Boxing These Down, Here
37 minutes ago
Friday, May 17, 2013
Multiple bloody wounds
I went out to do some chainsaw work and a bit of wood splitting. Only minutes later I was bleeding from a number of tiny wounds. The black flies are really bad right now. Outside work is going to wait until the bugs die down. There's always the cover yourself in bug repellent option, but that can wait. There are enough poisons in my body as it is.
Some years the bugs are bad, some years they aren't. This is just one of those years. On the bright side, black fly season is often fairly short. They have to make room for the mosquitoes, deer flies, horse flies and moose flies. Maybe it'll be a good year for birds, bats, frogs, toads, fish and everything else that eats bugs.
When I was a kid people were a lot more casual about using insecticides to eliminate bugs. Campgrounds “fogged” the whole area by driving a truck blowing big clouds of insecticide out the back. Us kids used to play in the fog. My dad had a hand held unit that he used to spread bug killer around the yard at home. Of course, that was back in the days when we didn't care if our lettuce had DDT on it, as long as it was crisp. The chemical companies assured us these things were safe to use.
Thinking back on those days, it's a wonder we didn't all die of cancer before adulthood. Of course, some of us did.
Now I'm more likely to go with armor rather than chemicals: long pants, long sleeve shirts, a hat, and maybe a head net if they are really bad. If bug repellent is used, it'll go on my hat rather than on my skin. I have to be very careful which bug repellents I use. Thanks to all my chemical exposure during my firefighter days, some bug repellents trigger violent coughing fits to the point of unconsciousness. I'd rather get bitten by bugs.
Today I was caught unawares. Yesterday the bugs weren't bad; today they darken the sky. That's how it goes sometimes.
-Sixbears
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You ornery devil! That title and first sentence had me concerned! lol
ReplyDeleteI am a teaser.
DeletePressure sprayer, hot water, dish soap. Been killing off june bugs, bees, wasps, hornets, flies, etc. with it. Spray a little on yourself and the buggers smell death! Even the 'skeeters are avoiding my place, which is amazing because whenever we get rain the 'skeeters come out in droves a few days later. But they have been curiously absent since the recent rains, and my assault on a bee hive which took up residence underneath my stilt house...
ReplyDeleteI don't even own a pressure washer. Not as common in the north as in the south.
DeleteThose little "no-see-ums" are the worst! Don't know which is more aggravating - the bites or the scratching that always follows.
ReplyDeletePhyllis (N/W Jersey)
How could I have forgotten those?! I call them "sure-feel-ums."
DeleteGet a pair of those tennis racket bug zappers, tie them at the handle ends and use them like nunchucks . . . :^)
ReplyDeleteWe've been in desperate drought, but recently had some light rains that brought in mosquito populations back. Like Rose AnnaDana said, "Its always something".
Those racket zappers are fun. I've got one.
DeleteA trick I learned in fort polk was to use skin so soft from avon instead of bug juice. The stuff works wonders.I applied it on my clothing sparingly and didn't have a problem. If it worked in lousyanna, it should work in the north east.
ReplyDeleteTried it here and it just seemed to add sauce for their dinner.
DeleteWhen I was in Iraq, on our base we lived in tents with plywood floors, the tents being chemically treated to deal with the interesting varieties of bugs we'd get. Those tents were pretty flammable though. OUr Chaplain's tent went up in flames fairly quickly one morning
ReplyDeleteFlammable in a war zone? No one saw that down side of that?
DeleteI lived in Michigan for only one year. Decided to go fishing one time and had to run back to the truck, the bugs were so bad and think they even got in my mouth and nose. Here in Texas I even have a swamp on my property and the bugs have never been as bad as they were up north.
ReplyDeleteThe only place where I've seen them worse than northern bogs is the Everglades. Remote campsites are sometimes closed due to bugs.
DeleteI have heard that "Bounce" dryer sheets work if you pin it to the back of your hat or shirt, I haven't done that but I'm about to try it as our Black Fly season is also beginning in Vermont.
ReplyDeleteI don't use them as mostly my clothes are line dried. Hadn't heard that one. Let me know how it works. It would be worth getting just for the bugs.
DeleteAll those bitey things were my least favorite part of the warm part of the year in the Northeastern US. We have fewer here, but I've noticed a few more than average lately....our weather changes may be responsible.
ReplyDeleteI had a few years where they weren't bad at all. This year they are making up for it. Reminds me of the horrible bug years of the early 70s.
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