Female mosquitoes that is.
What a pathetic life a mosquito lives. Eggs lie dormant all winter waiting for the snow to melt. When sufficient water is available they hatch into larvae and swim and eat organic stuff until they morph into a pupa when they stop eating for a few days. Then the little guys stand on the water for a short time to dry their wings until they can fly away.
Mosquito Lifecyle from enchantedlearning.com
The males just fly around eating nectar and looking for a female. They don’t bite us. It’s the damn females that need a bloodmeal – that would be people or other animals – to make viable eggs. They land on us and suck a meal out of us. The ladies then go lay their eggs and the process starts all over again. Males die within a week or two but the damn females can live for a month and lay multiple batches of eggs.
Fresh Blood: Kate Merrill, Jai Ralls, Kelly Woodke
As you might have guessed, I spent the weekend contemplating mosquitoes. Gettin’ eaten alive is not new for me, as I have lived in Oregon and done stuff up in the mountains during skeeter season for many many years. I even spent two summers up in Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula. Let me tell you those were the buggiest summers I’ve ever spent. This weekend was just trailwork on the Where’s Waldo course. For those who aren’t used to working during skeeter season, I offer these tips.
- Use DEET, and apply it repeatedly to any exposed skin.
- Wear long pants. Chaps over shorts might not be effective.
- Dehydrate yourself so you don’t have to expose the delicate parts.
- Get a goofy mosquito netting to cover your head.
- Move fast and don’t stop for lunch.
- Walk with a running chainsaw as they don’t seem to like the smell (or is it the noise?)
- Only wear shorts if you have really hairy legs.
- Try to become one with the mosquitoes and learn to appreciate their pathetic lives.
Got any other tricks on how to live with those damn females?
Kelly and Greyson with Shorts and Chaps