Bugs
This is the time of year we are usually blessed with all kinds of annoying insects. Chiggers, wood ticks, and mosquitoes top my list of biting bugs that drive me crazy. This year, because of the dry weather, the mosquitoes have not been bad. The ticks and chiggers have more than made up for the shortage of mosquitoes.
Ticks and chiggers hang out in tall grass and end of brush or branches waiting for a free meal to pass by. I am not sure if I spend more time in the woods than most people or the biting insects find me unusually tasty, but I seem to get more than my fair share of bites.
I do not make a habit of disparaging nor promoting products but need to make an exception in this case. So many products on the market either do not work or are dangerous. I have found that few bug repellants on the market actually provide what is promised.
One product made
from eucalyptus and lemon grass promises to be organic and naturally repel insects. The smell is overwhelming. I am not sure if the product works by repelling the ticks and chiggers or if the thorough scrubbing of one’s body and change of clothes after use to get rid of the nauseating smell gets rid of the pests. To me, it is a tossup on whether I would rather be bitten or smell that way.
DEET is a wellknown insect repellant. The problem with it is, nobody seems to know for sure how much DEET and what percentage is safe as well as being effective. I have some that is 100% DEET that says on the bottle “DO NOT GET ON SKIN!” I find this rather disconcerting. Their product may kill you but you will not have any biting insects on you when you die.
I have other products with lesser percentages of DEET that have some effectiveness and though not stated on the warning label, I assume it will kill a person more slowly while partially protecting from ticks and chiggers. These lower percentages do seem to work on repelling mosquitoes.
One product that was recommended to me by my son when he got tired of hearing about my chigger bites contains permethrin. Permethrin does not appear to be as
toxic to humans as DEET but does work. Rather than apply directly to the skin, it is recommended to apply liberally to a set of clothing that will be worn for activities that will expose a person to ticks and chiggers. When the repellant is thoroughly dry, they can be worn and even washed a few times before the effectiveness decreases.
Friday evening, I went for a short Ranger ride. Knowing I would have minimal exposure to tall grass or brush, I did not use any insect repellant. Getting out of the Ranger to open and close a couple of gates was enough for me to get twenty or thirty chigger bites. Very annoying. Sunday, I decided to go walk in the timber to look for fresh mushrooms. Knowing I would have a great deal of exposure to ticks and chiggers, I put on my permethrin treated clothes that are hanging in the garage. After driving all over the farm and walking through waist high brush, I was pleasantly surprised to have no new chigger bits, nor did I have any ticks on me.
This stuff really does seem to work. Now when I go anywhere outside of the yard, I will be wearing my permethrin treated set of clothes. I am tired of insect bites and I feel this works without such a high risk of it killing me as well as the bugs.
Hathaway
I was heading home, eastbound, on the long stretch of I-94 through Montana. I saw a sign for a rest area two miles ahead. “I’ll stop there,” I said. After a long day of driving, and well into the night, I needed to pull over to rest, maybe stretch my legs for a bit.
I started contemplating what I needed to get done yet this summer on the outside of my house.
I considered the date; we’re well into August. Fall comes in September, just six weeks away, and brings with it cooler weather - then winter’s cold, and I won’t be able to complete my outdoor
work this year.
I shook my head in disbelief. Where did summer go? I really need to get on the stick and get those projects done.
“I should have started earlier,” I said out loud, talking to myself. Then answered, “Yes, you should have.” Talking to yourself is one thing - but a conversation?
I must have been exhausted.
As a cluster of lights streaked outside the passenger window, I said, “And I should have taken that exit for the rest area.” Not a problem; the GPS shows there’s another rest area in... Seventy-eight miles? Yikes! I’m not going to make it that far.
Exit 117 was just ahead, the turnoff for Hathaway, Montana. I could turn around there and go back to the westbound rest area. I started laughing.
Hathaway - like Jane Hathaway. Do you re -
member her? She was Mr. Drysdale’s assistant, the banker on the television sitcom, The Beverly Hillbillies. Jane was a level-headed liaison between his constant scheming, his love of money - and reality.
Miss Hathaway was always dressed professionally in a business suit, a skirt, and a jacket, and she was never without her clutch purse held with both hands in front of her. Her hair was short with tight wavesnever out of place. She was a very practical woman in every aspect except her car.
I loved her car, a 1963 Dodge Polara convertible. “I’m going to own that car one day,” I would tell myself each time she slowly pulled into the Clampett’s driveway, stopping at the big wooden French doors at the front of Jed Clampett’s mansion. I turned my Subaru onto exit ramp 117.
IN-TOWN ACREAGE!
At the end of the ramp, I stopped, pulling off on the shoulder. I rolled down my window and turned off the engine. It was almost two o’clock in the morning. There wasn’t any traffic on the interstate, and the wind was calm. Silence. Total silence, and with the new moon approaching, it was very dark. I was alone but not lonely, isolated and at peace.
all the stars in the sky looked like glitter!
It’s baffling to comprehend that there are no two alike! Each star is unique. I tried to focus on just one; a small star, softly dancing in a small dark field by itself. I wondered what it would be like to be that star, way out there, in its own space, away from the others.
SMALL BUSINESS!
Within a few minutes, my eyes started to adjust to the darkness. I was far enough from the rest area to not be affected by the lights. There were no houses, farms, or street lights. Nothing. Just dark and stillness.
The sky was very dark but not black. It was a steely blue, lighted only by the stars. As my eyes dilated, I could see more stars, then even more stars, and still more. Totally content and at peace, I smiled, “This is why they call Montana, The Big Sky State.” Leaning against my car, I tilted my head straight back, looking up in awe; I said, “Wow! There must be billions of them!” Big ones and little ones. Some very brilliant and some meek and dim. Some seemed closer, while others were distant. Some shined as a solid light, others twinkled. Together,
I imagined that star looked back at the Earth, seeing all the people, and saying in awe, “Wow! There must be billions of them!” Big ones and little ones. Some very brilliant and some meek and dim. Some seem closer, and others are more distant. Some shined like a solid light, while others twinkled. The star must have thought, it’s overwhelming trying to comprehend, there are no two people alike! Each one is unique.
I wondered if that star ever focused on just one person. A small person, sitting in a small dark area by themself, relaxed and gazing toward the heavens. Perhaps the star wondered what it would be like to be that person, way out there, on their own, in their own space away from the others.
I wondered if that star that I focused upon was looking back, focused on me. A simple person, sitting alone, but not lonely; isolated, but very much at peace in a dark space on the side of the road near Hathaway, Montana.
No matter who or where you are - you’re never alone. For someplace up there high above the Earth, a star is watching you, too.