Black Widows & Ticks

We found 2 black widows in our yard in two days.

The first one was already dead.  We had a bag of firewood next to our deck for a few months now.  Brian took it out of the bag yesterday afternoon and put it on the patio in anticipation of making a fire last night.  Then last night as we were getting the fire started, Carter was bringing the wood over to Brian.  He dropped a piece he was carrying and yelled "Spider!"  When I went over to check it out, there was a black widow on the patio next to the wood.  Luckily it was already dead so I wasn't completely freaked out that we had let Carter move the wood.

Then today I was putting mulch around our trees in the front yard.  The tree between the sidewalk and the street is still watered by the neighborhood maintenance guys so they have a water bag around it.  I took the bag off the tree and started mulching when I saw a black widow on the trunk of the tree.  This one was alive.  I got Brian and he smashed it with his shoe.

I'm not a fan of finding that many black widows in our yard but at least both of them made sense where we found them.  We just need to be more diligent with the kids and what they play with outside!

And then, I also found a tick attached on Rylan on Friday morning.  We have ticks on us often enough with how much we go hiking and are outside (especially Brian).  But usually we get them off before they attach.  And when they do attach, Brian and I are usually good at removing them.

Brian had already left for work when I found the tick on Rylan.  It was on his hip along his diaper.  I thought it was a little scab at first but then didn't remember him having a scratch there.  I got out a flashlight and when I started poking at it, saw the spot had moving legs.  This was the tiniest tick though that I'd ever seen.

I was able to get Rylan to lay still by turning on the TV and had Carter hold the flashlight for me while I attempted to get ahold of the tick with some tweezers.  Like most ticks, it did not want to let go as I tugged on it.  Eventually I got it but when I put it down on the counter, it was dead already.  I'm used to them still being alive and having to kill them so I figured I must have ripped off the head.  It did feel like there was still something in Rylan's leg too.

I put the tick in a bag and we headed off to Brian's office to get his opinion.  We decided to take him to the pediatrician since we didn't want to risk leaving the head in (the nurse agreed when we called).  We got in for an appointment after lunch and our pediatrician was able to look at the tick with a magnifying light and determine the head did NOT break off.  She agreed something was still in Rylan's leg but thought it might be a pincher.  She tried to rub it out with a tongue compressor but said his body would eventually get rid it on its own.  So all is good. 

I'm over dealing with bugs (or arthropods or whatever they are called) though!