Ruth's Friendship Fellowship-everyone welcome-come on in! Part 3

[Lamb]

Hi Brighten & psalms91!!

 

[MarkFL]

Hello, l'il Lammy!

:biglaugh:

 

[psalms 91]

Watch out Lamm thats a ram

 

[MarkFL]

Watch out Lamm thats a ram

LOL! Now that you say it like that, I see my post could have a rather undesirable connotation...which certainly wasn't my intention. :scared:

edit: I changed the pic.

 

[Lamb]

Hmmm looks like I missed out on some fun? LOL

 

[psalms 91]

lol He cahnged the picture

 

[tango]

Good to get some rain today. Wish I hadn't been outside when it happened though.

 

[MarkFL]

We're having one of the driest July's on record. Normally this time of year we have afternoon thundershowers nearly every day, but the rain has been very scarce. On the upside though, this keeps the mosquito population down.

 

[tango]

We're having one of the driest July's on record. Normally this time of year we have afternoon thundershowers nearly every day, but the rain has been very scarce. On the upside though, this keeps the mosquito population down.

Keeping mosquitoes down is a good thing. Keeping ticks down is even better. I prefer to hike in shorts rather than long pants but when the trails get a bit overgrown I don't really want ticks running on my skin. One trail I hiked a few years ago had vegetation from both sides crossed in the middle. I could see the trail but had to just force through it. Every 50 yards or so I stopped to brush another dozen ticks off my legs. It was pretty grim. I got to the top of the trail, onto a nice wide gravel path (big enough to drive a car, but it was gated) and had another check to make sure I didn't miss any ticks. After my hike (which took me about 6 hours) I was about half way home when I felt something odd on the back of my neck and pulled another tick off me. I think it was just starting to attach itself.

 

[MarkFL]

Oh, I hate ticks! Yes, I'll take mosquitoes over ticks any day of the week. :scared:

 

[psalms 91]

Ticks are the worst, I agree

 

[Lamb]

Keeping mosquitoes down is a good thing. Keeping ticks down is even better. I prefer to hike in shorts rather than long pants but when the trails get a bit overgrown I don't really want ticks running on my skin. One trail I hiked a few years ago had vegetation from both sides crossed in the middle. I could see the trail but had to just force through it. Every 50 yards or so I stopped to brush another dozen ticks off my legs. It was pretty grim. I got to the top of the trail, onto a nice wide gravel path (big enough to drive a car, but it was gated) and had another check to make sure I didn't miss any ticks. After my hike (which took me about 6 hours) I was about half way home when I felt something odd on the back of my neck and pulled another tick off me. I think it was just starting to attach itself.

Some of the trails I go on have some grassy areas since a lot of people don't travel them enough and I worry about what I'm walking through or what will latch onto me!!

The best bug spray I've found that hasn't allowed anything on me is a Family Unscented spray by Johnsons.

 

[psalms 91]

I use deep woods off when out like that

 

[Lamb]

I used to use the Deep Woods Off but now I just like the Family Unscented OFF since it works better with the bugs we have here LOL

 

[psalms 91]

When at the campground they can be persistant and I hate ticks

 

[MS140ukn]

greetings ruth and you lot.

 

[tango]

Some of the trails I go on have some grassy areas since a lot of people don't travel them enough and I worry about what I'm walking through or what will latch onto me!!

The best bug spray I've found that hasn't allowed anything on me is a Family Unscented spray by Johnsons.

I quite often hike trails that are pretty overgrown, and anything low enough for a deer to conceivably brush by is low enough for a deer tick to try its luck. On the kind of day where it may turn colder, or start cold and hopefully turn warmer, I wear a vest as well and then thread it through the straps of my backpack when it's too hot to wear it. Sometimes I've had to brush ticks off of it. Not sure why they started walking on it, given it isn't any warmer than the surroundings and doesn't give off any carbon dioxide, but a few of them thought it was close enough to a warm blooded host to be worth a shot. That's something of a problem, because if a tick gets into the folds of the vest the chances are I won't see it and could end up taking it home with me.

The first hike I ever saw deer ticks (which took a surprisingly long time, given how often I've hiked in September and October), I brushed a load off me and then when I got home I took off my shirt to throw it in the laundry and found a tick walking on my belly. It wasn't great that it made it home with me but was good because I could pick it off and my wife got chance to see what a real live deer tick looks like. Until then we'd periodically check each other for ticks during and after hikes but never really knew for sure just what it was we were looking for.

 

[tango]

For insect repellant I won't bother with anything that's less than about 40% DEET. If an area is very buggy I often carry my little bullet spray of 100% DEET. I've sat out in the evening on Assateague Island taking pictures of the setting sun and in the post-sunset light using that stuff and not been bothered by mosquitoes.

 

[psalms 91]

sounds good, how do you get 100 per cent deet? Also I thought Assateague island was just day visits, didnt know you could stay there

 

[Lamb]

I quite often hike trails that are pretty overgrown, and anything low enough for a deer to conceivably brush by is low enough for a deer tick to try its luck. On the kind of day where it may turn colder, or start cold and hopefully turn warmer, I wear a vest as well and then thread it through the straps of my backpack when it's too hot to wear it. Sometimes I've had to brush ticks off of it. Not sure why they started walking on it, given it isn't any warmer than the surroundings and doesn't give off any carbon dioxide, but a few of them thought it was close enough to a warm blooded host to be worth a shot. That's something of a problem, because if a tick gets into the folds of the vest the chances are I won't see it and could end up taking it home with me.

The first hike I ever saw deer ticks (which took a surprisingly long time, given how often I've hiked in September and October), I brushed a load off me and then when I got home I took off my shirt to throw it in the laundry and found a tick walking on my belly. It wasn't great that it made it home with me but was good because I could pick it off and my wife got chance to see what a real live deer tick looks like. Until then we'd periodically check each other for ticks during and after hikes but never really knew for sure just what it was we were looking for.

Yikes. I'm not that deep in the bush to gather that many!

I did get one on my shoulder from doing landscape work in my front yard in the spring! It was walking around and watching me type a post here on CH LOL