One award recipient at the BOCS meeting this week will be the county mosquito people for “thinking outside the box.”  The blurb says that it is for using an ipad 2 and putting the data in the cloud (assuming icloud) rather than using a pencil and paper in the field.  I am curious why using one of the main applications for ipad is being considered an example of thinking outside the box, but ok.  When I told Mr. Howler of the good news, he asked if “thinking outside the box” meant another years worth of excuses for not spraying on Sudley Manor Drive.  That must be it.

Why does the truck not spray on Sudley Manor Drive?  I have been told because the speed limit is 35 minutes per hour.  Stop!  It isn’t 35 miles per hour.  It hasn’t been for 15-20 years.  Its 25 and 30 mph.  No matter what I say, I cannot convince this office to update their records on the speed limit.  Furthermore, so what.  I have given up trying. I don’t go outside in the summer.  I am allergic to mosquitoes. I get huge bites, often larger than old silver dollars.  I have to “suit up” with Deep Woods OFF just to get from my front door to the car.  Sitting outside is impossible for me.  It has to be a near perfect day for it to even be worth the trouble.

I want my street sprayed.  I pay taxes for mosquito control.  Everyone who lives in Westgate and Sudley gets eaten alive all summer if mosquitoes like them.  The mosquito control people are probably nice people.  I know they used to work for a very unpleasant person who I had annual fights with and who accused  me of thinking I knew more than she/he did because I was alarmed over West Nile being in Yorkshire.  This person stood me down that Yorkshire was miles away.  I told them that mosquitoes could fly the distance.  (now does that make me a smart ass?)

The mosquito people probably work hard.  They just aren’t allowed to work hard in Sudley, or perhaps I should say “work productively.”  Let’s get the mosquito truck out here on Sudley Manor Drive.  I want it sprayed nightly!   My government is not serving the needs of the community.

107 Thoughts to “Open Thread………………………………………………….Saturday, July 14”

  1. Chris

    The Mosquito people getting an award is one of the most absurd things I’ve heard of in this county. Give me break!!! Once upon a time all of WestGate and Sudley were sprayed. This spraying even happened when the speed limit on Sudley Manor was 35mph. So, how is that the speed limit is 5 and 10 mph less, and they say they can’t spray because of the speed limit. Talk about BS. I’ve not seen the Bug Man roll down good ole Lafayette once this year. So, that prompted me to look at the county’s website. Big mistake. I see they do NOT have a spray schedule posted for this year’s mosiquito season. Nor, did I get a card in the mail with the schedule this year. Has the Bug Man spraying gone to the wayside?

    I for one can’t even water my flowers or float in the pool without being eaten alive. My legs and ankles look like they’ve been burried in a mosiquito farm. It’s not just my yard either. I’ve been in 7 other yards nearby. Same thing I become dinner for the mosquitoes. I sure hope they don’t have West Nile Virus.

  2. Elena

    LOVE the pic of the misquito!!!!

  3. Chris

    @Elena
    Sadly we don’t pix. As we can see them up close and persoanl 24/7 in town. I’m headed to Haymarket area. I’m curious to see if they have the infestation we seem to.

  4. Son Howler is over here to mow and came inside in disgust. He has gotten eaten alive. So now I have lost my mow-person because of the friggin mosquitoes.

    An award? Give me a break.

    I would like a complete detailing of what the mosquito office does.

    I am getting them in the house even every time the door opens.

  5. This is an open thread, by the way….I just wanted first shot.

    Who gives the county awards?

    Is that really what they think “thin king outside the box” is? Using an Ipad App? I am embarrassed for them!

  6. Chris

    I saw the mow-person itching as I drove by a few minutes ago. I guess we need to get ourselves “the boy in the bubble suits” in order to enjoy our yards. Sorry to hear yet another has become dinner for the local flying pests. Geesh.

  7. Censored bybvbl

    I don’t know whether the county is just being cheap when it comes to spraying. Our neighborhood collected money to clean silt out of a boat ramp area last year. A couple months ago I understand that a county storm water detention pond above our lake inlet blew out during a storm and all that silty crapola came right down to the area that our neighborhood had paid to clean. I think the county is being cheap on maintenance and I’ve heard that there is no record of routine maintenance on that detention pond. I wonder how many other county detention ponds are neglected because Prince Willy believes in doing things on the cheap – even if these moves are costly in the long run.

