As happens nearly every year, not long after finding the first violet of the spring, I found the first tick. It was hanging out on the wall in the foyer. Presumably it had been carried into the house on someone’s shoe. I used a tissue to pluck it off the wall. Then I took it outside, where my husband ground the nasty bloodsucker into the driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A couple of days later I found a little green grasshoppery bug on the rim of a drinking glass in the kitchen. Another interloper! In this case, I took the glass outside and gently transferred the bug from the glass to the grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My son, if he had seen what happened to the tick, might have argued that it wasn’t the tick’s fault that it had evolved to suck blood. And I would have had to concede the point. But I am a practical person, and I follow a practical rule for creepy crawlies: if you’re dangerous to me, I’ll be dangerous to you, but if you’re cute and harmless, then I’ll be cute and harmless, too. It’s only fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As happens nearly every year, not long after finding the first violet of the spring, I found the first tick. It was hanging out on the wall in the foyer. Presumably it had been carried into the house on someone’s … Continue reading