Bugs

Okay, a word about bugs here in Missouri. They are to inflict and torment man. Okay, well at least some of them are. There is a insect here called "chiggers" Quoting from Ohio State University's webpage, "Probably no creature on earth can cause as much torment for its size than the tiny chigger. Chiggers do not burrow into the skin, but insert their mouthparts in a skin pore or hair follicle. Their bites produce small, reddish welts on the skin accompanied by intense itching as irritating as acute cases of poison ivory or poison sumac. These symptoms often are the only way of learning that an outdoor area is infested since chiggers are so small that most cannot be seen without a magnifying glass. Chiggers feed on a wide variety of snakes, turtles, birds, and small mammals as well as humans."
Fortunately, most chiggers die when it freezes so we don't have to worry much about them again until the Spring. But when we first got here our kids were like magnets for them. All of them especially Eli and Adam were covered in them and they itch them like crazy! When they itch them they brake open and become sores. I tell them to stop itching them and they of course don't. I then told them that if they continue to scratch them open they will be left with sores that will scar. I asked Adam if he wants scars? He said, "Mom, when I am an adult, I will grow hair and no one will know they're there." After my initial reaction of complete shock, I chuckled and was grateful he had a good attitude about it. I just hope he keeps that attitude. So this is a picture of Eli's legs. The other picture is thousands of lady bugs. In the fall, hundreds of thousands of lady bugs come indoors to find warm places. This is in our milk barn, I was amazed at how many there were. There were also hundreds in our house. Fortunately, they don't bite or cause any damage indoors. They're just a nuisance.