17-year itch

There's something disgusting going on outside my window, and I shudder just thinking about it! About a week ago my mom noticed some large bugs that were climbing on the front of our house. Upon closer investigation, my mom discovered that these insects were the 17-year cicadas that we've been hearing about on the news. They are so disgusting!

My mom gets the bug spray out every morning and bravely goes outside to tackle these nasty bugs that are about an inch and a half long. She sprays poison on them and says that when she does all she can hear is the fluttering of wings. She says the ground at the foundation of the house is just covered with hundreds of these bugs. Gross!

I did a little online research a few minutes ago, and I found out that there are actually seven species of these long-living cicadas. Three of the species follow the 17-year cycle, and the other four species follow the 13-year cycle. There are also other cicadas, "annual" ones, that have a much shorter lifespan, so you can pretty much bank on some species of cicada being around every summer. That's fine – I just don't like them being so close to home… or crawling on my home!

These pests will die off later this summer and won't be back until I turn 44. Wow! I know age is just a number, but since I'm still in my mid-20s, 44 sounds really old!