It'll be ok - I had West Nile and survived. It's easier on people our age than on the elderly or kids! Just get some non-offensive smelling bug spray ;)

Fire up those voodo candles, girl! No bad buggies will bite if they are worried about loosing their wings or legs! I can't wait to see the hat!

See another reason for you to leave the Valley and come here and visit me. I won't even tell your parents you are in town.

Maybe you can find a citronella voodoo candle. Just don't decide to wear a full bio-suit... they really make your butt look big.

love the bug face!

hate the mosquitoes!

lol! Girl, please! You're going to wear yourself out with so much fretting. I'm from Toronto and let me tell you, the media made the whole SARS-scare out to be so much more than it ever was (although to be fair, it was very nasty over in Asia). Ditto for West Nile, (which has been here for a couple of years too) unless you're a raven or a crow, then you might be in for it.

You are cracking me up...just be sure to get some bug spray or Skin So Soft [although you'll probably offend both bugs and humans] and don't run around between dusk and dawn. I think I might have to call in fat tomorrow. This spare tire is bringing me down...I feel ill!

I try not to be a hypochondriac, but I am. But not with bugs or the "trendy" diseases. I tend to over react to sniffles and coughs, which is horrible because I have allergies! I've gotten out of many an event because I'm worried that I have pneumonia. I have also observed the West Nile virus signs here in LA - they are posted on virtually every park (not that there's that many parks) around here. I was sick in Spain when the whole SARS thing was going around and it took so much effort to convince them that I wasn't Chinese or from Hong Kong or Canada. I just kept holding up my passport and said "USA! USA!" I still don't think they believed me. Is that too long of a comment???

When WNV was reported in Boston, my entire office was called into a conference room, someone spoke to us about the virus and the "warning signs", and then we were all given giant (and I mean HUGE) cans of Off--ostensibly we were to run around our neighborhoods spraying everthing in sight (while shrieking).

Don't let it bug you.

You know, I do the same exact thing. I get a pain in my leg, and the first thing that pops into my head is "Oh, shit! What if it's cancer?"

Okay, we've had those signs up on the Westside for SOME time now. I was training for the LA Marathon in Santa Monica two years ago hoping to get a mosquito bite some Saturday morning training session so that I wouldn't actually have to DO THE MARATHON. West Nile Virus is MUCH better than being on your feet for 26.2 miles! LOL

Okay I love your site! And not to be a scary internet stalker or anything but I swear you sound just like me! (I heard internet stalkers were called "lurkers" because they read people's pages without revealing themselves - so here I am posting! See. Not lurking. But I digress...) Anyway, all the above to tell you that I've already requested the afternoon off because I'm feeling a bit fat... Of course Boss laughed and reminded me of gigantic to-do before weekend list... But never the less, I tried!

You are a crazy wacko...and my new favorite blogger!!! As a fellow germphobe, I can understand your concerns about the pestilence and disease in the world. And I've considered calling in fat many many times.... :)

Yeah, but I have fleas! In my garden, biting my ass (for real). You've got nothing on me, Laurie. ;)

I consider calling in fat everyday when I can't find something that fits in my closet!

It's a dangerous world out there. I can deal with the homebound dangers (carbon monoxide, radon, lead paint), but these health scares are insidious. I've moved on from West Nile to worrying about the potential Avian flu pandemic!

Once you get a good lenght on the tube part of the hat - just turn inside out and do a three-needle bind-off. Will give the appearance of ears!

April

I actually have seen someone get on a bus wearing a surgical mask before - and this was well before the whole SARS thing. So, there are those who are even crazier than our dear Aunt Purl. I did my very best to aim in her direction every time I coughed. So evil!

When I was in college my mother got the flesh-eating virus, and DID NOT TELL ME ABOUT IT FOR, LIKE, MONTHS after it happened! (She was fine - antibiotics take care of it when caught early). Then, a few years later, she got an infection in one of her legs that was so bad she almost had to have it amputated - FROM A DO-IT YOURSELF CAR WASH PLACE! (the hose scratched her leg and the nasty flithy re-used water got inside). When that happened, I threatened to buy a biohazard suit and NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT IT ON! Oh, I'm feeling faint just thinking about it. Where's my anti-bacterial hand-wipey stuff?

