It has been a tradition of mine to bless the things that I am releasing from my life as I let them go.GOD BLESS THE MOSQUITOES!
I've had all I can take, and now it's war, baby. I've tried talking to them, ignoring them, swatting at them...but they haven't got the message. So now, I'm in my annihilation mode.
Mosquitos go through four distinct stages of development during a lifetime, they undergo a complete metamorphosis; The four stages are egg, pupa, larva, and adult. The full life-cycle of a mosquito takes about a month. After drinking blood, adult females lay a raft of 50 to 400 tiny white eggs in standing water or very slow-moving water.Within a week, the eggs hatch into larvae (sometimes called "wrigglers") that breathe air through tubes which they poke above the surface of the water. Larvae eat bits of floating organic matter and each other. Larvae molt four times as they grow; after the fourth molt, they are called "pupae".
Pupae (also called "tumblers") also live near the surface of the water, breathing through two horn-like tubes (called siphons) on their back. Pupae don't eat.
An adult mosquito emerges from a pupa when the skin splits after a couple of days. The adult lives for a few weeks.
Madison has a way of monitoring the existing mosquito population. Last year, this system registered about 300 mosquitoes in the counting area. This year that same count resulted in 3,000!!! So YES, the mosquito population is out of control.
They wait on our windows and front door. Then when the door is opened, they fly in and take up residence in the house. They lurk around all day and once we go to sleep at night, they come to feed. I wake up with bites on my arms and legs and FACE! Any part outside the covers is prime meal material, and since it's been hot, much more of me is outside the covers. I have refused to wear repellent to bed, but I may have to revise my position.
Currently I'm nursing a series of bites on my forehead right between my eyes. They itch, I scratch, they scab and I look like a trauma victim.Walking outside to get in the car brings up a cloud of mosquitoes who have been resting in the grass. They enter the car, and the drive is peppered with wild swipe and swatting motions, often resulting in the car nearly driving into other lanes of traffic.
So far I've been unwilling to use insecticides or deet repellents. I don't like chemicals. But these fricking, sucking mosquitoes have driven my past my Natural Remedy solutions. Today I'm going to the store and buying stuff to treat the grass, the car, the house and my body. THE WAR IS ON!!!
