Mosquito Repellent Patch

Mosquitoes love me, they really do.  I can’t go out for more than 15 minutes without getting bitten at least once.  Well that was before the Don’t Bite Me mosquito repellent patch.

A few months ago I saw a commercial for mosquito repellent patches.  I couldn’t believe something so simple could work so well.  I’ve been a long time user of DEET based Cacher’s Cologne.   I hate using sprays but I didn’t have much choice if I was going to to out geocaching in the woods.   I knew I had to try the patches.

I have not been out caching three times and I can say that I have returned bite free.  At one point yesterday I was in a particularly mosquito infested area.  Several times there were mosquitoes on my arms and legs.   I thought they might have been biting me but today I don’t have any bite marks.  I’d have to say the patches worked.

It turns out that I’m just over the recommended size for a single patch.  This means I need to wear two patches.  The recommendations say to place the patch on a hairless area of the body.  Easier said then done in my case.  I resorted to my shoulders or my buttocks.  Applying them to the shoulder is a much more suitable if applying them in public.

You might want to give these patches a try.

• Stinging Nettle Pictures
• Poison Ivy Pictures

Do you have pictures of either of these plants posted on Flickr?  Let me know and I’ll add them to the appropriate gallery.

Here’s a video from Garmin that explains how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_p1x-fL2zc

1. Set the permissions on every picture.   There are four levels of permission available on your pictures – everyone, friends, family and just you.  If you set the picture to everyone then anyone that finds your profile will be able to see those pictures.  Friends and family are allow people that you have assigned to one of those groups to see your photos.  This is something you have to to do in advance and it requires that those people have a flickr account.  An lastly you can keep your pictures private.  There is one CAVEAT to these permissions.  Adding pictures to a group or sharing the private URL bypasses the permission settings you have created.
2. Set the licensing for your photos.  Photos that have a creative commons license will be viewed more often and may even be used on other websites.
3. Add meaningful titles, descriptions and tags to your photos.  At this time the only way to find a photos is to use a text based search.  In order for a text based search to work there must be some text to search.   You can make it easier for people to find photos from a particular cache if you include the GC number as a tag or in the title.  Keep in mind that people can search for a GC number to find the cache so if you photo includes spoilers you might want to leave the GC number off.  Alternatively you can tag the photo as a spoiler that way people can avoid those photos.  I sometimes add “spoiler” to the title of the image.  In this way people know to avoid the picture if they don’t want to spoil the surprise.   There is even a little script that will add links from the cache page directly to any flickr images that include the GC number.  Here is a link for more information – geocache2flickr
4. Add your pictures to relevant geocaching groups.  You have to join the group before you add your pictures to that group.   Keep in mind that you group permissions will override the permissions you have set for an image. Even if you have an image set to friends or family other members of the group will see it if you chose to share that image.  This is almost like a fifth permission level.
   Here are some groups I belong to:
   • Creative Cache Containers
   • Geocaching in Ontario
   • Geocaching
   • Geocoins
5. Add links to your flickr photostream from your other website profiles such as Facebook or your blog.  There are even widgets that will show some of your pictures on other websites if you chose to set one of  those up.    I actually have my Facebook account hooked up to one of my Flickr accounts so that pictures I post on flickr are automatically posted on my Facebook wall.

The steps I mention above will help you introduce your photos to more people.  Keep that in mind.  In some cases you won’t want to distribute your photos to a large audience .  Remember to “reverse” the steps outlined above if you want to keep an image private.

For the curious here is a link to my flickr photostream – cachemania.

This post covers posting pictures to flickr but the concepts apply  equally to other photo hosting services such as picasa.

A gift suggestion for every geocacher.

1. GPS Receiver $100+
2.Reusable Hand Warmers $5ea
3. Yaktrax, “snow chains” for your shoes. $25+
4. Vehicle Travel Bug $10+
5. Geocoin $10+