BUZZ OFF!

I’m getting bugged … by bugs!

I woke up this morning to find that I have received my first mosquito bite of the year. I must have been scratching it all night in my sleep because the thing is huge now. I used to be covered in them every summer as a kid (despite being sprayed with insect repellent). My grandma used to kid me that they liked me cause I had a lot of meat on my bones.

What’s weird is that I have yet to even see a mosquito this year. Now I know they are out there!

We are also seeing a ton of bees!

…and wasps! Man, they are all over!!! We have a porch off the side of the house, but it has gotten so bad that we can’t even sit out there. We have aluminum siding on the house and I keep looking to see if I can find a nest or if they are coming in and out of there, but I can’t see anything definite.

Last year, I found a nest out by an old stump that is in the back of my neighbors yard. I only found that because I was out weed whacking around it and got stung. I can’t seem to find anything by the house. I have even looked around the grass, as I know that sometimes they can build a nest in the ground. I worry about that because there are already some tunnels from the moles we had last year.

While mosquitoes, bees, and wasps are a big issue, they aren’t the biggest issue. That belongs to the unbelievable amount of gnats we have outside!!!

There are swarms everywhere! I neglected to wear my sunglasses when I cut the grass the other morning. They seemed to be flying right into my eyes constantly. They were terrible! After coming in the house, my eyes were still bothering me. I went to wash them with water, because it felt like I had some dust or dirt in them. Nope. It was a gnat. I was totally grossed out! We bought Ella a sandbox to play in and while we were out there, the gnats were swarming all over.

I’ve been looking forward to getting outside since the weather changed. However, it’s getting to the point where I don’t want to go out because of the bugs. Our yard is almost an acre, and any lawn treatment is going to cost us a fortune. I’m at a loss. I have heard every home remedy and they often conflict with each other.

Any suggestions?