Attack of the Ticks

I am having a full on paranoid freakout.  JD and I went hiking at Greenbelt Park and (so far) we have pulled twenty four ticks off of him!!!! And most of them were nymphs.  He didn't even recognize them as being ticks, that small.  Luckily he was with me, and I have lots of tick experience.  On the other hand if I hadn't gone he wouldn't have been exposed.  Maybe.  Or maybe he picked up some of them at home, mowing the lawn.

I had sprayed myself with bug juice before leaving, and I didn't find a single one on myself.  Which shows that that stuff REALLY works.  I only sprayed myself to avoid mosquitoes and biting flies, but I was so so glad I had done it when the tick count started to ratchet up.

I itch all over now.  Ick!

JD stripped down to his boxers out on the porch, and I checked most of him (again) out there.  Inside he took off the boxers and I checked the rest of him, and found ANOTHER tick pretending to be a tiny mole way up the back of his thigh.  Worst case of ticks I've ever seen!  And it was only for about two hours of walking on a trail!

Other than Attack of the Ticks, it was a pretty nice walk.  The weather was delightful, and the park was showing off its mountain laurel.  I think this is the most mountain laurel I've seen blooming there.  It was gorgeous.  And the park was nearly deserted, so we had the trail to ourselves.  If it hadn't been for the constant tick removal it would have been unbearably nice.  Good thing about those ticks, eh?

JD before I started compulsively searching him for dark spots.  Doesn't he look nice?

The only picture I took of the gorgeous laurels, before I got distracted by ticks.

His clothing is all hanging on the porch now, having been sprayed with permethrin.  That was the only way I could think of to make sure ticks wouldn't come into the house with them.  After they've dried I'll wash them.  And next time, I bet he sprays himself with Off first.  I may spray myself with Off just generally, before I pursue such dangerous activities as watching tv and reading a book.  Indoors.

Brief pause for compulsive scratching and tick checking...

In less scary and disgusting news, Olli found out today how nice laundry is:

Furry black tubeworm in laundry

Andy already knew.

Emo cat wonders why he has been disturbed