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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Help! It's a TICK ATTACK!

I know Jack is working on a post about his visit to Hickville, USA, but since he's a little slow at posting, I figured I'd humor you with a story about said visit.

As I mentioned, I grew up in the country. My hometown is 80 miles from a McDonald's, okay? I think we may be the only such community. And yes, I am using distance from a McDonald's as a measure for how rural a place is. In my case: very rural.

Well, as is often the case in the country, there is a decent amount of wildlife where I grew up. There are deer and moose and coyotes, all of which are beautiful and majestic creatures....and then there are the less majestic creatures, like wood ticks. They're pretty gross and I don't particularly enjoy them, but they're sort of a fact of life up there. Since Spot and his 2 doggy cousins were out and about exploring the countryside quite a bit, they were bound to get a tick or two. Or ten. Or thirty. So one afternoon Jack and I are lying in bed watching TV with Spot wedged between us. Jack is petting Spot absentmindedly and I'm nearly asleep when all of a sudden I get smacked on the arm:

"Honey, honey, wake up. WAKE UP. Is this a wood tick? IS IT?" (pointing at Spot's head)

Sleepily, I feel around on Spot's head and determine that yes, he has a wood tick. I pull the tick off and go to get rid of it. In the 30 seconds I'm gone, Jack has completely torn apart the bed, feeling all over for any sign of rogue ticks roaming around.

"Jack, ticks don't really like to attach themselves to lifeless sheet sets and comforters. They much prefer to be on a living being - like dogs or humans."

Immediately his shirt is off and he's running to the bathroom to get a look at his skin in the mirror. I follow him and he says "ARE THERE ANY ON MY BACK? LOOK! LOOK! ARE THERE? CHECK MY BAAAACK!"

Seeing none I say "no.....and are you okay?" Honestly, I was trying to control my laughter at this point. You would think he had just had a close encounter with a tiger or something.

"Well I don't want to get Lyme disease!! "

"You can't get Lyme disease just from seeing a tick, honey. They have to bite you, and then hold on for quite some time. I'm pretty sure you're going to make it there, tough guy."

We've been back for over a week and he was never actually bitten by a tick, but I wouldn't doubt it if he's still doing a pretty thorough check every night anyway. City boy.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahaha good stuff! I was wondering when you guys were going to post again. I should have known it was Jack's turn, lol. Glad the drought is over!

-ForeverAnon

Peter said...

Do you think that posting this is going to influence what Jack says in his post about the visit?

You were brave to go first.

Rock Chef said...

Poor Jack!

Ticks are disgusting creatures and I don't blame him for reacting like that! I remember removing ticks from hedgehogs and checking myself EVERYWHERE afterwards, just in case!

Poor Jack!

Anonymous said...

I've had similar reactions from friends after trips to my hometown. Growing up, we'd do "tick checks" every summer night, and pull 3-4 off each other. It was no big. Then one day everyone is scared to death of Lyme Disease.

Anonymous said...

That's sort of how I reacted when I found a tick on my dog after she escaped for several hours. Ticks do not sound like a good time at all! Yucko.

LWLH said...

lol...Big Man is gonna get a taste of good ol country living when we go home to PA in 2 weeks...

lol..if I know anything from this blog, Jack is most def. doing a full body scan everynight to make sure he is safe from all woodsy creatures! lol