Northern Michigan is a fantastic place to be in the summer. Now that it’s winter, my husband and I are taking our annual snowbirds trip down to a gated community in Arizona. Still, when summer rolls around we’ll be headed for home to indulge in some carefree living on the breezy shores of Lake Huron. My only complaint about the Midwest in summertime is that the mosquitoes run rampant.

No matter how many citronella candles we light and how much DEET-filled pest sprays we daub on our bodies, there just doesn’t seem to be any relief. It’s even worse after a refreshing summer rain, when the mosquitoes begin to swarm in the damp air. Last year we had finally reached our last straw. We didn’t want to surrender the outdoors experience to the winged pests, so we put up a few Paha Que tents with mosquito netting.