Dear Ferret Folks-

It's that time of year, again. Those of us here in central MA have been
over-run by THEM again. THEM. That's all we knew to call them the first
spring that my hubby and I spent in our new home here in Templeton.
We're far enough into spring that the deep mud is thawing, now. The
maples are showing red and fancy at their tips. The crocus have largely
come and gone, the daffodils are starting to turn yellow faces up to
the sun. It's time to start thinking about taking the floor mats out
of the car and giving them a good shake.

Spring is here, and with it, THEM.

THEY do have a name, although it took us a little while to find out
just what the *ell they were. Now, you need to understand that we live
in a mature hemlock forest up here. For that you need moist, acid soil,
which we have in abundance. This is the home of blueberry,cranberry,
wintergreen, and mountain laurel. My neighborhood is dotted with swampy
spots, vernal pools, and clear, fast running little streams. The woods
are indeed lovely, dark, and deep. And...they are the home to Rana
Sylvatica, the Eastern Wood Frog and countless other amphibians. This
is frog heaven. And Rana Sylvatica is the first to emerge from the mud
and serenade us all night long with songs of endless, moist lust.

Do they "peep"? Noooo. They quack. Yes, quack. They quack like a duck
all night long. They quack LOUDLY like a duck all night long. MILLIONS
of them quack LOUDLY like ducks all night long. It's *deafening*. And
the first time you hear it I promise you, your reaction is "What the
*ELL is THAT!?" But don't take my word for it, turn up your speakers
and welcome to my world!

http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/sound/Wood_Frog.mp3

Now, that was only a *few* of them. I do not exaggerate when I say that
we have MILLIONS of them. We can hear them right through the night,
even with the windows closed. I accidently left one cracked open about
six inches last night, and I came into the computer room to find that
Todd had climbed up as high and as close to that window as he could. He
stood there in the darkness, right below the lace edge of the curtain,
his whole body tense, little nose quivering, ears standing up and away
from his head like shark fins. His tail was puffed out like a bottle
brush as he listened to them in their MIIIIILLIONS....He was completely
engaged in the deafening chorus from the woods. He had never heard it
before, as I have, had no explanation for it at all.

So I, being the kind of person I am (horrible), snuck up on him and
slammed a book on the computer desk. He didn't even stop to look to
see what had made the loud noise, he just leapt for the floort, hit it
leaving sparks in the darkness from where his undercarriage scraped the
carpet and took off across the room in terror, disappearing into his
cage for the night.

And my evill laughter joined the deafening chorus of quacking from the
trees....

Alexandra in MA

P.S. I thought of *Wolfy* when I did it, Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Except she
wouldn't have done that to a *ferret*, she would have done it to one
of her *kids*.

[Posted in FML 6307]