Sparrows & Me Verses Cicadas!

I need a lie detector!  I need a bug exorcist!

Cicadas appear every August.  Someone said they only come every 17 years.  NOT!  They come every year!  

They love the 70 foot maple tree in the front yard.  It was a sapling we transferred here from our first house in Elwood.  Now, it's 9 ft. in diameter and a story taller than our 2 story house!  

Those chunky many-colored cicadas get so loud in the afternoon that I have to shut the screen and sliding glass door.  No enjoying the great outdoors with a good book, or a cup of coffee.  As the saying goes, "You can't even hear yourself think!"

"It's an incessant cadence of high-pitched, shrill sounds," says Purdue University website, and boy, ain't it the truth.

Sometimes, in frustration, I scream back at them, LOL.  Can't you just see a 70 y.o. woman on her front deck, face upwards, yelling at insects that haven't got a brain.  (Don't say it!  No, don't you say it!  Don't you dare say anything about my brain!)

Curious, I went online searching for cicada predators and other ways to deal with their mind-altering noise.

Come to find out they are disturbed by changes in light and movement, and that "playing the sounds of sparrows, which are natural predators, might cause them to temporarily become quiet or relocate."  Yay!  A possible solution!

Song birds are hesitant to hang around here due to the resident feline, Ruger.  But I got an idea.  Yep.  I did.  Youtube.com had many selections of sparrow songs and calls.  LIVE!  Yay!  Some for 3 minutes, some for 9 minutes, and even one for 10 hours.  Another, yay!

Now, how to do it.  

So, I set this up.  Open laptop, select video, set on picnic table, hit start, sit back, observe.

  Lo and behold, 3 things happened!

Strange birds, as in I hadn't heard them in a long-long time, came to the treetop and added to the orchestra, tweet-tweet-tweet!  Chirp-chirp.  Coo-oo-Coo-oo.

The cicadas stopped their raucous.

Ruger cat came around - investigating.  First, meandering around the deck.  Then curling the table legs.  Jumping up onto the bench, and then the tabletop.  Finally, she sat down right next to the computer on the picnic table.  I wasn't fast enough to take that picture but you can imagine.  She just sat there, head slowly turning left and right, eyes scanning-scanning, and her little butt butted up to the side of my Mac laptop.

There was a feast to be had.  She thought a sumptuous meal was forthcoming.  Ruger was pouncy-ready. 

Hey, listen!  Did you hear that?  Did you hear what I said?  The cicadas stopped their raucous! 

I win!

Sparrows & Me verses Cicadas - I WIN!  Whoo-hoo!

Where's that coffee and my book?  Scanning-scanning ...

A Sunday Double - Jayden Animals & Grandkids Key

 

Four Grandkids Trying Keys, Blue Girl Bent Down Sorting Keys

JAYDEN ANIMALS

On the way to church, I had Jayden and Noelle in the backseat riding with me.  Jayden is only 10 but he always engages adults in talk.  I would suppose it's because he's the oldest and has always been treated older than he is.  New parents do that, we all know.

Anyway, from the backseat as we're driving up State Road 37, he brings up a big subject.  He states, "Animals are dangerous to us."

He says it very fast speaking, all knowing, and extremely confident.

So, I give him something to think about, "We're dangerous to animals because we eat them."

Okay, he's down with that, he says, "My favorite is pig."

He doesn't say pork loins or bacon, he says pig which makes me smile.  I'm silently thinking, "Yah, and your dad looks at cows walking by and thinks "STEAK!"  His dad told me that years and years ago.

Sitting next to Jayden, his younger sister, Noelle, can't be left out, she chimes in, adding her 2 cents worth, "Yah, and I love elephant ears!"

GRANDKIDS KEYS

The grandkids discovered my garage sale I had set up, and they wanted things.  Since it was getting closer to the time their parents should arrive, we struck a deal.  They would clean up a room or a particular mess, or outside picnic table and toys, and I would give them 25 cents or 50 cents according to the job.  They earned dollars.  One earned $2.  

They were then welcome to purchase things from my sale.  It worked out pretty well until, especially the little ones, they made a mess in the garage.  Tumbled down linens, toys chosen and discarded, and items displaced, so I locked the door.  They were done anyway, having already spent their money, LOL. 

 

Right before the parents decided "It's time to go" they asked if they could have a sucker.  Sure.  Why not.  And I should say here, that I keep them in the freezer and they know EXACTLY where they're at - - in the garage in the freezer.

"But, GrammyPam, the door is locked."

"Go find the key and unlock it."

That became a mystery, a puzzle, a challenge.  They began using my stash of keys to see if they could unlock it.  They tried keys to the back door, plastic toy keys, keys to a child's dollhouse, keys to the skid steer, and the key to the barn.  But they never did see the keys hanging on the pantry door.

After letting them try this key and that, and after much discussion and cooperation on their parts, I intervened.  You have to intervene before frustration gets too high or it escalates.

I walked in there, reached up, and jangled them down.  They all stood there gobsmacked with their little mouths open, and utterances of surprise.  

The adults just sat back watching and laughing.  Once the door was unlocked, It was an onslaught down those steps to open that white chest to the sweet prizes!

Those kids are something else!  They sure love suckers! 

Hee, hee, hee, and so do I!