Getting bugged
09/07/14 05:39
Growing up alongside the river meant that we waged a rather constant, low key battle with mosquitoes. The buzzing little insects can be a real annoyance and different people respond to the pokes of the blood-eating pests in different ways. Most feel a bit of the itch. Some itch more than others. Some swell at the site of the bite or at least have some red skin in the area of the bite.
We had three resources in our battle with the bugs when I was a kid. One was that we did a lot of cooking around a campfire. A few green willow branches with all of the leaves will make a lot of smoke and the smoke keeps the mosquitoes at bay. Of course it probably isn’t good for people to breath that much smoke, but at the time the smoke seemed like a good alternative. Our second defense was the river. The cold river water soothed the itching of the bites and the mosquitoes didn’t follow us into the river. You could find a bit of comfort from the mosquitoes by getting into the river. Of course the water was too cold to remain there for long. Our third mosquito-battling resource was the fact that our father was an agricultural pilot. A few low passes with his airplane would decrease the number of mosquitoes for a while. However, I must admit that it never seemed that he achieved a total victory. We’d notice that there were fewer mosquitoes for a few weeks, but I don’t think we ever eliminated them entirely.
We got good a repairing screen doors and we had good screens on our windows. As a last resort we could move indoors for protection from the bugs. One of the luxuries of the new home that our mother built after she was widowed was a screened porch that was large enough for several people to gather and enjoy the view of the river and the evening without the bother of the bugs. Indoors, however, was just where we didn’t want to be in the summer when I was a kid.
Who knows how accurate my memory is, but I think that for the most part we simply endured the bites of the mosquitoes and went on with our lives. I used to say that mosquitoes don’t bother me. I don’t seem to have much of a reaction to the bites and usually I can forget about them within a few minutes. I remember thinking that mosquito repellant was for city slickers and sissies.
Of course I’ve never had dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, filariasis or west nile. The little bugs can carry some really nasty diseases.
Mosquitoes have been the topic of several texts exchanged with my sister in the past few weeks. It appears that the home place is raising a bumper crop of the little insects this year. It has been wet, so there have been plenty of puddles and places for the insects to lay their eggs. The grass has also grown quickly and long grass is another place that harbors the moisture necessary for the reproduction of mosquitoes. We have better awareness of the negative effects of chemical insecticides and so have fewer tools to combat the bugs. It is probable that some of the chemicals we used to combat mosquitoes years ago were quite a bit more dangerous than we knew.
We are planning a brief family gathering at the home place in August and my sister is concerned about the effect of the mosquitoes on the children. She wonders what we should do about them. I’m afraid I haven’t been very helpful to her. Smoky fires, frequent trips to the river and screens didn’t offer the solution that she was seeking. She’s a resourceful person and will probably come up with better ideas than she could get from consulting her brother.
Most of the places I travel these days, even campgrounds in relatively rural areas have been fogged or sprayed with chemicals to control the bugs.
But there are plenty of places where there are plenty of bugs and I’m not one to let the bugs stop me from enjoying the beauty of this world.
Many of the journals of travelers who have spent time in the arctic mention the difficulties of facing hoards of mosquitoes and flies. Since mosquitoes are a small mode-like fly, some of the journals don’t make a distinction between the tiny ones and their larger cousins. Any insect that lives off of mammalian blood can be a real annoyance if they are found in sufficient numbers. In the arctic one line of defense is more clothing. Pants that can be tied at the ankles and tucked into boots, long-sleeved shirts, and netting to cover the face can give a level of protection. No exposed skin gives less opportunity for the bites, but it doesn’t reduce the attraction and it doesn’t reduce the ability of the insects to drive one nearly crazy with their sound. Even one mosquito in a tent can keep me sleepless for hours.
I am all in favor of doing what we can to decrease the spread of disease. I understand why combatting mosquitoes is serious business. But I hope that I never have to succumb to a life that is so fearful of an insect bite that I fail to go outdoors or to travel to remote locations to look at the world from a fresh perspective. I’m willing to endure a few bites for the solitude and closeness to God that the world’s wild places offer. I’ll take the precautions that are available to me. I even use repellant these days, hoping that I haven’t become too much of a wuss.
I had a conversation with a person who lies in a large urban area once about my penchant for seeking places where there are very few people. My friend asked me specifically about getting lonely when I am hiking or canoeing by myself. I was a bit taken back by the question. I don’t remember ever feeling lonely out in the country.
