Photo courtesy of Ocean Lover

MLC poster Ocean Lover sent me this picture that brought back some old memories of small kid time.

Do you recognize it?  We referred to it as "the mosquito truck".

Growing up in Coconut Grove in Kailua - 2 houses away from the Kawainui marsh - we had a mosquito problem.  Flies were a big problem too with the Kapaa dump, but that's for another blog entry.  Mosquitos were abundant where we lived.  Maybe that's why my mom always had us play in long pants.

But every so often, around 7 or 8 o'clock, we'd hear that familiar "pfft, pfft, pfft" sound out in our neighborhood.  Then we'd look outside and see the flashing orange light up the street.  Immediately we'd yell out "MOSQUITO MAN!".  Everyone would sprint into action and close up all the windows in the house.  We'd stand by the windows and watch as the mosquito man drove pass our house.  Some of the other neighborhood kids would be running behind the truck or riding their bicycles behind it playing in the smoke.  We'd ask to go outside too, but thankfully my parents refused to let us outside.

You see, within that smoke spewing out of the back of the truck was DDT.

DDT use was banned in 1972 in the U.S. as it was suggested that DDT causes cancer.

I wonder whatever happened to those kids who used to run after the "mosquito truck"...

I remember when a mosquito would sneak into our house - and into my bedroom.  Just as I was about to fall asleep, I'd hear that irritating buzz of the mosquito.  Logically, since I could hear the mosquito, I assumed it was next to my ear - so I'd wait patiently for it to land and when the buzzing stopped, I slapped that whole side of my head hoping to have hit that pesky mosquito.  Then after a few minutes, I'd hear that buzzing again and repeat the whole routine.

After about 4 times, I'd finally give up and go to the kitchen cabinet, get out the trusty "Hadabug" bug spray and spray my room while closing the door behind me.  It must've worked because I never heard a mosquito again after I "Hadabug" my room.  (I wonder who thought up of that name - Hadabug).

And if we ever left the front door open too long, we'd hear "Eh!  You letting the mosquitos in!"

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Speaking of mosquitos - did you know there is a ringtone called mosquito?  It's a high pitched sound around the 17KHz.  See, most MLCers can't hear sounds at that range, but kids can.  So kids use that ringtone so they can hear their phone ring in class, but the teachers can't.  Well, most teachers.  Some teachers who can will hear it and immediately tell the students to turn off their cell phones.  The students are always shocked when that happens.

In fact, as a deterrent from having teenagers hang out in front of a store, the store owner will blast the mosquito sound outside of his shop on speakers.  Don't believe me?  See The Mosquito™

Here, take this test and see when you can hear the high pitch sound:

I hear it at 12 KHz.  How about you?

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Special thanks to Ocean Lover for getting me the picture of the Mosquito Truck aka mosquito man.

Did you have a Mosquito truck driving around your neighborhood when you were small?  Remember seeing the red truck with the yellow flashing light and the "pfft, pfft, pfft" sounds it made as it passed by your house?  And how do you deal with a pesky mosquito in your bedroom?