I was almost eaten alive! I’m lucky to have survived.
Crops harvested, Hugo noticed something outside and alerted the household. Looking out, I saw Farmer Rex with a leaf blower attempting to clean the yard of combine debris. He had to be worn out from working in the field all day, and a few dried corn branches and cobs in our rural yard is far from bothersome to me.
I walked out to the edge of the field to relieve Mr. Farmer of his task.
I let Farmer Rex know we didn’t care about a little country mess in the yard and I’m sure he was happy he didn’t need to keep picking up cobs. As we chatted, I saw mosquitos circling him but didn’t feel anything biting me or hear anything buzzing my ears. But by the next evening, my lower legs — especially around my ankles — were itching like CRAZY. Like… worse than anything I’d ever had before!
I took a bath and these small bumps were ON FIRE! Again, nothing like a typical mosquito bite.
Mr. Pesky diagnosed me with turkey mite bites. 😳
I’d never before heard of turkey mites. “Google it,” he said.
I did just that and found that turkey mites aren’t actually mites — they are Lone Star tick larvae.
But I saw nothing that looked like this…
Chiggers — harvest mites — are the likely culprit according to ChatGPT and me.
Chiggers are tiny mite larvae found in grass, weeds, and other vegetation. Their bites can cause extremely intense itching, often with small red bumps. Symptoms may not appear until hours later, and itching often peaks 24 hours after exposure. Southern Indiana is particularly prone to chiggers.
After only one restless night of sleep, (I was applying Calamine lotion like it was my job all… night… long...) the bumps and itch were gone.
Life in the country is grand… even with a bajillion microscopic critters wanting to eat you alive.
Now you know: A national survey found 27% of American adults had cut off contact with a family member, and researchers found that family estrangement can affect relatives who weren’t involved in the original conflict.