Whiteboard, Carelessness, delay....

One of my great pleasures in life is critters (wildlife)....some think I am a little off because of it.

I feed them, talk to them, when hurt care for them, and enjoy a camaraderie with them that most people don't.....when working in the garden or the yard we exist often within inches of each other....rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, birds, opossum , snakes, and more...even have a skunk that ventures out in the dusk and visits without spraying me.

Also seem to be a transient hotel for strays ...cats and dogs...feed them and house them and then when they are ready they go on their way again.

If perchance I am late with my feedings, or they prematurely run out of food they come to the door and let me know...raccoons and squirrels on their hind feet and noses pressed against the glass...Bluejays sitting on the corner of the deck squawking at me through the screen.

Had a mother raccoon wanting to drop her litter in one of the outside storage areas...wasn't going to happen...spread some mothballs in it and she vacated (surprisingly so did a snake that I didn't know was in there). She grumbled as she left and I figured she was mad and wouldn't be back...but she showed up a couple of weeks ago for food with 3 younguns in tow.

Also have some old-timers that migrate and then show up again each year...just like old friends showing up for a visit.

And then there was Freddie...a Canada Goose..he was the most unfriendly critter you could imagine.

Wounded ones find their way to my deck...strangest was a baby skunk with a broken rear leg, and then there was a six foot snake with a horrible gash down it's side....some mean veterinarian trips, others to wildlife rescue operations, and some just patched up and nurtured until they are ready to go again.

Our neighborhood resident hawk of years gone by has vanished (predator perhaps or maybe just old age) and the packs of coyotes that normally roam have also been scarce this year....as a result I have a plethora of rabbits this year....21 to be exact at last count...visiting the property.

Also blessed to be in an area of very high wood tick infestations...the weather didn't help this year either.

The absence of the hawk and coyotes is the reason for the high number of rabbits (usually just 5 or 6 managed to survive...not the 21 here now) and I previously have held the ticks off the property each season except for 5 or 6 that manage to get through. But with the high number of rabbits that are present, the ticks are hitchhiking in and dropping off the rabbits....and as a result have had 3 manage to latch onto me so far this season...two I removed (one very carelessly as I didn't realize it was a tick.... and one required a trip to emerg to get off because of the location it attached itself).

Well the carelessly removed one (Tuesday this week)....I was out cutting weeds and it looked like just a small chunk of a leaf on my thigh so I just grabbed it to remove it....unfortunately for me...as I removed it I also felt my skin pull...too late...I had squeezed the body of the tick and forced it to upchuck into me.

So-o-o ... Wednesday and Thursday found me under the influence of some real nasty antibiotics that pretty much turned me into a non-thinking lethargic lump....and now waiting for test results as to lyme disease.

Now for some strange reason my whiteboard had no mention of incapacitation for 2½ days due to tick bite...

...as a result the report I said would be released today has been moved back to July 17th....just thought I should post this for those ...specifically Eva... who had mentioned interest in it.

Longer post than I thought it would be...sorry.

Cornell