On my last day in Virginia, I met up with my friend Charlie from high school and he, Lizzy and I went hiking at Newport News Park. It was a beautiful sunny day, which is important since it rained every day I was there except Friday. We probably hiked between three or four miles. It was great. But when we got done my legs felt really itchy. I was on the lookout for poison ivy, but was pretty sure I managed to avoid it. I chalked up the itchiness to sweat and dirt. It looked like I had a lot of dirt on me, so I tried to brush it off as best I could, then we headed back to my brother's place to shower.
On the drive back I felt what I assumed was a bug bite on my right hand, so I glanced at my hand. Hmm. No bugs, only dirt. Odd. At a stop light I took a closer look. The dirt was really tiny little bugs. And the bugs were ALL OVER ME! OK, breath...breath...breath. I started trying to come up with what they were. My first guess was fleas, but they weren't jumpy enough for fleas (I had one awful encounter with fleas, so I'm very aware of how they act). Surely they weren't ticks because ticks are bigger than specks of dirt, right?
We get to my brother's place and I'm out of the car jumping around like a crazy person blabbering on about being covered in bugs. Charlie, who I haven't seen in eight years, was staring at me like I was a crazy person. (He drove separately.) He doesn't believe me, so I give one to him and ask him what he thinks it is.
Here's a picture I pulled off a Google image search (imagine this...times 300...all over me!):
He says he thinks it's a baby tick. At that I proceed to freak out a little more because, like I said, I'm covered in hundreds of them. And if I'm covered with them, Lizzy is probably covered with them and they're probably all over my car. And Charlie has to have them too, right? Nope. Not one. Of course, he thinks it's hilarious that I'm covered in BABY TICKS and he doesn't have any on him.
So what exactly are you supposed to do when you're covered in baby ticks/seed ticks? That's a very good question. I had no idea. I tried brushing them off. I sprayed myself head-to-toe with Off Deep Woods. I scrubbed myself three times in the shower. I shaved my legs. I put my clothes and shoes in plastic bags. I continued to freak out.
According to my Internet research, you're pretty much screwed if you get covered in these things. And you can be walking right next to someone and you can pick them up and they won't get one. NOT COOL. If I have to suffer, I prefer not to do it alone! (Just kidding...sort of.) Oh, and if you live near the woods and leave your windows open, they can blow in!
Other possible remedies: wipe down with rubbing alcohol, take a bleach bath and use packing tape to remove as many as possible.
I was so stressed out I was sweating after I got out of the shower! And I had to rush since we still had to go to dinner and make it to Nicolas' (my nephew) magic show. It was rough.
And on the way to dinner a vulture flew into the passenger side window. Luckily the window was closed otherwise I would have had talon marks on my face. That would have made the story ten times better.
When we got home I ran the flea comb through Lizzy and it came out clean. Thank goodness for the monthly flea and tick treatment.
That was Friday evening. I left Saturday morning after using duct tape on my seat. Then I got home and de-ticked pretty much everything I own. Sunday the welts appeared on my legs and arms. Monday morning I found an adult tick on Lizzy.
This is what I get for loving nature. Sigh.
No comments:
Post a Comment