Bugs like me.

And, when I say "like," I mean they really, really like me.

I'm not sure if it's my candy-consistency blood or that my ankles just look like a classy place to land, but they've been showing me the love over the summer.

Most people aren't crazy about mosquito bites. Who can blame them? They itch. You scratch and scratch and scratch.

Trouble is, as the process continues, the bite gets worse and worse.

Sure, there are things you can put on the bites -- calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream have topped most lists I've checked the past few days as I've been dealing with the latest love fest from Bugville.

Trouble is, this one's on a scale that dwarfs any bug bite I've ever encountered. You're probably wondering if I rank them.

I do now.

For years, the highest on the charts was one that occurred in the summer of 1991 when I was a senior at Kent State and living off campus in an apartment that apparently was home to a clutter of spiders. No that's not misspelled. A group of spiders is called a clutter.

I never saw the spider(s) that bit me, but I prefer to think that such damage could only have been done by a huge stinking load of spiders. The day after the attack, my legs bore three wounds about the size of a large coffee can. They hurt. And, because it was about 95 degrees outside, I didn't really feel like I could just throw on a pair of jeans to cover them.

So, I just said the heck with it and probably grossed out half of Kent with those lesions on my legs.

Fast forward to Tuesday, and here I sit once again, grossing out my coworkers with the massive lesions on my legs from unknown origins. I know I acquired them Sunday night at a party. I was sitting in a friend's back yard, in the dark, and didn't feel anything as I apparently was becoming some vermin's late-night snack.

I noticed the itching early Sunday, but then it was just a little bump on my toe. Today, when I woke up I looked down and found a 2-inch red blotch mid-shin followed downward by about 15 more.

As the day's gone on, they've become more itchy and even painful. As I write this I'm planning a trip to the drug store for some relief.

But I take with me the knowledge that I must have some pretty tasty blood for some creature to have wanted to dig in quite this much.

I'm not sure what to do to keep from becoming a snack at the next outdoor outing -- which is Friday night at my nephew's high school football game at Hawken. He plays for Lutheran West and we'll get to see the game close to home.

Perhaps if I wrap mesh cages around my legs, I'll be able to keep the bugs out.

And, I know I have to do something.

Because bugs love me.

LKessel@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @Lauranh