They're Everywhere!

We've all swept them, stomped them, sprayed them and swept them some more. The crickets are out by the millions right now and their sweet little cricket song isn't so sweet anymore.

The cricket invasion in Gothenburg isn't new. We've had these piles of crickets before. According to Darrel Giesenhagen from Reliable Pest Control Services, it's a cyclical thing. Cricket outbreaks, he said, are typically associated with a dry period followed by a fair amount of rain. (We've certainly had a "fair amount" of rain this year.) Rainy periods create increased vegetation, so crickets can grow very quickly. Darrel also said this year's weather has been such that there were multiple breeding periods for crickets, so there seems to be more.

And crickets are night creatures, he said. That's why you don't see quite as many moving around during the daylight hours. But holy smokes do we have gobs of them first thing in the morning! All up and down Lake Avenue and the businesses on the side streets, folks are out every workday morning sweeping critters to the curb or blowing them with a leaf blower.

Darrel says you can call his pest control service to spray the bugs. (He's a Chamber member!) That will surely mean you're sweeping dead ones instead of them jumping on your pants and shoes. Or you can wait it out. The weather will turn cooler at night soon and he said they'll be gone again for at least another year.

Did you know in the Far East and across many parts of Europe, it is considered very bad luck to kill a cricket, even by accident? Well I might as well have broken a thousand mirrors.

Crickets usually hatch in large numbers in August or early September, so apparently they're right on time. According to the Farmer's Almanac, early arrival of crickets means an early winter. I guess that means winter will appear right on time this year, whatever that is.

Just in case winter comes early, here are some more bits of folk wisdom I found:

20 Signs of A Hard Winter

• Thicker than normal corn husks
• Woodpeckers sharing a tree
• Early arrival of the Snowy owl
• Early departure of geese and ducks
• Early migration of the Monarch butterfly
• Thick hair on the nape (back) of the cow's neck
• Heavy and numerous fogs during August
• Raccoons with thick tails and bright bands
• Mice eating ravenously into the home
• Early arrival of crickets on the hearth
• Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers
• Pigs gathering sticks
• Insects marching a bee line rather than meandering
• Early seclusion of bees within the hive
• Unusual abundance of acorns
• Muskrats burrowing holes high on the river bank
• See how high the hornet's nest, 'twill tell how high the snow will rest
• Narrow orange band in the middle of the Woollybear caterpillar warns of heavy snow; fat and fuzzy caterpillars predict bitter cold
• The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter
• Frequent halos or rings around sun or moon forecast numerous snow falls.

You can look at it this way — I think we'd all rather sweep crickets than snow right now.