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Borrego Springs, CA

Monday, May 20, 2013

Learning a new skill :P

Tonight’s post will be somewhat of a hodge-podge of the happenings since I arrived at Tamarac NWR.  The rain continued throughout today, and we’ve received close to 3” of precipitation during the last several days.  It was bad enough today that the scheduled school group cancelled.  I’m glad they did.  Everyone would have been miserable.  Looking at the forecast, I’m not sure the tree planting first graders will show up tomorrow either.

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With the school group cancelled, I was able to attend the weekly staff meeting.  This refuge manager includes the volunteers in that meeting.  I appreciate that so I have an idea of what is going on for the next week.  I took a bit of a good natured rashing for abandoning the bird tour early on Saturday, but it was all in fun and others wished they had done the same.  I also found out that the bear is still hanging around each night, so there will be no more putting out of the feeders during the day for a while.  I was putting them out for the day, but taking them down at night.  It seems the bear broke into the storage shed last night that contains the refuge bird seed.  Too bad.

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After the meeting, I spent the rest of the day taking an on-line defensive driving course.  This refuge requires this certification before any staff or volunteer is allowed to drive a refuge vehicle.  I ended up passing with flying colors, but it sure was a challenge to wade through all of the curriculum without dozing off.

_MG_8674Last Friday when I went to town in Detroit Lakes, one of the items on my list of things to do was buy a fishing pole.  Upon a recommendation, I went to L & M Fleet store to look at poles.  As I wandered around, I overheard an older employee talking about how the fishing was going.  Aha!  Here’s my local expert.  I asked him to help me pick out a pole.  I told him I would be fishing from shore only, and that I wanted an open faced reel that would work for someone that hadn’t fished in years.  After looking through the hundreds of poles, he recommended a Shakespeare Ugly Stick.  (It’s kind of hard to see on my new ‘vibrant’ picnic tablecloth.)  He also did go on and on about what I should do, what lures I should try, what knots I should use, and so on and so on…  I was a little snowed with all of that information, but was thrilled to find some one so enthusiastic and willing to help me.

As I mentioned last night, I got some night crawlers over the weekend, but they’ve been sitting in the fridge ever since.  I guess I’m just a fair weather fisherperson, and there doesn’t appear to be any fair weather until at least Thursday.  Hope they won’t all be dead before I get a chance to use them.

In closing, I’d like to tell you about the new skill I’m learning.

IMG_8683These are the tools of my latest trade… wood tick removal!  The wood ticks here are unbelievable!  This is one evening’s removal from my body.  They’re doing a good job of creeping me out.  When I was at Alligator River NWR last summer, I was issued the tick removal tool on the right.  I didn’t have to use it there, but I’ve sure been using it here.  A fellow local volunteer gave me the suggestion of using the tape.  Once you remove the tick, it’s hard to kill them, but if you stick them on the duct tape that’s it… curtains you nasty devils!  Part of this morning’s staff meeting covered the reporting of tick bites.  Uf-dah!  I guess this isn’t paradise after all.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

27 comments:

  1. Good luck with the fishing. Can't wait to see photos of your catches.

    And yerk. I guess tick removal is a necessary skill, but hope I don't need to learn it anytime soon!

    Hope tomorrow is sunny and beautiful.

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  2. The ticks are creepy. I hate those nasty things. Made my sister very ill when we were kids. She was so bad we thought we would loss her.

    We don't have rain but boy do we have wind.

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  3. Duct tape, huh? That's a new one to me. I'm hoping to never again need it, though. :)

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  4. Being from the forested Blue Ridge, I need that tool. What is it and where can I get one?? I hate ticks. Right now we are having Ant troubles. Yuck too.

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  5. You certainly must have ticked off the ticks by tocking them off with that tool.

    Don't worry about the nightcrawlers in the fridge. If you don't get a chance to fish, you can always fry them up. They taste like bacon! :cD

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  6. We have ticks here too, but they are only bad in fall and winter when it rains a lot. When I had dogs I used a tick repellent that you put on the back of their necks. Emma is black so it must be hard to see them on her. The worse tick attachment I had was when I got one "down there" I actually went to a doctor to have it removed. I had found it after a shower, after an hour or so of swimming at the health club. Went right to the clinicand asked for someone with good tweezer skills!

    We always flush them, but the tape is good too.

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  7. With all our dogs over the years ticks have normally not been a problem for us here but just last week we pulled 2 off the Pheebs. Pulled one off my leg in Colorado back in 08. Miserable little things they are.

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  8. Egads...I have no idea what it feel like to have a tick bite but I am sure it isn't fun.

    Hope to see a photo of your big catch!

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  9. Ya gotta be tough to live in the northwoods!!! According to my hubby, you bought the best rod and real available. He loves his ugly stick!! (That didn't sound right..(smirk)

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  10. Ick and ack about the ticks. Interesting idea about the duct tape. We have ticks here, but rarely find them on ourselves, just an occasional one on Maggie. Thank goodness we don't have enough to warrant using duct tape!

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  11. Our son worked at a church camp in Menagha, MN for 6 summers (about an hour from you). They had nightly tick checks with the kids. He did say the ticks get better later in the summer, just in time for the mosquitoes to carry you away :)

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  12. Hmmm... Carolyn writes about the black flies in Maine and you're writing about the ticks in Minnesota.... guess no place is perfect, huh?

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  13. Ugh--ticks! Emmi got a few ticks on her at the RV park in Texas of all places--they creep me out too.

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  14. Ah. Tick Tape. During our stays at Laguna Atascosa NWR we carried roles of duct tape, aka Tick Tape. Any time we went out into the brush we'd use strips of tape to go over our clothes and pick up the many tiny Seed Ticks that had hitched a ride. Sometimes we get a "swarm" of 100 or more in a little group. Good times!!

    I've seen those tick removal tools but never used one. Do they work well??

    Mark

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  15. To help keep the ticks off you, try wearing a broad brimmed hat and insect repellant.

    Rex

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  16. Oh ticks, I did have one once - I thought it was a spot on the back of my neck and picked it. Doh! Apparently, you really aren't meant to do that.
    Anyway, this is just me dropping by to say hello - I'm still enjoying your great blog posts and photos!

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  17. Ugly Stick - YES!! Jim does love his. One of his favorite rods so the guy did good for you. I am so not a bug persona and just the thought of those ticks makes my skin crawl.

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  18. Ticks and other creapy things give me the heebee jeebees! Glad you have a tool for that.

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  19. I have an ugly stick too !!!

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  20. Wood ticks.....lovely!! I pulled one off the cat last night and a few others have come in with him and dropped off. Found one on the rim of my coffee cup a couple mornings ago. Must have been looking for its morning caffeine. My method for killing them is to chop off their heads with a nail clipper. Very effective. DH informed me the mosquitoes are out and about too.

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  21. Ticks are horrible. Their bite is nothing but it's all the things you can get from them like lyme disease.

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  22. Years & years ago when I was in high school we had sheep, they had/got ticks, ticks creep me out!!! Do not envy you that! Seems like every place has a down side :)

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  23. YUCK! nasty things. . .those ticks. . .don't envy you that chore.

    Sure hope your bear problem moves on soon. . .am looking forward to North Woods bird pics. . .

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  24. Don't like ticks. Hope you get to do some fishing soon.

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  25. Nope, no perfect place...but those ticks can cause Lyme disease if I'm not mistaken...and they are creepy...I feel about ticks just like I feel about leeches...KEEP THEM OFF OF ME!!!

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  26. You are one tough woman! Jim says if he found all those ticks we would be packed up and out of there.

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