Tinks

One of my best friends in the world bounces his leg often. He's a bigger guy and it can definitely get annoying. I try to just let it go unless we're sitting at a table and he's shaking it too, then I will gently reach over and touch his knee to let him know. He immediately apologizes and stops, and I feel bad for having to say something, but I draw the line at shaking the table lol. If he's sitting across the room from me he can bounce to his heart's content.

Every time I go hiking with my dog I pull one of these little bastards off his fur. I cover him in permethrin, as well as every inch of my clothing, shoes and hat, so I'm not SUPER stressed about it, but it's still annoying. A couple days ago I found one in his tail floof (he's a golden so it's a giant poof.) The tick was near dead already by the time I got it untangled from his fur thanks to the permethrin though. Usually I spot the ticks on him either because they're on his head (where they're easy to spot immediately), or because they got tangled in his fur and couldn't jump off. I've never once seen one bite him thankfully.

It's wild to me because I have only seen other kinds of ticks twice so far this season, but otherwise it's all lone star ticks, which are not supposed to be the most common where I am. They're definitely more prominent this year though. Of all the tick diseases, alpha-gal terrifies me the most, so I'm not thrilled by this increase in lone stars.

Right? I will happily deal with the cold to make mosquitoes, gnats and ticks a problem I no longer have.

Assuming modern technology didn't suddenly disappear, I would pick the cold without a doubt. Give me a good sized greenhouse attached to my home for growing my garden and I would be happy as a lamb. I hate summer, and the heat that comes with it. While 9F is colder than I typically prefer for outdoor activities (I generally like it right around 40F) I can make clothing and gear adjustments to continue outdoor hobbies like hiking and backpacking. If it was perpetually colder here I would probably take up a snow sport too. (Currently it's not snowy enough where I live for snow sports). Also if it's that cold I would never have to deal with bugs again and I am 100% here for that.

As it currently is I'm basically stuck inside for 3 months of the year due to heat unless I want to drive 8 or more hours for a brief holiday respite. Summer is the worst. Give me arctic cold please.

Backpacking - Either one really swanky sleep system (the full Zenbivy ultralight), or perhaps one crazy expensive ultralight tent like a Durston, or if we're going budget, an entire setup of basic gear including backpack, tent, cook system, sleeping bag and pad, etc. Everything needed to backpack you could buy for under 1000€ to get started.

This is kind of wild to me. This year we're seeing more fireflies in my yard than we have in a long time. My husband and I have been commenting on it. At night there's an awesome light show and it's kind of awesome. Whatever is happening in my neighborhood they definitely like!

Before the Reddit Exodus I only used Reddit and YouTube. Social media is a plague. Once I left Reddit I never looked back and now use Lemmy exclusively. I don't really see it as "hardcore", it's just me avoiding the worst and most stressful facet of modern society. I don't feel like I'm missing anything by not using any other social media.

I agree with you to an extent, but the other American was right, they're really not as common as you might think based on internet posts. I've never once had a package stolen, and I get deliveries multiple times a week. For me, going out to pickup a delivery would be inconvenient because I work from home and don't want to have to make a 10 min trip by car just for that.

This situation is a whole other story though. That's the delivery driver straight up stealing the package. Absolutely bonkers.

When it's wet you should avoid getting it on bare skin, but once it's dried it's inert and you're completely fine. The instructions say when you spray your dog or your clothes you should use gloves, but it dries pretty quickly. Usually about an hour for my dog (he's double coated so it just takes a while for the undercoat to dry), but with most of my clothing I've sprayed it's usually 30-60 minutes depending on the fabric.

With all that said, permethrin has long been approved for and used in lice shampoos, so it's fine even against the skin, it's just that it doesn't work once it's dry on the skin. All studies on permethrin show it to be entirely safe at the concentrations we use it at. It has to bind to fibers, but on skin it will break down quickly and be ineffective. It bonds to fibers really well though and is why it's a longer term solution lasting weeks versus spraying harsh smelling deet that wears off in hours. For ticks it's really the best solution.

You definitely do not need to bathe them and it wouldn't matter if you did. Permethrin is meant to be a long term treatment (up to 6 weeks) so you spray it on your dog and let it dry days before your hike. Once dry permethrin is safe for humans and even cats. In fact treating your own clothing with permethrin (NOT while wearing them) is a safe and effective way to keep mosquitoes and ticks off you as well. Like dogs, permethrin treated clothes are effective for about 6 weeks (or 6 washes).

Also highly recommend spraying your dogs thoroughly with Permethrin in addition to whatever else they're on. Permethrin is an insecticide and when ticks come into contact with it they immediately want to get away from it and will hop off as quickly as they can. My dog and I go hiking a lot and I almost never see ticks on him anymore. This applies even if you only walk your dog on paved paths - the ticks sit on the tips of leaves and grass blades waiting for something to come near.

If your religion leads you to hate, the religion and its followers are bad. The end.