Mosquitos love me to the point of leaving huge welts that last a long, long time. Big red marks that fade very, very slowly. They look ugly for a long time too.
It’s been a problem for me my whole life whenever I lived in a buggy place. When I was a little girl living in Indiana, our day camp had a sleep over for the and the next morning they had to call my mom to have her pick me up. Not only was I covered with bites, I also had a fever. The mosquitos had made me sick! And yes, like every other kid in the camp, I was doused with OFF before retiring to my sleeping bag. Didn’t work. Unfortunate, because I loved camping.
For whatever reason the mosquitos have always loved me. Maybe my blood is just tastier? Sweeter? Redder? Or maybe my skin is thinner and easier to bite?
Now that I live in the West Nile Virus capital of Texas (not really but you’d never know it from listening to the news about the West Nile epidemic we’re experiencing), I’ve taken matters into my own hands. The city threatens to aerial spray unless everyone does their part. So I do mine.
Remember, the Mortroski Midcentury Urban Farm is all organic so I can’t Napalm the backyard with any old chemicals. And the 3G Network spends a fair amount of time back there too. But I need it to work so I can enjoy digging in the dirt and sitting on the patio on a warm breezeless evening.
Here’s my answer:
Using a hand-held fertilizer spreader, I covered the entire backyard with CedarCide this morning before work as George chased Godiva around the yard, stopping only to shred a toy. It was the perfect day to do it since it was a bit breezy and that helps with the spreading (and keeps the little bastards from biting me since they can’t fly if there’s wind).
Last year I had terrific luck with CedarCide after learning about it at North Haven Gardens. It lasts quite a while, smells pretty nice, and it doesn’t bother the Gs (or their humans) one bit. After this application, I’ll probably need to apply again in a month or so depending upon how much rain and wind we get.
Standing water is a no-no if you are trying to prevent the mozzies so the birdbaths get dumped and refilled daily. All four rain barrels also get dosed with Mosquito Dunks once a month. Don’t they look like little donuts?
Yes, they are chemicals, but apparently the more natural ways of treating the water do not work nearly as well.
As for the Gs, they get monthly heartworm prevention medicine. Guinness was heartworm positive when we found him and had to go through treatment twice to get rid of the disgusting, murderous heartworms. It was bad enough that it was super expensive, but it was horrible for him to fight through. No walks for months. Poor Godiva didn’t enjoy having her big pal so sick for so long.
Just thinking about mosquitos makes me feel itchy and I’m inside! They are definitely one part of outdoor life in North Texas that I could do without.
Do you have mosquitos or other nasty bugs where you live? What do you do about them?
Sow, Sew, So 
I never had a problem with mosquitos until I webt to Bequia ( Grenadines) several years ago to visit friends. It is hard to get to and I had to fly through Barbados. A Liat Airlines wildcat strike grounded me over night. They put all the passengers up at various hotels throughout the island. When I finally got to mine my room wasn’t ready. They sent me to the bar (outdoors by the beach) for a complimentary drink. It was dusk. I got eaten alive. Two days after I arrived in Bequia severe itching woke me up. When I surfaced from my room my friend and his girlfriend literally screamed. I had an allergic reaction so severe they had to take me to the hospital. Every square inch of my arms, legs, butt and even parts of my torso were covered with huge hot red itchy welts. Do not ask!!!! When I went to India I was so paranoid I cleaned my pharmacy out of anti mosquito everything.
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Oh no! That’s awful. Your story made me so itchy. I am afraid to travel to many places because of Mosquitos. My parents went to the Amazon and bought special clothing, extra heavy duty sprays, etc. No thank you!
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It made me itchy too. Still scratching 🙂
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Mosquitos love me like they love you, maybe more. DC has a terrible problem with them as well. I think we talked about this in April. Anyway, during the Summer, I don’t mess around. My daily regimen is to shower, then lather Avon’s Skin-So-Soft lotion all over my hot bod. Before dressing, I spray DEET all over. (It’s nasty and toxic, I’m sure, but so is being eaten alive.) Let that dry well. Accept that you will have to wash your clothes after every wear. After dressing, I clip on an OFF personal zone guard. No pretty scented soaps, bath gels, lotions, or perfumes during the Summer. I also wear lightweight long sleeved shirts if I can possibly bear it. If I’m going to be outside for any length of time, I reapply Skin So Soft and DEET. Overkill? Maybe, but it beats the fever, nausea, and relentless itching that having more than 40 mosquito bites at a time entails. BTW the dogs don’t likethe DEET smell so they don’t lick me even though they’d like to get to the Skin So Soft. I’ve heard there is something you can spray in your hair to protect your scalp as well, but I haven’t found it, so I usually wear a hat when outside. Good luck. I truly sympathize.
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That’s awful. You poor thing. I am lucky. I wake up and spray myself with Off prior to our am dog walk. Then since I work inside all day, I shower it all off and wear no scents, except mint body lotion which the little bastards don’t like much. For the night dog walk or garden work, more Off, maybe long pants. I try never to be outside at dusk if I can help it.
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I live near the Mississippi River, so we usually have lots of mosquitoes in the summertime. That was one way last year’s drought was a blessing, I don’t think I got bit a single time last summer. I don’t think we’ll be as lucky this year, but since I don’t venture outdoors much, I’m not as much of a target…
I hate the way the media loves to hype up these so-called epidemics as well. We had a couple people contract West Nile around here back in 2002, and the local news jumped on the story so hot and heavy that mosquito repellant was disappearing off the store shelves by the panicking public. Sheesh!
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Here, the only people that I recall dying or being really ill from west nile were elderly or others with compromised immune systems (a teen with some other health issues). What Dallas should be doing is inspecting people’s yards and making people with untreated and abandoned pools drain them or fill them in. That is what causes the majority of urban mosquito issues here.
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I have terrible reactions to mosquito bites, to the point where I obsess about being covered up in the evenings even if it’s really hot and making sure nothing can get in any windows! A week’s holiday is about all I can manage in a place with mosquitos as any more than that and I have so many bad bites that I look and feel terrible…
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So many people get so sick. I wonder what kinds of things we could invent to help?
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