A few weeks ago I saw my first mosquito for the year. The first ones we call the Big Dumb Ones. These guys bumble around and seem to land on you only by mistake. They are huge, easy to feel and easy to swat. Half the time the go flapping past you and don’t even pay any attention to you. The birds must love them. What easy catchings!
I was out all afternoon on Sunday at a barbeque and the mosquitoes were still the Big Dumb Ones but they were not so dumb. They were hitting us pretty good, and we all looked out for each other. If you saw someone with a mosquito on his forehead you either told him and he slapped himself in the head or you just went up and slapped him yourself. Such is the community spirit that no one gets upset if even a total stranger turns around and gives you a light whack; we all know it’s a friendly mosquito-squishing and we generally say “Thank you!”
Later in the year, when the Mean Little Ones come out, life outside (heck, even inside) becomes even more interesting. The Mean Little Ones are like kamikaze biters. They zoom in on you and attack you at lightspeed. And there are zillions of them. You get a permanent case of “It’s ON me” and spend a lot of time slapping yourself, jumping suddenly, waving arms, shaking head and generally acting wacky. Any little tickle can cause an Alaskan to twitch, shake, jump or whack herself, resulting in a populace that looks like it’s in the grip of mass epilepsy. It’s not epilepsy, it’s bugilepsy.
Last night as I walked the dog I heard The Buzz. Actually, it’s more of a hum. Far less subtle than the Taos Hum, it’s the voices of trillions of mosquitoes singing in the trees. Everywhere, for miles and miles, thousands of miles, there are mosquitoes zzzzzz-zing. It all blends together into one huge hum.
The buzz has come early this year. Oh, and I’m now seeing hornets and yellow jackets. Oh boy, here we go.
Last winter it didn’t stay cold enough long enough. Construction workers are finding that the ground isn’t even frozen, in fact, they found it unfrozen in April, which is almost unheard of. This is good news for construction work, and bad news when it comes to bug populations. It’s going to be a humdinger of a year, literally.
