Plague of Locusts/Plague of Hail

Good old Carlinville has been visited with the 17-year cicadas. Dan and Sarah were here the day they emerged. Since then thousands of them have taken up residence all over the tree trunks, sign posts, tall weeds, even doorposts. There are neat little holes all over the ground from which they made their way into the world. They just started singing today, but they'll get much louder through the next month or so as they seek suitable cicadas of the opposite sex. I tried to take some close-ups, because they really are striking insects (when not squished on the driveway in the hundreds). But I couldn't get close enough and also focus. Here's an attempt.



I would have taken a picture of the stop-sign at the corner, covered with cicadas, but before I could, the hail knocked them all off. Yes, we have been hailed upon twice in the last week. Today we were driving home from Litchfield on the service road, when the car was pinged by a loud crack, like a rock hitting the window. Soon they were hitting us so hard and fast, we couldn't hear each other talk. It felt like we were driving on a gravel road. In addition to the hail, it was pouring rain. The visibility was so bad, we finally had to stop and pull over. The ground looked like it was covered with snow. I truly thought the hail would break a window. As it was, the silver car is now covered with cute little dimples. Here are some pictures.

It looks like snow by the side of the road. It's hailstones.

Taken beside the car just after the storm started.



These were taken after we got home, in the front yard. I don't know how long they'd been sitting in the grass, melting.



And just for fun, here's a creepy video of a flower pot full of cicadas before they molted.