a collection of memories that are near and dear to us.

Monday, May 26, 2008

the great cicada invasion of 2008!








we asheville residents will remember this memorial day weekend primarily because of the mass emergence of MILLIONS of large black bugs with bright red eyes that seems to be everywhere! commonly called the 17- year locust, these insects are not really locusts. their proper name is the periodical cicada.
they are a bit intimidating at first but once you've spent as much time with them as we have this past weekend you quickly find them to be completely harmless and extremely interesting little creatures.
the kids started by collecting the shells but that only held their interest for a couple of days. i had to dig deep and summons my mom power as they begged me to pluck on from the tree so they could get a closer look. how could i not? it's just a BIG little bug right? so i did and that was all kate needed. she immediately decided she needed to open a cicada rescue center for all of the lonely little males that were able to find a mate. thus the bug habitat full! our little "flower" trey kept his distance for a full day before he finally gave into his curious nature.
i have to admit it's been sort of cool to witness nature working it's wonder. i am just glad this 17 year emergence involved bugs and not snakes or something like that. not sure all the mom power in the world could get me through that!














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