Friday, August 23, 2013

Peepers, crickets, frogs and other things that make noise in the night


We live in the woods, with a little creek at the bottom of the ravine behind the house, and only half a mile from a highway.  There are a lot of noises around us.

Twenty five years ago there was far less traffic on the highway and if I heard the traffic whoosh at night I actually thought I was hearing water. Eventually I realized the sound was the traffic, but would tell myself “it’s only water,” and go back to sleep.

Given the trees and the creek, of course we have spring peepers, a night sound I really liked.  It’s so good to have open windows in the spring and know it is the beginning of spring because the windows are open and because the peepers are calling.

The inevitable has come around again—fall is close and the crickets and frogs are here.  I do not like them. They monopolize a pitch and a frequency that set my teeth on edge.  In the night they get inside my head and make my brain look for an escape exit.  For years I slept with a pillow over my head beginning in mid August.

At supper the other night Hamilton asked if the frogs seemed especially loud the night before. Jan said the frogs had not especially annoyed her, but that one cricket with the grating chirp that went on and on and on and on….

“Oh, that one!” from Emily.  “It said the same thing, over and over and over.  I guess I finally fell asleep.”

I smiled, remembering the day. “They don’t bother me anymore,” I announced. All eyes turned. “I take out one hearing aid, the noise is half gone.  I take out the other, the little buggers are reduced to music to my ears.  Or the sound of water.  Or little spring peepers.”



15 comments:

  1. Well at least you found the silver lining.

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  2. there is a positive side to hearing aids.

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  3. I recorded the sound last night to post on the blog...you have been warned!
    Jane x

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  4. I never hear frogs unless I go to a nature park. But then again I live in Montreal. I do, however, hear crickets and cicadas.

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  5. The worst is a cricket inside the bedroom. The moment you turn on a light to find it, it stops singing. The moment the light is off, it turns up the decibels.

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  6. Crickets yes, cicadas yes, peepers - sadly no. What we do get it remarkably unmusical birds starting up well before sparrow fart.

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  7. And I say, we've earned every advantage we get by growing older, gol darnit. There has to be an upside!

    Oh, I love the sound of peepers. I grew up near a pond and fell asleep every night in late spring to the sound of them.

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  8. Every year, in the spring, people come over to my house and comment on the song of the birds at night. I have to tell them (again) that it is not the sound of birds they are hearing, but rather frogs in the basin calling for a mate. I am always sad when the music ends at the end of May.

    I love the sound of the crickets in the summer. Those who do not experience their song are missing out on a wonder of nature. It is never annoying, but rather magical.

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  9. In Antigua, the tree frogs singing once dark was incredible.

    I wake at dusk most days & am sure I heard the woodpecker. I love hearing the woodpigeons & crows. Sometimes a few seagulls venture in especially at ploughing time & I like that too but, living in a seaside town, it was a noise my grandmother hated.

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  10. Hari OM
    On the whole I rather prefer the sound of crickets and frogs to what I have here most of the time --- traffic banging on the culvert grating right under my window. What I would't give at times, to be able to remove hearing aids... so far not a requirement though. YAM xx

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  11. When working in Florida, I would go to a lake every evening, just to listen to the frog chorus.

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  12. We hear owls and cats and the water gurgling in the brook, but no crickets or frogs. What are peepers?

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  13. Ah... that is called "looking on the bright side"! always a good thing to do.

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  14. With only one good ear, I turn it to the pillow and sleep through more things than I should. Nature can be noisy, but sleeping with the window open is heavenly, don't you think?

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  15. I have "white noise" tinnitus and ignore it most of the day, but at night when I need to sleep, I concentrate on that and all other noise recedes allowing me to fall asleep.

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