Biting Females

I was hiking yesterday at Harris Lake Park. A number of times I was walking along the lake shore, on sand, or in lake weeds at the water's edge.

Apparently that was a very bad idea. Even though I had sprayed my legs with insect repellent just before commencing the hike, by the time I had finished the hike I was infested.

Sand fleas. Just the girls, mind you. Like with mosquitoes, only the female sand fleas bite you and suck out your blood. They need the serum proteins in blood for laying eggs. And there's going to be a lot of new eggs 'cause I had the little suckers all over my ankles and lower legs.

By the way, that's another picture of the Harris Nuclear Plant's cooling tower.

Yesterday the sand flea bites didn't bother me all that much, at least not until around 11pm. But today? Today is bad. My legs are itching constantly. Damn crustaceans! (sand fleas aren't really fleas at all, how odd) I can't wait to get home from work so that I can ice down the bitten areas around my ankles. I tried anti-itch cream last night and it didn't help much.

I was thinking of going hiking after work but since it's around 100f out there and my legs are driving me nuts, I've decided to stay home. With a bag of ice on each ankle!

On the television side of things, I was favorably impressed with the season closer of In Plain Sight that was shown last night. However I was disappointed in last week's closer for Burn Notice. I'm hoping that the new season, to be aired Winter 2010, will be better than this short "summer session." It was only 9 episodes long and never really seemed to focus well.

Comments

Teresa said…
If you expose yourself, you WILL get bitten! Good to remember...

I haven't seen In Plain Sight Yet, but have to agree about Burn Notice. The season seemed unfocused to begin with, but the ending was more of a "why things are this way" explaining episode, like it was leading to a finale. As it was, we got vague future dangers. Odd.

I'll see IPS either tonight or tomorrow and may be back to comment. That show hasn't disappointed at all this season.
5:08 PM
Jan said…
I don't know why it works, but meat tenderizer stops my mosquito bites from itching. I don't know sand fleas.
5:24 PM
Evil Twin's Wife said…
Ugh! I hate stinging insects. I had a mosquito bite on my index finger and it itched like a DEMON!
6:11 PM
kenju said…
I would search out a better repellant before I went hiking again!
8:24 PM
Blonde Goddess said…
I watch both those shows and was also kind of disappointed with Burn Notice's season finale.
I'm gearing up for Mad Men and The Closer...
(I'm ashamed to admit that my hermity ways have turned me into a TV junkie)
10:20 AM
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