Anniekay
Well-known member
- Location
- Quitman, Ga.
- Hardiness zone
- 9a
I'm posting this because, if you're anything like me and your mind is on your gardening more than your clothing, you will:
#1) whip off your long sleeved shirt or jacket on that chilly morning and toss it aside, as soon as your body temp isn't in need of it any longer, leave it hanging on the fence, a peg in your potting shed or even on the ground while you carry on getting your gardening on.
'Don't do that and then carry it away or, even worse, put it back on your body without turning it inside out and thoroughly checking for critters !!
The last two years, ( I'm a slow learner, evidently) I have been twice bitten and gotten ill by #1) having left a long sleeved flannel shirt hanging in my potting shed and consequently, when I put it back on, gotten bit by a Black Widow spider. Believe you me, they not only hurt but the venom actually eats a hole in your flesh and after the venom gets far enough into your system, it affects your nervous system. I was quite woozy while driving to have it looked after. Then, after getting the bill from the emergency room visit to the " horsepistol" you feel like you've been shot in the chest by a pistol big as a horse !!
So, no leaving clothing outside without a good look-through inside and out!!
This is how the spider bite looks now, 3 months later:
And #2)
When either ticks or mosquitos are likely to be present, do not forget to replenish your bug spray and, if you are going to be down on the ground kneeling, for goodness sakes, tuck your pants INSIDE of your socks. Why do that, you say? Because ticks will crawl up your leg, get into a crevice in your body where you are unlikely to notice them and give you a not-so-nice disease...or 3 !!
I was on my knees in fall planting and weeding in my shade garden. I had applied spray sufficient to repel ticks but I had been scrambling in the dirt for hours and the repellant had worn off. The next day, same activity and when I got in the shower a full grown, but not engorged tick was crawling down my leg.
It turns out that I had been bitten by a tiny little seed tick, size of a pinhead. He fed on my blood for a day and night without my noticing. Weeks later I was quite ill. It turned out I had, from that tick, gotten Lyme disease, human Parvo virus and Eppstein Barr disease. All gifted me from one teeny tiny tick. I was ill for almost a year. I plugged on but it was not easy.
So bring your repellent with you and replenish it often !! You don't want to be getting ill from your own lack of attention to the nasty bugs just waiting to suck your blooooood !!
P.S. I'm not showing you what that bite looked like, it was not in an area appropriate for public viewing !!
#1) whip off your long sleeved shirt or jacket on that chilly morning and toss it aside, as soon as your body temp isn't in need of it any longer, leave it hanging on the fence, a peg in your potting shed or even on the ground while you carry on getting your gardening on.
'Don't do that and then carry it away or, even worse, put it back on your body without turning it inside out and thoroughly checking for critters !!
The last two years, ( I'm a slow learner, evidently) I have been twice bitten and gotten ill by #1) having left a long sleeved flannel shirt hanging in my potting shed and consequently, when I put it back on, gotten bit by a Black Widow spider. Believe you me, they not only hurt but the venom actually eats a hole in your flesh and after the venom gets far enough into your system, it affects your nervous system. I was quite woozy while driving to have it looked after. Then, after getting the bill from the emergency room visit to the " horsepistol" you feel like you've been shot in the chest by a pistol big as a horse !!
So, no leaving clothing outside without a good look-through inside and out!!
This is how the spider bite looks now, 3 months later:
And #2)
When either ticks or mosquitos are likely to be present, do not forget to replenish your bug spray and, if you are going to be down on the ground kneeling, for goodness sakes, tuck your pants INSIDE of your socks. Why do that, you say? Because ticks will crawl up your leg, get into a crevice in your body where you are unlikely to notice them and give you a not-so-nice disease...or 3 !!
I was on my knees in fall planting and weeding in my shade garden. I had applied spray sufficient to repel ticks but I had been scrambling in the dirt for hours and the repellant had worn off. The next day, same activity and when I got in the shower a full grown, but not engorged tick was crawling down my leg.
It turns out that I had been bitten by a tiny little seed tick, size of a pinhead. He fed on my blood for a day and night without my noticing. Weeks later I was quite ill. It turned out I had, from that tick, gotten Lyme disease, human Parvo virus and Eppstein Barr disease. All gifted me from one teeny tiny tick. I was ill for almost a year. I plugged on but it was not easy.
So bring your repellent with you and replenish it often !! You don't want to be getting ill from your own lack of attention to the nasty bugs just waiting to suck your blooooood !!
P.S. I'm not showing you what that bite looked like, it was not in an area appropriate for public viewing !!
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Gracious me. how did I miss this thread.... such good advice, and as you say something that can happen to any budding gardener who is intent on getting a job done.
It was awful hearing about your poor horse Annie.
