Literally speaking that is.

The other day I was trying to get photos of the little fledgling ferns unfolding. It was necessary to lay on the ground in order to shoot them since they are not very tall. I’ve tried several times to get a good shot of them, but so far I’ve not been pleased. This particular photo shoot was about the same. Nothing much. I deleted them all except for one and even that one was not what I wanted.

In the middle of the night the bathroom was calling me. So, I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, stepping over Alex who likes to sleep in the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom.

On the way back to bed I reached up to scratch my head. Hmmm … there was a little bump like a pimple. I got back into bed and got to thinking about what that tiny bump might mean. I reached up again to explore that part of my scalp, parting my hair with the fingers on my left hand. Oh. NO!!! No doubt about it, I had a tick embedded in my scalp! Yuck! I really wanted to go back to sleep because normally when I get awakened at that hour I can’t get back to sleep if I make myself too awake.

But. There was a tick. Embedded in my head. How could I just go back to sleep knowing that? What I really wanted to do was scream at Rick “I’VE GOT A TICK IN MY HEAD. WAKE UP AND GET IT OUT!” but I couldn’t bring myself to wake him up.

Back up, stepping over Alex and in the bathroom once again I forced myself to grab the tick with my fingers as close to my scalp that I could get and pulled. He came out easily thank goodness, head and all. He died a not so quick death (those things just keep wiggling their legs) and I went back to bed.

But I couldn’t sleep. Every little tickle on my body became a tick crawling. I had to keep reaching out, checking, just to make sure. There weren’t any more of course, but I had the creepy-crawlies by then. You know how that is, don’t you?

I hate ticks.

Here is the reason for a tick in my head.

Totally not worth it. Why don’t they make Frontline for people?

Ewwwww! I think you were very brave to pinch the tick out by yourself. Lucky you got its head. Oh yuck. Even thinking about it…But the photo is beautiful and W. liked it too. He’d never seen a fern unfurling before!

I had a tick on me the other day - not embedded though!  I think I got it from my neighbor’s cat and you could have gotten yours from the dogs rather than taking the photo??  Don’t know why you aren’t happy with the fern photo though - I think it’s gorgeous.  I have a couple of followers on my blog I don’t know too, but always happy when people like what they read. Don’t think you should take it personally if some people aren’t followers any more. Who knows what’s going on with their lives.

Bigsis, I know. It was not fun. Glad you liked the photo but me not so much. Thanks!

Carolyn, I’ve had plenty of ticks crawling on me but this is only the second one (which was also in my scalp) that has actually made my body home. Thanks for the compliment on the photo. I guess I just don’t see it. When people don’t comment how do they let you know they are reading? Do they write you personally? With a few people though, I do take it personally.

Oh, forgot Carolyn. No, the tick did not come from the dogs. I’ve only seen one tick so far and that was on Alex’s shoulder with the tick being about the same size as the one that found me. No, I got it from laying in the grass with my head by the ground. Or wandering around in the woods ... the dogs are not the source. I doubt you got yours from the neighbor’s cat!

I do hope you are OK after the tick episode - I don’t know what type of tick you have in N.J. but we have a neighbour who is recovering from an illness after a tick bite.  What a fantastic photo - I meant to congratulate you on having your photos printed - well worthy of the recognition.

Joyce, I think I will be okay but only time will tell. We do have ticks here that cause problems and mostly Lyme disease which come from deer ticks. So far we have not had an issue with either ourselves or the dogs. Lyme ticks cause a red target area around the bite so I guess I will have to have someone else take a look since I can’t see the top of my head.

Thank you regarding having the photos in print. Like I said, I didn’t pursue it; both instances found me first.

Because I’m on Blogger I have a stats page and can see which posts get the most hits and my audience page shows the top ten countries according to volume.  I guess it’s enough for me to know how many hits my blog gets each day and know that SOMEBODY’s reading it.  I love when I get hits from the Middle East and wonder which posts they are looking at.

Funny, until I read what you wrote under your photo I thought “totally worth it”.... although, if I were you I WOULD have woken Rick up and been like GET THIS THING OFF ME!!!!!!  ~ticks…. ~shudder

Maggie, hah! I guess I don’t see it regarding the photo! I know, ticks make me shudder too but I’ve gotten used to pulling them off the dogs. On me thought it’s a little bit different. I hate those things!!!