  8. I wonder if a class action lawsuit might get their attention? I have been lied to and bs’ed for so many years.

    It says we pay a mosquito levy. What do we get for that? Anything?

  9. Chris

    Mositquito levy more like a meals tax for the skeeters to eat us!! I think we reaching to the cloud and that’s about it.

  10. Chris

    corr: I think *they* are reaching the cloud.

  11. Black Velvet Reporter

    Stupid remark of the day:

    Why don’t the illegal alien apologists realize that every crime committed by an illegal is 100% preventable?

    How about some real solutions instead of bumper sticker slogans?

  12. Chris

    Moon, NatGeo has new show…American Gypsies. I didn’t see our local gypsy featured in the video. 😉
    http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/shows/american-gypsies/ngc-all-about-american-gypsies/

    BVR-Slogans are so much easier to express than actual solutions. 👿

  13. Chris

    Did anyone else in PW have Obama campainers at their door today? They told me they are planning to knock on EVERY door THREE times. She said they’d be back two more times.

    1. NO. Didn’t have anyone here. They would have probably just come on in and eaten us out of house and home like the grandkids did. A nice wedge of rat cheese is now a former shadow of itself, along with an empty box of crackers. A plump chicken is now a vague resemblance of its former self….think carcass.

      Where are they getting this army? Will they come back if you answer the first time? I even think there is a politician, person selling religion, or a drunk tree surgeon on the other side of that door, it will not open. If someone possesses more than one attribute, not even a chance.

  14. Chris

    One of the kids was expecting someone. I usually don’t answer, but due to recent incidents over here, I must answer the door lately. Grrr

    1. Chris as dropped down a mystery. Who is going to pick up what she is laying down?

  15. Chris

    LMAO!! It’s just a hub of all sorts of activity. None of which is seems very good. Suffice it to say, never a dull moment. Sunday’s seem to be the worst. 🙁

  16. I used to love riding my bike behind the bug spray truck….

    That could explain A LOT of things…..

    It could be worse. We could have THESE flying around.
    http://www.infiltratednation.com/2012/06/us-military-admits-to-having-spy-drones.html

  17. Second Alamo

    To post #11: Arizona tried ‘real solutions’ and see where that got them. Any time a solution of any sort is suggested the conversation ends with some racial or profiling charge levied at the suggestion. Even the people in Mexico are tired of the illegal immigrants from further south coming through their towns. They have the same complaints as us, but then I guess they’re just being bigots as well. Throw the racial component out and there are many solutions to choose from.

  18. SA, I think the racial component will only be thrown out when people stop making racial/biggoted remarks. Yes, its problematic.

    Interesting, the newspaper said the young man who just got sentenced to 7.5 years in prison wasn’t a citizen. It seems now that someone is an “illegal” if they aren’t a citizen. Many people live in the United States legally who are not citizens.

    I don’t believe Arizona did have a solution because its solution allowed local cops who have other jobs to do to pull over anyone just because of their looks. There’s something wrong about that.

    SA, you know, it could be something as simple as calling all Latinos “Mexican.” Yes, that is a form of racism. Maybe racism is the wrong word but its biggoted.

  19. Ray Beverage

    @Cargosquid

    Cargo, thanks for the memory! Man, oh man, I recall all of us in my neighborhood doing that! Worked real well afterwards keeping the skeeters off ya….LOL!

  20. I thought Cargo was kidding. Kids are crazy.

    We used to run in the house when the bug truck came down the street. It took your breath away.

  21. I think that they were actually spraying DDT back then. Sure worked wonders in my swampy neighborhood. I was living in Kenner, La.

  22. kelly_3406

    There is a very interesting blog by Cliff Mass, a noted professor of meteorology at University of Washington and a PROPONENT of global warming. You should take the time to read ‘Texas Tall Tales and Global Warming’, particularly the section ‘Moral of this Sad Story’ at the end, which discusses how papers on global warming effects are easy to publish while those ‘with a more nuanced view are given a hard time.’ (his words).

