No matter how prepared I want to think I am, I will never be 100% prepared for 100% of what may come my way. It isn’t only that I cannot afford to buy and store everything I may need but I just don’t think of everything.
In our area, we never have mosquito issues. I may have killed half a dozen mosquitoes the almost three years I’ve been here, til last week. We had over 7″ of rain Memorial Day weekend and . . don’t ask me where all the mosquitoes came from since they’ve never been here before, but I’m telling you . . they’ll about carry you off out there now. I’ve been using Avon Skin So Soft, which also works great to keep the gnats away, AND using the one bottle of bug spray that we bought last week, before the mosquitoes got bad. We had bought the container of bug spray with DEET because we were going to be in the woods where ticks are bad . . not around here but to a place we were visiting.
Last night we were in Wal-Mart in sporting goods and people kept coming in asking for mosquito spray. Nope, they were out. Apparently every place in town is out. The newspaper recently had an article about dumping standing stagnant water around our homes and what the county is doing to try to help curb the mosquito population.
Most of the spray we had in MO was in aerosol cans and couldn’t be moved so we didn’t bring it with us and just hadn’t seen a need to buy it here. Thank goodness we bought the one container last week or we would be without any spray and working outside would be almost impossible right now.
I think of the families at the ball park, or children playing outside and having no mosquito repellent. It isn’t the kind of thing I use on a daily basis or would recommend but with the West Nile threat, I’m definitely using mosquito spray. I’ve tried various homemade recipes in the past, with limited success, but with the invasion of mosquitoes we have right now, I’m not even sure the harsh chemical sprays are doing a heck of a lot of good. They’re even biting me through my jeans and long sleeve shirts, not to mention the constant buzzing around my head . . that’s almost as bad as the bite.
Vince and I were talking about it this morning and I told him . . it’s isn’t the fact that there’s no mosquito spray to be found, but what bothers me is that I feel pretty prepared for everything and this little incident just proved to me that we never think of everything! This will pass. Next week or the next week, the stores will get a new stock of mosquito spray but hopefully, by then, the mosquitoes will be gone.
Katie Z. says
We use homemade spray from household items that actually works pretty well, and since most things are already in my kitchen, it’s easy to mix some up!
katie says
how about a recipe?? Those buggers just love me..
Dottie N. says
When we lived in Pennsylvania, the gnats (black flies), not like the gnats I was used to in Texas, we used “punk”, the sticks that you light and they smolder. Because most of the work being done outside (gardening, hanging laundry, etc.) required your hands, we would hold the punk stick in our teeth. It was one solution to being able to be outside without being eaten up.
Helene says
Why Noah ever let the mosquito in the ark I’ll never know, but it was a really bad decision.
F. Zuerner says
Try spraying yourself and the area you are working in with Listerine(you can buy generic). It actually works pretty well. We have been working outside and spraying the perimeter where we are working every 30-40 minutes and it seems to be keeping them at bay.
Glenda says
I was going to suggest that also. The original amber colored Listerine has eucalyptus oil, which I think is the magic ingredient. I spray all around me, the plants and the porch and my clothes and exposed skin, and it keeps them away. They just don’t like the smell. And if you can put it in your mouth, it can’t hurt to put it on your skin. I wonder if it would be just as good to find pure eucalyptus oil and use that somehow.
Inka from Germany says
I would not recommend pure eucalyptus oil on your skin if you are out in the sun, there could be a reaction and it could kind of burn your skin.
Jen says
I so hear you on this one! We are fairly close to the big lake in ND…and this year our mosquitoes are HUGE. You’d think with as cold as our winters are, that mosquitoes wouldn’t be an issue in the summer! I have had good success with the generic Listerine, too. We used to spray around us when we were fishing from the riverbank.
Cookie E. says
We use something called BugBand that QVC was selling. It repes mosquitos, flies, gnats, no-see-ums, fleas and ticks. The kit comes with bracelets that will repel without putting anything on your skin, also moist towels and a lotion. DEET free and child safe. It’s been very effective and we’ve even put a bracelet on our dog’s collar.
Pat (EagleKnits) says
Last night on our local news, they showed the weather radar over New Mexico. There was a large green area covering parts of five counties. Our weatherman said that it was not rain — it was actually a huge swarm of mosquitoes moving from west to east across the state! He said there must be hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of the critters to make a swarm dense enough to show up on radar. I hope they aren’t coming your way!
barbara says
http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/how-to-keep-mosquitoes-away-zmaz03aszgoe.aspx?PageId=3#ArticleContent
this might be worth a try.
Susan says
I know you’ll stock up anyway. They usually aren’t TOO bad here, but if there is one within 50 miles, it will find me. I try to keep a lot of ammonia on hand, because it kills the itch for me.
Theresa says
I think you’re right about not being 100% prepared despite our best efforts. We’ve got mosquitoes in Virginia as soon as the weather warms up all the way to the first freeze. There’s a lot of seasonal creeks so it’s hard to control. We keep citronella candles burning when we’re outside, and I wear citronella bracelets when I go out to look at fireflies. The only natural control I know is eliminating standing water sources.
Debbie in Wa. says
I have seen that Johnson’s Baby Cream Oil is good as a repellent also. We are going to try that this year camping as I am ALWAYS the only one that gets eaten alove.
Bev Gunn says
If you take 200 mg of Vitamin-B1 twice a day for a week and then 100 mg twice a day, you will make yourself “repulsive” to mesquitos! I was doubtful when I was told this 25+ years ago by a seasoned Girl Scout leader, but has worked for me! In fact, I have to get over the the pharmacy to get the bottle I ordered last week! You have to have the pharmacy order it for you and they no longer keep it on the over the counter shelf-even though it does not require a prescription.
Once I had a citronella plant and I would just brush myself around it and the buzzers would leave me alone! Haven’t been able to find one for several years now, darn! So, I stay in the house as much as possible to avoid them.