Blood Sucking Monsters

Yesterday I went on a very lovely walk in the woods with Dave. It was awesome. The woods are on a nice piece of land owned by his sister and brother-in-law. It was a perfect evening for a walk. The temperature was just right, and the air had just the right amount of crispness in it. I took several deep breaths along the way to savor the woodsy, fall scents. We saw a few deer and found ourselves whispering for quite a bit a time after that. The sounds and silence of the woods were too natural and sacred to ruin with our human chatter. Afterwards we sat on his tailgate in the adjacent meadow and talked as the afternoon faded to dusk and dusk faded to that wonderful "gloaming" and it became too dark and chilly to enjoy [as much].

While we were sitting, I had noticed I started to itch quite a bit. I figured it was because I had gotten chilled, which caused the prickly hair on my not-so-fresh-shaven legs to stand at attention and irritate my skin as they rubbed against my jeans. When we returned to his house, I was still itching, so I decided a trip to the powder room was necessary in order to investigate. I looked at my legs, and they did not look normal. I looked either very freckled, or like I had a bad case of razor burn. On closer inspection, I discovered the tiny brown dots all over my legs [and I mean ALL OVER] were TICKS. And not only were they ticks, they were SEED TICKS, itty bitty blood sucking creatures the size of one of these: [.]. That's right. The size of a period at the end of a sentence. And that is true to scale. These vile blood sucking parasites had already bedded down for the night and were feasting on Sang de Sarah. What was most interesting was how my whole body began to itch once I learned I had seed ticks on my legs. Of course, I did begin to find a few on my arms that gave me evidence that I might in fact have them all over.

So my evening ended with a shower in an attempt to scrub off the offending blood suckers. Scrubbing did not work, so I ended up having to scratch them off a few at a time in the shower, and take a second look over everything after to pick off what I missed. My roommate Jamie was a trooper and thoroughly checked my back and removed a few from there. The only place left unchecked is my head. There is NO WAY I would be able to find them in my hair. I can only hope I scrub them off as I wash my hair.

Seed ticks and all, it was a great evening, and one I won't soon forget [or ever forget for that matter]. When I woke up this morning, I found myself chuckling at how funny the Unfortunate Seed Tick Incident, as it will now be called, truly was. Memories were made, and I really like that! :) Of course, the next time Dave and I go for a jaunt in the woods, the DEET will be accompanying us!