Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Mosquitoes Versus Dragonflies. The Battle is On!

There's been one topic plaguing my mind for quite some time now.

Mosquitoes.





While I love most bugs, I draw the line with those menacing little creatures that always manage to turn my skin into a bunch of itchy, bumpy, red nastiness.  No matter what I do, I can't avoid being bitten.  There's something about my body chemistry that causes mosquitoes to crowd each other hoping to get to me first.

You may think I'm exaggerating.  I really wish I was.  You see, I'm the perfect mosquito control device.  Set me in your vicinity, and mosquitoes will leave you alone, making a beeline for me, instead.  As you can imagine, people love being near me at dusk during mosquito season.

I've finally found somebody that attracts mosquitoes with the same magnificence that I do.  This should make me happy, since it means I have somebody to share the pain with. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't.  Because this person is my daughter.

Figures, right?

So I have to do some mosquito control in my garden.  There are plenty of things that eat mosquitoes - birds, bats, dragonflies, etc.  Dragonflies are the most ravenous predators in that list.  They eat hundreds of insects per day, and that means added protection from mosquitoes.

Problem:  There are no plants that attract dragonflies.

This means that I need to have a pond.  Dragonflies are attracted to water

...just like mosquitoes.  Lucky me!

Fortunately, mosquitoes won't breed in water unless it's stagnant.  Dragonflies, on the other hand, will happily fly about when sprinkler systems are turned on.  They like running water.  Bonus!

It looks like I'll be building a small pond or bird fountain.  Time to look around and see what I can find!

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