Vampire

Blood Encouragement

In mid-January, I became eligible to give blood again. This meant I received a few unanswered calls on our landline phone. I received additional encouragement to give blood when the evening news had a story about a blood shortage. The news story said donors would receive a $20 gift card. I didn’t walk but ran to my computer where I scheduled my appointment for the next day.

When I give blood, it is almost always “double red”. This allows me to do a good thing, but not get frustrated with the inefficiencies at the blood donation center. I am only eligible every 16 weeks instead of the standard 8 weeks. I still get the mini-physical. I just get half as many as those who go every 2 months.

Now, back to the blood. After signing in and a brief wait, I was screened for the day’s donation. Wisely, I had done my pre-donation questions on-line. There were a couple of new ones that were mostly HIV related. After getting the lowest blood pressure reading in a few months, I was pushed out the screening door toward my home for the next 45 minutes.

After my extra long-eyelashed employee sweet-talked me and set up the equipment, the donation process began. It was while giving the intermittent squeezes to the object in my palm that I noticed the extreme violence on the monitor mounted just to my left. Since it was the climax of the movie, the violence was at its peak. The good guys were releasing their powers on the almost equally gifted bad guys. There was blood, tears, and perseverance through certain death blows. Did I mention blood? Yes, there was plenty of that.

After a point, I couldn’t resist asking my attendant, “Who chose today’s movies?” After she replied, “I did.”, I had nowhere else to go. I watched this movie end as the next one started, “The Covenant”. I let the blood flow on and off screen until my bag was full.

I don’t think the visual blood accelerated or hindered the donation process at all. However, I would vote for no visual entertainment, but most certainly non-violent videos in this setting. I understand it is their work environment. Maybe a music station that covers the spectrum? The attendants need to be entertained. Whatever decision is made, I suggest a “no blood” policy in their future choices.

Interview With A Vampire

Okay, suggestive titles aside, there really is some truth here–just let me explain!  If you can’t stand the wait, she would be an “associate of vampires”, but that is  all you are getting from me.  You have to read for the rest.

As I was completing my walk today, I walked thru a park that has ball fields, a playground, a dog park, and lots of trees along the edges.  As I noted a “new” city vehicle at the park near the trail, I noticed its likely owner emerging from the foliage rolling a grocery cart type thing.  I was prepared to pass her without putting my deductive reasoning to the test.  Fortunately, I was willing to break my train of thought and begin the interview.

“Collecting this weeks mosquitoes?”, I asked after observing her cart with some netting and articles that seemed to be allowing people to check in but NOT check out.

She seemed to enjoy the interested and lit up.  And, then she went into a bit of an explanation.  “I drop the traps on Thursday and pick them up on Friday.  I don’t know what kind of mosquitoes I have in the basket.  I take them to the health department for them to determine that.  I do this from the end of March until about Thanksgiving.”

As you are now clearly aware, I was interviewing a vampire handler and NOT the vampire, but if we pretend she is a mosquito whisperer, I am not completely crazy for going down this pathway.

Knowing mosquitoes were being collected in a little white net “basket” within a 1/2 mile of my home, did cause the next few questions.  (I did ask in a conversational way, but a summary seems to make the whole thing more concise and readable.  She was not a quick talker…)

  • Have they found any Zika? No
  • What about West Nile?  Just last week they found some West Nile in a stagnant creek behind a trailer park.  It was a couple miles south of here.
  • Do you get bit often?

The biting issue is where I was most intrigued by the conversation.  To my question, she answered, “Not to much, but I go through quite a bit of OFF. And, I often use the cheap baby oil/creme from the Dollar Store.”

Knowing there is something that is cheap AND smells better than garlic (trying to keep the vampire theme relevant), did get my attention.  I asked, “Do you always use them both OR do you believe the baby creme can work by itself?”

Although her answer took longer to sort out then I had the patience to recapture here, her boiled down reply was, “I have used them both separately and together.  Sometimes I forget one of the other.  Either one seems to work pretty well by itself.”

So, if you have a fear of mosquitoes and don’t like the smell of OFF or have any tastier humans nearby, consider spending a dollar at the Dollar Store and getting yourself some of this bane to vampire everywhere.  I “think” this is the anti-vampire product, but she didn’t have it to show to me.  It fits the price point she told me and the packaging description.  Good Luck!!

This is what the mosquito gathering apparatus looks like when collecting.

This is what the mosquito gathering apparatus looks like when collecting.