Last weekend, a tick bit me. I did all the wrong things when removing it: bursting its stomach, pulling too fast and leaving its head behind, messing and messing with it until the bite became a wound. I had to send its body to a lab in Rhode Island. They confirmed it was a deer tick, female, partially fed, but all tests for diseases (including Lyme) came back negative. I’m thankful, though nervous now in the grass – I feel shrunk, with those nasty bugs looming large and hungry, wanting to feast on me.