* Invasion

Some US states are worrying and preparing for an invasion of * again this year which they fear will damage crops, etc.:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/env ... pers_N.htm

That's a good picture of a * with the article, but I can remember seeing * 2 or 3 times that size.

I never thought of * being such a problem. They're fairly rare around here. Hopefully it can be kept under control in those areas this year.

I've seen * here about the size of a dollar bill and almost an inch in width. I've also been bitten by a katydid...too bad it wasn't radioactive.

We have a few * around here, but they are really just tiny little things. Maybe an inch or so in length, but that's about it.

I can remember when I was just a kid and we used to have a very big garden with many kinds of vegetables, etc., and there were also HUGE * every summer.....the ones described by H-Man above remind me of them. Haven't seen * that big since we stopped planting big gardens. So in a way, I can sort of identify with the farmers, etc., who are worried about their crops, etc., and the damage these locusts/* might do.

We were never afraid of the *, though, and it was fun to try and catch them and then put them in a jar with holes in the top for air and study them awhile before releasing them, or using them for fish bait sometimes.

Just the other day, I saw * that was the largest I've seen locally in a while. It was about three inches long and an inch wide. Compared to what I normally see, that's huge. Unfortunately for the *, I think a bird saw him too.

H-Man wrote:

I've also been bitten by a katydid...too bad it wasn't radioactive.

But then we'd have to call you Katydid-Man.

Since where I live becomes a cold wasteland 7 months a year, such insects do not exist here.

Wild life forms here are either very small or extremely large.