Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap” – Lesson from an Insomniac!Rider and I piled into the tent just as the stars were coming out. The sky to the west full of thunder clouds and the faintest of rumbles. Within the hour the storm was over us. The wind whipped, the clouds collided and jolts of white light flashed about. In the background the never waning swooshing of the Klamath River. This being the first night out, on a long anticipated get away into the wild, seeking solitude, a spring storm the perfect expletive to start the camp season.Eventually the rumbling gave way to a soft gentle pitter patter as rain fell against the tent for ¼ an hour. The air warm and humid sunk heavily as the storm passed. The night was dreamy soft. Me and the pooch dozed off sweetly as the breeze gently stirred the pines overhead. My dreams filled with silence and solitude.In the tree above us, out of the dark came a startling alarm, “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”, repeat! “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”. I woke startled, I tossed, Rider woke annoyed, he tossed, I turned and Rider turned, the dreamy soft quiet night fractured by a siren song. “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”, again and again. I tried using my mind power and willing the bird to go away. “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”. The bird didn’t move, it just kept singing out. “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”. Rider tried his mind powers too, sitting up and staring at my face, as if willing me to make it stop. But the bird carried on blaring out into the pitch-black night. Clearly this feathered creature was suffering insomnia (and an identity crisis). “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”. I wanted to shout: “shut up, go away, go to sleep!” Around us the leaves rustled as the spring night breathed on softly, the river continued to swoosh by, neither phased by the brash little bird. In my fitful fragmented slumber, as the siren song boomed on, all…night…long, “Cheep, cheep, caw, caw, toodle, toodle, rap, rap, rap”, the insomnia bird presented me a valuable lesson.The planet is bursting with sound, even in solitude. Relish in this, these are the natural sounds of our world!
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