I do not, without looking it up, remember the science behind what happens to toads and frogs after the first significant rain of the season. But I can report that it wakes them all up, and they are very loud, and some of them appear to engage in hanky-panky.
Herewith, the video with audio soundtrack:
Note:
You still have to press Play twice to play a video: Once to load the video and then again to actually play it.
20240322
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20240320 |
I salute your public health education efforts, Saint Mary's Hospital.
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Summary: scary stuff!!! |
Maybe not the first actual precipitation of the season, but one that I got to experience while out and about on the motorcycle. In fact, I had to wait quite a while at St. Mary's Hospital for the rain to stop so I could ride home. Not a bad place to be stuck at all on that day. Rather enjoyable actually. Thank you, early rain.
20240313-1202
Topic: Southeast Asia field-burning season
I remember this day. It was not a good air day.
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20240310 |
But I did not take any photos. I could have, especially during the hour or more that I watched him on the trunk of the rose bush. At first, it seemed like he may have been waiting for the 16:45 sprinklers so that he could take a shower. But, as it turns out, he didn't like the water. After a few minutes of being sprayed, he jumped off the rose bush onto the lawn.
I neglected to mention his name. He was กิ้งก่า / Ging Ga. As an English name, let's call him the Oriental Garden Lizard, as Wikipedia does. Color-wise, Ging Ga has some chameleon-functionality. Camouflaged a gray color to blend in with the rose bush trunk, I nevertheless saw plenty of red on his back. Noted, too, was the Mohawk haircut (not really hair...) running down the back of his neck and lower back.
He hit the lawn, and he took off running--standing up. He looked like a small-scale dinosaur as he made great time to the safety of some other bushes. I should like to see Ging Ga run again. It is very fun to watch. I'm sure there are other creatures out there, not just Ging Ga, who think the same of me.
Photo of กิ้งก่า / Ging Ga on a private website about Thai national parks.
Most days, it's not possible to breathe safely outdoors for three or four months every year (December, January, February, March), but it's often not safe to breathe indoors either. Hence, the need for air purifiers.
Sure, fixing the root cause of the problem would be the way to go, but that's not how it works here. I believe the idea is that if you deny the existence of a problem strongly enough, it will cease to actually exist.
At any rate, we just paid US$ 225 in order to breathe safely indoors. This is our first air purifier, but not our last. In addition to this one in the living room, we'll need at least two more for bedrooms.
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20240307 |
It will grow back, but it won't be as good as the original. Kind of the way I feel about every single time I've let the doctors conduct experiments on me.
You get to a point where you simply have to exercise regardless of air quality or weather conditions. Tonight could have been worse for the first ride in 11 days.
"Move it, or lose it." I believe in the concept greatly, but I'm violating it regularly now in the heavy air pollution season. Something needs must change...
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AQI of 90 might not seem too bad. |
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But if you look at PM2.5, it's kind of depressing. Maybe I did more harm than good with this exercise? |
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I can handle 29 degrees at 70% humidity. It's when the humidity gets up above 85% that I start tapping out. |
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11 or 12 days between bicycle rides. Not good. |
I guess it was my dream that the air wouldn't get bad until mid-January. I got back right at the end of the rainy season, and the air is...
