The Invasion of the Cicadas
Aug. 10th, 2008 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunchofgrapesLook at me, posting twice in a week.
So yesterday morning as I’m in the middle of a dream about kittens, I’m awoken by the sound of a weedeater. Ok, so I’m thinking it’s probably close to the alarm going off. I roll over, look at the alarm 6:46am. Yeah, the dumbass people across from me decided at 6:46am to do their yard work, including the eleventy billion times they have to try to start the mower before it finally kicks in.
To add to the noise factor, apparently, the Brood XIV cicadas have emerged this year.
In 2004 we had the 17 year Brood X cicadas. It was loud and cicada bodies were everywhere. I mean everywhere: covering sidewalks and lawns and cars (my car still has cicada guts remnants) plus, you'd be standing outside and a cicada would hit you in the head. Those things aren't exactly graceful. The empty shells covered branches of the trees like some sort of wee alien invaders. Well, this year my neighbor (the nice one who always waits to mow her grass in the afternoon) and I noticed that the cicadas seemed louder than usual. The Willow tree in the front yard has a sort of thinned out look to the leaves--like it did during the emergence of the 17 year cicadas. The Blue Jays are hanging out in the tree, fighting with each other and making tons of noise like never before, and one of the neighborhood stray cats keeps stalking things on the ground. Looking out my window at one branch of the willow tree yesterday and I saw what all the fuss is about. One branch alone had at least 10 cicada shells. I’m sure it’s a cicada smorgasbord for the birds and the cat. And since the emerging cicadas tend to prune the trees back, that accounts for the state of the tree. Btw, yesterday I knocked those 10 little discarded space suits off the branch and today there are another ten. They wouldn't look so creepy if they didn't all march in a row. And cling to the branch by their little skeletal claws--or whatever they are.
So yesterday morning as I’m in the middle of a dream about kittens, I’m awoken by the sound of a weedeater. Ok, so I’m thinking it’s probably close to the alarm going off. I roll over, look at the alarm 6:46am. Yeah, the dumbass people across from me decided at 6:46am to do their yard work, including the eleventy billion times they have to try to start the mower before it finally kicks in.
To add to the noise factor, apparently, the Brood XIV cicadas have emerged this year.
In 2004 we had the 17 year Brood X cicadas. It was loud and cicada bodies were everywhere. I mean everywhere: covering sidewalks and lawns and cars (my car still has cicada guts remnants) plus, you'd be standing outside and a cicada would hit you in the head. Those things aren't exactly graceful. The empty shells covered branches of the trees like some sort of wee alien invaders. Well, this year my neighbor (the nice one who always waits to mow her grass in the afternoon) and I noticed that the cicadas seemed louder than usual. The Willow tree in the front yard has a sort of thinned out look to the leaves--like it did during the emergence of the 17 year cicadas. The Blue Jays are hanging out in the tree, fighting with each other and making tons of noise like never before, and one of the neighborhood stray cats keeps stalking things on the ground. Looking out my window at one branch of the willow tree yesterday and I saw what all the fuss is about. One branch alone had at least 10 cicada shells. I’m sure it’s a cicada smorgasbord for the birds and the cat. And since the emerging cicadas tend to prune the trees back, that accounts for the state of the tree. Btw, yesterday I knocked those 10 little discarded space suits off the branch and today there are another ten. They wouldn't look so creepy if they didn't all march in a row. And cling to the branch by their little skeletal claws--or whatever they are.
