So I mentioned that it's been the worst summer ever, but didn't really elaborate on what I meant by that. There are several contributing factors, but I will only explore one example right now, supporting the argument of this being the worst summer ever.
I live in a hot climate: Southern Arizona. I'm not from here, am from the Upper Midwest, but that's where I live now.
I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever been bitten by ants in the first forty years of my life. This year I have been bitten by more ants than I have ever been bitten before in all of my life.
For most of the summers here I would wear shorts and short sleeved shirts whenever I could, but this year is the first year in my life that I have not ventured outside beyond my own front door, without wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts. You know I ride a bicycle all year-round. I'm a full-time car-free bicycle commuter. It's 100 degrees outside and I ride my bike. And yet I'm wearing long pants and long sleeves, even on cloudy days. First year ever I did that.
It's because I'm being attacked by bugs. Mosquitos and ants, mostly. Never had a problem before. I mean, yeah, I've been bitten by mosquitos and ants before, but not like this. It's like they are vampires after my blood, and they are vicious. I wonder why?
A couple months ago, when I stepped outside in the early morning to bring my cat in, wearing sandals without socks, walked a few feet onto the lawn and literally within seconds, was immediately attacked by ants, biting my legs and feet.
A couple weeks ago, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, and lay down on my side, and was immediately bitten on my left arm by ants. There were like over 50 little ants on my bed, and they were coming in through the wall from the electrical socket. I must have caught one hundred ants in total. They don't like peppermint oil. That's a good ant repellent. They also don't like chalk. I've lined my front door with a thick layer of chalk, one inch is not enough, need to go at least three inches. And it stopped the ants, for a couple weeks, but now they are coming through the walls, in various cracks and crevices, in different areas than before.
Today I woke up with an itchy left hand palm. Then I noticed that my entire left hand was swollen, I appear to have been bitten on my palm and the top of my left hand multiple times. I applied an ice pack and made an herbal poultice using Mullein, where I put it in a tea bag and taped it to my hand, and the swelling has come down somewhat, but it's still swollen. I showed my swollen hand to someone, and they said, oh you might have to go to the hospital.
I originally thought it was a mosquito bite, but now I'm not sure, because I have found multiple ants in the middle of my floor a few hours later. I have also been bit on my face, even when I was wearing shorts and a tank top inside, and have also been bitten on the bottom of my left foot as well.
I'm seriously contemplating setting up my tent in my room, in place of my bed, and sleeping in it, to be protected by the mosquito netting. Because this has never happened before. I've never been bothered by bugs as much as I have been in the past few months, and I'm thinking it's because the blood supply is now contaminated, and the bugs are sensing that my blood is healthier for their survival.