Singing Wade Hemsworth’s 1949 Blackfly Song might help, but Buffy Saint Marie’s cover of Neil Young’s, Helpless, might be more appropriate. Many of us could be feeling quite helpless against the mosquitoes right now.
And no wonder-- mosquitoes are formidable! They’ve been around for about 200 million years. And have diversified into 3,000 species. They’ve adapted to climates from the arctic to the equator. They know how to find blood everywhere they go, injecting an irritating chemical that stops clotting and also reduces the pain of the bite. When a mosquito senses carbon dioxide they know that a victim is near; so as long as we are breathing, we’re a target. Same with other animals, for some mosquitoes would rather pick on dogs, frogs, horses, cattle or birds.
These stinging, minute zombies of the animal kingdom do not feed on our blood; they use it as protein in their egg development. For sheer energy, mosquito adults rely on flower nectar, juices and decaying matter. And they need a lot. A mosquito's wings beat 300-600 times per second! But their wings are not built for speed. They are designed for dodge and dive manoeuvres. That’s why mosquitoes are so difficult to nab with your bare hands, unless of course they are loaded down with a cargo of blood. Take heart. A mosquito has an average life span of a couple of weeks. Blackflies, that won’t bite you indoors, stick around for a similar amount of time.
So what can we do about those whining peskies that disturb sleep and disrupt the joy of the outdoor experience? There are stinky DEET creams and sprays, citronella candles if you sit close enough to them or smudge fires if you want to handle the smoke. Or there’s another possible solution, a homeopathic preparation called Mozi-Q. I called the woman who came up with the idea for this alternative form of anti-bug therapy.
Erin Bosch works at Xerion Dispensary, a homeopathic formulation and manufacturing company in Calgary. Between chats about the flood devastation and the terrific response of Calgarians as they helped each other, Bosch explained that she found a reference to the Delphinium flower in an old herbal book. She read that the ancient Greeks noticed that insects avoided the flower. With further research, she learned that the Delphinium’s insect deterrent was staphysagria. In essence, when you take Mozi-Q, you become a giant Delphinium and bugs either stay away or as Bosch says, “If you get a bite, you heal in half the time.”
I asked Bosch about the origin of the name of the product. She said that she first heard the word while sitting in an outdoor cafe in Tuscany. The mosquitoes were quite bothersome. Another woman was there also, a visitor from Leeds, England. She started complaining about what she called -- mossies. Hence the name Mozi-Q came into Bosch’s imagination. (BTW, I’ve clapped away at least a dozen mossies as I’m writing this.)
Unless you are lucky enough to be living amongst the dragonflies, which eat hundreds of mosquitoes a day, the bugs can be the plague of the season. But we don’t want to let that keep us away from the beauty of summer. We have to be able to enjoy the rose blossoms, the long sweet evenings and the birds’ early dawn chorus. There is so much to appreciate. Just tuck pajama bottoms into socks, hide hands in the sleeves of a hoodie and bring that cup of joe outside in the morning. Or bugnet up and take in that evening stroll.
The other night, an hour or so before the sun left on its rounds, I sat by a calm Lake Superior. A blanket of clouds and fog was smoothing out the horizon line. Everything was a deep blue grey, except for a shimmering island of light that had escaped down through a hole in the clouds. If I had shunned the flies I never would have been able to enjoy the skies.
Yes, I do love this time of year. But I have to admit that I am looking forward to the end of our summer’s World War ZZZZZZZ.