Remember to gas up on the way into Madawaska. Bancroft has best deal, the CanTire keeps the Esso hopping.
After one, or was it two? oops, 11 day of local gasoline, there are signs back up on the pumps. No gas.
Remember to gas up on the way into Madawaska. Bancroft has best deal, the CanTire keeps the Esso hopping.
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I try really, really hard to make my place easy to find. GPS is not helping...I have provided the coordinates measured in front of my front door. That should suffice. However, over the weekend 2 campers were taken for a tour in another county. Apparently there are 2 GPS systems, and they do not agree.
Please map your drive instead of relying on GPS. I cannot close the gap of faulty technology. Ah, for the old days, when a simple sentence got everyone to the door. My place is still located 2 km south of Highway 60 on Highway 523. I don't expect that to change in the near future... Those who follow GPS may take more than double the time to arrive as it should take, and may find themselves the recipients of my "Hansel and Gretel Award" for the vacationer who took the longest drive to get here, by following GPS. People don't often think of flying insects as wildlife, but they are indeed animals. Due to the unusually rainy start to the season, they are a fact of rural life at this time. The best way to enjoy yourself in the country is to be prepared.
My suggestion to keep black flies off is Vatika, an East Indian hair oil with coconut, olive, and some other things. The flies smother in it, so they cannot bite. You can find it at any East Indian grocery store, $4 for enough to last for years in your camping kit. It's good for your hair, and your skin, and will not eat the finish off a table, as do some of the OTC bug sprays. Last season I learned 2 new tricks about mosquitoes, from people who stayed here. One used beer. It worked. The other used vanilla extract. I am always looking for alternatives to the poison spray in little bottles. The other thing is to wear light coloured clothing. A white hat is always good. Leave the smelly soaps and shampoos at home. It's impossible to check today, because of the rain, but it seems that the black flies are on the run. Yesterday was lovely, and the flies were minimal. So much for the theory that it takes 5 days of hot sun to kill them off...we've had cool and rainy.
Remember the part where you are NOT supposed to put butter on a burn? Slathering yourself with lotion (most of which is scented, and will attract biting bugs) is NOT a good idea. The best cure is vinegar, plain old cheap white vinegar. It rebalances the skin's pH, and will heal a moderate sunburn overnight.
Vinegar is the camper's friend. It is a mild disinfectant, it can be used to clean wounds and scraps, to disinfect dishes, to cure sunburns, and also to heal dry skin. Try it next time you have cracked skin from your hands being in soapy water. or soil (gardening). Most times, the skin's protective mantle has been disrupted by soap and water, or earth; pH correction speeds healing, and the vinegar will not keep air from the skin as a cream will, so it can heal faster than if cream is applied. To rehydrate the skin, use aloe vera. Any cream with an oily base will slow healing. It's that time of year. Unfortunately for tourists, black flies also love beautiful weather. When it is cold or wet they don't fly. The heat brings them out of the ground, where they hide to stay cool.
They were a little ahead of schedule this year, and so some people were bothered by them on the Victoria Day weekend. I was bothered a bit by what I discovered afterward. One guest sprayed DEET on the windows of the cabin, to kill the flies that went inside with him. Black flies do not bite once they are indoors. They go to the windows, to the light, trying to escape. If they do not escape, they die when the sun goes down, unlike mosquitoes. Spraying windows with DEET is 1. unnecessary, because the flies will die anyway, and won't bite you indoors 2. harmful, because any DEET that is oversprayed on the paint or varnish eats through it. Many a piece of furniture here has been ruined due to bug dope bottles being parked upon them without being cleaned off. Paint will not stick to the surface again, so repainting is a useless exercise. 3. difficult to clean off the windows. DEET does not reduce easily (see above, about ruining furniture). 4. toxic to the person sleeping/staying in the room. I thought people came here to get away from pollution? DEET was developed for use by the American military in malarial countries. It says on the bottle not to put it on your skin, only your clothing. As skin 'eats', understand that you are ingesting this very toxic chemical. 'Overuse' can cause nerve damage. In children, it has been shown to lead to permanent brain damage (multiple studies). Even the official government information says to wash it off once you come indoors, and do not spray in an enclosed space! A much more effective bug dope is olive oil (or any other oil, pick one). Black flies smother in it; they cannot bite through it. Instead of being covered in bites at the end of the day, you will be covered in dead black flies. Olive oil, coconut oil, almond oil are all good for the hair and skin. The down side is that you will burn faster in the sun. Black flies are attracted by CO2 (your exhalation, your idling vehicle), colour (white, yellow, and khaki are least attractive, and so the best to wear in this environment), and heat (your body and vehicle). Oh, also any perfumed personal hygiene products are a HUGE attractant. Leave the smelly soaps and shampoos at home. Use ivory soap, or wash with straight baking soda instead. Wear a white hat. Black, brown, purple and navy blue are for the city at this time of year. Purple stirs up stinging insects as well, like bees and hornets. Black flies love thick dark hair. They think you are a moose! If you eat sweet foods, biting bugs will find you more attractive. The absolute worst fruit to eat during black fly season is the BANANA. It makes you irresistible to the little black monsters. If you use these simple bug management techniques, you will not only have a better time in the great outdoors, you will also save a substantial amount of money, and be healthier in the long run. You may not have side effects immediately, but with enough exposure to toxins, you may be miserable in your old age. For more info on DEET http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/chemicals/deet.htm http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa042703a.htm http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002763.htm http://www.naturalnews.com/029136_deet_toxic.html |
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February 2018
AuthorSince 1989, I have been known to many as The Red Dear. Most of the rest of humankind calls me Sandra. Categories
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