Mosquitos and me

Ohio and Indiana are reputed to be flat. I am happy to confirm that this is indeed the case. I spent most of the day on two-lane roads passing through fields of corn, Nary a mountain in sight. I suppose a lot of that corn is going to Ethanol.

By quitting time (I usually start looking for a campground around 4:00) I reached the Indiana Dunes National  Park campground. The campground was fine - heavily wooded sites with lots of privacy to help the camper maintain the illusion that one is really out on his own communing with nature. In the early evening it started raining. I don't like camping in the rain, but the mosquitoes apparently love a rainy day.
Several years ago when I was camping with a small group in Alaska, one evening we had to set up camp in a heavy rain; it was no fun, but the worst part wasn't the rain, the worst part is that we were set upon by a drove (flock?fleet?) of mosquitoes. They were hungry, fierce, and tenacious; they gave no quarter. A generous dousing with Deet helped most of us to survive, but the only ones who really escaped were wearing special clothing which included a screened helmet which covered the face and shoulders.
This campground was the worst I've seen since then.The mosquitoes were no less hungry, fierce and tenacious than their Alaskan "cousins". They only seemed encouraged by the rain and by this good source of meat (that would be me) to meet their dietary requirements of a little blood every day.

Mosquitoes: Part One
It's not the blood I begrudge them
After all, I've given more blood to the Red Cross
in 15 minutes
Than to all the mosquitoes
Who have ever dipped their pointy probosci
Into my apparently tasty blood
It's a matter of principle
I like to think of myself
At the top of the food chain
I eat other animals
They don't eat me
I don't take kindly to their advances
I am not one to just wave them away
In the vain hope
That they won't return
Although I am a gentle person
(I have been known
to pick up a wayward beetle
Who inadvertently found his way
into my house
And set him down gently out-of-doors)
It is with a certain sense of regret
that I kill the ants
who sometimes invade my kitchen
Out-of-doors I let them alone
We each have our own lives to live
But mosquitoes are different
SLAP
I miss three times out of four
But I am no less tenacious, fierce, and determined
than they
And the satisfaction
That comes from a successful
SLAP
Of seeing the small winged enemy
Squashed on my fingers
Of knowing that this particular individual
will never buzz my way
again
Makes it all worthwhile
Of course I know that my efforts
are basically futile
and useless
There are hundreds of mosquitoes
And if I kill ten
What difference does it make?
Still, it is something
It is a matter of principle

Mosquitoes: Part Two (In my tent)
(Spontaneous Generation: a theory, now discredited,
that life can occur spontaneously)

These mosquitoes are forcing me
To reconsider my position
on Spontaneous Generation
A theory that scientists
long ago discredited
At least to their own satisfaction
But consider this:
Last night there were three mosquitoes
who had lodged themselves in my tent
prior to or concurrent with
my arrival
I was aware of their presence
Nevertheless
I zipped the tent door shut
It was pointless to leave it open
and try to shoo out my visitors
You will note please
That I refer to them as visitors
Not guests
More would have entered than departed
Welcomed by the three early arrivals
"Come on in,"they would buZz
There's enough warm blood here
for all of us"
So I accepted the challenge
Hand to wing combat at close quarters
My flashlite followed the three
They were of different sizes
So I could distinguish them
I could have given them names
Had we been on friendlier terms
As it was I only gave them a hand
actually two hands in the form of a
SLAP
creating a sort of sandwich
If you will
Only hold
the bacon lettuce and tomato
Just a dead mosquito
if you please
Mostly I missed
SLAP
but eventually I got all three
flattened beyond all recognition
Even their mothers wouldn't know them
My tent was mosquito-free at last
This plastic tent was my castle
Mine and mine alone
But wait!
What is that I see
hovering
near the top of my tent
There can be no doubt
MOSQUITO
From where could she have come?
But this was no time
to ponder biological theories
With a sigh
SLAP
I did
what needed to be done
Weary,
but certainly mosquito-free at last,
I was about
to lay me down
But wait!
That spot on the side of my tent
Could it be
MOSQUITO
I was really irritated now
This was Indecent
Unfair
I   had won the battle
Where there were three mosquitoes
I had even killed four
(one for good luck?)
Why couldn't they have the decency
To just concede
And leave me alone
I yearned now just for sleep
but as it says in the Bible
"It's no fun
To leave a job half-done"
I bowed to necessity
It took a few tries
SLAP
but the result
was the same
and now I was
at last alone
I hoped
I played my flashlite
up and down
back and forth
I saw nothing
I listened for that awful buZz
I heard nothing
I turned off the lite
and tucked myself in
It was not until
two hours later
that I heard the buzzing at my ear
I was loathe to gird myself again
for battle
I only wanted to sleep
I would settle for a truce
Live and let live
That was my new philosophy
No buzZing  -  No SLAPPING
In the morning
I would open the tent and we would exit together
Survivors both
Unbitten and unsquashed
She could go where she pleased
It was no good
the buZz was back
Do mosquitoes also have
a sense of honor
or just a good appetite
eventually,
I dispatched her as well
But I took no joy in it
I was too weary for that
and I knew that in the morning
Sometime between the oatmeal
And the folding up of my tent
I would have to reconsider
my position
on Spontaneous Generation.