Our cedars get weird parasites. Once in a while we get bagworms. This year I noticed some weird galls.They look like brains.
I looked them up and the news is not good.
They are the cedar-apple rust. They start in cedars, and then in the warm spring rain, they sprout orange jelly-like 'hairs' out of each dimple. The rust sends out spores looking for apple trees, which we have. This might explain why we've never had good luck with apples. Ever.
Check out this site for some other good pics of this fungus.
Now I'm going to have to decide whether or not to cut down those cedars or to cut down the apples [two of which aren't bearing anyway]. Feel free to weigh in.