Posts Tagged ‘mosquitos’
Like Home
My project yesterday morning felt a little like being at home. We enjoyed a visit from Julian up here at the lake for a few days and he brought along a present that I’ve been looking forward to. He got us a new battery-powered string trimmer to add to our gas-powered Stihl model trimmer resources. I’m hoping this will give Cyndie a quick and easy option for certain jobs since she is beginning to find it difficult to pull-start the Stihl engine.
There was a perfect testing ground for the new trimmer in our mini-labyrinth in the woods up here at Wildwood.
I bundled up in long pants and a shirt with long sleeves to do battle in the mosquito’s territory. Knocking down flurries of leafy green ground cover and ferns along the pathway unleashed a crowd of mosquitos that quickly figured out my head was rather defenseless. I got a chance to practice using the trimmer one-handed while swatting away bugs with my other hand.
About three-quarters of the way to the center, the mosquitos started to figure out they could fit their proboscis through the fabric of my shirt. It got to the point that I didn’t know if the bites I was feeling were a residual itch or a new, active bite in progress. Flailing and swatting becomes a full-time effort whether or not bugs are present when it reaches a certain point.
I was close enough to finishing that I forged ahead regardless of the feasting insects so the labyrinth pathway could be re-established to completion. Now it is possible to travel the route without disturbing underbrush where mosquitos rest during the day.
As soon as I got out of the woods, I made a beeline for the lake to soak in the water and quell the sensory overload of real and phantom itchiness.
Up until that point, it was feeling a little like being home while working with the trimmer, but the one thing we definitely don’t have at home is the opportunity to jump into this refreshing lake after completing hot and sweaty projects.
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Board Replacement
It’s the second time in a week that I was able to make use of old deck boards that I saved after we refinished the deck however many years ago. The floorboards on Cyndie’s prized face-to-face wooden swing have seriously rotted so yesterday we replaced them.
She plans to apply a much-needed water sealant to see if we can’t extend the life of the swing for a few more seasons.
On the edge of the woods we put our lives at risk to complete this job because of the mosquitos. Teeny, tiny, or full-sized, they show up in droves. They find their way behind our eyeglasses and into our ears. Bites on my neck and the backs of my arms. I can’t tell if the itch is from an old bite or one currently happening. It sure hampers the experience of forest bathing.
In addition to getting several deluges of rain last week, we had days when the dew point reading matched the air temperature. That spells 100% humidity. The level of wetness around here is worthy of April more than a normal July. That would be, an April after a snowy winter. We just had an almost snowless winter and still the amount of standing water in low areas has been consistent for the last four months.
The mosquitos have never had it so good. We have come a long way since last year’s drought conditions.
Of course, this is all making the grass grow like it’s the first greening of spring. Two days after mowing, it looks like it’s already overdue for another cut.
The recent rains have foiled the baling of the hay that finally got cut in our field. Word is they hope to try for Thursday, weather permitting. What a difficult year to be a hay farmer. We just received a fresh batch of small squares of grass hay for our horses from a new supplier. They shared a lot of horror stories about how business has been for them so far this year.
They describe battling both the weather and difficult “clients.” Cyndie and I did our best to not find ourselves being labeled as difficult. It isn’t that hard since Cyndie gifted them some lemonade cake right as they arrived.
Food is one of the big ways she shows her love. Last night while dinner was heating, she baked a peach tart that became a peach crisp with the sweet crumble topping she ended up adding.
I definitely feel loved.
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Just Dropped
Turns out, Swings’ mask didn’t vanish after all. She just dropped it where I failed to notice, despite walking surprisingly close to that very spot during my search. Cyndie found it yesterday morning.
I will admit to looking for the wrong color mask. Thought it was one of the black ones, although the fact it was light-colored should have made it easier to see.
