It has been almost 3 weeks since we moved into our new home in the country, and so far we are loving it. However, it is a HUGE change from what we’re use to. For starters, we don’t have any internet, yet. It seems that satellite internet is going to be our only option, but we haven’t called them out yet. This has been the reason for my lack of activity over the past few weeks; but it will change as soon as we get back online. I already have quite a few things planned, and I’m already getting a head start of a few of them. Going internet free hasn’t been all bad, though. The kids have been forced to find new and innovative ways to entertain themselves like going outside. It took their eyes a little while to adjust to that big bright thing in the sky, but they’re beginning to enjoy being outdoors.

Consequently, we have been forced to face another fluctuation from our former way of life:

Frickin’ Ticks, Man!

Tick by John Tann

As city slickers, we only came in contact with these creepy bloodsucking abominations on special occasions: camping trips, hiking in the woods, etc. On an average year, we may have only seen two or three of them. As is the case with most creepy crawly looking things that can parasitize humans, we all developed a very strong aversion to them. Personally, I would find myself both disgusted and relieved whenever I would discover one crawling on me: disgusted that it was even in contact with my skin but relieved that it hadn’t bitten me, yet. If I ever found one latched on, it was more a feeling of dread similar to the one I get when I know I’m about to get a shot or have blood drawn. The thought of having to pull this thing out of my skin while it fought and struggled to keep its grip was almost nauseating. In fact, I would usually have to have someone else do the honors. Of course, much like getting a shot or having blood drawn, it was never as bad as I had built it up to be in my mind, but that didn’t stop me from having the same feeling the next time I found a bloodsucker dangling from my flesh like some unholy skin tag. My wife, on the other hand, has taken a strict ”heebeejeebee” stance on all ticks. It doesn’t matter if they’ve bitten or are still crawling; on her or on someone else: if she sees a tick, you can rest assured that she’s about to NOPE the heck out of there. The kids have adopted the ”if I don’t see it, then it isn’t really there” position. I keep trying to convince them of the need to do a nightly tick check. The sooner you find them, the easier they will be to remove and the less likely they are to transmit any diseases.

Moving to the country has been a trial by fire for us. Now that we are surrounded by cow pastures and woods, ticks have become a daily concern. For me, it has been a bit of much-needed shock therapy. So far, I’ve only had to pull three small ticks off of myself (which isn’t bad considering I’ve trudged out into waist-high grass without any sort of tick deterrent on multiple occasions), but I’ve also had to remove several from the kids. Already, I am finding myself at ease with the process. Don’t get me wrong, I still think they are vile and disgusting creatures, and I still have a fear of them; but it is beginning to morph into a healthy fear rather than an irrational one.

Unfortunately, I can’t yet say the same for the rest of the family; so I started thinking. I began trying to figure out how I could further ease our fears about these loathsome yet unavoidable creatures, and the best thing I could come up with is knowledge.

What are ticks?

What do they want with my blood?

What kinds of diseases do they carry and how do they transmit them?

How can we get rid of them?

I sat down today to do a scientific write-up about ticks. I planned on answering these questions along with several others; however, the topic is way too wide for me to cover with any depth in just one post. Instead, I’ve decided to spread this one out into a summer-long series. I’m not sure how many posts it will take or how often I will write about ticks - I still have a lot of other topics that I plan on covering this summer. So, if you share our fear, check back often. The more you know about these eight-legged freaks, the better equipped you will be to deal with them.