DogCacher.com

There was a time, only about 2 years ago, where I could stand in a swarming mass of mosquitoes and walk away unscathed. Not so anymore. I am thinking that sometime in the last two years my blood chemistry changed and I have become very appealing to all blood sucking, fleshing biting invertebrate that exist on this earth.

On a good day I am picked apart like chicken wings on an all you can eat Chinese buffet. After an outdoor adventure yesterday before which I lathered myself in bug spray, I felt like a human chew toy. I have a bite in the middle of my forehead, near my hair line that has swelled to a point that I could pass for a pubescent unicorn. My arms look like I have leprosy and one ear is so badly chewed that I swear when the swelling goes down half of it will be missing. Benadryl  and cortisone are my best friends.

I have sworn off colognes, I eat lots of garlic, I don't use deodorant soap. I use so much bug spray that even after I wash my clothes they still smell like deet. On a recent geocaching outing I was standing with two other members of my team and guess where all the mosquitoes were? Yup on me! Neither one of them had a bite mark or even a fly by swatting. Oh it is ugly.

When I first started geocaching I thought my biggest fears would be bears, coyotes or snakes. At this point I would welcome these adversaries.  The bite marks would be bigger but at least I would have a great story to tell. Last week after a particularly long excursion I truly believed my team mates would have to carry me out of the woods because I had lost so much blood.

The sad part is half the time I never feel them biting me. It is when I get home or crawl into bed at night that I realized that I have been ravaged. There is nothing worse than lying in bed and needing to scratch every part of your body. Ah but it is all worth while in the hunt for elusive mctoys and various other useless plastic objects. Oh yeh and the thrill of the find of course.