6.14.2005

H H H

For those of you unfamiliar with the letters in the title: Hazy, Hot, and Humid. A perfect description of today.

By 8:00 a.m. the heat index was above 90, not exactly ideal weather for a hike, but the bloom calendar must be kept up to date! There were several plants I wanted to check on -- if I miss them blooming this year I have to wait til next year...Mother Nature can be so unyielding at times :)

It wasn't too bad out really. I seldom notice the heat as long as I stay away from any and all air conditioning. Sure, I was "glowing" like crazy, but it really wasn't that bad. The fact that I got photos of at least five species I didn't have photos of before made it all bearable. That, and the fact that we found a couple of orchids we didn't know we had. Plus I saw a baby stinkpot and they are just too cute (more on that tomorrow, with photos).

The real purpose of this post is to give a Swampy Salute to Mr. Bloggerific. Several days ago he suggested that I try a dryer sheet in my pocket to keep biting insects at bay. I was skeptical -- sweet scents tend to attract rather that repel all those biters and stingers. But, I was curious and decided to perform a little experiment. Thus, we set out on our flower monitoring trek today armed with dryer sheets. I put mine in my hat and my partner went without (at least initially). I monitored the number of yellowflies and horseflies swarming around his head and he monitored the number swirling about my head.

Much to my surprise, the dryer sheet did seem to help cut down on the number of nasty biters landing on me. It did not deter all of them by any means, but it did deter them somewhat -- and somewhat beats none-what any day! Needless to say, before long we were both sporting dryer sheets in our hats. Of course, they aren't exactly uniform code...but we'll worry about that later ;)

Anyway, I just wanted to thank Bloggy for a helpful suggestion -- now if only the dryer sheets worked against ticks...

I must add that the sheets do not work if you are running. When I did my workout late this afternoon I finished up with a run. The flies merely laughed at my attempts to repel them. Oh well, can't have everything.

7 comments:

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

Woo hoo! Score one for the non-nature boy!

I had only heard about bees and the sheets, but if it works a little on those Yellow Nasties, then more power to it. I need to stock up and keep them next to my mowing gloves.

(All that heat all day long...and you still went for a run?? Sheesh, are you Iron Girl or what?!)(You rock Swampy!)

swamp4me said...

My run wasn't too bad. I'm a trail runner so I was in the shade most of the time and I didn't have to contend with the heat of pavement or the fumes of cars -- makes a big difference.

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

Just like Swampy...trying to make it seem less than it is just so I don't feel all wimpy. Probably wrastlin' a gator with the hand that she's not typing with too.

Cuppa said...

Wow! Thanks for the tip. We will try the dryer sheet in our bike helmets for our next ride.

We went out on the local bike trail yesterday in the hot, humid, hazy air and it was deer fly party time out there. We pedalled along at around 20kph and when I looked over at AC, he had a kazillion deer flies swarming around his helmet, and I had them trying to bite me through my riding gloves. Sheesh! What a ride. We didn't even want to stop for a drink but we did stop to take a picture of a turtle crossing the path. AC will post it later today.

We managed a 50k ride in spite of the heat and humuidity and bugs, and yes, we were rather glowing at the end of it too. AC got a few nasty deer fly bites on his arms near the end of the ride when we were slowing down a bit, but I managed to escape bite free.

Thanks again for your wonderful blog. Even though we are on vacation, we still take time to check in and see what you have posted each day.

Jenn said...

Also not uniform code, but they should be, are these sticky tapes...

You deserve a little relief!

Rurality said...

I wonder if they work on gnats?

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

Eewwww, those deer fly patch thingies! Gross! I hope they come with a pair of tweezers for easy remmoval.