Ticks!

Up until 2015 I had never seen a tick – in person – in my entire life. It was only since Moose entered my life that ticks started appearing. He is quite a tick-mop with all that hair, coming back home with 12 ticks during the first few days we stayed in Grass Valley, CA in 2015. Out of necessity I was quickly educated in how to deal with them. Moose still returns home with a tick or two from time to time, but I’ve grown more accustomed to those tiny little creatures. I even got my own first tick-bite in my life just a few months ago in Texas. Nightmares continue to this day.

However, since arriving in the South East, the number of ticks has increased beyond a point I thought was even possible. Not only are they everywhere, they are easily visible everywhere I look. On Cumberland Island we were picking ticks off our treated clothing and sprayed skin regularly. Daily full body inspections have become the norm, but finding one in your bed is still damn scary. Finding one crawling up the skin of my inner thigh, only inches from parts I still consider extremely vital in my life, was so much worse. Kerri and I have jumped up from work/dinner/bed many times only to pull down our pants to find that tick we know is crawling up our leg. Most of the time it is all in our head, but not all of the time.

The dogs continue to get ticks almost daily but Kerri and I have become very proficient at tick-removal (there is a business idea for us). Even Byron and Moose have gotten accustomed to us picking a foreign object from their faces, necks, ears, legs, etc. I guess that is one positive out of all this; I’m not so grossed out by them or ignorant of them and can deal with it all a little easier… not that the nightmares have slowed in the slightest. Ticks are just about all I think of nowadays.

Yes, I posted the image above just to give you the heebiejeebies.