Showing posts with label black fly season. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black fly season. Show all posts

Thursday, 3 May 2012

How to protect yourself from bugs that bite!

Basically, it is easier to PREVENT bug bites than treat them!
mosquito
  • NO perfumes or scents; deodorant, make-up and hair spray as they contain scents.
  • Wear long sleeves, tuck sleeves into gloves, tuck pant legs into socks, wear a hat
  • Stay in open areas, stay in the wind!
  • Burn citronella candles, install electronics, or other products, intended to attract and/or kill bugs.
  • I am skeptical about that garlic spray...but some swear by it!
  • Smoke: a bonfire (not a good choice for many, especially with a fire ban!)
  • My friend, Nancy, swears by the Vitamin B12 arm patch.
  • Use a bug spray product if allergic to bug bites (some prefer DEET-based products)
  • Put oil on neck, hands and ankles (I use Skin-so-soft, from 
  • black fly
  • Avon).
  • Go outdoors midday, when the sun is hot. You need 10 min. of sun = 10,000 IUs of Vit. D/day, might as well enjoy it!
  • There are a variety of hats and bug gear— if you must work outdoors. 
  • Install bat boxes (they eat a ton of bugs), but as my video says, I didn't research it enough.
  • Check yourself after getting back into the house, put clothes in dryer for 10 minutes to kill them
  • Take tape or lint roller with you outside to collect stray ticks.
Lyme Disease, while rare, is highly preventable with the right precautions. The bacterium is carried by black-legged ticks, which bite you and suck blood over a period of hours.
Check for ticks. If you find one:
Carefully remove attached ticks using tweezers. Grasp the tick's head and mouth parts as close to the skin as possible and pull slowly until the tick is removed. Do not twist or rotate the tick and try not to squash or crush the tick during removal.
Don't you love Brian in his outfit? 
It is quite clever: cool and covers up.

deer fly patches, available at Lee Valley Tools



Spring flowers, horse chestnut leaf bud, snake, frogs

A glorious day in the sunshine. Summer-like weather with a 20 C. temperature. 


horse chestnut leaf bud
Tulips raise faces to sun
Leaf buds burst with sweet sap
-Deer snap off a snack



green grass and goldfish pond
Lots of wildlife. The frogs were singing. I worked on the fish pond.
green growth in the wetland

Woodpecker insists on banging on the tower!

nesting!


budding
Tobi Kiesewalter, the Park’s Natural History Education Leader, tells us the black rat snakes are awake in Murphy's Point Park .

Spring peepers, wood frogs, tree frogs; all are singing. 

salamanders predict danger in an ecosystem,
blue-spotted salamander
Our in the wetland the wood frogs are waking and croaking for love! It didn't seem to worry that I was there. He croaked off and on for hours!
I was cleaning out the veggie garden and spotted a blue spotted salamander. She dug herself back in! Didn't know I had to share the garden with her, too! 
The bad news?
Black fly - warning, they are out and about!
black fly