Now hear this!

In some gatherings the group is happy to have any decisions made with only a voice vote. The person in charge can determine the intention of the group by the oral response and partially by the enthusiasm with which that response is given. I have been in groups where I was not in accord with the majority of the people concerned. However, my voice never could carry over the general cheerfulness of the winners. The same thing has happened to me when I was agreeing with the majority but someone with a booming voice tried to overcome the votes of the group. In such cases calling for a written vote or show of hands might help.

The power of a voice was emphasized in a movie we watched on DVD recently.

In "Flicka," the young girl was calming a maverick horse with the sound of her voice. Even in the midst of a rodeo the horse responded to her voice.

I have never tried to tame a maverick but the one horse I cared for could definitely respond to my voice. She moved to the other side of the pasture when she heard me calling her unless I was feeding her. She preferred to munch on grass instead of going trotting with me.

I have much better luck with our cats. The two outdoor cats will respond when I call their names and have rapidly become wannabe indoor cats. When our 18-year-old indoor cat objects to their presence, I can smooth the ruffled fur by telling her that she is still number one with me.

Our pair of Canada Geese also know my voice. They know there is nothing to fear from us and sometimes there might be a little bite of bread or corn to enjoy. Even if I have nothing to offer, they will calmly go about their business when I am doing some work around them if I keep talking to them.

The cats and geese also respond to other family members' voices, but perhaps in different ways. For example I can tell Nod "No" when she wants to come inside from her cathouse at an inconvenient time but it doesn't keep her from running through the slightest crack in the door. Lester tells her "No" and she goes back to her bed.

Babies respond to the voices of their parents immediately and even a look-alike, such as an identical twin, can't fool the child into accepting a substitute if the voice doesn't seem the same.

One of the pleasures of wearing a hearing aid is that I can turn the volume down, or completely off, if the sound of too many voices begins to bother me. Some women's voices are so shrill that the amplification is almost painful. Children's voices are the hardest for me to hear because they often speak softly and quickly when they are not yelling.

Tape recording of voices of those who are no longer living can be a real blessing. I wish we had more of those. I can still hear certain voices in my head, but have no way to physically hear them any longer. Sometimes I become afraid that I will forget how they really sounded.

When the phone rings, even without caller ID, I can often know who I am talking to after the first word. Sometimes I get fooled and that can cause big problems if I respond inappropriately. That isn't as much of a problem now that Lester is retired and I don't answer the phone in the role of a minister's wife.

Today I am enjoying hearing the voices of the spring birds and am listening to hear the frogs. I'll turn up my hearing aids for that.