I knew there were a lot of bugs here; this is south Louisiana.
I knew that I am a walking mosquito magnet. I am that one person in a group who will get 50 million bites when everybody else gets a couple, in the same amount of time. Therefore I invest in bug repellent, which at least cuts down on the sheer number of itchy welts.
But FUCK, I itch! I woke up with a bite on my ANKLE that wasn’t there when I went to bed! What did the fucker do, crawl BETWEEN THE SHEETS JUST TO GET TO MY ANKLE TO MAKE ME FUCKING ITCH FOR DAYS???
I know the feeling! I’m one of those people who mosquitoes seem to love. And seeing as how they’re the state bird here in Florida, it can get pretty bad.
What I’ve heard (though for some reason have never tried) is that if you eat a lot of bananas or take potassium supplements, it changes something subtle in your perspiration that repels the evil little bastards.
Has anyone out there heard/tried this? does it work? should I start a GQ thread?
As a child, I once got seventeen mosquito bites within a five minute period. At some point in my life they stopped most of the biting. I have taken potassium supplements but by then they had already moved on.
If you are bitten and don’t have medication to relieve the itching, try using a bit of deoderant on the spot. It works for me when I have the occasional bite. (The tip came from a doctor’s wife.)
My grandmother died from a mosquito bite. Sweet dreams!
Ahhh…hot summer days. Sweat dripping down my back…and the occasional absent-minded swat because it is impossible to differentiate between dripping sweat and a swarm of mosquitoes.
Yep…they get bad enough so that I’m not really concerend about being bit anymore…I’m more concerned about mosquito asphixiation than anything.
Thank God for the late freeze this year…and the fact that we’re expecting a drought.
I once got fifteen bites in fifteen minutes, but that was in Georgia. My friends were VERY impressed.
They don’t swarm around here; there’s no reason for them to act all THAT crazy. There’s always a few around, no matter what time of year; they’ve picked up some in the past few weeks but I’m told that they’re more of a constant annoyance than anything else.
And I keep hearing about West Nile on the news, and looking at my itchy welts.
I put out some sort of Mosquito Smorgasbord vibe - I swear, I feel like the Special of the Day!
I spent Saturday working in my yard. I did remember to put on insect repellent before going out. I smeared it on my arms and legs. Little did I suspect that one of those demented creatures would make its way into my baggy shorts and bite me on the butt! I am not amused!
Then yesterday morning, I went out early to move and turn on the sprinkler. I wasn’t out there five minutes. I came in covered with welts.
Or, if you want to avoid mosquitoes, avoid me. For some reason, I tend to be a ‘last ditch snack’ for them: I usually only get bit if there’s nothing else around to munch on. So, if I’m with someone, they get dined upon by the flying annoyances, but they ignore me.
Or, if there are so many of them about that if they don’t go after anything with a pulse, they won’t get anything at all: in which case, avoiding me isn’t going to do you a bit of good.
Bananas, you say? And garlic too? I’m going to give that a try - even if it means ‘garlic and banana quiche’ for breakfast, lunch and dinner - that’s an indication of what I think will be needed to eliminate all the bites I get.
Back in my cadet days, I recall one terrible evening… we were all on parade. I was the Flight Sergeant, so I was in front of my Flight. In service dress - ie a skirt. The mosquitoes took one look at me, decided I was a smorgasbord and homed in on my legs.
We were all at attention which meant none of us could move. No swatting, no slapping, nothing. Just the joys of feeling pinprick after pinprick as those bloodsucking mongrels feasted on me.
Finally, after eons passed (ok, maybe 30 minutes), the parade was over and we were off the parade ground. I had over EIGHTY mosquito bites on my legs.
Boys and girls, let me tell you the story of Walborg Thorsell.
Thitry years ago she got the assignment to create the World’s best mosquito repellent. Now, at the tender age of 81, she seems to have succeeded. In the meantime she has kept her little friends alive by letting them suck her blood on a daily basis. That is what I call devotion to the task.
Oh, yeah, entomology people do that shit all the time. After a while, your body stops reacting to the bites, so you don’t get itchy or swollen. If you quit feeding on a regular basis for a few months, though, you lose your immunity.
