So, Ms. Trying to Be Balanced here went walking in the Astradero Open Space Preserve yesterday morning, a good 5 miles or so on a couple of trail loops. The wildflowers were lovely, the hills were green and the high grass on the last 2 mile loop was pretty–and loaded with ticks.
There is no feeling in the world like getting off the trail and back to the car and having your companion urgently say “There are six ticks on the back of your shirt!” Forget high-tech when you’re trying to tug your t-shirt over your head on the roadside without flipping the little buggers into your skin–anyone who’s had to deal with a tick bite or an embedded tick KNOWS this is not what you want to let happen so it was home for a shower, tick inspection, and isolating and washing my walking clothes. Later that night, I got a call from my walking partner, who had four to six ticks who’d dug right in and had to be picked off with tweezers (ugh).
Lesson of the story: Walking, good. High grasses, very, very bad. Sitting at computer safer, but much less fun.