mattie g

Nice hatch going on under my front-yard Holly tree this evening. Spotted 15 or so new nymphs and shells tonight - hopefully a sign of fun things to come!

Couldn't agree more. It's mostly a combination of selfishness and some strange drive to pwn the libs. Anyone who doesn't have a valid medical reason not to be vaccinated should (MUST) get vaccinated. F personal freedoms in this case - being a selfish prick does nothing the good for all of society. Agreed with this also, but I can foresee a sh*tshow when people realize they can be required to be vaccinated to fully go about their lives as they once did.

I think they'll matter plenty, but I fear a spike due to not quite enough people being vaccinated and then going about their business as usual. I suppose the one thing you can do in that situation is to let the spike happen and see if it subsides after some period of time. If it doesn't, then mandates go back into place. If it does, then we have a much better feel for how spikes will pop up from time to time and when and how we can expect them to subside...and what the effects are on the general population in terms of hospitalizations and deaths during those spikes. It just sucks that we even need to have this discussion.

I'm as excited as anyone to see restrictions lifted, but I'm preparing for those restrictions to be put back in place at some point. I don't want to be a deb, but I just can't see the mask and social distance mandates being lifted and there not being a corresponding rise in cases that will be alarming enough to result in state and/or local action.

Absolutely agreed on all counts.

Headed to the house around the corner with one of the biggest hatches going on so far. It’s super impressive. The lawn was nearly covered in nymphs, adults, and shells in some spots and the huge maple tree on the front lawn was loaded with all three, as well. I really want to see that on all the trees around here. Bring me the sounds of an alien spaceship!

It honesty made no sense. I hate getting drawn into these discussions, but the amount of disinformation and complete misreading (both intentional and unintentional) of the situation is truly mind-boggling.

It’s true though. Vaccination doesn’t mean complete immunity. It simply means that the chances of contracting the virus drop significantly and that it almost completely negates serious COVID. We just have to accept that, in many situations, vaccinated individuals will test positive but have no symptoms and will not be able to transmit the virus to others.

Wait...you think that people who have taken precautions and have made the decision to wear masks and get vaccinated will want to drag on the mask wearing out of spite against people who refuse to do so? Isn't that like...completely ass-backwards logic? And not only that, but you're getting upset about something that's not even happening?

Dafuq does that even mean?

Stop it

Had a mini-emergence around the 30-foot holly tree in our front yard yesterday afternoon/evening. Curious to see if that will lead to even more bugs in the next few days.

No damage at all. Aside from the cool-weather plants that I direct-seeded and the garlic I planted in the fall (which are *really* healthy right now), I have nine tomato plants (five different varieties), four jalapenos, and one Thai chile in the ground. All plants are really healthy, if not exactly exploding with growth...but I'm OK with that. Their root systems are getting established, so once the temps head up they should be able to kick into gear pretty quickly. I'll be planting basil in and among the tomatoes this weekend and cantaloupes probably next weekend. Really excited about the new basil variety (Prospera) that's supposedly resistant to downy mildew, which has been a real problem for me come July-August in the last 3-4 years. I have another variety that doesn't have that resistance, so it'll be a really interesting experiment to see how they compare come mid- to late-season. Agreed on not needed big heat right now, but yeah...nighttime lows out of the mid 40s would be nice.

How cold did it get IYBY? I won't cover unless there's chance of frost and we got to (maybe) 45 this morning.

Oh...it'll cost plenty, but it's for a good cause!

It really is. Might be to do with exactly how much sunlight those areas of lawn get compared to others, so the cicadas in those spots are emerging earlier. Might be that certain trees had more eggs laid on them 17 years ago. I wonder if some people were also cleaning up the fallen branches that contain eggs, which is something I’ll try not to do this year. I will say that I’ve seen plenty of emerging cicadas and holes under large rocks and slabs around my house and our next-door neighbor’s house, but not nearly as many holes in uncovered spots just yet. Probably just need to wait for the uncovered areas to warm up enough so that they start coming out.

We're just beginning a stretch of truly phenomenal weather. Looking forward to playing in a golf tournament on Friday. Looks glorious for a 9:00 am shotgun start!

Picture of an emergent adult from last night. Plenty of others out there, but I felt like a weirdo shining a flashlight on a neighbors’ tree and taking a picture.

It’s too soon to make any guess at this. My now in-laws' place in Herndon was insane in 2004. Can't imagine it was any "worse" (better) in 1987.

Took a walk last night after hearing reports of some trees with plenty on them. Can confirm that probably every 15 houses or so had a tree out front that had a decent number of them (some with a truly impressive number), with the grass containing lots of shells and adults that had fallen off the trees.

Spotted two exoskeletons on our fence this afternoon. Neighbor said there's a skeleton graveyard under one of their trees.

Sun has been out for the last couple hours, with the temp spiking to 65 right now with a slight breeze. Just a glorious day!

Forecast high is 71 here, but we’re sitting at 51. Without sun or some sort of mixing, we’re not getting close to that.

Their barrel-aged stouts are so good, but four hours later and my stomach is an absolute shambles. Need to start trading some of these for bourbons...

Maybe in a couple months I’ll be looking forward to it, but right now I just want it to be warm.