Travis and Michelle Fitzgerald's blog

There is a war in our midst. It is a war of attrition, a war that pits small annoying creatures against a race of beings at their technological pinnacle. And the small annoying creatures are winning. That is why we have decided to declare all out, no-hold-barred, war against against those beings that keep us from enjoying our new backyard deck.

Yes, I'm talking about mosquitos.

I have learned a lot about mosquitos lately. The most interesting thing that I have learned is that we are facing an invasion force consisting (mostly) of a single species, called the asian tiger mosquito. These mosquitos dare to leave the safety of the shade during the day to suck the blood of innocent beings like Michelle and Travis.

Several weapons have been launched against this biting menace, and so far, all have failed (or been abandoned because they smell bad). We have tried citronella-filled tiki torches (very fashionable around the new deck), OFF bug spray, OFF mosquito lantern, and the dreaded fly swatter. We have decided to deploy the "ultimate" weapon against mosquitos. Behold: the Mosquito Magnet.

We set it up on Saturday afternoon. By Sunday afternoon it had caught about 15 or 20 mosquitos (according to my quick count). The downside to this nifty machine is that we have to replace the propane tank and mosquito lure every 21 days. For the first month, we're using the Lurex bait (designed for the Asian Tiger mosquito). If they're still biting us, we will give it a go using the Orthenol bait (which is designed for normal mosquitos and no-see-ums). I'll update the progress on the war as the summer progresses!

And, just to have a nicer looking picture, here's a new plant we acquired from my parents. On the left is the plumeria that we brought back from our honeymoon in Hawaii. It doesn't look so good (in fact, we're not even sure if it's still alive). On the right is the plumeria that my parents gave us. That's what it's supposed to look like! So pretty...