I spend a good bit of time in my back yard, and I notice that the mosquitoes are still active.
Rain yesterday and last night gave us a pretty good soaking, and with 80-degree temperatures predicted for this weekend I expect renewed activity from those mosquitoes.
If their bites trouble you when you're sitting on your patio try a fan.
Let it rotate across your sitting area and you'll find some relief.
Mosquitoes are weak flyers and often can't progress against the fan's currents.
I've also found help by dabbing lavender oil on ankles, elbows, and neck.
One other repellent aid is a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water.
Just sit it on your patio table or on the deck floor.
These aren't normal pest control techniques, but mosquitoes don't like the smell much.
But I don't expect the mosquitoes to bother most of us much longer.
For the biggest part of the country cold weather is near and we need to gear up for the attack of the next pest-of-the-season.
Here in Indianapolis cold weather means rodents are looking for warm places to live until spring.
Some years they don't show up, but I always watch my dog food storage area when October and November come around.
Holes in the dog food bag are how I usually find first evidence of the mice in my house.
Another way of detecting mouse presence is finding the feces pellets in areas where they find their food and water.
Mouse pellets look like cockroach feces so be sure you know the difference.
Wouldn't do you much good to set a mousetrap for a cockroach.
Unless it's one of those big hissing Madagascar roaches.
They're large enough that a mousetrap might catch them.
Quickest way to tell is closely inspecting the pellet.
If it's mouse feces, you'll find a point on the end of the pellet where the sphincter squeezed it as it exited the body.
Roach pellet ends are round because they don't have sphincters.
What do you do when mice invade? You've plenty of choices.
Glue boards trap them when they try walking across the glue area.
The down side is you normally only use the glue board to catch one mouse at a time.
Although I did one time remove one from a building that had a mother and 3 babies on it.
You have an abundance of snap traps, and a few live traps, to choose from.
They work well and most are re-usable.
They will need cleaning from time-to-time.
Poisonous baits work well also.
The problem with baits is the mouse eats it, crawls into a hole, dies inside the wall, and you have to live with the smell as it decays.
That smell doesn't normally last more than 3-days to a week, but it isn't pleasant.
When mice travel they like staying close to the wall and close to someplace convenient for hiding, so place your baits and traps near (but not in the path) of their travel.
Make a tunnel of the glue board; they'll think it's a good place to hide.
Mouse control isn't difficult, if you catch it early enough.