Lyme Disease It’s In Our County Big Time and YOURS

us for from 24 to 48 hours for it to transmit the yucky pooh that gives us Lyme Disease.  And only the larger deer ticks carry the disease my research told me.  So the absolute first defense against Lyme Disease is to check thoroughly for ticks at the end of every single day.


I remember well…when we first built this house and moved into Round Knob Canyon…we had 2 major problems…Copperheads and Ticks.  I was tons more afraid of the copperheads than the ticks…but we had 2 little boys and a baby in 1974 when we moved into our little cabin in the country…and we kept them all 3 very close and the first few summers…ticks were so bad we had 3 tick checks a day.


I had a whistle that hung by the back door and that very same whistle still hangs there today.  And I’d step out on the porch and blow that whistle and call out “TICK CHECK” and they’d come to the back porch and Geezer and I would check them over really good…in their hair…under arms…between toes…we didn’t miss a nook or cranny.  🙂  
AND the scary part of that was….we’d take off many ticks from each of our kids….at every single ‘tick check’.  But we didn’t worry because we were very thorough and would doctor any tick bites that looked red or suspicious. 
NOW we don’t find that many ticks…but once in a blue moon…there will be a little gigger that has taken up residence on an ankle or something when we come in at the end of the day.


Lyme Disease is a bacterial illness that can affect the skin, joints, heart and nervous system…so it can be a very devastating thing.
Not always…but most of the time…a tick that carries Lyme Disease will cause a bulls eye rash around the spot of the bit and that bulls eye may not appear for a few days to a few weeks. 
It takes a blood test to confirm Lyme Disease…but I think if I had a tick bite that had the bull’s eye rash at the site…I’m be downing the carrot juice and calling the doctor if it was me or one of mine.  Because Lyme Disease is nothing to take lightly.


Generally for Lyme Disease…folks are given a simple but good antibiotic and if it’s caught early…the devastation isn’t quite as bad.  But I’ve been told by a friend who has had Lyme Disease for over 10 years that once you have it in your system…it never completely goes away.
Lyme Disease can cause extreme fatigue to the point of barely being able to function…joint pain…stiffness…swollen lymph glands…headache…confusion…very high fever.
It’s just not something any of us would want to battle if we can avoid it.


There are 3 stages of Lyme Disease and Stage #1 is when it’s caught early and you possibly still find the tick attached with the bull’s eye rash or even a fresh ‘rash’.   Stage #1 can be managed fairly quickly…
Stage #2 is when you didn’t find it for a few weeks and you have the fatigue and achiness, joint pain and other flu like symptoms…
Stage #3…we just don’t want to fool with or let it go that far…because that’s when it affects the heart and nervous system and our health in general…


I just thought since so many have Lyme Disease in our own county right now…we should talk about it a minute this morning…We should all do tick checks regularly if we’re outdoors…and be sure and check in your hair and between the toes. 
Mom used to tell a story of a friend who passed decades ago and the family was so shocked…she had been sick but they just couldn’t figure out what was wrong in time.  At the funeral home…the undertaker found a tick between her toes  🙁  Isn’t it goofy the little stories you will remember.  But I think of that story often … usually right after we’ve found a tick…


It’s Kims birthday today….OUR BABY IS 40 YEARS OLD!!!  OH MY GOODNESS…until I broke my leg…I didn’t feel much past 40 myself…but that accident has aged me…sorry to say.
Still hoping I’ll perk back up…but it’s been 10 months so my hopes are dwindling…  🙁
Kim and I were going junking together this morning…but her computer passed away to computer heaven yesterday so it’s looking like we’re going computer shopping instead this morning….I can’t have a blog guru running my blog without a computer…talk about a hinderance  :8) 
I gave her my little laptop over night so she could read reviews on computers and hopefully we can just run out and get one without much hassle…


CHECK FOR TICKS DAILY!!!


Peace and love from the canyon…I love you all gobs and thanks SO SO much…for stopping by…