I got up this morning and while using the bathroom I noticed a small dark lump on my neck, which looked a little like a dried scab of blood. I figured maybe I’d accidentally scratched myself somehow and not noticed it. I used a fingernail to lightly scratch the lump to probe what it was like, and it came straight off. I looked at the tiny dark blob on my fingertip and realised it was a tick!
Somehow I’d attracted a tick. I guess it was probably late last night when I took Scully out for her pre-bedtime toilet, and it maybe fell on me from a tree branch overhead, and attached itself to my neck. Now I was concerned that I’d just removed the body, and the head may have detached and still be embedded in my skin. But I examined the wound carefully and had my wife check it too, and we don’t think there’s anything embedded in there. I put some iodine solution on it to prevent infection. I’ll keep an eye on it in the next day or two and if it doesn’t get better I’ll go see a doctor.
Following that drama, I did a 5k run and had a shower. By 11am my wife and I were ready to go out for lunch. We took Scully and went down to the local ferry wharf, where we caught a ferry across the harbour to Balmain. We walked up the street to the shops and restaurants and found a place to have lunch. We found a nice looking Italian place called D’Vine Ivy.
As we sat down at one of the outside tables, a woman who we presumed to be the owner came out and greeted Scully and asked if she’d like some Italian sausage. I said yes, she’d love some, not thinking that the woman was actually serious. She ran off and returned quickly with a plate of sliced sausage for Scully! Then she took our orders for lunch. My wife had a daily special vegetarian lasagne, and I had penne boscaiola. The serves were very generous and delicious. After we ate, the woman admitted that she’d run out of the vege lasagne and had tossed it together quickly after our order, which explained the somewhat free-form assembly of the dish, although honestly it looked and tasted great. I also had to try the dessert, which was hoe baked carrot cake, served hot and delicious, with fresh berries. Scully got a blueberry.
Then we walked back to the ferry wharf and caught the ferry back home. It was a very nice day out. And it’s now almost 9pm and I’m still not hungry after that lunch!
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You might want to check Scully for ticks, too. If you lightly scratched and it came off, it presumably hadn’t attached fully. (I’m neither an entomologist nor a doctor, of course, just a zoology major.)
Yes, I did check Scully. She’s also on regular tick prevention treatment, unlike me!