Sunday, August 24, 2014

Being Bitten Bites!

Although Hubby Tony and I share the grass cutting duties, I'm the main trimmer.  I've been procrastinating on the job for a couple of weeks.  The oppressive heat has been part of the reason, but the larger issue is that if I stay still for any period of time the mosquitoes feast on me.

The grass along the edges was getting really straggly looking, though, so tonight after dinner I decided to tackle the job.  I sprayed myself with a bug spray that promised to repel mosquitoes, moisturize my skin, and smell pleasant.  I went outside and trimmed until I filled up a large black nursery pot, then dumped the trimmings in the green waste can and put everything away.

When I got inside I realized the repellant had delivered on two of its three promises, but failed on the one that was most important to me--the repelling.  In fifteen minutes outside I got one bite on my right shin, and one on my left foot next to the heel.  There were two on the right side of my left knee, and three on my right thigh immediately above my kneecap.

For some reason my experience made me think of the Off! commercial from the 1960s where the man sticks his arm in a cage full of mosquitoes.  (I always wondered how much he got paid to do that.)



Five years ago today: Season's Greetings To You

8 comments:

  1. I remember that commercial! I feel for you with the bites...they love me, too! I can't step outside to pick a veggie in the garden for just 30 seconds and not get bitten! It's crazy! The Mister can work outside all day and not get a single bite. I guess we know who's sweeter...you and me! haha.

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  2. I have to be quick when I get tomatoes off the vine or I'll come inside with a bite, too. Yes, we MUST be sweet :-)

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  3. I have a couple of bites at the moment, neck and face.

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  4. I have a tendency to get bitten by mosquitoes if I spend very much time outside too. I remember going camping several years ago and getting bitten all over from top to bottom. It was truly awful!

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    1. The itching from mosquito bites is bad enough, but now we also have to worry about things like West Nile Virus that come from infected insects.

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  5. That commercial always gave me the creeps! Mosquitoes are not a big problem here. I have bats from Graham's cave and I have developed a colony of Martins to eat them all up. But, I do get the occasional and they itch like crazy!

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    1. If I had a larger yard I'd think about putting up a purple martin house.

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