I'M BACK!

I'm back from the lovely NC where I had a terrific time with friends and family. The weather there was a tad hot, but after living in super HOT Arizona, I was fine with it and I even welcomed the humidity. When I first moved to the East Coast, I really hated humidity and it took me many years to appreciate its positives. I hate humidity for messing up my hair when I try to keep it straight, but I love it for keeping my skin soft and smooth. Arizona dryness gives me lots of wrinkles and I felt like I shed off a few years in my face when I went home. Humidity also makes it easier to breathe. But anyway....on to the good stuff!

Yes, the garden is still alive. However, since I have been gone it has become a jungle out there. It will take me a long time to blog about it- and probably many posts, because there is so much to say. While I compile everything, first I will spend tonight writing about something that I wasn't expecting when I came to North Carolina this summer. That is. . . .

THIS.

It looks creepy right? It's a cicada. BUT not just any cicada. Of course I'm used to the cicadas that pop out every summer and leave their shells on tree branches, but those are different. They are common and typical. However this particular cicada has been waiting underground for 13 years before emerging.

Here's the story: I went home and when I got out of the car I heard this odd, extremely loud sound. Honestly it sounded like a UFO was about to land. The sound was high pitched and didn't sound at all like cicadas. I asked my dad what it was and he told me that it is the sound of the 13 year cicadas and I was completely astonished. Can you believe that insects will live underground for 13 whopping years only to finally emerge, mate and die? All within a few days and weeks? It's wild to think that their entire existence revolves around them mating and dying and then waiting another 13 years. From what I've heard, there are 17 year cicadas as well. That's so crazy!! My dad told me that earlier the sound was much louder- even deafening and at first they had no idea what it was. (My family has only lived in NC since 1999- so we narrowly missed the last time they were there which was in 1998.)

I just couldn't get over it. As I walked around outside there were holes everywhere in the ground where the cicadas had popped out (my moms friend said she was walking her dog when she happened to see a patch of ground where the cicadas were practically pouring out of!), there were many dead ones lying on the ground, others flying weakly away from me as I walked about. On the trees were many empty shells they had shed, still stuck in place on leaves and twigs.

Although I was only in NC for a week and a half, already towards the end of my trip the sound they were filling the air with had cut in half and it wasn't as loud. Most of them had died and in another week or so they will probably be all gone. It will be another long 13 years.

Now for the pictures:

An empty shell.

Lots of empty shells.

Holes in the ground where the Cicadas have emerged.

Okay now brace yourself, because you might find these pictures gross and/or disturbing. But I went to the backyard where I saw a bunch of grubs feasting on a plant. A closer look reveal that they are probably the cicada larvae that have hatched already. I guess they need to eat a lot before they go into the ground!

GROSSS! haha!

Here are some youtube videos where you can hear the sound they make: