My son and a few of his friends go to Charleston on weekends to listen to their favorite band. Everytime my son walks out that door, my heart thumps, and my legs go a bit rubbery.  I know he is doing what he enjoys, but the winds are blowing so bad,  scattered showers.  Don't these teens fear anything?    I asked my son "Does his parents still lend him the truck knowing there are tornadoes everywhere??  "yea mom, why?" 

The boy's truck is a big Dodge with a cab.  I feel a bit better knowing there is something solid there but still.. it's full of babies.   I have to steal a hug before he leaves.  He's afraid I'll walk him out to the truck to make sure his seat belt is fastened.

My daughter would do the same thing...  a group of girls and guys would pick her up in the middle of a February ice storm just to listen to a band 50 miles away.  I'm serious. 

So, after my son leaves, I hear 'In the Arms Of An Angel' playing on tv. From where i'm sitting, I can't see the tv screen.  I'm just thinking about my son, and the song is killing me.   They should ban that song on weekends.

Never drink before an interview

Morning all :)

After reading the comments on my last blog, I got to thinking about the confusion that some may have between the different types of Cicada's.  These 17 year Cicada's dont come out but every 17 years.. hence the name.  There are a few types.  One of which I think we see every year.. especially in the fall when they get real chirpy.  These are the ones we would call 'June Bugs'  or 'Jar Flies'  (different areas have different names for them) We tied a string on these and swing them around.. they make a 'buzzzzz' sound. 

The ones I'm speaking of do not come out in every state.  Quite a few states yes, but not all.  This is one article I found on the 17 year locust.  Mind you, it's not even a Locust... its just called that. :)

Types of Cicada:

There are two basic types of Cicadas:

Periodic, 2-8 year cycle- These insects "seem" to appear every year in some areas, because their life cycle is staggered. Actually, a different brood is hatching each year to make it seem like they are annual. 

 17 year cycle- When they do emerge, it is in huge numbers. They are sometimes called "17 Year  Locusts". Although, they are not related to locusts.

The Life Cycle of a Cicada

While the Cicada life span may be as long as 17 years, they spend almost all of their lives underground. Cicada nymphs emerge from the ground in periodic cycles. They climb up trees and quickly shed their skins(molt). An adult, flying cicada emerges. The adult Cicadas' entire purpose in life is to mate and produce offspring. You can hear the males' mating "song" from early morning to nightfall. In heavily infested areas, the noise can be quite disturbing. About five to ten days after mating, the female lands on twigs of deciduous trees, cuts slits in them, and lays her eggs in the slit.

Adults do not eat. Rather, damage to trees is caused by the adult female as she cuts slices into twigs to lay her eggs. Shortly after mating, the male Cicada dies.

The eggs hatch, producing tiny nymphs that fall to the ground. These nymphs burrow into the soil and feast on underground roots. They remain there for years, slowly growing, until their periodic cycle calls them to emerge again as adults.

How Cicadas Harm Trees and Shrubs:

It's the female that harms trees. Choosing deciduous trees, she cuts two slits in small pencil sized (or smaller) branches and twigs, and lays about 24 eggs. She then goes on to another twig and repeats the process. A female cicada can deposit up to 600 eggs.

Where infestations are heavy, the egg laying process is repeated on a tremendous number of twigs. This causes the twigs(or ends of the tree) to die, and often break off. With a heavy infestation, it often destroys young trees and bushes. While the damage may look bad on large trees, a mature tree can usually  survive the damage.

17 years ago was my first experience with these critters.  Before that, I was living in the city, and I dont think they accumulated anywhere but the country. Either that, or I was having too much fun not to notice.  Anyway..

When my son was a newborn, we couldn't take him outdoors unless his basinet or playpen had netting over it.  These Cicada's were all new to me.  My husband had warned me about them, but I never thought they were that bad.. until they finally arrived.  The sound was so annoying.  It got to a point that they were ear piercing.  I think they stayed around for 3-4 weeks...long enough to do some destruction to the trees.

Now, 17 years later,  they start showing up, few at a time.  My husband found the shell's of several Cicada's to show to my son, who like me, didn't believe these little things could be so loud and destructive.  They both started grabbing a few live ones to use as fish bait. 

This morning, I walked outside, and heard the earpiercing sounds less than a half mile away.  I told my son to walk outside and to listen  for himself.  I saw the look of shock on his face, then told him he hasn't heard anything yet.. they'll keep getting louder, and louder, each day that they get closer.  He then told me that he went to the park last night with his friends to watch the water fountain being turned on, and then seeing thousands of Cicada's floating and that they had stopped up the drains in the fountain.    

I dont know about the other states, and I can't speak for anyone else, but where i'm located, it's like something from the Outer Limits.. of this nature.    I hate them.  You can't escape the noise, and you have to stick around to protect your fruit trees somehow.  The local airports are having a time keeping them under control.  Is it this bad everywhere? 

Was watching a documentary about a man here in the states, making close to $4,000 a month in the software business.  He was married with a newborn.  Suddenly, he was unemployed and the company moved to India.  What did he do??

He packed his bags, and left for India to get his job back.  Since it was a documentary, he was only going to work for a month, then come back to his family.  While over there, he found the company... he applied for his job and got it. He would be making $1,000 a month.  (Over there, thats BIG money)   He had to go to a class to learn how to speak proper english, and to change his name.. just like the rest of them. 

He had befriended a few, and they got together and talked about loads of jobs springing up over there.  That city was looking like Chicago with the new tall office buildings.  One thing I found fascinating... the people in India  didn't know that their jobs were taken away from us. They were told that they were given jobs that we didn't want.   

I've looked for the last hour for a 'contact us' link.  I've had the same password and info for years and when I got my computer reformatted, it took my password. I can't remember any of the information.  I can't get into my mail, and I can't get into it to retrieve my information from them.  There is nothing to click on for this type of help.

Anyone know what you do in this case?

What in the world are we going to do on a Tuesday and Wednesday night now that Amiercan Idol isn't on.  I'm just so depressed.. nothing to talk about.  Predicting was so much fun.  Even being wrong was so exciting.

Big Sigh :(

When I had listed my vintage picnic basket, I had checked the other vintage baskets listed and they had anywhere from $15.00-$22.00... so I listed the shipping price as being $18.88.  I thought that was fair.  Then I get the print in red saying the shipping price was higher than average..and it should be lowered?   I ignored it.  Then 3 days later, I thought I had better lower it so it would sell... and maybe ebay was right..   So I changed it to $15.88.  

It sells a few days later.. I took it to the post office and the shipping was $18.86  The box was 24" tall, 22 inches long. 22" wide.  Big Box for a big picnic basket. 

What did Ebay know about my picnic basket??  Nothing.  Arguing with ebay is useless.  They keep track of how many of these messages in red that you are given, and pretty soon, the buyers will be alerted of your high cost of shipping. 

I'll just grit my teeth and go on with business

A little girl was bitten by a scorpion when she was digging for a watermelon at the local Walmrt.  She was rushed to the hospital and has since been released...she's doing fine..

The watermelon's were shipped in from Mexico. 

This could have been a deadly bite.  Does Walmart buy everything outside the USA ??