Warm spring days, newly blossomed flowers and tornado outbreaks kept me company as I drove north back to the mountains.

Along the way, I decided to get an early start on my summer garden. It felt good to be outside with my hands in some dirt after a long winter but I soon learned that I was not alone in that feeling.

Tiny insects of every shape, size and description had also viewed the sunshine as a clue of warmer days ahead and were exiting their lairs from deep within the earth.

Not to be outdone, the most feared of all, the lowly mosquito, came out and began to seek any and all who would donate unwillingly to its cause. And, I was their prime target. Each evening more whelps appeared across my body.