Metro to Mountain

Cicadas

The cicadas are in full force in Nashville. We had a brief interlude of silence caused by an unseasonal cold front but now, they have returned.

On one of my daily walks in the neighborhood I noticed someone had screened in their porch just by hanging screening material. The mosquitoes in our neighborhood are vicious. I assumed that they had screened their porch to ward off the mosquitoes.

The person who lived at the house was doing yard work and I inquired about the screening. I told him that we were considering screening our porch also.

He said, "yes the cicadas are terrible. We just tacked the screen up and they no longer bother us."

Hmm, I never even thought of fending off the cicadas. They will land and attach themselves to you; but otherwise are harmless. I guess for those that are cicada-phobes protection would be essential. Now, if we can just do something about the mosquitoes.

Jake and the Cicadas

Jake loves the cicadas. He loves to chase them, catch them, and eat them. He has eaten so many, that yesterday he had an upset belly. He did not eat his breakfast and moped around most of the day.

This morning he was still acting sick. He slept in and then was not excited to go outside and check out the backyard.

We were going about our morning routines when Amy was walking around the dining room table. Suddenly she went limp. A look of anguish came over her face.

Amy had been going to the doctor over a foot injury and all I could think of was she had ruptured the tendon. I felt terrible for her.

It was only seconds before I figured out what was wrong. Jake had an upset belly and lost it. He was really sick and Amy had stepped right in the middle of it. For the next ten minutes we were cleaning up the mess. I don't keep an active log; but I thought it was one of his worst ones.

So we are going to try to cut back on his cicada diet and see if his stomach gets better. Oh, the joys of having a dog!

Shelby Farms Park - Chickasaw Trail

So over on cloudhiking, we put up the map and adventure guide to the Chickasaw and Greenline Connector trails at Shelby Farms Park Conservancy. These are our first trails from west Tennessee. Maybe we will get back over soon to finish the Park and to work on some of the other areas.