'FIRST BLOOD' - No man, no law, no war can stop him!

Finnish Mosquitos take no prisoners!

It's summertime again here in Finland, whoa hoo!!! 
Warm sunshine, colourful gardens, the smell of barbeques, cold beers ......and yes, I almost forgot, the baby mosquitos have hatched......Yes, it's time to go to mosquito war again!!

Well, as long as you're indoors in the evening it's actually not too bad here. Earlier this week I had my first uninvited guests to sample my blood. I'm kind of use to it by now, but there are still certain places I try to prevent the little buggers from biting. They have their favorite places, like the back of the legs, the ankles and much to my annoyance, the back of my hands! I know that I shouldn't moan about such little things and that people have bigger problems, but this is one creature I don't feel guilty about killing. In fact I get a lot of pleasure when I do manage to kill one. Unfortunately however, I face a losing battle every year as I am constantly out-numbered. 


I'd like to have an endless supply of mosquito repellant, but it's quite expensive here. I sometimes wish there were more repellant products to choose from, forcing a bit of brand competition. Perhaps that could lower the prices. If anyone knows of something that can be easily be made on the cheap at home please leave a comment. I've tried a few things already, but the mosquitos just keep on biting!

One new item I recently discovered in the shops that may help keep mosquitos and other nasty biters away is the 'Bug Zapper'. It looks like a miniture tennis racket with electrified wires as threads. This battery-powered device is new to me, but it may have been out for a while. If anyone has used it let me know your opinion. I bought mine at Clas Ohlsen in Helsinki, but I noticed that they're available in other countries such as Sweden and the UK. I shall be testing it myself after my next barbeque, so watch this space!

Bug Zapper

There is one flying insect I hate even more than any mosquito or wasp and it's a creature I have only ever encountered here in Finland. I don't know the english or finnish name for it, only the swedish. It may be a type of horse-fly, but I need to do a little more research. All I can say is that it looks half-fly, half-moth. This 'fly' cannot be heard as it comes to bite you, and when I say bite, I mean 'bite'. I've heard that they actually remove a small piece of flesh in the process. And the bites can vary as this fly comes in different sizes. I have seen small ones resembling normal flies, and I have also seen big ones, some as big as golfballs! I will have to keep awake and alert if I am to get one of these beauties with my new Bug Zapper. Yep, this fly is one lean mean stealth munchin' machine! 

This is my second blogpost on the pests I love to hate. You can read my first one by clicking here.   

 Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to share with all your friends.

-Alan

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Summertime Blues?.....No thanks!!!

This blogpost is written especially for anyone living here in Finland.

Living in Finland for a few years now, I have witnessed the harsh winters and learned to deal with cold temperatures. I have shovelled my fair share of snow and lost the feeling in my fingers several times.

It's been a long cold winter and now summer is finally here!

Time to get the Kabanossi and Karhu out, put the sandals and shorts on, set up the trampoline or pool if you're lucky enough to have one. 




Going a little crazy just because of a bit of sun is something I can relate to, being an Irishman. One could easily replace the Finnish cold for Irish rain in this equation. And believe me, a cocktail of Irish rain and atlantic winds can really get you down sometimes. Show an Irishman a window full of summer sunshine and he'll be straight out for a game of golf before getting ready for an evening of barbeque and beer! I've noticed that Finns are very similar in their appreciation of all things sunny and nice too. While the Finnish winter can be beautiful and unique in it's own way, one window of summer sunshine and the Finnish public are straight down to the beach, park or their summer cottage for some quality time!!

So before you go out and disappear under the big glow of the summer sun, let me wish all my blog visitors in the northern half of the world a very happy summer!

And if any readers living here in Finland have doubts about letting your hair down this summer, or if you are having second thoughts about jumping in that lake with nothing but your birthday suit on, why not watch this video. Remember, while the winters here are wonderful and picturesque, they are also very long. The summer is short, and I think this will encourage you to enjoy it even more. It's a long video, but worth watching at least for the guy's commentary. I thought he was funny and....and I must go visit that well-known "Baltic country Viagra", I heard it's economy has been growing rapidly since joining the Eurozone. He seemed to enjoy his visit anyway. I watched this on full screen as he used a top of the line Sony camera.

Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to share with all your friends. My next blog will return to a subject I love to hate!

-Alan

You are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button here.

Please leave your reaction to this blogpost by ticking one of the little boxes below. Thanks!

Visit 

The Art Garage website 

Click here !

Lady Mosquito Makes Me GaGa!

Forget about your bats, vampires or other blood-sucking stereotypes, when it comes to getting down to the business of sucking blood there's no finer diner than the much-loved mosquito!

