48 and counting

Rain...Rain...Rain... and lots of it. In Champaign, we've had 3 major thunder and lightening storms over the past 3 days dumping inches at a time. Is it any wonder why so many places out here in the central mid-west are flooding. The Mississippi River is so high, it can't go anywhere besides in the cities. With all water comes Mosquitoes - Pesky ones too. In fact, there are so many that you almost need to spray on bug spray in order to just go outside. I spend 3 evenings a week at my garden either weeding, watering, or checking on it. Each night I go home with more and more mosquito bites. I need to bathe in anti-itch cream in order to not go crazy. The other night as I was getting ready for bed, Bruce noticed that I had a row of bites (2 or 3 bites wide) that spanned from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. No wonder my back was so itchy and of course in a place I can't quite reach. We proceeded to count how many I have and I finally stopped at 48 since it was so depressing after that. I have gotten used to them, trying to ignore that pesky itch every time it raves. The only thing I am worried about now is West Nile Disease. Supposedly the mosquitoes we have out here don't carry it, but you can never be too cautious. I need to remember to spray down so I can become "invisible" to bugs. It doesn't always work, but I guess having sticky arms and legs and smelling like bug spray is better than having an entire body full of pesky bites.