croak

We have lived in our new home for about 10 months now, and we still laugh about the first night we spent here. It was the middle of June and the evenings were still crisp and cool. We couldn’t wait to sleep with our windows open so we could breathe in the fresh air and enjoy this strange new feeling of not having another house directly behind us.
That next morning, I felt like I had hardly slept. I was expecting peace and quiet from the prairie. But instead it was so LOUD! All night long, the frogs were croaking. The crickets were chirping. Around 3 a.m., it seemed, the birds started singing.

Despite our sleeplessness, we loved all of the nature sounds so we weren’t deterred from keeping the windows open every night that we could. Toward the middle of summer, it was too hot, and we had to give in to the air conditioner. But by then, I had gotten used to all of the sounds from the prairie. I was having a hard time falling asleep without my crickets and frogs.
Toward the end of fall, we sadly closed our windows for the long winter ahead. It didn’t really matter at that point because the prairie had gone to sleep. No more chirping or croaking or singing.

When it started warming up this spring, we couldn’t wait to not only see — but HEAR — the prairie come back to life. A few weeks ago, we started hearing the frogs croaking again, and their low songs gave us hope. It seemed like warm weather was never going to come back for good, but maybe the frogs knew better.
I’m not talking about just a few frogs. This place is like Egypt after the plague in summertime with the frogs. Watch out if you go for a walk in the early morning before the sun comes up. You could step on one!
The past few days, we’ve been able to sleep with our windows open again. Not only are the frogs singing their night songs, but there’s a pheasant that cries out all night long. Sometimes we get lucky and hear two owls calling back and forth to each other from the trees. After such a long winter, it’s almost a relief to hear all of these creatures made it! They are still alive, and they are singing their hearts out that it’s spring!

We are back to sleeping with our windows open, and the effect is amazing. Something about all of that croaking and chirping puts us into the deepest sleep.

I can’t say that I’ve become a true frog lover yet. They are SO UGLY with their slimy green skin and beady eyes. But their sounds lull me into such a peaceful state. I’ve been rejoicing with them that spring is really here! CROAK!