mosquitoes

Tenerife Lizards

 in Snowbirding / Spain / Wildlife/animals  tagged gecko / lizards / mosquitoes / Tenerife / travel by

Though Tenerife’s giant lizards are now extinct, many other types can still be found. Our tour guide has a gecko that patrols the ceilings for mosquitos at night then naps in the warm cubby behind a television set through the day.  In Colorado we once had a lizard quietly volunteer to clean out a housefly infestation in our sunroom. He did a fine job then disappeared. A Tenerife blog post painted a darker picture of living with lizards.  The poor little guys tended to lurk in dangerous places like door and window frames or underfoot and cause serious guilt issues.  […]

Blueberry Hill Thrills

 in Alaska  tagged Alaska / Blueberry Hill / mosquitoes / selfie / Valdez by

Steve and I tried and tried to find our thrill on Blueberry Hill in Valdez, Alaska.  Turns out there’s a mosquito version of that song which goes on to extol “drinking our fill.”  The human chorus chimes in “kill, kill, kill!” DEET, don’t leave home without it.

A Favorite Dad Story

 in camping / Colorado / Wildlife/animals  tagged boy scouts / camping / Colorado / Father's Day / fishing / Grand Mesa / mosquitoes / No Market for 'Em / travel by

“We scouts raised enough money to stay on Grand Mesa for two weeks. The Mesa is the highest flat-topped mountain in the world. It’s beautiful country; forests of blue spruce, ponderosa pine, and aspen with flowery meadows in between. The flat top collects rainfall in three hundred sixty lakes and a zillion marshes. Those wet-lands make for a whole lot of hungry mosquitoes, but we scouts were tough. After two weeks of eating the fish that ate the mosquitoes that feasted on us, we were all blood brothers, and there was no mystery left in the circle of life.” Thought […]

Suffering Sweetness

 in Florida / Newfoundland / Peru / Wildlife/animals  tagged blackflies / bloodsuckers / butterfly / butterfly garden / Florida / Minnesota / mosquitoes / New Foundland / Peru / Thanksgiving / ticks / travel by

After a walk in a Minnesota park I glanced at my shoes and started tearing my clothes off.  Ticks were swarming my laces, storming my socks, and breaking ground on my shins.  The battle was epic.  In Florida, mosquitoes ravaged my legs right through my leggings until I looked like I’d been kick-boxing cactus.  In Newfoundland, heavy clothes helped, but blackflies left knots all over my neck.  Then a Peruvian butterfly garden specimen perched on my arm and begin shoving its proboscis at my skin…drinking my sweat? Steve may be right about my being a bug magnet.  My parents used to call me “Sweetness” which sounds nice, but I’m beginning to suspect it […]

Who Doesn’t Want to Hold a Shark?

 in Florida / Our Quest / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Florida / mosquitoes / Patrick O'Donnell / Rookery Bay / sharks / South Fort Myers High Scool / travel by

Photo provided by Patrick O’Donnell, Environmental Specialist in Fisheries The question came from Vanessa, a South Fort Myers High School girl who joined our Rookery Bay shark tagging trip with Pat O’Donnell.  Oddly enough, I seriously wanted to hold a shark.  Having read so much about them, I wanted to experience a living, gill-breathing, not too dangerous little shark in my hands for a heartbeat or two.  Sadly, all we met while fishing Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands were catfish, isopods, and several zillion mosquitoes.  Still, it was a thrilling experience, and I’m so glad that Pat is out there offering that opportunity to […]