There’s a pleasant temperature during the day, and I enjoy the “Crisp” feeling in the mornings and evenings – just put on a light jacket and all is good.

Autumn does bring on the most dreaded of insects though.

Walks.

Most people call them flies. They are flies in the summer time.

In the fall, flies transform into walks.

Walks are slow, short flight insects (I assume because of the cooler temperature) and become very annoying. Even more so than their summertime cousins (the flies – try to keep up) They will land on you (because they tire quickly) crawl a short distance, and move on. Most likely, to land on you again, and take another short walk across you face.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has given walks the uncanny ability to avoid fly swatters. While they appear slow and easy targets, at the mere thought of swatting one, some sort of telepathic signal is received by the walk, and it takes another one of its ridiculously quick flights.

And again, it will land on you, or close to you, and take another stroll.

I have several walks in my house. I had the windows and doors open to clear out the dust from yesterday’s wall removal.

I hate walks.

Wood ticks are arachnids. That is a spider as far as I’m concerned. Right after wood ticks, spiders are second on my list of bugs I don’t want to see. Ever.

Ticks are blood sucking spiders with a bad attitude and almost impossible to kill. That’s not a very scientific description, but it’s my opinion.

Here’s what one website had to say about wood ticks: (it was supposed to be informative, but it just gave me the heeby jeebies) “Lacking antennae or functional eyes, it senses its prey by detecting exhaled carbon dioxide and waves its forelegs frantically. You brush the leaves and it grabs hold, tirelessly working its way through hair or clothing, toward flesh.” It goes on to say that wood ticks do not have to eat for two years.

So woodticks are blind, flat, sneaky, hungry, spastic, blood-sucking, armour plated spiders with a really bad attitude and a face I’m sure not even their mother loves. They are just ugly at it’s ugliest, as this closeup proves.

Did I mention I hate wood ticks?

Tonight, Bandit the Wonder Dog and I went to the lake. I knew there would be wood ticks. There is always wood ticks at the lake, especially early in the spring. I avoided tall grass. I avoided trees. I avoided anything I thought a tick could perch himself on like the blood sucking vulture he is, so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the hateful insects.

I knew the dog would find some. I was prepared mentally to deal with that.

On the way home, I felt something crawling on my neck – I grabbed it – it was a goddam woodtick of course. I threw it out the window. A minute later, I felt something on my arm – another one of the little bastards. I brushed it off in a panic, forgetting it will just crawl onto me again, determined little blood sucking arachnids that they are.

I got home, threw all of my clothes in the washing machine, (I’ll drown them I thought) and jumped in the shower. I found three more on me.

Can you feel them yet? I still do. Continuing…

The dog – I have to check the dog, because he will get up onto the bed with me in the middle of the night, and I just get his leftovers. I found four or five on him, and realized (with horror) that now I had to check me again. I found a couple more on the floor.

I’m sure Bandit still has a few, and by tomorrow morning (if I ever get over this creepy crawly feeling and go to bed) I’ll find a few more on me.

I hate wood ticks.

Being easily distracted from something that should and needs to be done, I decided to watch the ladybugs I had disturbed. They didn’t do too much, mostly scurried to find a hiding spot from the crazy fool digging them up.

Insects do not appreciate the value of posing for a photograph, so I patiently waited for them to do something. The closest I got to anything interesting was when one of them stretched his (her) wings a couple of times before crawling under an old leaf.