Summer love bites

Every summer since I was a tiny kid I've had the curse of being a little too likeable - to bugs. When I was a kid, I'd get bit by mosquitoes, spiders, anything that likes to suck on human blood. And the bites would swell into hard, red welts. A doctor once said I was allergic to the bites (though I guess most people and that's why we all have a reaction to them.) My bug bites, however, are enough to drive me to distract although my parents always tried to distract me by saying the bugs just loved to bite me because I'm so sweet.

Most summers I can avoid getting more than one or two bites, but some years are just plain bad. Most of these really bad years included some kind of travel. When I was a senior in college I went to Mexico - Rosarito - with some friends. We stayed at this really nice condo overlooking the beach in May. I shared a room with another girl that opened up onto a balcony. We left the doors open to the fresh air the first night. I woke up with my right eyelid swollen shut with a bug bite. For the rest of the trip, I slept with sweatpants and a long sleeved sweatshirt, with the hood pulled tight over my head so a minimal amount of skin was exposed.

Perhaps the worst was a rafting trip to King's Canyon about seven years ago. A friend invited me to go for Memorial Day weekend. I thought I was prepared with some Avon bug repellent. I applied it as well as sunscreen and thought I was ready to go. On the second day, I decided to take a shower. One of the guys brought along a solar shower, which is basically a balloon full of water that heats in the sun. It hangs from a tree and works great for a quick wash up. But in the late afternoon heat and shade, the water caused a swarm of mosquitoes to attack me. I ended up with 42 mosquito bites - I counted them. I actually felt pretty sick after that - like feverish and flu-like - and was plenty itchy. The worst part was driving home in the front cab of a truck, sandwiched in between two people who rubbed up against the bites the whole ride home. The bites were swollen and hard, and took more than a week to go away after all the irritation.

It turns out the only deterrent that works on me is straight DEET, which feels gross and which is so poisonous I'd rather avoid being outdoors during mosquito hours than use it.

Luckily, when I was in South Africa five years ago, where the mosquito bites can come with malaria, I stayed bite free. I took malarone, an anti-malaria drug, just to be on the safe side. But most of the trip was spent in the urban area of Cape Town and Johannesburg. I just needed the malarone around the time we went on safari in Kruger National Park. But since it was winter and the weather was dry there were no bugs to worry about.

This summer, I considered going on the Memorial Day rafting trip again since my trip to Denver earlier in the week was off. I knew my friend would welcome me along, even at the last minute. But I think the thought of all those mosquitoes was enough to make me stay home.

I spent some time outside in my yard barbecuing on Sunday afternoon. I brought a blanket outside on the grass and laid down with the dog for a bit. And as the weather has gotten warmer, we started leaving the glass door open and the screen door shut to let in cool air in the evening. The door doesn't close all the way since the dog broke it last summer and we just haven't gotten around to replacing it. Now I can't say exactly how it happened, but by Monday afternoon I had developed seven itchy red spots in various places on my body. One on each wrist, two on my lower right shin, two on my chest and one on my knuckle. This morning I woke up with two more - one on my back and one on my neck. I don't know whether a few bugs got into the house, or if they got me while I was outside.

I really hope this is not a sign of things to come this summer. But one thing is for sure - getting the screen door fixed is a top priority and from now on, I'll wear long sleeves when I am outdoors in the evening.