July 1

Pre dawn was notably sultry, and in the gray haze of the morning a cricket was chirping incessantly outside the bathroom window from somewhere within the rock wall that fronts the porch walkway.

I counted 178 chirps in one minute, then went to consult an old folklore almanac which lists how to tell the temperature from cricket chirps. Take the number of chirps per minute (178), divide by 60 (2.9), then multiply by 14 to get the number of chirps in 14 seconds (2.9 x 14 = 40.6). Finally, add thirty to this number to derive the outside temperature (= 70.6).

According to our arthropodial forecaster, the July morning was starting off warm and steamy. Sure enough, the outside thermometer on the kitchen window read 70 degrees. If July begins this way, it may be very hot and humid by the end.