Wednesday, August 27, 2008

We've Got Bugs.

Mr. Hobbitfeet and the kids kept waking up with strange and very itchy bug bites for about a week. It got to the point where I was afraid we had bedbugs or scabbies or something equally gross, even though I didn't have a single bite. I decided to get all researchy to find out what I should do just in case.
So, I ended up removing all of our bedding and washing it in super hot water and dried it on high. Then I packed all of our pillows, and the kids' stuffed animals and soft bodied toys into black garbage bags and spreading them out in the back yard to heat in the sun, while I vacuumed all of our mattresses.
It didn't help; they still got a few bites. Then one morning I woke up to find dried blood all over my shoulder. I turned to look in the mirror and found huge welt-like bites all over my left shoulder. I'd post a picture, but I don't want you to puke, and it's hard to take a picture of the shoulder on your writing arm. Apparently, I had scratched them in my sleep because they were ripped up and clearly on there way to infection.
I do feel, however, that I have figured out the cause. It's called Oak leaf gall mites. It makes a lot of sense for us because we are surrounded by oak trees and the bites have generally occurred on days when we were outside in our yard a lot. I guess we'll just have to shower after being outside for a while.
But mostly I feel like bugs are crawling all over me (I know it's just in my head). These are the kind of things that make me want to run back to Chicago as fast as I can.

1 comment:

steenky bee said...

Yikes! I feel for you. A while ago, a co-worker got bed bugs from staying at a Holiday Inn. The hotel refused to help with any of the bills to get rid of them since my friend didn't unpack for two days after he got home. Weird.