How the little things really rule nature.

Somewhere, in the past, there were these not so brilliant explorers, migrating people, and I venture to bet, not just a few that took the wrong turn and ended up setting up camp in a new undiscovered place and then named it...whatever.

I look around at the land type, indigenous bugs, insects, critters and weather and say WTF were you thinking?

On what plane of existence does it make sense to build a town, now city, at the forks of 2 rivers, in swampy land????

With the vast numbers of mosquitoes in certain areas of our province you would mistake us for some other idealistic sunny humid vacation destination, but no it's just Manitoba.

Why people ever stayed is beyond me, had they moved on to say...B.C. well...we would all understand that right?

From Sept to April your either in wet/cold, or horrendously cold/snowed climates, and in April you switch to wet/windy/cold...ice showers, rain and ice, fog, snow, tornadoes, sun...and then...wood-ticks/heart-worm/mosquitoes/thunderstorms/lightning/tornadoes...then heat/thunderstorms/lightning/tornadoes/mosquitoes/wood-ticks....summer is bug and tornado avoidance season, straight into Sept...where we start all over again.

I am not going to go into the pothole epidemic which makes the newly snow cleared roads of this province so full of holes, that you want snow back so your car has a chance at retaining good quality shocks/tires/suspension et all...no don't mention sink holes...lets go back to the little things that rule the summer.

BUGS

People who are either blessed with the blood that the vampiristic insects don't like, or they are too new to realize it, but when someone says we use to spend all our time outside...no...you use to build smudges for horses to stand in so that running from mosquitoes did not kill them from exhaustion because they never stop, well during the 100° heat they tend to leave you alone but the flies do not...the wood-ticks don't care they are the mini mugger of nature, bounding onto whomever innocently wanders by and looking for a spot to set up shop.

People make the mistake of thinking that we control the world, but we don't...when you step outside you are entering the war-zone of nature...go into the bush and you can join in the man v.s. bug conflict...and tongue in cheek aside, considering we spray areas from the air, or mobile foggers...how does it not seem like a war-zone?

What else on the planet, besides a really irritating individual with a feather tickling your nose in your sleep, can make you slap yourself repeatedly, and mostly miss what you were trying to kill? Yet, no one thinks it is odd, or out of place?

We were fixing fence once, and my mother wore a bright yellow shirt, when we finished she was covered with over 20 wood-ticks (I don't wear yellow). Of course, nowadays there are maladies spread by all these little critters that I don't recall even being a concern.

Ah...and if that all wasn't enough, humans are dumb enough to import another problem, “Asian Lady Bugs”, the bane of any dogs' existence.

It is lovely out, just the time you want to go out, mow the lawn, watch the lightning, let the 80km/h winds blow off the cobwebs, walk the dog along the lake...and then inspect yourself and your companion for the mighty mini minions of nature...make sure the dog has wood-tick and flea protection.

Soon the dog is going to experience the wood-tick, and insist upon watching it be flushed, just as it has to witness the demise of the hated asian lady bug...find a pet friendly repellent and prepare for the war of summer.

Again, what were they thinking to settle here?