Beauty and the Beasties

Yesterday evening our little family drove down to the barn to take some pictures of some "giant" dandelions that Morgan had spotted. The sun was just beginning to set and looked so pretty shining through those dandelions.

There were also some native wildflowers growing nearby.

After about ten minutes of kneeling, leaning, and squatting in the grass I managed to put my foot right in a bed of stinging nettles. If you've never had the pleasure of brushing up against nettles, let me explain the sensation to you....It's like having a thousand fire ants stinging you all at once. If you've never had the pleasure of being bitten by fire ants, then you must tell me where you live because I want to move there immediately!

At this point I was done with nature and thought nature was done with me. But she made sure to have the last laugh...

This is a chigger. They are microscopic something or others that like to feast on birds and reptiles but will make do with humans if we get in their territory. You can read more about them here if you like. But the gist of the article is they bite you and insert saliva and it irritates the skin and makes welts like these:

This is the back of my daughter's knee. She was being my assistant and just generally keeping me company while I tramped about in the pasture. She woke up to find these beasties had been feasting on her all night. I have some welts scattered here and there, but she got the brunt of the chiggers' attention. Knees, waistline, back, ankles...poor girl. She's currently lolling in her bed after having been doped up with Benadryl.