TICKS are evil. This is recreated, I accidently deleted the original. Bummer, it was a masterpiece..probably the only one I'll ever create. But hey, we're back from a quick hard paced 36 hour run to iowa...walked in the door at 7am this morning and slept 7 hours and got up..so we're just "kinda" back.

Wild Dancer called and he's coming up to visit tonight from Texas and bringing a friend. We've just been in long enough to pile the house down, not long enough to clean it up and get it presentable...which is really hard for me to cope with...but Mrs. Beans isn't really big on that kind of stuff so I'm just going to have to stretch my personality abit. ouch.

I have officially declared war on Ticks. So my research has begun, and alot of the information available about applying deet and even wearing light colored clothes (not so ticks can't see you...its so you can more easily see them)..is available and useful. But it isn't as encompassing as what I'm after...I want them destroyed, annhilated, irradicated...and NO NO NO ..if you are into protecting them as an endangered species FORGET IT...in the end if you've got the last 2 on the face of the earth...you better not let me know where you keep them. That's what HISTORY books are for, preserve them there. Research Research Research...lots to do, and maybe someday I'll be producing a book to inform and persuade you to join me. There are millions of them, but I've just got one body..so I feel every hit but they seem oblivious and may even be laughing hysterically about their new enemy. Go ahead, laugh it up tick....I'm coming for you. As they use to say in some typing class years ago...(and they may have had ticks in mind at that time, who can tell for sure..) "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country".

I will be discovering what is known and knowable about everything from their mating habits to their achilles heel. Whether or not I speak of them much in future posts I don't know...but fear not, I will be making progress and so will probably at least update you a little.

THE ENEMY
Ticks are small insect-like animals that have jointed limbs and a hardened exoskeleton. All the stages of the lifecycle are blood-feeders. Ticks are not only important for their role as bloodsuckers, but also as vectors for disease (see Lyme disease section). They should not be confused with insects. They are wingless parasites with a cephalothorax. Adults and nymphs have 4 pairs of legs but larval ticks only have 3 pairs. The lifecycle consists of 4 stages: egg, larva, nymph, adult. Transition is accomplished by moulting of the skin. The entire cycle can be completed in a period as short as 6 weeks or as long as 2 years depending on the species. The female tick usually deposits her eggs on the ground. After hatching, the larvae will ascend various grasses and shrubs to come within easy reach of passing hosts. Ticks are very hardy and so can survive for long periods (up to 3 years) without food or water. Tick bites can result in a painful, slow healing wound at the bite site. Extensive inflammation and irritation may also result. They can also cause a human disease called tick paralysis. This is characterized by incoordination and collapse. Paralysis can occur 6 days after attachment. (http://www.agrenv.mcgill.ca/urban-nature/ticks.htm)

From an Australian site, (http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ticks.htm ):To moult to the next stage, the larval tick must obtain a blood meal. In searching for a host, they display a behaviour referred to as 'questing'; whereby the tick climbs to the top of nearest vegetation and waves its forelegs to and fro slowly, hopefully contacting a prospective passing host...This questing behaviour is undertaken each time a host is required for blood. Ticks usually do not climb more than around 50cm in the vegetation and there is no evidence to suggest that they fall out of trees.

Once a suitable host is found, the larvae will blood feed for 4-6 days, drop from the host and moult to the eight-legged nymphal stage. Nymphs require a further blood meal for 4-8 days before moulting to the adult stage. Both female and male ticks quest for a host, but for different reasons; the female for a bloodmeal, the males to search the host for female ticks in order to mate and sometimes feed from them. Males may actually parasitise the female ticks by piercing their cuticle with their mouthparts to feed on her haemolymph (the tick's blood) and up to 3-4 males have been found feeding on one female tick. Male ticks rarely bloodfeed on a host. The adult female Paralysis tick will feed for up to around 10 days, drop off the host and lay eggs over several weeks. The entire life cycle of the Paralysis tick, involving 4 stages and 3 hosts, will take around a year to complete. Each life stage can be present throughout the year, although for the Paralysis tick, adults are more abundant in the spring and the early summer months, larvae in mid to late-summer, and nymphs during winter.

There are many types and variances, and this post isn't to completely cover the subject, I just want you to know that these evil creatures are definitely out there...and there is knowledge available, and I'm on it...THE WAR HAS BEGUN.


Now that being said, as gross as it actually is...I'm nonetheless hungry, so its off to the porch I go..time to grill up a steak or two and then use that side thingy to fry up a couple eggs.