\nFor me, the sure sign we\u2019ve turned the corner on the season is when we can no longer sit out on the deck in the evening without yelling at each other.It\u2019s not that we\u2019re fighting.\u00a0It\u2019s because those \u00a0#&*%@ cicadas are back buzzing away in the treetops so loudly you can\u2019t hear yourself think much less carry on a conversation.
![\"cicada\"](\"http:\/\/kelolandblogs.com\/lundatlarge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/cicada.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0Aww. Innee cute? A dog-day cicada now appearing with a cast of thousands\u00a0in a tree near you.<\/em><\/p>\nCicadas are apparently quite a freak of nature in that some species stay buried in the ground for up to 17 years before arising out of the earth in mass to annoy the planet.We have mostly dog-day cicadas around here which show up annually when the serious heat sets in. \u00a0Actually, it\u2019s only the boy cicadas that make all the racket. And, as you might suspect, it all has to do with sex.
\nFor some reason, God, in His infinite wisdom, created these creatures with hollow chambers next to their bellies that when compressed back and forth sounds something like the noise you make by pushing down on the top of an empty pop can..only multiplied a hundred \u00a0times a second.
\nThe idea is to get the attention of girl cicadas\u2026to lure them over for dinner, dancing and a little roll in the tree leaves.\u00a0When you get thousands of these sex starved cicadas all screaching out their love songs at once, it\u2019s louder than an Air National Guard F-16 fly-over on the back nine of Elmwood.
\nWhen I played drums with Mogen\u2019s Heroes band, we had to crank up the volume each time we performed the August concerts at McKennan Park because of competition from millions of those blasted bugs.
\nIt turns out, though, that not everyone hates them. In fact, there are actually entire web sites devoted to cicadas. Many people find their constant buzz to be soothing rather than excruciating and their appearance to be beautiful rather than like a monster from a cheap Japanese horror movie.
\nSome cultures also find them delicious and an excellent source of protein.\u00a0Okay, that\u2019s really disgusting but I almost think I\u2019d rather eat a cicada than have to listen to one.
\nI wonder if they\u2019re on the Atkins diet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Linda and I sat out on our new back deck July 4th, it was hot but not intolerable thanks to a couple of ice cold adult beverages. \u00a0It was quiet and peaceful because our neighbors, who often opt to mow when we’re sitting outside, must have been off celebrating Independence day by a lake…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11514,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4520\/revisions\/11514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}