May 31, 2004

Cicadas

The cicadas were in full force when we packed up the car and drove across the country, from Maryland to California, arriving in La Jolla, 17 years ago in 1987.

Seventeen years earlier, I remember the arrival of cicadas as well. It was 1970, near the end of the school year in May, and the cicadas were in full force. I remember one of my school teachers, Dick Drescher, ate some of the brown shells cicada grubs shed, to impress (and gross out) me and my classmates. Drescher was quite a character. Other claims to fame were that he was able to shake his necktie up and down just by controlling his Adam's apple. Once he kcked 62-yard field goal with a K2 football. The ball flew past the goal post and across the street. It probably would have been a 80-yard kick if he'd wanted it to be. (Drescher had around that time tried out for the Washington Redskins at least once, but hadn't made the final cut.)

The Washington Post, demonstrating that they have an awful lot of time on their hands, has prepared a full cicada guide to answer everything you've ever wanted to know about cicadas.

In case that's not enough, here is a collection of field recordings (in MP3 format) of cicadas in all their glory. Ah, brings back memories... Posted by brian at May 31, 2004 05:08 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Cicadas are evil creatures. They eat small children. Read about it at http://www.cicadaville.com and be sure to take your children inside and wrap them with saran wrap to protect them! It's quite an amusing perspective on them.

Posted by: David at June 8, 2004 05:12 AM

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