Ticks are the problem here. My mother-in-law got three tick bites a couple of years ago, when she was 88. She had to have medical treatment each time, a fairly strong course of antibiotics. The same year, I got a tick bite way down in my navel - I thought i was goona die. We took out the carpets and did a number of other things to prevent future bites, and they've worked pretty well.

Spider bites can be even worse. Good luck, Chuck.

-Joe Offer, in the California Sierra Foothills-