Back to Nature

Last Christmas Bruce gave me a new alarm clock to replace my old clunker. It's main selling point was the variety of nature sounds that I could choose from to be my alarm. All winter long I've woken to the sounds of birds, or sometimes a waterfall, and occasionally a rainstorm. With the arrival of spring, however, we've hit a hitch.

It was finally warm enough to sleep with our master bedroom/outside door open at night, but spring in Utah means rainstorms, so I didn't wake up to my alarm anymore, since if I heard rain I just assumed it was outside. No more rain alarm for me.

Then it got warm enough that the birds came back. I staggered out of bed around 3 in the morning more than once thinking it was time to go to the gym, when really some overachieving bird had just started early with his song out in my backyard. So I nixed the bird alarm.

It all came to a head a couple of nights ago.

Bruce (kicking me in the back): Get out of bed, your alarm is going off.
Me: What?
Bruce: Get up.
Me (stagger out of bed, squint desperately at the clock): It's 2:30 in the morning.
Bruce: Then why do I hear your alarm?
Me (listening carefully): Dammit, Bruce, that's the sprinklers.

I only have the ocean alarm left. Thank goodness we live in Utah, or I'd be back to a regular old "Beep. Beep."