[imported_CindersMyGirl]

Well, so far it's kind of disappointing. The big numbers just aren't here yet, but we finally have a couple of trees with lots of action. I'll get pictures when we have a swarm, but for now....Here are some pictures in various stages of emerging. Enjoy ;D

 

[WeHeartLabs]

LOL...She is going to love these.

You do know she is going to have you performing all kinds of experiments for her, right? and photographing them all along the way. Just be prepared.

 

[imported_CindersMyGirl]

Well, before that happens let me just tell you what happened the last time I did experiments with insects.

It was probably 1979, a long summer day, in the days when you were expected to get outside and entertain yourself unless it was meal time or bed time or lightning. Rain with no lightning still required outdoor entertainment. So I was the kind of kid that watched Nova, because they had awesome stuff on that show and we only got like 5 channels, and I woke up at the crack of dawn everyday. One day on Nova I saw a man that froze bees and cut their stingers off so they could be used in movies. I, of course, HAD to try this. ;D My Dad came home from work to find me sobbing on the back porch, surrounded by what had to be dozens of decapitated bees. Yes, it's true. I was the Hitler of the bees. I still get an awful feeling when I think of how happy they were, buzzing around the flowers on a beautiful summer afternoon, only to have their life cut short by my medical experimentation. *sighs*

Please Shanna, please, don't ask me to do anything that will haunt me! ;D

 

[WeHeartLabs]

ROTF!!!!! That's a great story lmbo!

And what you said about playing outside...omg soooo true. My mother's most famous saying to us kids:
" Go air yourselves!"
Meant...get out of the house till dinner or bedtime, no excuses acceptable except like you said lightening. That brought back so many memories lol
However DID we survive with no video games, DVD's, iPods, vcr's and laptops? :

 

[imported_eastcoastmom]

OMG! *BARF!* *retch* *hurl* *HOOOAAAAARRRRKKKKK* *GAK* :-X

 

[DogFish71]

Ive heard a few cicadas over the past week,one was making alot of racket in the mouth of a momma blue jay ;D

We always have them around in the summer,I personally like them.

 

[zoesmom]

I can just imagine the "crunch" when they're all on the ground and you have to step on them.

***hurk***

 

[DogFish71]

I dont think we have invasion numbers,but when I was a kid we'd walk the streetlights and pick them up so they would make the noise.Other than that we just find their shells on pine trees and cling them to our shirts.

 

[Jinx]

OMG! *BARF!* *retch* *hurl* *HOOOAAAAARRRRKKKKK* *GAK* :-X

Ditto! :-X

 

[imported_CindersMyGirl]

Ive heard a few cicadas over the past week,one was making alot of racket in the mouth of a momma blue jay ;D

We always have them around in the summer,I personally like them.

We always have them every year, but every 17 is when we get the big invasion. We're waaaaiting. I like how they sound.

 

[DogFish71]

I like how they sound also its part of summer for me,cicadas in the day and "chuck-wills widows" by night... along with the occassional mockingbird under a streetlight at 4am :

But my latest insect issue has been with the honeybee problems,Ive heard of a couple hives but have seen only 6 single bees so far and theyve been on none of the regualr flowering shrubs....If they dont start coming in force soon Im buying all the honey I can find

 

[DogFish71]

Well I guess they are just a familiar sound and I havent noticed them being so many ,but its dusk here went out to fire the grill and hear at least 20 diff cicadas,1 cww,2 mockingbirds just after I typed the above :

 

[steveandginger]

I grew up in Pennsylvania, and back when I was a teenager, probably around 1986 or 87, we had a huge crop of those 17 year cicadas. We discovered that in addition to dogs and cats loving to eat them, they made GREAT -- and I mean GREAT fish bait. All we did was use a line and hook, no sinkers, no bobbers, nothing. We would hook them one time through the abdomen, careful not to damage the wings. And then, we'd cast them out onto the water. With no weight, they were obviously hard to cast, but it didn't really matter. The fish LOVED them! They'd land on the water, as they couldn't fly with the weight of the hook in them. However, they would TRY to fly off the surface of the water, resulting in a continuous, vibrating commotion on the surface. The little ripples that would emanate from them as the flapped their wings proved IRRESISTABLE to fish -- ALL fish. We caught panfish. We caught largemouth and smallmouth bass. We caught catfish, carp...you NAME it. I am not sure we ever casted one of those things out there that didn't get eaten. It was AMAZING!

Just FYI. Maybe those of you that hate these things can put them to good use!

Steve

 

[imported_CindersMyGirl]

Thanks for the fishing tip! We love to fish!

 

[emccase]

EEEEUUUUUWWWW! Oh man I'm getting the willys thinking about them flying in my hair and all the crunching, blah goosebumps!

 

[steveandginger]

CindersMyGirl --

Then you are in LUCK! Nothing better than an endless, free supply of live bait, eh? And I mean GOOD live bait. If you actually try it, PM me to let me know how it works for you! I am confident you will catch as many as you wish...

Steve