"The Perils of Pauline," actually, of Betsy

This Saturday, Cecil and I enjoyed having Spires visit with us while Elizabeth went to her high school reunion (10 years.) I walked with Spires down to the horse pastures so he could pet the horses noses. He loves to walk around outside and loves to look at the horses. Anyway, now to the gruesome part. I apparently managed to step into a nest of deer ticks! After preparing our supper and giving Spires his bath and dressing him in his pajamas, I realized my legs were beginning to itch. I told Cecil to watch the baby while I quickly showered off. I was getting more uncomfortable with every minute. I looked down at my feet and legs and noticed all of these little black spots -- about the size of very tiny poppy seeds. They would not brush off. They had attached themselves and that was why I had started itching. I'm extremely allergic to any kind of nasty bug bite and, as you know, these rascals like to inject their disgusting saliva into their food source. I had to use tweezers to remove the varmints, over 75 just on the parts of my legs that I could see! Cecil had to remove them from the backs of my legs, back and other areas of my anatomy that I could not see. I now have extremely pruritic, dime-size hives all over me. I could not sleep last night, Sunday, twenty-four hours later, because the itching has become so uncomfortable -- and that's after taking antihistamines, prednisone, and the other medicines Cecil kept pulling out of the medicine cabinet! (I checked Spires and found three of the critters already attached to him. Elizabeth said she found three more when she got Spires back to their home. Thank goodness they didn't march all over him like they did me. I think they were reenacting Sherman's march and I was Georgia and South Carolina.) I'll definitely be wearing slacks for a while. Oh, the joys of country life!
Bee Bee