"She would not get any sleep at all and she would be ill again"

I'm feeling a little like Princess Lenore in James Thurber's lovely story "Many Moons." Not that I want the moon (though I sorta do, but that's another story...), but that this is the second night now I've gotten eaten alive by little bugs, and I'm having trouble coming up with a solution that won't be worse than the problem.

Tonight I left the windows closed, but there were still bugs. I guess they're not mosquitos, they're midges or gnats or noseeums or whatever. And actually, it's not even clear it's bugs plural; all it seems to take is one bug. I did kill two of them yesterday, and other than that I only occasionally see one. Until they go buzz in my ear at night.

So what do I do? Leave my windows closed all day and all night? But it's going to start getting unbearably hot here soon; already it's a bit uncomfortable. Bathe in insect repellent before going to bed every night? Um, for the rest of the summer? Shroud myself in sheets so that no skin is left exposed? Come on. And the way the windows open, screens are just not a possibility, unless I could drape them somehow in mosquito netting. But all day every day? I think I need to get some citronella or something like that, but I'm not optimistic. It would be dangerous to burn a candle all night.

And so it goes. But for perspective's sake: As I type this I'm listening to a program on the BBC World Service about women's lives in Iraq, which makes me think, what the hell am I complaining about.

PS: The link to "Many Moons" above unfortunately omits the last little bit of the story, including the very end, where the Court Jester goes over to the window to wink at the moon, "...for it seemed to the Court Jester that the moon had winked at him."