This afternoon I came in to do some internet stuff and a bit of carving, and as dusk falls the tree frog peepers are singing in the wetlands back behind the shop.
I have been hear for twelve years now, and the peepers are one of the most welcome reminders of spring. This year they are especially welcome. Winter was hard and cold this year - not just with the weather, but in terms of pain and death all around; the Columbia disaster, the Rhode Island nightclub fire, and the stunning loss of Rick Glawson were big examples. There were other, more personal tragedies this winter, my dog had to be put down after thirteen years, several good friends, including my own employee, saw what seemed like strong relationships come undone; then there were just the crummy stuff - an accident with my car, the short circuit that cooked my computer two weeks ago, and all in a context of cold, grey, bitter weather that didn't want to ever end. And then of course there's this damned horrid little war, justifiable or not, that has us all cringing and snapping and questioning one another's motives and ideals.
But these things are passing now. We've had a couple of gorgeous days this weekend and last; my computer system is back on-line, I've started bicycling to work and getting out on the motorcycle, all good things. So tonight when I heard the peepers, I had to acknowledge them. They are the most inconsequential of beings, simple and innocent, and their songs are sung for the most elemental of purposes, to find mates and reproduce. I like to think of it that they are singing for love. Singing for love, for rebirth, for spring's promise to the world. I hear them sing tonight, and realize how much I needed them, how much we all need to take a moment to listen to the world around us, the quiet, essential, indefatigeable sound of the peepers, out there in the dark, singing for love. Listen...
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Thanks for the reminder of positive things Cam!
We don't have peepers near us but I did go outside today in the sunshine... and it was glorious! I did a little dance and celebrated a new beginning in my own way.
-dan
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Geez Cam.
Have you been in my shop again?
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You know Spring has arrived when....
...the animals come out to play.
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Dang, Cam, makes us wish we could have been there. We just get the buzzing bugs in the spring but they have yet to make an appearance. They will almost be a welcome sound...
Have a great one!
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
We have these little green tree frogs that sound like they're much bigger than they are. One starts chirping and a minute later another joins in and then another and in another minute there are a thousand. Then in an iunstant they all stop. I've never figured it out.
Last night we were at some friends that have this flat pastureland. They were saying that the land is so abundant with earthworms that when the rain stops they can hear the water sucking into the worm holes.
I like springtime too.
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Cam.. Last year when the tree frogs started doing their thing, I had my 2 granddaughters with me one night, and we were standing on the front porch listening to them. When they stopped, I showed them how to whistle a certain way, and then all the tree frogs would start singing as if they were answering. The girls caught on to that real quick, and now its a great game for them. Kids are funny...sometimes the simplest little things seem to give them more enjoyment than more expensive ways of entertaining them. It didn't take them long to learn how to sneak up on one of those peepers and catch them either....
Grandpa had a good time too...... Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
cam really neat.....i lived in south fl. for 19 years. almost city life. and bein a counrty boy i missed those nite sounds. we moved up to pensacola in july 98. the 1st nite i was here i spent listening to the crickets, frogs and it was so nice.
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
i love the owls...i live up in the sticks surrounded by national forest so the owls get pretty noisy just as it turns dark...you can even hoot back n forth with them. can't wait til my garage doors can stay open for the day and early evening while i work out there...then i can be surrounded by all the furry and feathered critters, and to be honest..that's what i prefer these days...
Posted by Santo (Member # 411) on :
The frogs down here are a little bigger than what you have described. I've been hearing them on my weekend trips home. Spring will bring out the snakes and alligators. Sometimes at night the gators will sit at the roadside sucking up the heat coming off the highway.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Thanks to last week's rains...here in Southern california... the poppies have turned whole hillsides into a bright fluorecent orange. Hate to admit it, but I forgot my camera at home...didn't get any pics
[ March 24, 2003, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: Si Allen ]
Posted by roger bailey (Member # 556) on :
Hey Karyn; Hoo ho ho ho hooooooo
Had to teach my wife how to talk to em, at first she thought I had too much Rapid Remover fumes !
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