Go away mosquito!

Is Zika a real problem, is it a man made disease, or is it just a smokescreen to deflect our attention somewhere else? I don’t know, what I do know is mosquitoes are a problem, even where I live in the high (and dry) desert. I don’t like using chemicals if I don’t have to, recently I ran across a recipe on Facebook that claims to keep mosquitoes away for up to 80 days, and of course we all know that if it’s found on Facebook that is must be true, right? I shared the recipe to keep it on my timeline, a friend of mine tried it and said it worked for her, so with high hopes I struck out to town today with a short list.

The ingredients are :
3 cans of stale beer
3 cups Epsom salt
1 large bottle of cheap blue mouthwash

Mix all ingredients together until Epsom salt is dissolved, put in a spray bottle and spray the area where you don’t want the mosquitoes, it’s not supposed to hurt plants, it’s not toxic.

OK, I got a 24 ounce can of beer, since I don’t drink beer I didn’t want a 6 pack, and it wasn’t going to be stale, I didn’t think the mosquitoes would mind… I used 2 cups of Epsom salt because of the smaller amount of beer going into the recipe, I mixed the salt & beer together in a saucepan over heat just to quicken the process. Once I couldn’t detect the salt granules, I split the mixture between 2 large spray bottles, then I topped it off with cheap green mouthwash, again I didn’t think the mosquitoes would care if it was spearmint or peppermint.

I took this outside and liberally sprayed the trees and grass in little tree nook where I sit outside. In the past few evenings, sitting outside has been a trial, my arms and legs have lots of itchy mosquito bites. This evening, I have seen exactly 1 mosquito, just 1, I am pretty impressed. I have doubts as to whether or not one spraying will last for 70 or 80 days, but if it lasts for even a few days or a week, I’ll be happy with it. I’ll keep a spray bottle down by the road, that’s where we hang with friends, and the other in my tree nook.

Now for a second DIY product that uses cheap mouthwash. Remember my
https://www.off-grid.net/keeping-it-clean/? Well I have a better formula, this will be Pit Spray II, the original used half witch hazel and half water with just a few drops of liquid soap. You use this on your stinky parts to clean without having to rinse. I decided to replace the witch hazel & soap with original flavored cheap mouthwash, I did cut it with half water, I chose the original flavor just because I didn’t want to smell minty fresh down there (LOL). Bottom line, it works, just as well if not better than those feminine wash products and you don’t have to rinse this either. Yes, you guys can use it too, and no, you will not smell “mediciny” down there either. This is great for limited water camping or living, when you want to freshen up and such.

Sitting outside, the sun has gone down, there is a choir of crickets chirping, I have detected another couple of mosquitoes, but nothing like I would have otherwise. I’ll try the mosquito spray in a few more situations and report back as to how it works. If you dear reader tries either of these, let me know what you think.