|
|
|
repelling mosquitos when hands are greasy
Sunday, July 17 2011
Gretchen left with Sarah the vegan for the City today (they traveled by a combination of car and bus). Again, I'd be alone for a couple days, and there are certain projects that are best undertaken when Gretchen is away. I'd thought about maybe renting a jackhammer to further deepen the greenhouse well, but it was Sunday and by the time I'd thought about it yesterday, the rental place had closed for the weekend. So I worked on a smaller project: replacing front brake shoes on the Subaru. I'd bought replacements the other day at Lynch in Kingston. Interestingly, the new shoes were not exactly the same size as the ones they replaced, but their mounting tabs were identical, so I thought I'd try them out on just one wheel to see whether or not I was making a big mistake.
Mosquitoes have been terrible recently, probably because of all the standing water from my various rainwater collection schemes (note to self: screen those containers!). Working on a car wheel, particularly one heavily spattered with grease from a busted CV boot, is never pleasant, but it's particularly unpleasant when you're also being attacked by mosquitoes. How are you supposed to swat them when your hands are black with grease? I'd thought of all this before I began the brake work today, spritzing myself heavily with Skin-So-Soft, an anachronistic skin product targeted at the McMansion-dwelling mainstream (and others who cannot recognize or appreciate the smell of natural products). I don't know how our household came to possess Skin-So-Soft, but our only use for it is as mosquito repellent. Something about its hyperchemical fragrance keeps the little fuckers away. I cannot stand the smell of Skin-So-Soft, but in this case it was worth it if only to keep hand-sized grease smudges off the small of my back.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?110717 feedback
previous | next |
