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Original Thread(warning: NSFW pic in post#46)
Saw an article about the upcoming Brood X emergence.
My Flickr album from last time.
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I predict they will be extremely well documented this time. Camera phones didn't really exist last time, and a lot of people didn't have digital cameras then either. Social media will be full of pictures.
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Resurrected from
I'm starting to ponder the coming cicadas, And what, if anything, to do about 3 trees we planted in the back yard two weeks ago. They don't have established roots yet, and will be vulnerable to the egg laying.
I'm not sure if any of these links will work as an embedded video.
<iframe title="vimeo-player" src=" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
[vimeo=640,360]66688653[/vimeo]
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Wrap the trees in gauze; the kind used to protect garden beds. Or quarter-inch netting.
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Happy Monkey wrote:
Oops. I search for "cicada" because I thought we had a thread here, but we hadn't spoken their name, Threads merged now.
I've been looking at netting, and I think that is the route we will go. When I look at my new trees, they don't seem that small or vulnerable, but they have only been in the ground for a short while and have a miniscule root system. They were fairly expensive when you count the cost to get them planted. So I would feel like an idiot if they got killed.
And when I think about what I need, I'm picturing in my head getting half a dozen sections (or maybe more) of 1/2 inch PVC pipe that I can use to make big bowed hoop tops, like a conastoga wagon, and pull the netting over that. The trees are about 10 to 14 feet tall, but very thin and flexible. I can't picture how to get netting over them unless I build some sort of structure.
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Ah, I was thinking sapling. 14 feet would be tricky.
Whatever you do, pull it tight around the trunk; you don't want to trap the ones that come up near the tree inside the netting.
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I was so proud of myself last week..... I realized my ESL learner might never have heard of Brood X .....and she hadn't. She hadn't even heard of cicadas. But this is where I killed it.... I'm notorious for having almost anything anyone asks for -often right to hand (aka hoarder). I had planned to talk about Brood X, had images ready to screenshare etc... but she couldn't quite grasp how big they were ...then I remembered I had a shell beest, pologirl and I picked up in Missouri during our quick trip to see the total eclipse, right here on my bookshelf. (I did have to warn her that George's googly eyes were added.....)
Last edited by monster (3/26/2021 5:58 pm)
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You are such a good teacher, monster. I mean I know you effectively have a PhD in it, but the thing is you care. It makes a world of difference.
Edit to clarify: you definitely have a PhD, which is effectively in teaching.
Last edited by Clodfobble (3/26/2021 7:35 pm)
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lol thanks. I am generally not so good at teaching unless people really want to learn....but she does. I probably should not be teaching her half the things/vocab I do but.... :D (this is why I went for adult literacy instead of kids). Turns out .... entre nous.... she also can't swim. (I swear she had no idea how involved I was with that when she asked.....) Or ride a bike. ....but is up for learning. ish...... Mission accepted. (poor lamb) I'm going for the mini-tri. (also never heard of triathlon.....) (((poor, poor lamb)))
I probably definitely should not share my new dictionary from Ebay that arrived toady (Polari/gay slang)
It keeps me off the streets..... kinda
Last edited by monster (3/26/2021 10:25 pm)
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There was a cicada in the last couple episodes of WandaVision, if you want a cultural reference.
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WaPo wrote:
Adults cicadas live aboveground for two to four weeks and spend nearly all their time eating and trying to mate.
wait...
I'm a cicada?
I was thinking the same thing, but, it didn't say nothing 'bout drinkin', so...
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Totally an eastern US thing.
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I always forget that there is supposed to be some sort of rivalry between the East and West coast. The first time I heard "West is Best" I was bewildered. I still am.
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glatt wrote:
I always forget that there is supposed to be some sort of rivalry between the East and West coast. The first time I heard "West is Best" I was bewildered. I still am.
You're thinking of the Penguins over the Flyers, the Phillies over the Pirates, the Steelers over the Eagles, the Sixers over the Pythons, that sort of thing. ;)
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I read this morning that climate change may convert the 17 year bugs to 13 year bugs, they didn't go into detail, or might of behind the paywall.
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They're starting to peek out, waiting for the right day.2020 Brood X Cicada Holes
2020 Brood X Cicada Holes
2020 Brood X Cicada Holes
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Interesting notes from Benjamin Banneker (and a Pehr Kalm) in the late 1700s about the cicadas.
Benjamin Banneker wrote:
… their periodical return is seventeen years, but they, like the comets, make but a short stay with us. The female has a sting in her tail as sharp and hard as a thorn, with which she perforates the branches of the trees, and in them holes lays eggs. The branch soon dies and fall, then the egg by some occult cause immerges a great depth into the earth and there continues for the space of seventeen years as aforesaid.
I like to forgot to inform, that if their lives are short they are merry, they begin to sing or make a noise from the first they come out of earth till they die, the hindermost part rots off, and it does not appear to be any pain to them for they still continue on singing till they die.
Last edited by Happy Monkey (5/13/2021 6:59 pm)
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There is so much weird about the cicadas, but this shocked me more than any of the rest of it when I first saw it.
"the hindermost part rots off, and it does not appear to be any pain to them"
Imaging if you rotted from your ribs down.
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"Imaging if you rotted from your ribs down."
It would have saved the whole Covid/toilet paper fiasco!.
I never realized how close "imaging" and "imagine" are in meaning.
And imago is part of the cicada's life cycle.
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Discarded Shells from Early Risers
These early risers were probably quickly snapped up by early birds.
glatt wrote:
Imagin[e] if you rotted from your ribs down.
Been there done that, kinda.
Last edited by Gravdigr (5/14/2021 1:04 pm)