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"Ow, dad...careful, there's a thing on my neck that hurts!"I was washing her hair, so I pulled the hair apart to examine the thing that hurt. First, I noticed a little bump -- a pimple? Ingrown hair? I cleared more of her damp hair aside, and discovered eight wiggly legs.Destiny had a woodtick.ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK. I had them in my youth, but I lived on a farm. This one had been feeding, and had gotten a bit big. It was not happy about being bothered."Don't move...I'll take care of it," I said without explanation.I got a lighter and a small metal chunk, in hopes of heating it off (that's how I remember them being removed). It held fast, despite being touched by a very hot poker. Next, I heated up a tweezers, and grabbed it close to the head. With a little tugging, it came loose."Do you want to see it, or do you think you'll be scared? You had a woodtick.""Um....I want to see it."I had put it in a little cup, and held it low enough for her to peek in. As I explained how woodticks get around, I flushed it down the toilet. D'OH! I thought -- I should have saved it, for disease testing in case Des comes down with something. Lyme disease is rare around here, and usually transmitted by a different kind of tick. These ones can still pass disease, but it's not nearly as serious. Destiny hinted that she didn't want to hang around trees or grass anymore, but I explained that ticks not overly common, and that she shouldn't be worried about ticks everywhere. She probably picked it up at Grandma & Grandpa's today, playing in the back yard with my cousin's dogs. Still, now my entire body feels like there's bugs crawling on it. I hate ticks. They're just....nasty.
You know, the day before
yesterday I got mites all
over me (from a plant). And
yesterday I found two
different, large-ish spiders
crawling up my arm. I hear
your ICK. --gigi, 6/30/2002 21:25:54
Several years back I was hiking
on the Appalachian Trail with
some friends Edd & Terry aka
The Whale People (cos they ate
spirulina(plankton)). We came
upon a memorable stretch of
trail in VA where you walk
alongside a park maintained by
the National Zoo in DC for
breeding purposes. We saw only
a few giraffe far off in the
distance (and acting with the
utmost decorum) but what we did
reap a whirlwind of was TICKS.
Each of us had about 20 ticks
land on us during the 3 miles
we hiked alongside that big ole
tall fence. Edd got fed up and
took out his sewing scissors
and pretended to be a tick
barber. "Little off behind the
ears Mr. Tick," he'd say, then
cut the little buggers head
clear off its body,"Oh, I'm
sorry sir, slipped a little
there." He did that routine
about 15 times and had us
laughing all the while.///Oh
yeah, there was a great sign at
the first point the Trail meets
the preserve: No Trespassing
Violators Will Be Eaten.
--busmun, 7/1/2002 10:55:15
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