As we were walking back from rolling our trash and recycling bins to the road yesterday, we came upon Swings’ mask lying in the hay field. Second day in a row she has wrestled her way out of it. I guess she doesn’t want to have it on her head when the weather is so hot and humid. Meanwhile, Mia followed Cyndie around with a cloud of flies on her face while Cyndie was looking for the first lost mask yesterday morning. Mia was lobbying to have her mask on as soon as possible.
While the horses are dealing with flies, our battle has become hordes of increasingly vicious mosquitos. Yesterday they were buzzing my head and as I tried to swat them away, two of them flew behind my sunglasses. Since when do mosquitos fly between eyelids and glass lenses? Makes it really hard to swat them.
Mowing on the zero-turn was a challenge because when I let go of a lever to swat a biting mosquito the tractor immediately turned.
Time for us to start wearing our own “fly masks” of the mosquito netting variety.
I needed more than mosquito netting to fend off wasps that were showing up around the door to the shop. The solution was more of the poisonous chemical variety when I finally located the nest being built in the outdoor light over the door.
That’s where I installed an on/off switch earlier in the year but I haven’t reached up there to turn it on all summer because it never gets dark until late. When I looked up at it, finding the wasp nest was difficult through the scary-looking multi-level webs of some very industrious spider(s).
I forgot to wait until all the wasps had returned at the end of the day so the afternoon got a little dicey as the disgruntled survivors dealt with the disaster discovered upon their return. Oops.
My bad.
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Vanishing Act
One thing about the high humidity of the last two days that I didn’t expect is how spiders and mosquitos have taken over the woods. They probably like that it has been staying warm all night, too. It is very common to walk into a single strand of spider silk that crosses our trails but lately, it has been entire completed webs that remain invisible unless the light hits them at just the right angle.
Even after walking into it, you can’t see it but can feel it sticking and flailing to rub it off is far from successful. So you just flail even more.
Meanwhile, the mosquitos haven’t even been waiting for us to stop walking before buzzing our ears and attacking in numbers. It scares me if I have to pause and wait for Asher to do his business for fear I will be carried off by the marauders. I just resort to flailing as if I had just walked into a spider web.
One action that solves two problems.
So, Swings lost her fly mask yesterday. When we left the barn after serving their morning feed, all four horses had masks on, the fans were running on high, and we’d put out extra water for the day. When Cyndie checked on them mid-morning, Swings wasn’t wearing a mask.
We have not seen them venturing far from the fans very often since this nasty heat dome arrived so we both figured the mask shouldn’t be hard to spot. We were wrong. It was nowhere in sight around the overhang or inside the paddock. Nothing was visible looking out at the fields near the gates.
When serving their evening food, I took a walk through portions of the hay field and found nothing. At sunset, when closing up the barn and removing masks from the other three, I walked around in the back pasture and, again, found nothing.
That mask has vanished. We have no idea where she lost it. Usually, they rub up against something, so trees and fence posts are likely targets. I don’t believe the horses would have hustled out for a short visit to one of the fields and then returned before Cyndie showed up to check on them, so logic tells me it should be inside the paddocks.
I will expect to find it this morning while patrolling the taller growth in the paddock with the wheelbarrow looking for new piles of manure.
One other unlikely thing happened during this heat wave. We found a large branch about 3-4 inches in diameter lying in the yard beneath one of our larger oak trees first thing in the morning. It wasn’t windy and the wood looked healthy so I have no idea why such a large branch broke off.
When cutting it up, I saved several good sections for sculpting hearts and two long pieces that have a nice pattern. They will make for some nice coasters.
Can’t wait to do some sanding and polishing to see how they will look when all cleaned up. You know, do a vanishing act of those blade marks on the surfaces!
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Community Dinner
It’s Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. today, honoring our nation’s war dead. I have not directly experienced this kind of loss so my observance is generalized to the memories of all those who never returned home.
Our holiday weekend at the lake shifted from working together to socializing outside the lodge. Despite having ridden my bike past the sign announcing our high fire danger earlier in the afternoon…
at dinner, we lit the wood in the fire pit in the hope some smoke would keep the mosquitos at bay. Those pesky blood chasers are more troublesome this year than I remember them ever being before.
