Oak mites, ugh—what are they good for?

(With apologies to Edwin Star) Absolutely nothin’ sing it again.

If you haven’t heard of oak mites, you probably don’t live in the Kansas City area. We had a terrible outbreak of them last year only somehow I never got bitten. That’s not the case this year. Oh my word, those bites are wretched.

You can read about the nasties here and here and here. Unfortunately, they can’t be killed, bug spray has no effect, you can’t see them (they are too small), and can't feel the bite until hours later. At least that was the case for me.. The only defense is to stay covered up and shower as soon as you get inside.

The cellulitis ended up
covering most of my inner arm

In my case, the bites aren’t itchy, oh no. They burn and hurt like crazy and I’ve developed cellulitis around each and every bite. That’s why I ended up going to the convenience clinic at my PCP’s practice, and I’ve been on antibiotics since last Sunday. I’ve also been wearing long tights and long sleeve running shirts on my morning runs. Fortunately, it’s been a little cooler but whew. I’ll be glad when we get a good hard freeze and kill those suckers. Until next year.

Edited to add a photo of my bug and sun mitigation running clothes. These are Cool-Tech, and are supposed to keep me cooler.

Also, a bonus music video:

I can't feature that

Since I’m running more frequently each week, and since I prefer running shorts with the underwear built in them, I’ve been looking for a couple more pairs of running shorts (currently I own two pairs, and let’s face it, butt sweat is gross).

While I like the higher end sports clothing, I loathe the prices especially when I equally like the running clothing at Old Navy and Target (which cost a fraction of the name brand stuff). Only I can’t find any shorts that (a) also have the underwear in them, (b) don’t have faux compression leggings underneath (no thank you, it’s HOT outside), and (c) aren’t micro-mini short.

The same thing is true of my sports bras. I own just two right now, and unless I’m willing to do laundry every other day, I need some more.

So Kent and I looked around yesterday—Target (no luck), Dick’s (truly no luck, and super expensive to boot), REI (bought two bras at full price) and a place called Scheel’s, which I had never heard of but is sort of like Dicks’ only with a working Ferris wheel in the middle, and a food court. Isn’t that odd? I found a pair of Nike running shorts there, that were on sale. I didn’t try them on, though, that place was pretty weird.

Once I got home, I had serious buyer’s remorse and started looking online. Sure enough, I found those bras for half the price of REI, and a pair of running shorts that were easily $15 cheaper than the ones I got on “sale” at Scheef’s.

As my mother-in-law would say, I couldn’t feature paying that much money. So today, I returned all three items and ordered them online. They should get here Tuesday, and I spent $60 less.

And because it's relaxing, here's a random (bonus) photo of Eddie and Wally.