Here in my little corner of the world, we've had more water then the ground knows what to do with. With standing, stagnant water in the ditches and still in some fields since April, the mosquitos are making quite a run at taking over the world.
At the beginning of summer weather, we could throw down some bug granules, or spray the yard with bug spray and enjoy many hours outside. Soon, we were adding bug spray. At first, just homemade bug spray (1 tbsp vanilla with 1 cup water - spritz away, smell good, be bug-free). Then we added Cutter Family (deet free for the babies) spray on top of the vanilla.
Now, the mosquitos have become immune. It doesn't matter if you have 2 different types of bug killer on your as-short-as-you-can-mow-it grass with 3 layers of bug spray on and citronella candles burning everywhere, they are going to find you and suck your blood.
Mosquitos - the true vampires of the world (next to the vampire bats).
Mr. Curly ignores bug bites, he's completely impervious to them. Curly Boy seems to have inherited this trait. Curly Girl and I, not so much. Our bug bites grow whether acknowledged or not. And I have absolutely no ability whatsoever to ignore a bug bite. I scratch them until they're huge; I scratch them until they're open; I scratch as they heal.
Curly Girl cries at night that she wants to take her bug bites off before she goes to bed. We bought a benadryl spray because she doesn't like to have hydrocortisone cream on her skin. Mr. Curly suggest aftershave, as the alcohol will kill the itch, but it can burn as well and we don't want to hurt her!
I, however, rather appreciate the burn after scratching open a bug bite, but I don't want to go around smelling like men's aftershave (even though Mr. Curly smells wonderful). So I have turned to hand sanitizer. The cheap stuff is basically alcohol only, the more expenisive stuff adds a nice scent to it. So when I find myself scratching uncontrollably, I break out the sanitizer, dab some on, and grit my teeth through the burn. I figure I'm getting a two-fold use out of it - no more itchy bug bites, and I'm disinfecting/cleaning the area in the process.
What do you do for irritating bug bites? Any other ways to keep yourself from buggy scars?
And if you're interested in more mosquito rants, simply google "mosquito vampire".
Title from Tommy Boy
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