Never Look a Gift Cicada in the Mandibles

Last week, as I was wheeling my bike out onto the porch in the morning so as to leave for work, I noticed that one of my plants had been dug up. Bending down to right the uprooted cactus, something caught my eye, something I'd been wanting for ever so long -



- a cicada! The creature was already quite dead, lying on its back with its legs folded in that ubiquitous, almost prayerful pose typical of recently perished insects everywhere. I screwed up my courage and picked the thing up (hoping, as I fumbled to unlock my door that it really was dead), laid it carefully in a jar, closed said jar and left for work.



It's a pretty amazing little beast, that cicada, with its delicate wings, strange, square head, wide-set, bulging eyes and Shredder-esque face-mask. I'd never seen one in real life - only heard them buzzing away in the trees and seen them in segments of nature shows, so getting to finally (gingerly) hold one in my hand was pretty thrilling.

To make the discovery even more fantastic, this little bug has inspired another curiosity! What exactly his wee body sparked in my mind shall remain a secret for now, but man...if I can work out all the logistics, it's going to be AWESOME.

Thanks, cicada-dude. Thanks a bunch!