Minnow's Guide #7: Memorial Day Weekend

It's Friday and we're onto our first three day weekend of the summer: Memorial Day Weekend. The recreational vehicles (land whales) are out in full force. Soldotna is a key destination for many of the migrating land whales. We look forward to their return every year, because when tourists come, they infuse money into our economy that helps pay for our schools, hospital, and mortgage payments. I've also met some very interesting people from all over the US who are kind and enthusiastic about being in our small town. Welcome!RVs do tend to be unwieldy. I think that the only thing that most of us would ask is that when you're driving on the highways, if you have more than five vehicles behind you, please start looking for a place to turn out and let folks pass. I have a good friend who calls this M&M season. Mosquitos and Motorhomes. The mosquitos around here are so big that they are known as the state bird. So bring your dope. Your bug dope. Otherwise known as mosquito repellent. Skip the sunscreen-bug dope combinations.

A few notes about mosquito repellents

1. Use it whenever you go outside
2. Which ones work best? DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) and Picardin (KBR 3023). Oil of lemon eucalyptus (p-menthane 3, 8 diol) is a plant based repellent.
3. Consider using clothing products which contain permethrin. I don't know if I would have my child wear this gear

How often should you apply repellents

1. Follow the directions on the product.
2. Sweating or getting wet may mean that you need to re-apply more frequently.
3. The percentage of active ingredient relates to protection time. According to the CDC: for many hours, you want > 20 % DEET. 50% DEET does NOT offer additional protection; for less than 3-4 hours, go with < 20% DEET, 7% picardin or the oil of lemon eucalyptus.

I had heard of mosquito repellent that is applied to the skin, and repellent that is applied to clothing. There's also a whole line of this put out by the clothing manufacturer Ex Officio--the repellent is put into the clothing and washes out with time. I had never thought of this, but apparently there is a research study that shows that applying permethrin to tents will reduce the number of mosquito bites. It used to be that we didn't mind a mosquito bite or two, but as the West Nile virus advances, we all want to look out.

Finally, it looks like there is an acypiperidine compound that offers longer protection than DEET, but this is not out on the market yet.

7/2/08: June was an amazing, cool month. I have only had one mosquito bite so far this summer. We have had rain, and when it has been sunny, there has been a nice cool breeze. So, despite all my warnings, the mosquito load has not been too bad here on the Kenai Peninsula. Go figure!