Random Thoughts

It has been a very dry summer for a subtropical climate, which is the climate I am now supposedly living in.  It has been very bizarre watching the radar.  A giant storm will be approaching from the west and as it is approaching Louisville, the storm will diverge resulting in rain to the north and the south, but clear skies in Louisville.  (I think I am living in the continental US version of the Bermuda Triangle, a place where storms disappear.)  After two storms past by us this way yesterday, we finally got rain last night.  It was a major thunderstorm that started while I was sleeping and didn't end till late morning.  The sound of thunder and pouring rain is very relaxing to me.  I had a very refreshing sleep last night.

Walking around the complex a few days ago I saw a baby bunny eating some fresh green leafy sprouts.  It was the tiniest bunny I have ever seen and hadn't developed a fear of humans yet.  I was able to observe the baby bunny for a few minutes.  These few minutes filled me with joy for the rest of the day and refills me with joy as I write about it now.

Last week I found a bunch of insect exoskeletons on the ground surrounding the trunk of our birch tree.  It was a definite sign of molting.  And I thought it was cicadas because we have an abundance of them.  But a few days ago there was a cicada by our front door.  It stayed there for a long time and I was able to take a lot of pictures of it.  It had very cool markings and looked nothing like the exoskeletons I had found.  I was at a lost as to what insects my cool preserved skins formally belonged to.  Then tonight, I finally looked up cicada on Wiki and it has this very cool video of a cicada molting.  This confirmed my initial belief that what I had collected were cicadas.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicadas  Scroll down to 'Life Cycle.'

P.S.  It was brought to my attention that more pictures would be appreciated.  So here is our friendly cicada.

P.S.S.  Park visit has been delayed due to a major histamine reaction to an unknown diabolical Kentucky insect who bit me.  It will happen soon.