Itchy

The puppies (Pattie and Sam) had a few hours of tennis ball playtime yesterday. As you can see (check Pattie's paws), they had a good time. Now, as the sun is rising here in CA and she snores in a corner, I'm trying not to scratch myself to the point of bleeding.

For the past few weeks I've been struggling to figure out exactly what parasite I'm fighting. I've surrendered to the good kind -- the one that some day will take me in when I spend my life savings on Pez and send me photos of my grandchildren... It's another parasite that has literally been eating away at me.

I have itchy little pink welts that I just can't seem to shake. If it were a visible foe, perhaps I would have better luck in my battle, but the microscopic pests are elusive little buggers! My Google self diagnosis first led me to what seemed logical: fleas. But other than being itchy, I have no proof that fleas are to blame for my 2, 3, and 4 o'clock in the morning itching. After I had the organic pest control people out to my house I went back to the computer to check out MITES. Oh man, if they are indeed mites, I have a mighty tiny but very big problem.

Mites are in the tick/spider family and aren't insects. They have three sets of legs until they're big enough to cause trouble and then they grow another set, so once they reach adulthood, they have four pairs of legs (see, you've learned something today!)...

Apparently, there are different kinds of mites. I could very well have all of them:
Rat mites. We know that I've dealt with a few rodents.
Straw Itch Mites or Itch Mites. I'm thinking these guys might be to blame -- they live in dried grass. I have a lot of dried grass around. Everywhere, in fact. The NC State University website dedicated to mites says, "they are frequently a problem for people doing landscaping or feeding horses and other livestock..." No horses here, but I do fit the "doing landscaping" part of this sentence.
Chiggers or red bugs. I didn't think these lived in California, but only because people here don't say the word "chigger" with the same drawl or enthusiasm of those from The South. No swamps here, but it's possible there are chiggers.
Bird Mites. There are swallows in virtually every eve of my house. Here I thought they were helping to control the bugs, but I could be harboring avian terrorists!
Scabies! Oh no! These just SOUND bad. Nevermind that these guys burrow under the skin and lay eggs. I'm already incubating enough at the moment, thanks.
The only mites I don't think are guilty are chicken mites, simply because I don't have any chickens.

I haven't seen anything that makes me believe that the nugget is at risk. Sure, mites carry diseases, but so do a lot of other animals. I'm sure that my keyboard is harboring some kind of deadly bacteria. I could get a deadly virus from one of the nasty public restrooms I have to use all the time now, too. I could do more harm with a repellant than just dealing with the itchies. You get the point.

Rather than try to pinpoint exactly what is to blame, I'd like to have all colonies of the buggers killed so I can go outside and not fear the consequences of walking in the grass. Nevermind that I can't sleep through the night-- I don't mind getting up to pee. That doesn't keep me awake. It's the constant itching!