Every year about this time I don't know which is worse: wintertime's chapped, rough skin or summer's no-seeums. At the moment there's no contest. I could go mad from the itching. Last night it would not have been a long journey.

Maybe my system over-reacts to the no-seeum bites but I am a mass of welts from toes to ears and scalp. They itch. Fiercely.

The windows in this apartment are old and don't close tightly. There is a never-ending supply of the midges out there. Just about the worst thing about combating them is that they don't buzz. Not until I feel the sharp ping! do I know that I've hosted another of them. The itching starts the next day.

Does someone have a remedy? A few years ago a friend gave me a roll-on tube of No Itch (or something like that). When I read the label it said '100% Ammonia'. Who'd a thunk it.

Today when I go to the store I'm getting a jug of ammonia and I'll dab it on, especially in the night.