The start of July typically marks the peak of mosquito season in Minnesota. You know what to do. Stock up on citronella candles, wear garlic around your neck, scare them with direct sunlight, stake 'em in the heart, and whatever you do, never invite a mosquito into your home.
Where was I? Oh, yes, distilling fact from fiction about how to ward off our favorite seasonal nuisance.
Mosquitoes weren't even on my mind this year until Memorial Day weekend, and a trip Up North to a friend's cabin. I do not exaggerate when I say hundreds of these bloodsuckers swarmed the head of my slow-moving 5-year-old, his pudgy cheeks rendered helpless as he tried to shield them with his fists. Later while our families were crowding into the minivan, our normally outdoorsy kids screamed bloody murder for my friend to hit the gas so we could escape the biblical-scale infestation.
