Autumn in New England

It's Fall!! Yep, today is Fall. The wind picked up after a cold drizzle and the leaves are coming down. I've lived in Massachusetts for just over thirty years. 2008 is one of the two most colorful autumns I have seen.

If you don't live in the north, then you are unaware of the Internal Seasonal Clock (ISC). Like going to bed at 1000 every night or eating breakfast at 0600 regularly, the ISC ticks away the days until the next season.

Tick, Tock, Buzz! Season change.

All things are right with the world.

We can now prepare for the next season.

WARNING: ISC will be altered by climate change.

Mosquito Olympics

In the past month I've had opportunity to judge the Minnesota mosquito and the Maine mosquito in an up close and personal competition. Both Minnesota and Maine mosquitos are strong contenders in the following catagories:

Largest
Stealthiest
Most Eager Feeder
Fewest Exploratory Landings
Highest Successful Bite Rate

The Minnesota mosquito is by far the Largest of the two mosquitos. In a few more years it will be difficult to tell the difference between the Minnesota mosquito and a black wasp.

Though the Minnesota mosquito is large, with size comes sound. So the catagory of Stealthiest goes to the Maine mosquito. The continual whine of the Minnesota mosquito hovering around a sleeping bag has caused the loss of many hours of sleep. The Maine mosquito is compact and quiet.

Using the whine and scoot method, the Minnesota mosquito can be annoyingly persistant in its pursuit of blood. However, the Maine mosquito takes the Most Eager Feeder catagory with its skill at going up sleeves, under brims, inside glasses, and flying through breaks in fabric.

Inherent in the whine and scoot method of attack is the false assumption that many bite sites were rejected before a satisfactory site was located. Therefore judgment in the catagory of Fewest Exploratory Landings was quite difficult. The Maine mosquito's method of the land-bite-two-step and the Minnesota mosquito's whine-and-scoot tied for top honors.

The Highest Successful Bite Rate catagory required a huge sacrifice on my part. Counting the number of smushed mosquito bodies without a blood smear and comparing that to the number of smushed bodies with a blood smear was most unpleasant. Then of course the number of welts with no smushed bodies with or without blood smears had to be tallied also.

This is when I quit judging and cried for insect repellent!

Thank you Lewey's Eco-Blends Insect Repellent. A few drops on the attack zone and wow what a relief. The biting stopped and the little critters were gone.

LESSON: Decline any invitation to judge a competition that requires my personal participation.

PS. Displayed on a picnic table by the side of the road on our way home from Maine today, we spotted bat houses for sale. We bought one.