The Perils Of A Walk In the Woods

Eventhough Ticks are teeny, tiny creatures, they certainly can cause a person a lot of grief. http://www.differenttypes.org/different-types-of-ticks/

We took a trip to Northern Wisconsin over the weekend, and went for  a walk in the woods Sunday morning with my brother-in-law, his fiance and their two very energetic dogs before heading home.  It was a perfect morning - the sun was shining and the air was cool and crisp. As we walked, the dogs had a wonderful time running through the brush, taking an occasional swim in the river and "nosing around" fallen trees and leaf piles. 

Because it's late in the year and the weather has been cool, the thought of Ticks never entered our minds.  That is, until we saw one on the side of the car and on the driver's side seat when we were leaving the cafe where we had breakfast after our walk. 

Although they were very, very small, once you see one, every little tingle you feel makes you think you have a Tick crawling on you & possibly burrowing into your skin.  Very serious health issues are associated with certain types of Ticks, so it's very important to get them off of you immediately.  We all did a quick check to see if we could find any more, but when we didn't, we figured the two we saw were all there were. 

Unfortunately, we were wrong.  We went back to my brother-in-law's house where one crawled off my sweater on to my hand, my husband found one on his arm and my future sister-in-law had one on her leg after she took off her boot.  My brother-in-law checked the dogs and found numerous Ticks on their heads, ears and bodies.

Fortunately, neither my husband or I found any more on us when we did a more extensive "Tick search" after we got home.  However, I heard from my brother-in-law this morning that after we left their house, he found about 30 or 40 more on the dogs and one that had dug itself into his arm.  He's watching that one closely and hopefully it will end up being nothing more than a red spot.

Because I've always been afraid of Ticks, I've tried to avoid walking in the woods in the Summer and early Fall.  After this past weekend, I guess I'll have to add late Fall to my "Do Not Walk In the Woods" timeframe........