Letter in the February 1978 Organic Gardening and Farming:

". . . I'd like to add that the way I deodorize my outhouse is not by sprinkling of wood ashes but by dropping a whole box ful of ashes down the outhouse hole. And I haven't smelled a sweeter outhouse yet."

Letter in April 1974 issue of OG&F:

". . . no reason to worry about cutworms if I pushed a straight stick or twig into the ground next to the plant so that it touched the stem from ground level up to about 2" or more. He explained that a cutworm wraps its sawtoothed body around the plant stem to cut it down and that a stick near the stem foils its deadly squirm."

Same source:

Tick removal: ". . . Give the tick a heavy coating of petroleum jelly over its entire body. This clogs up its respiratory system and the tick has to let go of its host. For stubborn ticks, keep allying the jelly after half hour until the tick drops off."

Typed by

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 05, 1999

Answers

Deez old tihme remedeez sure doo bring things back to deh past, Old Old Git. Gotta go scoopy doo mah outhouse, reminds me.

-- oldtoo (creek@crank.crack), April 05, 1999.

Folks lacking wood ashes can use powdered limestone, I figure. Ticks also tend to abandon their chores when the flame of a lighted match is held real close to 'em. Or a drop of alcohol is applied. Sure seems cruel, though, how about that.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), April 05, 1999.

"Ticks also tend to abandon their chores when the flame of a lighted match is held real close to 'em."

Tom, I believe I would abandon the room if someone tried to hold the flame of a lighted match to a tick I was hosting....

Helen

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), April 05, 1999.

One time when I weren't but a sprout I had a tick latch onto mah "jewels", ifn ya know what I mean. Maw lit a match and blue it out, stuck it to the tick while it was still hot. That didn't wurk.

When Paw come up with a pair o pliers, I lit outn thar lak a greased hog on fire.

(Wondr whut ever became o them folks....ain't seen em in years)

-- Jethro (long@gone.net), April 05, 1999.

After crawling around in lyme-infested woods and then doing some research, I learned that while these tick removal methods are commonly used, they're actually a bad idea. The reason is that the tick attaches itself to your skin with barbs. To release, it dissolves your skin with a bunch of saliva. The saliva is what carries disease. You also don't want to risk pinching the tick, and squirting the saliva into yourself. The best way to do it is to grab the tick by the head with tweezers, or better yet with a special tick remover tool you can get for a couple bucks at most camping stores, and just pull it off.

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), April 05, 1999.

Correct, Shimrod.

Been a deepwoods camper for many moons...tweezers have done it for me. Make sure the tick's head comes out with the tick (you can normally see the head, and the tick'll be squirming its legs...if it's not moving, it probably got decapitated/killed, and the head's probably still in yer skin)....if not, make sure and cut the head out by whatever means. Then squeeze the skin near the wound, so as to squeeze out any of the tick's saliva (similar to the need to squeeze a cut, to make blood exit, to hopefully force infectious agents out of the wound)

-- Jethro (long@gone.net), April 05, 1999.

Ticks - vets sell a product called "Ticked Off" that I use on my cats. It's plastic, the size of a small measuring spoon with a "V" shaped opening - pressing down, you slide the tick remover forward so it surrounds the tick on three sides, continue sliding forward until tick releases. Then dispose of tick, clean skin with alcohol, clean tick remover with alcohol or other disinfectant - it does work - I've used it for several years.

If you're in a Lyme area - there is an inoculation for humans but is rather expensive. aldf.com (American Lyme Disease Foundation) lists the price at $70 per injection plus office visit fees (three shots are necessary) - but my physician says each shot costs $130 - rather high. I guess I'll stick with DEET.

-- Arlene (araynor@concentric.net), April 05, 1999.

A small girl was bitten by a brown recluse spider this past week end. She died. It bit her on the face and twice on the back. Since there is no antidote for this spider, small children are at risk.

I throw this in on this thread to alert you to this spider.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), April 05, 1999.

Kudos on the tip about brown recluse spiders.

I sport a scar six inches long on my arm from one of those stinkers. In three weeks time, after several antibiotic shots and a round of keflex and dapsone, I was in the beginnings of gang grene from that spider bite. It required surgery to remove the dead flesh, and a skin graft. There is no anti-venom, the bite has to run its course and it literally rots your flesh from the inside out. With no antibiotics available, they will be dangerous indeed.

