Spring/summer--Well...Trials & Tribulations

Seems like we jumped right back into heat these last couple of afternoons. The thermometer has topped out in the low 80s both days at around 4 PM. Neither the cats nor I are ready for this kind of heat. Terry brushed Chester yesterday with the Furminator (GREAT product, BTW) and came up with enough fur to spin into yarn for a sweater. Got nearly as much off Shadow as well.

Me? No shedding of fur (there's precious little of it on my pate as it is), but even the slightest activity under the afternoon sun and my ball cap and T-shirt are soaked. I need to get some adult beverage(beer: It does a body good) to replenish my metabolites after doing manual labor. That or I better see about hiring Manuel.

Seriously, if I'm working outdoors--cutting the grass or firewood, weeding the garden, moving stones and/or earth about--I have to stop every hour to drink a quart of water or Gatorade. And, if I'm not careful, I'll still get a little woozy from lose of salts. Until I get used to the heat and humidity again, I try to limit myself to a maximum of three hours of physical labor--preferably in the early morning or late afternoon. The 11 AM to 2 PM slot was made for either the basement where its cool or siesta.

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Besides sweating, I really dislike the emergence of black flies in the spring. The females bite into your skin and suck up the blood that emerges. Their saliva contains an anticoagulant to allow the blood to flow freely. That's what produces the reaction in your body. Thankfully, their time on blood patrol is short IF the weather is warm. Hardly saw any today at the Aerie, but Mark said they were out in full force up at the Bolt Hole--which is why I'm at the Aerie. Even in rainy, wet springs, they won't be as troublesome after a couple weeks of warm temperatures. Ya either have to sweat it out, or don a bug hat/suit. And DEET. Lots of DEET.

Deer flies, too, can be a royal pain in the late spring. Buggers swarm around your head and until the buzzing alone drives you nuts. Then, in silence, they land and RIP a chunk of your flesh out. They'll slow down after awhile but some will be present all summer long if the dragonflies and phoebes don't get 'em. I find myself wearing gloves, a hat and a bandana to ward them off. Oh, and DEET. Lots of DEET.

Some people attract members of the opposite sex like moths to a flame. Terry is that way with mosquitoes (and here). She can be outside for five minutes and get as many mosquito bites. That's why we loaded up on Thermacell products (and DEET, lots of DEET) before heading to Alaska last year where, it is rumored, numerous humongous mosquitoes dwell. I've yet to try the Thermacell stuff. Terry got just a half dozen bites when we stopped along the Dalton Highway north of Fairbanks to walk in the tundra, feel the permafrost and pick blueberries. The mosquitoes there were laying in wait to ambush tourists. We ran into precious few insects in either the Yukon or Alaska. Lucky, I guess.

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Another couple of things I dislike about the spring/summer are carpenter ants and carpenter bees. The large black carpenter ants are a problem because they start looking for food and shelter as the colonies awake in the spring. They, somehow, infiltrate the cracks and crevasses of our home and wander about on the hardwood floor and counter tops. They don't really do any damage (I've never caught them eating into the logs or wood trim although I've had them in some boards out in the shed) but they are creepy. I've purchased some spray that's supposed to work on keeping them out and killing any foolish enough to cross the line and applied it to the base of the house. Inside, we baited the area behind the garbage bin and sprayed--with a product safe for indoors--one spot we say where we've seen them emerge from between the floor joist/ceiling beam and the wall log. That's high enough the kitties can't get to it. Since then I've seen far fewer ants in the house.

As for the carpenter bees.... Not a welcome sight if you live in a pine home. They don't seem to bother homes made of cedar or covered in cedar shakes but the females seem to like the pine soffit boards despite the stain that was applied. (I've yet to see any boring into the logs but the deck railing--oh, yeah!) As a result, I've been forced to declare war upon the buggers.

The wasp and bee killer sprays with a 20 to 25 foot range are excellent for this with one exception: the very peak of the roof is closer to 30 feet--straight up. The spray can't reach there. So I lay in wait until the bee comes close enough and spray, spray, spray! Gotta watch the wind, though, you don't want to get hit with the back splash. Not unless you want to take a long shower. The stuff is potent. A direct hit will knock the bee out of the sky and put the bee down for good, but stomping on the downed bee is more satisfying. (Besides, if I leave a whole, dead bee laying about, the chipmunk may wander by and gobble it up. Who knows what the spray will do to the poor chippy?) Still there's that one smart a$$ bee w-a-y up there at the peak. I'll have to see about getting another can of spray and get the ladder out. And I'll have to caulk the holes they've already bored in the pine.