Ticks Might be Worse This Year – My Funny Tick Story

I saw a Facebook post on Benton City's Real News and Information where one lady said she's seen a lot more ticks this year than most. Campers generally need to be more aware than we do in the Tri-Cities, but anywhere there are trees or wooded areas, there can be ticks.

Growing up in Montana, mom used to pull ticks off of us kids and our dogs all the time in the summer. She was an expert at spotting them in our hair before they could grab hold in our scalps. One evening during summer vacation, my brother and I were hiking behind our house and we came in looking for mom to check us for the little critters because that was pretty much our routine when we were done playing for the day. We yelled for mom because we couldn't find her. She hollered back from their bedroom, "I'll be out in a minute!" Several minutes went by and my little brother knocked on the door. "Just a minute, I'm getting a tick off your father," she yelled. "Can we see?" "NO, I'LL BE OUT IN A MINUTE!"

Hanky-panky never crossed our minds. We were just wondering what the big deal was and why we couldn't see the tick that dad was getting removed. Once the door opened, it was explained to us very gently, that dad had a tick latch on where no man ever wants. OH JEEZ, IS HE OKAY? "He'll be fine", she said, as we raced up to our rooms to examine ourselves in the mirror!

Now every time I hear 'Ticks' by Brad Paisley, I am taken back to that day.