Unfortunately, chiggers are nearly microscopic, and chigger bites only appear after the damage is done. By then the chigger has already packed up and said goodbye. After feeding, chiggers drop off and turn into harmless adults. Sometimes extra chiggers may tag along, hiding in your shoes, socks, carpet, bedding, etc., and come out for dinner later. For this reason, if you’ve been in chigger country, it’s a good idea to take a shower and put your clothes in the wash after you get home. (If you’ve had a bad experience with chiggers in the past, you may be tempted to burn your clothes.) Using insect repellent works well at keeping them off.

Like their relatives, ticks, chiggers seem to prefer tight, warm places between skin and clothing, and so socks and waists are frequent targets. They leave behind extremely itchy welts, lasting a few days to a week or so.

On this occasion I ended up with about 30 chigger bites, mostly around my ankles, as well as a little poison ivy rash on my right ankle for good measure.

This experience got me to thinking about chiggers: what they are, where they live, what they do in their free time.

After all, there are only so many hosts for a chigger to choose from, and one can never know when a host might come by. Life as a young chigger must have its long, lonely moments. I imagine groups of intellectual young chiggers passionately debating whether it’s better to “wait” or be more proactive. You only go through the life cycle once, and whoever you pick, you’re stuck with.

Of course, whether a chigger chooses to wait or hunt probably depends on its location. Country chiggers who choose to hunt could end up on wild goose chases or chasing rabbits. There’s lots of wild, open spaces, and it can be hard to catch someone who’s just passing through. On the other hand, waiting could go on for a long, long time. A suitable match might never swing by. Life can seem hard and a bit random for the chigger trying to make it in the country.

But things are different if you’re a city chigger. For the lucky chigger living near the big city, life is constant action. You hardly need to do anything. In fact, you can practically just sit there, looking pretty, and some sweet dear might come along and practically sit on you. On the other hand, if you jump at the first bite, you might miss a better option. A new one comes by every few minutes sometimes, so it’s safe to bide one’s time and wait. You just don’t want to get into a habit of waiting, because you’re only young for so long, and you need to get busy and start a family while you still can. Of course, with increased opportunities come increased risks. The environment can be quite toxic. The city isn’t the ideal place you’d want to raise larva.

For some reason, once chiggers reach adulthood (at which point they are no longer chiggers, but full fledged mites), they all go vegan. I suppose a fast-paced lifestyle of living off cellular fluids eventually catches up with you, and it’s nice to just sit back and sip vegetable juices. “They goes grandpa,” the young chiggers say, “drinking his green grass juice.” Meanwhile, their eyes are on the legs of a pretty young woman passing by. Here she comes, here she comes…. Bite!

I put a collection of photos up on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40771&l=afab0&id=809418097

James, visiting from Australia, and my housemate Hernando:

Having fun with Erin:

Me at Devil’s Smokestack:

This looked more impressive in real life:

A view of the interesting rock textures:

Jason and Erin found a couple of these lizards:

Our group — above: Hernando, Olen, Jason, James; below: Michelle, Kalie, Daniel, Klara, Erin, Eva:

Instead we took a walk around the park, enjoying the fall colors.

Autumn reflections:

Around the shore of the lake:

For some reason I really like thistle flowers. I wouldn’t say they are my favorite, but I think they are cool. I took the following photos. The first is, I’m guessing, a flower pod that is going to seed. I thought the spiny pod looked neat (it seems to be saying, in no uncertain terms, Do not eat me!). The other is just a regular bloom.

For vespers, the church met at this pavilion. We sang songs and listened to a short devotional. Later, after dark, we had a hot dog roast.

Joining us were some visitors to 3ABN from Russia. On the left is Alexi, president of the Russian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. (Please pardon if my spelling is incorrect; also I do not know all the last names.) Next to him are Alexi (not related) and Valeri, engineering staff from 3ABN’s Russian branch, and Julia Outkina, director of 3ABN Russia. And of course that’s me on the right.

This is the rock descent (actually a seasonal waterfall) where the trail comes down from the path above; you can see our happy team of adventurers:

A little further along, nearing the return ascent which is similar to the way we came down:

Three smiling faces: Klara, Eva, and Erin:

Clarissa really enjoyed coming down the dry waterfall in her 3-wheeled stroller! We thought she might be afraid, but it might as well have been a circus ride.

We saw a number of animals, including various birds and ducks, two kinds of heron, lots of deer (including some cute little fawns), and this praying mantis:

However, today turned out to be a beautiful day, despite becoming a little gray and overcast as the day wore on. In the afternoon I got together with some friends and visited Garden of the Gods, a state park in southern Illinois. It is one of my favorite places to visit around here, one that I have returned to many times.

Garden of the Gods is best known for its many unusual rock formations, including curious whirls and patterns in the rock texture itself. The main trail runs a loop at the top of the formations, and various spurs of the trail extend out to scenic overlooks. On some visits I enjoy climbing down the rocks, looking for interesting routes to the base. But on this particular visit I just enjoyed the views:

Jason (left), Sebastian (right), and I pose for the camera:

Erin and her dog Sabre (sah-BREE) joined us for the first time. Erin was great fun, and Sabre endeared herself to everyone. (I thought this photo was cute, but it doesn’t reflect Sabre’s usual affectionate, adventurous spirit.)

My housemate Hernando enjoys a solitary moment:

This excursion was a welcome break from the monotony of the past few weeks.

I had read about “observation towers” where the public could view local wildlife, and the park map directed us to the location with a symbol of a tall structure resembling a fire tower. I anticipated a good view from high up, and perhaps a chance to see some interesting birds. However, we were disappointed to find instead just a small observation deck or platform in a swamped field. There were some ducks swimming, but even with the aid of the binoculars we could not see them well enough to identify any.

Driving on, we came to a part of the park system called Devil’s Kitchen. We got out and walked a bit, enjoying the scenery. Eventually we came to this dam. From there we trekked a little through the woods, not following a particular trail, until we got tired and turned around.

Later, in Carbondale, we enjoyed a meal at a Panera Bread restaurant, which has become one of my favorite places to eat. You can consider it “highly recommended.” I had the black bean soup and a cherry pastry, both of which were delicious.

This is Olen doing a little rock climbing. The rocks within the maintained area of the park are the perfect size for easy climbing. They also make good props for photos.

There is a beautiful creek that runs through Dixon Springs. In some places it is placid, almost motionless; but if you know where to look, you can also find where it tumbles over big rocks and swirls in little pools. I find the sound of cascading water very relaxing.

I would like to identify this thorny plant. The stem is about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, and it grows maybe 15 feet high. As you can see, it is covered with some decent thorns — although not all the stems were as thorny as this one. It reminds me a bit of the plant called devil’s club, which I encountered in southern Alaska (only devil’s club is much thornier and far more sinister in appearance). I’ve seen the plant pictured here only in a small patch at this one spot in Illinois, and remembered it from the time some friends and I camped at Dixon Springs several years ago.