BUGGED? You think you're bugged?

For all the beauty of country living in a valley near water, there are some definite negatives for this City Mouse… one of them being that it can get real ‘buggy.’ All my life mosquitoes have loved me. They will leave everybody else alone and just feast on me. It’s a given so I douse myself in Deet when I know I am going to be spending a lot of time outside. This year due to the mild winter I even got less reprieve because starting in May the voracious deer fly arrived and has been relentless. You see this pointy winged fly lays its eggs in milkweed of which we have an abundance. What makes me hate them is that they really BITE. Within seconds of being bitten, I start to swell and that area will become hot and hard. The itchy pain will persist days. I kid you not. The dog and goats have to endure them with me but geez they have more fur. These pests usually attack Romeo’s ears. Poor guy. Swarms can even force Natureman inside. Of course, they are worse than the ‘no see ums,’ those tiny gnats which tend to disperse if you swat at them. The deer fly is persistent and will follow you even if you run. They do tend to like sun more than shade. I have been told that vanilla might help. I'm willing to try anything. The lightning bug/firefly who has now arrived on the other hand is one bug that actually adds nightly magic lighting up the valley darkness like little Tinkerbell’s friends.. Some find their way inside the house but at least they don’t hurt anything... The next winged bug to arrive in the Valley is what we call 'head flies' so called because these guys actually circle your head - so we wear hats on our walks. In my opinion there’s not many leisurely summer walks down our country road. Romeo will lead our pack and the head flies just encompass him. GROSS. The mosquitoes will start hatching with the rains and the heat. And there are alot of areas that have stagnant water in a valley too. My favorite new apparel purchased since moving to the valley is a mosquito netting jacket equipped with hood and face veiling. It's not real stylish but certainly functional to work out in the garden. These guys are hungry suckers... I don’t have to tell you about those obnoxious Asian lady beetles and Box Elder bugs as both city and country homes unfortunately are plagued with these. Birds could care less about eating them since they taste so bad. Enough of these pesty winged bugs… I cherish the limited time when we are ‘bugless’ and can actually sit outside without a flying pest landing on me. I love when the breeze picks up as it has these last couple of days. BUT you can bet your lucky stars that I what I love most of all is our screened-in porch in the End of the Rainbow Valley...