Sorry about that, but thank you! With tick season creeping up on us, I figured that Scoot's "stowaway" prompt was sort of a natural lead-in to a tick related story.
Good point. And of course I put in the "may cause user to glow in the dark" side effect to give pause to the idea of intentionally inviting a tick to dinner. I guess where one's imagination goes at the end of my story depends on how one views the creepy crawlies - I take it you are firmly on the dystopian point of view, as far as the tick matter goes. And the fact that glow-in-the-dark humans would be easy to track down is an important point.
That is a great idea, but maybe I'll wait a bit. I don't want to creep you out too often! 😎 Plus summer's coming - it might go down better in winter. 😂
Ohhhhh, it's too late! The story is taking over my head already! Just look what you started... 😆 But I'll promise you one thing - the creepiest characters in the sequel won't be the ticks! 😉
Now that made me go all creepy. We've already got tick season underway here. The cat has had two so far (although she has also had her monthly little pipette to the back of the neck). We also have a little bottle of anti-tick spray which is apparently meant for dogs, but it seems to work fine on cats and humans.
Over the years we have had ticks on various bits of our bodies the locations of which, ahem, really shouldn't be mentioned in polite company.
Goes without saying I am not a big fan of ticks.
Which is sort of what makes your little story so ironic and amusing.
I have a love-hate relationship with ticks. Obviously, it's a bummer to have to pull one off the poor dog (who has no idea why she's being tortured). We use the little pipette thing on her, too, but it's not 100% effective.
I usually pick up my unwelcome visitors in the vegetable garden... they know where to find me! And I've been treated for Lyme disease twice, though it never got a chance to get a good foothold.
So why do I like them? I think they're pretty cool little creepy crawlies. They've got symbiotic relationships going with all kinds of bacteria... the problem is that many of their bacteria friends (and the ticks, too, for that matter) are purely parasitic to us.
I kind of think of them as tiny little vampires...
I often end up wrapping myself up, like tucking leggings into socks and stuff like that, but they still find a way of getting inside, the little buggers.
New Hampshire doesn't have the highest incident of Lyme disease, but we're in the top ten... it's a beautiful state, but like most beautiful things, it's not perfect...
They caught it early with me because I do daily tick checks during the summer (sometimes multiple times in one day) and I know what a deer tick looks like (it's the kind of tick that carries Lyme disease). If one brings a deer tick along to the doctor's office, the docs will take the bite victim a lot more seriously. They do prefer that it be trapped in a jar, and they prefer even more if it's dead. It's interesting how some people feel such visceral fear for ticks - I once had a nurse backpedal away from me as fast as she could when I pulled out a sealed container containing a dead deer tick. Anyway, here in the states they use strong doses of doxycycline to treat Lyme disease... we mere citizens are not allowed to keep such medications on hand.
Nature, red of tooth and claw. She's beautiful, but one should beware assuming she's all butterflies and fluffy bunny wabbits.
You have a talent for horror stories! My wife and I moved 1,700 miles to escape the #1 tick haven in the US—eastern Pennsylvania. We haven’t missed them.
Thank you! I didn't mean for this to be a horror story, but I guess my brain interprets "horror" a bit differently. 😂 So there are no ticks in Colorado?
Wow Jeannine, this gave me the “Willie’s” reading that unexpected story with my coffee. I feel I need to check myself NOW!! 😉
Sorry about that, but thank you! With tick season creeping up on us, I figured that Scoot's "stowaway" prompt was sort of a natural lead-in to a tick related story.
I think I’ll pass, thanks
But don't you want to glow in the dark? 😂
How could I hide?
Good point. And of course I put in the "may cause user to glow in the dark" side effect to give pause to the idea of intentionally inviting a tick to dinner. I guess where one's imagination goes at the end of my story depends on how one views the creepy crawlies - I take it you are firmly on the dystopian point of view, as far as the tick matter goes. And the fact that glow-in-the-dark humans would be easy to track down is an important point.
lol I say write the short story!
That is a great idea, but maybe I'll wait a bit. I don't want to creep you out too often! 😎 Plus summer's coming - it might go down better in winter. 😂
Ohhhhh, it's too late! The story is taking over my head already! Just look what you started... 😆 But I'll promise you one thing - the creepiest characters in the sequel won't be the ticks! 😉
can't wait
Now that made me go all creepy. We've already got tick season underway here. The cat has had two so far (although she has also had her monthly little pipette to the back of the neck). We also have a little bottle of anti-tick spray which is apparently meant for dogs, but it seems to work fine on cats and humans.
Over the years we have had ticks on various bits of our bodies the locations of which, ahem, really shouldn't be mentioned in polite company.
Goes without saying I am not a big fan of ticks.
Which is sort of what makes your little story so ironic and amusing.
I have a love-hate relationship with ticks. Obviously, it's a bummer to have to pull one off the poor dog (who has no idea why she's being tortured). We use the little pipette thing on her, too, but it's not 100% effective.
I usually pick up my unwelcome visitors in the vegetable garden... they know where to find me! And I've been treated for Lyme disease twice, though it never got a chance to get a good foothold.
So why do I like them? I think they're pretty cool little creepy crawlies. They've got symbiotic relationships going with all kinds of bacteria... the problem is that many of their bacteria friends (and the ticks, too, for that matter) are purely parasitic to us.
I kind of think of them as tiny little vampires...
Yeah - tiny little vampires is about right!
I often end up wrapping myself up, like tucking leggings into socks and stuff like that, but they still find a way of getting inside, the little buggers.
Fortunately no Lyme disease though…
New Hampshire doesn't have the highest incident of Lyme disease, but we're in the top ten... it's a beautiful state, but like most beautiful things, it's not perfect...
Good that you can catch it early though, just in case. I presume you’ve got a little stash of antidotes and suchlike?
And I agree - nature is like that isn’t she? Beautiful of course, but not without her warnings… as if to say ‘treat with care’…
They caught it early with me because I do daily tick checks during the summer (sometimes multiple times in one day) and I know what a deer tick looks like (it's the kind of tick that carries Lyme disease). If one brings a deer tick along to the doctor's office, the docs will take the bite victim a lot more seriously. They do prefer that it be trapped in a jar, and they prefer even more if it's dead. It's interesting how some people feel such visceral fear for ticks - I once had a nurse backpedal away from me as fast as she could when I pulled out a sealed container containing a dead deer tick. Anyway, here in the states they use strong doses of doxycycline to treat Lyme disease... we mere citizens are not allowed to keep such medications on hand.
Nature, red of tooth and claw. She's beautiful, but one should beware assuming she's all butterflies and fluffy bunny wabbits.
Stella! 😂 Love it!!
Thank you! It's hard to think of a good name for a tick. 😁
Well… Stella means star & you certainly made a nice milky way out of your Stella!!
Well, thank you for that - I've learned something new! I plan to have Stella's progeny go on to bigger things next week....
You have a talent for horror stories! My wife and I moved 1,700 miles to escape the #1 tick haven in the US—eastern Pennsylvania. We haven’t missed them.
Thank you! I didn't mean for this to be a horror story, but I guess my brain interprets "horror" a bit differently. 😂 So there are no ticks in Colorado?
salubrious - my new word for the day.😄
It's a nice word, isn't it? 😎