With an increasing number of luxury apartments going up all around us in Queens, the number of backyards is decreasing. My family is fortunate to have a backyard and we spend a lot of time chilling in our patch of green. In fact, because we are cheap and don’t like running the air-conditioner, we cook many of our meals in the backyard in the summer so the house doesn’t heat up.
There is one problem with our backyard, though — mosquitos. And we have mosquitos with New York Attitude. You know, they fly by and if you swat at them, they’re like, “Whatta you lookin’ at?” and “You got a problem?” And since we live in a highly-populated area, every mosquito bite raises concerns of West Nile Virus or, now, the Zika virus. I try not to be nervous, but global epidemics can do that to you.
Mosquitos don’t bother me; I can sit by a trashcan lid that has been full of water for a month and not get one bite. My daughter steps outside for a minute and comes back with hundreds of bites. I guess she is sweeter than me. And my 10-month-old baby girl appears to have the sweet gene as well, because she is getting lots of bites. (And by the way, I know that there are no studies that say for sure that mosquitos like blood that is sweet, so don’t send me emails about that. Okay?)
Back to my yard.
We’ve tried a few things to eliminate mosquitos, like the Mr. Miyagi-way of using chopsticks, but that didn’t quite work. We have used chemicals, mosquito-repellant plantings (lavender and bees mint), and have even been tempted to get an old bug zapper. But nobody wants to listen to, “Zzzzap!” all night long. Did you have one when you were a kid? How disturbing were those?
This year, we opted for a Dyna Trap to help guard our yard from mosquitos and other flying pests, and so far it has worked great. I mean it. It has worked great. I’m not just saying that because this is a sponsored post. It actually works. We put it up in the backyard and have seen a legitimate and substantial decrease in the number of flying pests in the backyard. When combined with a well-maintained yard, free from standing water sources and overgrown grass and flower beds, mosquitos have nowhere to go. And it works without zapping or chemicals. The Dyna Trap does just what you think it does, it traps the mosquitos and other flying nuisances into the trap while they hang out. Clean the trap once a week and you’ll see those bloodsuckers that so badly want to take a bite out of you. I am always amazed when I clean the trap that there were so many flying pests in my backyard.
The blue glow of the Dyna Trap has also been welcomed by my neighbors because it covers up to an acre of land. In NYC, that’s like a million people, right? Just kidding (but close). However, since we don’t have to worry about getting all bit up, the amount of time we spend in the backyard has increased, which my neighbors are probably not thrilled about. But hey, Catch 22, right?
My 4-year-old son is now at the perfect age to begin playing catch for real. I’m looking forward to the many summer days of catch ahead. And I won’t make him use chopsticks like Mr. Miyagi to rid the place of mosquitos before we pick up our gloves.
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Disclosure: I have partnered with Life of Dad and DynaTrap for this promotion.