I have probably drawn more cartoons about mosquitoes than any other subject. The reason for that because we live in a wet jungly part of the Robson Valley, and are plagued by the pesky insects every spring, and in some years they can be intolerable even into the summer. I had high hopes for this year. All of our snow melted very early, so I was hoping that all the mosquito breeding pools would dry up before it got to warm. Unfortunately this didn’t happen.
Those pools filled up with the snow melt, and then we got lots of rain which kept them topped up. I had some mosquito larvicide left over from last year. That is bacteria granules that can be sprinkled into pools of water. The bacteria gets inside the guts of mosquito larvae and kills it, without harming other creatures. I spread the larvicide around all the swampy areas until I ran out of the stuff.
McBride’s hardware store didn’t have any in stock, and so I ordered some, but it was back ordered. It finally came in a couple of days ago and so I re-visited all the breeding spots I knew, hacking myself through the tangle of vegetation that explodes every spring in our corner of BC.
I was quite surprised at how much water is still out there in the bush, even though it is very dry. ( I have had to water my garden a couple of times.) One of the problems around my house is the heavy clay soil. The water accumulates in the depressions where it can’t drain off, then the clay prevents it from soaking in, so the water just sits there as an invitation to all the mosquitoes, until it eventually evaporates.
The photo shows one big swampy pool that is a major source of mosquitoes close to our house, but on the neighboring property.
You can view my paintings at: www.davidmarchant.ca
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