Poison Ivy. We both have it all over in all these random places, some too delicate to mention. They appear as small itchy spots that become small itchy patches, then ooze and drive us crazy. Speaking for myself there are atleast six of these random patches.
We have begun the process of decontamination... strip the bed and wash everything... maybe we need to wash the dogs too. We try to mow the lawn where it is growing, mow it really tight. I think that all we are managing to do is keep it from going to seed and covering ourselves in an aerosol version of the toxins - much like burning it is a bad idea.
http://www.poison-ivy.org/index.htm
Also as I sat down to write about the really cool birds I just heard and saw in my back yard when I felt a tickle on my arm. Of course I subconsciously swiped at it and then in the middle of the action froze up so I could catch the piece of lint or bug that was tickling me. There it was, a deer tick (most likely - based on size) just mosying along. Ahhhhh...ha! Damn! I flushed him. This reminds me that I found a bloated tick in the bedroom a few days ago and we had better be on the look out for baby ticks. UGH!
I love my dogs but are ticks really necesary in life? Yes, yes I have them on that stuff and they weren't but five seconds overdue when I found the bloated bugger.
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/rbkimsey/tickbio.html
In terms of cool birds, I heard the first new one but never saw it. Its call is so distinct I knew I knew it, I just couldn't believe it was in my backyard. "Bob - WHITE", said the Bobwhite Quail. These are birds that are easy to recognize by their call. I don't really like them very much. It's not their fault. One particular college professor at VT ruined them for me... it was all he ever talked about, managing land for Bobwhite Quail and White tail Deer. Uck, did I ever get tired of talks about "harvest" and "edge" and "hunter relations".
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2890id.html
The other bird was actually more interesting to me and probably the reason I ended up with a tick on me. I heard a scatchy bird call coming my way when I was out by the orchard. I knew enough to know I wasn't familiar with it at all by sound. I watched as the bird flew into our tree line out back and sit on a low branch. My first guess was a Green Heron. This is a bird they wanted to teach us first hand at Frostburg but we never actually saw one, at least not that I remember. I realized that the "riparian" tree line in our back yard would make sense for this bird, and could help with the ID. I quietly stepped forward until I was about 15 maybe 20 feet away from the bird. There was just enough branches in the way I think to keep him from feeling fully threatened. At one point my mind thought this was a Grebe, but that is rediculous. It was sitting in a tree. So I tried to watch for its features.
I had a good five minute study. Long enough for a tick to climb or drop on me. Long enough for the Dogs to mosey and eat grass. Long enough to really take in the birds posture and yellow legs. Anyother color was hard to pin point, except perhaps a lighter color along the chest. At one point the bird relaxed and reached over to the branch next to him stretching out his neck and scooping up a bug. All of this was just cool for me. I decided to stick to Green Heron as a diagnosis. The site below confirms this as best it can but unfortunately does not include a call or sound of anykind which would seal the deal.
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2010id.html
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