It was my son Max’s fifth birthday this weekend. And since we’re now in (gulp!) mid-summer, we decided to do the party outdoors.
We celebrated at a wonderful place just outside Philly, with about twenty friends–Sandy Hill Farm. The farm is a small, privately owned animal farm and camp that features goats, bunnies, chickens, a pig that looks like Wilford Brimley, sheep, ponies, and plenty of hay and carrots to feed them all. The setting was beautiful, despite being right next to a subdivision with McMansions aplenty-very much a simple family farm.
The problem is, for a city family like ours (and maybe for a father like me) getting back to nature just isn’t that relaxing. Sure, it seems like it ought to be. The trees and grass alone have a calming effect on the psyche, and just being able to let your kids run wild and free without heavy monitoring is a good thing.
But then you start to think about the dangers that lurk all around. The Ticks. The Mosquitoes with their West Nile Virus. The plants that look like Poison Ivy. The Sheep with their Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. The Pigs with their Swine Flu. (I know that you won’t actually catch it from a Swine, but I was thinking about it.)
Luckily, I’m not alone in these fears. The newspapers and local newscasts support this sort of anxiety:
The LA Times reports that there’s an even greater danger of fires this summer
Lyme Disease incidences are increasing in Maine
And The Providence Journal reports that climate change may be benefitting Poison Ivy (that’s two dangers for the price of one!)
The good news, of course, is that there are answers to these dangers. So while we may not be able to totally lower our guards, even in the relaxing days of summer, we can at least rest easy that there are answers:
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Golf
HOW TO REMOVE A TICK
Because you will probably not feel a tick biting you, it’s a good practice to check yourself for ticks thoroughly after every round of golf.
Locate the tick.
Look for a small bump on the skin, similar to the last remnants of a scab before it heals. Ticks vary in size from the head of a pin to a fingernail (when they are engorged) depending on the type and the stage of maturity. Ticks are usually brown or reddish. Check behind the knee, between fingers and toes, in the underarms, in the belly button, in and behind the ear, on the neck, in the hairline, and on the top of the head.
Act quickly to remove the tick.
Use a commercially available tick removal tool if one is available. Follow the instructions that come with
the device. If no tick removal device is available, locate a pair of medium- or fine-tipped tweezers. Place the tip of the tweezers around the area where the jaws of the tick enter the skin. Using a slow, steady motion, pull the tick away from the skin. Do not jerk, crush, squeeze, or puncture the tick, because more pathogens from the tick may get into the wound. If part of the tick breaks off, try to remove it as you would a splinter. Your body will naturally eject the foreign material over time, so leave it alone if you cannot remove it easily.
If no tweezers are available, use the nails of your index finger and thumb. Avoid touching the tick with your skin; use latex gloves, plastic baggies, or even paper towels to cover the skin of your fingers. If nothing to protect your skin is available, try using two credit cards as tweezers: squeeze the edges together to grab the tick and then pull firmly away from the skin. Failing this, it is better to remove the tick with bare forefinger and thumb than to leave it attached. Immediately disinfect the area around the bite with soap and water, alcohol, or antibacterial ointment.
If you carry club-cleaning fluid in your bag, this may suffice until other disinfection means are available. Place the tick, dead or alive, in a sealable container. Include a lightly moistened paper towel.Take the tick to a local health department to be analyzed, to determine if it is carrying disease.
HOW TO TREAT POISON IVY, POISON OAK, AND POISON SUMAC
Wash the exposed area of skin.
Immediately wash the contaminated area with large amounts of running water.
Wash shoes, socks, pants, gloves, and clubs immediately.
Urushiol oil, which causes the rash, can stay active on objects for up to a year. Dilute the oil by washing equipment with lots of water. Slosh rubbing alcohol over exposed skin (except on the face) and rinse with water. (Carry a jar containing rubbing alcohol and a small cloth.) Rubbing alcohol neutralizes the oil.
