Smokecreek1
Smokecreek1
Okay guys, bugs, creepy crawlers,and flying things are all part of the "camping" experience-right! And we all have had those days when we camped in places where the mayflies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, bees or what ever were hatching, mating and are about in unusual numbers----and we all have left screen door open and they invaded the camper. So the rest of the day/night is spent killing, smashing, spraying or trying to get rid on the little buggers (white out works for painting over the bodies on the ceiling when you are done). Well here is my latest bug adventure.
I just got back from Eagle Lake (NE California), a place that can be very buggy at certain times of the year and they were out -not in bad numbers, and not really to hostile for human or dog. The weather was hot for this time of the year (in the 80's) and and cold front (supposed to be about 10-20 degrees below normal-with rain and cold nights) was due in at the end of the week-another words some more of the weird weather we have had for the last year or so . Nice day to hike and play with the dog in the lake a and sit and read or what ever-just enjoy life.
After dinner, its' getting dark, so time to get in the camper lay back on the couch , turn on the lights or lanterns and read for a while before I hit the sack. As I'm reading, I start to notice little flying things landing on and starting to crawl around on my reading lamps, and on the pages of my book. A few swats and they go away then they come back in greater numbers, they don't seem to bite and once in a while they get in my ear-they are more a bother than a problem like no-see-ums/mosquitoes are. They sort of look like small white grains of rice with wings ( something like maggots) and they are real easy to kill-just sit there and be smashed. I keep reading and more of the dang things keep landing here and there and getting in the way --- I give up and crawl up into my bunk!
I crawl in my sleeping bag and continue to read and the bugs follow me up and now they are on the ceiling too! This is getting ridiculous, so I start smashing the ones on the ceiling with my book and the ones on the lanterns and bunk with my hand---the dang things seem to be hatching for something so I get up and get out the bug spray and go to it---and again they are easy to kill. wait a minute here-where am I to sleep now with bug spay over thing, so I get a bottle of febreze fabric cleaner, open the windows and finish up. I check the bunk and the back board, sleeping mat and ceiling and kill several more groups of these things-they seem to be hatching! After a while a crawl back on my bunk and don,t see any live bugs just their bodies. I clean things up and I turn off the light, and wait -no bugs so finally I go to sleep.
Next two nights-no bugs, but see a few outside-none inside. Night three, they are back, it almost seems like a sci-fy movie, so I spend the next hour killing them with my febreze (I'm in luck though- have two cans of the stuff and a can of 409) --it almost seems they they are hatching in the space between the fabric and the ceiling and crawling out to go find so light and mate or something. I'm an expert at this now, so I kill them all, read for a while and go to sleep. In a the morning there are a whole bunch of these things on the in side of the windows.
Conclusions: Don't know, I didn't want to kill these things, but what are you supposed to do! So just carry something like febreze or 409 cleaner so you don't have to use bug spray in the camper and really ruin the night. You just can't sit in your camper all day and hide from the bugs. I know I'm going to get my cook wear and things like that out of the camper and attack it with bug spray and really try to fumigate it in case there are a few nests of them still in there. So what do you guys do to deal with these unplanned for situations? Any similar stories? I guess this is just another WTW adventure!
Smoke
I just got back from Eagle Lake (NE California), a place that can be very buggy at certain times of the year and they were out -not in bad numbers, and not really to hostile for human or dog. The weather was hot for this time of the year (in the 80's) and and cold front (supposed to be about 10-20 degrees below normal-with rain and cold nights) was due in at the end of the week-another words some more of the weird weather we have had for the last year or so . Nice day to hike and play with the dog in the lake a and sit and read or what ever-just enjoy life.
After dinner, its' getting dark, so time to get in the camper lay back on the couch , turn on the lights or lanterns and read for a while before I hit the sack. As I'm reading, I start to notice little flying things landing on and starting to crawl around on my reading lamps, and on the pages of my book. A few swats and they go away then they come back in greater numbers, they don't seem to bite and once in a while they get in my ear-they are more a bother than a problem like no-see-ums/mosquitoes are. They sort of look like small white grains of rice with wings ( something like maggots) and they are real easy to kill-just sit there and be smashed. I keep reading and more of the dang things keep landing here and there and getting in the way --- I give up and crawl up into my bunk!
I crawl in my sleeping bag and continue to read and the bugs follow me up and now they are on the ceiling too! This is getting ridiculous, so I start smashing the ones on the ceiling with my book and the ones on the lanterns and bunk with my hand---the dang things seem to be hatching for something so I get up and get out the bug spray and go to it---and again they are easy to kill. wait a minute here-where am I to sleep now with bug spay over thing, so I get a bottle of febreze fabric cleaner, open the windows and finish up. I check the bunk and the back board, sleeping mat and ceiling and kill several more groups of these things-they seem to be hatching! After a while a crawl back on my bunk and don,t see any live bugs just their bodies. I clean things up and I turn off the light, and wait -no bugs so finally I go to sleep.
Next two nights-no bugs, but see a few outside-none inside. Night three, they are back, it almost seems like a sci-fy movie, so I spend the next hour killing them with my febreze (I'm in luck though- have two cans of the stuff and a can of 409) --it almost seems they they are hatching in the space between the fabric and the ceiling and crawling out to go find so light and mate or something. I'm an expert at this now, so I kill them all, read for a while and go to sleep. In a the morning there are a whole bunch of these things on the in side of the windows.
Conclusions: Don't know, I didn't want to kill these things, but what are you supposed to do! So just carry something like febreze or 409 cleaner so you don't have to use bug spray in the camper and really ruin the night. You just can't sit in your camper all day and hide from the bugs. I know I'm going to get my cook wear and things like that out of the camper and attack it with bug spray and really try to fumigate it in case there are a few nests of them still in there. So what do you guys do to deal with these unplanned for situations? Any similar stories? I guess this is just another WTW adventure!
Smoke
