Jim McKenney wrote: >where the seventeen-year cicadas are gone but have been replaced by the annual cicadas; >you don't know one of summer's sweetest gifts if you have not dozed off to the choruses >of the annual cicadas. Here in central NC we are not in Brood X country, but I can relate to Jim's comments about the cicada chorus. Jim, thanks for the balanced view you provided about these interesting insects, many of which emerge at prime number (2,3,5,7,11,13,17) intervals so that a faster reproducing predator cannot get in synch. I hope nobody minds this as I know I am straying off topic, but other sweet gifts of summer that I enjoy in the evening are the songs of the wood thrush (heavenly), followed by the unbelievably loud katydid chorus, and on thundery nights, gray tree frogs. As long as I am at it some of the sweetest sounds of late winter are provided by amphibians, both the spring peeper and the American toad have pretty songs that tell me that winter will end soon and the garden will grow again. Regards, Jay Yourch Central North Carolina, USA (USDA Zone 7) where I get along well with most of the animals who make their homes in my garden.