Crawl into your tent and get settled for a night’s rest. Put out the light and get your body comfortable. And just at that minute where you begin to drift off to sleep a high-pitched buzz will remind you that you’re not alone.
Loneliness isn’t the problem.
We had three resources in our battle with the bugs when I was a kid. One was that we did a lot of cooking around a campfire. A few green willow branches with all of the leaves will make a lot of smoke and the smoke keeps the mosquitoes at bay. Of course it probably isn’t good for people to breath that much smoke, but at the time the smoke seemed like a good alternative. Our second defense was the river. The cold river water soothed the itching of the bites and the mosquitoes didn’t follow us into the river. You could find a bit of comfort from the mosquitoes by getting into the river. Of course the water was too cold to remain there for long. Our third mosquito-battling resource was the fact that our father was an agricultural pilot. A few low passes with his airplane would decrease the number of mosquitoes for a while. However, I must admit that it never seemed that he achieved a total victory. We’d notice that there were fewer mosquitoes for a few weeks, but I don’t think we ever eliminated them entirely.
We got good a repairing screen doors and we had good screens on our windows. As a last resort we could move indoors for protection from the bugs. One of the luxuries of the new home that our mother built after she was widowed was a screened porch that was large enough for several people to gather and enjoy the view of the river and the evening without the bother of the bugs. Indoors, however, was just where we didn’t want to be in the summer when I was a kid.
Who knows how accurate my memory is, but I think that for the most part we simply endured the bites of the mosquitoes and went on with our lives. I used to say that mosquitoes don’t bother me. I don’t seem to have much of a reaction to the bites and usually I can forget about them within a few minutes. I remember thinking that mosquito repellant was for city slickers and sissies.
Of course I’ve never had dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, filariasis or west nile. The little bugs can carry some really nasty diseases.
Mosquitoes have been the topic of several texts exchanged with my sister in the past few weeks. It appears that the home place is raising a bumper crop of the little insects this year. It has been wet, so there have been plenty of puddles and places for the insects to lay their eggs. The grass has also grown quickly and long grass is another place that harbors the moisture necessary for the reproduction of mosquitoes. We have better awareness of the negative effects of chemical insecticides and so have fewer tools to combat the bugs. It is probable that some of the chemicals we used to combat mosquitoes years ago were quite a bit more dangerous than we knew.
We are planning a brief family gathering at the home place in August and my sister is concerned about the effect of the mosquitoes on the children. She wonders what we should do about them. I’m afraid I haven’t been very helpful to her. Smoky fires, frequent trips to the river and screens didn’t offer the solution that she was seeking. She’s a resourceful person and will probably come up with better ideas than she could get from consulting her brother.
Most of the places I travel these days, even campgrounds in relatively rural areas have been fogged or sprayed with chemicals to control the bugs.
But there are plenty of places where there are plenty of bugs and I’m not one to let the bugs stop me from enjoying the beauty of this world.
Many of the journals of travelers who have spent time in the arctic mention the difficulties of facing hoards of mosquitoes and flies. Since mosquitoes are a small mode-like fly, some of the journals don’t make a distinction between the tiny ones and their larger cousins. Any insect that lives off of mammalian blood can be a real annoyance if they are found in sufficient numbers. In the arctic one line of defense is more clothing. Pants that can be tied at the ankles and tucked into boots, long-sleeved shirts, and netting to cover the face can give a level of protection. No exposed skin gives less opportunity for the bites, but it doesn’t reduce the attraction and it doesn’t reduce the ability of the insects to drive one nearly crazy with their sound. Even one mosquito in a tent can keep me sleepless for hours.
I am all in favor of doing what we can to decrease the spread of disease. I understand why combatting mosquitoes is serious business. But I hope that I never have to succumb to a life that is so fearful of an insect bite that I fail to go outdoors or to travel to remote locations to look at the world from a fresh perspective. I’m willing to endure a few bites for the solitude and closeness to God that the world’s wild places offer. I’ll take the precautions that are available to me. I even use repellant these days, hoping that I haven’t become too much of a wuss.
I had a conversation with a person who lies in a large urban area once about my penchant for seeking places where there are very few people. My friend asked me specifically about getting lonely when I am hiking or canoeing by myself. I was a bit taken back by the question. I don’t remember ever feeling lonely out in the country.
Crawl into your tent and get settled for a night’s rest. Put out the light and get your body comfortable. And just at that minute where you begin to drift off to sleep a high-pitched buzz will remind you that you’re not alone.
Loneliness isn’t the problem.