Back from vacation!

[LincolnMan]

Welcome back - both of you! You've been missed.....

Bill - I second the opinion about how our Victorian kinsmen and women dealt with pesky critters - particularly the soldiers, both North and South. Lots of ticks (think Rocky Mount Spotted Fever - unknown then) as well as the current Lyme Disease, etc. Not to mention mosquitoes! West Nile Virus...if it existed then, as well as malaria, and encephalitis in some cases could be carried by mosquitoes. Lew Powell's oldest brother, Benjamin, died from encephalitis in 1859. One wonders how the soldiers, probably in constant contact with these critters during the summer months, fared....

It had to be exasperating. I forgot to mention that the tick situation here in Michigan seems severe this year. We had a 12 year-old boy come in the ER this morning with two ticks embedded in his scalp. The critters were not identified as Deer Ticks- but still!