Reasons to be Careful Out There
Sorry to gross you out, but...
Uhhh... Yeah. That is the microscopic shot I took of Lord Only Knows what Toby (our Ragdoll cat) managed to find... My hunch is that this is something I tromped in after working out in the yard. It's probably 3/16" long and quite frankly indistinct save a wary eye.
I bring this to your attention because this is the summer, and we all like to be out playing Frisbee and frolicking in the grass and whatnot. Without proper attention to wee beasties (like ticks, etc.), the good times could stop rolling pronto. And nowhere is that more true than when it comes to cooking. (Imagine if that little hairy speck above got into your sala... Nevermind.)
Anywho, you get the idea, and I'd just as soon log off right now... But with one final thought... I've done quite a bit of landscaping, and no doubt disturbed much more than my fair share of monster arachnids... Last night I stumbled upon one in the narrow staircase that leads into the shop basement. If it wasn't a brown recluse, it was the big brother of its bodyguard. By the time I found the bug spray, it was gone. So now we have a potentially poisonous spider the size of a '55 Buick Roadmaster roaming the shadows of my workspace and beyond. Oh goody. One thing is for sure, he and his ilk are toast. (I have a friend here on the Cape who was bitten on the arm by a brown recluse, and has the divot to prove it.) As I said, he and his ilk are toast.
Sooo... My heartfelt advice is this - get out there and enjoy the season. Enjoy the birds and the feeders, and the BBQ, and all the rest... But just be careful out there...
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan
Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding
Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding
