Pesky vermin

[Paul Hoskins]

This is our year for the 17 year cicada. (locust) Despicable red eyed vermin but fortunately, they're not as bad this year as in past years. Most likely because I cut down the last four remaining large maple trees. I despise maples too. Only good for gun stocks  if the wood is figured. The dead cicadas would pile up around the base of the maples 3 to 5 inches deep & 3 feet out all the way around the trees. I shovelled them up by the wheelbarrow loads & dumped them in the garden. Good fertilizer.  .......All my woodpeckers have stopped eating & feeding suet to their babies & started feeding on cicadas. I use a zero turn lawn mower & for some reason cicadas are attracted to it. The red eyed vermin bite like a pit bull. Feels more like they use a switchblade knife. I have enough trouble seeing what's mowed & not mowed without this distraction. Some of it gets missed but some gets mowed 2 or 3 times, so I guess it all comes out even. ......Paul H ........I can't see to get pictures of them any more but I filched some off the internet. .....PH ...

[Hunterbug]

Something to keep in mind.