SWARM

I thought the bugs were bad in Georgia, but I was HORRIBLY WRONG! 

You see, here in Wyoming, the bugs are bigger, faster, and more determined to suck every drop of blood out of you. They don't just hang out near water sources...they follow you up into the high desert and sagebrush. The mosquitoes are about the size of my pinky nail and they REALLY hurt when they bite you. The flies are house flies on steroids and are lightning fast. And the mayflies....are just annoying. They're ubiquitous. It's disturbing to feel something crawling on your neck, think it's a mosquito, slap it, and feel something wriggling under your fingers.

                          

There are methods we are implementing to avoid being eaten alive. One is using copious amounts of bug spray. I'm not talking about the baby bug spray that smells nice...no, we're using Repel with 29% DEET for OUTDOORSMEN. This is the stuff that kills the enviromnment and causes cancer. Wonderful stuff (and I'm being dead serious). Another is running away. That doesn't work all of the time. The mosquitoes and flies just follow us onto the raft and we have to use our hats to shoo them away. I will admit, trying to smack the flies is fun. I'm working on my mid-air strike and my hand speed. I got one in midair today. The third way that I personally avoid the bugs is by wearing a bandana over my face and ears like a bandit. No part of my face is showing which means that the mosquitoes can't get to my face or ears (the ears are the worst because the noise they make drives me absolutely insane). I figured that out today, and I'm going to be wearing a bandana for the rest of the summer. I look totally legit.


Other than being eaten alive, field work is going well. One of Brady's friends is coming up the 25th through the 31st, so I'll have that time off. And since I have such a huge chunk of time off, I'M GOING TO YELLOWSTONE AND GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARKS! Yep, going to make the road trip there with another intern here at the refuge. Her name is Andrea. She's a Senior studying all kinds of stuff (all going towards Wildlife biology) from California and is pretty cool. We've been planning out the trip and will hopefully reserve our campsites within the next couple days. IT'S GOING TO BE LEGENDARY!