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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Jan 12, 2009, at 6:54 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> First, eat a lot of garlic.  Neither ticks nor chiggers are fond of  
> garlic
> flavored people.

Few eat more garlic than I. Still the biting insects come. I suspect  
the beer affects my pH in a way they like.
> Next, ticks almost always attach to your clothes first then creep  
> their way
> to choicer spots.  When you've been in the woods, brush yourself  
> down or shake your clothes out and it will eliminate most ticks.

Would that it were so. I shower at least twice per day in the summer,  
clothes into the washer, and still miss some. They bother me so much  
that I mostly stay out of the woods in tick season.
> Chiggers coincide with peppermint (which we have in weed-like over
> abundance).  When we are going to be in the grass or weeds, we grab  
> a handfull of peppermint and rub our legs with it.

I keep forgetting to do that. I transplanted mint years ago from the  
stream edge up to the front of the house and, yes, it is prolific.  
Also thwarts ants and other creepy crawlies.

I have about beat the chiggers by lots of close mowing. The ticks,  
well, I fantasize that someone will invent a tick killer and once each  
year we will all stay indoors while the woods are misted by planes.
> All of those help.  But one still gets some ticks and chiggers.  
> Weighed
> against staying out of the woods and fields in warm, bright weather,  
> it's a small price.

You are under suspicion of being a closet masochist.


Gene GeRue
www.RURALIZE.com