Beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep. My house is beeping. Every time I turn around something is beeping or flashing. I remember when the house used to be noisy with the sound of kids and toy fire engines and screaming and laughter.

I have replaced my kids with beeps. It is sometimes hard to determine which of my updated household appliances are beeping. My clothes dryer beeps when it is done. My washing machine beeps when it is done. My oven beeps when it is up to temperature. My oven timer beeps when my food is done. My microwave beeps when my food is cooked. My iron beeps when it is up to temperature. My cell phone beeps when I have missed a message. My battery backup beeps when there is a power surge. My coffee maker beeps to tell me my coffee is done and my computer beeps when it boots up, shuts down or doesn’t like the user. There are so many beeps in my house that Sambo has started beeping when he wants a treat.

I don’t have to have night lights anymore. The kitchen is well lit with the glow of the phone buttons on the wall. My computer room is well lit from the dsl modem and my router. There is also the green light on my battery backup. We can’t forget the LED light on our carbon monoxide detector. Of course we can’t leave out the lights on the DVD recorder from the Dish network. Oh and that is DVD Recorder times two.

We have so many beeps that I missed the beep when my smoke detector was running out of battery.

Have you experienced the panic when the electricity fails and there are no beeps and flashing lights? My doorbell always announces the demise of the electricity in our home. When the electricity goes out our doorbell rings. It must be the ghost of peace announcing its arrival and celebrating the quietness of moments without beeps and flashing lights. Silence reigns when all the electrical appliances have went to sleep for a brief time.

How did we survive before the beep era? We would have no reminder to take the clothes out of the washer. They would get smelly and full of mildew because we forgot. If the dryer didn’t warn us it was done the wrinkle crinkles would attack our clothes. The wrinkles would also abound because we wouldn’t know if our iron was hot enough. Cooking time would take much longer because we would put our food in the oven too soon and we would only know when it was done because of the aroma of burning morsels. We wouldn’t be aware of all the cell phone calls we missed and we would have to panic if the electricity failed with no battery backup to warn us to shut our computer down. We might wait all day for coffee because we would never know our coffee was done. We might actually forget to drink a cup before we walked out the door in the morning if no beeps alerted us to the brew.

We might remember the nights we actually would get a good night’s sleep because we didn’t have all the led lights lighting our way. Our brain would be ready to switch off for a good night of zzz’s without electrical interference.

There are two people living in my house plus my beeping Sambo. It is noisy. I can’t imagine adding toddlers, teenagers and young adults with all their beeping appliances and living with more beeping and flashing for a longer time.

No wonder we are so stressed in our own homes. We are on beep overload. Take a break from the beeps this week. Unplug your appliances. Turn off your beeping and flashing can’t live without it toys. Turn out the lights. Get out the oil lamps. Oil lamps are a must when everything beeps silent. Play cards or talk or meditate by lamp light in the silence as our ancestors did many years ago. You may be surprised at how low your blood pressure can go as you sit in the silence and the flashless night.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send e-mail to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net.