Today is the day I venture into the woods with students. Inevitably, someone brings a tick or two or twenty back with him or her. Last year when we did this, a tick was discovered crawling across my classroom floor.
Growing up I lived in the woods. Literally. My house was set on three acres of wall to wall trees, and I never, NEVER got a tick on me. I don't know if ticks don't like me or what. I know the things that do like me: black flies, horse flies, deer flies, mosquitoes, and greenheads. Ticks, though -- I've been remarkably lucky. I've had one on me -- one -- in my life.However, I know what my hubris can bring. I'll be the one with the dozen ticks on me today unless I'm proactive. The problem is that my skin reacts to so many damn topical things that I'm nervous to buy any heavy-duty anti-tick spray products. With my luck, I'll ward off ticks and then bloat up like Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris.
I get the brilliant idea to try a homemade anti-tick remedy.
It's easy enough. All I need is a vial of eucalyptus oil, a vial of lemongrass oil, some water, and a spray bottle. This sounds so easy that I cannot even screw it up, so I order the oils online (total cost is about five dollars) and buy two cheap plastic atomizers at the local pharmacy store. I mix up two spray bottles and promptly hand one of them to my teammate.
Yes, I do. I share! Okay, so it turns out that my teammate is going on the same field trip a day before I am, so I use her as my test run. I spray her clothes in the morning, and, I'm not going to lie, she smells pretty darn good with the combination of scents. The lemongrass smells stronger than the eucalyptus, but they're both pleasant. She is gone for four hours. I've no idea what to expect. When she returns, she still smells good and, best of all, she appears to be tick-less.
I'll see if I am equally lucky today. Into the woods I go, and I'm bringing my spray along with me, just in case.
