Tuesday, March 13, 2012

BEWARE OF TICKS!


At my appointment yesterday, the dentist had just finished numbing my gums when he said, “Just a minute, just a minute, sit still!” He grabbed a tissue and brushed it across my eyebrow. “A little bug,” he said. Whereupon I started to tell him how I had found a tick on the bathroom wall that morning. He replied that this “little bug” was indeed a tick and showed it to me.

As the dental staff left me alone so that my numbness could get number, my skin began to crawl. Catching me scratching my arm, the assistant asked if I was now “creeped out.”

“Yes!” I said. “I can hardly wait to go home and check under my bra!”

Here’s how my house came to harbor ticks:
Sunday morning was rainy and gloomy, but about 2:00, the sun peaked through, giving the appearance of clearing and warmth. Mike donned motorcycle apparel and declared that he would take advantage of the sun by picking up a couple of geocaches. Off he went.

A few minutes later, I decided Nellie and I should get out for the daily walk. I put on my shoes while she stamped her feet up and down elatedly. I gathered my visor and her whistle and leash, and off we went – to the end of the driveway. Suddenly the sun was gone and darkness hung around us. The two of us scurried back to the house just as it began to pour.

Mike called later from his office to say he had barely made it there before the rain commenced. He had picked up one geocache, he said, and I think he found another on the way back home.

What he didn’t tell me until I found the tick on the bathroom wall was that one of the caches carried a “tick warning” – lots of ticks in that place. He had found one on his hat, he said. So today I’m washing all the clothes in the hamper as well as those hanging above it. I'm glad it's not head lice or cockroaches, but even so, ticks are undesirable.

So, tick season is evidently upon us – a sure sign of spring. Stupid nasty little ticks! KW

5 comments:

drMolly, the BeanQueen said...

Only those of us who experience "tick season" can really understand. Make mine "double YUK!"
Hope they are all gone soon.

Chris said...

I'm at work, on lunch, and checked in to see what you're up to. Ticks creep me out, too! And of course, with Dan's job, they are part of every spring, but bless his heart, he takes his clothes off out in the shop and leaves them there until it is time to wash them, and then hes jumps in the shower. Still, I found one crawling across his face once. He didn't feel it at all; they are such devious critters! *Shudder*

Leah said...

My goodness. Didn't know there was such a thing as "tick season." When I lived in L.A. for 12 years, I never saw insects of any kind in my home. Then I moved to Orange County and had an apt. right beside a pond with lush landscaping. When it rained, ants tried to take over my place, coming in every crevice. It was a battle to the end. We both fought for my trash can hidden in a kitchen pantry. I won, but not before I was shocked & amazed at the tenacious little critters.

Ants have also tried to come in the house I live in now. They haven't gotten past a window and crawling on my leg, but I was really "ticked" off. Again I had to go to war with the creepy crawlers.

A funny ant story happened at the office building where I worked a few years ago. I hid a birthday cake for someone in my dept. in a vacant office on the first floor of the bldg. I told someone nearby that the cake was there until our party. Then I went back to my office on the 6th floor. When I went to pick up the cake, there was a line of ants marching across the desk toward my cake. They had come just inches from reaching the sweet treat. I grabbed the cake and ran in retreat from the advancing army. How they got in was a mystery, since the windows were sealed shut!

I'll never know if a couple of ants made it to the cake and burrowed inside "foxhole" style. If they did, then our cake had a little extra protein. And to answer the question you have right now...No, I didn't tell anyone at the party about the ants which tried to celebrate on my cake.

Hallie said...

Nellie is a very good patient when it's time to search her over. I don't mind searching but I call on a parent to do the dirty work.

I don't think I've ever had one make a meal of me, but when it happens I guarantee you'll hear me screaming from wherever you live!

Kathy said...

Ticks and mosquitoes don't bother Mike much. I maintain it's because he has no fat. I found a tick attached to his chest once, but I don't think the tick was too happy there.

We put "Bio Spot" on Nellie and she still picks up ticks -- it's just inevitable. She can't relax as she feels them cavorting in her fur. So we try to help her by finding them.

Funny story about the ants who nearly got your cake, Leah. With ants you can generally stop that march with some bait. In my experience, that's been enough to keep the ants at bay.