I'm so excited about tonight! My knitting is sitting on the passenger seat of my car in the office garage, just waiting for 7PM when I can leave for the stitch n' bitch!

Note to self:
Stake out a spot on the other side of the knitting table... I don't want to catch the plague (aka death by mosquito) from this crazy aunt chick...

That obesity thing is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Mosquito's scare me anyway...

ha! why didn't i think of it? calling in FAT! "hi boss, listen. i'm a walking timebomb. i can't come in today because i'm especially fat and could develop diabetes at any moment. if i'm not as fat tomorrow then i'll come in."

Stacy, I cannot believe you had WEST NILE!!!!Were you famous? Did they show your pic on the news? ("Local woman attacked by nature ... film footage at eleven!") Anyway, I hope you are all well and healed and good now :) And famous!

Sarah... NO SHE DID NOT! The car wash story? I will have nightmares about that....

Laina, can't wait to meet you tonight! Don't worry, I'm not contagious ... yet. Unless fatness is contagious, in which case you better watch out LOL. 'Cause I got the padding!!!

Hey...I was just reading somewhere...that mosquitoes are more attracted to men, because of their higher body temperature....and this is weird...increasing their risks to the West Nile is a goatee, an earring, and bad highlights! Freaky! =) (yes, I know I probably just lost some karma points for saying it. Sorry)

Okay seriously I got a hat from Plow & Hearth, it's a baseball cap with bug netting to go around your head. Hey it won't protect your arms and legs but my head will be bug free.

I'v now got this freaky mental images of everyone in LA, instead of wearing not very much in the middle of summer, wearing biohazard suits cos they are scared of mosquitoes, of them carrying flamethrowers to wipe out any mozzies... Hmm, this could mean fewer people in LA when they wipe each other out or die of heat exhaustion!

I'm not scared of mosqitos yet but am getting very creeped out by the dirty grocery cart handles and am knitting fingerless gloves to keep in me purse for when I'm shopping. My cousin and sister started making fun of me at MS&W but by the end of the weekend they were getting the creeps just thinking about it, too! Jane

I am so freaked out by West Nile too. The first summer we heard about it here we went camping and my 8-year old got sick. We ended up in the ER and I was sure she had it -- the doc was actually concerned too -- but she had strep. In defense of those of us who might be just a teeny bit over-reactive to things like this :) .. a YOUNG man here where I live (like in his 30's) got really sick with it last summer and was in ICU . . . so, although most don't get really sick from it, it does pay to be careful!!

Maybe knit some mosquito netting on the rollie brim of the ORANGE hat? You can never be too careful.

Laurie, you should come down Saturday. If you're willing to venture out of the valley at NIGHT, then why not during the day. And I swear on all that I love, we don't DO nature at my house. Besides it's cooler where I live. Ok, I'm calling you. right. now...YOU NEED THIS

Fabulous. Or should I say 'fat in the ass...'

I got back from the doc he told me that, uh, my thumb is NOT healing as quickly as he thinks it should and is starting me on a SECOND course of anti biotics and here I am reading SARS and WNV and car wash stories.

So I have to ask, when she got the infection at the car wash, did she jump around shakin' her groove thing and singing hip pre-disco funkadelia? (the movie Car Wash had a great effect on my growing up years...)

I'm on the phone with the world-famous LA!!!!!!!! of JenLa!!!!!

Oh, man, you're normal. My hubby, the internist? He is freaked out by all bodily fluids (it's really funny to watch him change a diaper and try not to actually touch it). Well, he's also professionally scared of that avian flu--we don't have the infrastructure to deal with something that big.

