BFLOYD445 How am I or anyone to take you seriously

Sure the post started as many do... with a simple comment, then others chimed in, then suggestions/advice, then comments on the comments, including several from you.
QUOTE from you..."I'm 68 years old and have been fighting these critters since a kid."
I'm assuming you wanted us all to get the feeling "hey, this guy really knows what he's talking about". Am I wrong??
QUOTE from you in the same post..." i went for a walkin the Dick Fazio wildlife refudge wetlands area and at the end counted at least twenty ticks on me"
So far so good... at least you're not claiming super human tick-repelling powers
But this is where it gets a bit confusing. In your next post
QUOTE from you..." I wrote in a post in this thread about a hike last week in which I ended with more ticks on me than i have had in 68 years total but was not bitten even once thank God."
Is this fuzzy math? Were you saying that this one outing produced more ticks than you've had on you in 68 years (you seem to enjoy quoting that number, so I did it here for you again) or are you saying that you've never had 20 ticks on you at the same time? In either case, I can assure you that that is one of the many ways that MA and CA differ. M******* ticks are not as softened as their CA brethren from sunshiney days filled with surfing, and siestas and wine. They are hard tough Yankees, used to adversity in their environment and constantly adapting to ensure survival. No one has yet to prove to them that they can't be beaten just by the strength of their numbers. They seek out prey who's tenacity they so admire...those who refuse to use a turn signal under any circumstances, and those who steadfastly refuse to vote for a Republican because they are , well,Republican and that might end their ability to whine so much about things like high taxes. They love to gamble and do it often...one meal is all they need. Cling, crawl, drop...cling, crawl, drop...cling, crawl and find an opening this big >> . <<
I'd tell you an amusing little anecdote about how last year, I brushed 12-15 ticks from a coworkers legs only to have another 10 or so reappear in less than 3 minutes time...but then I'd have to sheepishly admit how neither of us remembered to wear our crew socks that day and admit to my bullying of those poor helpless creatures who were right at the threshold of giving up anyway.
Do you think it is stupidity or carelessness that keeps us all from being able to grasp and implement the insanely simple and incredibly effective solution that you propose? Dude...you could run for president! A free pair of cotton crew socks for everyone...yeah, that's the ticket!!
Oh, wait...you'd probably have to delete your link to that pesky webpage that you use as "support" for the liver and soul melting properties of Permithrin. You know, the one that says either "NOT LISTED", NOT AVAILABLE" or "NO STUDIES" to 15 of the 26 different scary Danger Mouse categories listed. The one that doesn't even have a freakin MSDS available...you know what that is right...that stupid little piece of paper (or pages) that even your local restaurant has on site and makes available for all "chemicals" such as dishwashing detergent ( which BTW, I'm sure has been PROVEN to be toxic to mice and such when injected at 50mg/day for 90 days). Maybe George Bush is responsible for suppressing it or perhaps they are just too busy trying to save the world to be bothered with such trivial things?? PAN=Pesticide Action Network...I wonder what their "mission" is?? Perhaps there was some info of merit on that site...I'll never know... I'll admit to being a bit judgemental after seeing it being classified as a "Bad Actor" LOL, how naughty! And the 1980's Myspace style of the page leads me to believe it may not have been updated in a while.
Maybe the CA ticks have born the brunt of our reckless use and been weakened by the 60% of total world production (600 tons...1994 numbers...sorry, it's late) of Permithrin that is used on crops and livestock in the US every year since the 70's
OK, time to stop. It was never my intention to be a proponent for Permithrin. Only trying to point out how significant the tick problem is here in MASSACHUSETTS/NEW ENGLAND and to encourage people to do their
OWN research to help make their time outdoors more enjoyable and use reasonable care and cautions to prevent becoming infected by several of the very debilatating diseases that these nasty little creatures carry and can transmit. Yup, staying inside is an option, but not the only one. Dressing appropriaetly/defensively, goes a LONG way, but may not always be enough. Diligent examination, after exposure is key, but for those who live alone or aren't blessed with perfect vision and the ability to contort their head to view every single area on your body that might be hiding something the size of a poppy seed...consider
judicious use of an insecticide that has been commonly used for decades, and in fact that you once might have also had applied directly to your scalp as a child if your or a grade school classmate ever had lice.
Heck, there will only be about 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease alone( not sure about Erlichiosis, Babeasiosis, or other "Westsern" diseases) year...odds are in your favor, you won't be one of them, but you have heard 1st hand from 2 others, right here in this thread about the incredible damage this disease can do, if you are one of the unlucky ones. I've been working outdoors for nearly 30 years and beat em for a long time... until I got Erlichiosis 4 years ago and Lyme disease last year. Fortunately, it was caught early and treated both times. I have been symptom free and hope to remain so.
You did know that Lyme disease is only treatable and not curable, right?
You do remember that 8-10 years or so ago, there was a vaccine for protection against Lyme disease?...you may not know that it's manufacture was stopped by a "successful" campaign by a small but very vocal group of folks with the same mindset and methods of the present day anti vaxers. Simply stating over and over again how the scientists who've found NO evidence of harm to recipients are lying,and the "proof" is cuz someone once said something about something bad about it and any further studies to the contrary are just further proof of how desperate the manufacturers are.
BTW...if anyone thinks that ticks "jump" or "fall" from trees, you should do some more learning. Fortunately if you type " do ticks jump" into Google, you will find that the first 100 or so (I got bored after that) pages , show that to be a very easy myth to dispel.