TICKS!!

I used to say that the thing that I feared the most in the woods was coming across a snake or a bear. But now, I think that I have decided that ticks are my biggest fear. Every creature in God's kingdom is supposed to have a reason to be here. Snakes help keep the rodent population under control, bears keep humans away, turkey vultures clean up the road kill. But is there a reason for ticks? Maybe to provide food for the birds, I am not sure if even the birds want to eat them though.

Yesterday, Hikers 'n Hounds, Gerania and I took a really tough hike in search of a Mapsurfer box. Gerania sprayed and sprayed herself with bug repellant but each time we stopped to take a break we picked ticks off of her. Hikers 'n Hounds didn't use any repellant and we also picked ticks off of her at every stop. I can just imagine what poor Dude was picking up! I had also sprayed but was fortunate to not find any on me as we were walking. At one point, I noticed that Gerania seemed to have a mole on her face that was moving even though she insisted that she didn't have a mole on her face. Sure enough, another tick!

When we got back to the cars, Gerania commented that we must have looked like a group of monkeys picking the bugs off of each other. It seemed that I was the least affected by the little buggers, but when I got home, I did a thorough job of brushing my hair in every direction while standing over the sink and sure enough, they came tumbling out. Another one seemed intent on exploring my stomach in search of a tasty spot to settle in. And the worst of all was being awakened this morning by the feeling of little feet scurrying across my chest. But I got them all and made sure that they would never attach to another living creature! What a good feeling it is to kill! Ticks, that is, just ticks.