Stacking wood at the wrong time

[Backwoods Savage]

I could hardly believe what was happening last night. I went out to stack a little wood around 7:00 or so last evening. The weather felt more like July rather than April. So here I am stacking wood and sweat running down.....and bugs! Black flies and mosquitoes! Normal around here is black flies in late April and mosquitoes anywhere from about May 10 -20. But they were all over the place. Then I had to remove my shirt so I was down to my t-shirt and still sweat. Amazing thing to have this happen in late evening of April 1.

This experience made me check the refill situation for the Thermacell unit! Never this early has this happened. I wonder what this says about the coming summer. I say it will be a hot one. Yes, last year a cool summer; this year a hot one.

 

[smokinj]

Same here its going to be 85 today a record high temp for us and the have posted no fires! WHAT!

 

[LLigetfa]

It is unseasonably warm here too but the frost is still coming out of the ground so no way would I be stacking this time of year as the pile would likely topple. So far we've only seen a few moths but no skeeters or blackflies. Time to put up the window screens.

 

[quads]

The mosquitoes and flies are coming out here already too. We had 84° yesterday!

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm hoping for a nice, dry hot summer . . . it will be nice to use the pool and have a garden that actually produces some good crops.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Speaking of frost, around here they lifted the seasonal load restrictions this week. I do not ever recall them being lifted this early.

 

[smokinj]

I have a 21x21 concrete slab its almost stack the whole slab

 

[CJRages]

Same here its going to be 85 today a record high temp for us and the have posted no fires! WHAT!

Missouri's capital - Jefferson City hit record highs Mar 31 at 88 degrees (F). We have had fire warnings this week due to high winds and low RH of 20%-30%.
All of the sudden it's summer! Two weeks ago today the western half of MO received 4-10 in of snow in a single day.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Our mosquitoes just came out as well, although it's more normal for this area. These are little sissy mosquitoes though, nothing like the MI variety.

I gather even the UP topped 70. Hope it dries everything up there early and stays that way all summer. Last summer up there was cold and wet and the worst bugs I've ever seen.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Disco, I do know that Newberry had mid 70's as did Ironwood but I think that was the highs there.


Fire warnings are also in MIchigan.

 

[Uper]

My wife and I drove up to the UP from Brighton yesterday. We took Hwy. 10 over through Midland and on to 127 north. The car thermometer was reading as high as 84 degrees south of Houghton Lake. It slowly lowered into the 70's (7:30 P.M.) around Gaylord. About 30 miles north of Gaylord it dropped from 71 down to 61 in less than 5 miles. When we were on the Bridge it dropped as far as 43. As we got north, up Hwy.123 it got back up to 53 before we arrived home. It was quite the temperature differentials. We couldn't believe it was April 1 and we were seeing 84 degrees in northern Michigan. Hopefully the drier weather lowers the insects this year. We need rain and could get some tomorrow. It will still probably snow opening day in Detroit!

 

[billb3]

I'm hoping all the mosquitoes drowned and got carried away in the floods .

Seems like a warm start at Spring always brings us a cold start to Summer.
I'd rather have a nice warm Decoration l day weekend.

 

[ohio woodburner]

It will still probably snow opening day in Detroit!

Nah the sun will be shining..... they traded Robertson :coolsmirk:

 

[rdust]

Nah the sun will be shining..... they traded Robertson :coolsmirk:

If by traded you mean they gave him to another team, paid most of his 10 Million dollar salary and received a prospect in return, then yes they traded him. :lol:

 

[Archer39]

i hear ya, i was sweating yesterday when i was finishing up my stacking.

 

[LLigetfa]

HA, I spoke too soon. The skeeters were out in force today.

 

[PapaDave]

HA, I spoke too soon. The skeeters were out in force today.

Skeeters, and flies, and .................nightcrawlers. Had the dogs out for the late night duty call, turned on the flashlight and they were EVERYWHERE. Well, there were a lot anyway.
Glad I had the mocs on.

 

[Tony H]

HA, I spoke too soon. The skeeters were out in force today.

Got em out here also my daughter got 6 bites yesterday and we were only out until 6pm ! I think they are going to be thick this year

 

[ikessky]

I'm hoping we get a couple good hard frosts yet so that some of the mosquitoes get froze out. Doubt it will happen though. The ten day forecast is calling for lows in the 30s.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Get the Thermacells out and the skeeters go away.

 

[PapaDave]

Get the Thermacells out and the skeeters go away.

Pretty inexpensive, Dennis, but how long does a cartridge last? Might have to pick up a couple of those.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Dave, we usually buy one refill pack (4 refills) per year.

Each cartridge lasts 12 hours. You get 3 mats with each cartridge that so each one will last 4 hours.


These things are fantastic!

 

[DiscoInferno]

I've always ignored things like that assuming that anything strong enough to really deter the UP state bird would probably be too toxic to be legal. Are you telling me I can take one into my woods on a cool june day without covering myself in DEET and not get eaten alive? Even with a hot saw laying down a yummy CO2-rich exhaust trail? If so, you've made a sale.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Disco, let me give you a story and some examples: Several years ago when we had a terrible infestation of the skeeters you could hardly stand to be outdoors. One day I stopped in to the sport shop for something and the lady at the counter and I was making small talk when the subject of skeeters came up. Immediately she told me I needed a Thermacell. Naturally, I figured it was just a sales pitch for them to get more sales. But she told me of her father who likes to work outdoors but couldn't stand it that year. Long story short, I bought one.

The first real test was for my wife picking strawberries. My wife gets down on her knees to pick berries and peas and beans. Well, the strawberries needed picking so she took the Thermacell with her. She laid it on the ground beside her, then as she moved down the row she just moved the Themracell. Bingo! She could roll up her sleeves and uncover her head. She no longer needed that netting.

The following year I was really behind and was stacking wood in May. Wouldn't you know, the temperature soared and more skeeters hatched and most of them found me for their food. Which begs the question, what do they feed on when there's no people around? Anyway, it was a hot muggy day, the worst kind. I got the Thermacell and just laid it on the ground by the woodpile. I even took off my shirt. I never got bit once and didn't even see any skeeters! That made me a believer for sure.

Last year I agreed to let a fellow bow hunt in some of our woods. He came out in June to look around. We had to drive there and when we got out of the car, I got the Thermacell out and had brought a second one for him. But, he said he was okay with the DEET and other stuff he had. I walked around with a t-shirt on and never got bit. About half way through he had to stop and re-apply his skeeter dope. Needless to say, he got bit....and he then was interested in one of these things for himself.

There can be a little smell to one but extremely little. Same with smoke. You rarely see any but when a new pad is slipped in sometimes you do see a slight whiff of smoke. I would not use them indoors, but then, you usually don't need them indoors.

I do not feel they are expensive but if they cost twice what they do not, I'd still have a couple of them. They also make a larger one for when people want to sit on the patio but the little ones seem to work for that as they give you a decent range of coverage.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Frankly, I don't care if it smells like dog farts if it works. Has to be better than DEET. Looks like they have them at Home Depot, will have to pick one or two units up next trip. They sell the same or related chemicals (pyrethroids) for spraying with a hose, but having tried that around our house a couple of times I'd say it's not an effective delivery system for mosquitoes.

BTW, when we're not around mosquitoes bite other mammals and birds. Hence birds are an indicator for West Nile virus.