Thursday, May 19, 2011

Jillions

Usually I reduce the size of photos before I post them on my blog. But I left this one full size so that when you left click on the image you can see the details. And the details in this photo that are most dramatic are the love bugs. I don't know what species this insect is, its scientific name, its family, genus, etc. What I can tell you is that in May in central and southern Florida they seem to outnumber everything else in the state.

They apparently reach adulthood, take flight, and immediately pair with a member of the opposite sex. They then attach themselves in an orgy of genetic material exchange and fly around joined at the genitalia. In places the air is packed with them. I've seen them so thick that you have to cover your mouth to keep from ingesting them. When driving around you hit them constantly and your vehicle becomes black with the splattered corpses of the orgiastic little shits. They remind me of Republicans: dumb, self-destructive, and seemingly without number.

I took this self-portrait on top of one of the forts on Egmont Key. The air was swarming with love bugs. They were everywhere you looked or moved. (Click to see it at full size and detail.)

Sometimes as you drive along you hit waves of them. Quite literally waves. You will be moving along at a good clip hitting them along the way, and then--SPLASH!--you encounter a vast wall of them and they explode across your windshield as if fired out of a vast cannon.

Question: "What's the last thing that went through their minds?" Answer: "Their asses."

"I'll bet they won't have the guts to do that again."

The comments run on.

They're disgusting critters, reminiscent of humans, to me. Hell-bound to make babies, no matter the consequences. Just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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2 comments:

  1. Jack Thyen2:27 PM

    I hate those things! The splatter is almost impossible to remove. I drove through swarms of them one time and was never able to 100% remove the splatter marks from the front of my truck. One more reason why I don't like Florida!

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  2. James Robert Smith6:44 PM

    I really enjoy Florida. Of course I don't go to the places that 99% of the tourists visit. They have--without doubt--THE best State Park system on the east coast. I've not seen another one to compare.

    I've been told that if you don't get them off in short order they have something in their makeup that will eat through auto paint. We took the truck through a car wash twice while we were there and that took care of most of it.

    Go to Florida when the weather is not so bad. Avoid May if you don't want to encounter the love bugs. Visit some of the places Carole and I love so much. You'll find that it's worth seeing. We focus on the first magnitude springs and the isolated woodland and island parks.

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