Mansquito

On Sunday morning I woke up early, as I seem to be prone to doing lately, and went for a jog at 8 a.m. As I left the house, the weather was cloudy, humid, and still. I like to run in a hilly neighborhood a few blocks north of my house, and to get there I walked along the edge of a large park.

By the time I felt the first bite, a few dozen mosquitoes had attached themselves to the backs of my legs, happily sucking my blood and leaving their little disease-ridden venom gifts in return. I freaked out and frantically tried to swat them off (managing to satisfactorily squish a lot of them), but more kept coming at me. I took off running and realized that a big cloud of mosquitoes was following me! It took me several blocks, a couple of right angle turns, and a lot of swatting and smushing to get rid of them. Passing drivers must have thought I was having some sort of insanity fit, flailing and running and slapping myself.

I guess that I walked through a low-hovering cloud of them somewhere along the edge of the park. It’s no surprise with all the rain we’ve been having. Every time I walk out of my house, even if it’s just to get the mail, I end up with 2 or 3 bites.

I’m itchy as all hell today.

If you notice me exhibiting flu-like symptoms in the next few weeks, alert the paramedics that I might have West Nile virus.

On a semi-related note, one of my favorite made-for-SciFi-Channel movie titles is “Mansquito!” It sounds like a terrible movie, but what an awesome title!