GETTING TICKED OFF…BY ANOTHER PAIR OF BLOOD SUCKING TICKS
alan skeoch
June 2018
Now, just how big are ticks?
“Alan, I found another tick on my leg?”
“Are you sure?”
“Saved it…here take a look.”
‘Last night I felt a little bump on your shoulder, let’s take a look”
“ANOTHER TICK!!”
‘Get the tweezers, I’ll pull him of gently…make sure his head does not detach.”
“There, got him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Who can be sure? Ticks are so small at the beginning of their blood lust”
“Need a magnifying glass…and even then hard to spot.”
“Does he have a head or not?”
“Not sure.”
“Are you sure that little speck is a tick?”
“No, can’t be sure until it gets bloated…but not going to wait.”
“Maybe some of our friends will be interested…and cautious.”
“Remember how a tick got Bob Root and he then contracted lemma disease…nearly did him in.”
“Seems a bad year for ticks…you have picked up three…one was dangerous…needed antibiotics.”
“How come you get them and I don’t?”
“Could be explained by the fact you wear shorts and I tend to wear long pants…”
“But you had shorts on yesterday as well as me.”
“Right. Maybe my skin is thicker and ticks have trouble latching oer skin”
“Must be located in a place where I walk…and you don’t walk.”
“But where?”
“now that is a question I cannot answer…wish I could.”
EVIDENCE IN PICTURES
Take a close look at this copy of the Star…I was reading it when we pulled the tick from Marjorie’s shoulder…SEE IF YOU CAN FIND THE TICK!
YOU failed, right? Now look again…the tick is that little dot barely visible above the letter B. Now see if you can find it on the full page of the Star. Hint: Bottom left hand side
WE are quite sure it is a tick…not 100% sure…but the way the black dot was attached to the flesh seemed odd…like a tick.
The scar…treated with an iodine solution Marjorie got from the doctor after her first Tick bite. She will have to watch to see if there is an infection…a round bull’s eye infection around the
bite. Not likely in this case. Often people do not know they have a tick buried in their skin…at least not until the tick fills up with blood and becomes the size of a pumpkin seed only fatter and an
ugly fleshy grey in appearance. When one of these is found get rid of it carefully…tweezers squeezed where the head of the tick has fastened itself…then pull gently but firmly to make sure
the tick releases its hold. A sharp pull will snap the head off and that is dangerous. This tick never got a chance to bloat with blood. The picture of the bloated tick is a public domain
picture.
If in doubt, see a doctor.
Where are those ticks living? We have no idea but fields of tall grass are popular with ticks so do not try to start our old W6 International Tractor which is up to its belly in tall grass.
It won’t start anyway…too much dirt in the gas tank. Discovered after spending a bit of money getting everything else working. Being bitten by a tick would just “tick me off” all the more.
alan skeoch
June 2018
P.S. The wild daisies are in full bloom right now. I hope this tick story does not prevent you from picking a bouquet of them!!
