i found a cicada in my pack

“going through my pack, in an effort to elimate anything that wasn't absolutely needed, and i found a friggin cicada in the top side pocket. WTF! it was all dried up and crunchy, so that's what he gets for climbing into MY jansport uninvited like that. friggin insects anyway! they think they can just go wherever they want! i could have been traumatized by that creepy sleestack noise they make. i make this vow to you all right here and now....i will never rest untill insects of all corners of the earth respect peoples backpacks! FIGHT THE POWER!”

“Besides being crunchy, did he/she/taste good?”

“I hear they are great in chocolate...”

“I think we are due a cicada plague again. Its been since like '86 or '87 since we have had an outbreak of those buggers. Anyone know the cycles? 17yr or something. They physically covered the ground in some areas because there were so many. What a racket they make too!”

“yeah briar, it's that noise they make with their little darth vader mask on their face, they sound like sleestacks from that old show land of the lost”

“I believe there are two types of cicada: annual and seventeen year variety.

As a kid it was a game to find their shells atached to fences and trees. My mom still has the quart jar we filled full of little cicada exoskelletons.”

“thought they were called 7-year locust...not 17”

“Not a plague young man-just a pain in the arse.Noisy little buggers too.”

“we always called um locust & i always heard it was 17 years. so that would mean 17 years ago had to be a good season for there to be alot this year. we get TONS here, they really haven't started coming out in force yet. it's late summer here when they really get going, there will be shells everywhere. also there will be holes all over my yard, in the dirt, where they come out. i saw one last year when it first came out of the ground & watched it over several hours shed it's skin & it's wings filled up.. it was neat-o.


as long as they stay outta ma dang pack”

“When I was a kid, I just thought it was one of God's big jokes. The idea that these little bugs would bury themselves in the ground and, suddenly, 17 years later, they all pop out at the same time to make a whole lot of loving just seemed really funny. Why not 13 years?

So, the bugs coming out this summer still think the Detroit Tigers are World Series champs? Eh. They got something coming. I think that's why they make so much noise.

rl”

“Anybody would make a lot of noise if they didn't get it on in 17 years.”

“I remember filling coffe cans full of these when I was a kid. They were everywhere. I have not seen any yet here in WV. I suppose they will come later this summer if this is the year.”

“hope you dumped that extra weight. couple of ounces I bet”

“i stand corrected..they do have cycles of 17 years making them one of the longest living insects around. The cycles vary by area. With most states having around 3 cycles going at once. Last really widespread cycle was 97.”

“There's about 75 varieties of the critters, most of them annoying. The big 17 year ones came out in '96. They are the same size as some of these cell phones now. And they are painfully loud. I caught one and within a few minutes it dulled my hearing. They also bite, actually they suck. So this thing got a suprise when it punctured my finger and got blood instead of tree sap. Ick.”

“dam, that would weigh my pack down bigtime! i wonder if mine layed eggs in my pack? in 17 years i'll have them crawlin all outta my pack! YIKES!”