I took a little road trip this weekend to northwestern Minnesota with Offspring #1 and a nephew. I had fun spending time with two young men one of whom had a birthday. The weather was rainy on Friday and Sunday but Saturday was a beautiful day. I saw phoebes building a nest on the barn wall, great crested flycatchers, robins, chickadees, crows, blue jays and ravens in the yard. I could hear sand hill cranes, red shouldered hawks, and great horned owls. On the lake I saw loons, common mergansers, and wood ducks. I was so proud of myself for identifying the female wood duck before I saw her mate. Female ducks are so plain compared to the males. I spied on my cousins across the lake as they put in four docks in front of the cabins. I saw a yellow bellied sapsucker in the woods near the lake. While sitting on the shore I saw a crayfish with bluish green legs crawl under a rock. I saw a leopard frog doing the frog kick under the water. I saw red admiral butterflies flying around in the woods but they would never stay still enough for me to get a photo. I walked down to the lake twice and sat in the moss observing. I found it very relaxing to sit, observe, and try to identify every sound I heard. I was very content. I thought I could sit here all day. Then I felt the eighth deer tick crawling in the flap of my left ear and I got the he!! out of there. I was okay with the first seven but number 8 was one too many. I didn't find number 9 until all my clothes were off and I was getting redressed. Lucky for me, none of them bit me. Pictures will be coming. Pictures of the woods, not pictures of ticks.
2 comments:
Hi Sue, The AZ travelers have returned to MN just 1 week ago and right about 4:30p. Emilee turned 9 yesterday and she had her bday party at our house on Saturday. We enjoyed the 73* and sun shining. You mentioned deer ticks and I found one the next morning embedded in my neck and it was a bit hard to get off of me. I didn't notice it when I got ready for bed so it hadn't been there for 24 hours at least. Our neighbor is a nurse and said the clinic where she works had gotten a report saying the deer ticks were out already and very plentiful. That one is no longer because I yelled to Don to come identify it and he squished it dead. The neighbor said not to be concerned if we got the whole thing and the head was not left behind. She said a dime size red ring would appear around the entry area if there was a concern. She also told me symptoms to be aware of like aching joints and then get treated with antibiotics. I just have a little red dot where it was attached to my skin. Hopefully nothing with come of it.
We left Mesa on the 4th of April and arrived on the 5th at friends of ours who live in Longview, TX and spent 4 days with them over Easter. Fun talking about old times. Jean was my Maid of Honor at our wedding. We go way back as teenage friends. Always into mischief! haha
It's been cold and dreary most of the time we have been back and we were almost ready to gas up and head back to the warmer climate! It was in the 80's when we left. Hard to leave.
So happy to see our kids again.
We are having mom's memorial service the 27th so lots to get ready for. We are just doing a day trip so we will go to the Getaway and leave from there. Will be glad when that's over. Looking forward to seeing family and friends we haven't seen in a long time.
Enjoying your blogs :)
Dianne
Hey Dianne,
Glad to hear you will be back. FYI you don't always get a bulls eye rash when you get Lymes's disease. And the test for it is only 40% accurate. Usually the tick has to be biting you 24-48 hours before it starts injecting you with spirochetes. Be careful!
It wouldn't hurt to run it by a doctor and may be get preventative antibiotics.
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