So a few new things I have learned. According to Body and Soul magazine, Catnip Oil is thought to be "10 times more effective against mosquitoes than DEET." I was thrilled to hear this because mosquitoes flock to me like Shepherdstown hippies to the river ( i tease i tease) so anything to get them no to choose me first as their prey I will try. But, DEET is pretty serious stuff - it has been linked to birth defects and degeneration of the nervous system and other scary stuff like that. Body and Soul suggests a mixture of 6 drops of Catnip Oil to 3 ounces of water sprayed liberally over exposed skin.
Here is my question. Will my cat maul me when I come home? What is it exactly about Catnip that cats get high off of, and is it the same thing in Catnip Oil. I assumed it was the smell but I couldn't say for sure. I went to Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring with Pang a few weeks ago and bought a little catnip filled mouse/elephant (you look at the picture and tell me what its supposed to be!) and the girl who made it confided to me that the catnip inside was the "chronic of catnip." When we first got the mouse/elephant it was a beautiful shade of green that has now degenerated into its current state. But....Hibou didn't writhe and spasm as I had hoped....did she sell me a mouse/elephant shaped pouch of grass clippings? I feel cheated....
5 comments:
that's a good question. and i didn't know that deet was that bad for you. i have to load up on the bug repellent for my trip to south africa, so it's good to know. but as you said, i don't know if i'll get mauled by cats. i'm glad you alerted me to yo blog. :) i'm going to make a travel blog to document my south africa experience.
i hope you don't get mauled by hibou "hmm? how did lacey die...oh! she got mauled by a cat." silry lacey. i liked the part you were you wrote about shepherdstown, hippies, and rivers. it's just true. anywho, thanks for the heads up on the blogo!
chelsea, try the common market, they have a couple different kinds of commercial bug replants that dont have DEET...or if they have catnip oil you can make your own :)
hmmmm... catnip oil.....
skeets in Houston have gotten way out of hand- worse this year than ever. Pups and family getting bitten to pieces. SO... parents are now installing some mosquito nix system that's become quite popular that basically works like a sprinkler system. It's installed on the house and fence with tiny little nozzles that spray. Several other families we know have them.... apparently they work! We'll see how it goes.
what does it spray? Probably DEET...i would think that's what the trucks spray at night too. Sometimes it has to be done, but I dont feel good about spraying it directly on my skin.
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