May 22, 2015 (Friday)
I remember seeing a movie poster when I was a kid. In big letters it read, “The Rains Came.” Somebody needs to dig up that poster and post it in Corpus Christi, where official rainfall so far this year totals 28.62 inches–more than all of 2011 and 2012 combined. I don’t know the official rainfall amount in Rockport. Hard to believe that the chief topic of conversation for a long time was the intense drought. “Will it ever rain 
again?” we moaned. Well, it has rained again. And again. And again. Yesterday, the line of storms came through creating darkness just like night, then after the weather service declared it “gone,” it slowed and grew back toward us, raining even more than it did when it supposedly moved through. Then after a short while, it reformed and came again, moving westward. There is more on the way.
There was some severe weather in this area recenly, but the main problem is flooding..and mosquitoes.
True to form, mosquitoes have appeared in huge numbers, literally covering us when we 
are outside, making difficult getting back inside without bringing hordes of them with us. Like many long-time residents of this area, I seem to have developed an aura that repels the pests. But the ones outside right now have been waiting a long time to come to life, and they are very hungry, even injecting their schnozzolas into skin they might normally avoid.
One good thing about mosquitoes is their short life span. One bad thing about them is that every time it rains, a new generation comes out, hungrier than the preceding one.
If you have not already purchased a can of bug spray, you probably will. I learned this week that some brands are good for cleaning the plastic covers of your car’s headlights. Maybe those clean lights will not attract bugs.
Growing up in Houston, without air conditioning, every night at bedtime, we made sure all 
the windows were open, all window screens were intact, and every room sprayed with “Gulf Spray” that we sprayed in the same way we pushed and pulled the handle on the old bicycle pumps. We sprayed toward the ceiling and could see the millions of droplets falling downward. If I was already in bed and my grandfather sprayed, I covered my face with the sheet.
“Goodnight, John Boy.”
Don’t let the bedbugs bite..
or the mosquitoes.