Tuesday, July 10, 2012

arch enemy

I have declared the tick as my arch enemy!
I actually used to watch this cartoon. . .before I knew of  the pure evilness of ticks
In a freak event, last night I was accosted by a tick. I say freak event because I sleep like a log. Nothing wakes me up throughout the night. Mike is often amazed how I can sleep through thunderstorms, the dogs barking, the dogs constantly getting on and off the bed, and even a car crashing into the tree in front of our house. But last night, I woke up and swept something off of my head with my hand, then I started to go back to sleep. But something made me stop and think I needed to see what I swept away. I turned on this flashlight app on my phone (so I would not wake Mike up) and saw a tick! Eeeek! Proceed to freak out! Then kill the tick!! Freak out some more!

Where did it come from? I was not at the barn yesterday? I had showered several times since I was at the barn on Sunday and changed clothes. More freaking out. I checked the dogs for ticks. I checked myself. I woke Mike up. I Googled the tick. What diseases could it give me? There was no going back to sleep after this. Maybe never! And I need my sleep, at least a solid eight hours to function properly. 

War has been declared on the ticks! Now, even worse than before, every little feeling is most certainly a tick crawling on me getting ready to take my blood (much like a vampire) and give me diseases. It is quite time consuming to be constantly checking myself to see if there is the arch enemy there. I can't even say how many times I have checked just while writing this!

Today I checked Shy for ticks. None to be found. But after her lesson (more on that another day), I felt a bump on her blaze. I called out for Beth to check it because she would not hold her head still so I could check it. She did. And it was just a scab. Whew. Crisis averted. 

Anyone else having tick issues? I have written about them here and here. Or bug issues in general? The flies are awful and the horse flies are the size of pigeons! I hate them all! 
What is Shy looking at? Find out tomorrow. . .

9 comments:

  1. Ticks are horrible things fortunately we haven't had any issues with them and the horses but I do remember my husband once picking one up on his leg whilst walking. Ghastly, hideous creature (the tick, not the husband!)

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    1. So far (knock on wood) I have not had one bite, but still, yuck yuck yuck!

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  2. We have loads and loads of flies. They drive Pippi and I nuts. Plus we just found hornets hives in our mini dry lot and I am not a fan of any type of bee so no good. Luckily no ticks that's I've found. Hope you get it under control tho(:

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    1. I hate stinging bugs, too! We have a ton of flies as well.

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  3. I suffered with tick overload when I lived in SC. When our Aussie would come in, we could see small ticks crawling on his coat.... like 6 or more! Our other dog was black and tan, so we could only imagine how many he had! I totally understand the creepy, crawly, Oh my God something is crawling on me feeling. I also have been sound asleep and evidently felt a bump in my sleep that shouted, "Tick!" and woke me up. It's a terrible feeling.
    Sadly, I have no secrets to divulge for keeping them away.

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  4. Hate em, got bitten by one 8 years ago which resulted in the dreaded bulls eye rash. Yup, Lyme disease, caught quickly no long term effects though. Our flies are like spawn of the devil. I have noticed since taking vitamin B12 they pretty much leave me alone!

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    1. Might have to try that B12!
      Oh no! Good thing it was caught quick!

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  5. Update: Found a tick in Mike's head!! Ugh, ugh, ugh!
    It was all fine and dandy as long as ticks are on me. . .once Mike finds a tick, I need to take a decontamination shower and burn my barn clothes before coming into the house.

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  6. Yikes! Maybe you should change the sheets? If the dogs sleep with you they may be in the bed. I use K9 Advantix on my dogs because I can't have them getting bit since they both already have a tick disease (Jackal got his while ON Frontline!!!!). I used Ultrasheild fly spray on the horses because it kills ticks too and we have a ton of them. So by keeping them off the dogs and horses I usually do pretty good keeping them off of me. I also have a ton of chickens so that helps haha! Maybe the barn owner needs to get chickens or guineas?

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