0 Watch that DEET

It’s bug time! Mosquitoes, ticks, Bees, wasps, Lyme Disease, West Nile…oh, our insect friends are creepy, all right.

In the US, there are 20,000 confirmed cases of insect-borne diseases each year.

First, you can get them before they get you. This means community spraying. In our community this means airplanes spewing poison on you.

To aid, you can dump standing water in the littlest containers in your yard and let your fish eat critters that land on your pond. Don’t let swimming pools go green—a problem with foreclosures being what they are.

Check out the CDC’s bug advice at http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2010/chapter-2/protection-against-mosquitoes-ticks-insects-arthropods.aspx. If a product contains permethrin—it’s for clothes only, not skin.

The most popular repellent—DEET—must be used cautiously. It can zonk out baby rats and make them walk funny or die.

Gulf War Syndrome may also be attributed in part to DEET.

Use below 30% concentration for adults, 10% for kids. Never use DEET on babies under age 2.

Don’t use DEET—even to spray your yard—if you take certain meds.

Outside, you can use a bug zapper, or a citronella candle.

Avon’s famous Skin so Soft that is said to gross out bugs? Some swear by it.

You can also avoid strong perfumes (bugs like those). Check for ticks when leaving the woods. Wear light-colored, loose clothes outside (no red).

Heck, stay indoors. I plan to. I have seen "Deliverance."