Nasty Gnats

Those horrible black biting gnats are officially here. 😭 

I thought I spied one as I got out of my car, but thought "it's too early and it's been cold!" I was wrong. Poor Jaron bore the brunt of that...

We spent yesterday afternoon outside - moving the potato containers, pulling dandelions in the garden, and hauling mulch to make pathways in the garden. 

Just two of the potato containers have sprouted so far the red and purple. None of the garden planted potatoes have sprouted yet.

Jaron was quite content to play with the rocks in the driveway and then play with a bucket of dirt in the shade next to the garden. I noticed bugs flying around my face but didn't get bit. 

I looked over to see how Jaron was doing and saw blood literally dripping down his neck! 😱 I thought he'd scratched himself really bad somehow, but after running over, I saw the bite marks. 

Poor buddy. He must take after me because they didn't bother him at all yesterday, and then overnight they turned itchy. I had to hold his arm down until he fell asleep so he wouldn't scratch. 

This is after getting him cleaned up. I put some honey tallow salve on the bites, then later some elder salve. Hopefully they heal quickly. 

We went back out after dousing ourselves in vanilla spray and Bug Soother. The gnats didn't bother us the rest of the day!