It’s been a few weeks since the katy-dids stopped hollering at night.
I always wish I could catch the first sound of katy-dids each summer. I also wish I could hear the very last night they sing and know that was the end of their comforting sound till summer rolls around again.
I rarely ever see the chorus of katy-dids that surround my mountain holler. I reckon they’re too busy on the hot sultry nights to come around the house. But at summer’s end I always find at least a few here and there.
Usually one will light on the backdoor or on the window nearest the backdoor. Sometimes I see one perched on the steps of the front porch like it’s so tired it just can’t go no more.
A few days ago I was sitting out on the back deck reading. I’d been there for a good while when I suddenly heard a couple of katy-dids way up on the ridge. It wasn’t even close to dusky dark so hearing them was strange due to the time of day. But even stranger than that was hearing single katy-dids instead of a multitude. If I had to guess I would say it was two.
I’ll not forget hearing them.
I felt fall rushing down from the mountains as the clouds scuttled along the sky and somehow I knew I was hearing the last katy-dids of the year.
The experience was one of those soul satisfying ones, the kind where you know the world is a beautiful place indeed and you’re blessed to live right smack dab in the middle of it.
Last night’s video: Corie Takes Over the Channel Trip to Town for Supplies.
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LINDA R I AGREE WITH YOU TIPPER AND HER FAMILY ARE SO SOUTHERN APP FOLKS. I GREW UP JUST WEST OF ASHEVILLE IN AN OLD HOUSE THAT HAD A JOHN UP ON THE HILL. WE RAISED OUR GARDEN AND PIGS N CHICKENS. MY SWEET MOTHER CANNED VWGETABLES AND JUICES. AND MADE HOMEMADE BISCUITS AND GRAVY. MY DAD WOULD SIT IN THE PORCH SWING AND USE HIS FRENCH HARP TO ENTERTAIN US. WE MADE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM WITH AN OLD HANDCRAK GRINDER USING ICE AND SALT SHE CUT UP PEACHES AND I SAT ON THE ICE CREAM MAKER AND TURNED THE HANDLE AND FOR THAT I GOT TO LICK THE LADLE. AND MOTHER SHARED WHAT WE HAD WITH THE NEIGHBORS. ON SUNDAY WE RODE THE CHURCH BUS TWICE ON SUNDAY AND PRAYER MEETING ON WEDNESDAY. LIFE WAS GOOD BACK THEN. AND IT’S A PLEASURE TO LISTEN TO TIPPER’S. STORIES. WE PLAYED WITH MARBLES AND I COULD GO ON FOREVER BUT I WONT. MY DAD PRAYED AT EVERY MEAL AND BEFORE WE WENT TO BED WE ALL PRAYED TOGETHER. I AM ALMOST 83 AND STILL GOING. JUST ME AND MY DOG. TIPPER ALWAYS INSPIRES ME AS I NOW LIVE IN MISSOURI . I HAVE BEEN WRITING MY LIFE STORY AND NOW I AM WRITING ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS AND HOW THEY WERE TREATED. MY SISTERS DAUGHRER TEACHES IN CHEROKEE ON THE RESERVATION. GOD BLESS ALL WHO TRAD THIS. AND THANKS TIPPER YOU ARE A GREAT TROOPER.
Beautiful post.
The katydids are still strong in Maryland, but I do this very thing with the fireflies. Like clockwork, June 1st most always brings the first, with the last seen before August begins. Both of these summer friends bring back so many sweet family memories.
Even though I love the beginnings of each new season, their end often finds me a bit melancholy. Feeling that way today.
My garden is mostly flowers & with these last few weeks of perfect weather, I’ve especially enjoyed the garden. Hate to see it go.
Yesterday a couple. Tonight, there were none.
Like you, I will miss the katydids and their night time serenades. Here where we live in central Indiana, I learned that the katydids start their song right around my birthday, which is July 18th. I figured that out about 3 or 4 years ago. I was on the quest wondering when they would start when I noticed the first few calling on my birthday that night. Each night after that there was more and more until it was full volume, which I LOVE! Now for the last week I’ve noticed that the volume has been lessening each night and I am going to miss hearing it so much until next summer around my birthday. I love the sounds I hear as I fall asleep at night, between the crickets, owls, katydids and other various bugs and critters it makes for peaceful dreams!
