Bugs Bite

By now, with the official start of summer, you should have used your summer survival lotions and potions quite often. You know, the SPF 50+ sunscreen (we're on our 2nd bottle already), the bug spray, the hemorrhoid cream. That's right--hemorrhoid cream--Preparation H or its generic counterpart should be in your survival kit, too.
We had a crew working on our duct work a few years ago and they shared a little tidbit about Preparation H healing bug bites over dinner one day. Landen was about 1 and just so happened to have a bug bite swelled to the size of an egg on his forehead. Wanting to see if these guys knew what they were talking about, I borrowed some cream from my neighbor. I spread it over the swelled area after he was asleep so he wouldn't rub it off, and the swelling was completely gone by morning.
We haven't had many mosquitoes around so far this summer, but for some reason the biting flies have been very fertile. I'm not sure of their technical term, but growing up we called them "horse flies" or "deer flies." They are big, striped, and nasty.
By the time I feel the pinch of their bite, it is too late. Even if I don't scratch the venom around (and they immediately itch SO bad), I will still have a welt and a huge, hot swelled area around the bite for days afterward. I've already had a few of these this summer. I would take a mosquito bite any day. (Unless it is carrying the West Nile Virus, that is.)
That brings me to today. I went outside to bring Nathan's bike across the yard this afternoon and in that time was bitten by one of those nasty flies. Since I was close to the house this time, which was not the case with the previous bites, I came right in and rubbed the cream on it.
It took a couple of hours, but the welt from the bite has now gone away and I can't even feel the bite at all. I still, however, can feel the one from a couple of days ago.
I am tempted to carry a tube around in my purse for when we're out and about, but I am afraid Teresa may pull it out while she's rummaging around. "Sure, Laura, it's for bug bites--riigghht!"
So, if you have a bad reaction to any type of bug bite, be sure to stock up on hemorrhoid cream--and a big bug zapper.