It's May....and I have...

Spring Fever!
It happens every Spring. I don't want to focus on work. All I want to do is go play outside. Luckily tho (for my boss), I haven't had the crazy desire to go hiking due to the massive tick infestation. I had issues with ticks last year, but not on my own street or my own yard. But this year is a different story.

According to April Hussar's article on

"Why this year's tick season will be really bad" is because:

"According to Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., this is

poised to be an especially bad tick season, because of the way the

white-footed mouse population was affected by a great acorn season

two years ago, and a bad acorn season this past year.

Since ticks feast on white-footed mice, and white-footed mice are

very effective at transmitting Borrelia burgdorferi

(the bacterium that causes Lyme disease), the infected tick population

grew last year, says Dr. Ostfeld. Now, this year, fewer acorns

means fewer mice, which in turn, theorizes Dr. Ostfeld, essentially

means ticks will need something else to snack on. Us! "

Deer Tick

And I can TOTALLY vouch for that! I have seen more ticks this year than I have seen in over 25 years! I have already been treated with the antibiotic that prevents lyme, because I found a deer tick on me about a month ago-and I had no idea how long it had been on me.  I have had a few more since, one sucking on me this Saturday. Luckily, it had only been on me less than an hour (I think). My hound dog has had several on him too, but since these blood suckers are deer ticks-they have this reddish brown butt. So, I can see them on his black fur, and get them off almost as soon as it lands on him. (I check his head and body everytime he brushes up against anything on our walks now).

 

I did get my hands dirty this weekend, digging up lots of weeds that creeped in over the past month. I didn't mulch last year, and I am really paying for it this year. Looking forward to mulching over the weekend tho. That will make the yard look 10x better from the curb, anyways. :)

Last weekend, I used some nifty pest repellent stuff called "Shake Away" for the voles and moles in the yard. I even encountered one of the little critters when I poked a hole in the tunnel--he came crawling up, and I immediately poured the Shake Away all over him and smacked it down with dirt.

 REAL LIFE WHACK-A-MOLE! EEEEK!!

It creeped me out, and I felt quite ashamed for abusing the poor guy. It's okay if I poison him, but I don't dare want to see the consequences of my actions by hitting the sucker in the head. Shame on me!! You can suffer from poison all day long, just not while I am watching.

Voles are vegetarians, so they like to
 eat the roots of all your pretty plants.
They leave holes all over your yard.

Vole Holes

Surprisingly, lots of people don't even know that there is such a thing as voles. I had to tell several people on facebook what they were, which I thought was interesting.

I used to think the holes were snake holes or something. I wasn't sure. But apparently, I have had them the entire time we have lived in the house. I just didn't notice they were eating LOTS of my plants until last year. The year prior, I did have one particular plant they liked. It was gone within three months of me planting it. Just fell right over-roots were eaten all up!
 

Moles are NOT cute.

They are quite scary looking. They do a LOT more damage to the entire yard. They do some in the gardens, but mostly in the main areas, where they can eat your grubs.

They leave lots of tunnels all over your yard, and large piles of dirt that are like giant ANT HILLS. They make it really hard to walk around too-since they have uprooted your grass and basically tilled up your soil for you in their tunnel routes.

Anyways, enough about my yard, rodents, ticks and my Spring fever. HAPPY MAY!