Mosquitos, they have an annoying buzz when they are about, and they harbor diseases; heartworm, malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis. Currently the biggest scare is the West Nile Virus. Although birds and horses are more at risk for West Nile than people are, it is still a good idea to remove all mosquito breeding grounds around your home and arm yourself with repellant if you venture into a wooded area.

Stop the mosquito from biting before it starts. Scout around your home and property and look for receptacles of stagnant water. Watering cans, old tires, tarps or plastic covers, buckets, bowls anything that has water in it, toss it. If you leave water out for your pets make sure you dump and refill the bowls daily.

It takes only three days for a mosquito to land in water and deposit her eggs. She can lay hundreds at a time! If there is a puddle of water that you can't empty, then pour salad oil in the water. This will cut off the oxygen for the baby larvae and they will die. If you don't have salad oil pour in cold coffee- not Starbucks or any of that fancy coffee, just plain old- fashioned coffee.

There are plants that will repell mosquitos

Lemon Balm

Lemon Basil
Scented Geraniums
Lemon Thyme

If you have an outdoor pond, be sure and stock it with goldfish, minnows or guppies.

If you live in a rural area, install bat boxes high up in your trees to entice bats to come and eat their fill of mosquitos. Be sure if you attract bats that you also provide them with water. A bird bath or small pond is excellent, but if all else fails set out a few buckets of fresh water just for the bats.

There are special slow-release tablets called Mosquito Dunks that you can set out to kill mosquitos. They only work short term though, and so they need to be replaced every few days.

You can also get automatic dispensers that shoot out a spray that kills mosquitos. I have several of these in my horse stalls, and am also considering setting up fans next summer to blow the air through. Mosquitos don't like moving air.

If you get bit by the blood-sucking mosquito and you are itching, saturate a cotton ball with amber colored mouthwash and set that on your bite, the itch should leave instantly. You can also apply clear nail polish. This cuts the bite off from oxygen and will stop the itching.