Beautiful days, plenty of itching

Okay, I have to admit that I haven't done much in the garden for a few days. I'd like to say it was weather related, but.. no it's not.

When I was a kid, I used to play outside all the time, and I'd come in way after dark. Sometimes even though I had been hot and sweaty during the day, my mom would have me just wash up a little instead of a bath. My feet were always a mess because of course I was barefoot most of the time, but still I just washed up. That was a mistake on my part, but hey, I didnt' know any better. The mistake was not washing WELL....well enough to wash off all the chiggers that were using my body as a host. There were summers when I had hundreds of chigger bites...and no one seemed to have a clear idea of where they came from, or how they managed to get under tight places such as elastic without me knowing it!

Well, recently Ray and I went fishing. Now I've not had many chiggers since I was little, but after that trip I had once again managed to get bites under the elastic. So, I finally went to the internet for some answers. Seems the things are almost invisible to the naked eye. They catch a ride on their host by climbing up to a high blade of grass or weed, then when you come by they just hop on. They like tight fitting places, not just elastic, such as behind the knee when you're wearing jeans. They burrow in and begin to secrete some enzymes that liquefy skin cells, then they eat their fill. When they're finished, they just drop back into the grass, or wherever you happen to be. At this point, you probably don't even know you've been biten. It takes a day or two, then the itching begins. It lasts about a week. It tends to make you a little gun-shy to go out into the garden. Even though I haven't gotten chigger bites before in my garden, as wet as it is this year it could happen.

So....All I've been doing is mowing. On the John Deere tractor. For those of you that are prone to getting chigger bites...be sure to spray a bug repellent on your shoes, your socks, your legs from the knee down and the outside of your jeans. Even then, I'd come home, strip and shower as soon as possible!! Wash the clothes in hotter than usual water and dry in a hot dryer.