Last year I casually grabbed a weed out of the ground by my sidewalk. I threw the weed away, but quickly noticed something all over my hand. I looked more closely and realized my hand was covered in hundreds of the tiniest ticks I’d ever seen. I couldn’t get them off me fast enough! They were on my fingers, wrist, and under my watch. I was completely freaked out! I got them off, threw my clothes in the dryer on the highest setting and took a shower. It gave me the creeps every time I thought of it. With the very real risk of Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, ticks are not just gross but can be dangerous. I know two people who’ve had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and both were extremely ill!

Photo credit: sciencedaily.com

My current predicament is that my flower beds need to be weeded so badly; but I’m honestly freaked out at the thought of hundreds of ticks on those weeds.

Here’s why…according to tickbites.net

The life of a tick starts as an egg. Female ticks breed when on the host and drops to the ground to lay eggs. The female tick lays thousands of eggs which will then hatch as the climate temperature and moisture increase, to become a larva. A tick on the larval stage is known as seed tick. The larva is about 1/8 of an inch in size and has six legs but already looks like the adults. These larva staged ticks need to feed in each of the stages order to grow into the next one. Ticks are not capable of jumping therefore they use grass and other forms of plants to raise themselves to a certain height where they can easily latch on to passing animals.

So, even though I’m scared and grossed out, I’m going to glove up, spray lots of bug spray all over me, say a prayer and weed those flower beds.