Yesterday Russell came home from being out of town for ten days. His first comment after the precursory hug was, "You have mosquito bites all over the back of your legs! What is that about?!" My reply, "that's about smorgasbord. I'm the smorgasbord." I may claim to be a professional eater in Tokyo but the real pros are the bugs. And apparently blond meat is a delicacy.
It's official. I am definitely losing the bug war. Oh believe me it's not without a valiant fight. I went to the drug store. I stared at the shelf for twenty minutes trying to discern which products were bug repellent versus post bug attack remedy. It's really hard when everything is in Japanese. I thought they might have OFF, which I'd be able to recognize even with Japanese writing. But no such luck. They had a multitude of products with pictures of pained faces and mosquitoes. I bought several, took them home and applied them religiously. All I did was slow the little bastards down.
Russell says, "how do they get in the house". I'm thinking it's the Ranger Express. I let him out. His barking announces "all aboard!" and the bastards come riding in on the furry chariot. Speaking of fur. They never bother Russell. I'm assuming it's because they can't get past his shaggy coat. He is a hairy fellow. And I'm fur free.
Mosquitos have always preferred me for some reason. It doesn't seem to matter where we go. When we went on vacation to Key West last year I came back looking like I had the chicken pox. Plus they have those "no see-ums" there, teeny tiny little biting nightmares that you can't see. They swarmed around me like a shadow. We didn't eat outside after that. I'm never going back to Florida!
In California we don't really have bugs. Butterflies yes. The seasonal June bug which are more decorative then annoying. And the occasional mosquito. But here in Tokyo they have all kinds of mosquitos. Big ones, little ones, medium ones. And they all bite. The size of the bite varies with the mosquito so at least the red pocks on my legs have variety. The itch is the same regardless. My legs aren't the only place either. They just seem to prefer the soft, fleshy, hot area behind my knees. Plus it makes it harder to catch the little bastards in action. I have a bite under each arm. I even have a bite on my chin. Come on now! There are certain areas that should be off limits. Apparently these bugs didn't get the memo.
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