Today I Was Traumatized by Nature. :(

Our House in the Country

So you know I live on a dirt road. Out in the country. Where the birdies fly around in our yard building nest for their babies. The turkeys cross in the morning looking for food. Baby bunnies hop all around with all their cuteness. Where we can sit on our front porch in the morning and hear…nothing. Just the wind through our trees. Ahhh. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? 🙂

99% of the time it is.

Today…not so much. I have been traumatized by nature. 😦

I was left in a cold sweat. Shaking and feeling very queasy. If I was a drinker I would have need a stiff drink to settle me down! Seriously!

What could possibly be so awful you ask? What could make that nature loving, suburb now in the country girl so weak in the knees? Was it a mighty ferocious animal? A horrible skunk? A badger loose in her house?

Sigh. No. Nothing that dramatic.

It was a tick.

A big, fat, huge, ginormous, super gross…did I say BIG…tick on the neck of my cute little doggie.

Mojo

I went to change Mojo’s collar and felt a knot of fur. He is due for a haircut in 2 weeks so I was just going to cut that little knot out. I bent over to see the knot only to find out I was TOUCHING A HUGE, FAT, DISGUSTING TICK. Oh…My…Gosh.

No, I did not take a photo of the huge, fat, disgusting, horrible member of the arachnid family. Just google engorged dog ticks and you will have more images than you ever could imagine. A warning though, it might give you nightmares! I might have let out a girly squeal and promptly wished I was not the Mommy and could get some other adult type figure to do it. Alas, I am the Mommy, and no other adult was home. Sigh.

I googled how to remove huge, fat, disgusting ticks. (I love Google.) I placed on my hands very long rubber gloves. Put my pup in the tub and proceeded to remove the stupid, gross, why-did-God-need-to-create-this-creature, tick.

There was ick. There was some blood. There was me trying not to pass out or puke. And my sweet little doggie just looking at me with those big eyes. Such a good puppy.

Not childbirth. Not poopie diapers. Not dog vomit. Not cat hairballs. Nothing is creepier or more disgusting to me than a fat tick. Really. I just Hate Them. I never knew that until today. I never saw a live one until today. Ugh.

We do keep our dog on flea meds. However, it was just ending the 4 week recommended time period. And he went wandering in the woods and unused goat pen last week. I bet that was where the stinker picked up the hijacker.

Sigh.

Apparently Google says I should save the tick. Put it in a baggie in my fridge. Keep it in alcohol. NOPE. I put tick medicine on him to kill him dead and flushed him down the toilet.

Mojo had a nice bath. Lots of soap. A thorough inspection and a little first aid on his boo boo. And a cookie. It was traumatic for him too!

Now I just have to get the image out of my mind. I need to take a long hot shower so I can stop feeling the heebie jeebies. I need chocolate.

I have said it before. I love nature. But I love my nature OUTSIDE. And not on my pets. 😦

Now where is that secret stash of chocolate…..

Mr. Mojo getting some reading done.