Winter ticks away

I first wrote this in 2006, but it's still relevant for 2009, because we're having another unseasonably warm January and no winter at all.
And while warm weather brings its pleasures, there are certain perils, too.
Like one of the few critters on the face of the earth that I hate, a vermin I found crawling up my leg after a Jan. 5 dog walk.


I broke a sweat while briskly walking my dog March 2.
It's of limited interest to readers in the Twin Counties, writing about how much I may perspire, I realize, but bear with me.
As someone who doesn't like warm weather and the damp feeling that comes along with it, I immediately slowed down.
To me, this became a notable event because it's the first time in 2006 I felt overheated in shirt sleeves, despite a nice breeze.
A quick glance at my cell phone confirmed my belief that it is not in fact May yet, no matter what the thermometer reads — 70 degrees!
Signs of spring are all around: Birds take to the trees and to the air, and even when you can't see them, their songs are filling the air; flower stems have started pushing their way out of the soil towards the sun; and insects have already buzzed me in the face.
It's been a very unwinterlike winter, especially January, the warmest on record for our region, and probably for many other places across the region and the world, too, I suspect.
NASA called 2005 the warmest year in a century, and we're not getting 2006 off to a good start.
Twin County orchardists now have to worry about their trees budding and a renewed cold snap nipping them, diminishing their crop early on in the growing season.
As a dog owner, I know I'm going to have ticks crawl up my legs and arms into my hair and stick that thing, whatever its called, through my skin in order to drink my blood.
It's going to happen, no matter what preventative measures I may take.
Anecdotally, I realized the winter hovered in unseasonably warm temperatures from the number of ticks I found on both me and the dog.
At a time I can usually depend on the little buggers to be dead, ticks struck my dog multiple times this season.
November must have set a record for the number of parasites attacking my dog. Probably amounted to a dozen — I lost count and just kept finding them as they continued to get bigger from their blood intake.
The only month we got any relief was December.
I welcome spring, even though I dread the hot, muggy weather.
But even when I'm not overheated, fear of ticks may keep me in a cold sweat.