Monday, June 29, 2009

Fireflies -- Fantasy or Nightmare??

Shane and I camped 2 nights at Julian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway -- really nice place. The weather was mostly perfect, we saw a little wildlife (couple of deer, couple of chipmunks, some birds) and a bajillion fireflies. . . . .Thursday night about 10 or 10:30, we walked up to the bath house and the fireflies were flickering and glowing all around us. It was absolutely one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen -- surely no fairy wonderland is any more beautiful. It was incredibly enchanting, and we turned off our flashlights for quite a while, just stood, captivated by the amazing "laser show" these guys were doing for us. Things like this are the reason I like camping anyway -- getting close to nature and seeing things that people who don't like to camp don't get to see. . . .and then I got home, and waiting in my email was an email from enature.com -- one of my favorite wildlife sites. They were sharing summer interest stories, and my mind was on the fireflies, so I clicked on that one to learn more. . . .Imagine my surprise to learn that some species of firefly after they have mated, the female's body chemistry changes somewhat, and hormones are activated that make her a man-eater. She still lures the males with her enchanting flickering beacon, and then as he joins her in the bushes hoping for some romance, she attacks him and has him for dinner. Now, I'm sure I'll get over it and still enjoy seeing the beautiful fireflies flickering, but I gotta tell you -- for a while I'm gonna think twice -- it kind of destroyed the romance for me. . . .I guess there really IS such a thing as TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!

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