Frog Chorus & Insect Chirring

A very relaxing, almost hypnotic sound for me with that insect chirring in the foreground. This was the evening after the summer solstice.

(no video, only audio)

"Frog Chorus & Insect Chirring, 2019/06/21 evening" (Watch on YouTube)

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHQoLH3p4u0

And yet many other ongoing repeating kinds of noises annoy me. It makes me wonder if there is really any intrinsic difference in sounds that I like and sounds that bother me, or if it is only based on mental & emotional associations I have for the sounds.

no more library fines

Our local Richland County Library system no longer charges fines for overdue books:
https://twitter.com/accessfreely/status/1138790635274670080

They already removed the fines for children's & teen books a while ago, but now have also removed them for adult books. There is still a replacement fee for "lost" books:

Loan period on items=21 days. If there are no holds on it, you can renew. If there are holds or you’ve exhausted all of your renewals, we give you 30 days past the due date to return the item before it’s considered lost. + If you bring it back all replacement fees are removed! :)

I wonder how that will work out. One reason I stopped using the library is because I can hardly ever finish reading a book anymore in the short time frame before it is due, even if I renew it. Theoretically, now I could check out a book and keep it for as long as it took to read it. But it would still be considered overdue and then lost in the meantime, so I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. But maybe other people will? I prefer digital books now anyway, as carrying my Kindle is less heavy than most books.

The library also has digital books available, and movies and music... I haven't taken advantage of any of that although I started browsing through the music once.

The library's Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/accessfreely

They've posted links to LGBTQ-oriented books: https://www.hoopladigital.com/collection/4123
graphic novels: https://www.richlandlibrary.com/books-movies-music/queer-comics-teens
and movies: https://www.kanopy.com/category/tags/celebrate-pride-month

At least one of the branch libraries even has a Pride display. I'm impressed, considering this is South Carolina.

storm damage, fallen tree, bent fence

Friday morning, a storm blew through the area. The strong sound of the wind woke me up. No damage here from that one.

Saturday afternoon, another storm blew through. It came on quickly; I hadn't been expecting it. Loud wind, strong rain. It uprooted a pine tree in the back yard; the tree fell against some other trees and damaged a section of fence. The storm also caused many power outages in the area. Our internet went down before the power did.

Saturday night, another storm blew through.




After I worked on the fence:




Two other sections of the fence were also damaged by falling branches, but only a little along the top poles. The house was not damaged.