Things you would buy if you had a little disposable income

[Monique]

Nobody has ever made a zombie movie in the west for a reason. Ambling slowly across a prairie - you'd get the plague before you ate any brains.

I mean, a lot of cows are probably stupid enough to stand still as a zombie shambled right toward them ...

 

[SBrown]

Is painting your house really considered disposable income?

 

[Blue Streak]

Has anyone mentioned a helicopter?
I think @tam has a few. Maybe she could cut a deal on a second hand chopper, if you mention Pugski.

 

[Tricia]

Despite @nay 's valid concerns about the zombie apocalypse (husband's ... collection should keep them at bay for a while), this is brilliant. I mean it's kind of impossible to actually see the lovely yard we're currently spending mumblety-mumble dollars getting re-landscaped, but might be the only way to get Eric to actually sit outside for a meal or something - I miss that from my childhood days living with my parents. We almost always had dinner on the deck. I don't remember massive mosquito issues then - even in VA - it was an upstairs deck - is that why? Do mosquitos prefer to fly low?

Can you find out what they do for storms? Do they take it down for the winter? Etc?

I don't know if they take it down for winter, but that would be fairly easy. I have a friend out here who has curtains like that because she gets intense sun for about 2 hours a day. She leaves hers up year round. I think Reno weather in the winter "may" be similar to your weather.

As for mosquitos, they have a time of day they come out (usually) and its more intense in the evening. Perhaps there was a different mosquito pattern in VA than in CO.
We live in the high desert so we don't tend to get a ton of mosquitos, but we got a bunch earlier this year with all the snow melt and moisture.

I'm using a lot of these lately.

At the risk of opening up a debate about pesticides...
I have a friend in Michigan who owns a house on a lake. He would spray all of his yard and shrubs with bug be gone a day or two before having a bbq or back yard party. The effects of it usually lasted until the next rain. It helped tremendously with the mosquitos, which is saying a lot for a location on a lake. He also had pets who never seemed to be bothered by the sprayed areas. Not saying that its is or isn't an option for you, but that's wha the did.

 

[RachelV]

... We almost always had dinner on the deck. I don't remember massive mosquito issues then - even in VA - it was an upstairs deck - is that why? Do mosquitos prefer to fly low?...

Mosquitos love certain people and ignore others. I was climbing with my co-workers the other week and I got (no exaggeration) 20 bites while no one else got any. If you have the skin temp / enzymes / whatever else that mosquitos love, you can't avoid it. If you don't, they don't seem like that big a deal.

Edit: this is the article I was thinking of: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...s-bite-some-people-more-than-others-10255934/

 

[Jim McDonald]

Monique said
I mean, a lot of cows are probably stupid enough to stand still as a zombie shambled right toward them ...

Zombies with Mad Cow disease...

 

[Don in Morrison]

We don't get mosquitos here. We get wasps. Sunday I discovered four paper wasp nests underneath a handrail on a ramp up to our deck. I blasted them with bug spray twice Sunday and tonight I'll put a high pressure nozzle on the hose and knock them down for good. Then I'll fill the voids where they built the nests with short chunks of 2x4. When I built the ramp for Mrs. Claystone last summer I took great care to make the underside of the ramp itself wasp-resistant, but I didn't think about the space under the handrail at all. We've had wasp traps hanging from the deck ceiling every summer for the past 20 years.

 

[Monique]

We don't get mosquitos here. We get wasps. Sunday I discovered four paper wasp nests underneath a handrail on a ramp up to our deck. I blasted them with bug spray twice Sunday and tonight I'll put a high pressure nozzle on the hose and knock them down for good. Then I'll fill the voids where they built the nests with short chunks of 2x4. When I built the ramp for Mrs. Claystone last summer I took great care to make the underside of the ramp itself wasp-resistant, but I didn't think about the space under the handrail at all. We've had wasp traps hanging from the deck ceiling every summer for the past 20 years.

We haven't been able to find the wasp nest in our back yard, but we're definitely seeing the little buggers on the deck. But they tend to be much less aggressive than mosquitos, since mosquitos actually need to drink your blood *shudder*

 

[Don in Morrison]

While wasp stings hurt like heck, at least you can't get Zika or any of the other weird mosquito-borne bugs that keep turning up.

