Oh florida, what am I going to do with you?
Living in Florida is amazing, I absolutely love it! I’ve wanted to live here for years and I couldn’t be happier that I’m here now. I love the sun and the rain, the humidity and the heat, and the ocean especially, but there is one thing that I am battling with at the moment… and that is the No-see-ums. If you don’t know what a No-see-um is then I’m about to tell you a camper’s worst nightmare. Well maybe not their worst nightmare, but it’s gotta be close. They are these tiny, nat like bugs, that BITE! They live in tropical climates in the sand in dead air, and they call them No-see-ums because, you no see em (whoever came up with that is so clever hehe). Like I said, they are super tiny, so they struggle to fly when its windy which makes it nearly impossible for you to get bit while you’re at the beach. But in your backyard, no one is safe.
After a little bit of research, I can tell you that only the females bite because they need the protein in blood from vertebrates (this includes humans because we have spines) in order to lay healthy eggs. I can also tell you that when they bite it HURTS, it leaves a hive looking welt on your skin, and prime biting times are at dawn and dusk. I also learned from a little bit of research that the spring months are when it’s the worst because this is mating season and they need that protein! Honestly, I normally wouldn’t be complaining too much about them because you won’t get bit inside (they need moisture to survive, and AC dehumidifies the air), but we don’t have AC right now because our system needs water to operate, and we need to leave all of our windows open to get airflow or else it’ll get very stuffy, very quickly. So our windows are open pretty much 24/7 (unless it’s raining of course) and the No-see-ums basically have free will to come and go as they please. This means that we are getting eaten alive and poor Madi, they seem to like her the best! I guess she has the best tasting blood!
Mom has about had it with this flying menace, so she has come up with a temporary solution until we are back on the water. A quite fabulous solution I might add. She has fabricated her very own No-see-um screens for all of the windows and hatches in the boat! You can buy a roll of No-see-um screen (yes, it’s so bad that they made a screen specifically to keep them out) from Home Depot for $47, and fabric tape that you can buy at Hobby Lobby for $3.99/roll. And vioala! We are protected, for the most part. All that’s left is figuring out how to cover the salon sliding door with the screen so we can leave that open too!
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Thanks,
Syd