Vampires are not the Only Blood Suckers

Well can I start off today letting people know that the bad things always make better stories. I am hardly going to tell you the exciting story from yesterday where Myles and I successfully vaccinated the sheep - my first time using a hypodermic needle - boring! Failure is far more funny than success. Laughing at someone's misfortunes has always been a favourite - slapstick humour etc - and I am happy to be your clown.

Leeches

In my life I have heard of leeches a few times; James Bond going though a mash in Octopussy and burning the leeches of his body with a cigarette lighter; that scary story from Primary School where a man gets lost in the Amazon and who eventually dies from all the nasty animals there. So after discovering that leeches were on our property one tends to be a little shocked. Our land has 4 dams and sits in a gully - perfect to collect water.  However all this water and long grass has made the area a haven for leeches. You can be walking through the grass and get back to the house to find in the first 5 seconds of entering 'the wild' a leech has sensed you and latch, on sucking out all that lovely, and fatty, blood from a lower vein.

The leech has no eyes or ears, but can sense your heat and movement. These bloodsuckers move around like an inch worm with their 'head' in the air trying to find something to suck dry. They hang around damp areas but dislike excessive rain and start going working their way uphill to get away from drowning. Our house sits at the top of a gully so every so often our entertaining deck has a few leeches on it. Luckily we don't entertain on the deck while it is raining!

Prevention is Better than the Cure
There are a few of ways to prevent leeches

1. Don't go outside, ever

2. Use Rid

3. Cover up so well that nothing can get through your clothes.

If you do get bitten it is likely that the wound will bleed for a couple of days and itch like hell. This is because as the leech removes your blood he is also injecting you with an anti-cogulant and a natural anaesthetic so you don't know it is actually attached to you BASTARDS!

On average I get one leech bite a week. For most people a leech is nothing more than an inconvenience, but unfortunately for me I do feel a little sick for a few days afterwards. I am attesting as the reason why I was feeling sick the first few months living up here and why I feel better now I take precautions. Myles has been a little more unfortunate when it comes to leeches. In the first week he feel down a steep bank with the brush-cutter and later found a massive leech attached to his neck. He had scratched the leech without knowing and there was more blood than one could have imaged from something so small. He looked like Carrie <cultural reference from a movie> and screamed for help when he saw his neck in the mirror. The neighbour is a nurse and after seeing the damage he was bandaged up to make sure it didn't get infected.

A few weeks later Myles still hadn't fully learnt his lesson. He went to the same bank, this time with long jeans on, this would stop the leeches! A couple of hours later he returned to his desk and started playing around on the computer while I worked downstairs. After a little while I heard Myles scream out and ran upstairs to see the problem. He had looked down and seen that the crotch area on his jeans was covered in blood and was struggling to get out of those jeans. Jeans were off and his boxer short were covered in blood, more shouting and he pulled them off. The discovery was less than thrilling for him and a shock to me. The leech had worked it's way up his leg and found 'the main vein' below his waist. <need I explain more?>. Having to bandage that area was difficult and there was a fair amount of blood - I can't image how itchy it was later.

So if you are visiting make sure you use Rid if it is raining - even if going for a walk down the driveway.