    He discusses major errors in a paper that made huge headlines and concluded that the influence of climate made the 2011 Texas drought more likely.

    http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2012/07/texas-tall-tales-and-global-warming.html

  23. BOHICA PWC Taxpayers

    “Prince William County spokeswoman Patricia Prince sent an email Monday announcing there would be a press conference at Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center on Tuesday morning for a “unique public-private partnership opportunity.”

    Interesting how all of the parties involved have made significant recent campaign contributions.

  24. “And to anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues, you tell them there is no place better — no place better. Because ultimately, these are not just political issues — they are moral issues.” — First Lady Michelle Obama, June 28, 2012

    Apparently it IS OK to talk politics in church without jeopardizing their tax status.

    1. @Cargo, then it will have to work both ways.

  25. Shoot, I would rather talk about mosquitoes. Too many experts on the state pension system.

  26. kelly_3406

    MH: Any chance I could get you to read the blog linked to in #24? I would be very interested in your thoughts.

  27. Emma

    @Cargosquid How about this from the POTUS on Friday?

    ‎”If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

    I was…speechless.

  28. Andyh

    The city has never sprayed for bugs in my neighborhood. This year, we paid to have someone spray the yard. It’s worked pretty well so far. Got a groupon for it.

    Emma, to be fair, you’re clipping his comment pretty tightly but, as someone who has started 3 businesses, I agree that he doesn’t seem to fully understand what it takes to make a business go. Most days I’m just thankful that the government has left me alone.

    1. Andy, are you pleased with the service for the mosquitoes? Please email me with the company. I can’t stand it any longer.

  29. @Emma
    I know. I know. I thought that it would be better when heard in the complete context.

    Nope. Typical class warfare, socialist rhetoric. With holes big enough to drive trucks through.

    But the saddest part for me….

    The crowd CHEERED. Its all about envy and populism. Unless we educate our populace away from the politics of class warfare, away from wealth redistribution, away from envy of those more successful, we are doomed. There’s a reason why envy is one of the seven deadly sins.

  30. @Moon-howler
    I don’t understand what you mean.

    Works both ways? What will?

    I’m just supporting her right to free speech in a church.

  31. @Emma
    You know….let’s take him at his word. His reasoning is that the roads were built and paid for by taxpayers and that THOSE people are responsible.

    Let’s see…..who would THOSE people be?

    Oh. Look! Its the very same people…the business owners. The top 10% paid 70% of the taxes in 2009…and no less than 50% of the taxes since 1980. If you just want to cover the $250,000 people…that would be around the top 3% I guess, so let’s look at the top 5%: 58+% of the taxes.

    So I guess the business owner did pay his fair share of the road building. And, unless you’re a friend of the administration and “too big to fail”, ALL OF THE RISK.

  32. Second Alamo

    Once the greater majority of voters are those who are non-taxpayers we will perish as a great nation. Although Obama already feels that there isn’t anything special about our nation … and now he feels the same way about individuals who have taken the risks to start a business. For someone who should be the number one supporter of this great nation he has failed miserably in that role. The ONLY group that he has held up high are mostly those who worship him, and for the most part don’t pay federal taxes like the ones cheering at every word, or was that a church revival in the next room? So who exactly will be working to pay down this huge increase in national debt that he (the one who was quoted as saying he would cut the debt in half in his first term) so gloriously bestowed upon us?

  33. Chris

    Moon-howler :Andy, are you pleased with the service for the mosquitoes? Please email me with the company. I can’t stand it any longer.

    Send it to me too.
    The other day I had 5 places where blood was dripping out of my legs. I looked down only to find 5 of them eating me alive. Yesterday, at my mom’s there were a couple of “pairs” flying around joined to one another and I could barely make it out the front door.

  34. Mom

    @Chris
    Why waste time with a service, it is much more economical (and enjoyable) to simply switch from your favorite lager to gin and tonic during the mosquito season. Works wonders for me although it could be that they can taste my nasty disposition rather than the effect of the tonic water.

  35. AndyH

    I will send along the name of the company but I need to make one point: this works well at my house b/c we don’t really have a “neighborhood problem” with the buggers. We have wild grape vines that harbor them and they were also under the deck – although there was really no standing water to speak of. If I go 2 houses over, the mosquitoes are quite bearable. If you have a wider problem, this approach may not work all that well.

