 |
PAST |
July 16,
2001 |
NEXT |
 |
* Bug Repellent *
(beware, a little
extra reading today)
Boy, it doesn't get any better than this. What
a weekend!
I went out to my favorite place and made a few
jumps on Saturday. Came
back home and washed my old car and drove it around for a little
while.
Sunday I got up and rode Koala Man's
Super-Cycle up to the Blue Ridge
Mountains, Skyline Drive, and went for a hike on the Appalachian
trail. I
looked around and found one of my favorite little bushes, broke
off a
branch, peeled the bark off and rubbed the aromatic moisture on
my face and
arms.
I hiked a distance up to the summit of Hightop
Mountain from 2637 feet
to 3587 feet and back down the other side down to 2620 feet. I
then turned
around and did it again for a total of about 7 miles.
I met an older gentleman on the trail all
dressed up in hiking gear with
a huge backpack and large hiking boots that really made me look
like a total
moron. I asked him how long he had been hiking that day and he
told me about
8 hours. He then told me that he started in Georgia. He seemed a
little
introverted and didn't hold much more conversation than that but
I was
totally amazed. GEORGIA!?!?
Anyway, after my hike I rode my motorcycle
back and stopped at my
favorite place and was able to get on the last load of the day to
make
another skydive. It was a wonderful jump and on the way down to
land I
swooped the peas and kicked the beer. Of course one can hurled up
into the
air and popped me pretty good on my jaw. Yeah, it hurt pretty bad
but as
they always say, "If you're going to be dumb, you'd better
be tough." So I
complained a little and went on.
(If anybody didn't understand that last
bizarre ritual and wants to know
more details about swooping and kicking the beer, then please
feel free to
ask me.)
So I had a fantastic weekend and am just soo
looking forward to going
back to work today. YEAH RIGHT!!
So, as I stated last week, while exploring the
Skyline Drive on the Blue
Ridge Mountain Parkway I found my self very much annoyed by the
small
insects that were constantly swarming all around my face.
Disgusting as it
may seem I understand that gnats like to feed on the
physiological
secretions of the eyelids. Yeah, yuck!
Anyway, I reached down and broke off the
branch of a small bush that was
growing out of some large rocks. I started swishing the branch in
attempt to
discourage the insects and realized that it wasn't doing much
good. I did,
however, notice that the bugs were not swarming around the bottom
of the
branch at the break where the inside was exposed. I smelled the
branch and
noticed that it had a very interesting odor, much like the smell
of those
little wax candies that we used to enjoy around Halloween when we
were
young.
I began pointing the end of the branch at the
bugs and they were staying
away from it like it was the plague or something. I stripped more
of the
bark off and rubbed some of the moisture on my face. It worked!
The bugs
were staying off of me.
The following is from an email from a botany
expert who seemed to know a
considerable bit about these and other fragrant plants in the
area.
He said......
"the branch was
probably from a spicebush, I'll be better able to
tell from the picture.
spicebush is a member of the Laurel family...
Lauraceae Lindera
benzoin
the laurel family has
several species with aromatic substances
present in the leaves, stems , bark or roots some of the more
familiar ones
are sassafras and the camphor tree.
anyway spicebush is prevalent throughout the Appalachians and the
crushed leaves and stems have a very aromatic smell as you
describe,
although i was unaware of the bug repellent properties."
