Exactly two years ago to the day, I wrote a little ditty about the mosquito.

We had just returned from a camping trip to Sly Park and had been completely devoured by these prehistoric blood suckers. As you recently read, we just got back from another camping trip, this one up in Napa Valley. And once again, I am still discovering mosquito bites all over my body.

Coincidentally, I was looking through the archives and discovered this post, so here I present the deliciously updated version.

I’d like to start off with telling you how much I hate the mosquito - they are unspeakably wicked.

I hate the sound they make when they are near my ear - that high pitched, whining, buzzing, irritating noise that says, “I’m getting close to your ear lobe, and when I get there, boy am I going to have a feast!” (and yes, I am one of the lucky people over the age of 21 who can still hear this super-ultra-hyper-sonic sound)

I hate the pain caused when they puncture my skin. Usually they have already flown away, full of my rum-filled-blood, by the time I realize they were there so it’s rare that I am able to murder one and prevent future bites, but I do try.

I hate the red bumpy lump that swells up post-puncture. I swell like I’ve had an allergic reaction. It’s like every blood cell in my body rushes to the point of puncture giving me a second head on my neck or a second arm coming out of one of my others…it’s crazy wild swelling.

I hate the itch. You may not know, but in the animal kingdom the sensation of itch is so difficult to withstand that animals will scratch themselves until they bleed, because pain is preferable to the itch. Who knew? Me.

So…exactly two years ago today, David, Scott, Roque, and I went to Sly Park for a camping getaway. We’ve done this several times before, and always enjoy a relaxing weekend amongst the trees and the water. Our last trip to Sly Park was actually in the midst of huge fires in the Sierra’s, and the entire place was covered in smoke, until the rain came, and completely washed it away (including us). Packing up in the rain, $2.00…having lunch at Mel’s Diner, while still dripping wet…priceless.

This time, however, there was no rain. We had grand weather all weekend, especially for our hike back to a beautiful waterfall created by a drainage system owned by the US Bureau of Water Reclamation. The weather stayed within the 80’s during the day, and in the 50’s at night…thankfully we have a large tent that provided adequate protection from the elements. Unfortunately not from the crazy people driving around blasting their stereo systems…and it wasn’t even good music!

Anyhoo…mosquitos. They were out in FORCE this weekend. Despite three citronella spirals burning, a raging fire producing anti-mosquito smoke, and a recently purchased insect repellent spray…we were attacked mercilessly. I think we determined that the spray actually attracted the insects instead of sending them flying away…however, it did have a nice scent and had aloe to moisturize our recently swollen skin.

All in all, a wonderful time of hiking, rafting, and drinking was had by all. If you are in the greater-Sacramento area, Sly Park is just a quick 45 minute drive up into the foothills, and despite the mosquito infestation, is a nice relaxing place to spend a weekend.

* Mosquito image from Wikimedia CC license.

This past weekend David and I, and several other friends, went camping. It was our first camping trip of the year, which is in and of itself rather tragic.

Usually we’ve been camping a number of times by June, but for some reason we just haven’t gotten into the groove in 2008.

Scott found a campground about 2 hours away, right in the midst of Napa Valley, that offered a refreshing and relaxing venue for camping. The place was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and offered a creek-fed swimming pool, hottub, full showers/bathroom facilities, and meals. Aside from that you were pretty much on your own to provide entertainment.

We spent a lot of the time playing Catch Phrase, which is a very addictive electronic game where you try to get people to guess the word on the screen without saying any parts of the word. But back to camping…

Here are some photos of the place so you can see the layout and just how much nature we experienced, including an incredibly terrifying snake, and about a hundred million really cool lizards.

It is worth noting that I almost stepped directly onto the snake before I happened to look down at my feet and screamed. David actually had the nerve to touch the snake, at which point it curled up and slapped its tail against the ground over and over again - I’m thinking it was pretending to be a rattlesnake. Had we been on the islands, it might have been a Leopard Snake, which pretends to be a rattler to get away from prey.