  36. Chris

    Thanks, Andy. I honestly believe we have a much larger scale problem here in the county. Hell, my backyard has a river run through it when it rains very much and the water sits there. Then the water has no where to run off, just sit there waiting to become a breeding ground. Furthermore, we pay a levy for this crap, and there’s NO Spray Schedule on the website, nor did we get a card in the mail. This was a first in 40+ years.

    @Mom
    I’m not wasting my time or money on something the county is bragging about while I’m getting eaten alive. Honestly, WTH has happened to the Bug Man spraying in the hoods??

  37. Chris

    Mid year reports from vpap. Please, note the second largest donation. I stopped there. I’ll let Mom and NTK to take it from here. 🙂
    http://www.vpap.org/committees/profile/money_in_raw/2463

  38. Mom

    I think I have only seen the Bug Man perhaps three times in the last twelve years which is one of the reason I switched to mass consumption of GTs, even if it is only an old wives tale, if you drink enough of them you don’t notice the bites.

  39. Chris

    Must add. I find it most interesting that most of the money is from NoVa and Corey’s running for a statewide office. We are populated in this area, but NOT enough to carry someone in a statewide election.

  40. Chris

    @Mom
    Perhaps it’s time for Wiskey Sours on the deck and floating the day away. Anything is better than now.

  41. Mom

    You also have to note that the property owner is tied for fourth on that list of donations.

  42. @Second Alamo
    Well, SA, you surprise me. I had you pegged as an Obama supporter. 🙄 😈

  43. Thanks Andy. I probably have them under my deck and front porch also. There is empty space. But we have a huge problem over here to start with. Mature trees, Those vines, Bull Run.

    MoM,

    I hate gin. It makes me sweat. quinine with it might turn me into a killer.

  44. AndyH

    @mom, if you drink enough of them, you don’t notice much of anything…:)

  45. Through an agreement with the state, Prince William County and Roadside Development, the Washington Nationals Class A affiliate will be constructing a 6-7,000 seat stadium in Woodbridge.

    The stadium, which will be located in the Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center Development, will be accompanied by a commuter lot to be paid for by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

    From INsidenova.com

  46. According to Tour of Duty, in WWII, the average age of the soldier was 26. In Vietnam, the average age was 19.

    question. Why the age disparity?

    Why so old in WWII and why so young in Vietnam?

    Cargo? Where are you?

  47. The age of majority in WWII was 21. The draft age was modified to 18 after Pearl. But, think about the demographics. Perhaps the age distribution was such that there were just more 21+ people. During Vietnam…baby boomers.
    Also, during WWII, we had a huge cross section of people….50 million were registered but 10 million were drafted. During Vietnam… tiny demographic selection. We didn’t get a huge number of volunteers.

    They lowered the voting age to 18 purely to prevent lawsuits about the draft. They would have done better to restrict the draft to 21+. No college deferments and a more mature soldier.

    That’s my opinion, off the top of my head and a look at Wiki.
    I enlisted at the age of 21. And I noticed the difference between myself and most of the 18 year olds. I seemed to stress a lot less over Boot Camp.

  48. Chris

    And here we go. The Mosquito People award is just moments away, Moon. 🙄

  49. I gotta argue with one point…the 18 year old point and why. I don’t recall any lawsuits over being drafted before 21. I recall that being a huge voting point…that you could be drafted but you couldn’t vote. July 1, 1971. There was an upcoming presidential election in 1972.

    I guess I understand the Vietnam age being 19. What I don’t understand is the wWII age. 26 seems old to draft. Only about 10% of the population was in college then, probably less than that. Why the delay? What was the reasoning back then?

  50. Mom

    I guess we all know where the Manassas Journal gets it story ideas from:

    PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. —
    Republican Corey Stewart has raised $149,237 so far this year for his lieutenant governor bid in 2013, according to Virginia Public Access Project records just released.

    …The Potomac Nationals donated $10,000 to Stewart’s campaign. Stewart also received a dozen other $5,000 contributions – including one from Roadside Development. Roadside owns Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center where the Nationals just announced plans to build a new baseball stadium.

    1. Oh tell me it isn’t true. Does he have no shame?

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