JANUARY FIRST 2019: TEN DAYS INTO THE NEW YEAR

CRAZY WEATHER HERE IN MAINE

 Today we have snow followed by rain, followed by temps in the single numbers.  We used to be proud of our winter weather in the western Maine mountains.  I have seen snow so deep that if you stepped off your snowshoes you would sink up to your chest; and February always had two weeks of below zero temperatures.   Real Mainers didn’t complain.

 

However, in the last few decades climate change is changing Maine.  The last three summers have been the hottest in recorded Maine history.    My wife and I lived in the Main woods in the early eighties for four years, in farmhouse with no electricity, water or plumbing.  We planted a garden, carried water from the stream behind our house, bathed in the stream, I cut firewood from the swamp in front of the house, we had a German Shepherd; and never once in those four years did we have, or know of a tick.    Now you can’t step outside without tucking your pants into your socks and spraying your ankles because the ticks are so bad – deer are covered with them, moose are covered with them, and the winter doesn’t kill them.

The local news reported that Maine lobster men are concerned because the increased ocean water temperature off our coast is driving the lobsters farther north.

This is the new norm and we have to live in it.  It is what it is.

 

Man is responsible for climate change.  We are the most destructive life form on this earth.  You can have your own opinions, but not your own facts.

Which brings me to one of my pet peeves:
 In the calendar that was modified by the Catholic Church to coincide with Christian holidays, today is January 1^st - New-year’s day. 

Yet, the solar New-year began on December 21 – a far less arbitrary date to begin a calendar.

the Ol'Buzzard

  

WHY TICKS IN MAINE?

Maine is now one of the highest states for incidences of lime disease.  This is understandable because so many people work in the woods and Maine is an outdoor paradise for sportsmen.  

During the sixties and seventies I was a survival instructor in northern Maine.  We put as many as fifty students through our courses a week and never once did we have a tick on any instructor or student.   

Ticks came into Maine sometimes in the nineties.  Now they are a major concern whenever you go into fields or woods. 

BILL MAHER EXPLAINS WHY WE HAVE TICKS IN MAINE

We live in a new world
and we can't go back
the Ol'Buzzard

TICK DANGER THIS SUMMER

Two cases of Powassan virus, a potentially fatal tick disease, have been confirmed in Maine for the first time.  Like Lyme Disease, Powassan is carried by deer ticks. 

AREAS OF POWASSAN TICK INFECTION

Powassan is found to be fatal in about one out of six cases and approximately 50% of the people effected develop neurological problems.

Because Powassan is a virus there is no cure, so doctors can only treat the symptoms and hope the body’s immune system will combat the illness. 

Unlike Lyme Disease, which is bacteria, a virus is not technically a living organism, so it cannot be killed.   Virus cannot multiply (procreate); but they attach themselves to a host cell and implant their DNA, and when the host cells divide those new cells carry the virus DNA.

in the 1960’s and 1970’s I was a military survival instructor stationed in Maine.  Hundreds of nights I slept on the ground in the woods, and have trained thousands of students: neither I or any of our students were ever bothered with a single tick. 

Now you can’t mow your lawn without checking yourself for ticks before coming in the house.   Anytime you walk off a paved surface you are in danger of picking up ticks.  

SOME TICKS ARE SO SMALL THEY ARE HARD TO FIND ON YOUR BODY

 

Regardless of frequent storms, or sea rise; I think you can track global warming by paying attention to animal and insect migration.

   Sometimes over the last thirty years, ticks have migrated to Maine.

Prevention is the defense.  If you are going into fields or into the woods, wear long pants and long sleeve shirts.  Stuff your pants cuff into your socks, liberally use insect repellent on your pants legs, shoes and hat, as well as exposed skin.  

Best of luck this summer

the Ol’Buzzard