I have declared the tick as my arch enemy!
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| 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!
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| What is Shy looking at? Find out tomorrow. . . |
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!)
ReplyDeleteSo far (knock on wood) I have not had one bite, but still, yuck yuck yuck!
DeleteWe 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(:
ReplyDeleteI hate stinging bugs, too! We have a ton of flies as well.
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have no secrets to divulge for keeping them away.
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!
ReplyDeleteMight have to try that B12!
DeleteOh no! Good thing it was caught quick!
Update: Found a tick in Mike's head!! Ugh, ugh, ugh!
ReplyDeleteIt 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.
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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