Fire Ants

I have never hated a bug more than I do fire ants since living here in Texas! They bite me. And bite me. And then bite me some more whenever they have the chance.

Yesterday at the farm, we were cleaning the bunny cages out. We disturbed a fire ant hill so I put some killer on it to get rid of them. I made sure to stay clear of it with my history of bites. So, we went over to a big round bale of hay to get some to lay under the cages. My friend and I, and our kids, proceeded to rip hay from it and put it in a wagon to take to the cages. We did two loads. The second load, I was breaking up the middle part of the bale by grabbing hand fulls (with bare hands of course) when I started feeling stinging that was hurting worse than just the prick of the hay. I looked down and OF COURSE there were fire ants all over my right arm.

I quickly brushed them off and said, "well, that's going to hurt." Understatement right there. This morning, my arm looks like this:
4 bites on my right hand, 9 on my right arm, and 2 on my left hand! Plus, my ankles itch like crazy (not sure how that relates). My right hand and arm is so tight from swelling and I woke up multiple times from scratching last night. I'm really trying not to. Your not supposed to scratch them and your supposed to leave the big white heads alone...it's all I can do to not pop them!!

To go with all that, I have red stripes leading from the bites on my fore arm that are running up my upper arm. I have put magic marker dots where they end to make sure they are not spreading.

At this point, I think you could cut my arm off and I might actually feel some relief rather than pain! Woah is me.