It sounds like a horror movie and believe me, if you’ve ever seen a Cicada, they look like creatures from a horror movie!

First let me say, that I love living in the Midwest. We have some of the most fierce and phenomenal thunderstorms ever recorded and I love them. The power, the danger, the extreme nature of tornadic weather gets me all excited. But when it comes to bugs…well let’s just say…this season, I may need to increase my dosage due to the fact that billions of these horrific creatures are getting ready to emerge in the Midwest after a long 17 year nap. 

Frankly, I wish they would just stay sleeping, but Cicada Brood XIII is expected across northern Illinois, parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana from now until mid-June. They only live for about 30 days as adults and their main goal is to mate. They don’t harm people in any way but are clumsy and disgustingly ugly. Birds, squirrels, and pets love to eat them and they are quite high in protein. And if you want to know what they taste like just check out freelance writer, David Hammond’s website, a Chicago-based culinary chat site. Hammond is planning on frying the little buggers and serving them up with salsa and/or dip. OK, that is just gross. 

If you haven’t heard, they are very noisy creatures. Their shrill mating noise can reach 90 decibels which is equal to the sound of a kitchen blender. Apparently, some wooded areas may expect to house as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre and some experts agree that this is one of the greatest insect emergences on Earth.

Over the next 6 weeks, you may want to rethink any outdoor events such as weddings, fairs and festivals if you live in any of the areas mentioned because as soon as the soil temps reach a consistent 64 to 65 degrees these bugs will emerge. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, back in 1990, an ice sculpture company had delivered a swan sculpture to a wedding and as soon as the ice sculpture was set down the cicadas swarmed it. Nadeau Ice Sculpture owner, Jim Nadeau said, "Literally, it was a moving sculpture".
The best place to see and hear the cicadas will be forest preserves, golf courses and any land that has older trees where the soil has been undisturbed since 1990. Unfortunately for me, I live on 3 acres next to a wildlife preserve so I am thinking that a vacation in Aruba sounds good right about now. What do you think?