> When I was a lad in Wisconsin, I used to attend free movie
> showings at the park on summer evenings. It was absolute
> torture to watch Swiss Family Robinson (black & white) while
> being devoured by mosqitos!

Hey, you don't know pestiferous invertebrates unless you've lived in central
Texas, where I grew up. I spent many a day in the field, trying to
concentrate on plant surveys, drenched in bug spray and sweat, both running
into my eyes, inhaling sauna-like air, with a cloud of mosquitoes around my
head jostling for an attack where the spray was thin, with the loud drone of
cicadas all around.

I had an assistant who, on his first trip out, declined the bug spray,
citing concerns about cancer. I asked him if he had ever experienced
chiggers. He said no, but he would take his chances. The next day, he came
in, reported he had been practically reduced the tears the night before and
had decided from then on that cancer in 20 years was a reasonable trade for
no chigger bites now.

Then there is the bullnettle. Did you know that a few experiences with
bullnettle can teach you to differentiate that particular shade of green
from all the other shades of green in a meadow?

There is something to be said for the bleak environment of the Palouse.

Kelly Cassidy
>From very dry, warm, intensely sunny, Pullman.