Mosquitos & No-See-Ums

They are horrible creatures! And they are everywhere. When we go out to the car, they are waiting for us. When we come home, they have brought their friends too. You've heard it said that everything is bigger in Alaska, right? Well, that includes the bugs. I've never seen mosquitoes so big. In fact, we have what we have lovingly called the mosquito highway, just outside the back windows. Seriously, it's like those old futuristic highways from Back to the Future. You can sit there and watch as thousands of them fly, in a perfectly straight line, down their own sky highway. And the no-see-ums, well, we haven't seen any, that's how they got their name. That is, until they are biting us. Mosquitoes leave small, swollen bumps when they bite. No-see-ums leave flat, red spots. And they both itch like crazy! I try to tell the kids to not itch them, and the itch will go away. But they don't believe me. Fortunately, the bug population seems to be getting smaller. I'm sure that's because they're squished all over the walls in the house and the windows in the car!





Not sure if you can see these, but i've got about 12 little no-see-um bites on my hand. While we fish, they bite the hand that holds the pole







Caleb got several on his hand too







They also land on the bill of my hat, then crawl over and bite my forehead. I have the record with about 16 bites on my head at one time.









Here's a mosquito we somehow killed without squishing it all over the wall







the boys modeling the latest fashion in mosquito net head apparel