Mosquito Net

We think that this year's gnat plague may have been spawned by the flooding of the Mississippi river, for it seems that the closer one gets to the river, the thicker the gnat swarms are.  We are not far from the river - maybe less than a mile as the crow (or gnat) flies - and, as I have been complaining, the gnats are swarming us something awful when we try to work in the garden.  They aim straight for our faces, and fly up our noses, in our ears, in our mouths and eyes.  It's hard to work for shooing/swatting the little monsters.

Pop-Pop has come up with an elegantly simple way to counter the problem, a hunter's camouflage head cover made of green netting.  Wednesday afternoon, he came  riding out to the garden on his scooter, sporting his new net, looking all smug.  "You need to get yourself one of these," he told me as he came to a stop beside me. 

"You do look very stylish," I replied.

A minute later, I heard him say, "Uh-oh, got a problem."  I looked over at him.  He had a cigarette in his hand, which he brought toward his mouth, which was blocked by the net.  "Need to cut me a hole so I can smoke," he said. 

"If you do, the gnats will fly straight down your throat, and you'll look perpetually surprised."  :-o

A few seconds later, I heard him chuckle and say, "Problem solved."  He'd stuffed the cigarette, net and all, into his mouth and was smoking it through the net.  Problem solved, indeed.

Last night, when I told this story to my sister-in-law, she suggested that we should put some lips on the outside of his net.  I bet I can find some red felt among my sewing supplies.  Now, if we can just catch him napping....