Have the Cicadas Affected Your Home Life??

We were expecting to live through cicada mania the past couple of months. Instead, we had to search them out to catch a glimpse of the dozens, hundreds, thousands of cicadas that were emerging from the ground and from their skins. Well, we only saw dozens, when we headed north along Sheridan Road and into the northshore suburbs to fulfill our curiosity and take some photos. We are oh-so-terribly curious if the cicadas have affected anyone's lives at home. Readers outside of Chicago's city limits, this may be a question mainly for you!

Oh, and sorry for any of the insect-squeamish viewing these images...we couldn't resist sharing.

Comments (5)

Great last photo!

Usually you only find the discarded shells, but here you see the process. Thanks.

I remember them from middle school and a few years ago in Cincinnati (the 17 year ones). The scary thing this past time was that a lot of them were mutants, like the three-eyed fish on The Simpsons, apparently from lawn chemicals. I also remember the first time around, my brother had a job mowing an old graveyard, and they'd be hitting him all over his body and face the entire time!

I was so amped & psyched for the cicadas. Then when they didn't show up in the city it was like this biggest something-tease of all time!

Eventually I got out to Brookfield and was immersed in all the cicada awesomeness. And my brother brought me a baggie containing a bunch of dead ones in case I hadn't got to see them in real life.

They stink like cheese. Neat!

I remember three years ago, Maryland (specifically Baltimore) had "cicada Madness". They say that older the town, the more cicadas will come out because the earth hasn't been disturbed for a while. Whenever you walked out of the house, they were everywhere. I have a suv and it was not fun driving on highways because by the time you got to your destination, you would have had your windshield covered in cicada goo remnants. Yuk.. However, the fun part was seeing how everyone reacted. Most people thought they were gross but I had few friends who thought it was cool.. and even cooler to eat them. Yeah.. They collected them and stir fried them and ate them. Apparently this is not so uncommon. They got the idea from watching a news channel showing a guy who collects cicadas during their "mania" season and freezes them in plastic bags. And he cooks them whenever he has the cravings for crunchy cicadas.. YUCK... I am glad we won't have one of those again for 12 more years.

If you had traveled south on La Grange road and stopped at 87th street, the noise would be so deafening that you would think a UFO was in the area.... The carcasses were so thick on I-55 that it seemed as if a truck had lost a load of dirt.
The few late blooming cicadas are certainly a lonely bunch, for there is no one to answer their call for a mate.....