Nutty Weather?

[Tron]

The trees and flowers all think its spring here in New Orleans. We had to cut the grass earlier in the month...

 

[Dee_Ann]

Well the mosquitoes are back with a vengeance. Mid January and they are BAD. They are even finding their way into my house now and biting me in my sleep. I'm going to have to get a mosquito net to put over my bed I guess.
The mosquitoes normally aren't a problem here until late April or early May.

This is frickin ridiculous !!

 

[RT-Cat]

Well the mosquitoes are back with a vengeance. Mid January and they are BAD......This is frickin ridiculous !!

Mine are all dead. Laying out in the snow with their leg up in the air. Hot today,38 degrees.
.
Sound like you have a real problem there. Have you ever tried a fogger? I use mine a few times in the Spring and Summer and make sure of no standing water and it works very well.

RT.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Mine are all dead. Laying out in the snow with their leg up in the air. Hot today,38 degrees.
.
Sound like you have a real problem there. Have you ever tried a fogger? I use mine a few times in the Spring and Summer and make sure of no standing water and it works very well.

RT.

I own a fogger but the problem is, the stuff doesn't kill them, it only repels them. And that's only as long as there is zero wind. And on the Gulf Coast, there is always wind. So the fog instantly blows away and the mosquitoes just laugh at you.

There is a new breed that showed up last year that is extremely aggressive and they swarm and bite in the daytime. Daytime is new for this area. it used to be that in the daytime you could go outside and do anything you liked but at night, lookout! Now it's around the clock, 24/7... I can't use DEET, that stuff is like spraying battery acid on me, it burns like fire, I must be allergic to the stuff so I can not use any DEET products and everything now is DEET based.
I have Skin So Soft from Avon and that helps a little but it is only good for like 20 minutes then you have to put more on. And it's oil so it ruins clothes.

And there's NO WAY I'm going to consume garlic. I know if you eat enough of it it will repel mosquitoes. And every other living thing. Even asteroids and bullets. I like garlic bread but one slice is my limit.
Eat whole garlic? Not happening!

And with this hot "winter" we are having, they're back. It used to be that you could count on November through late March to mid April to be mosquito free months. No longer.
Ain't global warming wonderful? Some people like warm/hot weather. I think they are insane. I've had my air conditioner on for weeks now. It's the middle of January and I'm running my air conditioner!!

 

[Dee_Ann]

OMG.... It was slightly cool today so I opened the house for a few hours. Now my house is over run with mosquitoes! I was in the kitchen and they attacked me like killer bees!
All I could do was mix some rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle and spend half an hour stalking them down..

Of course I had to close the house because it's dark and because of the mosquitoes and it's really miserably hot in here now so I've got to turn the A/C back on tonight.

With clear skies for the rest of the week I really need to be outside tending my plants but I can't with the mosquitoes like they are..

I really hate living on the Gulf Coast for a LOT of reasons. I'm stuck here though because of family.

 

[RT-Cat]

I own a fogger but the problem is, the stuff doesn't kill them, it only repels them. And that's only as long as there is zero wind. And on the Gulf Coast, there is always wind. So the fog instantly blows away and the mosquitoes just laugh at you.

Hummm, I just Googled Burgess Fogger Insecticide (what I use) and it kills the bastards. Spray it all over the bushes, grass, etc. sticks and kills them. Maybe you use something different. Never hurt any flowers or plants.
.
Bummer about the deet problem.

I've had my air conditioner on for weeks now. It's the middle of January and I'm running my air conditioner!!

That's really a bummer!

RT.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Hummm, I just Googled Burgess Fogger Insecticide (what I use) and it kills the bastards. Spray it all over the bushes, grass, etc. sticks and kills them. Maybe you use something different. Never hurt any flowers or plants.
.
Bummer about the deet problem.

That's really a bummer!

RT.

Oh I may have to look into ordering that stuff. I used to buy whatever the junk they peddle at walmart was, I quit buying it about 7 or 8 years ago because it was cos$$$$$ting me and totally ineffective..
Besides, back then I was only home for a few weeks a year so it was very low on my priority list anyway.

Oh, and googled it and it showed a picture of the fogger I own

Killer? Nope. Not that I ever saw....

 

[papabruski]

OMG....
All I could do was mix some rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle and spend half an hour stalking them down..

How does rubbing alcohol and water affect the mosquitoes? (Seriously!)
And what is the new breed of mosquito? Is it the newly released (or about to be released), genetically modified version?


