So many kids, I don't know what to do.



Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Crickets and Mosquito Bait

Crickets because that is all you have been hearing from this blog lately. 
We are having a great time here and doing lots as usual.  There are just many things going on here and it turns out there is only a limited number of things I can do well, or even mediocre at one time.  Plus every time I think of a writing a blog I feel like I should explain my absence and it isn't inspiring to come up with excuses, so let's just skip it.

I love Texas.  I consider myself a native Houstonian having moved where when I was four.  I heard other parts of the world have four actual seasons, but I have never experienced that so I am pretty good with the two we have here.  Summer and not summer.   This past summer was brutal.  It was HOT.  Many weather related records were broken like - earliest day over 100, latest day over 100, and most consecutive days over 100.  Add to that extreme drought.  (Expected to be the worst on record here in the history of EVER!)
Things are going up in flames here left and right.  I think over 1600 houses have been burned down in wildfires.

Because I hate, hate, hate the cold.  I try to roll with these desert-like conditions.  This summer I tried to get the kids outside as much as possible, but since it was still 100 degrees at 9:00pm that was difficult.  Maybe I should have taught the kids to sleep walk.  I usually ended up whisking them to the park at the crack of 7:00 am and toughing it out outdoors until about 8:30, by which time it was sweltering and we escaped into the air conditioning.

The good part of the heat and drought though was that there were way less mosquitoes this summer.  Last summer we about got carried off by them despite my BIL's mosquito killing concoction of Windex and fabric softener.  (??) 

It has rained twice in the last decade in the last month and now the skeeters are back with a vengeance.  I tried to take the babies outside to play last night and had to wonder once again, "What makes Tayte so delicious to mosquitoes?"  I have never seen anything like it.  You can almost see the swarm of bloodsuckers heading his way when he leaves the house.  Are they just hanging around waiting for my juicy baby to venture outdoors??  At one point he even had his very own repellent fan we clipped to his shirt.  That was in addition to the later of OFF we applied and the citronella candle we forced him to carry.  (Just thought of a new invention......citronella scented outdoor toys like Frisbees and balls!)
Does he smell good to mosquitoes?
Is it his infectious smile?

Maybe they are attracted to the luminescent skin.  (Which I have witnessed sunburning outside for fifteen minutes in FEBRUARY!  Maybe this kid just isn't cut out for Texas.)
(Don't ask why he is sideways.........I just wanted to complete a darn post! I don't have time for obstacles.)

The good news..............as long as I stick close to Tayte I never get a bite?


Look at him.  You wanna bite him too don't ya?

Do you have a delicious person in your family?
Got any solutions?

15 comments:

  1. I am also a mosquito attractor. I assumed it was because my blood is made of koolaid and my normal body temperature is .2 degrees hotter than almost anyone around me.

    The only thing that works is DEET. Not Off, not skintastic, but 100% DEET. I once made the joke that I would never date a man who didn't like the smell of DEET and SPF, because that is what I smell like 6 months of the year.

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  2. Good to hear from you! But no pressure. Busy times = no blogging= aok.
    Im the delicious one here. Skeeters have not been bad this year though. But they spray the heck outta our neighborhood so maybe well all go down in a noxious cloud one of these days.

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  3. We have a hard time with them too.

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  4. the mosquitos were so bad in florida this year, but they seem to have gone away now...whew!

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  5. It really is weird how some people do seem to attract them more. Poor little guy! I've just noticed this week that we have quite a few now, but hopefully it will get cold soon and they'll all die!

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  6. Yep. Summer was brutal, but we were grateful for the lack of mosquitoes when we were able to go outside (like, twice). But, I noticed it's been really buggy this week too, especially after the weekend rain.

    Still. I think I'll take it over the 108 every. single. freaking. day.

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  7. My youngest is my mosquito bait. Though, I might need to stick closer to him at the soccer field. I get eaten alive there.

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  8. I have had so little time to catch up on blogs...but I loved catching up over here. Wow...you have been busy and so good to keep up with all of that training. I am jealous. I am the one who can sit out all night and never get bitten, but my boys will both be covered. Let me know what you discover. The smell of citronella makes me gag.

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  9. It's something in the blood, or so my Doc tried to explain. I'm very low in iron...and they never touch me. but they love the rest of my family, who all have HUGE sweet tooth(s).

    so there you go....he's just too sweet!

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  10. What a cutie! I get bitten all the time.

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  11. Perhaps Tayte sweats a lot. That may be a reason why he attracts mosquitoes more than anyone else. Mosquitoes sense lactic acid, which is found in sweat, from about 100 feet away. In our situation, we use an all-natural-spray to control the mosquitoes.

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