Bug Off!!

I can't stand bugs. I'm not afraid of them, I'm just easily annoyed by them. If there are a bunch of of annoying gnats flying around my head, I will be miserable and have a crappy day. Because of this, I have tried many ways of bug defense. At home we have a giant bug zapper and I feed my hummingbirds very well so they will have energy to hunt and eat a lot of bugs at night. Taking a large bug zapper and a bunch of hummingbird feeders on a fishing, camping or boating trip isn't very practical though so we have found some other options.
Our most favorite for of bug defense is a ThermaCELL. (No they did not pay me to say this or give me a free one to try out.) I was a little sceptical at first when my husband suggested we try a ThermaCell, but Bass Pro had them on sale so we went ahead and bought one. I wish we had bought one years ago! If this one dies......well, I don't want to think about that.

We bought the carrying case which is very handy. (I thought I took a picture of it out of it's case, but I guess not.) The carrying case will hold the spare fuel and scent pads keeping them organized and close by.

The back of the case has an opening for the fan's intake and a clip you can clip to your belt, chair, tackle bag, boat seat, day bag and lots more.





I love that you can use it almost anywhere! It's designed to work when you're sitting in one place but we use it on the boat all of the time and it works great there, too. Two of our favorite fishing spots have the most annoying bug problems certain times of the year so we ALWAYS take the ThermaCELL when we go to those spots.

My next favorite are those weird looking bug bracelets. We originally bought them for our nieces and nephew to try out but now they are always in my day bag. They work really well and if you only use them for a little while, you can put them in a plastic baggie and reuse them later (a day or 2 later, not weeks later). I found out that if the bugs are messing with the back of your neck, put the bracelet around your ponytail! My nephew kept the bugs away from his face by putting a bracelet around the brim of his hat. The kids love wearing them so much that sometimes we find them still wearing the bracelets when they get out of bed in the morning. The bracelets are not oily so they don't leave a residue on your skin, in your hair or on your clothes (or bedding).

 Of course OFF! is always a favorite but I really like the towelettes because they fit in my day bag easier and they're good for faces (I HATE getting OFF! on my lips!). I really like the orange spray cans of OFF!, too. They don't stink like most OFF! and they are "Sweat Resistant" which means when you start sweating while you're fishing, it won't come off and run into your eyes! (It does come off in the shower though.)

 If you forget your bug defense or one mosquitto gets through your defense somehow, I suggest Avon's new Anti-Itch Spray. It works really good and fits in a day bag, first aid kit, medicine cabinet and most purses.

That's how I keep the bugs away from me and take care of the bites that got through my defense system (which doesn't happen very often.) Hope you have a bug free weekend!