I seldom have mosquitoes at home. But I do have flies which I trap by the gallon in stinky bait jars during the summer when they are hungry.
Flies get into boxes and behind things and die on the floor and in the windows. I get shade by not washing the fly specks off the windows. This time of year, they're not quite dead, so they wander around walking in circles as if their foot was nailed to the floor. Somehow, even if the temperature has been -35*F in the shop, when I start the heater, the flies reanimate as if they've been drinking antifreeze.
There are plenty of other creepy-crawlies in the neighborhood. I try to control them with diatomaceous earth in the cracks and crevices.

 

[Dee_Ann]

How does rubbing alcohol and water affect the mosquitoes? (Seriously!)
And what is the new breed of mosquito? Is it the newly released (or about to be released), genetically modified version?


I seldom have mosquitoes at home. But I do have flies which I trap by the gallon in stinky bait jars during the summer when they are hungry.
Flies get into boxes and behind things and die on the floor and in the windows. I get shade by not washing the fly specks off the windows. This time of year, they're not quite dead, so they wander around walking in circles as if their foot was nailed to the floor. Somehow, even if the temperature has been -35*F in the shop, when I start the heater, the flies reanimate as if they've been drinking antifreeze.
There are plenty of other creepy-crawlies in the neighborhood. I try to control them with diatomaceous earth in the cracks and crevices.

Well, the rubbing alcohol is that super strong 90% stuff, it instantly dries your skin out by evaporating any oil or moisture. I'm sure it burns the bugs. I watered it down just to make it go further. It also strips the finish on wood so I have to be careful where I spray it!

This new breed is some really vicious, mean, black hearted thing from Asia that just arrived on the Gulf Coast via cargo ships this past summer. They are extremely aggressive and breed like nothing you've ever seen before.
They are so bad in the summer that you can not go outdoors without something to protect you from them. If you walk outside with bare arms (or any bare skin) they will swarm you within seconds and your arms will turn grey with the dang things.
Rick Perry slashed funding for county mosquito control so they no longer spray anymore. Years back they would spray with the trucks once a week and fly over and spray with airplanes twice a month. Last year they only did TWO aerial sprayings for the entire year and did truck spraying only 6 times last year. The people raised enough of a stink about it that the county had to make cuts in other things to get the spraying done. Used to be, the state funded it. No more..

You can't begin to imagine how bad these things are, you have to experience it. Just imagine, poking a BIG bee hive full of Africanized Honey Bees, aka Killer Bees, with a stick. You'll get torn up just as bad by the mosquitoes as you would by the bees. These things are the things of nightmares. They could make Japanese radiation horror movies about the mosquitoes here.

Seriously, they will eat you alive. And I'm allergic to them. When they bite me, I swell up like there's a golf ball under my skin and it's that way for HOURS. They get in my house when I open to door to let the dog in/out and through all sorts of other places in this old, ramshackle shack. They attack me in the kitchen, they attack me in the bathroom, they attack me in my sleep. I'll often wake up with a golf ball sized welt on my lip or my cheek and let me tell you, that HURTS...
That's why I say, I need to get a net to put over my bed now. That's gonna make watching TV a real bummer. I can't put the TV inside the net, it's on the wall. And in a few months I'm replacing it with a 72" set.

I'm really sick of these mosquitoes. This latest flare up is likely due to the really warm weather and a heavy downpour. It's been raining about once a week lately and that's all it takes to light them up.
You can just walk outside and say the word "rain" and boom! Mosquitoes infestation!

I really need to do my gardening and some dish work but dang it, there's no way with things like they are now!

 

[papabruski]

@Dee_Ann
I've got an army parachute that would probably drape your bed and help keep mosquitoes out. Seems better than wearing a headnet to bed. (Makes me chuckle just to think about it.)

 

[osu1991]

Dee

You need some frogs, they love mosquito's. Just be prepared to deal with the croaking.

 

[Dee_Ann]

@Dee_Ann
I've got an army parachute that would probably drape your bed and help keep mosquitoes out. Seems better than wearing a headnet to bed. (Makes me chuckle just to think about it.)

Actually I was thinking of something a little more dainty than an army parachute. Something along the lines of this perhaps. http://www.mosquitonets.com

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee

You need some frogs, they love mosquito's. Just be prepared to deal with the croaking.

Frogs and bats would be cool with me. I think the drought has put a big hurt on the frog population though.
I do plan to invest in a bunch of bat houses this year, I would like to place several large ones around the yard and house.
I often see bats flying around just after dark and I hear they are really good at eating mosquitoes..
And they don't scare me, they are quite good at avoiding humans and pets. At least here in Texas.
Mexico, now that's a different story..

