Do you hear what I hear…

In some areas in the eastern part of the country there will be an emergence of the 17-year periodical cicada this year, if it hasn't started already.

Missouri is also home to this particular insect, and the last time there was a fairly large emergence was  in 1997. It was not very loud at our house because there was a great chunk of open land between us and the woods.

However, I cleaned houses then, and the noise at one of the houses, which was surrounded by woods, was quite deafening. I did not envy that family very much. The wife said the noise was making her crazy, and she was very grateful to have a job in town.

The sound they make is very different from the low-pitched buzz saw sound of the other kind of cicada that we hear on hot summer days.

The people who know these things say that our turn will come again next year. Even so, a few of these insects do emerge every year…

 ...looking very much like an alien life form.

This evening, in between the noise of big trucks and cars on the highway, I can hear the high, thin sound of a couple of them in the big oak tree by the house. It's not bad at all... sort of a soothing sound offering a little bit of competition to the "wind tunnel" tinnitus in my left ear. Not sure what it will be like here next year though.