I spent this Thursday in Coshocton county with my advisor and another doctor of the microbiology persuasion. We were there hunting evil deer ticks potentially carrying Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Historically deer ticks and Lyme disease haven't been an issue in Ohio. For some reason (still unknown) the ticks haven't established a population here, even though they're in states surrounding us.
This is what a tick looks like when you've gotten your camera too close and it starts to climb onto your lens. The thought process goes like this:
"That's weird. How is she standing on her hind legs like that, it's almost as if . . . Oh, shit!" I managed to lure her out from the inside of my camera and pop her into a tube. I don't know what I was more worried about--a tick gumming up the innards of my camera, or interfering with a scientific study by losing a specimen.
We first went flagging (basically dragging canvas around) on a property owned by an Amish family. The mother was infected with Lyme disease a few years ago but was successfully treated with antibiotics. Unfortunately, we found about 50 deer ticks in just over an hour and a half. This sucks since they have two adorable little kids who like to play outside. William is about 4 and Mary is 5. Just imagine kids that look like this:
. . . but add neon colored nerf dart guns.
It was awesome. William tucked his into the back of his overalls and strutted around the house like he was the most bad-ass Amish thug eva'.
Obviously I don't know much about the Amish because this nerf thing really took me by surprise. I was a little disappointed. I thought it would be like stepping back into the 1800s, but the house wasn't any different than what we would have--well, I guess there weren't any electric lights, but there was a fridge, and a bathroom that I very much appreciated after a two hour drive following 3 cups of coffee.
But we happened to be crossing the street near the Amish school when it let out for the day and that did not disappoint--all the kids waving at the orange-clad oddballs (us) while riding in their mini-buggies and on their ponies.
We then headed out to check another property but came up empty. In the end, we checked two properties, 7 dogs (of varying degrees of smelliness), 1 deer checking station, and 1 deer that had been hit by a car.
That would be my advisor, Dr. Needham, in the tasteful orange vest. We wore a lot of orange that day on account of our desire to not be shot. Apparently deer hunting season can be a challenge for entomologists.
A lot of orange.
9 puppies shaped like sausages!
Nerds.
