Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I live in close range of two bodies of water which no doubt produce mosquitoes in impressive numbers.

When the pups go out, I always go out back with them and climb down the stairs to ground level and sit while they play or do their business. Sometimes I read or play solitaire on my Palm thingie, but mostly I'm just in awe of how the skeeters swarm us. Yes, I even see them getting after the pups- it's noticeable against Praline's white coat. This morning I was dazzled to see - after 42 years of living in the south - for the first time, two mosquitoes riding piggy back for some reason. Something had to be done.

Well, this morning - BRAIN WAVE! - I took out my hand-held bug zapper. I've had it around as a novelty, but never had occasion to really put it through its paces. It has a contact on either side of the handle which you squeeze together to send the charge through the wires of the racquet face, et voila! Bob's your uncle.

I took it out, and played with it a bit - noticed it does emit a very high frequency zinging sort of buzz when the charge goes through it. Sat on the steps and waited for the corpses to pile up.

You know what? After I sat down with that thing, nary a mosquito came near me. I DID so want to kill some, but keeping them away from me, I'd say mission accomplished.

I think I need to put up some bat boxes.

6 comments:

Buck said...

Now that bug zapper just looks COOL. I had one of those big-ass electric ones hanging on patios-and-decks-past and it was Insect Shock And Awe when a June bug flew into that thing. Verrah entertaining, that was.

Anonymous said...

My bat boxes have made a large dent in the flying critter population. The info I researched alluded to somewhere around 1000 mosquitos a nite are needed to keep a brown bat fat and sassy

Barbara Bruederlin said...

We used to have a little brown bat living inside our patio umbrella for two summers. It was adorable and fascinating, although the cat was the mst fascinated. Did cut into the mosquitoes though.

FHB said...

LOVE to hear the bats chirp at night. And when you're wavin' that thing around, does it make a sound like a light saber? OK, I'm just a huge nerd. I'll slink away now.

Rabbit said...

Ah crap. I meant to go to Fry's and pick one of those Bug Rackets up tonight, but I stopped at Micro Center instead. I did score a cool binary clock, though.

I'd just end up using the bug racket on the damned kid, though.

Bat boxes would just be so cool at your place, though. I imagine that you could find room in the budget for a few. I keep meaning to build one for my backyard, but they roost in the trees at the fenceline anyway.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Dr. B said...

Had one of these when I lived in the Caribbean for medical school and I loved it! The little blue spark in the dark when something fried was the best. My friend shocked himself with it too many times to count.