Never read the book but I do know what being swarmed by mosquitoes means. I have relatives who live further north and I’ve been there when I was younger. My worst experience was being out in the woods in deep wilderness in July in the mushkeg. No wind, no weather, just completely still air, hot, humid at dusk when the temperature was just right. We made a fire to smoke our tent but it only made it manageable to survive. Outside, I went to do some repairs to a tent and I had to wear gloves, covered head to toe and a heavy hooded jacket to cover my face. The only thing exposed was about a baseball sized hole in front of me … the mosquitoes swarmed the opening and nearly choked me. I was only outside for about two minutes to get things done then had to run back inside. An exposed person in those conditions would have probably gone insane.
But those nights are rare, most of the time, there is a bit of a breeze and mosquitoes are transient. Even on hot humid nights for whatever reason, you get a reprieve and the bugs aren’t so bad. Most of the time, there is enough of a breeze to manage things and you can use campfire smoke to control the bugs.
It’s a completely harsh environment and sometimes I can’t believe humans lived there for thousands of years. And it’s where my family is from. The same locations I’m talking about freeze over in the winter to minus 40 degree temperatures in February. You can die by mosquito bites in the summer … and frost bite in the winter.
I wonder if the ecology is out of balance, leading to larger mosquito populations than people would have seen a few thousand years ago. If the bird and bat population were five times, ten times larger, or if the swamps were less foul from plants adapted to the area (instead of invasives), maybe that would have made the problem less severe.
During the height of summer, mosquito season is not always full on swarms of mosquitos everywhere all the time. Most days are quiet and livable. It’s only in the evenings when it gets bad. Even then on most days, it gets bad to the point of being a nuisance but not too overwhelming. If you’re a northerner, you just keep your legs and arms covered, stick to the campfire smoke and you’re OK. Or you just head indoors behind mosquito netting.
The full on swarms only happen on particular days when the wind has died down and the air is very still and the temperature, humidity and light level is just right. When conditions are perfect for mosquitoes, it is actually dangerous to be outside. Some years, these types of days only happen maybe five to ten days of summer. Other years, these types of days can happen for days at a stretch and happen more often.
It’s a lot like cold weather in the winter when you think about it. The winters here are harsh but if you are prepared and protected enough, you can survive most of the winter on your own. But when the weather becomes extreme, you shelter in, bury yourself behind layers of wood, earth, brush, plywood, whatever and wait for the most dangerous periods to pass.
Never read the book but I do know what being swarmed by mosquitoes means. I have relatives who live further north and I’ve been there when I was younger. My worst experience was being out in the woods in deep wilderness in July in the mushkeg. No wind, no weather, just completely still air, hot, humid at dusk when the temperature was just right. We made a fire to smoke our tent but it only made it manageable to survive. Outside, I went to do some repairs to a tent and I had to wear gloves, covered head to toe and a heavy hooded jacket to cover my face. The only thing exposed was about a baseball sized hole in front of me … the mosquitoes swarmed the opening and nearly choked me. I was only outside for about two minutes to get things done then had to run back inside. An exposed person in those conditions would have probably gone insane.
But those nights are rare, most of the time, there is a bit of a breeze and mosquitoes are transient. Even on hot humid nights for whatever reason, you get a reprieve and the bugs aren’t so bad. Most of the time, there is enough of a breeze to manage things and you can use campfire smoke to control the bugs.
It’s a completely harsh environment and sometimes I can’t believe humans lived there for thousands of years. And it’s where my family is from. The same locations I’m talking about freeze over in the winter to minus 40 degree temperatures in February. You can die by mosquito bites in the summer … and frost bite in the winter.
I wonder if the ecology is out of balance, leading to larger mosquito populations than people would have seen a few thousand years ago. If the bird and bat population were five times, ten times larger, or if the swamps were less foul from plants adapted to the area (instead of invasives), maybe that would have made the problem less severe.
During the height of summer, mosquito season is not always full on swarms of mosquitos everywhere all the time. Most days are quiet and livable. It’s only in the evenings when it gets bad. Even then on most days, it gets bad to the point of being a nuisance but not too overwhelming. If you’re a northerner, you just keep your legs and arms covered, stick to the campfire smoke and you’re OK. Or you just head indoors behind mosquito netting.
The full on swarms only happen on particular days when the wind has died down and the air is very still and the temperature, humidity and light level is just right. When conditions are perfect for mosquitoes, it is actually dangerous to be outside. Some years, these types of days only happen maybe five to ten days of summer. Other years, these types of days can happen for days at a stretch and happen more often.
It’s a lot like cold weather in the winter when you think about it. The winters here are harsh but if you are prepared and protected enough, you can survive most of the winter on your own. But when the weather becomes extreme, you shelter in, bury yourself behind layers of wood, earth, brush, plywood, whatever and wait for the most dangerous periods to pass.