So after some chores and errands (quick run to Meijer and dumping a Green Bag of garbage up at the res) I decided to read the afternoon away. The beach was fine if quite hazy (faaaars in Canananada, we think) but my phone started losing battery so I decamped to the deck where we have an outdoor lucky-shuckial outlet.

The GG was off on a NCT trail maintenance boondoggle so I was blissfully space-i-fied for much of the afternoon. There was a nice Undertaker’s Breeze and there were MO-skee-TOES but I was easily able to keep slapping them. Until. The GG came home. I swear to god-or-whoever, EVERY single dad-blasted time he came onto the moomindeck, the MO-skee-TOES came out in Full Force. Slap slap slapity slap.

I don’t REALLY know if he is a magnet or not. It’s possible there were just a bunch of them hanging around and his comings and goings disturbed them. In any case not one MO-skee-TOE managed to successfully bite me this afternoon and if one had, I have After Bite at the ready to mitigate the situation.

I am not one of those people who have particular issues with MO-skee-TOES. When they do bite me (and of course they do), the bites don’t swell up into big ugly welts. They itch for a little while and then they disappear. I don’t know if this is because I spent my childhood summers in yooperland mosquito habitat or if I have some kind of natural resistance to them. I suspect it is a combination of the two. I am NOT allergic to anything that I know of although I once got a case of hives when I was about eight and I had a nasty spider bite (we think) as a young teenager but I don’t THINK that was an allergy.

Anyway. Every time I think about mosquitos, I remember when my older beach urchin was a beautiful blueberry-eyed three-year-old. She was familiar with mosquitos and her talking skills were well honed. We were here at the moomin and she spied a mosquito and said (with great wonder), “Mama! There is a MO-skee-TOE!” Yes indeed. “Mama” probably unceremoniously SLAPPED it. I hate killing living beings but I do NOT have a problem killing mosquitos.

So there are faaars in Canananada but… A forest faaar is burning near Grayling today and I75 has been closed on and off. Our mouse and raccoon spent the weekend in the Petoskey/Charlevoix area and managed to traverse the I75 SUV Speedway BEFORE this happened. I have scheduled myself to drive down on Monday but will be watching…

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.