Warning: This is kinda creepy.

Yesterday I was sitting here working on my 10-items-a-day-on-e-Bay goal when Theresa called and suggested that we go to a nearby natural park to scope it out as a site for a photo shoot for a project that she and I are working on together. Since it was cool - and one of the only cool days in the weather forecast for awhile - I decided to go for it and see how I did.

We went to Morgan Run, which is better known for its horse trails than it is for walking....

...but of course, you can walk the trails too. The reason why I was so enthusiastic about the site was because it is part meadow and part woods - just what we need - and close by.

"The only downside is that the last time I went for a walk here I got a lot of ticks on me. Of course, I sat down in the grass for a little while."

"A lot of ticks?" Theresa querried.

"Yeah, like four or five."

Now, I have respect for wildlife, but I'm not, strictly speaking, afraid of anything except bees - specifically yellow jackets, to whose venom I'm allergic. Ticks, though, are way down my list of things I'd like to encounter...down there with things like maggots and unhappy venomous spiders. They serve their purpose in the natural world, but I'd just as soon not have to be around while they do it. And while I'm aware that it's the deer tick, the one no larger than a pencil lead that you have to be concerned about getting lyme disease from, the idea of the larger, easy to see tick latching on and sucking my blood is just...unpleasant.

Still, if you're going to go walking in high grass in the county you're going to have to be calm about finding a tick on yourself. You want to be watchful for them, and take precautions, which I did. I wore high socks, long light khaki pants, a tee shirt with sleeves, tied my hair up in a tight pony tail, and slathered myself with an insect repellant / sunscreen. When we got out of the jeep, Theresa sprayed herself with insect repellant and sprayed me too, at least my ankles and the lower parts of my pants.

I took my cane in case I needed it, which I did, but that was okay....because I had it, I was prepared. I had to rest a couple of times, but that was okay, because this was a look-see for a photo shoot not an outing with the Olympic Hiking Club or something. I thought I did pretty well, and it made me really happy be out in the fields and woods again. We met a lot of horses with riders, and they were all very friendly, especially a small group of show horses who, their riders told us, liked to have their noses/faces rubbed. One liked it so much he kept nosing me when I stopped! His rider told him to cut that out. I kept wondering what Winston would think of a horse since it's so rare that he meets an animal larger than he is - like, never.

I kept flicking ticks off. It seemed like a lot of them. I think it was about 10 total, but I was calm about them. After we left we went to Pizza Hut and and had dinner, then came back to the house, where I pulled up e-Bay to show Theresa the pill box with the Grim Reaper on the lid which I'm thinking of bidding on.

Well, it's the only one that I found that made me smile! All the other ones have things like angels, and waterfalls, and floral scenes that are supposed to be "soothing", as if the pills inside are for something so scary it requires either divine intervention or energetic amounts of denial to get through the day. Or else they're grim, utilitarian things with the days of the week in raised letters in bright orange and braille with alarms attached in case you're losing your eyesight, your hearing, and your mind all at the same time. The Grim Reaper with "glowing gemstone eyes" seems FRIENDLY by comparison to all that!

"Excuse me, I think I might have a tick crawling up my pants leg." I said, calmly and went into the bathroom.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am not even kidding when I tell you that it looked like an army of ticks climbing out of the waistband of my pants. Nor am I embarrassed to say that I screamed like a little girl. And I NEVER scream.

"Are you all right?" Theresa asked anxiously from the living room.

"Ugh! Yes...but, um, I've got a lot of ticks in here." I said flinging the ones I immediately located into the toilet.

"Okay. Let me know if you need help." and Theresa, practical person that she is, began to research "tick removal" on the internet just in case one was REALLY stuck on me.

I found a total of 18 ticks in my pants legs, on my torso, on my legs. I was way, way creeped out. I jumped into the shower and washed vigerously.

Meanwhile, Theresa found one tick crawling up the back of her neck. One.

However, she did have at least three mosquito bites. I guess no mosquitos got near me because they figured if I had that many ticks, I probably didn't have any blood left!

So. As perfect as that place would be for the shoot....I don't think we're going to use it. As much as enjoy walking there I don't think I'm going back without a much stronger insect repellant....like DDT or something.

Well, the good news is....if I get lyme disease, I already have neurologist.