And the Seasons, They Go Round and Round

This summer in DC the 17 year cicada's come out for their day in the sun. This particular species lives underground, digging and sucking on the roots of plants, for 17 whole years. Then one day in May, the whole mess of them dig up to the surface, molt their skin, and transform into winged, chirping machines. They will fly around, mate, lay eggs and die within a few weeks, and then the process begins anew.

When the cicadas are above ground their technique for ensuring survival is called predatory satiation. Basically they overwhelm predators with their sheer numbers. A lot of cicadas will become snacks, but after all the predators eat their fill, there will still be plenty of cicadas left to lay eggs. There are so many cicadas that their chirping, mating call becomes an absolute droning roar. Their molted skins cover the trees, and eventually their corpses cover the ground like leaves in fall. It is an impressive invasion.

I'm kind of sad that I'll miss the cicadas this time around. I remember the last batch in 1987. I was 11 years old getting close to the end of 6th grade. When the next batch of cicadas comes I will be 45!

What an interesting bug? The cycle kind of marks out a season in your life and comes up screaming to remind you about it. I'm gonna reflect on the past 17 years of my life, and the next 17 years for a bit. Then I'm gonna get to l-i-v-i-n and hit the golf course tomorrow. Peace!

Sun

You know how when a dog finds a nice piece of grass on a sunny day, and seems so pleased with it that, he just lies on his back and rolls around? It was so nice out at lunch today I felt like doing that.