TICK TERROR

It was after dinner and my husband Steven and I were sitting on the back porch, watching the sun set and discussing what we'd done that day.

“The babies across the street are just starting to walk.” I said as I leaned back in my rocker. Our across the street neighbors had twins, a boy and a girl, a little over a year ago. “You had to see them outside with their parents!” I looked over at Steven as I picked up my glass of wine. “Those chubby little legs running around the side yard as they giggled at everything they saw! It was just so cute to watch.” I smiled as pictured the whole scene again in my head. “Remember those days?” I sighed.

“Like it was yesterday.” Steven said as he adjusted the pillow behind his back. “I used to love having the yard filled with kids running around laughing and playing.”

“It sure goes by quick, doesn't it?” I was watching a pair of house finches flying in and out of our birdhouse and could hear their babies chirping for food. “Looks like that Mom and Dad have their hands full.” I pointed to the birdhouse. “They've been flying in and out of their house ever since we sat down and the babies are still crying for more.”

Steven looked over at our bird feeders. “You might want to make their lives a little easier by filling our feeders.”

I looked over at our two empty feeders. “Wow! I could have sworn I just filled them yesterday!”

“I'm sure the deer have something to do with that.” Steven reached over and got his water bottle off the table. “Our woods are filled with them at dusk.”

“I know, but I just got the squirrel resistant feeders and I was hoping they'd stop the deer, too.” I put my glass of wine down and began getting up.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe we just have really hungry birds then.”

I went inside to get the birdseed and get myself ready to fill the feeders before coming back out to the deck.

Steven looked over at me. “Why are you wearing those?” He was looking at my knee high rubber boots.

“That's what I wear when I fill the feeders.” I put down my bag of seed and began spraying my boots with the can of bug spray I'd also brought out. “Deet.” I said as I put the bug spray down and picked up the bag of birdseed. “Okay.” I took a deep breath. “I'm going out there!” I went out and filled the feeders then returned to the deck. Slipping out of my boots, I put the bag of birdseed down next to my rocker, sat down, and reached for my glass of wine. “Mission successful.” I took a sip of wine and watched as the birds began returning to the feeders.

“Do you dress like that every time you fill the feeders?”

“Sure do!” I put my glass back down. “If you've been bitten by ticks as many times as I have you'd be dressed like that too!” Even though I'd been treated each time I still dealt with some side effects from the bites.

“But you were just saying how cute the babies across the street looked as they ran around their side yard.” Steven looked confused.

“I was saying it reminded me of how cute it was when our boys were that age running around our yard. That was back in time when a tick bite was just a annoyance. Now it's a whole other world we live in.” I looked over at Steven. “Did you know the Lone Star tick will actually chase you down to bite you? It's not like they're just hanging on a leaf anymore and you accidentally brush by it. They actually chase you down!” I shuttered at the thought. “If our boys were babies right now, they'd never leave this deck!”

Steven just shook his head. “Well, I guess I'm grateful our boys got to have a real childhood without a tick-crazy Mom.”

I picked up my glass of wine and held it up. “I'll drink to that!”