Hope yet for Canada
 

New research gives me hope that Canada could yet become a far more pleasant place to call home....


Is it just me or are the mozzies just awful this year; huge, hungry and more numerous than usual?

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

iaink...they are terrible this year, and neither my husband or I can ever remember being bitten so badly. Colleagues tell me that it's the same every year if there is a long winter, and short spring....will the irritating vestiges of this winter never go away...just when you think you are finally free of it...it comes back to, literally, bite you in the bum:sneaky:

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Since I am yet to see one this year I am going to go ahead and say no.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

We went to my cousin's for a barbecue on Saturday evening.

We all got eaten alive. It was completely ridiculous. The OFF will be applied more liberally than normal this year. *shudder*

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Completely agree. Kept inside this lunchtime by some really ginormous ones. Not sure I've got any blood left. Haven't found any repellent that seems to help much, long sleeves etc make no difference.

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Yup. Round here they've been much more in evidence than usual. Big hungry MoFo's as well.

I was at a Cub camp last weekend just outside Milton, everyone got absolutely bitten to pieces despite gallons of mozzie spray everywhere. Somehow the message of "keep your tent zipped up at all times otherwise the mosquitoes will get in and lie in wait for you" didn't get through to a bunch of overexcited boys - what a surprise! Most of the adults were OK, but some of the kids were absolutely covered in bites on the Saturday morning.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Where is your cousin's place? I ask because, like colchar, we don't have any (yet?).

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Glad to hear the restraining order has been lifted:lol::p

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Nar mozzies here on The Rock. The blackflies make up for it though....

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Burlington

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Hopefully the guardian's Jessica Valenti won't see it or there'll be hell to pay. :sneaky:

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

:fingerscrossed: Not been bothered here either yet.

We did get swarmed, devoured & run off a mountain by effing black flies last week. But that's par for the course/our fault for being up the darn mountain in "spring"...
S

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

None on the Island unless you're in the bush.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

I have some DEET no longer needed....
can post it on if you need it :)

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

you jest, but... Scouts Canada are absolutely paranoid about "propriety" - for good reason, frankly, given all the very unpleasant recent history of abuse.

It becomes a bit idiotic at times, though: a leader is not allowed to be in sole charge of a cub (except his own children) in any circumstances. That has some annoying implications. For example, this weekend, one of the cubs in my pack lives with his (single) mother and his elder brother. The brother is old enough to be responsible for him at home, but not old enough to drive. The mother works in a veterinary surgery and is often at work until 9.30 or so in the evening. Neither my co-leader nor I (who both live round the corner from this kid, who is in the same class as both of our boys) were "allowed" to offer to give him a ride to cub camp.

But it was quite alright for us to call another boy's father, who lives a bit further away, to ask if he'd be able to give him a lift, which he was happy to offer. This dad, of course, has no police check or vulnerable sector screen or whatever. But because he's not in Scout uniform, nobody bats an eyelid. Silly, really, but rules is rules and it's more than my job's worth etc etc etc...

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

No mosquitos here in Vancouver. The cradles make up for it though....

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Little sods are making up for lost time here :sneaky:
And they are definitely huge - I swear to god the one that munched on my arm last night winked at me before she flew off
As for the GM Mozzies - in theory it sounds good but trying to artificially control the population of a species can lead to all sorts of unexpected consequences. And some other nastier pest will probably step up to fill in the gap.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Evil, evil buggers.

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Yes got to agree, my 6th summer in Canada and the skeeters are by far the worst I have ever know them to be. Everyone at work seems to be saying the same thing too!

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

I just finished talking to a mate who'd been camping up north BC somewhere and has come back covered in mosquitos stings. He said they were everywhere but according to him "that's camping." No it naffing isn't. Camping is sitting outside your caravan or campervan eating fish and chips overlooking the seaside before you all head down the local pub. :thumbup:

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Same here. I haven't seen any yet this year, but usually don't see them until mid summer, so still a bit early based on previous years.

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Similar for me. Just a few flying around when we've been sitting outside in Guelph and Hamilton in the last few days. Certainly not swarming just yet.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Not swarming here but they are around and they are savage bastards. I don't normally get bit. I've had some beauties this year!

<Tries hard to not imagine Oakvillian in shorts. Fails>

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

It has been raining a lot in Regina so I would have thought there were lots. I have only seen one. It was on my car windshield and I squashed it with my fist.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

A few bites at the golf courses.

I learned a long time ago not to put aftershave or perfume on when patio drinking during the summer in this city as you attract the darn things.

Perhaps the huge storm due to hit this evening will wipe a few out.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

They could be drowning here, but I suspect that its ultimately just going to give them more places to breed:thumbdown:

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Your addled brain is mixing up mozzies and Hooters girls.

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Yep, that was my thought as well. Blerg!

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

You have to decide between the two?

I'm hoping you wander around golf courses to play golf!

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

From what Ive seen on local courses, the golf is often secondary to the beer consumption.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Can't say I've noticed them that much, I'd say there are less than usual if anything.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Thank the city spray crews that have been killing them in larval stage. They've really been on top of it this year. I've been fishing out near Craven all week and there are tons, also many many woodticks and little noseeums that can bite right through jeans.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

We were sitting in our backyard last night with neighbours, and the mosquitoes were out in full force, even with three citronella candles lit around us. Also, what the hell, they are GIANT this year! And will happily stab right through your clothing too. I only lasted about 15 minutes outside, but my parents were out way longer... So far I haven't noticed any bites, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

As a city dweller I move from one hermetically sealed environment to the next.
I am ok with this

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Honestly,

"The bugs are bigger/more of them this year!" - No there aren't

"The TV is worse!" - No it isn't

"Everything costs more!" - No it doesn't

"The utilities are way higher!" - No they aren't

"The taxes are higher!" - No they aren't

"There's more crime!" - No there's not

"The shops aren't as good." - Yes they are

"It's boring!" - No it's not


I believe I have identified a new psychological condition that I'm going to term: "EWW" which is short for: "Ex-pat Whinging Withdrawal", essentially a condition whereby a person cannot come to terms with the fact they no longer have much to complain about.

The only thing Canadians actually complain about a lot imx are that their hockey team never wins, their cellphone bill is really high, how crap the postal service is and the weather. Oh, and Québec occasionally.

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I'm sorry but what's your point?

You think the bolded bit doesn't prove beyond all reasonable doubt, once and for all, that Canada is boring?

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Two things here. One is that if you have previously had wimpy mosquitoes that ran at the whiff of citronella you have had it easy.

Secondly, it isn't nice to lock your parents outside as a lure for the mossies.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

He is right on a couple of things. Cellphone bills are usurious and Canada Post is dismal.

At least Canada has proper weather. There is some proper weather happening right now. I don't mind that. It'll save me from getting a fine from the city for watering my garden.

At least the Cup should be over tonight. The Kings are 3-1 up in the series and playing at home. Then we can get back into the important stuff of the trading season. I have a bet on with one of my neighbours about who the next captain of the Habs will be.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

First para: Yes, those were part of the bolded bit.

Second para: Are you telling me that it is a-raining in Hull? I've already heard that on my shortwave radio.

Third para: Get a (non-Canadian) life.

Re: Hope yet for Canada
 

Which Hull are you talking about?

I do not have much of a life at the moment. Souvette has been away for a week fixing up a house we just bought and will be away for another week before coming home briefly and then pushing off again. I don't really have any friends to talk to.

All I'm doing is working, sleeping, drinking beer and watching hockey, which is now over.