I Don't Miss The Bugs

Okay, I live in a buggy state (ticks, chiggers, mosquitos, horseflies) and I am sure I grew up in a buggy state (mosquitos, yellow jackets, fleas, ticks), but I think you get used to them when you are in a place for a while. While on the trip we just took, we experienced a lot of bugs with behaviors that were irritating.

In Michigan and Minnesota, we found some ferocious mosquitos. They were a bit like the ones that we dealt with in Alaska. Slow but ferocious. We also ran into these horse flies from hell in Minnesota. I don't know what the hell the deal was with our truck but for some reason every time we would stop at a creek or lake to fish, a swarm of these buggers would show up and fly all around our truck like crazy. They wouldn't follow us, so as soon as we were away from the truck, we were okay but getting in and out was a trick.

Oh, I almost forgot, in both Michigan and Minnesota, there were these smaller horseflies, the orange looking ones, that would just harass me to no end. Even when I was coated from head to toe in deet, one would still try to land on my head. I could hear it buzzing around my ears and I am sure I looked like a complete idiot waving my arms all around and hitting myself in the head. I finally figured out how to get rid of them. I would run away, and then stop and turn really quick. I could catch it coming up behind me trying to land on me and I could hit it out of the sky. I don't know if I killed them doing that or if I just made them want to look for easier prey but it was the only way to get rid of them.

When we got to Nebraska, we knew we would be dealing with chiggers (previous visits had shown us this). During the two days we had the reunion, we were diligent about putting bug repellant on, but somehow that just made the chiggers climb higher. I had deet on my legs thinking I would be okay. Hah!!! No such luck. I came home the first day, and had a bunch of bites along my bra line, and one right below my belly button. So I put some ChigAway on it (which is mostly sulfur) and the itching went away. Next day, I tried to keep my feet up and not on the grass much. This worked to an extent. I only went home with 2 more bites. I didn't scratch them and kept the ChigAway on them and they were less bothersome. The thing about chiggers is that the bite stays around for a long time and will continue to itch during the entire time. We have already been home for a week and I was bit two weeks ago but still have itchy remenants. I am not having to use the ChigAway anymore but they are still a bit itchy. We have chiggers here but for some reason, they have never bothered me...dont' know why.