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The gentle breeze off the lake was supposed to help reduce pressure from the flying bloodsuckers, too but it died down shortly after we gathered. It didn’t take long for the skeeters to get the upper hand. The lack of breeze made for less smoke from our fire, too.
At least that meant less fear of losing control of the flames in our fire pit.
The evening socializing was cut short as we all were chased indoors. At our place, a few more card games broke out on the porch.
It is feeling an awful lot like this is a holiday weekend.
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Anecdotal Evidence
Before I launch into today’s thoughts and opinions of *This* John W. Hays, let me just report that the re-installation of a battery in our generator was accomplished without difficulty. It went back in a lot easier than it came out. We are once again prepared for any calamity that might knock out power at home.
Today, however, we are not at home.
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Can you say, “Lake place?” My favoritest of places (away from home)?
Cyndie and I listened to a podcast about brains, neuroplasticity, and autonomic nervous systems on the drive up, making the trip go by in a blink. We stopped in Cumberland for an ice cream treat and met another couple from the Twin Cities heading to their cabin. They pressed hard to sell us (maybe successfully) on attending the annual Rutabaga Festival in August.
The lake place provided some anecdotal evidence of the changing climate. First, the mosquitos have made an early appearance with an intensity that is much more reminiscent of mid-summer. Second, the trillium blossoms that are usually at their glorious best on Memorial weekend look a little past peak already. Having cleared tree branches last November (when we were up here and Cyndie shattered her ankle) there is a new visibility of trillium on the slope below the house.
Third, the poison ivy that could frequently be found on that slope is making visible gains in both directions, toward the lake below and into the mowed areas above. This expansion mirrors what is happening at home. The growing season is a little longer with the warmup in spring happening earlier and the hard freeze in fall happening later. Poison ivy seems to be thriving with these changes.
We left Asher at home this weekend with a sitter who will tend to the horses as well. Before we left, Cyndie wrote a detailed essay on how to care for Asher so the sitter would know exactly what the pup needs and when. Some of them were simple, like bedtime.
An hour and fifty minutes beyond that time last night, Cyndie got a text with a photo of Asher seated nicely beside the sitter by the fire pit out back of the house. I told her that the dog is going to love it when we go away and leave him with the sitter because all those dang rules the parents have get loosened.
Today is work day and we will probably focus on cleaning the beach. I haven’t checked the temperature of the water yet but if it looks so much like summer around here, maybe it will be warm enough for a swim when chores are done.
The evidence is yet to be revealed.
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Insects Aplenty
I’ve seen reports that our insect population is plummeting around the world. It makes me sad to contribute to the decline by way of my summertime driving.
There was a particularly large visual of carnage on the front of my car before we even started our drive north yesterday.
On the bright side, it shows that there are still enough flying insects in our area to make a mess of our vehicles.
I can report no shortage of mosquitos showing up at dusk at the lake place. We went for a walk with Paul and Beth after dinner and paused at the tennis court to gaze up at one of the pair of eagles who nest in the large pine tree there.
After standing still to take that long-distance picture with my phone, I looked down at my legs to find them dotted with many feeding insects. Ended up doing the awkward dance the rest of the way on our walk, goose-stepping and swiping arms and legs like a madman.
Despite the bugs, we enjoyed eating on the deck under the open sky, I snuck in a short bike ride before guests arrived, and Cyndie and I swam in the lake. The days of high heat are softened greatly by proximity to large bodies of water.
On tap for today will be more miles on the saddle. Hopefully, with no bugs in my teeth as a result.
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Night Sky
Last week, Cyndie and I wandered down the driveway to the high spot beside the hayfield about a half-hour after the sunset to watch the stars come out. We were seeking to view the comet, Neowise as it appeared to our northwest. It was the time of night when the mosquitos were thrilled to welcome our presence.
