Bugs

Adelphean · #1 03-30-2004, 11:43 PM

So this has nothing to do with ADPi but I'm a FREAKING (to the point of tears) over this...!!!!

The 17 year Cicadas (BIG NASTY BUGS, comparable to Locusts) are hatching in May-June of this year. And I live right in the heart of where billions (literally) of them will be.
Scientists are saying there will be millions of them PER acre....

I am TERRIFIED of bugs. And that is even an understatement. I'm supposed to work at girl scout camp this summer... What am I supposed to do?

And what am I supposed to do if I don't take the Girl Scout job? I won't be able to leave my house or even go outside to get the mail. I wanna cry thinking about it...

?!?!?!?!

skerbow · #2 03-30-2004, 11:50 PM

awe honey! I bet they won't bother you at all. Just stay in at night.

It will be okay.

polarpi · #3 03-31-2004, 12:14 AM

Sweetie, I'm right there with you. I *HATE* bugs....I can't stand them, I flip out when there's even a little nat or a fly buzzing around in our house. You wanna move out this way to Southern Cali for the summer (I think the only thing they're warning us about is the potential for West Nile Virus

)

Are these bugs going to be out during the day, or is it just a nighttime thing? (Can you tell I don't interact in places where there're bugs???)

honeychile · #4 03-31-2004, 12:36 AM

I plan on shooting the nasty things!! I hate-hate-hate creepy crawlies, and the noise of locusts!!!!

Maybe I better stock up on ammo....?

Adelphean · #5 03-31-2004, 07:35 AM

They're out all the time. If you've never seen one, they're about 1-2 inches long and an inch wide... they've got big wings too. And big reds eyes. They are DISGUSTING. My mom says she remembers 1987 (the last time they hatched). She says every time you walked outside you stepped on 100's of them. And during they day they would fly around like June bugs. They hatch at night and become really active during the day.

And to explain very VERY unnatural fear of bugs and spiders...

When I was 13 my little brother threw a Grandaddy Long Legs on me. Let's just say I freaked out majorly. I was in the hosptial overnight b/c I hyperventillated (sp?) and went into shock...

polarpi- Are these bugs going to be out during the day, or is it just a nighttime thing? (Can you tell I don't interact in places where there're bugs???)

ADPiSAI · #6 03-31-2004, 08:49 AM

ewwwwwwwwwwww......
where do these creepy nasty giant bugs live?? not Massachusetts... that's where I would have been last time... but are they in New Jersey?? if they are, I'm moving in with my aunt for the summer!! I'm so creeped out now......

FirstAndFinest · #7 03-31-2004, 11:46 AM

Chill, Leslie

These creatures DON"T live in NJ, which is why I moved back here from TN!!

Lindsay, dear, what day is it today? Are there any bugs now? Don't start crying yet over milk you may not ever spill! I, too, suffer from anxiety and these are some things that help me. These and prescribed-to-ME Rx!! {{{hugs}}}

If the cicadas will be in the area where the GS camp is, maybe you do want to look for another summer job. Can you get an office job or a job in a retail store?

ADPiSAI · #8 03-31-2004, 11:49 AM

oh thank God!!

FirstAndFinest · #9 03-31-2004, 11:53 AM

... although PHILA might get 'em...

ADPiSAI · #10 03-31-2004, 01:53 PM

AHHHHHHHHHHH, that's not funny!!

kateshort · #11 03-31-2004, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FirstAndFinest
Chill, Leslie These creatures DON"T live in NJ, which is why I moved back here from TN!!

Are you certain? 'cause we sure as heck had them in Maryland! And I lived in south Bowie, about the same area as Washington DC, a little south of Annapolis and Baltimore.

My dad knew my mom was a little freaked by cicadas. We used to get two kinds-- the usual big greenish kind, and the special every-17-years more black and orange and red kind. They loved to hang out on our weeping willow tree in the back yard and molt, leaving behind these little crusty skin bodies. Kind of like onion-skin, just a little thicker maybe.

So my dad takes some of this liquid modelling putty stuff, and fills up two of the cicada bodies with it. There's a slit in the back from where they came out, wings first, so the body just has the body and the legs, so to speak. Anyway, when the putty's dry, he takes out all of his model train/plane paints, and paints the outside of the skins all black and grey, and adds the little beady eyes, and covers it with a clear gloss.

And then posted the two of them on the top roller of the typewriter (big ol' green behemoth of a typewriter-- this was the late 70's/early 80's). And asks her to type up some sort of letter.

Oh, the scream!

And yes, they're about a half-inch to 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and about a good inch and a half in length. About the size of your tuumb, kinda. They never got in my way most years; it was only when you hit the 17-year cycle that they got nasty. It's kind of like their spring break or something-- they're just everywhere, and you can't help but to have them run into you.

lonestaradpi · #12 03-31-2004, 07:13 PM

Lindsay, I am a program director at a girl's residential camp her in Texas. I would love to have my GC<> working with me.

However, I'm not too sure that things would be much better here in Texas. We have daddy longleg spiders, mosquitos that may have west nile, scorpions and sometimes even centipedes and very rarely some rattle snakes (a nest of babies last summer). No nasty cicadas but some of their little friends. If I could help, let me know!!
Aimee

Adelphean · #13 04-01-2004, 02:53 AM

Hey Aimee!

I would love some more info about your camp! Anything I can do to get away from TN, and huge "flying roaches" as one of my sisters down here calls them, would be GREAT!

As far as other insects...

Daddy Long Legs I can deal with at this age. Although I would never say I'm a huge fan. I still freak if they're crawling on me. (A camping trip w/ the Phi Delta Theta's had me somewhat face that fear!)

As far as West Nile goes, we had it really bad in TN last summer, so although the thought of actually catching it FREAKS me out, I can handle mosquitos. And rather unsually I'm at all scared of snakes. I'd rather be bitten by a snake than to see any kind of bug

I also have a funny story a/b scorpions.
So for Rush retreat we go to a place called camp Lookout. It's on Lookout mountain a/b 1/2 hour away from the chapter house. Well, the cabins are all spread out. The late-nighters got put in a cabin about a mile away from everyone. So we're all sitting in the common-room one night and all the sudden my <> points and screams. I turn around to look and, low and behold, it was this HUGE scorpion heading right for my leg... You've never seen someone go from laying down to standing up and out of the cabin in a matter of seconds. Then someone killed it.
So we thought the excitement was over for one night so we all went to our bedrooms to lay down. Next thing I know I hear one of the girls screaming bloody murder... so we all run into her room, and on the floor on top of her pillow is another scorpion bigger than the one we killed earlier. Needless to stay we all went and slept in our cars for the night!

texas*princess · #14 04-01-2004, 09:00 AM

I'm seriously scared of bugs!!!!

FirstAndFinest · #15 04-01-2004, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kateshort
Are you certain? 'cause we sure as heck had them in Maryland! And I lived in south Bowie, about the same area as Washington DC, a little south of Annapolis and Baltimore.

We used to get two kinds-- the usual big greenish kind, and the special every-17-years more black and orange and red kind.

I've seen the skins the 17-year kind leave behind, but not here in NJ! I have seen the regular, greenish kind here.

Maryland is a lot farther south than NJ ('tis below the Mason-Dixon line...) and that may have something to do with it. Whatever the reason, I'm just thankful!