reee! reeee! reeeee!

Have you noticed yet? Its that time of year again... the cicadas are back! I was leaving work one night this week, and was amazed anew at their deafening song as I walked through campus.

I'm fascinated again and again each year at the concept that one day nothing... and the next day... turn down the volume! It's not even as though it takes a few days to ramp up to full strength.

Some species of cicadas can produce sound up to 120 decibels in chorus. To put this into perspective, a farm tractor produces sound at about 100 db and a chain saw at 110 db. Equally amazing to me in the passing of time, is that as abruptly as the cicadas arrive, they are gone. As days of summer become shorter, one day there will again be silence...