Boy, is that the truth, gnu. I first encountered black flies when they bit through my knee socks somewhere in New Brunswick!

As for the socks with sandals: I'll bet their mothers told them "never wear shoes without socks!"

This is amusing. Like some, I wear birkies as long as possible even in Monteral and central Ontario; socks do help when the thermometer drops below 0 - in any language. But in the NW -TOO WET. Only cotton or wool and the texture has to be just right - Boy, do I have lots of socks, trying to find ones that are soft enough. NO synthetics.