Buy some insect 'foggers' for your house to keep spiders under control. Conventional spraying does not work well because they do not always crawl through sprayed areas.

These spiders like dark places. With many of us using wood for heat, please be aware that they like hiding in the woodpiles. Always wear gloves when handling the wood. These spiders are now in nearly all the states in the US.

-- (mybit@cyber.space), April 05, 1999.

Re: spiders...I know you started on ticks...and this would apply to them, too.

Be aware when you are in "dredded insect territory" If you go beating around in the bushes, watch out for ticks. There are winter ticks as well as summer ticks. Only the tiny deer tick carries Lyme disease.

About spiders (I cleaned out a shed today) When I get to an area that has dead sow bugs, I start being careful about widows. Or any collection of dead insects. Watch out for the little white cotton balls...widow eggs cases. NEVER pick something up...a board, for example, without turning it over and looking at it....and splurge on a pair of good work gloves (Buy several pairs, they are made in China!) Those cheap gloves with the big fat fingers make me want to work without them. The brown recluse would be a likely "find" in an area that has not been disturbed for a long long time.

Regarding ticks...Be aware that the person with the tick is going to be EXTREMELY interested in getting the think OFF...and may panic.

Did you know that the big orb spiders change color when you make them REALLY mad?

-- Mary (CAgdma@home.com), April 05, 1999.

Can anyone list a link showing what a brown recluse spider looks like? I am not native to the state in which I live (and I'm not talking about being Y2k concerned!) and I've never seen one that I know of.

Where I grew up it was black widow spiders, tarantulas (sp), scorpions and rattle snakes. I can identify ANY of those!

Also--recommendations on what to do to keep them from setting up housekeeping in the woodpile?

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), April 06, 1999.

Excellent posts and advice--my son was bitten by a brown recluse and had to have the bite area dug out too (on his leg). It was weeks before the wound healed up. There are probably lots of Web links to brown recluses--they can usually be spotted by a darker brown (or is it lighter brown?) fiddle-shaped marking on their backs. In any event, many spiders bite and can cause a sore spot. I'm always quick to rub antibiotic ointment on any bite--but I know 80% of pharmaceuticals come from overseas! I don't know of any particular spider repellent and I'd be leary of spraying insecticide on wood for burning in the stove or fireplace.

On a slightly related topic, has anyone heard about spider webs having antibiotic or wound-healing properties? I have a vague memory from years ago but can't find anything on the Web. (Oh, pun unintentional.)

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 06, 1999.

This is all absolutely fascinating but do you think the folks that CONTROL your lives worry about fleas, ticks, lice, ants, termites etc.

No - to them we are all of the above but a necesary evilto maintain their lifestyle.

Andy - out to lunch as usual :)

Old Git - priorities me old son...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), April 06, 1999.

The brown recluse spider is also known as a "fiddleback" spider. There is a violin shape on its back, and the spider is small, legs and all about the circumference of a nickel.

The Dog

-- Dog (desert dog @-sand.com), April 06, 1999.

Nice choice -

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), April 06, 1999.

By the way there is also a snakebite kit, I forget who makes it but it's around a lot, made by the same people who make that tick remover...anyway, it's just a little syringe, with a plastic cup that goes against your skin. You do the plunger and leave it for half an hour to suck out venom from bites. They recommend for ticks as well as poisonous critters. Doesn't get it all out but does help, has medical recommendations. (Many snakebite kits do more harm than good.)

Long as we're on such subjects...friend of mine knew a geologist who worked in an area with extremely poisonous snakes, I forget what but a bit would kill in minutes, every time. He got bit one time, and survived. How? He carried a fist-sized bundle of strike-anywhere matches. Immediately upon being bitten, he lit 'em all up and plunged 'em into the bite. Burned out all the poison before it could spread. Left a deep hole. Don't recommend it for ticks...

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), April 06, 1999.

FM,

Here is a url for pics of the the Brown recluse spider, and some rather graphic pics of relcuse bites. Believe me, my arm looked like this. Warning: Not for those with a weak stomach.

http://www.dfwpest.com/spiders.htm

-- (mybit@cyber.space), April 06, 1999.