The night sounds in this place are different from other places that we have lived. I think that there are plenty of coyotes around the country, as was true in other places where we have lived. Recently our son saw a coyote when traveling between his home and ours. I’ve heard the coyotes in the night around here, but not very often. My theory is that while coyotes howl and yip when establishing territory or when hunting at night and that even though this time of year is a good time to hear the coyotes in other parts of the country, it is still raining quite a bit and the rain may be affecting the coyotes’ patterns. I have no idea whether or not this is correct, however. I just know that the coyotes seem to sing a bit less often around here for some reason.

What I do hear at night around here, especially in recent weeks since it has begun to warm up, are frogs. I don’t think I have ever lived in a place where the frog sounds are so prominent at night. I don’t know much about frogs, either, but I think that what we hear are mating sounds and as spring comes the frogs emerge from the mud and begin to search for mates.

And we hear the sound of the rain. It simply rains a lot more here than it does in some of the other places we have lived. Our kitchen has a pair of skylights, which are wonderful and add a lot of natural light to the room, but the rain on the skylights is louder than what we hear in other parts of the house. Upstairs in our bedroom the rain on the roof is rarely heard as there is a ceiling, an attic, insulation, a roof and shingles between us and the rain. The rain gutter system on this house is installed so that there is no downspout near the place where our bed is located, so I don’t hear the rain in the same ways that I heard the rain in our rental house last year.

I find it easy to sleep around here. I prefer for there to be some night sounds. I grew up listening to the river as I drifted off to sleep and I think that some sound is preferable to complete silence when sleeping. Of course there are few places where one can experience complete silence. There are plenty of creatures that are active in the night and plenty of sounds that are a part of each place.

The rain is fascinating to me. Then again, water is a fascinating substance. I have heard water described as colorless, featureless and tasteless. But when you fill a clear glass with water, it is easy to see. It reflects the colors of things around it. The water in the Salish Sea reflects all kinds of color. Sometimes it appears to be gray. Other times it is green. Then again it can appear to be blue. In the evening it reflects all of the colors of the sunset and doubles the sensation of color surrounding us. And as for taste, I have convinced myself that I can taste some of the minerals, chemicals, and other things in water. I’ve grown fond of filtered water and prefer it to the water that our utility provides before it is filtered.

Water is a truly strange substance. It doesn’t always follow the normal rules of chemistry. Hydrogen and oxygen are fairly light atoms. Combined to form water they shouldn’t really produce a liquid at the temperatures and pressures of our planet. But most of the water we see is not a gas. Even when we see clouds, they are primarily liquid water suspended in the atmosphere. When water turns to steam under increased temperatures and/or pressure it becomes clear and invisible. Water vapor suspended in the air is visible as a cloud.

And water expands when it freezes. Most substances contract when cooled. The fact that water expands as it turns solid means that ice floats. Floating ice insulates the liquid water beneath, allowing all kinds of life to thrive in the liquid beneath the ice.

Folks who live in cold places know that hot water freezes more quickly than cold water. That shouldn’t be true, but if you take a cup of cold water outside when it is below zero and toss it into the air, the liquid will fall to the ground before freezing. If you do the same thing with a cup of hot water, it will freeze into ice while still traveling upward, long before it hits the ground. I have no idea why this is the way it is, but it is a fun demonstration for those who are not familiar with this property.

Water can flow upwards, defying gravity. Water molecules stick to each other so well that they can pull each other up through narrow channels. You can notice this on a smooth surface such as a waxed car. This property allows water to deliver nutrients to your brain even when you are standing up. It is called capillary action. The same process allows water to flow upward inside a plant, coming from deep in the ground and flowing upward to provide nutrients to leaves and blossoms at the top of the plant. A fir tree can transport water from its roots more than a hundred feet in the air to the needles at the top of the tree without the use of pumps or other mechanical action.

All of the water on our planet has come from other places in the universe. When our planet was formed, there was no water on the earth. The water arrived on asteroids and comets from space, objects from the edge of our solar system. Those objects were leftovers of the vast clouds of dust and rocks that didn’t become planets. All of the water on our planet arrived from space. It has been here for a long time, though. the water within you has cycled through rocks, air, animals, plants and back again. At some time it was inside of dinosaurs, bacteria, the oceans, storm clouds, polar ice caps and more.

So when I listen to the rain falling, I know I am witnessing an incredible miracle - one without which I would not be sitting here writing and you would not be reading these words. Whatever sounds we hear, the fact that we can hear is an incredible miracle. Even when the coyotes aren’t singing, I’m grateful for the sound of the rain.