Fire Ant Incident #1

I really try to take Milo outside, even though the Texan outdoors make me uncomfortable. It's too hot, too infested, too sunny... But I made us a little outdoor bucket and I take that child out there, whether we like it or not (Who am I kidding? Milo is a little boy. He loves it!).

But it finally happened. And I suppose I'm glad it happened to me and not Milo. Let's just entitle today Fire Ant Incident #1. Now I've had fire ant bites here and there, and they're annoying. They itch, they sting, they're full of pus, and they hang on for days and days. But until today, I've never looked down and realized that my entire foot was crawling with ants (insert shudder). Today was the day I lived out my own little horror movie, on a minor scale.

So yes, I stepped in fire ants, and I'm still not sure where or how. But I found myself shouting a little, dragging my foot across the ground, frantically swishing them off with my hands, and then desperately checking Milo to be sure he wasn't covered (Why wasn't this my first reaction? I guess because he wasn't howling like I was... And he had one, but it seemed to respect the laws of God that say small children should never be covered in anything crawly...). But by the time these 10 seconds were up, it was too late. Tiny little welts were already forming across my left foot, and I was stinging from toes to calf. I snatched Milo up and headed straight for my phone (to complain to Nate) and my camera (to document the indecency of it all).

Nate told me to put some peroxide and anti-itch cream on it, and he even had the sweetness of spirit to say, "I'm sorry, baby." A little goes a long way, because Nate is rarely impressed with my Texan outdoor complaints. I guess growing up in the country gave him a certain indifference to anything short of loss of limbs.

And I will say, I did take a picture to show you how the individual little bites have swelled into one large blistery-looking mass on the arch of my foot, but my own vanity stopped me from posting it. I'm a runner in desperate need of a pedicure. Enough said, right? (Except that my birthday is coming up...)

Perhaps someday I will forget that on June 13, 2012, Fire Ant Incident #1 occurred, leaving me itchy and irritable. For now, let me just say that I like Texas considerably less than I did yesterday. And that's not saying much.