Ticked Off!!

We are now reaping one of the side effects of “The Year Without Winter”… 

… ticks…

We cannot walk from our front door to our shed without getting several on us.  They are horrible this year and they must die. 

I’ve been researching how to get rid of them other than hiring an expensive pest control service. 

The first option is preventative measures that are impossible out here in the sticks. 

~ Keep deer, squirrels, mice, and every other warm blooded wild animal out of your yard.  

           Yeah… right.  Not even the Great Wall of China could do that. 

~ Keep all grass and brush trimmed back to no more than 3 inches high, and remove all fallen leaves and brush.  

          Yeah… right again.  Our land is like a donut… the middle 1.5-ish acres are grass (pasture grass) and the other 3.5-ish acres are woods (where the deer, squirrels, mice, and all sorts of other warm blooded wild animals live…) 

~ Avoid having a yard that is hot and humid.  

          Seriously??  I live in Tennessee.  The only way to avoid hot and humid is to move to another state! 

~ Move birdfeeders and birdbaths as far from your house as possible.  Birds can spread immature ticks over great distances as they migrate, and they may drop ticks in your yard as they use feeders and birdbaths.  

          Terrific…  Our bird garden is 20 feet from our front door; and it isn’t going anywhere! 

So we’ve now established that ticks are going to be a fact of life out here.  So we move to the second option… kill them.  

Every article I’ve read says permethrin is not only one of the most effective chemical against ticks; it is also one of the least toxic to people and animals.  OK, we have our weapon of choice.  

And Lowes and Home Depot both carry the product in both liquid and granular form.   So I know where to find my weapon. 

The recommended time to treat a yard is ‘mid-May thru early June’… also known as NOW.  And we have the battle time. 

Next trip to town we go to Lowes and pick up permethrin and declare chemical warfare on the ticks. 

I’ll let you know how it goes…