“…the world is a beautiful place indeed and you’re blessed to live right smack dab in the middle of it.”
Thank you, Tipper, for the lovely reminder.
Tipper, after the post this morning, I wanted to tell you when I walked out the back door there was a katydid waiting for me on the screen.
Bill-I love that 🙂
If I had been asked, I would have said I had never heard or seen a katy did. I looked up a picture of one and realized I saw one a few days ago, I have always considered them to be grasshoppers. I guess I hear them in the spring of the year but just thought it was tree fogs I was hearing. I wrote this the other day, I would have to get smarter before I could be considered ignorant.
Lots of times at night, my husband and I enjoy sitting on the back porch. (And yes, it is screened in, mosquitos would carry us away if it wasn’t.) We have enjoyed hearing the katy-dids. Some nights they were so loud that we would find ourselves stopping our conversation just to listen to them. We are not hearing them like we did so we know that cold weather will be here before we know it.
Tipper, you are indeed blessed to live in a beautiful area of the Appalachia. We have notice the Katy-Dids have stopped signing their songs, even though we never saw them, we heard them. We have Hummingbird feeds outside our living room windows and have enjoyed seeing them all summer long. We noticed the last few weeks they have ate more than usual. We thought they must be stocking up for their long journey south. My husband said they haven’t been feeding for three days, so he is thinking they might have started on their journey south. I’ve been to busy sewing to notice, but I’m very thankful for the times I watched them during the summer as they ate from our Hummingbird feeders. Between the Katy-Dids and Hummingbirds no longer with us, summer has truly came to an end. Now we have the coolness and beautiful colors of Fall to look forward too, so let’s enjoy all that Fall has to offer. God created all seasons for His pleasure and we should enjoy them all by glorifying Him for all He has created.
We still have one or two hollering around the house at night, but the majority are gone for the season. I always want to listen / look for the first or last of any season; whenever possible, I even try to be outside at the moment of the equinox or solstice. There’s something about being able to mark the changing of the seasons and being in tune with the flow of time.
Tipper,
I love the Katy-dids too! Nothing like having the windows open and hearing the katydids in the summertime, the cool night air coming in, the sounds of the creek a’runnin, hound dogs a’barking sometimes, just the quietness of nature……these are the sounds I miss from my childhood home and growing up in the mountains.
I love my heritage, my memories, my mountain home……so very blessed
I’m always sad as the katy-dids get weaker, cold weather will be just around the corner.
I was thrilled to hear the katy-dids still calling when I was in the Chicago area two weekends ago. They don’t get up this way too often, so hearing them was a little slice of “home.” Our first, blessed hint that spring is finally coming is when we hear our first peepers of the year. The chorus frogs come later, but we get so excited when we hear the peepers. Our winters are so long, cold, gray, and damp. When the crickets and frogs stop calling we know it’s time to prepare ourselves for the many months ahead.
Katydids are just another kind of cricket. Crickets have a thermostat that turns them on and off. When the ambient temperature reaches a certain point they start their songs. When it drops below that point they slow down and finally stop.
Have you noticed how when a cricket gets in the house it “sings” all night long (unless you get up and escort it outside)? One cricket (or katydid) makes a terrible noise but a chorus of them provides unparalleled auditory pleasure.
You are indeed a noticing person. That is a very useful trait because it makes the world a treasure box. I try to be but always know there is far more to notice than do.
I’m glad you mentioned the katydids. I think they have stopped singing here though I hadn’t thought about it till you mentioned it. Truly fall is here. I think of the bible verse “summer is over, the harvest is past . . .” The ‘farewell to summer’ flowers (asters, goldenrod) are blooming. And where it grows the bittersweet and Virginia creeper are turning orange and red. Another year going by too fast.
Katydids and Lightning Bugs or Fireflies. They’re the best part of summer for me. Prayers for your whole family.
Born in the city of Atlanta where my family resided until I was eight, I had the most wonderful experiences at my grandparents’ farm in NW Georgia. We slept on feather ticking with the windows open, lulled to sleep on hot summer nights by the katy-dids. Now 66, I live across the creek from the family farm and enjoy the peaceful song of the katy-dids from my back porch, taking me back to simpler times of no TV, no indoor bathroom, a crank telephone that only called across the creek, hog killin’ on Thanksgiving, Eastern red cedar bush Christmas tree, hard work & lots of love. So thankful for my Appalachian heritage. Thank you, Tipper, for your stories! They often allow me to reflect on my own. Blessings to you all!
