Cicada invasion beats one by aliens

As most know, I moved to the country – literally. After spending years surrounded by others, I am now out by myself. In the beginning, I enjoyed it and saw it as being all perks and no negatives. However, there seem to be some negatives. In the last week a noise started coming from the woods. Not having much to compare the noise to, I said it sounded like an alien craft landing in the woods, except it doesn’t land. Instead, it just hovers. It’s a constant sound. And although it is loud, it isn’t irritating. It really does sound like an alien craft, but I wasn’t concerned – only curious. I understand I’m in the middle of nowhere, but it’s not Area 51 type nowhere. Within a few days of hearing the noise, I started noticing cicada. After that, I started finding their little shells hanging everywhere from trees and bushes. Mystery solved. Part of the life cycle of the cicada is taking place in the woods behind my house. From the sound of it, there are thousands of them. Before we moved, I saw the occasional shell, but nothing like this. I can’t trim a hedge or walk around a tree without finding a shell left behind. Still curious, I checked it out on the Internet. I did not know that only the male makes the noise, and for two reasons – to find a mate and to deter predators. That’s a good deterrent, as it makes me want to stay out of the woods. According to the Internet, the song of the cicada is a favorite sound effect used by filmmakers and animators as a means of representing silence, pathos, and the great outdoors. If this is true, they need to get out to my place quick. I doubt that will happen but it did occur to me that these shells would be something teachers might enjoy showing to their students and having them study. If school wasn’t over, I would contact them. My son slightly freaked out when he saw one of the bugs. He has seen the shells in the past and collected them once to take to school, but he never saw the bug. What freaked him out the most was the bulging eyes set on the side of its head and the wings. I caught him as he was going for the bug spray we keep in the kitchen. I had to explain it him what they were and that they don’t sting or bite. On a less than interesting note, more along the lines of disgusting, some people around the world eat them and consider them a delicacy. They are eaten in China, Malaysia, Burma, Latin America and the Congo. Among other ways, they are skewered or stir fired. The female is prized because it is meatier. Pulling away from the edge of disgusting, I took the kids to Lake Winnie Friday. Everyone seems to be talking about how to cut back on gas and what they’re doing to save money to pay for gas. For us, that was Lake Winnie. This one day was our family summer vacation. In lieu of the Florida Universal Studios vacation we all wanted, we settled for a day trip to Chattanooga and Lake Winnie. Instead of spending $2,000 for a 4-5 day trip to Florida, we spent under $200. Before that, I stopped buying carpet freshener, air freshener and candles for the house. Now, my house smells like a house. Although my husband misses the smell of baked apples, cinnamon and citrus, we get to keep the money I was spending on it. I also began limiting our eating out to once or twice a month. Feeding a family of four, and sometimes five if my daughter’s friend Kevin is with us, isn’t cheap. Unless we visit the dollar menu, which still amounts to between $15 and $20, the tab is between $40 and $70 depending on the place. Nothing at my house is safe as long as fuel costs so much. We have to have food, clothes and gas – everything else is negotiable. Lisa Hobbs is a reporter for the Standard. She can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].