 

[crgildart]

Ultimately, initially, with more disposable income I would take more days off for beach days and ski days. Updating and replacing gear would be a secondary concern farther down the road. For the first season or two I'd just spend the money giong to the resorts and coast instead of working. I have several pairs of skis I like but still have less than 20 ski days on them. My funshape surfboard probably has less than 10 hours of time with me floating on it.

 

[skibob]

I don't know if they take it down for winter, but that would be fairly easy. I have a friend out here who has curtains like that because she gets intense sun for about 2 hours a day. She leaves hers up year round. I think Reno weather in the winter "may" be similar to your weather.

As for mosquitos, they have a time of day they come out (usually) and its more intense in the evening. Perhaps there was a different mosquito pattern in VA than in CO.
We live in the high desert so we don't tend to get a ton of mosquitos, but we got a bunch earlier this year with all the snow melt and moisture.

I'm using a lot of these lately.

At the risk of opening up a debate about pesticides...
I have a friend in Michigan who owns a house on a lake. He would spray all of his yard and shrubs with bug be gone a day or two before having a bbq or back yard party. The effects of it usually lasted until the next rain. It helped tremendously with the mosquitos, which is saying a lot for a location on a lake. He also had pets who never seemed to be bothered by the sprayed areas. Not saying that its is or isn't an option for you, but that's wha the did.

You may not have many mosquitos, but according to someone I met in Carson City a few weeks back, the rattlers are bad this year? Well, unless your packin ("and you are packin, right?" she asked me). So there's the rattlers. And, well, the people shooting at them . . .

 

[SBrown]

While wasp stings hurt like heck, at least you can't get Zika or any of the other weird mosquito-borne bugs that keep turning up.

Unless you have an allergy, then you just get anaphylaxis.

 

[Dave Petersen]

Well I suppose I would buy these 2 pair of skis from Pepi Sports in Vail Village.

 

[nay]

While wasp stings hurt like heck, at least you can't get Zika or any of the other weird mosquito-borne bugs that keep turning up.

We don't have the Zika skeeters here. Don't really have skeeters here at all, relatively, unless one happens to be in a place that holds water.

I think I've been bitten by a mosquito in Colorado three times in 18 years. And that might be exaggerating. Also no zombie bites. Or horseflies.

 

[Monique]

We don't have the Zika skeeters here. Don't really have skeeters here at all, relatively, unless one happens to be in a place that holds water.

I think I've been bitten by a mosquito in Colorado three times in 18 years. And that might be exaggerating. Also no zombie bites. Or horseflies.

Just come to our back yard. Plenty of mosquitos.

 

[SBrown]

We don't have the Zika skeeters here. Don't really have skeeters here at all, relatively, unless one happens to be in a place that holds water.

I think I've been bitten by a mosquito in Colorado three times in 18 years. And that might be exaggerating. Also no zombie bites. Or horseflies.

I can be bitten three times in three minutes. Hell, one minute.

I don't know about this not having mosquitos here though? Admittedly, I live in a place with quite a bit of water around it, from golf courses to rivers to creeks to reservoirs and so on, and otherwise I go to the mountains a lot (where they also exist due to water) but I know multiple people who have gotten West Nile and the like.

 

[Monique]

I can be bitten three times in three minutes. Hell, one minute.

I don't know about this not having mosquitos here though? Admittedly, I live in a place with quite a bit of water around it, from golf courses to rivers to creeks to reservoirs and so on, and otherwise I go to the mountains a lot (where they also exist due to water) but I know multiple people who have gotten West Nile and the like.

My husband and several people from his office got West Nile a few years ago. I had fun mocking them when they got the red spots at the end, basically because I am a terrible human being. Combine that plus husband's mystical mosquito-luring properties - he doesn't go outside much.

 

[coskigirl]

No mosquitos? That's crazy talk. I got bitten tonight at a school track with no nearby water and wearing deet repellant. I won't even start counting the number I got camping this weekend. While wearing deet and picardin.

 

[Don in Morrison]

Mrs. Claystone is a skeeter magnet. They'll be all over her and ignore me. We try not to go somewhere if we know there are skeeters there.

 

[Uncle-A]

Since I just picked up new skis at the end of the season maybe a stand up paddle board would be fun. That would use up a little disposable income but if you said a lot of income I would like to have a 25 foot Grady White with twin 200 Mercury outboard motors.