i'm glad someone's blessing someone's automotive journey. i wish we'd had that bug shield last weekend when mb and i drove out to the palos forest preserve to do a little hiking and see the cicadas. perhaps senor could have made me a little more observant, which would have prevented the following exchange:
mb: "i can't wait to see the cicadas!"
me: "me either. where are they? what's that buzzing sound? how come we haven't seen them yet? what's that buzzing sound?"
*relative silence, except for deafening buzzing sound*
mb: "do you think those are the cicadas?"
me: "oh. right. the buzzing."
me: "so if they're so loud, why can't we see them? on a totally unrelated note, what are those weird bugs nose-diving the windshield? anyway, where are the cicadas?"
senor might have been bendiciendo our caminos, but certainly not the caminos of our little friends who arrive in northern illinois every 17 years, who were meeting a rather abrupt end on mike's car.
my stellar observational powers did not end there; i also failed to immediately notice the pock-marked ground in the woods where the young cicadas exited for the sky, the millions of molted skins left by the nymphs as they grew, or the older mother-bugs on the surfaces of all the tree trunks, laying eggs that would eventually hatch into the next cycle of larvae to bury underground and meet us again in 2024 for a new cycle of getting it on.
once i stopped to pay attention, they were everywhere. but once i stopped to pay attention, it was creepy and i wanted to leave. good thing a loud park ranger with a bullhorn was there kicking out all the nature- and fitness-lovers gathered for stair climbing by the toboggan run (apparently closed for remodeling). relieved, i told mb "great, let's skip any more hiking or stair climbing, go for a little run down that nice flat trail over there, and call it an afternoon." and off we went, blissfully unaware that we were running straight into what mb later referred to as "spring break daytona beach for cicadas." flying posses, piled-up threesomes on each branch, loving couples on the ground, loners on our arms.
ew. but fascinating. but ew.
1 comment:
Holy cicada nightmare:) They are creepy - but kind of interesting.
Thanks for offering to share your chocolate prezels:) Raincheck? And for the reminding that docs are human too - maybe I didn't look too foolish then??:)
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