tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7525976427330328394.post3929905109278617473..comments2024-03-28T22:23:40.927-04:00Comments on CAVEBEAR'S LAIR: TopicsMark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11135668126649348317noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7525976427330328394.post-8932920047886202222014-03-12T19:01:26.862-04:002014-03-12T19:01:26.862-04:00Hey guys - come to Sydney, where the cicadas (the ...Hey guys - come to Sydney, where the cicadas (the loudest insects in the world) 'sing' all day at 120 decibels. We've just survived a bumper summer.<br /><br />And, like Ellen, I admit to not noticing the day that they stop. How weird is that?<br /><br />Mark - I've been wondering about your father and his health. I'd be interested to hear how he's going. And topic #6: "Snowblower snow wouldn't melt"? Sounds intriguing. Do tell!<br /><br />Megan<br />Sydney, AustraliaMeganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03143400920174171516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7525976427330328394.post-54454757521073120032014-03-12T03:03:04.626-04:002014-03-12T03:03:04.626-04:00I feel your pain. The most reliable sign that Spri...I feel your pain. The most reliable sign that Spring has arrived is the annual frog fest that kicked-off last week at the pond I live across the street from. It started as soon as the daytime temp. went past the 60 degree mark. The chorus of Spring peepers suddenly drowns out all other sounds. I'm a pretty sound sleeper having lived in the city for many years & next store to a fire station for a decade, but once I focus on those thousands of frogs chirping & cheeping racket, I wake up several times a night despite tightly closed windows and drapes over them. The sound seems to permeate every solid object between the frogs & my ears.<br />I always notice when the peeping begins, but oddly enough, I never take note of the day it finally stops.<br />Now, I probably don't sound like I am on a friendly basis with frogs, but as a kid I spent many a Summer day, around the ages of 8 & 9, down at the neighborhood swamp, complete with quicksand. I would hurry down the hill carrying a big red bucket & return home a few hours later with a bucket full of hand picked bullfrogs. I actually had a reason for hunting down frogs & that was to train the best jumper I could find & enter it in the Annual Mark Twain bull frog race that is held each year somewhere in the South that I can no longer recall. Strangely, my potential winners that I had placed so carefully in the garage with a lid covering the bucket, would always have disappeared by morning. <br />Despite my past experience with frogs, I am not at all an admirer of the incessant noise these Spring peepers make to mark the arrival of Spring mating season. Between the noise & the time change my sleep is out of whack. I will be going out tomorrow to buy a package of ear plugs. That's my plan to outsmart the frogs. Please let us know how your plan works out. I wish I could borrow your idea, but the pond here is about a quarter mile in diameter & would be a bit tricky to cover the large pond & what would I do about the whole estuary system that feeds into the pond and miles of surrounding wetlands? When I lie down in my bed tonight, after I curse the relentless singing, I will feel a bit better knowing that 3,200 miles away, you too are being forced to listen to the same incessant din of trilling cheaps & churps wafting through the Spring air. At least the frogs are much more reliable than any old groundhogs when it comes to knowing when Spring has arrived. I'll let you know if the ear plugs work.<br />Ellen in Oregonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03484004145095198712noreply@blogger.com