I agree with the commentators on this blog. You are a natural teacher and story teller. I’m not kidding, you should write a book You are pubished cookbook author and award winning influencer. I would love a book of short stories. Since I am a relatively new subscriber to all your of your channels, I can’t get enough. sometimes I watch and listen multiple times to the same video and am always checking out older videos I missed.
Linda-you are so nice-thank you for the uplifting words. I’m so glad you enjoy what we do 🙂
Glad you got to hear the Katy dids one last time before they are gone for good. it’s one of those things that kind of sad and sweet all at the same time. Of course the way time flies, it will be Summer again before you know it. I swooney, I think they get a little shorter every year.
I saw one Monday night on my sidewalk and thought of course it was just a leaf at first till my little dog sniffed at it and it sang its song. I thought of you and how you have talked of loving their sounds. Maybe that was my last one too. If so, I can now share this end of season experience with you. What fun. Thank you!
I was standing in front of my kitchen window doing dishes the other day and looked up to see a katydid on the screen. I always love seeing them for some reason—maybe because it’s really a rare occurrence— even though we hear them all summer. Fall is definitely, slowly creeping in on us—with the gorgeous colors that blanket the mountains. It looks like God took a giant paintbrush and poured all of my favorite colors of reds and yellows, browns, oranges, golds and greens all over these West Virginia mountains. The clouds even seem to pop right out of the deeper blue autumn skies as they drift by. It is definitely a time to reflect on my appreciation of the changing seasons and how fortunate I am to live here in Appalachia—where I get to experience each and every one of them. Happy Wednesday everyone!
Hi Tipper! Since I found your channel and blog (thank you, YT algorithm! ), you have taught me so much about Appalachia, and at the same time, so much about country life in general, like gardening, cooking, and nature! As a teacher, I watch you and can’t help but think that you are a natural born teacher. Your stories and explanations grab your readers’/viewers’ attention, instruct and entertain all at the same time. You are blessed to have found your voice and niche in this complex world to help us all enjoy the more simple things in life… God, family, home, food ways, the list goes on. Thank you. Now, on to the katydids. In my 60 years on God’s green earth, I was never taught that we had katydids up here in New England. Last evening I watched your short on the last katydids and listened to the sound they make. I never thought I heard that sound in my life. Then I opened my slider and lo and behold, what did I hear? The sound of some katydids out back in the woods! Amazing! They’ve been here all along! Thanks, Tipper and all of you, for the lessons you teach me!
Mike-thank you for the kind words! I’m so glad you heard the katy-dids 🙂
Tipper, you know what’s funny? Over here in Scaly they have been still singing, but in the afternoon. In fact yesterday, as I walked my dog, they were just a singing. It’s funny cause where I grew up in Florida they would sing all day and night. Enjoy yesterdays video of Chatter and Matt. Pray all went good at the doctor with Grsnny. Take care, and God bless each of you.
The sites and sounds of country living or at least visiting. I do feel the ‘airish’ of the fall and the cooler weather moving in. Although we do still have the highs of the 80’s during the day, and sometime 90, you can tell by the garden that those days are getting shorter. Praying for some good news from Granny’s Doctor, I have to remember, her future is in God’s hands. Corie and Matt did a good job…your assistant and assistant’s assistant, does a pretty good job. God Bless and stay well you guys.
I’m still hearing ours but they are getting weaker with each passing day. They seemed to come earlier this year & stayed later. I don’t remember them being here into October before. I love waiting to hear them in the summer time & drifting off in the fall. Hugs!
Nothing to do with katy-dids but with fall. Last night’s weather forecast is for night time temperatures to be in the low 40’s for several nights over the weekend. If this holds true for us the temperature will be in the 30’s for the NC mountains. I have mentioned the hot dry weather we have had over the summer and mentioned Sunday about getting less than 1 inch of rain during the entire month of September, yesterday a drought advisory was issued for my area. If you look at the total amount of rain for the year we are several inches above average but it all came during the spring and very little since May.