a plague on all our houses

Guys. Ohhh my goodness. They are HERE. Ahem, and over there. Frankly, just plain everywhere now. And it's only just begun omg.

 

Obviously, I'm talking about the Brood X cicadas -- the generation of creepy crawly little pesties that emerges every 17 years. 

 

It's seriously like.... one day they're just everywhere. Every surface you look at -- every fence and tree and shrub -- is covered in their crunchy little discarded exoskeletons. 

 

And the very ground beneath your feet proves to have been absolutely FILLED with the suckers for all these years, without you ever guessing. 

 

Suddenly the roads and sidewalks are covered with little smooshed bodies too -- as each individual cicada only has the briefest of windows above ground to get its groove on, lol.

 

And meanwhile all the birds and bees (literally) and all other manner of tiny predators go absolutely WILD with this newfound abundance of protein haha. 

 

It's like all the trees get ten decibels louder -- between the incessant cicada screams AND all the chirping and buzzing from cicada-fattened birds haha.

 

Really, it's a wild sight to behold. 

 

And, uh, by all reports it's only just the beginning haha. 

 

I remember once as a kid we found one still in its beetle stage after drilling up to the surface, and quickly dropped it into a terrarium for observation. 

 

We spent like the entire night watching that thing slowwwwly break free from its shell to metamorphose into the giant thumb-sized red eyed missile we've all come to know and love. Honestly was a pretty cool memory! 

 

The last time Brood X hit Maryland was not long after I graduated high school (woof, how's that for aging yourself??) and I remember driving around with my best friends, blasting 50 Cent and what have you, with the windows rolled down..... 

And then suddenly being pelted directly in the face while going 50mph when one of the suckers flew right in through my open window lol.... Ah memories!

 

So yea. This year I'm definitely keeping all windows firmly closed LOL, but am otherwise creepin and crawling all over the place spying on these weird little bugs haha. 

Anybody else seeing the cicada resurgence in your neighborhood?? Do you love them too, or are you creeped out by them?! Curious minds want to know!!