Ya, Sure, You Betcha.

The only thing that is more DISGUSTING than a tick (like the itty bitty vampire bugs) is a tick that has latched it's filthy, gross, disease carrying self onto you. Why yes, I AM speaking from personal experience. Thanks for asking. 

{how this happened} 

This weekend Ben and I decided that we would make a quick dash (it's a 13 hour drive, so maybe "dash" isn't the right word...) over to Minnesota. (FYI: this is where Ben is from) Reasons for this Brilliant (< sarcasm)  Idea:

• He had a desk and a book shelf and a few other items stored there that would be nice to have
• I hadn't met his brother yet 
• See friends and meet the babies that they have had.
• See where my husband grew up

After getting to Ben's Brother's house in the WEE hours of the morning and sleeping for a short time we had breakfast and headed over to get the desk and other items. 

CUE ADVENTURE

On the short trip (...but anything seems short after a 13 hour drive.) between my Brother-In- Law's and Ben's old house the car broke down, naturally. We were almost there too. So we decided just to ride with Ben's brother and his wife the rest of the way and figure something out when we got to the house. We got there and I steped out of the car and started wading through the knee-high grass (guess you really have to keep on top of the lawn mowing there.) towards the house. After a short while of wondering through items and deciding what to do about the our car, I found myself taking water out to their car to pour in our radiator. On my way back I brushed my hair away from my neck and PANIC!!!! What is going through my head: " What is on my collarbone?! Oh my heck! It's not bushing off! maybe its mud... oh I just hope it's not a tick. I hope I don't get lyme disease. Ben. Where's Ben, he'll help."

Conversation with Ben:

Me: Pointing to a spot on my collar bone "What is this?"

Ben: Knowing that I hate bugs, especially ticks and leeches (which I have not yet encountered, thank goodness!)"Do you really want me to tell you? ...I'll say it's something I'm going to kill."

Me: Trying to maintain composure and doing a terrible job at it "Just get it off NOW."


I cannot adequately express in words my horror at even the idea of having a tick bite me, and actually having  that happen gives me the hebbie jeebies.

{as for the car}

Turns out that we cracked the timing gasket. (it's like having a hole in a radiator hose that extends into the engine) The good news is that the replacement part cost $18 and the bad news is that it was over $300 in labor fees. So we went with the $3 fix, a substance called fix a leak. So far it's working great!

{MORAL OF THE STORY}

Don't go to Minnesota, they have ticks (and snow and spring flooding).

Cheep fixes for crappy cars is the way to go. 

Oh, I forgot this little detail.
Shortly after the fore mentioned tick incident, now known solely as "the incident", I refused to walk on the grass until I absolutely had to set foot on it to help load things into car. However, at the time this refusal began I was in a poor location. SOLUTION: crawl, less than gracefully, onto my husbands back for a piggy back ride to safety. :)