While I pause to let that little bit of sarcasm melt, yet another one of the little feckers has bitten me. Little ba$*@rd!!!

And it’s the lady or female mosquito who does all the biting on us humans.

Of course, here in Finland they have been telling me that it's way too early for mosquitos.

But just last evening while enjoying a barbeque at home guess who dropped by for a bite.

Yes, they're here again!

I reckon it's because of the unusually good weather we've been having here recently. I read that Finland has been one of the warmest places in Europe for the last week or so, so it's no surprise that the mosquito eggs have hatched early.

Today I am counting 9 mosquito bites on my arms, legs and ankles. And that's not many for me. I usually get a lot more.

Before moving from Ireland to Finland my experience of mosquitos was zero.

We are not accustomed to dangers from any of nature's little creatures. The only creature I ever feared while living in Ireland was the wasp, who will only ever attack if provoked. So basically, if you get stung by a wasp, you most likely upset him in some way and deserved his sting. On occasion however, you will just meet a wasp with a bad attitude. We have a few of them back in Ireland. So if you happen to have a jam sandwich in your mouth, be alert!.

I have not forgotten my first summer visit to Finland, I still suffer from the trauma of my first Finnish mosquito encounter.

Wonderful weather gave me an excuse to throw on my shorts and enjoy a Finnish summer evening by the sea with friends. Finnish sausages, barbeque, sauna, beer and chilling-out was the order of the day. The food tasted great and the beer was going down quickly. So much so that I neglected to put on some long trousers, advice given by friends but ignored by me of course. We Irish can be a stubborn lot after a few drinks. Afraid of nothing! .....What's that?...Mosquitos?.... No problem! ....Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!

Well, next morning just as my friends had predicted, my pale white Irish skin was looking more like a raspberry cheesecake with the constant irritation us Irish normally get from politicians just before a general election. I reckon the mosquitos decision to focus all their attention to my brightly coloured legs was not caused by accident. It was definately not an act of gaining a more comfortable environment to start drilling for blood. Unlike most Finnish people, I happen to have a lot a hair on my legs, so unless the mosquitos can grab onto those hairs as means of support I don't see why they wouldn't share their attention elsewhere. I do have a notion as to their concentration on me however. I reckon it has something to do with my Irish blood. Maybe I'm just talking rubbish, but perhaps this old celtic blood flavoured with the hint of Guinness and all things Irish over many years appeals to the Finnish mosquito. Maybe those mosquito connoisseurs judge Irish blood like a fine Beaujolais wine. A Château Margaux perhaps? And it's not like they can bottle it and keep it in a cellar. No, I reckon if they get the opportunity to wine and dine on Irish blood they'll take it. In fact they'll most likely invite the whole family over too.

Anyway, I won't linger with my 'memories', I don't want to discourage anyone from visiting Finland. It's a great place and you do get used to the mosquitos no matter how much of a nuisance they can be.

I am presently trying to concoct a low-cost recipe with household items for a mosquito-deterrant spray. The sprays they have in shops can be quite expensive and they don't last very long. If anyone has a suggestion or advice let me know.

Have you read my most recent mosquito blogpost called

 'First Blood: No Man, No Law, No War can stop him!'

Thanks for reading my blog and please share it with all your friends.

-Alan

You are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button here.

Please leave your reaction to this blogpost by ticking one of the boxes below.

......

Barbeque Time!

A typical small portion at a Finnish barbeque.

Finnish pork sausage and potato salad.

I can't believe there's still some snow lying about over here.

I know it's Finland, but it's almost May!

Nevermind, it's not going to stop this years barbeque kick-off! I'm looking forward to my first barbeque of the 2010 season this weekend.

Well, I tell a lie, it's actually my second.

My first BBQ took place last February, but it was a snow barbeque, so it doesn't really count.

Believe me it's a totally different experience.

Here's some photos to prove it.

I remember it being -13 degrees celsius that afternoon, apparently warm enough for some Finns to go outside for a barbeque!

Honestly, they're crazy!!

As it was just too cold for me to take my gloves off, I left all the grilling to my friends.

I found a fun and easy way to warm myself up while checking out the nearby slopes. Extreme sports here I come!!

(If the owner of the sledge in this photo is reading this, I'm very sorry!)

Well, hopefully that troublesome volcano in Iceland will calm down a bit and our weather can get back to some normality. I'm hoping that the sun will burst out this weekend with a massive heatwave here in Finland.

I'm going to get my Kabanossi sausages out and have a few cold cans of beer in the blistering sunshine. I might even put my shorts on!

'Got to be optimistic!!

And I got a nice surprise last week at the shops when I saw that my favorite Finnish beer is now available in a one litre can. (I'd love to see 'em shotgun this baby!)