mattie g

Exactly my experience from Sunday. The woods are really dense and always much cooler under the canopy, so it makes sense that they'd be delayed, especially since the soil temps in the sunnier part of my front lawn have only just hit 63 in the last day or two.

We'll wear a mask anywhere we go with the kids indoors. Not worried about the pool and all that, but you know full well that plenty of unvaccinated folks will go without masks in places that won't require them. Man...the CDC did such a poor job of communicating this.

Backyard ground temp is 59-60, which is why there’s been no emergence there yet. Under the front-yard holly is 63 on average and we’re having the biggest emergence yet this evening.

Took a walk in the woods surrounding our neighborhood this morning with the girls and pup. Not a cicada to be seen. As soon as you get to the edges of the neighborhood - particularly the south- and west-facing sections - you begin seeing them. Pretty obvious that the shaded forest floor being much cooler than the surrounding lawns had resulted in there being a layer emergence there. I’m expecting that the upcoming warmth will result in an explosion of hatching throughout the woods by the beginning of next week.

I’ve only done onions twice, but a raised bed should certainly work. I’d say that it’s a bit late for onions, though. They’re best going into the ground as soon as you can work the soil in late winter/early spring.

How about you respect the policies of the stores you visit? If you don’t like the policies, then you can feel free to shop elsewhere.

And suddenly 100% of Americans will appear to be vaccinated...

Cool picture (at least I think so) of four cicadas in various stages of molting on the holly tree. Taken last night at about 9:00 or so.

Deep down, you know the neighborhood moms like to get peed on.

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.