While we complain about the cold, and the lingering winter-like conditions, we may be forgetting that at least frigid Northern Illinois weather keeps the bugs away...for the most part.
Okay, maybe the bugs aren't quite as large as the photo might suggest, but my "How To Add Hyperbolic Photos To Your Internet Posts" handbook said that these would work.
It's not that our two states don't agree that there are insects that should be hated, it's just that we disagree on which creep-crawly should draw the most disdain.
Whenever you get a huge group of 17-year olds together, you just know it's going to be loud. Really loud. It doesn't matter whether they happen to be humans or cicadas.
In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that we have an artificial (or phony, as my two brats...I mean wonderful kids) Christmas tree at our house. And, it's things like this that make me glad we do.