Bruce’s Nightmare – A Mosquito Buzzing Around The Room At Night

It's true my idea of a nightmare is a lot different that Stephen King's idea of a nightmare. While his include death and destruction and supernatural occurrences, mine involve mosquitoes. I am betting that more of you will experience my nightmare than will experience one of Mr. King's nightmares.

It's happened to us all and it will happen to you over the next few months at least once.

A solitary mosquito will get into your sleeping chamber and you will awake to a barely audible sound of Mother Nature's dentist drill. That high pitched whine that tells your brain we are going to be awake for a while. That's because when you hear it, you are prompted to swat at it. When you don't hear it, you are wide awake listening for it so you can then swat at it.

What usually happens is you flail your arms in the darkness like one of those roadside attention grabbing inflatable advertising things. Usually, you are just as effective since all the flailing does is remind you of how stupid you look.

Then you try to sleep with your head under the covers or a pillow. The heat becomes unbearable and you are again an easy target and out in the open again.  Heaven forbid a foot slip from under the protective shield of your covers because if it does, you will be awake scratching that fresh mosquito bite.

So what can you do to rid your room of the pesky mosquito? Kill the S.O.B. that's what!

In order to remove the target, you must locate the target. To do that it will require getting out bed and turning on the lights. Turning the lights on will do two things, it will make the mosquito easier to see.  Captain Obvious thanks you for your support.

It will also cause the mosquito to land somewhere. They usually land on a wall so if you place your head against the wall like you're trying to listen to a conversation in another room you will be able to spot the mosquito quite easily.  Then just sneak up on the unsuspecting critter and whack it with your hand.

A friend of mine uses technology to capture and kill that lone wolf mosquito. He lies flat on his back and holds the sheet up in front of him. He then places his phone or iPod on his chest and waits. The mosquito will be attracted to warm air and breath coming off of his face. The light from the phone or iPod will highlight the intruder. The white backdrop of the sheet makes it easy to see the offending little blood sucker. Target located, target eliminated, at least that's what my friend would tell you.

Obviously, the best way to keep a mosquito from waking you up at night is to not let them get into your house. Make sure you're windows and doors close properly and that your screens have no holes in them. While this is a lighthearted look at mosquitoes they can be quite deadly with the diseases they carry. So take mosquito control and protection seriously, it could save your life.