Drinken Full
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
“夜の蚊やおれが油断を笑ふらん
Mosquitoes at night, laughing at my carelessness.”
Phase 1: Bobolink
S and D took to the wilds of the Bobolink Trail to battle mosquitoes.
Well, they didn’t go to Bobolink with precisely that purpose in mind. The primary goals were to find some shade in the 95° weather, and to avoid the heat. In these, our woeful wanderers were moderately successful: the trail was mostly shady, thanks to some well-placed clouds and a tree or two, and the heat, well, it was tolerable.
So, a quarter-mile into the trek, a cloud of mosquitos rose up from the grass like a buzzing geyser of death. Faced with exsanguination, our intrepid explorers revised their priorities, and began flailing their arms and gnashing their teeth. That’s when S remembered he had some repellent in the car.
Thus retreated our dauntless duo to the parking lot, there to douse themselves in a gallon or two of DEET.
Duly anointed and back on the trail, our fearless adventurers led a slightly more cautious fog of zika-spewing arthropods hither and yon around the Trail.
No photos, sadly enough. But we did have questions.
Phase 2, 3: Bobolink Alternate Parking
Sandwiches and lawn chairs. Not a skeeter in sight. Couldn’t even taste the DEET; at least, not much.
Questions of the Night
How do you spell the PA-Dutch term “grexing?”
How long does it take before a mosquito injects its anti-coagulant into your veins?
What is the term for animals who have adapted and changed their behavior based on proximity to humans? synanthrope
What’s up with Misophonia?
Soft now, and outen the lights. Another BNO. Yah, well.
Addenda
D is just back from a couple of weeks in Pennsylvania, where he refreshed his accent and acquired some Pennsylvania Dutch. So we mused about PA-Dutch, Amish, Quakers, yadda-yadda.
Translation of the Issa haiku, above, courtesy of DeepL Translator. I wanted to start with the original Japanese (even though I can’t read it) and see what Google Translate, et al, would come up with. Well G.T. mangled it. However, DeepL seemed very close to (if not better than) some existing published translations, so there we go. The link opens a new browser window with the haiku already loaded, so you can try it yourself.
