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Last year was nuts. They were everywhere and I drove through hundreds of miles of NID forest. Looking off my back deck it looked like LAX with those things zipping around. Traps were totally full too.
When we got to our house in June there were 19 or so separate nests all around the outside of the house. I don't know what's normal for this area but coming from the zero where I used to live that was a huge difference. I have gotten used to them though now. They just seem like big flies and apparently are too dumb to realize I keep destroying their homes once a week around dusk. We have two of the hanging traps where they get trapped inside and one of the bag ones with water, must've killed about 50 or so between the three.
Fact of life in these parts. You will never get rid of them. A pest control guy told me yellow jackets will travel up to a mile away from their nests. So even if you kill all the nests, unless everyone within that mile radius does as well, you'll still have to deal with them.
And here I thought I had finally killed all my local queens like I was told to do! When we bought our house, we were infested outside with nests ranging from fist sized to larger than two peoples head hanging from beams. Our little house didn't have doors or even some windows closed for who knows how long and all winter I kept getting these HUGE wasps waking up and trying to get out our bay windows. I had to of killed 50 inside and they were a lot bigger than the ones outside in the summer. I'm still taking credit!
I've seen more yellowjackets these last few days in Clark Fork than two weeks ago, but it is still nothing compared to last year. Two years ago we were battling the bald-faced hornets. Earlier in the summer it was black flies. They bite! Three years ago it was some kind of wasp with long dangling legs. But barely one mosquito! We heard that there were a lot of skeeters in the spring, but they must all have dried up and blown away...
On the bad side, there have been a couple of reported cases of Nile virus being present in Idaho.
That's worrisome; the Nile virus was once a disease only found in the tropics. An old friend's daughter caught it and is still suffering from it over 10 years after becoming infected. She caught Nile when she moved to the northeast with her husband after he was transferred. They are now living in Boise, and have been there for some time, but the change in climate hasn't helped her any.
I hope we don't have another summer as wet as this one next year. One good thing that's come from the long droughty spell we have gone through is it has severely lessened the mosquito population. Another wet year in a row could make them come back in large numbers again.
On the bad side, there have been a couple of reported cases of Nile virus being present in Idaho.
That's worrisome; the Nile virus was once a disease only found in the tropics. An old friend's daughter caught it and is still suffering from it over 10 years after becoming infected. She caught Nile when she moved to the northeast with her husband after he was transferred. They are now living in Boise, and have been there for some time, but the change in climate hasn't helped her any.
I hope we don't have another summer as wet as this one next year. One good thing that's come from the long droughty spell we have gone through is it has severely lessened the mosquito population. Another wet year in a row could make them come back in large numbers again.
We had to vaccinate the horses against West Nile this year. We haven't had to worry about it before.
Mosquitoes don't care for my blood overly much so I tend to notice them much.
Mosquitos don't like me either.
Thanks for mentioning horse vaccinations; horses are very vulnerable to West Nile and can die from it. Lots of horse owners don't think about this until it's too late.
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I hate typing on iPads.
