Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Deer paths

Our local deer make paths through the tall grasses in spring and summer. Callie likes to follow them. I sometimes follow her, if the grass isn't too wet. It's in the tall grasses that Callie picks up ticks. We're in prime tick season right now and there are a lot of them. Callie and Bert both get Frontline every month, but the treatment doesn't stop ticks from biting. The medicine enters the dog's and cat's bloodstream and kills the ticks once they begin to feed, preventing them from reproducing.

Callie is about to follow one of her favorite paths through the tall grass.

Consequently, we are always pulling ticks off the animules this time of year. We have special tick forks that work very well, provided we find the tick while it's attached. Otherwise, dead, blood-engorged ticks fall onto the floor or wherever the animal lies. I've stepped on more than one and have had to clean up the yucky mess. I check myself after every walk to be sure there are no ticks crawling on me. Eeew!

10 comments:

  1. It may look "awful Anglais"...
    but tucking trousers inside socks avoids all sorts of things crawling up the legs...
    Tim

    [BTW... if it has lots of dots, 'tis moi... and I identify with Gonzo and Animal... depending on the weather....
    although, the older I get... the more like Statler &/or Waldorf I become!!]

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  2. We get teeny tiny deer ticks this time of year, so we have to spray ourselves before going into our woods. These small deer ? ticks create a rather large red welt- ugh! There were a lot of ticks in KY where I grew up and no Frontline. They love to get in the mane of horses. I hate the suckers!

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  3. is lyme disease as prevalent in france as it is here??? it's so scary

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    1. melinda, it's not as prevalent here as in the US (it was a big deal in California), but it does exist. Ticks are nasty in any event.

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  4. The only time Lulu got ticks was on a walk in Preuilly forest this time last year. I also had some on my legs. Yuk.
    I now use the Tim method of tick prevention. It doesn't look great but it works!

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  5. definitely spring at your home

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  6. I found a tick on me this morning. I was not a happy camper. I won't tell you where it was on me -- you don't want to know. Ticks are really bad this year. The winter was too mild.

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  7. I found most living creatures to be fascinating, but I just plain hate ticks. Yuck!

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  8. We have our woes in Arizona < rattlesnakes, javalinas and nasty scorpions but no ticks. I feel fortunate.

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