Summer in the South, let me count the ways. You have beaches, lakes, rivers, vacations, farmer’s markets AND mosquitoes. Granted these little pests are everywhere, but where I was raised there was concerns mosquitoes were so large they might fly off with your puppy.
In my small town we were surrounding with swamps, rivers, and lakes which are prime breeding grounds for ” skeeters”. ( Sidebar: It is the female mosquito that sucks the blood from your body. It offers the nutrients that allow her to produce her eggs).
In the summer in an effort to beat the heat at night you sat on your front porch. This made you open game for the pesky devils. There were two ways to combat the nuisances. One, you took a large aluminum can, filled it with rags, set it on fire, and let it smolter. The smoke would keep the mosquitoes at bay as long as you had the smoke around you.
The second method was the mosquito truck ( public service) that came by once a month and sprayed a mist of D.D.T. ( very toxic). Not knowing any better, my friends and I would ride our bikes behind the truck laughing and joking all the way. I have often wondered why my eyes turn werewolf green when there is a full moon. The “skeeters” were big and buzzed around your head like a swarm of bee’s. When they bit you a welt was sure to follow. We probably went through a bottle of alcohol a week.
When sitting on our patio today and the familiar “singing” of the female mosquito buzzes in my ear, it takes me back to my upbringing. As we would smash one of the blood sucking pest, the comment on the porch was, ” Now that’s a skeeter”.
Be safe.
Joe's Bakers Dozen 