Summer is only three days old and I'm already over it.

It's not the heat or the oppressive humidity we experienced last week, it's the ticks.So far this year I've plucked two ticks off me and have been through one course of antibiotics. Same for my husband.Granted, we live in the woods, but I've lived in rural areas most of my life, and I haven't had a tick on me since I was 10 years old.Just writing this right now my skin is crawling, and if I told you where I found the first tick on me, yours would be crawling as well. Let's just say it was in a place it had no business visiting.What makes this summer's experience even more upsetting is that I've hardly been outside other than to walk to the car and back into the house. The day before I found the first tick, all I'd done was walk down the driveway to get the mail and then back into the house. Hardly a reason to apply bug spray.The second time, I'd gone to watch my grandkids play soccer. We walked from the parking lot to a well-maintained field. The next morning, I found a tick on my shin.But it's not just me.The tick I plucked off my husband looked like it was possibly a lone star tick, distinguishable by the white "star" on its back, indicating it was a female, or a female dog tick, which also has some white on the body near its head. About a week after his tick bite, I was checking him for ticks after he worked in the yard and noticed there was a large red circle where I'd removed the first tick. It wasn't a bull's-eye like you might expect as an indicator of Lyme disease, but it was upsetting nonetheless. I insisted he go to urgent care. He came home an hour later with a prescription for doxycycline. Fortunately, he's shown no other symptoms, nor have I, other than still being freaked out. (Me, not him. He's unfazed.)I know of someone else who was bit by a "typical" tick on his thigh and ended up with an infection so bad, he was having difficulty walking.My daughter picked several ticks off of her son one day, including one in a place no little boy (or big boy) would want a tick. She's found a tick in her car and one walking up the wall in her house.If you haven't noticed, ticks are bad this year, primarily because of the mild winter.So now that we're all thoroughly creeped out - at least I am - what are we going to do about it?According to the Tick Encounter Resource Center hosted by the University of Rhode Island, the best protection you can achieve is by using a repellent that contains permethrin on your clothes and one that contains DEET for your skin.Another method to help keep the ticks away from your yard is the use of tick tubes.You can buy Damminix Tick Tubes for about $110 for a box of 24 that would cover about one-half acre, or you can make your own, which is much more cost effective, with cardboard tubes (such as from a roll of paper towels or toilet paper), cotton balls and the pesticide permethrin.This is how a tick tube works. Ticks reproduce in mice nests and then catch a ride on a mouse to travel around your yard. Permethrin kills ticks on contact, but is harmless to mice.First things first, wear protective gloves and a mask. Follow the directions for diluting the permethrin to the recommended concentration, and then put the solution in a spray bottle. Put the cotton balls into a disposable container and spray with the solution. Make sure to coat the cotton balls on all sides. Let the cotton balls air out a bit, and then stuff them into the paper tubes, but not too tighthly. Spread the tubes around your yard, about 10 feet apart. You can cover them with some leaves so they're not as noticeable. Mice will take the treated cotton balls to use in their nests, effectively killing the ticks.Here's a link to information on Organic Post Daily that explains about tick tubes and how to either find them or make your own:

http://bit.ly/2oPQaEt.As for us, whether we buy them or make them, if I can go outside again and not worry about picking up any unwanted visitors, this will be totally worth it.