Ticked off

We have been enjoying the vast expanse of Brian's mom's home here in Maryland the last five days. The weather that has been mostly cooperative with lots of sunshine complemented by the crisp chill of Fall has enabled us to run and roam in the yard in close encounter with barn animals like horses, emus and donkeys. It has been a joy to see Craig enjoy the indulgence of space.

However along with blessings of the great outdoors come some not so pleasant disadvantages. In our case, ticks. My last trauma with such pests was when I was 10 when there was a lice outbreak in school. This time it came rather unexpectedly. The nightmare began two days ago when we noticed a tick climbing up C's face after we took an evening walk. Then as we were brushing his teeth before his bath, we found one on the sleeve of his sweater. But we doubt any of them had a chance to feed on the little boy's blood. We made a thorough check to make sure he's clear of the arachnid. So far so good. But guess where who was sucked on? Me! We found one latched on the back of my right shoulder - horrors! B managed to dislodge it carefully and kill it. Now we are keeping our fingers crossed that the sucker brought nothing else to me.

Today we finally could bring ourselves to take a walk in the yard again but we are careful not to tempt the arachnids with any exposed skin or else we'd be really ticked off!