New "Neighbors"

I tried to turn in for sleep at 11:30 tonight. At intervals I kept hearing strange noises that seemed like heavy machinery, throbbing base lines, screams, and upset horses. I live in a stone house, about a 1/4 mile off a quiet, rarely trafficked road. And there's a swath of woods between me and the road that is still in leaf. What could be making that awful din? Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened a door to listen. What I heard was agitated, high-pitched neighing, voices yelling, and loud, LOUD country music. 

I stood around for a while. Maybe whoever bought the land next to us after it was logged was making a late night drop-off of horses. That's where the noises seemed to be coming from. There's no habitable dwelling for people on that parcel, but there are a few barns near the road. But the hubbub didn't subside, and the horses didn't calm. No, that wasn't it. And I couldn't tell, were the upset horse noises coming from near the road on the property next door or were they from the horses already pastured across the road? Besides the noises didn't sound like the call-and-answer sort of yelling people do while working. 

I slipped on my shoes and took a brisk walk under a full moon down our long, gravel drive to investigate. The midwife had asked me to exercise more just this past week, and I hadn't fit in in yet, after all. I startled some deer and a couple birds into flight. I heard the dogs howling. As I watched my shadow falling in front of me in the bright moonlight, the roving coyote crossed my mind. It was a perfect night for hunting.

There are 2 treed and overgrown fencerows between our property and the next because an access road to the classified forrest behind our land runs between them. So I couldn't see anything on the neighboring land. But I did determine that no one was having trouble with horses. The anxious horses were complaining from across the road. 

My guess, based on the noises, is that a group of people are having a bonfire, yelling conversation, and playing a country radio station at an unreasonably high and improbable volume over there. I suppose the owners are camping and invited some friends to join them. Last week someone was over there zipping up and down the property line on loud ATVs at weird hours, so I knew something was afoot. Sigh. 

I had gotten used to the lack of human noises out here. I hope that our new and apparently inconsiderate "neighbors" don't make a habit of this. I also hope that they drink enough to get sleepy soon. It's one in the morning, and I don't need any help staying up to all hours. I'm an insomniac without any assistance. And the mosquito bites I just got aren't going to help me sleep either.