Meh. On the one hand, Crap because they are so tied up with Summer in Texas which has become unbearable to me.

On the other, they sound like rattlesnakes in the trees, and I get a kick out of that.

NC, WF: 7 for Mother Fucking Snakes In the Mother Fucking Trees!!!

We're just debating the 17 year cicada and not just cicadas in general? I don't want to shortchange the species.

I hate bugs. They creep me out. They look like weird little mechanical creatures. I like spiders though.

Are the little bitches going to show up in Chicago proper, is what I want to know.

Antero wrote:Are the little bitches going to show up in Chicago proper, is what I want to know.

Bigger than shit, just you wait. There'll be more in park areas, but anyplace that has trees at least as old as 20 years will have guests.

1. wait for dusk at the base of a big tree once the event starts to happen
2. watch an army of scary and prehistoric lookin' things converge on the base of the tree.
3. they'll climb your legs, thinking they are small trees
4. they're ulgiest right when the adult stage breaks out of it's nymph suit of clothing
5. listen for the constant crunch of semi-hard shelled critters underfoot as you beat a hasty retreat

We always get some every year, but this 17 year thing is dramatic.

I saw much bigger cicadas in Japan than we get here, if that's any comfort.

djimbe wrote:

Antero wrote:Are the little bitches going to show up in Chicago proper, is what I want to know.

Bigger than shit, just you wait. There'll be more in park areas, but anyplace that has trees at least as old as 20 years will have guests.

1. wait for dusk at the base of a big tree once the event starts to happen
2. watch an army of scary and prehistoric lookin' things converge on the base of the tree.
3. they'll climb your legs, thinking they are small trees
4. they're ulgiest right when the adult stage breaks out of it's nymph suit of clothing
5. listen for the constant crunch of semi-hard shelled critters underfoot as you beat a hasty retreat

We always get some every year, but this 17 year thing is dramatic.

I saw much bigger cicadas in Japan than we get here, if that's any comfort.

Grand, the quads are going to be a fucking BLAST then.

Sometimes they converge on my window screens.

That is when I break out the minidisc recorder.

burun wrote:Sometimes they converge on my window screens.

That is when I break out the minidisc recorder.

Oh yeah. A few years ago, a single one landed on the screen, and I had the MD cued up. I managed to get a very clear (and loud!) one in isolation. It's a great sound.

Hey, does anybody want to help repopulate Lincoln park with cicadas? I'm thinking we get a few F150's and drive out to some cook county forest preserve, load 'em up, and then drive on down to Fullerton and the lake. This could be our time! Right here!

At my house this morning:





It has begun.