Silent summer
Now you know I'm not all "the earth is warming! buy fluorescent bulbs or DIE!" But I just went outside to admire the lightning bugs and it occurs to me that the days and nights are very quiet for this time of year. I'm used to the crickets chirping quite loudly at night and it's now silence in the backyard. I also remember as recently as last summer using the cicadas as a thermometer (if you're waking up to cicada rattles at eight in the morning get ready for a hot day!). Now I'm sure that the rain has delayed summer a bit but I recall lightning bugs not appearing until it was summer proper, along with or after the crickets and cicadas. Anyone else notice this by them? Any ideas why?