chimes. Deal with it
ReplyDeleteHow can people be so dense? I can't help but wonder. Princess, dear, some towns ban the noisemakers, due to their intrusive nature. A police siren or crying baby does not make a constant, irritating noise. You also can not have a constantly barking dog disturbing the peace and quiet of people.
ReplyDeletePrincess, if a person wants to listen to her wind-played musical instrument, that is fine. But when that person is done, she should take the musical instrument back inside the house. Anyone who hangs up a wind chime outside her home forcing anyone within earshot to listen 24/7, 365 days a year whenever the wind blows is exceedingly SELFISH, RUDE, and INCONSIDERATE.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the excellent wind chime comment, Lesley Anne. You nailed the issue.
ReplyDeleteLol, that was awesome Durango. I'm with you 100% with the wind chimes. I hate them too. I have lived in the Dallas-area all my life and noise is everywhere. It's pathetic. My back neighbor put up this big wind chime. I immediately talked to her and she put it down. I've had to deal with loud-music players, really loud annoying yelping dogs, and loud air conditioners. I lived in an apartment complex for a year with mostly minorities (no offense to any one) and had to live with bell-pushing paletas sellers, honking cars selling food, loud music, the ice cream man, etc.
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If I played loud rock music on my front porch at 2am I am sure the cops would frown upon that. During a windy night here in PA tonight had to finally call neighbor and ask them to take them down so we could sleep. My next step if they didnt would have been to call state police and explain that if they sat on their behinds and would not enforce disturbing the peace then it would be time for me to set up my stereo to make a point. If they would bother me about it I would just point to the offending wind chime. In response to others if you want to make a ton of noise and disturb others move to the middle of nowhere yourself and make whatever noise you want.
ReplyDeleteWhy not tell your neighbors to try wind spinners instead? They're virtually noiseless and still incredible to look at.
ReplyDeleteWind chimes are quite simply a violation of the rights of others. If YOU want to listen to a wind chime, hang it inside your own house next to a fan! What right do you have to invade my life, sleep, peace, with your personal noise-maker???
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion! I've got two neighbors with wind chimes on each side of my house, so there's no where to hide. I'm going to try a kindly email and see how they respond. I'll let you know how it pans out. Btw, I call them Wind Thieves, because they steal the sound of the wind, which I love.
ReplyDeleteI hate wind chimes, too. I can hear my neighbors' wind chimes inside my house with the windows closed. They ruin my peaceful enjoyment of my backyard. The person who said that we should just deal with the noise because wind chimes are legal seems to have a low standard for what's acceptable behavior. Many things are legal but not polite or considerate, including putting up wind chimes where they might bother neighbors.
ReplyDeleteMy story starts with an innocent set of wind chimes made of seashells hanging from my neighbor's back porch about 20 feet from my house. Then she graduated to a larger set of metal banger clangers hanging from a shepherd's hook on the side of her 2-car garage - 5 feet from my house. And finally cowbells hanging from a higher hook next to my garden. I could no longer enjoy an open window, my patio, or even my garden. I asked her to move them away from my house...she said no. I said they were making a terrible racket. She said too bad. Then one stormy night my hubby took a pillow case and as Reba's song went, "that's one body that'll never be found." Or in this case -- two.
ReplyDeleteI have not a decent nights sleep since my neighbor hung his about a year ago, plus his dogs bark at nigh and both are 20 feet from my bedroom. He knows it bothers me, so he creates noise whenever he sees me enjoying my backyard. I am sending him a certified letter telling him that I am taking him to mediation. The chimes are Chinese Bell torture, everyone is entitled to rest. The police will not help. I wake up at night so angry that I'm awake with the chimes still ringing, it takes me a long time to go back to sleep. It hate him, really, he's a bully.
ReplyDeleteI used to live in town - a small town with tons of windchimes! It was horrible for me because I am sound sensitive and the windchimes cause me anxiety and panic attacks, rattle my nerves and send me into my house with the only option being to turn on some other overbearing sound. It was a no-win situation - so.. I moved to the country. you might thing of the peace and quiet country life has to offer, there are Red-Tailed hawks and Osprey that fly over and deer in the field across the street it could be an extremely peaceful, quiet place to enjoy outdoors. I have several horses and train horses for others as well, so I am outside all the time everyday and I am actually chased off of my 12 acre backyard by this horrid giant windchime belonging to my neighbor that lives off the side of my back pasture and horse pen area! I have asked them to take the chimes down and explained why to no avail, called the police and read the statutes concerning Noise Pollution and my rights to peacefully enjoy my property in the country. I am collecting information, from sites like this and am going to go to the County Commissioners and ask that my rights be acknowledged too. I suggest everyone do the same, we all have to live together - right!
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