Pestilence

This week it stopped being winter and started raining. It rained every day and there was much mist and fog. Last night there was a spectacular lightning storm, we grabbed "open containers" and drove up on a hill to be thrilled by it. It's now 90 degrees with 100% humidity. There are mosquitoes everywhere, if I touch the back of my neck my fingers are bloody, my feet are swollen with bites made through my socks, the backs of my hands have enough bites that people mistake the scabs for the result of some nasty injury. I wonder how the pioneers settled this place or, indeed, any of the northern States without DEET. I'm mostly thankful that I'm not carrying logs right now.