As I have mentioned, a time or two... or ten, we live in the sunny south. Home to blood sucking varmints of all shapes and sizes. At the top of my "gross me out" list is the tick...
When I was a youngster, back when dinosaurs roamed our planet. A friend died of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This is a tick borne illness. This death sparked quite a panic. It was the first funeral I ever attended for a child and being a child myself, I found this very unnerving.
Years later, this fear and loathing remains. Since we live on a couple of acres in a rural setting, through the years we have often battled ticks... finding their hard, flat bodies crawling up your leg, on your back, or eww, in your hair...
My skin is crawling just thinking about it. Any way, to combat my fear and loathing of said creepy crawly; years ago we instigated," tick checks."
In short," tick checks" took place upon entering the house after playing or working in the yard. Everyone one was younger and less modest so essentially upon entering the house you stripped down to your shimmies for mom to carefully comb through your hair, and visually inspect in and behind your ears, on your chest, back, under your arms and so forth and so on.
This "healthy" fear of the blood suckers became so ingrained that over the years as the kids would stream in from the yard one only needed to yell a reminder..."TICK CHECK..." which instigated the same oft repeated chain of events. Young 'un would run to the bath room, strip and begin the search for the unwelcome hitch hikers. Later to emerge bathed, clean and varmint free.
The other day when the newlyweds came over, they were relaying a harrowing tale about finding a tick on their baby, Molly. Molly is a Maultipoo ,which means that she is a species of dog no bigger than a piece of fluff that thinks she is human. Anyway, we're all sitting in the den listening to this tale of woe when I said you are going to have to...and before I could utter the words the room erupted with the words so familiar to us all, "TICK CHECK!"
Now, I don't mind saying, at that moment, well...I was pretty proud...yeah...I had passed down fear and loathing to the next generation. Wow, what a legacy...
Now, for all you tick rookies, I have provided the above chart. Which means I will probably not be looking at this post again because just the pictures gross me out. Also, for information on tick borne diseases and what to do go to:
www.cdc.gov
and remember mama says, "Tick Check!"
When I was a youngster, back when dinosaurs roamed our planet. A friend died of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This is a tick borne illness. This death sparked quite a panic. It was the first funeral I ever attended for a child and being a child myself, I found this very unnerving.
Years later, this fear and loathing remains. Since we live on a couple of acres in a rural setting, through the years we have often battled ticks... finding their hard, flat bodies crawling up your leg, on your back, or eww, in your hair...
My skin is crawling just thinking about it. Any way, to combat my fear and loathing of said creepy crawly; years ago we instigated," tick checks."
In short," tick checks" took place upon entering the house after playing or working in the yard. Everyone one was younger and less modest so essentially upon entering the house you stripped down to your shimmies for mom to carefully comb through your hair, and visually inspect in and behind your ears, on your chest, back, under your arms and so forth and so on.
This "healthy" fear of the blood suckers became so ingrained that over the years as the kids would stream in from the yard one only needed to yell a reminder..."TICK CHECK..." which instigated the same oft repeated chain of events. Young 'un would run to the bath room, strip and begin the search for the unwelcome hitch hikers. Later to emerge bathed, clean and varmint free.
The other day when the newlyweds came over, they were relaying a harrowing tale about finding a tick on their baby, Molly. Molly is a Maultipoo ,which means that she is a species of dog no bigger than a piece of fluff that thinks she is human. Anyway, we're all sitting in the den listening to this tale of woe when I said you are going to have to...and before I could utter the words the room erupted with the words so familiar to us all, "TICK CHECK!"
Now, I don't mind saying, at that moment, well...I was pretty proud...yeah...I had passed down fear and loathing to the next generation. Wow, what a legacy...
Now, for all you tick rookies, I have provided the above chart. Which means I will probably not be looking at this post again because just the pictures gross me out. Also, for information on tick borne diseases and what to do go to:
www.cdc.gov
and remember mama says, "Tick Check!"
Tell them to get Advantage Multi as it takes care of fleas, ticks, worms, etc. and really works.
ReplyDeleteLove this post. So well remember having tick checks when I was a young'un at my grandmothers because she lived in the rural south too!
One of my least favorite things to do after bird or squirrel hunting was the tick check on myself and the dogs. Use to find some humdingers and in the strangest place too.
ReplyDeleteWorst part was getting them out,and which home remedy to believe will do it with the least must and fuss. Found that petroleum jelly works the best.
Ticks completely creep me out. HATE them. Then, I heard the Brad Paisley song about Tick Checks. Do you know it? Anyway, they don't bug me so much any more. Heh heh. Bug me.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on ticks. We do a tick check up north also. My grandmother once commented about ticks it went like this. Not all blood suckers are in Washington. So check for ticks.
ReplyDelete