Recently my family and I moved about 40 minutes North East from our home of almost 20 years.  We needed more space and we found a beautiful home with a lot more yard then we’ve ever had.

In the past when we went house hunting I was usually turned off by the amount of surrounding woods and declined most of the houses we looked at but for some reason with this house, we just knew it was to be our home.  There are no wooded areas but the house is surrounded by farmland.

I didn’t feel threatened or anxious about the surrounding area and I even let my son make a fort in the back of the lot where there is a row of trees along with my newly inherited composting bin. To top it off the previous owner had fed birds and squirrels right on the deck for years. With all of my Lyme knowledge I knew this was a big no-no but up until last week I fed them too and enjoyed the gorgeous birds approaching to feed every morning!

The problem is, these animals drop ticks and fleas presenting a high risk for exposure and infection right outside the door.

Two weeks ago we adopted a puppy and that’s when my wake up call came loud and clear as if to say, “hey why have you forgotten everything you’ve worked so hard to do for the past 8 plus years”.

It’s easy to avoid areas where tick infections might occur when you’re sick, it’s much harder when everyone is feeling well.  Our family has always enjoyed the outdoors and being physically active which made us more prone to tick infections.

A week after bringing our puppy home, my daughter screamed from the bathroom for me to come quickly.  There it was, big as life, crawling on the counter.  It’s the end of November and we had a full-grown deer tick in our bathroom.

Everyone holds and snuggles the puppy like a baby and I’m certain that tick hitched a ride on our sweet Sybil and right onto my daughter.  It wasn’t engorged and we don’t think it was attached but we’re keeping watch for any symptoms and increasing her homeopathic remedies just in case.

Two nights later I was sitting in my big comfy chair snuggled up with Sybil, it was the day after Thanksgiving and I had crashed.  I hosted this year but I haven’t been feeling well, probably because of the weather changes and all of the stress and work of moving.  A lot of my Lyme pain and fatigue has returned.  I’m having trouble walking again but on this particular day I could not move and I was exhausted and weak.

My husband and son had Sybil outside most of the day with them because the weather was unseasonably warm and beautiful.

That evening as I rubbed Sybil’s ears something came off right between my fingers.  It was a deer tick, full grown but not yet full of a blood meal. I jumped up screaming, “It’s a tick!  I can’t live here anymore!” A little dramatic I know but this was the 2d one I found in less than a week. I looked at this tick and even let it crawl on my hand before I flushed it down the toilet.

I had never seen the tick that took my health over 8 years ago.  That little itty bitty bug caused so much pain and financial hardship for our family. It took much of my children’s childhood away from them.  It’s not like I don’t have a good reason to hate them.

I hate ticks and I hate that I now have to be consumed with them again. I was just starting to relax and once again began enjoying the outdoors.  Now I’m reminded to be careful again.  I’ll need to diligently check the puppy, children and myself for those evil things.

I haven’t yet treated our puppy with a tick treatment because I didn’t want to use harsh chemicals on her and exposing my family. Since finding those ticks, I’ve been spraying my own homemade Young Living essential oils blend made with Geranium, Purification, and Almond Oil, and I carefully check her each time she comes inside.

My new home has me living in an environment where I’ll have to practice what I’ve been preaching.  The harder part will be getting the cooperation of the kids because despite their experience with tick-borne disease they still just want to have fun.

It’s important to remember that just because the colder weather has arrived it does not mean that ticks have died or gone dormant.  They just slow down but they don’t die in the winter.

We learned this last year when the northeast was pounded by snow and environmentalist later reported that it provided the perfect breeding ground for ticks to multiply under the warmth of the heavy snow.

So no matter how cold it gets stay diligent, stay safe and don’t play with ticks!  I’ll be busy keeping them off my puppy and training her to let me do tick checks.

Read more about Lyme disease in my post: Lyme Disease! What It Is And Why You Should Care