Cover up in the Country

I have been asked why it is that I am always covered from head to toe like an old babushka while out in the garden. I had harboured dreams of gardening virtually nude in order to transform my pasty white skin to a warm golden brown but those hopes were quickly dashed.

You see I live in the middle of tick country. And I don’t just mean those pesky ugly and disgusting wood ticks that burry their head in your skin and suck your blood. Those I might just about be able to live with. No I am covering up like a fundamentalist’s wife because we also live in deer tick land. And deer ticks in this part of the country often carry Lyme disease. And that is no joke.

Overreacting! I hear you say. Well actually I thought so too. Until my husband was diagnosed with it a week ago. After suffering sever flue like symptoms for a few days (chills, fever, aches and pains), a clear telltale sign of Lyme disease appeared; a red bulls eye on the skin. One trip to the emergency clinic later and a prescription for three weeks worth of antibiotics, he is now thankfully on the mend. We never even saw the tick and we were lucky the bull’s eye appeared (you can have Lyme without the bull's eye showing up) as Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose. Without early diagnosis, there can be complications and very scary long term problems.



Luckily the peak season for ticks is now behind us. They will probably come back with a vengeance in the fall but I am not taking off my clothes any time soon. All the rain and the hot spring we had mean that the mosquitoes are really bad this year… Sigh. The joys of country living….