POST FALLS - Tina Martin is bugged about what's clogging the air.

Those smokey-winged ash aphids - as much an October tradition as the World Series, Halloween and sprinkler blowouts - are out in full force this week, keeping our mouths shut and honing our swatting skills.

"They're everywhere and they're a nuisance," said Martin as she attempted to walk in Kiwanis Park in Post Falls on a sun-soaked Thursday afternoon. "They really know how to put a kink into a gorgeous fall day, don't they?"

The tiny winged pests forced Martin to cut her walk short.

"You'll notice I'm not smiling," the Post Falls woman said, referring to both her disgust over succumbing to the aphids and how she didn't want any in her mouth. "They get in your hair, on your clothes, in your nose, in your eyes ..."

And you can't do much about them, said Shawn Bennett, an arborist with Grace Tree Service.

"Honestly, treating them will have little effect," Bennett said.

Bennett said if folks are really bugged about it, they can spray them with water at the base of ash trees, their favorite landing spot.

"It's almost like it's an aphid orgy - they're that thick," he said.

To be fair to the aphids, Bennett said he's not sure why they congregate on ash trees en masse. But there is some mating going on in the air.

"What the attraction to ash trees is, I don't know," he said. "They're not feeding nor are they even attracted to leaves this time of year. They don't even do enough damage to warrant a lot of research, so there's a lot of unknowns."

But, with aphids all over, any water war declared on them will be a lost cause, Bennett said.

"If anyone in your neighborhood has an ash tree, they're going to be around," he said.

On the bright side, aphids are not harmful to trees at this stage, and they don't bite. They are often referred to as gnats, but that's not what is buzzing in bunches now. Gnats bite. These aphids don't, Bennett said.

The aphids thrive when the sun comes out and in the afternoons, Bennett said. He said this has been a normal year for them, and during one year when there was a cold snap early, they were almost nonexistent.

With freezing temperatures just around the corner, Bennett said they won't be around much longer to pester us. Pretty soon they can't be further blamed for delaying our fall yardwork.

"Their life cycle is ending; they're taking their last gasps," Bennett said. "But they can make an afternoon miserable. It's hard not to get one in the intake valve."