For that reason alone, I chose to remain standing (and walking back and forth) on the pavement instead of stirring up any additional flying terrorists from the fields on either side.
As the duskiness progressed, I struggled to perceive stars that Cyndie was noticing. The first spot of light I picked out was the planet Jupiter according to the night sky app on my phone. I was surprised about how long it seemed to take for the stars to appear even though we enjoy a luxury of having very little in the way of local nighttime light pollution.
It quickly became apparent to me that my peripheral vision was picking up more specific starlight than my direct gaze. That became my trick to spot Neowise before Cyndie did, just about a full hour after sunset.
It was the tail of the comet that my off-center vision detected. It stood out uniquely compared to the individual dots of light from stars. Once we knew exactly where to look, our binoculars provided valuable magnification to fully appreciate the view of Neowise.
By the time it showed up, we’d been staring at the sky so long my neck was tired, my back and ears were over-stimulated by mosquito irritations, and my eyes wanted to be asleep, so we didn’t linger long enough for the view to glow with adequate visibility for a photograph.
The reward of having looked directly at something passing through our inner solar system which wouldn’t return for many lifetimes (estimated 6,766 years from now) was plenty.
I was ready for bed.
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Wild Treat
We took Delilah on a deep woods explore across the road from the lake place yesterday and came home with a new chew toy to occupy her time for a while.
I’m guessing the old deer skull wasn’t giving off much of a scent because we had paused with Delilah almost standing on top of it when I spotted one side of the antlers sticking up. She was busy looking elsewhere, oblivious to the exciting treat below.
Rodents had already gnawed much of one antler, but it’s a safe guess that it was at least a 6-point buck.
I knocked off the remaining portion of the snout with teeth in it and let Delilah have what was left for a chew treat out on the deck all afternoon.
She seemed very happy with the adventure in the wild woods up north that make our little tract of forest at home seem like a postage stamp. It made it worth my having to suffer wearing long pants, long sleeves, and the annoying smell of bug repellant required to survive more than a brief minute under the canopy of the towering trees.
Walking in these woods turns people into wild treats for the mosquitos unless properly protected.
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Storm Damage
By the looks of the driveway alone, up at the lake, it is obvious that there was some heavy rain. There is evidence of a flash flood of runoff that washed gravel away into the woods. Farther along on the property, we discovered that the big eagles’ nest had also succumbed to the deluge. There was debris of sticks and dead fish on the ground at the base of the tree. Looking up, the size of the structure had shrunk considerably.
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Still, the two youngsters remained perched, one on a branch above, and one on what was left of the nest. We occasionally hear them calling out to the adults who are the source of their meals. I would expect the stinky fish that landed below to eventually be picked up and delivered above again. It’s not like they’re past their expiration date or anything.
Getting the fish bodies up off the ground would make it a little easier to walk Delilah that direction. It takes a lot of muscle to steer her clear of trying to roll around in all the stench.
On a whim, I decided to be adventurous and take Delilah for an explore in the woods across the highway from our property. As soon as we made our way beyond the thicket of growth along the berm beside the road and got into the spacious forest beneath the spectacular canopy of the tall trees, I discovered the hazard of my decision.
All that rain seems to have unleashed a ferocious new batch of teeny mosquitos. They were unrelenting in their onslaught. I tried to keep moving to foil their attempts to land, but Delilah –lacking the exposed flesh I presented– didn’t share my urgency. She kept stopping to smell every enticing forest odor and, still on leash, frequently chose a path that had us at odds over which side of tree trunks to be on.
I had to cut our expedition short and set a course straight back to the bright sunlight of the roadway.
Things were much calmer when we got to the beach and I let her soak in the water while I stood on the sand taking a sunbath and listening to loons.
By that point, the storm damage was out of sight and out of mind. Almost the same for the chaos of the preceding week.
I will continue this course of therapy for a couple of days. It seems to be just what a doctor would order for what was ailing me.
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Relative Something 