Now what!!

Lots of sounds in the trees after the rains and storms of today. Just had a cup of coffee on the screen porch and heard the cicadas and another sound. Hard to discribe! The sound of running water maybe, or tinitus of the ear..lol! Just a continuous hissing. Like I said, don't know how to describe it. It was different to the sort of melody the cicadas put out. There was no break in the sound whatsoever. What could it be?

Hi Louisa. I don't know what it was you heard but I heard it too this morning. Exactly as you described it. I thought too, that it was tinninitis. Another little mystery to keep us awake at night.
Mary

Mary I meant to look up your neck of the woods on the map but haven't got round to doing it yet. Coult it be north of Charlottesville!! Anywhere near Winchester? As for the sounds - well they are really weird and more so than the sounds that came from the jungle when we lived in Singapore...lol!! And bugs!! I can't tell you how many strange bugs I've seen. Could be that some of the forest here had to be cleared for our house and released the little beggars. Let's hope they are the 'beneficial' kind!!

UFOs its the only answer.

lol Alan - you could be right and if that is the case then they have made little houses in my tulip trees....lol!!

I read this thread and noticed that Mary is from Alton and Louisa mentions Winchester. Well I live not 20 miles from Alton and 15 from Winchester which is where I went to college .... different country of course ;)

Only hissing I ever heard in Winchester was the cats fighting over the pheasents my housemate hung on the shed in the garden. He swiftly bought them in when he saw what a commotion they were causing.

Gosh Baa, isn't that a strange coincidence. So are you close to the famous Alton Towers?

Hi Louisa

Alton Towers is in Staffordshire which by strange coincidence is the county I was born in. Its about 170 miles from here.

Alton is an old market town in Hampshire and near to where Jane Austin lived. Here's a link

http://www.counties.co.uk/regional/south/hants/alton/

Louisa I think I have your answer'We have
some wild birds(black color) My DH and I
were outside the other day and heard the
same sound,very "eerie" We'd never heard
that sound before' They were up in the trees
and making sounds like water falling,weird
too'

Baa thanks for the link - but feeling a little homesick now :-( - it will soon pass. I love the history that is associated with England and you live in a beautiful county.

Sis - weird is right!!! But birds at night? We have had dozens of really tiny birds but dark grey!! I've never heard birds make that sound before - maybe they were snoring.....ROFL!!!

Or perhaps feeding'''

Hi Louisa. I live south of Charlottesville. About 16 miles east of Danville, almost a stones' throw from the North Carolina border. My DH says that the noise is a Cicada. He's been a country boy all his life and very observant so I will take his word for it.(unless I find out otherwise). Going to be a hot day here, can hardly wait for fall.

Nature is everywhere and it's
like all of us entering plants
into the database here'What one
area calls a plant another area
describes(calls)it something else,
Lol'Country girl too' I believe
your DH and mine too'

I'm a country girl at heart - a well travelled country girl!! But my heart was and always will be rural! Zastow - I have cicadas and know their sound. This is completely different - unless there is another type of tree cricket or something. Like I said, never heard anything like it. Thanks for pin-pointing your neck of the woods. Must be wonderful living close to the border - the best of both worlds eh! Sis my DH is from Georgia (Jawjuh) - and you can't get more country than that....lol!!

Yes ya can,mine is Pure Country,Kansas'Lol'

Guess that's what makes everyone
so special but we sure don't need
to get totally"territorial"Lol

Sis, I've heard that gurgling, water sound too. We finally decided it was blackbirds. Such a pleasant sound.
Louisa, there is another insect, I don't know what it is called, but it starts making noises about 6 weeks before frost. We are yankee transplants so it may be that what we call these insects may be different in the south. I need to tell you that I think of you every time I make scones.
Mary

Yes Mary,some kind of black birds and
nasty' They ravaged my feeders this
spring,were mean to other birds too'So,
I pulled my feeders 'til they left,they
dominated the whole community here'Is
there a recipe for "fat free scones"???
If so,please send me one''Thank you,Sis'

Sis, I don't know about fat free scones but since I can't afford butter these days and won't use margarine, I use either light olive oil or canola oil. Still fat but these oils are so much better for you.For a quarter cup of solid shortening use 3 tbsp of oil. for a half cup substitute 1/4 cup plus 2tbsp. Louisa's scones turned out beautifully with oil. Hope you enjoy.
Mary

I use those also Mary'When I make a
cake(box or homemade)I substitute
applesauce for the oil' Saves the
calories' Thank You,Sis'

Sis, go to the recipe forum. I found a scone recipe that requires no fat. I wonder if I could use applesauce to replace the fat in biscuits or scones? Next experiment.

Mary - how nice that you should think of me and I am so glad (and relieved) that the scones are turning out well for you. I'm sure you already told me where you lived, but this brain of mine is slowly deteriorating. Sis if your DH is from Kansas, why are you living in zone 5? Yea, I know - I'm plain nosey...lol!! Now Mary don't tell me we are just 6 weeks' away from frost. I won't hear of it!!! We had terrible fog this morning and then the humidity was awful. Came the storms and the lovely downpours and now it's coooool!!! But the noises outside have stopped. Hope they have gone to Florida or somewhere....lol!!

Because Louisa,Z5 IS NE KS.'''Lol
Zastow-It doesn't affect the gluten
in cake making''Try it''Let us know''
Sending me away are you,to another forum,
now I feel unwanted'''Ok,I'll leave'

Louisa
It could be frogs. We have lots of different toads and tree frogs here in the east. I'm in Tennessee and at night it's like a constant hissing sound (sort of, but pleasant) that is like a mix of crickets, cicadas and frogs.
Cala

Sis, I tried to start a thread on recipes but it wouldn't post. So will give you the recipe here. Never considered making scones would be considered wild life.
4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 egg and 2 and 1/2 cups buttermilk. (if you don't have buttermilk on hand just put about 3 tbsps of lemon juice in the measuring cup before adding the milk) Mix dry ingredients , beat egg well and add with the milk. Makes a soft batter. grease griddle lightly and drop by spoonfulls. brown on one side, turn and brown the other. I mixed raisins in part of the batter. Very good either way. I hope this gets posted. Yes Louisa, six weeks to frost. I can hardly wait. I like sweatshirt weather.

Cala you may have hit the nail on the head. I have seen numerous tiny frogs - I'm sure that's it. The sound does not abate at all but does sort of go up or down a pitch for about 30 minutes and then changes again. I'm happy with that answer, thanks!!
Mary, I posted another recipe for scones on the recipe forum but it is different to the one I gave you. I wasn't feeling too good that day! However, both work very well and you can also use just self rising flour and omit the baking powder and soda.
Sis - guess I better get the maps out and start learning the geography of the US - thought I was pretty good at that....but!!!....lol!

This message was edited Thursday, Aug 30th 10:25 PM

It is now the middle of September. We are having cooler nights and we have even turned off the ceiling fans. The days are just glorious and the trees are turning into beautiful colours. This morning was quite foggy but the sun soon put a stop to that nonsense. Yet, come to think of it, fog can have quite a lovely mood all of it's own. Anyway, it's still hot during the day in the 80s! I have just sat on the screen porch and heard three different sounds. One was like a chirp, chirp, chirp. One was rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat and the other was that same sound I opened this thread with. A continuous whirring noise. Are there three different types of cicadas? I would love to know the anwer if you can help.