Skilpadde wrote:
I have never lived alone, but I have been home alone for a while, and the nights then are very long. I can't sleep because I fear intruders and will be jolted out of almost sleep. I sleep much better when I hear some sounds around me (within reason). Even if it's just a noisy neighbor, although family is much better.
In the summertime, we have plenty of noise:
1) irrigation engines -- There are several irrigation engines around and the noise carries quite a distance. We had one when I was a kid about 3/4 mile from the house and it would drone all night.
2) gas plant -- There is a large gas plant (natural gas and helium) about 7 miles away. They can be pretty noisy at times -- noisy enough to wake me up from a good sleep.
3) livestock -- Cattle and horses usually don't bother me much.
4) dogs barking -- Fortunately, we just have the one dog, Whiskey, and he doesn't bark much.
5) coyotes -- I usually don't hear them. Whiskey does a decent job of scaring them away.
6) frogs -- When there is water in the pond about 600 feet from the house, the frogs make quite a bit of noise. They're really kind of soothing, though.
7) spray planes/crop dusters -- They like to spray early in the morning when the wind is minimal and make a big racket doing it. This is probably the most aggravating for me.

highway traffic -- There is a highway half a mile away. If I'm not asleep the sound of a truck going by can bring me a bit further from falling asleep, but if I'm already asleep they don't seem to bother me.
9) the water well -- It's about twenty feet from the house and easy to hear.
As for noisy neighbors, that isn't a problem. My nearest neighbor is my oldest brother and his wife -- they don't make any noise. Not counting him, the nearest neighbors are all at least half a mile away. The nearest neighbor where at least one member of the household is under the age of 50 is about two miles away.
For what it's worth, when I was a kid I liked to sleep in really cold weather with the windows open, especially when it is below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The only heat in the house was from the gas stove in the living room and we would turn it off at night. There was no plumbing of any kind upstairs to worry about freezing. So it didn't matter at all if it was 20 degrees or colder in my bedroom. Getting up in the morning, I would grab my clothes and head downstairs full speed to get dressed.