Ticks

Source: http://www.mainelyme.org/

Ticks. Ticks are the ban of my existence. Three were on my today. I lost count of my ticks in order to maintain sanity. They are the most vile of insects. Blood-sucking, six-legged, disease-carrying drudgeries of the planet. As the truck driver put it, "Mosquitoes and ticks, I tell ya. Nature's vampires."

One day, I was working with a laborer who was.... unaccustomed to working with a young woman as an inspector and he was trying to frighten/gross me out with typical things that would scare young women. I had a bug on me, and one of the laborers got it off. Nonplussed, I thanked them.

"You ain't scared?"
"As long as it's not a tick."
"Oh ticks are nothing, I seen real big spiders round here. This big! Creeping and crawlin-"
"But ticks are densely populated in this area. They latch on."
"Pshh ticks! I've seen rats coming out of the sewer that can nibble on your--"
"Ticks latch on after crawling anywhere on your body, then start sucking your blood until they fill up like a balloon and waddle away. You find one, and try to take it out, it's head becomes dislodged in your skin. Sometimes only removal by surgery."
"Snakes!!! There are poisonous snakes in this area that you have to watch out for. They slither around in the grass. Just a few years ago, me and Jim were poking one in the grass and it coulda jumped and snapped---"
"Ticks carry LYME'S disease. That means with one bite you are looking at flu-like symptoms, joint pain, future heart problems, ect. The tick population is the record high in this area this year, and tons of the ticks carry lyme's disease. Snake? They don't have lyme's disease. And there aren't like 4 that crawl up and down you a day. The only way to prevent tick bites is checking over yourself throughout the day, wearing tight clothing, and spraying tons of deet."
"Oh wow, yeah, I better get some deet..."

After my first day of ticks, I thoroughly researched it and did this PSA whenever new laborers came on site and didn't freak out when someone had a tick on them, which was every often. The more you know~

Ticks and distracted drivers. Nothing in this world is more terrifying on a construction site.



For more information on ticks, check out these sources! 
 http://www.michiganradio.org/post/theres-tick-boom-michigan-here-are-5-things-you-should-know
 http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/