We were just innocent “Babes in the Woods” dedicated to giving the pondering poodle an exciting adventure on a fine summer’s day. However, we soon learned a few things during this experience. For one, we are not top of the food chain. Mosquitos rule! We are both obviously very tasty morsels, as far as the mozzies are concerned, and our "relaxing” walk in the woods turned into a battle - which we unfortunately lost, and still have the itches a few days later to prove it. If there is anything positive in this, I guess it’s that we’re still attractive to something. Between us we probably have welts on almost every body part that was exposed that day, and said welts can be located on some of the bits that were not really exposed all that much.
It seems that when one looks at nature, one can usually see that there is a balance - every little creature or insect seems to have some kind of purpose; but, mosquitos? NO! I don’t think so! Of course, the furry little dog had a lovely time, but then she only exposes her nose.
It’s not as if we didn’t take precautions – we actually wore those funny looking bracelets that are supposed to repel the little blighters. Ha! We thought they had worked on a previous walk, so we were confidently tackling another set of woods. Looking back, one might suspect that perhaps on that particular previous trip the mosquitos were just taking a snooze. We should have thought about it a bit more perhaps.
It had been raining (a lot) the week before our latest excursion and the woods were full of stagnant pools, that is, mosquito nurseries – super nurseries. Also, since it’s getting late in the season, the latest crop had a desperate sense of urgency about them – they were super mosquitos on a rampage. They must have detected us as soon as we approached and lain in wait until we got far enough into the woods so that turning back would have been to no avail. Then, they relayed to their hungry little buddies further on in the woods that we were pretty tasty – so other gangs lay in wait. Yup, we were definitely the appetisers, the main course, and the dessert of the day. I must say: it made us walk a little faster than usual. If people could have seen us they might have wondered what new kind of exercise we were taking part in – walking vigorously, muttering, and constantly flailing our arms around our heads. We probably looked like maenads.
We obviously need to devise a better repellent before we venture into those particular woods again – preferably something natural... or perhaps a designer coverall made out of mosquito netting!
It seems that when one looks at nature, one can usually see that there is a balance - every little creature or insect seems to have some kind of purpose; but, mosquitos? NO! I don’t think so! Of course, the furry little dog had a lovely time, but then she only exposes her nose.
It’s not as if we didn’t take precautions – we actually wore those funny looking bracelets that are supposed to repel the little blighters. Ha! We thought they had worked on a previous walk, so we were confidently tackling another set of woods. Looking back, one might suspect that perhaps on that particular previous trip the mosquitos were just taking a snooze. We should have thought about it a bit more perhaps.
It had been raining (a lot) the week before our latest excursion and the woods were full of stagnant pools, that is, mosquito nurseries – super nurseries. Also, since it’s getting late in the season, the latest crop had a desperate sense of urgency about them – they were super mosquitos on a rampage. They must have detected us as soon as we approached and lain in wait until we got far enough into the woods so that turning back would have been to no avail. Then, they relayed to their hungry little buddies further on in the woods that we were pretty tasty – so other gangs lay in wait. Yup, we were definitely the appetisers, the main course, and the dessert of the day. I must say: it made us walk a little faster than usual. If people could have seen us they might have wondered what new kind of exercise we were taking part in – walking vigorously, muttering, and constantly flailing our arms around our heads. We probably looked like maenads.
We obviously need to devise a better repellent before we venture into those particular woods again – preferably something natural... or perhaps a designer coverall made out of mosquito netting!