Hawaii Bugs vs. Georgia Bugs

Aaahhhhh! Another rainy day! LOVIN it! I took my lunch break from chopping vegetables and prepping freezer meals to sit in the garage with the door open, watch the rain, and write.
I was hoping it wouldn't be too buggy out here. Usually the bugs disappear when it rains, then come back in full force once drizzle stops. But you still get the occasional microscopic gnat biting at you no matter the weather.
There are two places I've lived that have an extraordinary amount of bugs. Georgia and Hawaii. Now these two states don't harbor the same types of vermin. No, in Hawaii you get your 6-9 inch long, poisonous centipedes, scorpions measuring 1/2-2 inches that have a painful but venom free sting, giant cockroaches that fly through your living room unexpectedly while you are chilling watching TV at the end of a long day, and cane spiders the size of your hand that hop six feet in the air if you come too close to them! These pests I can deal with. They are very large and I can see them coming.

Georgia bugs are quite different. While I'm temped to label Hawaii bugs as mutant, I reserve this title for the teeny tiny bugs of South Georgia. Georgia boasts trillions of ants the size of a pin head that will cause your entire foot to swell to the size of a cantaloupe with a single bite. The second and no less threatening mutant Georgia bug that I love to hate are the near microscopic skin-colored gnats. You can barely see these lil guys  and you definitely can't feel them crawling on you until they sink their evil little stingers into your skin! And don't even get me started on the tics that burrow into the skin and take up residence for a week or until they are detected and pried loose.
Several months ago we took advantage of a rare week of stand down and built a fence in our back yard. The undertaking lasted about four days. Despite applying bug repellent daily, by the end of day three I had over 160 bites on my body. I looked and felt like I had chicken pox!  I don't know what it is about my blood but these Georgia bugs seem to love it!
I'm too stubborn to remain indoors for our duration in the south, so i have learned a few tricks to minimize my exposure to the pests. For one I avoid Spanish moss which harbors chiggers- ooooooh another bug you can't see that wreaks havoc in the crevices of the body! Also, I always look at the ground when I walk outside because those darn ants could be anywhere! I have tested out several bug repellent sprays. I've had very little luck with the commercial brands. Avon's Skin So Soft spray doesn't repel them but it does drown them before they get the chance to leave a lasting mark. Usually when I use that I return with dozens of dead gnats glued to my arms and legs. I've also had some fortune with a spray called No Natz that I found locally. It's made with mostly lemon oil and smells nicer than most of the bugs sprays.
But, spray or no spray, I will gladly take on the frighteningly large and creepy bugs of the tropics to escape the inconspicuously painful and annoyingly sneaky bugs of the south!