Have You Ever...

Kicked a Cicada??

Holy crap, it’s an experience.

I was walking over to do some tree trimming at a neighbor’s house and while in the street on my way over I inadvertently “Kicked a Cicada” who promptly opened up a can of whoop ass on me.

The shriek, scream, ear deafening squelch that came out of this inch and a half long flying creature was like nothing I have EVER heard before.

Now, I hear cicada’s day in and day out.  The local vibrating trees are swarmed with them.   It’s not a quiet noise.  

And there are numerous skeletons on the ground or attached on a leaf and an occasional bright green newbie stuck to a window screen – or the fellow at the very bottom who drowned in our fish pond, undoubtedly after vibrating himself right out of the Oak tree above.

They are big and either, pretty or gross, depending on what stage they are in.

BUT NEVER, EVER have I heard a cicada up close and personal.  You think the crazy buzzing, zinging, throbbing tree is loud when they are making summer noise – but that kind of loud is an understatement.

I thought I was going to come right out of my skin.  Of course I screamed I had no idea what just happened while walking in the middle of our dead end street.  

But there is no way a human taken off guard scream can even come close to a cicada ear busting decibel topping squelch when you accidentally kick one and it flies three inches up in front of your face to bitch you out before zipping off to the closest 60 foot Maple tree.  HOLY CRAP!!

And the dog thought so too – as soon as I screamed she started barking out the window and never stopped the whole time I was over tree trimming.  She thought someone killed me – I’m sure.

Anyway, no one was injured, the trees are trimmed nicely and the Cicada went off to tend to his possible wounds in a hundred year old tree.  Unless he is the fella who drowned in the pond, then in that case – oopsy.