The sound of music...

Winter is mostly silent, at least as far as the animal kingdom is concerned. The singing insects are hibernating and the birds don’t sing. And then suddenly one day, there is the warble of a Carolina wren, or a Chickadee or Titmouse whistling outside the window, and here comes the wolf call of the Cardinal. But the sound we anticipate most is the chorus tuning up at the pond. The frog chorus of Spring Peepers (http://www.naturesound.com/frogs/pages/peeper.html). Earlier in the week, after it had been fairly warm for a few days, one of us said, “The peepers are sure to be singing tonight.” And sure enough, they were, and have done so for several nights now. As evening draws on they begin, and they continue all night until daylight. It is wonderful to be lulled to sleep by their lullaby. Once upon a time, one of these little gray fellows spent the winter with us in our bathroom, He came in the house twice as summer was drawing to a close, hopping in under the screen door which had an inch gap at the bottom. I found him in the bathroom twice, so we finally let him stay. Our shower is paneled in redwood, with a few knots here and there, and he wedged himself into one of these holes and that’s where he stayed, or else he would be clinging to the shower curtain. I caught him insects while it was still warm enough and fed him with a tweezer. When spring came he got very active and restless, and so I took him out to the pond and let him go.