The little lizard was more tame and actually let me get just a few inches away from it before scampering off into the brush. Very interesting markings on it too…nature can be pretty cool when it’s not deadly :-).

Finally we end with an allergic reaction, which you will not see a photograph of. When we got home, my right earlobe swelled to about 4 or 5 times the size of normal. The right side of my face was flaming hot, and the swelling lasted for over 6 hours, despite my intake of loratadine and application of topical benadryl to my ear. It was pretty freaky and I did not take a picture of it.

And now it’s back to the grind of work. I am, however, looking forward to the next camping trip, which will likely be up to Sly Park where we usually go. Have a great day everyone!

Once again, I’m off in an exotic location - Oregon. As I discovered last week while in Arizona, I like the show called Bones. It’s a forensic show about analyzing bones and bone fragments to figure out crimes.

Before I got back to the hotel after dinner, I stopped by Albertsons and picked up some ice cream, Bacardi Silver pomegranate mojito, and sundries. I was expecting that So You Think You Can Dance would be on, but I was wrong. Instead, it was Bones, which I can deal with. But little did I know what I was in for.

Bones is dealing with a guy who was killed while at a fetish retreat…for people who like to pretend they are horses. That’s right, horses. Like wearing a bit, eating from a trough, and all that stuff. This is a fetish I have NEVER heard of before, but they went there.

So I’m sitting here eating Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Chunk, learning about this fetish, and trying to solve the mystery of the death of Mr. Ed. Wish me luck.

If you’d like to learn more about this fetish, here’s a site: The Human Equine

This weekend we were treated to the births of hundreds of Praying Mantis’. We have egg sacks all over the back yard, but this was the first time we had actually seen the birthing process in progress.

Starting at about mid-morning, the mantis’ burst forth from their birthing chamber and took over the cabana. Here you can see the ones that stuck around near their home for the past several months.

While it may look like there are a lot of little critters coming out of that small egg container - this isn’t even the half of it. All across the beam of the cabana we counted approximately 120 new baby mantis’. Within about 4 hours, they had all but scattered and only a few remained close to home.

This morning, there isn’t a single mantis inside the cabana. They made their way to the various plants around the yard, climbing up on the grape vines, sneaking their way underneath the basil and rosemary, and generally hanging upside down under any leaf they can find.

We’re very excited to see what happens with them this year - last year we had quite a number of large and beautiful creatures in the yard. As you can see here, the male and female are in the midst of creating a new batch of kids…

Isn’t nature magnificent

Let’s all bow our heads in prayer.

You may have read/heard lately about the new black - the darkest material every created, so far.

Here I present to you - the new black. Enjoy!

This is part of Heath’s Did You Know? series of posts.

Gardeners - did you know that you can cause problems in your home if you cut Iris blooms and use them in floral arrangements?

Why is this? Because when an Iris bloom is cut from the plant, within 48 hours it will begin to liquefy. That’s right. Liquefy.

Here I present reference image 1.

As you can see, the Iris bloom has begun to melt, and is dripping down the green needles from another plant in the vase. Think of this liquid as all-natural purple food colouring. Everything in its path will turn purple, and even bleach has a difficult time removing the stain as evidenced in reference image 2.

Here you will note the purple staining on the fireplace mantle. Even after a treatment of bleaching product, the dark purple stain remains in the wood.

Please be cautious if you have Irises growing in your garden, and I recommend you leave them where they are and choose something else for your home floral arrangements.

Cheers!

We are having a hot mess of a storm here in the Sacramento area.

They are saying we are having the worst winds in 10 years. Already, our huge butterfly bush in the back yard has tipped over almost into the pond. I’ve got it braced with a chair, but the root ball is up and out of the ground.

Miraculously, the power hasn’t gone out yet…but who knows. This storm is supposed to stick around for a few day. What a joy :-).

Anyway - safe wishes to those of you in storm areas, especially in the Sierra’s where they are calling for 10 feet of snow to dump today.