black fly fever week!

it happens every june...we start getting closer to summer and less like spring.

and like idiots we strip down to nothing and go running around the yard.

 we do our chores, water the greenhouse, water the garden and for the first 3 days we don't even really notice the black fly bites. and we think - hey maybe this year we'll become immune to them!

and then i run around and take pictures and stuff. this is the first year that the red finches haven't eaten all of our apple blossoms - they only ate the back half of the tree.

who knows? this year we might get an apple.

anyway, then we sit out in our loungers buck naked, look at the back of our crazy little manor and get sunstroked by day number 4.

we go in and have a nap and then wake up with the black fly fever! ugh! it's awful!

so the next day we put on DEET which we hate! we hate putting that stuff on! jambaloney is ok in his bug suit but i get claustrophobic in those things! because we hate the deet, we never put enough on. and then we still get bit!

jambaloney has been working on his contract daily, his normal chores and building the 2nd greenhouse. i have been doing more planting and have actually planted some flowers - woohoo! and we get bit. and bit. and bit. and bit.

and then the fever really hits! it gets in your muscles, your joints, your bones, your fingernails and even your hair hurts! we have been taking it easy this past few days, eating good food and sitting in our comfy chairs talking about how next year we aren't going to let ourselves get sick from bug bites next year. ya, right!

but we are least smart enough to know that when you are sick like that - you need really good food!

that's a portabello mushroom stuffed with lobster, old cheddar and a sprinkle of parmesan grilled on the bbq, with grilled asparagus and grilled sweet potato. and some deeelishous watermelon!

this is my version of korean japchae - potatoe starch noodles, cabbage, brussel sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and pak choi.

i make a killer sauce for the japchae - soy, sesame oil, a ton of garlic, a ton of ginger, turmeric, cumin and cayenne. japchae is delicious eaten hot or cold. we love it!

and some shrimp pasanda with jambaloney's jasmine rice.



i make a pretty spicy pasanda sauce and jambaloney has been known to lick his plate clean!

and for some humour - Little Frankie Blue Eyes (aka Munky Monoonch) can smell a box from 15 miles away.

and when he smells a new box coming into the house he comes charging out of the woods and is on that box faster than you can blink!

a little more on black fly fever - i have made more concoctions using essential oils - didn't work! i steeped about a hundred garlic cloves in oil for 4 days - when we took the lid off - we could barely breathe but we rubbed it all over ourselves - didn't work! we tried rubbing slices of raw onion all over ourselves - stank to high-heaven and cried the entire day - didn't work! we have tried every expensive, organic thing out there and none of that worked either! we also tried rubbing soap all over our bodies and guess what? didn't work!

the only thing that keeps these things away is DEET! and you have to re-apply several times a day. bug suits work but often times the little buggers will find a way to get into your suit and get a good 3 or 4 bites before you finally find him.

also, staying in the house or greenhouse or basement and working on inside jobs during the hottest parts of the day (10am to about 4pm) works. and getting to outside jobs on grayer, rainy or foggy days help.

well - it isn't all bad. jambaloney was in to town last week and got me these beautiful faeries.

sorry that the pic is so dark. i will take better pics when i get them set up in the yard. i loooove faeries!