I’ve not been on a walk down on the trail in a few days. The last time I went I was turned into hamburger by mosquitos. The black flies are gone, and that’s a mercy for Archie, but not for me. They are far, far easier to keep at bay with a swaying switch cut from a drooping tree. The mosquitos are mischievious and clever. They feel almost human in their maliciousness and desire to cause discomfort. They terrorize and dungeon and I hate them. 

I thought I could go on a cold morning, but it wasn’t cold enough. Seeing the stagnant pools on either side of the trail is its own kind of discomfiture.

I’ve bought a bag of netting that I can put over my head, and Roby’s too, I think. She might fight me, but the idea of being under cover while she is not just doesn’t fly with me. The mosquitos don’t seem to favor her as much as they do me for some reason, but I’m sure with her as the only option, they’d take what they can get.

In anycase, the hat/net should be here on Thursday, and hopefully that’ll allow me to be out on the trail every day from now until snow. Then the only thing preventing me from my morning walk and Abby’s time to herself will be severe rain and deep, deep snow. The first I can solve with an umbrella, I need a larger one than what I’ve got, and some snowshoes. I have a pair of snowshoes but they’re no good.