Do not scratch the rash.
A rash usually develops a few hours to a few days after exposure. It will start with an itch accompanied by a light rash that continually becomes more intense and eventually blisters. Excessive and continual scratching can lead to neural dermatitis (persistent itch) that can continue even after the reaction has stopped. The total reaction usually lasts two weeks or less. If the itch is intolerable, seek medical assistance.
To reduce itching, run hot water over the rash or blister area.
Gradually increase the temperature of the water (be careful not to burn yourself ). Let the water run hot until you feel bursts of relief from the area, which may take five minutes or more. Hot water helps to release histamines from the skin. This method can relieve itching for eight hours or more.Warm or cold packs and calamine lotion can also reduce itching. Prescription cortisone cream is many times the strength of over-the-counter cortisone cream and can be used for severe itching.
Be Aware
• Poison ivy and oak thrive in disturbed ground, such as land molded and shaped for golf courses; be sure to ask if it is present on the course before beginning your round. Size and appearance of poison ivy and oak varies with habitat. Poison sumac is fairly rare and limited to deep swamps. Its leaflets can be from two to eight inches long, and the plants can be six inches high, or can vine to the top of a 20-foot-tall tree. All three plants contain urushiol.
• Poison ivy and poison oak grow in all areas of the United States except for southwestern deserts and mountain elevations above 4,000 feet.
• Even when leaves are not present, the stems, berries, and roots of the plants still contain the oil and should be avoided.
• To prevent exposure, wear shoes and socks and long pants, not shorts.
• Do not rub other plants or leaves on an affected area to treat or prevent a rash. There are no plant juices known to neutralize urushiol, and juices spread on the body in small quantities are likely to spread the oil and increase the rash.
• Even if you have not previously reacted to poison ivy, oak, or sumac, do not assume you are immune. After the first exposure, and especially after repeated exposures, 85 percent of people will have an allergic reaction.
• A golf ball that rolls through any of these poisonous plants, or that has come to rest among the leaves or vines of the plants, may be contaminated with urushiol oil. Carefully pick up your ball with a towel or while wearing your glove and wash the ball immediately.Wash the towel or glove before using it again.
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Complete
HOW TO ESCAPE FROM KILLER BEES (Complete, Page 74)
If bees begin flying around and/or stinging you, do not freeze.
Run away; swatting at the bees only makes them angrier.
Get indoors as fast as you can.
If no shelter is available, run through bushes or high weeds.
This will help give you cover.
If a bee stings you, it will leave its stinger in your skin.
Remove the stinger by raking your fingernail across it in a sideways motion. Do not pinch or pull the stinger out—this may squeeze more venom from the stinger into your body. Do not let stingers remain in the skin, because venom can continue to pump into the body for up to ten minutes.
Do not jump into a swimming pool or other body of water—the bees are likely to be waiting for you when you surface.
Risk of Attack
The Africanized honeybee is a cousin of the run-of-the-mill domesticated honeybee that has lived in the United States for centuries. The “killer bee” moniker was created after some magazine reports about several deaths that resulted from Africanized bee stings some years back. Africanized honeybees are considered “wild”; they are easily angered by animals and people, and likely to become aggressive.
Bees “swarm” most often in the spring and fall. This is when the entire colony moves to establish a new hive. They may move in large masses—called swarms—until they find a suitable spot. Once the colony is built and the bees begin raising their young, they will protect their hive by stinging.
While any colony of bees will defend its hive, Africanized bees do so with gusto. These bees can kill, and they present a danger even to those who are not allergic to bee stings. In several isolated instances, people and animals have been stung to death. Regular honeybees will chase you about fifty yards. Africanized honeybees may pursue you three times that distance.
Most often, death from stings occurs when people are not able to get away from the bees quickly. Animal losses have occurred for the same reasons—pets and livestock were tied up or penned when they encountered the bees and could not escape.
So enjoy the summer. And be careful out there.
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Max.
–David
