Mountain Biking, Cicadas And Tree Grubs
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 6 months ago
We always try to stay physically active. You never know when you’ll need to be in shape. This past weekend we mountain biked at James Lake State Park. As we stepped out of the truck to hit the trails, we heard an almost deafening sound coming from the forest. For those of you who know this sound, it’s a bit like listening to an admixture of a dying calf and a cavitating pump.
It happened to be Cicadas – tens of thousands of them. This was their year, and I suppose their week, to come up in this region.
It was a good day to mountain bike, but it reminds me of an event several years ago where I once lived. I saw Heidi with a live Cicada caught between her paws, licking the innards and juice out of the insect. I said to her, “Things like this are why I have to deworm you, bitch.” She briefly looked up at me and then returned to lapping up her delicacy.
That reminds me of an event a number of years ago when my oldest son, Josh, sold me a bill of goods. We were chopping wood and came up on a bunch of tree grubs. He popped a small one in his mouth and ate it. Then he dared me to, and of course I couldn’t let my oldest son show me up. After all, Les Stroud eats tree grubs.
Then Josh handed me a tree grub that dwarfed the one he ate. I dutifully ate the thing. It tasted like wood, just wet and squishy. But I don’t think I’ll be eating any more tree grubs unless I’m in the wilderness in a survival situation.
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