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Along the Natchez Trace

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Itch, Itch, Scratch, Scratch....

(Today's photos don't have a thing to do with the word content...  it just didn't feel like a blog without pictures)

I bet some of you think I'm a little grey-haired old lady who never says a bad word.  But then, some of you have known me for many years and know that's just not so.  (just what part of that isn't so I'll leave to you)   My Dad had an amazing repertoire of swear words and being the lover of words...  any words...  that I was, even at an early age, I learned to string together a whole bunch of colorful words.  (There's more to this story, but that can wait until later).....

Anyway, the point is....  this week I've revived much of that dormant vocabulary (Bill might contest this "dormant" statement) and I've been swearing profusely at the smallest critters.

Bill...  heading to the gravel pit with the excavator.

But, darn it (see, I CAN clean it up), those little blood suckers are driving me nuts.  In 1996 I had a health problem which prohibited me from donating blood again.  Really upset me (another nice word for what I usually say), as I was 1 donation away from 8 gallons.  But I sure wouldn't want anyone to get some tainted blood.  Well....  until now.  If any of these black flies and mosquitoes kick off because they ingested my blood...  Yahoo!  I can only hope.

Darned Groundhog!  I think it travels through the culvert to scrounge around underneath the nearby bird feeders.

I don't know why these guys are bothering (nice word) me so much this year.  I have welts all over my head...  I don't even bother to wear my hearing aids...  who wants to hear that buzzz buzzz buzzz anyway?  Honest... I wear lots of clothes.  Jeans, wool socks that I knit myself, so I know they are nearly knee socks...  I wear long sleeve shirts....  usually wear a hat...  sometimes a veil.  BUT...  I have itchy bites all around my head, my neck, my collar bone...  some on my back...  on my ankles, and even have one on my butt...  which I swear, hasn't been exposed to the weather. 

Ruby-throated hummingbird...  perched on the windshield wiper of the rig...  waiting for someone to stop at HIS feeder so he can attack.


Bill and I were sitting here today in our rig for lunch...  I'll bet between the two of use we smacked dead over 2 dozen mosquitoes.  How the heck did they get in here?  I did have on a black long sleeve T-shirt...  did they all hide out on it and come in the rig with me?  (I've heard that they are attracted to black)  Heck, I don't know...  Later, Bill went back to work and I spent an hour or so here...  must have killed a couple other dozen.  Don't know how many I tried to get but missed.

And just now, at 7:45 pm....  I'm still smacking at those dog-gone (another nice word) insects.

WhoooHoooo!  Our first tomato!
It may be about the size of a pea now, but I already have visions of juicy, red tomatoes right from the vine!

Hey, it just now started raining...  maybe those dreaded little flying demons will drown....

I wish!

That's All for Today!

P.S.  I love you Daddy....  even though you'd be 117 years old now, your influence lives on.


P.P.S.  I love you Aroostook NWR...  even though you harbor some nasty critters, you're worth every bite, sting or itch I receive while here.

9 comments:

  1. OHHH--Not sure I could love a place that much Sharon to stick around when the bugs were that bad!!! I too am sensitive to bug bites--the nasty buggers love me! Sure got a chuckle out of your post!

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  2. Them skeeters love you cause you're just so sweet! ;c)

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  3. We used to heat up north from here in May but now usually wait until july when most of them Black Flies and skeeters are done, I have had allergic reactions to them , not fun for me.

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  4. The cat is the self proclaimed destroyer of household insects. No fly or spider is safe. He might find Aroostook a bit too much, though.

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  5. After all the rain we have had down this way, those little biting buggers are really think. I swear, last night when I let the dogs out that if I had opened my mouth it would have been filled with mosquitoes. My daughter-in-law is trying to restock the ponds and the swamp, but it will take some time.

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  6. I feel your pain! Thankfully I'm experiencing the most bug-less summer ever. Now if I could just get the sun to shine. ;)

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  7. I read somewhere that mosquitoes are attracted to our carbon dioxide so when we breathe out, they spot us immediately and come over for a meal. I tested this theory a few times by just holding my breath when going through large mobs of skeeters, and it worked.
    Of course we can't not breathe, but just something to think about as this is one of the things that makes them come over for dinner.

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  8. I just got, at Harbor Freight, an electrified tennis racket for swatting flies or anything else. It's um brutal. You can see them light up as they die. Somehow, it's cathartic too. Bring in the bats! You need a boatload of bats, a bevy of bats, a hell of a lot bug eating bats!

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  9. I remember the the day we arrived in Maine for our campground hosting job the black flies had just emerged. The manager was talking to us, and getting bitten at the same time. As we watched the red welts appear on his face we wondered just what we'd gotten into!! Thankfully the black flies dissipated over the next couple of weeks, and we didn't have to wear our head-nets anymore!! Hopefully you'll get some relief soon.

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