Gnats bad enough this year to drive you buggy
Q: The gnats seem especially bad this year. What can I do to keep them from flying in my face, up my nose and in my mouth? I’ve heard vanilla extract is one solution. Another is Absorbine Jr. Is this true?
— Kurt, Rock Island
A: Dave Manning, a manager at Gander Mountain in Davenport, said there is no effective chemical for killing gnats that is safe on skin as well. For campers, he suggests mosquito nettings to keep the pests at bay.
He said the bugs seem worse than ever this year, but that they should not hang around too much longer. He has heard that Avon Skin So Soft, vanilla extract and Absorbine Jr. have been used to repel gnats, but “this year they’re so horrible, they’re just ignoring everything. You just have to cover up.”
Q: I have relatives coming from Seattle, and I would like to take them to a genuine, working Iowa farm. Is there any place locally that offers tours?
— Diane, Davenport
A: What a great way to spend a day with out-of-town guests, Diane! I called the Quad-Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau for an answer to this one, and Jessica Waytenick immediately knew of just such a place.
Country Corner offers just everything a city slicker would need to understand the Midwestern farm experience. Located on U.S. 150 in Alpha, Ill., tours of a working farm are available to non-school groups for $100. The package includes the two-hour use of a pavilion, a tractor-drawn hayrack ride and time in the farm’s petting zoo.
In the fall, it also gets the group into the farm’s corn maze as well as its bee barn, which showcases a real hive with 30,000 bees buzzing around behind Plexiglas. Program coordinator Bob Frees also invites visitors to come on special festival weekends, such as the sweet corn boil July 19-20, the melon festival Aug. 16-17 and customer appreciation weekend Sept. 13-14.
For more information, contact Frees at (309) 314-3634.
Q: During the winter, there was so much focus on repairing potholes around the city of Davenport. Are there any provisions for making such repairs in the summer? Sections of Northwest Boulevard, especially between Pine and Division streets, are really bad. Also, how long is the construction project on Northwest Boulevard between Pine Street and Interstate 80 expected to last?
— Quad-Citian
A: Ask the Times feels your pain. As a frequent visitor to the west end of town, I also have noticed washboard roads.
Eric Schallert, senior engineer in the city’s Public Works Department, said the city has crews that do pothole patching throughout the year and routinely check for problems. Northwest Boulevard between Pine and Division streets is one of those routes, and it will be patched soon.
Regarding the portion of Northwest Boulevard now under construction between Cedar Street and Interstate 80, the project is expected to be completed by the middle of the 2009 construction season. The current operation is installing storm sewer, which has been delayed because of frequent rains.
Updates on the project can be found at cityofdavenportiowa.com. Search for “Northwest Boulevard paving project.”