the wilds of VA

[thanate]

So for this week and next I'm working at Fort AP Hill doing a phase 1 (lots of digging holes with absolutely nothing in them) and crashing about in woods that are mercifully free of poison ivy, but plentifully supplied with prickery underbrush, streams & wetlands to wade though, and the occasional tick infestation. And for some reason I am aparently completely incapable of seeing ticks-- I will carefully check for them before showering, and find none, and then still manage to be covered in evil little bites. Sometimes I'll find one a day or two later. Sometimes they just vanish (clinging to the insides of my pants, perhaps?) It's very confusing, and the day I get lyme disease or whatever I will be most upset.

But whatever the drawbacks (including having to scrounge a phone cable to plug in my computer, as the one in the telephone is permanently attached) I still by far prefer this to sitting in an office and answering phones.

Comments

[rosnbery.livejournal.com]

1) Get a buddy to check for ticks. It is everyone's favorite game.
2) Do you have Mountain Laurel there? That stuff is worse than Poison Ivy, in my opinion. More annoying, anyway.

[alricthemad.livejournal.com]

Something else to try. I recall doing training with the PA NAtional Guard when I was in the 82nd. One of the guys in my platoon used dog collars around his ankles to prevent chiggers. May or may not be effective. He used them to keep his pants leg tight/closed at the ankle/calf (boots).
Have fun

[ssdevilducky.livejournal.com]

Keeping pants cuffs cinched closed helps, have seen old bike pant garters, tape, and putting pant bottoms into socks. Although using flea+ tick collars to cinch pant legs sounds good.

[skittblink.livejournal.com]

Not one, but two of my friends have lyme disease. Whee. So what's the point of digging holes with nothing in them?

[thanate.livejournal.com]

We don't know there's nothing there until we've dug the hole. Some places there is stuff, and the whole reason we're doing the survey is to find out whether there's anything there, so we keep digging to make sure we're not missing anything. But we just finished the project, yay!