Lymie, Am I Ticked!

Welcome to the Thunderdome (Photograph from a local cable program on Ixodes scapularis)

Blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis)
Many enter. Few survive.
July 2006

I took Marcel to the vet the other day (for a pulled muscle in his neck which, after a week of doggie-profens and some mellow-down time, is doing much better — thank you for asking) — and after a routine check-up — the doctor asked if Marcel had had his Lyme Disease vaccinations yet.

"Lyme Disease?" I says, "We live out on The Rock, I didn't think we had that problem out there."

"It started to show up last year," she replied.

"Really? How did that happen?" I ask, now a little ooked out by the whole scenario of the upcoming warm weather and outdoor activities.

"The tourists brought them with them," chimes in the doctors assistant.

"Tourists!" I say, through clenched teeth (in a manner that can only be described as the worst imitation of somebody trying to sound like Jerry Seinfeld saying, "Newman!").

"Tourists," she repeats.

Damn you (as I will now refer to them), Lymies!

•••

Hell On Earth
(Buy: Deer Tick: War Elephant (When the album drops, in May.)


(Until then, check out Deer Tick on myspace, and get your pets their shots!)