Cicadas

Parent Cafe
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<p>OMG… Is this like the grasshopper plagues which hit the prairies in the late 19th century…they ate all the crops and devastated many families. Yeah, I read the Little House Books…:(</p>

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<p>The radio quoted a university professor as saying that there will be one billion-- with a “B”-- per square mile in affected areas. Nuf said.</p>

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<p>When is this going to begin?</p>

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My sister!!</p>

<p>I was a preemie who couldn’t be vaccinated, so I contracted measles which led to encephalitis. I hallucinated that bugs were crawling on me. I can’t bear the light stroke of a finger or a hair touching my skin. It triggers a panic reaction in my brain because my brain perceives it as bugs crawling on me.</p>

<p>So you can imagine my absolute horror when working in my first law firm and we had a case involving roach products. The client had to prove efficacy and to do so sent us a box the size of a large tv of dead roaches. With no warning or preparation.</p>

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<p>Seiclan, it looks like there are sites on the internet where they are tracking the activity by state. Didn’t know about this phenomenon.</p>

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<p>[This</a> Interactive Cicada Map Will Help You Track The Cicadapocalypse: Gothamist](<a href=“http://gothamist.com/2013/05/06/this_interactive_cicada_map_will_he.php]This”>This Interactive Cicada Map Will Help You Track The Cicadapocalypse - Gothamist)</p>

<p>Looks like the focus of reports is from DC to NY.</p>

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<p>When you see the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse riding by, you’ll know that it’s soon.</p>

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<p>VillageMom, you crack me up.</p>

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<p>I can see it now, horsemen galloping on by on the backs of oversize cicadas.</p>

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<p>The feeling is very mutual! :)</p>

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<p>LOL… ewwww… ~faints~</p>

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<p>If said oversized cicadas end up galloping in my friend’s area, he’ll be happy to fry them up in peanut/corn oil and enjoy them as a delectable snack. :D</p>

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<p>cobrat, did you have to? :eek:</p>

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<p>LOL</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/pdf/cicada%20recipes.PDF[/url]”>http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/pdf/cicada%20recipes.PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>This brings back terrifying childhood memories. I was 11 when they came out of the ground in Massachusetts. It scared me so much to have to take out our garbage which was in a little structure in the back of our house and under a oak tree. I remember breaking into a sweat and my heart beating out of my chest.
I can rationalize that they don’t " hurt " anyone but I’m really hoping they aren’t here</p>

<p>Thanks BCEagle for the map.
I’m feeling a little better about seeing nothing for my area
Sorry for those who will be in the path</p>

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<p>Ugh. This is horrifying. I hate bugs. Does anyone know how this will affect my vegetable garden? I’m planting this weekend.</p>

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<p>Has it been 17 years already? Seems like it was yesterday… 2013 - 17 = 1996… yep, we were living in New Jersey and didn’t have our dog yet. It was pretty intense for a few days there, couldn’t walk outside without crunch crunch crunch. I remember being at a neighbor’s party and we were out on the back porch and the cicadas kept landing on us so we had to move back inside. People with dogs couldn’t let them outside because they would gorge themselves until getting sick - just from overeating, not from the cicadas.</p>

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<p>In Missouri we have both 13 year cicadas and 17 year cicadas. In 1998, both kinds emerged. You could drive down the highway with your windows up and not be able to hear your radio over the noise. They drowned out the sound of the lawnmower. Our patio was covered with them, and the dog ate as many as he could before we caught him. And the rotting carcases stink. </p>

<p>They also cause some weird issues with birds and other predators that eat them -you get a huge spike in population of the predators during the cicada year, and then a crash the next year when there is not that huge extra quantity of food.</p>

<p>Bon appetit!</p>

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<p>Here’s a little slice of life with cicadas from the last time they hit the Chicago suburbs. I remember the cycle before that–1990. It was awful.</p>

<p>[17-Year</a> Cicadas in Downers Grove, IL - YouTube](<a href=“17-Year Cicadas in Downers Grove, IL - YouTube”>17-Year Cicadas in Downers Grove, IL - YouTube)</p>

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<p>Dkitty, I’m doing a little perusing online, and it looks like veggies and herbs may be okay? It sounds like maybe some trees or bushes could use protection. One of the pages I looked at was on a site called Gardener’s Network. This was just a quick search, so you might want to do more investigation.</p>

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<p>OMG, Deborah, on the recipe booklet. My DS is at UMD–makes me shiver & only in Maryland would such a cookbook start out with this gem:</p>

<p>SOFT-SHELLED CICADAS</p>

<p>Ingredients:
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
60 freshly emerged 17 year cicadas
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups flour
Salt and pepper to season flour
1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter</p>

<p>Directions:
Marinate cicadas, alive in a sealed container, in Worcestershire sauce for several hours.
Dip them, in beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently saute them until they are golden brown.
Yield:
4 main dish servings</p>

<p>Any recipe that starts with <em>marinate alive</em> is a no-go!</p>