Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Jeepers Creepers, listen to those Peepers!

That's right! It's April 6th and the spring peepers are suddenly all out together, singing their annual chorus of welcome warm weather! 

Apparently when I was very little I was terrified of 'that noise' coming from our pond, but tonight, as I was returning from finishing mucking out the sheep pens (another sure sign of spring!) I couldn't help but smile.  Like fireworks, spring peepers seem to have the effect on me of feeling like a kid again.  Like when I used to curl up on a lawn chair with Mom on a cool summer evening, under the old green and yellow afghan and watch the bats chase invisible flies. 

The farmers 'down east' are planting potatoes like crazy apparently and when Mark tilled up our lawn today to get it ready for seeding after last fall's "repair" job, it was dry before he was even out of the yard.  By the sounds of it, it could be a very dry summer. 

So, while I love the warmth, and while I really appreciate the nostalgia that comes with hearing the spring peepers for the first time every year, I get a little anxious about what is to come when I killed my first housefly today. And I'm not talking about one of the fat sleepy ones left over from winter in the cracks of my windows.  Hold on to your hat soil, it's gonna be a dry one with lots of pests!

Hope this finds you poking your head out the door to have a listen yourself. 

-Sally

3 comments:

  1. We enjoyed a camp fire with our neighbors on the weekend, next to their backyard pond...which is TEEMING with frogs. And we're not talking peepers here....we're talking BIG! They sound SOMEWHAT like a hundred ducks quacking...seriously. That is the sound. The bullfrog tadpoles that overwintered are out as well, and swimming about...their heads about the size of a grape. (It won't be long before a boy takes the plunge no doubt and does his own swimming about in the pond. ) Brrrr.

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  2. the sound of the first peepers always brings a smile and almost a tear thinking of the fresh spring air with no bugs and how they stop when you get close and how it is a new spring

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  3. Freetown is ahead of West Branch although Brother Doug says he has had peepers for a week, We only have the "quackers" yet. Frogs that sing in April will shut up in May [sign of cold temperatures]so the old saying goes so don't put away your mittens yet.

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