Deer flies are a plague this year (actually, every year)

Biting deer flies have been a real pest – worse than usual – at my house this year. And since I’m a reporter, I get to whine about it in print!

My story from the Monitor is here. It includes an entomologist’s comment that they don’t seem any worse than usual this year, despite my lamentation.

It also includes the description of an unlikely design for a deerfly-distracting hat … at least I thought it was unlikely until the photo below was sent in by a reader.

“A couple years ago, after my wife Bernie (Bernadette) complained about her battle with those pesky biters while she took her morning walks, I came up with the attached. She claims it worked pretty well,” wrote Mal Cameron of Deerfield.