When I go out to the truck in the morning, I run to escape them. When I open the door, a swarm goes inside. I spend several minutes killing them before starting the engine. Others buzz around me as I drive. At the end of the day, after the truck has sat in town for eight hours, there are still a couple in the cab.
When I go for a walk in the evening, I put on repellent lotion (handmade, all natural, no poisonous ingredients) and spray commerical repellent on my clothing. The mosquitoes still bounce off my face, annoying the hell out of me.
Any night now, if we have a good freeze, I will not complain. It may decimate gardens and crops — no, that wouldn't be good — but there would be one bright side. Death to mosquitoes.
We have the same problem here. Can't sit outside without being eaten alive.
ReplyDeleteI agree, they are terrible this year. Worst of all in the garden while picking beans and peas. So glad I have a cab on the swather or I'd suffer them all day long cutting canola. They are making winter look not so bad.
ReplyDeleteThat is bad news Kate! (first world bad news of course, the only kind of bad news I ever want to experience, and the only kind of bad news I wish for every other member of our species, but I digress...)
ReplyDeleteI hate mosquitoes, and hate is not an overstatement. My emotional reaction to them is getting worse, because now I am a member of the demographic that is supposed to be more vulnerable to the negative effects of West Nile Virus. They aren't just annoying anymore, they are dangerous.
Our mosquito population was very high this year, very very high. August has been refreshing in that there are a lot fewer mosquitoes around. I hope they don't return with a vengeance as they have where you are!
Maggie, Scott had West Nile a few years back. He's well over it, but it set him back for quite a few weeks. He could barely drag himself to work and got quite behind in some of his jobs, and for Scott, that's proof of the virus's severity. The year he got it, I bought hats with face-nets on them. Wonder where those are; should go looking.
ReplyDeleteRalph, one of the best parts of winter is NO MOSQUITOES. I'm thankful I have no vegetable garden to force me to be out among them more than I already am.
Teresa, does Montreal not spray for mosquitoes then?
Kate, out of curiosity, how did Scott know it was West Nile? When I had the flu the first thing I though of was West Nile, but I eventually got better and didn't think about again. I guess I hope that I have had already, so that now in my golden years I don't have to worry about it, but since I don't know, I worry.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of talk about it that year, so when he had a rash everywhere but his face and hands, as well as fever, he went to the doctor and got tested.
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