It's Tick Season

I am running a little late today blogging. The day was so busy that until about an hour ago I had no plans of blogging today but I thought, why not it's a nice 84° tonight so I grabbed the camera and put these together. Then while I was looking in my photo library for a certain photo, I got lost in the folder I call "My Pics" and looked at too many. It is hard to stay out of the past sometimes when photos are involved. I posted a few of them at the bottom of this post.

The big energy burn was mowing the yard at 1:15pm on a quick decision. Any more that 45 minute walking with a self propelled mower, that I push instead, wipes me out. I have the blade set higher this summer but with four or five different kinds of grass in the yard it is hard to decide what what height to set it. Some grass requires or is recommended to cut it low and other kinds that I have need to be cut 2-1/2" to 3" tall. I watered different spots of the grass these past few weeks but the past couple of days we have had some nice rain. 

When a previous owner did a remodel here at home around 11 years ago, he had a good idea when he added this shed to the back of the garage (through that door), with an outdoor electrical outlet that works and plenty of shelving just to the right and out of the picture range. That gutter is connected to a French Drain that goes completely around the foundation. The shed also serves as a dog house while I am gone, if I decide to shut the house up and leave the dogs outside. It gives them some shade if they need it. During the NORMAL hot summer, they have been hanging out in the AC inside while I am gone.

           

Well tick season has arrived. Last week I felt something crawling around on me while at the computer and tracked down a tick looking to bite me. It was the first one I had seen anywhere and so far nothing else on me. But yesterday I pulled one off of Henry that had been there for a while. If you look at a photo I posted a blog post or two ago you will see that little speck just to the right of his eye, light colored. I didn't see it when I took the photo or even when writing the post ... but later it was hard to miss.

Today I didn't take any photos of the two ticks I pulled off Watson. After my after mowing siesta, I noticed he was acting a little different. Not quite as rambunctious as he normally is. I didn't suspect anything nor did I go look for ticks. I was sitting on the patio with a glass of tea when he came over as usual. Once again I couldn't miss it because it was as large as it could get ... near his collar. I have a small Tic Off tool I use that pulls everything out. Of course getting him corralled to get the job done was quite a feat.

Henry remembered the small white tool from yesterday and got all excited. He must of thought I was going to brush him or something. He wanted me to use the Tic Off on him!!  I finally get the large tick out of Watson, dispose of it by flushing it down the toilet. I decided he was so big I better take a look.

I found another small one half way down his back. With his black skin it was hard to see and I could only find it by running my fingers over his coat. Then once again I had to get him to stand still while Henry was excited because he now knows we are tick hunting. He wanted to stand up on Watson to get a closer view. I finally pulled that tick off and disposed of it the same way as the other one then went back for another inspection on Watson. None were found.

I knew I had to check out Walter. He has never liked being held since the first day I brought him home. When I would pick him up and hold/pet him as a 8 week old he would always try to squirm away. That is one reason now I have to make an appointment at the pet store to get his nails cut because that is impossible for me to do. So you get the idea, when I approached him to check for ticks ... he took off running. It was the small Tick Off Tool I had in my hand that made him run. He knew I wasn't just going to pet him. 

I finally bribed him with a treat to come out on the patio, then grabbed and held him in place for a quick look. Picture cowboys wrestling with calves as they try to brand them and give them shots. That was me and Walter. He was fighting me all the way. I hear from friends that have bulldogs they are like that. Luckily Walter did not have any ticks. I have a feeling when he gets one he will come and let me know. Just a feeling I have about him.

The humidity wasn't that bad and at 84° it was nice to finally sit outside ... until the mosquitos showed up in flight formation. All of us headed back inside to put this post together. The cold ice tea was tasting good though.

This photo was taken today, no ticks, just normal laidback Henry.

I was looking for a photo in my files for the tick repellent I have used in the past but couldn't find it. I did find these photos and because I am hungry right now I couldn't help but post one of my favorite meals at The Diner in Sierra Vista. When I was there for my last time before moving last year, the place had just gone up for sale. I talked to the owner for a while and he told me the reasons he was finally selling it after owning it for many years. He wanted to retire.

He was in his 70's and tired of working there seven days per week. Recently he had two cooks quit and move out of state so he was back behind the grill more than he wanted. Just like all other restaurants during the pandemic in 2021, he was finding it hard to keep people working with new regulations. I checked a few weeks ago at Long's Realty website and saw The Diner was still up for sale over a year later.

Every time I went there to eat and I did go there a lot for breakfast, lunch or dinner, every inch of it was spotless. Clean as a whistle. Great pies in the rack there and great food all over the menu. Depending on the time of day or day of the week, there would be a line of people outside waiting to get in.

One of my favorite lunches. That is their "409" Chili in that small bowl. It would light a fire inside my mouth. I had never tasted better chili than that anywhere in my travels. Just a normal cheeseburger in the basket.

With a "sweet tooth" that is generations old in my family, I could never leave without some desert.

When I saw this photo I laughed out loud. I came SO CLOSE to buying this 1987 Holiday Rambler Presidential in May of 2014. You can read about that here. I don't remember a lot about the deal but I do remember giving the guy a deposit and we were figuring out how I could get that from his driveway to the one lane dirt road which was a 90° turn and had a deep drainage ditch running along the outside of it. NO room for error. I didn't see anyway of getting that RV on that road and cutting through his front yard was not an option.

From the date I can tell I had been retired about a month and would have had only one bloodhound and two basset hounds with a strong urge to hit the road full-time. Can long time readers name the three hounds I had then? 2014 is the key bit of information in that answer.

So here is a post thrown together at the last minute. I felt like writing tonight and I have a million photos on my computer that I can always come up with some kind of story.

A beautiful day here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.