All posts by Denise

Weekly Winners (May 8 – 14)

Weekly Winners is a fun little thing bloggers do to showcase some of their favorite photos from the previous week. It is brought to you, me and everyone by the lovely Lotus, aka Sarcastic Mom. Visit her site and find all the participants. See some amazing photos brought to you by bloggers around the world. Leave a little love when you do — its like food for the soul!

Weekly Winners

I was a very bad Weekly Winner person last week… I went to go visit everyone, and my browser crashed. By the time I got it back, I was so tired that I went to bed. And then, I never made it back. I’M SORRY!! I’ll do better this week. I promise. A mish-mash of things from me this week… no real theme to be found here. :)

Texas Edition
My truck isn't the only "Texas Edition" in this family.

Celosia
Celosia (SOOC)

180: Lake levels up
Lake levels up.

A lone petal
A lone petal.

183: Clean slate
I'm a clean slate.

184: 37214
ZIP Code

185: He has his eyes on me
He has his eyes on me.

Bailey
Really, Mom? Really?

186: Out by the garage
Out by the garage.

♥ ♥ ♥

Photos taken using a Nikon Coolpix L20 or my Droid Incredible or a Sony DSLR A230.

>>>>View all of my photos on my Flickr stream.<<<<

Cicadas… attack!

Every since I met him, my husband has talked a lot about the cicada invasion 13 years ago. He’d talk about mowing the yard and getting dive bombed by them. He’d talk about how they were just everywhere. He’d talk and I’d nod along thinking, “Uh… yeah. Okay. Sure.”

Honey? I take it back. I am sorry I didn’t REALLY believe you.

I grew up with cicadas buzzing in the trees in the summer. It was not a big deal! It’s part of summer’s soundtrack to me. The days get hot and the cicadas sing at the top of their little… lungs?

Then the articles started to emerge that this was the year that THE CICADAS WOULD RETURN. It was all over the news like the plague was being forecast. This was a big deal.

And yet still, I listened with a, “Yeah, okay. Sure. Whatever.” attitude.

Then last Saturday, I saw my first cicada. They had ARRIVED. Or rather emerged.

179: THE Cicadas have arrived

It was the first moment that I went, “Uhm. There just might be something to this whole cicada invasion thing.”  Literally, 24 hours later, my husband pointed out that the tree in our backyard was covered — COVERED — in cicadas.

Uh oh.

It’s only gone downhill from there… and its expected to get worse before it gets better.

I have to — HAVE TO — sweep off the porch every day. It’s not a case of being able to wait until the next day. No, if I wait, the little cicada bodies would be about an inch deep. It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever experienced.

They are in the trees and on bushes. And when the cling on to something, they hold on tight! I can hardly knock them off the house with a broom!

A pressure washer works pretty well, though. They can’t seem to fight off a high-powered water stream. That’s kind of fun.

But… as we go along… they are starting to fight back. Today, going to check the mailbox, I had to duck a few times as they dive bombed my head! After I cleaned up the porch, one decided to ride into the house with me on my back. How did I find out about it…

IT CRAWLED UP THE BACK OF MY NECK!!!!!!

The first little tickle, I thought it was a tendrel of hair came loose from my messy clip-action I did today. Then… it was still moving even though I wasn’t. You can bet I got it off fast and I am STILL getting the heebie jeebies from it!

I  can’t wait to see what happens when we mow our lawn. Might have to go buy a hard hat or something.

Again, I owe my husband an apology for not really believing him and his tales of cicadas 13 years ago! I heard they should be gone by mid-June. Can’t get here soon enough for me! They’ve been around a week, and I’m already over it!

But. That being said… their buzzing is loud, but its just a part of summer to me… As long as they stay off my neck and away from my head, I don’t mind the buzz in the air. (Not YET atleast…)