Althouse: Too many mayflies.

July 23, 2015

Too many mayflies.

"Biggest thing I noticed was after cars were stopped and sitting for so long while we’re trying to get cars moving again is they were probably piled knee high in front of their headlights from just sitting there... We had Iowa DOT came in with a snow plow and actually plow them off and then sand it because it was still pretty slippery. And then Illinois plowed their side...."

11 comments:

Mark said...: When I was a kid we went to a family wedding in LaCrosse and were offered my grandparents Lake Onalaska cottage to stay in.

It was horror movie bad, we had to shovel inches off the sidewalk to get to the car in the morning which itself needed cleaning.

It was more memorable than whatever happened the rest of the weekend.; 7/23/15, 4:31 PM
David said...: Protein.; 7/23/15, 4:38 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I remember the mayflies from growing in Alabama. One day, the trees near the river where so covered in mayflies you couldn't see any bark on many of them. Two days later, their corpses were piled up inches high around the base of the tree.

I guess if you're an adult mayfly it's a real sic transit gloria mundi kind of situation.; 7/23/15, 5:58 PM
Fritz said...: Or not enough trout.; 7/23/15, 7:42 PM
Curious George said...: When we have a mayfly hatch on our lake it's pointless to go fishing. The walleye and bass just gorge out on them, ignoring all offerings.; 7/23/15, 9:00 PM
kimsch said...: ewwwww; 7/23/15, 11:15 PM
SGT Ted said...: Its not too many. It's just nature doing it's thing.; 7/24/15, 8:52 AM
Rusty said...: Now if it were a Hexagenia Limbata rise they'd have to call in the army.; 7/24/15, 9:04 AM
George Grady said...: One summer when I was in College Station, TX, I took my son to a party at a park where it was like that, only with love bugs. You literally couldn't see the playground equipment underneath the writhing mass of love bugs. It was a short party.; 7/24/15, 10:06 AM
Unknown said...: GLOBAL WARMING strikes again; 7/24/15, 10:31 AM
mikee said...: Ahh, College Station, TX, home of the fightin' Texas Aggies. Gig 'em!

The love bugs were bad once in a while, but the giant cockroaches were bad all the time.

I once spent two hours hunting one three-inch specimen that crawled up out of my bathroom sink drain, then raced into the bedroom as I flailed at it. Eventually I cornered it in my completely disassembled dresser and removed it from among the living. Then I got a drain plug.

Student slum memories are oft nightmarish.; 7/24/15, 12:29 PM