Deep Ontario Mud!

[jack c]

My father-in-law has some stories from hunting trips in Canada. I only remember the mosquitoes at dusk on the Rhode Island ocean coast - bad, and I mean bad! But it seems that I led a sheltered youth compared to some of you all.

[Boggy Man]

Here in BC, our biting fly season goes like this:

Mosquitoes start off the season in the spring, being quite nasty earlier in their season, but taper off into summer as things dry out.

In late June/early July, the noseeums (midges) come out with the mosquitoes. Those things have a nasty bite for such a small insect! Their bites can often be painless, so you don't realize you have been bitten until you notice red dots, or drops of blood on your skin which when wiped away reveals red dots. You have to then refrain from rubbing or scratching those bites, or they will itch even more intensely and swell up. You would be tempted to scratch and scratch until you scratch the surface skin right off! It takes around week for the itchiness to disappear, and a few weeks for the residual white marks to disappear. While they bite anywhere, they especially love to bite the insides of your thighs! But, at least their season is short, and by late July, there are only a few left to bite you.

Then, there are the blackflies, horseflies and deerflies. Blackflies don't seem to be too bad, but still a little annoying. The horseflies and deerflies (a slightly smaller horsefly with black markings on its wings), when they sink their beaks into your skin, you can definitely feel it, so you can stop them before they have a chance to get a meal. They are a bit more dominant through much of summer, but taper off through August. They are a quite annoying, since they land on you, start to bite, fly away, come back, bite, fly away again, etc. Also when you chase one away, another is biting you somewhere else. But, they aren't really in any large swarms. Deerflies seem a bit more plentiful than horseflies. Blackflies seem to blend in with the deerflies and horseflies, and don't seem to be too significant, although their biting is also annoying.

Then, there are the sandflies, but I haven't encountered them very often. Once, during a very dry summer, when I was sinking in some stomach deep to chest deep mud in a pond that was mostly empty, I was being eaten alive by those tiny grains of bloodthirsty specks! They seem to be worse in the dry years, although it was only one dry year I encountered them in large numbers, and only in one place. I have encountered the odd one now and then, but too rarely to remember.

Toxifying myself with deet really helps, but they often find places I missed, or places where I can't apply the chemicals, such as my eyes! I get relief once I sink completely under the surface of the mud, but when I work myself back up, with the deet being washed off by the mud, the moment my hair starts to feel the coolness of exposure to the air that is starting to evaporate the moisture from the mud on my head, I start feeling the sting of the deerflies/horseflies, as they start to land in my muddy hair and bite into the top of my scalp, as if they had been patiently waiting above the bog for me to emerge! Perhaps they detected the carbon dioxide from my exhaling.

Of course, the cleanup water isn't without its bloodthirsty annoyances, either. Leeches can be rather sneaky, being painless, and not being discovered until they have already had a meal. In some cases, not discovered until after they turned to "fruit leather" from being dried out, with bloodstains in my clothes! But, usually I find them right away, and with a quick scrape with my fingernail, they are off! 8) But, I have to refrain from scratching, because, like the noseeum (midge) bites, they can turn into a bit of an itchy lump if scratched.

But, at least that here in BC (or at least west of the Rockies), the West Nile Virus hasn't reached us yet, so mosquito bites here are safe, for now!

[nachtjaeger]

ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!

Weredragonlady and I really enjoyed that one.

BTW Were has heard that song. She thinks that the song has made it to real folk song status, and is being sung at festivals, etc., where it is learned word-of-mouth by other folks who pass it on.

they made a cartoon out of those flies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRshnwExPU


Hourglass

[nachtjaeger]

(snip) . . . the moment my hair starts to feel the coolness of exposure to the air that is starting to evaporate the moisture from the mud on my head, I start feeling the sting of the deerflies/horseflies, as they start to land in my muddy hair and bite into the top of my scalp, as if they had been patiently waiting above the bog for me to emerge!

As the folk group Clam Chowder put it in the song "Wallops Island":

"Now, Wallops Island's built on a swamp,
and there's no place big enough to stomp-
and if you do, you'll sink up to your neck.
That's when they got ya.
Right where they want ya.
Suck on you like a soda straw.
Keep suckin' til they strike mud."

[poolshark]

Well folks, I'm gunna take another crack at my lovely pit later on today, as it is technically past midnight. After some much needed sleep of course. Thanks for the comments and tips, I'll be loaded with bug deet and perhaps an old, seldom used had to keep the critters off my head. Wish me luck and I'll hopefully return with some more "eye candy"

[Nessie]

It happens every year...my legs are now showing the signs of summer...scratches, welts, cuts, scrapes, and yes, itchy swollen bug bites. Black flies, deer flies, horse flies...mosquitoes...I can't catch 'em all in the act, and I ain't sure who-all they are.

But they've been snacking on me. DEET helps a lot but it only goes so far.

Good luck out there! I wish you neck-deep...and bite-free!

Nessie

[joedeep130535]

We do have mosquitos in UK but not as badly as in USA I only got badly bitten once years ago using a mudhole in woodland We have midges & horseflies which make me itch but rather satisfying when you can bury them in a dollop of mud! One thing I don't like is the water scorpion which lives in ponds with a clay bottom & bites you as you are washing off Makes me itch for days too Still its all worth it when the mud is deep & the"natives" leave you alone

[poolshark]

Sorry for the delay everybody. I've come up with a nasty little case of strep throat which has kept me in bed for the last couple of days. I will upload a thing or two here in a couple days once I start feelin better. But til then plz be patient.

[Nessie]

A good mudpit is always worth the wait.

Strep throat, however, is worthless time spent feeling lousy. So I wish you a speedy recovery!

Nessie