Finland's unwelcome summer guests

The mosquito could easily be the national bird of Finland. They are really big, blood sucking animals. I think that the Finns say they are as big as cows. We went for a short walk in the woods this evening to gather pine cones and came home sooner than we would have otherwise because we were spending so much time swatting mosquitoes off. A friend told us today that the worst was past. We have actually walked through clouds of them before and had been avoiding the woods lately for that reason. The Finns don't seem to use insect repellants. One told us that the mosquitoes thrive on OFF! They seem to be in a lot of the houses as well. The Finland tour book said that the worst time was in July and August. But they came earlier than that here. Some Finns have strips of netting or plastic hanging in their doorways to let the air through and keep the bugs out. Looks something like a bead curtain. And sometimes we see babies in strollers with netting protecting them. Actually we each have had only one bite.