Ticks.

I'm not talking about the neurological kind, either. Folks, I live in the wilderness, and out here we have tall grass and open fields, the ideal breeding ground for wood ticks, the kind that latch on and suck blood. (Wendell, didn't you do a post about ticks? I should link to it but I'm too lazy to look for it.) I grew up with them and therefore am not a wimp about finding one on my bod. (Snakes are another story...see previous post involving a snake for photographic evidence.) This year has been particularly bad tick-wise, so I've been talking to my friends about it. So far, every single person has flinched or made a grimmace, or in some cases even squealed. In fact, I'm starting to think that I should stop mentioning the ticks, because people are starting to give me sidelong glances. My soon-to-be-sister-in-law Lisa might call off the wedding that we're planning to have out here unless we fumigate the yard. I guess I can't blame her - who would want to send their guests home with a head-full of ticks!!

Anyway, I have nothing interesting to post about today and thought I'd share about the tick situation. The combination of mild winter weather and the fact that my dogs are both really short has given the ticks in our yard a great opportunity. It seems like the dogs go out roaming for 10 seconds and come back covered in bugs. I have picked over 200 ticks off the dogs in the past week.

I'm sure you think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. And I'm not counting the ticks that I've pulled off of myself and Isaac.

Each tick that attaches itself to my doggies creates a huge welt, so they are covered in horrible bald spots from scratching.

The horrible pesticide medication called "Frontline" doesn't seem to work. I have to wait another month before applying a different kind of medicine that will hopefully work better, so until then I have to try other tactics. I shaved them both today so now the ticks have less hair to grab onto, and I also gave them both baths in some pesticide shampoo. I'm sure it's really good that I had to let it soak into their skin (and hence into my own skin). Probably carcinogenic. But frankly, I can't handle another night of tick-picking.

So there you have it. Next time I do a picking session, I'll take a picture of all the ticks I get off. And the buggers don't die so I put them in a cup of boiling water and then dump them down the drain. Tick tea. Now that's gross.