The grasshoppers in our yard in Louisiana in the 1960s were a cheerful shade of green, and were about an inch long max. They were easy to catch in our hands, did no harm, and seemed happy and unresentful when released. Kids who were scared of most insects tended not to be afraid of the gentle little grasshoppers.

The grasshoppers in our yard in the 1990s in central Texas were a pale brown with handsome, geometric looking markings in darker colors. What hind legs they had! - and I think they had compact wings. The Texas grasshoppers were at least 2 inches long, had a harder exoskeleton, and when the lawnmower came through the native grasses, they flew up into the air a few feet, to sail out of harm's way. The ones that were damaged or did not survive were quickly consumed by mockingbirds. I'm guessing grasshoppers were a significant source of nutrition for many birds, such as robins and roadrunners.

Crickets were pretty much the same in both decades and locations - similar to the grasshoppers. Crickets, friendly and harmless, were dark brown, slightly larger than the green hoppers, and smaller than the Texans. They made chirping noises with their legs, and you could tell how cold the temperature was by the pitch of the sounds. The colder the temp, the slower and lower the sound. They served as food for many critters. One striking thing about them was that in the 1990s, they showed up sometimes in hordes. In Dripping Springs, Texas, crickets would be crawling up the walls of the schools, and covering the gasoline pumps at the service stations. They'd be on the sidewalks and crunch under your feet. I'd never seen that before, and I don't know what caused the plagues of crickets to occur.