The Cicadas are taking over! Though you can't hear them quite yet, their shedded skins can be found covering trees from top to bottom. I watched one yesterday come out of its "shell" and eventually leave its place. I watched others crawl up the tree to park it somewhere to chill an re-emerge later. They are quite the species. I'm wondering where they all are right now. There are thousands and thousands of empty skins everywhere! You can't help but step on some every step you take. There must be a HUGE pit of living adult cicadas near by just waiting to make me deaf with their songs.

A scarier thing than the encroaching cicada take-over was this morning's 400AM storm. You might as well have turned the lights in the room on because with the lightning every 10th of a second, you wouldn't have known the difference. The rain was poring down at a rate of about an inch every 15 minutes! I could hear hail hitting and bouncing out of the gutters. With this racket going on I could hardly sleep. I decided to look out my window so I could watch the lighting striking the trees in my front yard. However, it was raining so dang frickin' hard all I could see was a sheet of water blocking my view of everything! Needless to say, It's been a long while since I've braved a storm like that and lived to tell the tale. I think I'll end it there while you ponder that last sentence.