I live in Clarksville, which isn’t that far from you, and I haven’t seen those in the three years I’ve been here. We’ve got tons of other weird bugs though (none with a story quite like these), things I never could have dreamed up from my NC origins. I share your awe/disgust with your invaders, and they will be surely added to my growing list of weird things about TN.

please let chris and i take you guys to cinco de mayo up here in the hood.  you will not regret it.

*chris and me.  dangit.

What good is grammar without capital letters?  Just sayin’.  Rather inconsistent is all.

A creative mind + too much free time = blog articles like this one.

By the way, that white stuff that falls from the sky in winter is snow.  And Tennesseans have no idea what it’s really like either.

Beth

Ah trouble with Tribbles, those pesky little Star Trek fur balls. Maybe you can find Cyrano Jones to help you out…

Tribbles were a lot bigger than those little fluffy flying procreating gooey pooey bugs of yours.  Texas is always here man - but are you forgetting chiggers and fireants?  I mean I LOVE Texas don’t want to live anywhere else but am also using plenty of benadryl places where one can’t scratch in public!

I’ve seen those in Minnesota. Only they don’t move. We call them “snowflakes.” Nasty little buggers.

Linda Sue, ew.

I spent a twelve-year interlude out of Texas in Middle Tennessee and have NEVER seen those little buggers.  Must be global warming.

I just saw these furry things the other day and was FREAKED out! Not because of the eww factor but more the “what is that?” factor. Being a fellow displaced Texan I feel the pain in finding unknown tennessee creatures. People were laughing at my curiosity but I will for sure be passing on your insightful research!

"And when the second arrived I got a hand and arm full of pungent goo from the gut of a resilient five year-old with fantastic aim.”
I got an “ew” from the man who wrote those very words - I think I’m flattered in a very strange way! y’all are a hoot - life is good here in North Texas but please pray for those folks down south - looks nasty.

I’ve lived in TN all my life and have never seen one of those.  But I also haven’t heard of a hackberry tree, so my knowledge clearly is lacking in many areas.

I don’t normally stop by your site by but I am listening to Twilight on repeat these days and somehow ventured here to read about bugs.. But hey, good post. I did see one of those this week walking to my car and really thought it was a ‘who’ like from “Horton hears a who” but I guess not… I’m in kinda disappointed.
More importantly, Twilight is..lyrically spectacular. It’s become a prayer of mine as of late. When I run out of my own words for God I sometimes borrow someone else’s.
So thanks,
That’s all.
Amy

For the record, I get nerd bonus points and evangelical subculture bonus points (no subtractions either!) from this blog. Thanks a lot Shaun!

So what do I win? Will you send me some fireflies? Being a California kid I’ve never seen one in my life and I feel SO deprived.

Tribbles are brown...sheesh, wanna be nerd!

what in the world is a hackberry?  i feel sorry for the poor soul that named that tree.

do you have any klingons near by?  cause, if i remember correctly tribbles hate klingons. 

Let’s not be testy folks - according to a Wiki search - “tribbles are native to the planet Iota Geminorum IV. They are essentially small bundles of fur with no visible external features. The fur of live-action and animated tribbles ranges from solid white to grey, speckled light to dark brown, yellow to reddish orange, and black.” so tribbles had a full range of colors.

Wow, those bugs are totally creepy!  Love the Tribble reference (when we went to the Las Vegas Star Trek Experience we actually came home with this little Tribble that would vibrate and stuff, the cats LOVED it - side nerd note:  they totally shut the Star Trek Experience down a few weeks ago, sad nerd face.)

I also love the references to yourself as a soft rock star.  My husband worked for a ‘lite rock’ station here in Dallas for a long time and we always cracked jokes about Celine Dion and Michael Bolten coming out and saying “Are you ready to (lite) rock!?!?”

Stay with the aphids Shaun ~ ‘cause here in East TX, the only bugs gettin’ it on are the mosquitos! Seriously. It’s. Bad.

"Never passing up a legitimate opportunity to graze my wife’s.........”

Men.

What??  It was legitimate!!

Women.

Watching Mystery Diagnosis this weekend, some kid picked up a strange disease from the soil in TX that required him having multiple spinal taps.  Just sayin, maybe the bugs aren’t so bad

Thank you thank you thank you for that laugh!
I researched your “honeydew” for you… did you know that in some parts of the world other bugs eat that honeydew and produce “honeydew honey” which some people then eat (as in, think it’s a delicacy).  Crazy stuff!

So I live in the same town as you and I haven’t encountered any flying furriness, which means you have two options. One, hack down your hackberry trees ‘cause we ain’t got no hackberry trees. If we did I would actually know what the heck you were talking about. Two, just come sit in my backyard on my folding lawn chairs where we ain’t go no flying fuzz. I’ll even share my sun tea with you ‘cause we’re both classy and generous.

Oo! I get the double bonus! And no points subtracted! What do I win? Lemme guess--a jar of fur and honeydew?

I thought maybe it was manna.