Sunday, June 22, 2008

Becoming One With Nature and using Tweezers to fix it

"All they do is dig into your skin and bury their heads."

This is actually something that I said to one of my children today. At the time it seemed completely logical and actually reassuring. Looking back on it, well . . . let me explain.

Today the Mrs. HTF and I took the troops on a "hike." (I'm using the air quotes because most of it was on a flat paved trail not unlike the track at your high school) We decided that the kids needed some distance from day to day fun at our house, so we found a park with a trail and off we went. The paved track end abruptly at the edge of a pretty dense forest. Then it turned into a much-less well defined trail. In the back of our minds was the goal of "toughening our kids up." (still not sure what that means, but it made sense at the time) So I glanced at the map and we decided to dive into to the woods. I'll spare you the details, but let just say this was one of the stupider decisions we've made in, well, . . . today.

As we emerged from the woods at the other end of the trail we were covered in ticks of all shapes and sizes. Well, I guess they're mostly the same shape, but the sizes were different. Everyone freaked out nicely. (It probably didn't help when I told the true story of how my mom was almost killed by a disease from a tick. I gotta remember to keep my helpful stories to myself.) We tried in vain to brush them off. A couple hours later we found ourselves in the bathroom with multiple not-clothed-at-all children plucking insects off of their bodies with tweezers. I lost count. Even tonight when we laid down in bed, Traci glanced at my arm and found another little blood sucker. Ugh. What were we thinking?! I totally should've known better. Now everyone in the family is constantly looking over every inch of their bodies, and everyone else's for the opportunity to tweeze. I've tried to pluck off the same little mole on my leg now multiple times because I swore I saw it moving. So much for our fun, family wilderness adventure. Next Saturday we're playing XBox and walking around WalMart like we're supposed to.

4 comments:

alese said...

WOW! That was hilarious. I lol when I got to the part about the naked kids. Way to raise tough kids-maybe if they go to byu, they will be ready to hike the Y.

Anonymous said...

Scott, so, it seems like everything is similar with you and me. I'm almost afraid to tell you this for fear that you think that I have a dirty house. Because I certainly don't. In fact after Sunday, I probably have the cleanest house in JOCO. Seriously! Well, LC or (Larry for long) and I had plans this weekend to just get some things done around the house and on Friday night, I was playing with one of our 'four-legged' pups and low and behold saw some black small specs of 'moveable' creatures on their bodies and I FREAKED. Mainly because I knew it was inevitable what is was. Yes, FLEAS! I swear, I am a clean person. So, needless to say, I didn't sleep one wink because they love to cuddle at night and all I could think of was that the little creatures were going to crawl in my nose or ears - AGH!!! So, first thing, Saturday, I called the vet to find out if I should bring them in to get 'dipped' and fortunately, he said I just needed to treat their bodies with the drops, spray the yard and clean ever inch of your house and let off a bomb inside. (yea, easy for you to say, Dr.) Okay, so, I thought, "Sweet, I don't have to pay for an office visit" and proceeded to the vet’s office. $164.00 later, for spray bombs, flea drops for all the animals (cat too) - I about had a heart attack on the bill. I swear, I need pet insurance. Wonder if my animals would pass for Ashley. Any who, after the entire day of cleaning, we are 3 days past, and NO CRITTERS anymore. Whew! P.S. The vet said, "this year, FLEAS, TICKS, and Mosquito’s will be horrible through October!" Nice. P.S. you make me laugh each day!. KC

Morgan said...

Ugh, I hate ticks. I would not have done well on the hike. I am glad your kids can handle blood suckers better than me.

agm said...

i read the pope tick entries days ago, but i have to say that the tick stories are still creeping me out. i'm now convinced that the next time i go to the dermatologist & she checks my hair for moles, she's actually going to find a tick who has been living there for six months.

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