Berries and Bug Bites

After we returned home from China camp, we had to go pick up our dog from the sitter. Our dog sitter happens to be my mom, and mom just happens to live WAY out in the country in the middle of nowhere. Really...down a little dirt road, out in the woods, twisting, curving, squeeze through the trees and bushes, in the middle of nowhere. Mom likes it that way...it's quiet and she knows that when someone comes down that little dirt road, they're more than likely family or really good friends. No door to door salesmen out there.

Well, on Saturday evening on our way down that little dirt road, I spotted a blackberry bush, then another, and another. All of a sudden a nice blackberry cobbler popped into my head and I stopped the van. We scoured the van for something to put our little berry treasures in...all we could find was an empty egg carton that we had brought along to return to mom (her hens supply us with fresh eggs). OK, so we wouldn't look like professional berry pickers using an egg carton, but we were out in the middle of nowhere right? Soooo, we got to work on filling our carton. I knew there were gazillions of little ticks and chiggers waiting in the brush, so I opted to stand at the side of the road and pick the berries I could reach from there. No little buggers for me thank you. Randy was the brave one...he walked off into the bushes and weeds to get the berries I couldn't reach from the road. We filled our carton and then headed to mom's, where we quickly washed our legs off. Upon arriving home, we also took a shower to make sure no bugs had come home with us.
Fast forward to Sunday and Monday....*I* am covered with HUNDREDS of chigger bites!!! I'm the one who stood in the road to AVOID getting bites. I am absolutely miserable with the itchiness. Randy...the brave one who walked in among the home of the little critters got NOTHING...NADA...ZILCH!! What's up with this?! It seems the bugs don't like diabetics he says. :-(