Effing mosquitoes.

At the beginning of June, one of our local TV weatherpeople was answering questions from viewers. (I heard about this second-hand. I have no use for our local news. It's just like the national news, only smaller and more depressing.) Someone e-mailed in, "Why are the mosquitoes so bad this year?" The weatherperson responded, "Excellent question. The worse the moisture is, the worse the mosquitoes are. The average rainfall for this time of year is 4 inches [or something like that; I don't remember the exact numbers]. So far this year, we've had 13 inches of rain." That was like 8 rainstorms ago. The mosquitoes are, for the first time in my life, keeping me indoors. 

People say that fish eat them.  So I can't REALLY declare genocide on them.

So I'm adding to my wish list a mosquito trap. I think the plan this year is to suffer through August and September and possibly October, at which time the mosquitoes will winter. I'm going to hang a bat house, so it's ready to go next late spring, when the bats are looking for new places to live.  And early in the spring, I'll buy a mosquito trap.  (Current finances don't permit such a major investment.  Those things are expensive. If there were any justice in the world, giving out mosquito traps to anyone who wanted one would have been part of Obama's stimulus plan.)  So while this year, one of the wettest years in recent memory, will continue to be a misery, we should be well prepared for next year.  When we're likely to have a drought, and a mosquito shortage.