Long, funny story: remember "Grey's Anatomy" last Sunday night? Remember when that abcess blew up all over her in the surgery? You should've seen my hubby's face! He went green, started gagging, and yelled out, "I would've run screaming from the OR!" Of course, being the loving wife I am, I started laughing at him (he was funny), which just got him mad and all defensive. *giggle* I told him he should try being a mom sometime--there isn't a bodily fluid I haven't had on me yet (except spinal fluid--thank God). He usually gets the heebies and leaves when that happens. ;)

Annie! How come your thumb isn't healing? What about the super drugs? Can he give you more?

i read today that people with big foreheads (having a big forehead myself, i take an interest) can 'wear any style of hat'.

Wow, Annie commented on your blog.... um, could I BE any more jealous?

Dude! "Oh She of Heretic Fame" (and mine and Jen's all-time hero) read's your blog. Who's badass now?

Bitch, but I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Just wait till they start spraying all the chemicals to kill the mosquitos. I heard you can get CANCER from it. Best bet is to get those full body radiation suits that were the rage here in NYC in late 2001

ohhh maybe I will get west nile!!!!! Me and Mommy together inthe hospital without any american health care!!!
(SHHHHHH don't tell the authority mommy still owes glendale hospital a stupid amount of money from when she lived there but they don't know how to enter canadian postal codes in the system computer so they can't send her bills anymore. Morons.)
8 more sleeps until we are there..

whatever you do don't pick up a dead bird...

Hey there's no West Nile here on PEI yet hopefully we will have another free year. Anneb We're supposed to get some snow tomorrow. Yuck

Look at that Renee Zellweger look you've got going on! You're adorable.

Makes me thankful I am in Idaho! It is too cold for it here...

My senior year in college they totally thought I had SARS - I had been on a plane and got really sick right after and had to go to the emergency room and everything. But, uh, I didn't.

You do not have a big forehead!

West Nile Virus is nothing. I have been living in Taiwan for two years now. Survived the whole SARS thing and didn't even wear a mask. And getting through this whole avian flu thing that is still going around. Quit eating poultry because of it. And you should see the mosquitoes here, they don't just leave a little bite, they leave half-dollar size welts. I think everyone is safer there in California.

lol...Only in LA would they place signs warning of West Nile. Down here (Texas) no one cares except when you leave the windows open while the mosquito truck makes his rounds. Ack pahtooey! That stuff smells awful and clings to your skin in an oily kinda-better-go-scrub-this-stuff-off-whith-some-sort-of-industrial-abrasive kind of way.

We had West Nile here in Nebraska a couple years ago. I was pregnant and I heard it could be especially dangerous for women in my condition because it could seriously adversely affect the fetus. I knew people who got it, I heard of people who died from it (mostly senior citizens and people with poor health to begin with). It was in the news a lot, and if I would have taken the bus, I probably would have seen similar signs.

The next summer, however, we hardly heard about it at all. In fact, when we did hear about it, the number of cases reported was about 20% of the previous summer and there were no deaths. So it was like the people who were suceptible to it got it and either died or recovered and the rest of us may also have been exposed unknowingly but didn't have any adverse affects.

So based on that experience, I would say, wear bug repellant and stay away from mosquitos if possible, but you need not be overly alarmed.

Oh, we Connecticutians are well-versed with the West Nile...it's all about the DEET.

But, I'll admit that now when I get a mosquito bite I have a brief period of OMG I'M GONNA GET WEST NILE thoughts. But, realistically, most people get it and fight it off without even knowing they had it, like a cold -- and a lot of people are even totally immune. Stupid media.

Of course, my state is practially synonymous with Lyme Disease. We have to hunt down and beat the idiot who thought it'd be a great idea to name the disease after a CT town. Connecticut's department of tourism thanks you, asshat.

P.S. OMG - and as I am typing this, there is an ad on the radio about West Nile virus prevention for HORSES talking about the deadly threat it is to all creatures equine. Sigh.

Found your blog today...it has kept me entertained all afternoon at work (nothing like killing a Friday afternoon by spy-blogging).

Anyways, I figured out why Mr. X left - he was jealous of YOUR creativity...he couldn't compete.

You are great!

Girlfriend, because of my hypochondria, I've had breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, uterine cancer, mononucleosis, bubonic plague, flesh eating disease, PROSTATE CANCER, and west nile virus.

I've recovered nicely :D