Skeeter Barrier update!

This is day three to the testing of the Mosquito Barrier product I blogged about earlier.  I first need to mention that my mixture was wrong, I posted that I mixed one ounce per gallon, where it should have been three ounces per the instructions of the bottle.  So, my mixture was one third the strength it should have been.

Now, with that said!  All areas that were treated are still repelling the skeeters.  Its a pleasure to walk outside again and not feel like a pin cushion.  The areas not treated are terribly over run with those blood sucking creatures of the dark shady places.  I have to laugh.. the legend of hanging garlic at the door to warn off vampires is apparently true.

To see the initial post about the Mosquito Barrier product click here!

Iron Range Trip - Chisholm Mn

My stay in Chisholm Minnesota was in all places, a place called Chisholm Inn.  A very comfortable stay indeed.  I would recommand staying at the Inn if in the Chisholm area.  It is just off  US Highway 2.  I would think a fall trip to the area would make for a very nice and relaxing road trip...Can you just image the falls colors!  Checkout some of things to do here...area attractions.

This image is just across the highway from the hotel.  Its an old pit mine that has or is filling with water.  Don't know if it is all rain or if a spring was hit.

Iron Range

Not keeping with my blog theme, I post this about the trip I am currently on.  Wednesday last, I set forth to the east of Minnesota, where I stopped and turned around in Virginia.  Which is one of the many cities up here in the northeastern part of Minnesota called the Iron Range.  I am stopped in Chisholm, from here I branched out to two job sites, one in Buhl and the other Hibbing.  All are range towns.  Chisholm is home to the 85 foot tall Iron Man.   Talk about steampunky!  Yes, that comment was for you Trish!  Tomorrow, I head for Grand Rapids, to yet another job site.  Along the way, there are a number of stops I plan to make, so I can capture a few more image of this region.  Stay turned.

Dorothy Minnesota

Trish and I were out on a early Saturday morning drive.  We started down the Pembina trail which follows for some time the shore line of the ancient Lake Agassiz.  We were on our way to a farmers market in Mentor Minnesota.  As we drove south we came upon Dorothy Minnesota.  There is only a few homes, an old elevator and this old church; St Dorothy, that remain in this once thriving little town.   The town came into being in the early 1900's as the Northern Pacific Railroad came through on its way to Red Lake Falls Minnesota.   Sadly, the town of Huot Minnesota, which is just to the south about five miles, was bypassed by the railroad.  The town of Huot slowing moved to the new site of Dorothy.  The existing church in Huot, St Aloysius, closed and the St Dorothy church was built and open in 1919. 

The priest, Father Bossus, at the time celebrating the regaining of his eyesight through surgery erected a shine to Mary Mother of Jesus at the Huot site.  The shine is said to be used to this day.

To read more about this area;

Red Lake County Historical Society

Skitter and the AC

This past Monday night Trish and I started watching a movie in the bedroom, which was a bit humid and warm... No, not for that those reasons!  Get your mind out of the gutter! Anyways, I turned on the lamp near the bedroom window to see the controls on the AC. Naturally, I select the high setting!

Not thinking anymore about it, I left the lamp on and we started watching the movie.  It wasn't too long afterwards that we were getting attacked.....attacked by hundreds of skitters.  They were apparently attracted to the light and were able to find their way into the house through small gaps between the window frame and the AC to find us... We spent the next hour or so, swatting and vacuuming up the skitters.... Some were very very small and others as large as the image below!

The next night, as I walked into the bedroom, there is a slight odor of something dead.... I followed the odor to the AC. Looking thoroughly through the inside parts of the AC I found nothing, so I went outside to check.  I half expected to find a mouse or bat, but not the mass of thousands and thousands of dead skitters, flies and June beetle bodies inside the AC.   Apparently, the lamp attracted and the AC's fan dispatched them .  There so many corpses to create enough of a smell to attract many attending flies seeking an easy dinner....

After a half hour of flushing with water, the dead bugs were gone and the odor was much less, which a bit of Pine Sol help fix the remaining odor.... Never, did I think that so many dead skitters would create such a stink......

The skitters are so thick this year, they clogged my AC!

These two photos were taken of the inside of the AC.  And this is after I had already flushed out the AC a day or to prior.