Tick, tick, tick...

Around the back of our house we have a nice trail that follows the edge of the lake except it dead ends on the side opposite of our complex. It is really nice back there. With ducks and geese and chirping birds, it's full of all the things nature brings, even ticks. In my ambitiousness I decided that I could forge a connection around the lake by running through the shoulder high weeds just past the dead end. It worked really well in the winter when everything was dead. But this time, after lap 3, I felt something on my leg and to my horror I beheld a tick that had penetrated my skin! I thought about running home, but I really didn't want that tick in me any longer than he already had been. Trying frantically to remember the "right" way to remove a tick (vaseline, twisting or tweasing), I resorted to my keys and pressed the ring at his head and flicked him off. I scowered the rest of me and found two more crawling on my clothes. 3 Ticks! I truly was horrified. Could there be more on me? What if one crawled somewhere where I couldn't find it!? I frantically searched the internet for answers when I got home, and combed my hair out thouroughly. I didn't want to take any chances. I'm feeling a little better since the tick on me looked fairly small to what they look like after a "feeding". It also sounds like getting lyme disease is usually pretty rare. I just hope the way I flicked him off didn't squeeze any unwanted juices into me. Ticks are nasty. I really was horrified. I guess I'm not as tough as I thought I was.

Henry

P.S. Here's the nastiest picture I found of ticks. (Mine didn't look like this, but it was as horrifying).