HAPPY BIRTHDAY U. S. of A.

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ANOTHER CACHING DAY,
ANOTHER WOODS

Once again it appears we are deep in a forest, but, this day we are caching in the village of Milan, OH (birthplace of Thomas Edison). That village has wrapped itself nicely around the Galpin Nature Preserve, adjacent to the Milan Cemetery whose cemetery association apparently manages the preserve's trails with the doctrine of letting nature take its course.

The preserve is comparatively minuscule as such things go in Ohio but it sizzles with beauty and a geological oddity or two.  I noted one ravine in the woods that simply--began.  Yup, level, now heavily wooded land, plunged into a rapidly deepening ravine that meandered around a curve and joined what surely, some long-ago-time, was an energetic watercourse.  Today, it is just--there, dry as a bone with a zero to 100 foot deep slice gouged in the ground which goes who knows where.

Fascinating.

We discovered this marvelously wooded oddity while searching for (and finding) the three geocaches that were sprinkled across its diminutive acreage.  I think I've seen bigger shopping center parking lots.     Curious?   http://milanarea.com/Galpintrail.htm

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CICADA DAMAGE
Scourge of the 17 year locust

Many places around greater Mansfield, some worse than others, are now showing the result of our recent visit from this huge, say 2" long, flying bug which invades, seemingly randomly in its 17 year cycle just ending here.

Areas around the county show lots of this kind of damage. Sometimes, neighboring areas show very little or none.

This damaged maple tree (above) was photographed along Millsboro Rd., July 4th.  The short lived insects climb from underground where they have existed for the past 17 years, leaving visible soil punctured with 1/2" holes, escape their brown, semi-translucent shells (exoskeletons) and fly haphazardly to-and-fro until they eventually mate whereupon they land on the end of select tree branches, slice an incision in which to lay their egg--the act that causes the end of the branch to die.

Soon thereafter they die too.

The damaged end of the branch will fall to the ground surprisingly quickly, where if undisturbed, will rot and drop the embryo of the next generation which will manage to bury itself and wait its 17 year turn to repeat the cycle.

During that short visit, about a month or so, the noise is a raucous cacophony like a bazillion, inebriated and celebratory tree frogs on a warm Spring evening down by the wooded pond.

I'm told they can kill young trees with their breeding melee but adult trees mostly show no evidence of their visit during the next growing season.