I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!
As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world
Rough draft version of Tick Advice:
- Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.
- Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.
- Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.
The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.
- Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc
- IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.
- Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab
- While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.
- Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick
If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear
I’ve also been told that holding on to the tick after removal can potentially be very useful for any health care professional trying to diagnose any potential tick-borne illnesses. If you’re somewhere with little plastic baggies and you think you’ve been bit, bag the tick and hold on to it in case symptoms develop.
Also important: it takes 24-36 hours of being attached for a tick to become engorged and susceptible to transmitting disease. It's important to check yourself asap but if you do get bitten, remember to be mindful of when.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’re at a low point:
If you were a fictional man right now, there would be *at least* ten people if not a large portion of the fanbase that would call you their wet beast poor little meow meow
It truly is its squirmles.
I misread that as "It's squirmless!" and frankly that thing doesn't look squirmless at all.
this bitch empty, TWEET
Have any of you heard of the Harvard MIT Pigeon Prank?
An MIT student dressed in a black-and-white striped shirt went to the Harvard football stadium every day of one summer, blowing a whistle while scattering breadcrumbs or birdseed to coax neighborhood pigeons down onto the field. At Harvard’s opening game of the season, upon the referee’s first whistle, it’s said that hundreds of pigeons descended onto the field, causing a half-hour delay.
Ah yes, classical conditioning put to good use
this bitch empty, TWEET
Have any of you heard of the Harvard MIT Pigeon Prank?
An MIT student dressed in a black-and-white striped shirt went to the Harvard football stadium every day of one summer, blowing a whistle while scattering breadcrumbs or birdseed to coax neighborhood pigeons down onto the field. At Harvard’s opening game of the season, upon the referee’s first whistle, it’s said that hundreds of pigeons descended onto the field, causing a half-hour delay.
Ah yes, classical conditioning put to good use
baffles me how my favourite people don’t know how much i love them. “oh sorry we don’t have to do this if it’s boring” bitch please, i love looking at cute ceramic kitchenware if it’s with you
No you cannot fix your entire life at 2am. Go to bed.
You can fix some of it though! By going to bed.
i know i have made this specific gripe before but from the salesfloor, with love: stop sidesaddling your cart you take up the entire goddamn aisle and knock over all my nice displays with your oblivious wide turns the handle is right there it is literally easier to push the cart than to pull it why do you do this i want you to stop as much as i want to understand aaaaaaauaughghghggghg
my own fucking roommate..... this is what father gascoigignine meant by beasts all over the shop or whatever
i have a theory that people feel silly putting their little hands together up on the handle, like it's too feminine or something
related: have you ever encountered one of these maniacs
no but one time my coworker saw an instacart shopper finish loading up the cart into their trunk and instead of walking it back to the cart return they lifted it up and hurled it over the fence and down the hill into the road below
Hi folks!
There's a huge sale going on on inprnt right now, you might want to check it out! Reblogs are appreciated %^)
So no affirmative action, no discrimination protections for same-sex couples, AND no debt forgiveness? This sucks
Another piece of news:
This court fucking sucks.
Not much we can do right now for college applicants of color, indebted graduates, or lgbt people facing discrimination from businesses, but we CAN donate to the Navajo water project https://www.navajowaterproject.org/
This is Rick the Skeleton. Rick's a cool guy.
Portrait of a skeleton with bisexual lighting
Nikon D5600, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 15 second exposure light painting with a gelled speedlight
remember when this was the craziest thing politicians ever said
this could work. we never tried it
Sitting in a coffee shop before I have to go to work today and pretending I'm one of those bitches with a 9-5
ok pride is over pack it up guys everyone back in the closet enough with that gay shit for the year