 

[Larobpra]

Actually I was thinking of something a little more dainty than an army parachute. Something along the lines of this perhaps. http://www.mosquitonets.com

Back in 1976, I put up a camp on a piece of land my dad gave us to build a house on. It was canvas over a pole frame built on a floor deck I got out of a burned out house. We slept under mosquito netting all that summer so we wouldn't be eaten alive. Ended up buying a place instead after we found out we were having our firstborn.

 

[RT-Cat]

Oh I may have to look into ordering that stuff. I used to buy whatever the junk they peddle at walmart was, I quit buying it about 7 or 8 years ago because it was cos$$$$$ting me and totally ineffective..
Besides, back then I was only home for a few weeks a year so it was very low on my priority list anyway.

Oh, and googled it and it showed a picture of the fogger I own

Killer? Nope. Not that I ever saw....

99% of what mine looks like Dee. Also found this "dope" by a google search. Info on bottom of picture states kills skeeters....

 

[RT-Cat]

Back to nutty weather.
3 out of 4 towns/cities in Michigan broke heat records set in 1988 today. Got up to 50 degrees in Traverse City. Pixl just may have to setup the pool again in the back yard. Got to 47 at my house. A real heat wave. Took away a nice bunch of that bad snow.

 

[osu1991]

I had to open the windows today. Hit 70 here and was getting warm in the office. Supposed to stay close to 70 for 2 more days. We had 20 inches of snow on the ground last year at this time.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Dee_Ann]

I went to Walmart this morning and the gardening section is fully stocked. This normally doesn't happen until March.
In the parking lot, there were like 100 pallets of potting soil, mulch, etc.. Your standard beginning of spring time inventory. Again, months ahead of normal.

In the clothing section I noticed weeks ago that they have moved all the long sleeve and warm clothes to clearance racks and spring attire and even swim suits are on the racks now.
The swimming pool stuff is fully stocked, a LOT of months ahead of normal. They usually don't put pool stuff on the shelf until mid April as May is usually the earliest that the water warms up enough to swim.
They don't have room to put it because of Valentine stuff so they have pool stuff right next to the greeting cards and crafts sections!

All the space heaters have been moved to a clearance isle and are marked down, they want to get rid of them badly but no one needs them.
Air conditioners and fans are sitting on the shelf where space heaters were sitting last month.

Walmart is having a crisis trying to deal with having been stuck with winter items that no one wants or is buying and having to stuck spring/winter stuff at the same time.

It's been in the high 70's for weeks, I've been running the A/C around the clock and it's been raining off and on for a few weeks. The mosquitoes are EVIL. You can't go outside day or night anymore.
I've got lots of gardening I need to do but I can't. I need a flippin bee keepers outfit to go outside now. When I let the dog out to do her biz she runs on three legs because she's using one paw to swipe mosquitoes off of her eyes, they go for the soft, juicy meat of the eyes.. She normally wants to play outside for hours. Not anymore. She runs out to do her stuff then runs right back in because they eat her alive.

My yard is GREEN.. VERY green.. Everything is growing out of control. I need to mow the yard badly, it's a foot deep in grass! For all of last year the grass mostly died out and turned to barren dirt in huge patches. I only had to mow my yard about 6 times for the entire year and even then it wasn't truly necessary. But now, this was unexpected. The dog has sticks and bones all out in the yard she plays with and I mean BIG sticks, like limbs off an oak tree as big around as my leg. She's also dug up some oak tree roots as trophies and those are scattered around the yard. Before I mow I always have to walk through the yard with a wheelbarrow and pick up all her 'toys' so they don't wreck my $3,500 John Deere. But the grass grew up so fast and so suddenly that all her loot is buried in the deep grass now and I can't see it! This is NOT cool. I guess I'll have to make a pass with the blades on the highest setting and see if I can uncover all the junk then make another pass with the blades down to normal. What a giant pain!

This is the most miserable excuse of a "winter" I have ever experienced. Right now, it is 12:50am and it is 70 degrees outside and 100% humidity. It's been raining all day in waves. About every 20 minutes it will rain hard for 2-3 minutes then stop just as suddenly.

Global warming isn't real? Oh really? :tsk:

 

[Tron]

While driving around this morning, it got so hot I had to turn on the AC to full. I've never had to do that in March, much less January!

The warm temps are also causing dangerously foggy conditions on the highways.

 

[AcWxRadar]

On January 30th we hit 70 degrees once again That is twice in January now and it broke many records. I think the entire month itself was a record for this area. Supposed to get cooler and more normal (? in the mid 30's anyway) come this weekend.

RADAR