Cicadas are coming, cicadas are coming!!! Oh my.....

[Miss Mary]

5 Billion cicadas, yes you read that figure correctly, will invade the Cincinnati area in mid-May!!!! Oh my....run for the hills.....grab the kids, dog, run.....hide......LOL

People are freaking out I tell ya!!!! Just flipping out!!!

Seriously though, from what I've read they're a nuisance but not a real threat. So I'm not worried. And our street is only 15 years old, the top soil and clay was disturbed building our homes, and it's the 17 years and older suburbs/lawns/homes that will experience the invasion much more severely. So we're hoping here at our house it won't be so bad. We have a Golden Retriever that will be loving this feast though. Better have the video camera charged!!!

Our 16 year old, turning 17 in June, was a baby for the last cicada invasion. I remember thinking now when Nina is 17, they'll strike again. And thinking oh that is so long into the future. Well, the future is here!!!!

Here's a local article...apparently cicadas taste like asparagus. Mmmmm, I think I'll stick to the vegetable, thank you very much. LOL

http://www.cincynow.com/news/2004/local ... cadas.html

Mary

PS - edit....another article I found. Apparently my dog will get tired of eating them, they're will be so many emerging. Oh lovely!
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/03/11/cicad031104.html

[pawlee]

last time i saw em' was 1986 in Central PA...



everything IN cicada...
http://www.indiana.edu/~act/cicada/index.html

[GalvestonDuck]

*weighing the options in each hand*

Cicada....mosquito....cicada....mosquito...hmmmmm.

*scratching ankle*

I'll take cicadas!

[Stephanie]

*weighing the options in each hand*

Cicada....mosquito....cicada....mosquito...hmmmmm.

*scratching ankle*

I'll take cicadas!

[Miss Mary]

*weighing the options in each hand*

Cicada....mosquito....cicada....mosquito...hmmmmm.

*scratching ankle*

I'll take cicadas!

Let's see, I'll ask ya that in a month or so. I'm sure there will articles with pics available then. Some areas 17 years ago were just covered with them.

Mary

[breeze]

Let's see...(*old timer, scratching her chin while
thinking...)...I think we had our last cicada outbreak
here in 1998. I remember going with a friend and her
husband down to University of Alabama at Huntsville
to her nursing class graduation, and, their SUV
broke down in southern Giles County, just before
we crossed the TN/AL line. I remember commenting
on the loud chorus of cicadas while we were
standing, roadside. (A nice elderly couple stopped
and gave us a ride to the UAH campus, btw!)

Miss Mary, you just keep those noisy, obnoxious
little insects up there to yourself, now!

[Miss Mary]

annette - I will try to keep them up here. LOL

Reminds of the fall weekend we went to Hocking Hills, OH a few years ago. We were driving down a country road to get to our cavin. All of sudden we noticed a black cloud up ahead very close to the ground. Good thing our A/C was on, because we were suddenly confronted with hundreds of ladybugs! They were everywhere. When I checked in I had to inquire about the ladybugs. The clerk sighed.....you are so lucky, you're visiting us on Ladybud Weekend! I did a double take....LOL They indeed were just about everywhere. They got in thru cracks in our cabin, although we had the A/C on there too. If we left a lamp on, the table it was on was filled with hundreds of them. We even brought some home in our suitcases. So consequently when we think of visiting that region again, my family all chimes in - let's not go on Ladybud Weekend again.

Now something tells me cicadas and ladybugs will be two entirely different insect invasions!!!

Mary

[breeze]

LOL, those ladybugs are a much more quiet
invasion, though, still obnoxious!

I read an article in the USA Today, today, about
your cicadas, Miss Mary!

The May of the Locust approaches

After 17 years of relative quiet, Mother Nature is
bringing in the noise. Periodical cicadas, a species
of the grasshopper-like insects best known for the
scratching, screeching "singing" of the males, will
emerge this May, filling forests in more than a
dozen states. There are at least 13 broods of
17-year cicadas. This year, it's time for Brood X,
the so-called Big Brood, to surface. It's range
stretches from Georgia, west through Tennessee
and to isolated pockets of Missouri, north along the
Ohio Valley and into Michigan, and east into New
Jersey and New York.

Awww, no - not again!!!

[chadtm80]

Our BIG invasion every year is the dern love bugs... ARRRRGGGGG

[MScoast]

Ahhhhh...the pesky little lovebugs! As a matter of fact, I saw some yesterday! Guess it's time to get the scrub brush out to clean the car!

[Miss Mary]

I'm going to stick my neck out here and ask a possible dumb question - what's a lovebug? Other than Herbie.....I don't know what you're talking about!!! LOL

Mary

[ColdFront77]

Our BIG invasion every year is the dern love bugs... ARRRRGGGGG

How about that, Chad. As I was reading through these posts, (some of them, again) I thought of the love bugs. They sure can be bothersome. They were really bad the first September I was here (2000).

I heard they escaped from a college in Gainesville, FL that year.

Ahhhhh...the pesky little lovebugs! As a matter of fact, I saw some yesterday! Guess it's time to get the scrub brush out to clean the car!

So, love bugs exists as far north as Mississippi. How far north are they found? I wouldn't think much further than northern Georgia.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and ask a possible dumb question - what's a lovebug? Other than Herbie.....I don't know what you're talking about!!! LOL

Mary

Mary, they are small black & red beetles native to the southeast USA that, as their name implies, spend an inordinate proportion of their lifespan copulating. This makes studying their mating habits rather easy.

They come to (central) Florida twice a year, typically during May and September.

[Miss Mary]

Tom - why thank you for that very nice explanation. Are you a teacher? Sure clears up my confusion, thanx.

Mary

[ColdFront77]

You're welcome, Mary. I did a bit of searching and found a good explanation for you.

Thank you, too.

[breeze]

I thank you, Tom, as well! Very informative,
indeed!

LOL, Miss Mary, I read your post and
thought, "NO! Not a dumb
question! What are they??"

[Josephine96]

Love bugs are so annoying lol

[Anonymous]

Oh somebody, please tell me that we will NOT have cicadas in Virginia!!

My neighbor next door has ten really crazy cats! They chase birds hither and thither all over the place! If those cicadas show up, those cats will be running all over the place, gorging on cicadas.

Please!! NO Cicadas in northern Virginia! Lol!


-Jeb

[breeze]

LOL, Jeb, looks like you may get missed,
this time. Here's a website with a map
of the areas that are expected to receive
those noisy little visitors!

Cicada Watch 2004

http://www.msj.edu/cicada/

[Miss Mary]

Jeb! LOL Cicadas are underground in Cincinnati as I type, just waiting for warm wx to stay and emerge. My Golden Retriever is sniffing the ground a bit more and scurrying about with her nose practically in the dirt. Used to think it was a mole attracting her attention, which have been a problem in our area too, but now I think it's because these lovely cicadas are about 1 or 2 inches down now. A month ago they were 4 - 6 inches down. Let's just say I know my dog is will go crazy when they appear. I'm still not wasting money on annuals this year. No way! Excuse to save some money anyway.

Annette - I went to college at Mt. St. Joseph, the cicada watch link you provided. Only for a few years and not a science major, but as soon as I saw the 3 initials - msj - I suspected it was Mt. St. Joe!



Mary

[wx247]

We have them here, too, occasionally, but not to the extent that you mention Miss Mary. Thank goodness!!