January 14th, 2019

That, my friends, is a mosquito.  One of my least favourite bugs of all time.  (just to clarify, I have no favourite bugs, just varying layers of dislike toward them).  Most bugs I just ignore, as long as they stay outside where bugs belong.  It's a mutual thing, "you don't bother me, I don't bother you).  I know that bugs serve an important role in the whole 'balance of nature' thing and heaven knows I don't want to interrupt that!

But any insect that is a blood sucker, dies.  Period.  I have a zero tolerance on that score.   So, ticks...death warrant, fleas...big time goners, bedbugs...gone without a hint of remorse and mosquitoes.....get the slap of death.  I am heartless when it comes to blood sucking bugs.  It's just that simple. 

Now I know that they are just trying to survive and that the whole vampire bit is just a means to an end.  Sorry. I simply cannot abide a blood sucking bug that has the audacity to touch me or any of my loved ones.  

Now, if they are just moseying around and NOT touching any of us, I will pretend that they aren't there.  It's the touching part that gets them dead.

This whole thing comes to mind today because yesterday when Tim and I were out on an explore, we found ourselves in the town of Placida.  It's somewhere south of us.   Which is my sum total knowledge of Placida. Anyway,  at some point in the drive, we came upon a nature preserve.  So we stopped to have a little look around.  We hiked up and down some trails, admired  the area and especially an adorable little amphitheater,  took a few photos and it was a nice break in the drive.

At some point, I glanced over at Tim and saw multiple mosquitoes on his shirt! Horrified, I brushed them away.  He looked to see what I was doing.  "Mosquitoes" I explained in one little word.  He nodded and said, "Yeah, they are pretty fierce here".   He indicated several bites already on his arms.  My eyebrows went stratospheric.  "Let's go" I decided and we turned around and headed back.  By the time we got back to the car, poor Tim was covered with mosquito bites. I had exactly zero.

That's right. Not a single solitary bite. Not one.  I find that curious.   Naturally I had to find out why Tim is a mosquito magnet and I, apparently am not. 

There is actually a term for people like Tim with regard to mosquitoes.  Tim is a "High Attractor".  Which, I suppose, would lead me to believe that I am a high repellent?  The articles I read actually didn't say that. It just seemed to be the next logical step.

Anyway, Mosquitos are attracted to certain things. Like...

1.   Dark Colours.  Which is odd because Tim was wearing a light blue shirt.  I was wearing one of my new not-blue shirts which is to say black.  The one with the polka dots.

2. Certain Blood Types.  As it turns out, Mosquitos are at least twice as attracted to blood type O as Blood Type A.  And this is even more strange because I am Blood Type O.  Tim is Blood Type A.  Isn't that bizarre?

3. CO2.  Which is to say, people who exhale more.  I never actually thought about which of us, Tim or I exhales more often or more heavily. So I have no input on this point at all.

4.  Sweat.  Okay.  On this one Tim wins hands down.  I do not know the whyfors on this one but I don't sweat much. I just don't. Never did.  It can actually be a problem for me in the summertime when a little sweat can cool a person off.  Tim, on the other hand, has no problem perspiring.  It's just part of who he is.  And since he is almost always too hot besides on top of the normal sweat from the exertion of us hiking, well there you go.  Sweat is like a mosquito invitation to an all you can eat buffet!  (side note here:  When I lived in Texas I was once told that:  "Pigs sweat, Men perspire and women glow." I don't know why, but that just tickles me)

5.  Certain Microbial Dermal Activity.  Ewwww.  Well that sounds gross.  But I know that it's a fact.  We all have a certain amount of microbes on our skin at all times.  And apparently there are certain microbes, who shall remain anonymous, that are like catnip.   

6.  Pregnancy.  Which totally does not apply in this case but there is something about pregnancy hormones that is very attractive to mosquitoes.

7.  Beer. Who knew?  Mosquitoes love beer!  So if you are outside drinking beer or have recently been drinking beer, mosquitoes are now your new best friends!  Didn't apply in our case.  

So while all of this was fascinating, all I can determine from my research is that Tim's perspiration and perhaps his mysterious skin microbes outweighed my dark blouse and blood type.

I also learned that not all types of mosquitoes bite humans.  Interesting.  And that of all the flying insects around, mosquitoes are the slowpokes.  Which is probably why so many of them succumb to the slap of death.  Even butterflies fly faster than mosquitoes.  And I do not feel even remotely bad about my "Die Mosquito Die' attitude when I learned that mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on earth!  True!    More people (and other animals!) die from diseases carried by mosquitoes than any shark attack ever!  Shudder!

But the most icky thing that I learned about mosquitoes is that they are sort of like Cockroaches.   After the zombie apocalypse has render human beings extinct, mosquitoes will probably still be around to consort with cockroaches.  Here is the quote:

"Basically, mosquitoes exist because they're next to impossible to wipe out. Species don't exist in a vacuum; as long as they can find food and don't have environmental pressure against them, they'll continue. Mosquitoes are millions of years old as a species. In the ecosystem, they do serve as food for other species (birds, frogs, and fish) and as pollinators. The larvae eat detritus in the water, helping to clean it. There are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes, but only about 200 bite humans."

This is some weird information to start your week with eh?

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