Ant-i itch? Nope. . .

This is kind of close to what my wrists and forearms looked like a few days ago, while we were cleaning out the dead leaves around the area.

Raking leaves has never been a favorite pastime of mine, and when you have 8 acres in heavily wooded rain forest, it's even less of a winner.

First we have the leaf blower. But you can only blow the leaves so far before they get up to your waist and it's pointless to blow them anymore as the mountain isn't going anywhere.

Then come the rakes, trash bags and the trailer behind the quad to haul everything away.

Of course, it's never that simple to just toss the leaves in the bag or trailer. There are ants that love to chomp down on sweaty folks.

I had hauled around 20 or so of the big garden bags of leaves back into the jungle on a nice warm day when I felt a bit of an itch on my wrists. With it being around 90 degrees outside, and sweating like I had finished another marathon, I hadn't paid too much attention.

Finally, though, one of the little critters really bit down and I found out I was covered in the rotten little buggers.

By the time I had finished and gotten up to take a shower, my wrists and forearms were fairly swollen and itching like crazy. I couldn't wear my watch for a few days as the band (normally loose) was just too tight.

One fringe benefit that Juan Carlos told me about when he saw my arms:

He said that when he's been working out in his garden and his fingers and joints are stiff, he will purposely seek out an ant hill and jam his hands down there and let the little creatures go to work. He claims that it's a great natural arthritic reliever.

I don't have arthritis (yet) but may keep that in mind. It is pretty dang uncomfortable, though, so if anyone wants to give it a shot, be warned.