It's time you knew the real truth about rural America - humans are outnumbered. If you have bug, snake, rodent or other general phobias of any kind you absolutely, positively, cannot live anywhere outside a city. Ever! You would never survive. Cities don't have bugs really and even the rats aren't as obnoxious as the critters here. There aren't just Mosquitos, there are six different species of them. There aren't just ants, there are biting ants and on a given day I can count at least five different species of them. There aren't just house flies, there all all kinds of annoying, biting flies and they draw blood. I won't even go into creepy detail about ticks and 'chiggers' (aka: harvest mites) because if I did you would never even walk on a blade of grass again in your life. Let me just tell you this little story (authenticity not verified): Near this area sits a Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary. Many years ago, per urban legend, a couple of inmates decided to spontaneously make a break for it while out on a work crew. They ran into the Shawnee National Forest, a forest so big and so thick they couldn't possibly be caught. They probably thought it was way too easy. Until about a week later when they turned themselves in seeking medical attention because they were so covered with chigger bites they thought they had some kind of serious skin disease. Clearly those brainiacs came from a city.
These pests don't just limit themselves to people since people aren't that great a food source for them. They'll pretty much go after anything with blood and a pulse so they irritate animals as well, especially Buttons the pony.
Oh wait, did I forget to mention the spiders? If I had ever seen a two inch thick Brown Recluse anywhere near my living space I would have freaked out and been convinced some apocalyptic alien invasion had befallen the city. The other day I saw a giant recluse spider that was so huge it looked like an odd shaped, brown tarantula. I jumped back in horror and Fearless Mom came running over to investigate and went "Oh yuk, that's a pregnant brown recluse spider, kill that thing!!" before casually squashing it and walking away. (FM is definitely not a Buddhist!)
These pests don't just limit themselves to people since people aren't that great a food source for them. They'll pretty much go after anything with blood and a pulse so they irritate animals as well, especially Buttons the pony.
Oh wait, did I forget to mention the spiders? If I had ever seen a two inch thick Brown Recluse anywhere near my living space I would have freaked out and been convinced some apocalyptic alien invasion had befallen the city. The other day I saw a giant recluse spider that was so huge it looked like an odd shaped, brown tarantula. I jumped back in horror and Fearless Mom came running over to investigate and went "Oh yuk, that's a pregnant brown recluse spider, kill that thing!!" before casually squashing it and walking away. (FM is definitely not a Buddhist!)
A giant silk moth being attacked by a giant mosquito.
Aside from the bugs, if you read this blog even more than once you already know about the Axis of Evil vines (Ivy, Oak and Sumac). My new motto is: Avoid Anything Viney! This doesn't mean you can't enjoy Mother Nature here, you just have to take more precautions than you normally would. First, you need to cover up any exposed skin including hair and hands. This means a hat, long sleeves, long pants and socks. Don't even think about sandals - HA! Then you need to spray yourself with copious amounts of this stuff:
I don't know what is in here and for the moment, I don't care!
If it's really hot and humid and close the small annoying gnats aren't bothered by the bug repellent so you might want to add mosquito netting to your hat. Nice and comfy? Of course you are, enjoy your Summer.
Who says you can't enjoy the outdoors here?