All of the mid-Atlantic area is awaiting the arrival of the cicadas.  “What are they?” you may be asking.  If you are “lucky” enough to live along the Route 95 corridor from North Carolina to New Jersey, you may already know what they are but for the rest of our dear readers they are simply really annoying insects.

Every 17 years, millions of cicadas crawl out of the earth and take over neighborhoods.  There are different broods of cicadas that go through a 17-year life cycle.  The brood that is popping out this year is Brood II.  Back in 2004, there was an even bigger one, called Brood X.

They are really big bugs, over an inch long.  They have wide bodies, big red eyes, and are extremely noisy for hours on end as they search for what they want and that is to find another cicada so they can make more cicadas.  They can be scary as thousands of them swarm all over the place, often landing on humans or on the ground where they get squished by cars or perhaps your foot.  And talk about the waste they make, they also leave behind their exoskeleton, sort of a calling card to as if to simply let you know they were there.  For food, they suck on the life-giving sap that flows through trees and other deciduous plants.

Hmmmm, does this sound like anything else you know?

How about Washington, D.C. and the thousands of politicians, special interests, and bureaucrats that swarm around and want part of your life-giving sap – your money so they can grow more government programs?  But unlike the 17-year cicadas, Washington never disappears.  The DC Brood just keeps getting bigger and bigger, demanding more money from the taxpayers.

The good thing about cicadas is they disappear and do not reappear for several years.  The cicadas lay their eggs on tree stems; the eggs hatch and the young nymphs fall to the ground.  From there, the nymphs using their strong front legs, bury themselves deep into the earth.  For the next 17 years they will feed on the life-giving juice found in the roots of plants to…

Oh wait, maybe they are more like Washington after all.