Cicadas in the Apple Tree
Originally uploaded by Happy Monkey
"Sure are loud, aren't they?" I said.
"Yep, and that's just he half of them, just the guys," My Honey said.
As we continued this discussion, we came to realize that cicadas don't have a bad life. Sleep for 17 years, and then get up, eat, and try to reproduce. Of course, that dying after only one summer of experience kind of sucks, but otherwise it sounds like quite a pleasant summer.
We also noticed that we could hear their song change. After a while, it reaches a crescendo, and then it dies down to just almost nothing. Kinda of like a football game right after a long, but not quite long enough, third down run when the stadium quiets to let the quarterback concentrate. After a while, we were calling plays based on the cicada song. "That's a first down, at least, and as they measure....YES! YES! TOUCHDOWN!!"
So the summer of the cicadas seems to be a lovely time. They eat, drink, and try to reproduce. They make A LOT of noise. Just like a bunch of 17-year-old boys at a football game. And as they have no fake ID's, they can't get beer either.
6 comments:
No cicadas in Spencer. :) At least, not yet. Not sure how that works, exactly.
We don't have any in Pinch either, or really downtown for that matter, although Husband saw a couple in the alley he says. Mom says they are pretty heavy in St. Albans though.
I'm not sure either. I know that in 1999 we had them in Morgantown/Fairmont. I believe that they were in Charleston in 2001 though Ms.Jamie would probably know better than I would. it seems that they are quite localized. I heard them in South Charleston, but not a hint of one downtown or in Elk Hills, even closer than Pinch. It's a bit odd.
I lived in Elkins in 1999. We didn't have them there, but I drove to Morgantown to work twice a week and had to deal with them there.
I don't remember them in 2001. That's the year we bought our house in Pinch so we would have been up there, but I did work downtown. They may very well have been, I just don't remember. I'll have to look at my old journal!
they're a good way to tell time in Huntington, to be sure- some of the songs are deafening. But i think they're sweet.
Actually, till it gets so ear-splitting, I enjoy the song. I might not say that in a few months, though!
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