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Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   katydids and gutters
Monday, July 19 2010
The katydids started their nightly chatter several days ago, making the night much louder than it had been only a week before. Katydids are a leading indicator of the end of summer. I remember finding their call a little depressing back when I was a kid, because it meant that school was now only a few weeks away.
Katydids persist from this time of the year all the way into November, usually surviving the first few frosts. Their chattering slows down as temperatures fall. And then one day there's a really hard frost and they're silent for the year.
Tonight I noticed that the katydids actually don't carry on all night, at least not at this time of year. In the wee hours they knock it off and leave the sonic airwaves open for other sounds: Barred Owls, the dog who used to live here but who is now being housesat by our downhill neighbors, or perhaps coyotes (though I haven't heard them in over a week).

We had a very powerful thundershower today. The gutter above the east deck was overflowing like Niagara Falls all along its length, leading me to realize it was plugged up with leaves. I'd thought I'd cleaned it out, but my memory of having done that might be for something that happened as long ago as 2008.
It was cool after the rain, so Gretchen and I went on a rare evening walk to the farm at the end of the farm road, doing a loop through the forest beyond on a trail I haven't walked in years. The orange efts (a life stage of the Eastern Newt) were out in force, as was at least one Wood Frog.


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