I don’t know which I hate the most – black flies or mosquitoes! They both will annoy me to no end! May is beautiful, but it is tempered with the aggravation of black flies. I’ve found, though, that if I try to do my work outdoors in the cool of the morning that they don’t bother me. Black flies like the hotter part of the day. Only rarely do the actual biting hurt me – it’s the swarming around the head that drives me crazy! I’ve tried a variety of insect repellents, and I think that the Deep Woods Off does the best all-around job for ticks, biting flies, and mosquitoes. I also like Ben’s 100, but I haven’t seen that in a spray that I can apply on my clothes.
My wife says that all of the repellents give her skin a chemical burn so she wears the netted hats and long sleeves when she has to be outside. Sometimes I forget that the chemicals burn her and I’ll give her a hug and a kiss; before I know it she is running to the sink to wash off the area that we touched because she says her skin is burning! It must be tough to have that kind of skin sensitivity!