Who's tickling my legs!

Things are heating up in Santa Cruz! It was 86 degrees F this afternoon. That's 5 degrees less than what is typical for the month of July in Eilat!! Boy are we in for a hot summer.

In Santa Cruz our animals/insects are starting to notice the temperature change too. Our dog Pawesome has shed most of her Husky fur and made some unwanted friends... I'm talking about ticks!

Poor Pawesome! Ticks are rough.... WOOF.

Our housemate found that out the hard way today with a blood curdling scream. One of Pawesome's ticks had made its way up to her neck! Shortly after I felt a tick tickling my leg. Oooooof! Of course as a curious individual I had to take some close up pictures of it!!


Check out the photos below! You should see the tick moving to the top of my paintbrush and holding its first pair of legs out into the air in a position that seems similar to "questing." Questing ticks are waiting for an animal to come by. Once it does they grab on to it and begin the process of finding a place to settle down for a long meal! GROSS!.....

Radiolab did an excellent story on how ticks made people allergic to meat! Check it out here: http://www.radiolab.org/story/alpha-gal/