Songs about ticks

Yesterday was the 14th annual Insect Appreciation Day, hosted by the Shawnee Audubon Society. I must admit that in prior years when I had been asked to present on pollination at this event, I begged off. I figured this was a birding event. Who was really going to care about pollination? I always had an excuse. It was too far. I had other plans. I just didn't want to.

Man was I missing out.

Ok, I'm the first to admit it's a dork event. Then again, I'm a dork.

We had about 30 adults, about half bringing children attending the event. There was a insect zoo, a really cool presentation about soil insects and inverts, an aquatic insects presentation, face painting, and a very nice raffle. Granted, the only people interested in viewing the really cool power point presentation that Liv had worked so hard on were seniors, but they were interested and did ask some very interesting questions (and tell some rather risque jokes!).

Following was a pot luck dinner and some of the dishes were flat out delicious. But the highlight of the evening was the insect-themed musical entertainment. I think my favorite line was the southern Illinois tourism song, with the unforgettable line "have you heard about the ticks?"

The answer is yes, in fact, I have. Having worn socks and tennis shoes, my ankles were covered in seed ticks, requiring much duct tape to remove and resulting in me waking up this morning with one of the little buggers still embedded in my foot. Ticks suck. Literally.

Oh, and Liv had a juvenile admirer in the person of Sky. She was cute as a bug, which was most appropriate on this of all days.

I'll be back next year and I'm bringing money for the raffle. And maybe a fan. I think a fan would have done more to increase the number of visitors to our booth than anything else.