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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Plague of Locusts or Where's Charlton Heston When You Need a Moses |
| 2012-06-14 |
| A massive swarm of grasshoppers has invaded a rural town in Sacramento County, eating foliage, hopping around and creating a nuisance. Well, grasshoppers do hop. And fiddle, too, and then want to live of the ant's earnings. So I guess California is the place they should be. Folks in Herald, about 30 miles southeast of Sacramento, say their new neighbors moved in at the beginning of June. They brought their appetites and their friends. Scientists haven't done a head count yet, but locals have a pretty good estimate. Somebody will probably blame on the Joos. "Umm, 50 million," said 7-year-old Moe Gunter. And with that many bugs jumping all over the place and eating their own body weight every couple days or so, vegetation is getting worked over. I hear Fried Grasshopper is good. "The roses on this side are about half-way gone," said Denae Gunter, pointing out plants in front of her home. "The hedges here are slowly going..." But if residents and farmers in Herald are fed up with them, UC Davis bug experts are kind of excited. A bug expert's paradise! Entomologist Steve Heydon said these types of swarms are rare. Go to Somalia. Or is it the Sudan? The working theory: This winter was dry and warm, so there's less vegetation around for the bugs to eat. But the winter before saw a lot more precipitation than usual, so with plenty of food there were a lot of extra little bugs born. Ah-Ha! Global Worming! I knew it would come up sooner or later. People in rural Sacramento County can look forward to seeing their "friends" around for as long as another month. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #13 OK, students, a lesson in values here: |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2012-06-14 21:13 |
| #12 It's ok, we can use Al Gore as Substitute. Wait, we're replacing the Grasshopper Love Call right? |
| Posted by: Charles 2012-06-14 18:02 |
| #11 I saw this movie. You have to find the Grasshopper Love Call and lure them into the ocean. Get Peter Graves on the phone. What? Pete's dead? Oops... |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2012-06-14 17:35 |
| #10 Get a net and ship them to the bait shops. Dip 'em in chocolate and send them to the food markets. Get a flamethrower. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-06-14 14:16 |
| #9 Phooey, did I forget the link? Dopey me. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2012-06-14 10:39 |
| #8 Darn, I thought this was referring to Democrats. hopping around and creating a nuisance. Sure sounds like Democrats. Maybe the grasshoppers can be signed up as voters. At least they're native born. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2012-06-14 09:03 |
| #7 link points back to this page. Good catch, abu do you love -- thanks! Rantburg really is a group effort. :-) I googled the first sentence of the article and came up with an LA Times blog link, which now has been added, hopefully successfully. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-06-14 07:20 |
| #6 Insecticides not green? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-06-14 04:03 |
| #5 Hop on over to this juicy link. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-06-14 03:14 |
| #4 charger: zing! |
| Posted by: gromky 2012-06-14 02:02 |
| #3 Wheresh ya meshiah noooowwwwwwwwwwwwww... |
| Posted by: Edward G. Egyptian 2012-06-14 01:27 |
| #2 link points back to this page. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2012-06-14 01:24 |
| #1 If they're like other California locusts, they'll eventually move to Colorado. |
| Posted by: charger 2012-06-14 00:22 |