off the beaten path....

i saw the sign. it said private property. unfortunately that doesn't stop me.

what stops slows me now is the long grass on the private property. damn ticks.

i got as close as could. which was pretty close, since i was smart enough this time 

to have on long jeans, socks and my hiking boots. 

but still. i had visions of thousands of deer ticks just waiting for me.

you see, ticks detect the carbon dioxide that something living gives off. so we are considered hosts. 

as are deer. even mice. 

and 

they are literally just waiting for their "ride"out of the woods or off the long grass.

but i've decided that i can't be a wimp all summer, since hiking, being in the woods and especially trespassing are some of my favorite things to do. i mean how else do you find cool things like this cottage with a lake and a moss covered picnic table holding an old lamp of some kind.

see what i mean. 

it's hard to say no. it's hard to stop wandering. 

so i'll play it as safe as i can, wearing what i've been told to wear and doing what i've been told to do, in order to avoid another run in with a deer tick. 

or maybe i could just take you with me. 

maybe they'd like your carbon dioxide better than mine. 

it's just a thought. 

you're welcome.

*

playing inside....

i could be outside taking photos of everything blooming, but i've been kind of lazy.

actually i've been more in a funk, than lazy.

it's a "i've been bit by a tick, i want more antibiotics" funk mixed with an ER trip for our son.

he's been having some heart issues and they're woking on figuring out exactly what it is 

and what could be causing it. we'd like to blame it on his a.d.d medication, but he's had a few "episodes" while not on his medication. so that's not it.

today he had an echocardiogram. that was fun.

from what i could see on the ultrasound technician's screen, i think he's pregnant.

seriously, it looked vaguely similar to what i saw years ago when they said,

"it's a boy"

so here are a few of my still shots while i've been playing inside. i'd like to refer to them as

boring shots, instead. i love shooting just about anything, but trying to "make" a shot with things i have in my studio just doesn't do it for me.

i mean i love my studio and all my "toys" but i'd so much rather shoot anything outside:

people, animals, street scenes, rocks, babies....you name it. anything.

still shots. inside. bore me.

but don't think i hate yours, if you take still shots. in fact, that's what inspires me to try it. 

over and over again.

~ 

almost always what i see on other blogs fascinates me and i want to see more. 

and then i get jealous and want to shoot still shots inside my house.

but then i find myself shaking my head. saying oh sheesh.

i'm hoping next week to be better. to do better. to be less funkish.

by the way, after many comments and private emails from so many of you, i am now on a 14 day dose

of doxycycline for the tick bite. i guess the bullseye is a "grey area" as far as what to do with a deer tick bite. personally, the antibiotic regimen makes me "mentally" feel better. i love grey but not when it comes to a "grey area" and my health.

i truly hope you and your loved ones have a terrific weekend

*

sad but true....

of all the photos of violets i took in the woods, where the nasty deer tick lived that bit me and left me with a bullseye on my leg along with a degree of panic in my head, due to the fact that i rarely stop thinking about good things like fairies and bad things like "i'm going to die from a tick bite," 

this is really the only one i even like.

*

why i sleep with my underwear on.....

i woke up yesterday to a horrific pain in the back of my leg. 

when i reached down to touch the area that was screaming, my hand grazed over something small and hard. my first thought was that i must have been bitten by a spider and what i was feeling was perhaps a dried scab. the pain became worse while my fingers were investigating, so i jumped out of bed and grabbed a mirror. what i saw horrified me. i had a large mottled red area above the back of knee and in the center of it was a deer tick. 

~

deer ticks are tiny. 

tiny, about the size of a dot, with black legs. i quickly grabbed my tweezers and removed him while reeling in pain. instantly, after cleaning the area with rubbing alcohol,  i was on my computer searching everything under "deer tick/tick bites/lyme disease." 

the number of pages with information overwhelmed me.

~

amazingly some people get deer tick bites and never feel a thing. i'm not one of those people. 

i also read that finding a deer tick on you that's only been visiting and found in the 24 hour range makes a huge difference compared to those that aren't found for 48 to 72 hours.

~

as soon as my doctor's office was open, i ran there. with my tick in an envelope.

unfortunately, as if my day wasn't bad enough already,

a police officer caught me "running there" and slapped me with a speeding ticket.

~

{let's take a moment here so i can tell you that i have been driving for thirty one years and that that speeding ticket is the ONLY ticket i have ever gotten. no parking tickets, no failure to yield tickets, no inattentive driving tickets...etc. nada, nothing. no tickets for me. except for now}

~

once my doctor took a look, she gave me a heavy one day dose of doxycycline. 

that's the antibiotic they give you when battling lyme disease. 

she thinks i'm in the clear because of the 24 hour ruling, 

but i have to watch myself and keep notes. in six weeks, even if i have absolutely no symptoms of lyme disease, they recommend a blood test.

~

my leg continued to hurt all day yesterday. 

by last night the bite area had the true bullseye look to it and was finally feeling a bit better. this morning, the bullseye is gone, but the area {the size of a nickel} is strawberry red and is still tender.

~

so now this is where i back up just a bit. 

sunday i was in the woods. 

taking photos of the wild violets that grow on the hills behind our cottage.

i had on jean capris with a rolled cuff {wrong} and my all around slip on mesh trek shoes {wrong} because i was out there to clean, not hike. 

but with the warm weather, everything is "early" this year including the violets and i wanted to get up there and welcome them like i usually do.

~

i wasn't thinking. usually if i'm in the woods, i'm in tick mode. 

long pants. socks. my hiking boots. bug spray. 

and then a full body check and a shower when i'm done. 

unfortunately i did none of those things. my mind just wasn't in the right mind set. it's only march.

~

they say ticks like warm and soft areas, including the groin.

all i know, from what i read, is that my tiny deer tick used my body as it's own personal landscape, 

taking all day to decide where to settle down, 

and since he didn't decide on a spot until i was sound asleep,

well thank god i had my underwear on.

*