Holy crap! You need some chay chay and a hot bath.

Hubby says there's just a bump, no welt (or lingering critter...yuuch).
It made me nervous because there's a lot of ticks around here, and last year, my MIL had one taken off her back, and this year, one of DH's coworkers just had one taken off him.

I had on long sleeves and long pants. So now maybe I need to wear a turtleneck? LOL.

Chardonnay for sure! If nothing else, it will make me relaxed enough to go back outside and get to work on transplanting!

Linda
Linda

I hope everything is alright. I was bitten by something last year and it took a while to heal. Not knowing what it was bothered me more than anything.
You mean you actually waited until you were upstairs before you pulled your shirt off?
jim_6b

Jim,
I still have a soft lump there, but it feels like the usual local allergic reaction I get to any bite.
Yeah, I waited until I got upstairs. Neighbors already get a free show when I walk outside in my robe or pjs to walk around the yard first thing in the morning. I figured they'd seen enough! (lol)

Linda

Hope all is well with your bite, Linda! I grew up in a place where when something bit you or you felt stuff on you, you were taught to strip immediately (centipedes, ya know?)! LOL!

Nothing's bitten me in eons - guess I'm too sour for them.

PV

Hi Linda! I'm so sorry about your bug attack and I hope you are doing better.However, your message was educational for me. I don't recall seeing the word "perseverate" before and had to look it up! Maybe it will eventually become a part of my working vocabulary.

I know what you mean about creepy crawly creatures. I am a screamer and any time something startles me I usually yell so loud the neighbors must wonder what the heck is going on over here. ***However*** I had one very different experience, which I still am amazed to remember. I was on a birding trip to Ecuador and was walking a rain forest trail with a guide and two other birders. This little trek was done after dark to see if we might catch a glimpse of any night birds. The guide had a light, but mostly we walked by moonlight alone. We were stopped on the trail as the guide focused the light on an area up in a tree he wanted to check out. While we stood there I felt something BIG run up my pants leg!!! I reached down and grabbed the huge whatever-it-was through my pants and squashed it. It was so big it made a big wet blob on my pants, but the body fell out and it didn't sting or bite me. I had broken one of the major rules of birding in buggy areas---tuck your pants into your socks at all times. I still don't know why I didn't scream my usual shrill siren level screech, but maybe I was in too much shock to react as I normally would have if a bug got on me while I was working here in my yard. Anyway, I definitely don't forget the tuck your pants in your socks rule on all birding trips.

Also, I think it is perfectly acceptable to peel out of clothes no matter where you are if you are being attacked by bugs, ants or whatever. As you are swatting at the little devils and jumping around I'm sure the neighbors will figure out that you aren't trying to attract their interest in your figure or dance moves, but are occupied with serious matters!!

I hope you are feeling better and no more bugs bug you.

Take care,

Debby

OMG Debbie...I screamed when I read your post!

PV,
I know what you're saying....sometimes ignorance is bliss, because I'm not nearly as fearful of bugs when I go to Jamaica as I am when I'm home in the US. And now that I learned that one could find a scorpion in their shoes in the morning when you live in Houston TX, you'd be believe I'm not so comfortable with putting my shoes on in the morning when we visit there.

I've been too busy to get outside the past few days, and now it's too hot for me. But I have been thinking that I must diligently put on bug spray before I go out, and I have a net and a hat that I'm going to dig up (no matter how stupid it makes me look, I just don't want to garden without some feeling that I won't get bit.

The lump is draining and going down (almost unnoticeable).

Ahh bugs. The wonder and anxiety of my gardening life...lol.

Linda

Black fly season has just started here... Want to come over and enjoy it with me?? :O)

Oh, and the June bugs have started to come out and play too!! They don't bite but my scale starts at hornets (got bit 14 times a couple of years ago when I walked into a nest - couldn't walk for two days...) and after that comes the June bugs. They are so big and fly right in your face. ARGH!!

Had a scorpion in my laundry room and black widows in Albquerque in the 80s. I'm back in Ohio now. Thank goodness. Nothing like being 8 months pregnant and seeing your first and only live scorpion.

Bakemom,
I'm surprised it didn't send you into delivery...I think I would've run to the hospital and demand they keep me there until someone could assure me I wouldn't see another scorpion.

Tiffy,
Them darn black flies! For some reason, a few of them must've overwintered here, because they've been out for at least three weeks here...I hope this doesn't mean they'll be worse when the REAL season for them arrives.

Hornets! Scary! My dad got chased by a nest of them when he was a kid.

June Bugs...Back when I played in bands, we did outdoor gigs. I didn't like outdoor gigs (any surprise? lol). Everyone was saying, at one of those shows, "Gee, your drummer is really wild!" Because his arms were flailing all over the place while he was playing. It was because our gig went from late afternoon into dusk, and the June Bugs came out. He was trying to keep them out of his face (while I was trying not to take deep breaths singing so I wouldn't swallow one of those fat, juicy buggers!)

Oh bugs.

Linda