Scooter is in Big Trouble

I was framed.

I am locked outside on the porch because I am in so much trouble.  Today began as normal and then it happened.  It wasn't my fault.  REALLY!  Early this morning as I slept on my pillow on the floor beside Pack Leader's side of the bed, he awoke and began rubbing my head.  He does it every morning.  I love Pack Leader and he loves me, except for this morning.  He suddenly jumped out of bed, shouted at Mom, put me out on the front porch and here I am.

"What did I do?"

Since I have a super-sonic-radar-detecting hearing, I could hear all that was happening inside the house.  They stripped the sheets off their bed, took my pillow and threw everything in the washing machine. Mom began vacuuming the house including the furniture.  I mean EVERYTHING!  I could hear that loud monster vacuum screaming forever.  Then Dad went upstairs, stripped the sheets off the bed where I guard Pack Leader while he works and threw them out on the porch with me.  He threw anything I have touched outside.  I was in quarantine forever.

When he finally opened the door so I could come in, all he said was, "Scooter, go straight to the bathtub now."

As I walked to the tub, Mom followed behind me with a mop cleaning.

"Yes, sir."

In the tub, Pack Leader scrubbed me hard.  When I jumped out to give a good shake, Pack Leader threw a towel over me to stop me.  Too late.  Usually, Mom giggles when I shake but not today.  She said, "They are all over the floor," and began mopping, again. 

"What is all over the floor?" I asked.

She said, "They are seed ticks and Scooter, you are covered with them." 

She went on to quote the Texas Cooperative Extension Department "...adult female ticks lay from 1,000 to 5,000 eggs in the debris of fields and forests in late spring and early summer.  Seed ticks--the larvae of any tick species--emerge in swarms in late summer.  After hatching, seed ticks quickly locate a host animal and feed for four to six days before progressing to the nymph stage.  Nymph ticks repeat this feeding process before graduating to adulthood, feeding again and laying eggs."

Trying to cheer up a depressed Mom, I said, "I don't have 5,000.  I am sure."

She replied, "The day isn't over yet."

Seed ticks full of blood.

Pack Leader began scratching them off of me.  When they are small and flat, you can't feel them until they fill with blood and become round; then they feel like grains of sand against your skin.  After they are full, they let go.  I tried to cheer Mom up again and told her not to worry about me because they will all fall off.  She said that is what she is afraid of as she walked out the front door to begin sweeping the porch.  She even sprayed my outside favorite on-guard-duty-spot with stinky stuff.

You can see on Pack Leader's fingers where they popped and squirted blood.  YUCK!  They were all over me, even in my armpits and Mom took a picture.  She has no shame.

They put me on a white towel, began scratching them off and dropping them on a piece of tape.  It was terrible.

I don't think I have ever been so embarrassed.

"I am so embarrassed."

PACK LEADER! Not under my tail!  This is getting even more humiliating.

"Privacy!  Please!"

You missed one right there.

"Up higher."

This went on all day long.  They would take turns rubbing my fur, sticking the ticks on tape, then cleaning the floor wherever I walked.  All the doors were shut so I stayed in the living room and the only place I could sit was on a white towel.   I went outside for just a few minutes because Mom said she did not want the yard around the house infested.  She said it was bad when they first bought this house years ago and they spent hundreds of dollars trying to kill them.  Nothing worked until they got chickens.  The chickens cleared the yard and they haven't had any problems since.  She explained this is the reason I am always laying on top of something white because it might happen again.  I hope it never happens again.

Today has been exhausting watching them work all day rubbing and scratching me.  By late afternoon the ticks had all (we hope) fallen off and were shoved in a baggie to be burned.

"Sigh."

I hope tomorrow is better.

Scooter is Not in Trouble

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