T is for...

Ticks! We have had some major tick issues already this year. Not at our "in town" house, but the new-to-us "country house". Doesn't that sound swanky? Don't fear, we are not independently wealthy. Professors are not making a great living...just barely enough to live actually, but that's for another post. This one is about ticks, unfortunately.

They are everywhere. In general if you stay out of the tall grass you can avoid the little blood sucking creeps. Sorry, does that sound mean? This year they are in the short grass, the tall grass, the rocks, the trees, the weeds, everywhere. They are dangling out their nasty little sticky legs ready to be swept away by any unsuspecting victim. The baby's spit-up rag has fallen, the mom, the two-year-old, the 7-year-old. Tickies, tickies, everywhere.

This brings up a couple of issues. The first being the fact that my girls love romping around in cute little skirts and dresses in the summer. We are not one of those "dresses only" homeschooling families, but the ladies in our family do prefer dresses and skirts. These do not mix well with tickies. I can just imagine my girls coming in from playing down by the creek (we have a creek...how cool is that?) crawling with ticks. The simple solution would be of course not to wear a skirt down to the creek...easy enough I guess. But, replace the entire wardrobe of these sweet girls? That doesn't sound practical. Have them put on "outdoor" clothes for going outdoors? Well, ya might as well replace their wardrobe since we are outdoors all summer long. Insist on light-colored skirts so the ticks are easily visible? Maybe. Insist on frequent tick checks? Definitely. Buy several guineas to eat all of our ticks? Considering it.

The second issue is simply the "ew" factor. I hate ticks. There, I said it. I hate them!

On a side note. Felicity smiles all the time now. Pictures you say? Not yet. That requires her to smile when she's either not in my arms or when there's another adult around to capture the shot. Neither of which is really an option.

Also, Felicity seems to have the cold that has been making it around our house. I'm trying not to overreact about it. She wasn't a preemie so we thankfully do not really have to worry about her immune system. She has proven to us that she's tough so I guess we'll just ride it out.

Kids are currently doing school...er... playing outside in our tick-free yard, but I suspect they will come in soon to eat which means I should have some food to offer them.