Tick Tick Tick – but no Tock

Short and sweet, How to Remove a Tick Safely and Avoid Lyme Disease at Outside magazine.

It's very short so read the whole thing.  However, just in case, here's a refresher:

• Get it off ASAP, preferably with tweezers grabbing the head.  Don't delay for a trip to the ER!
• SNAP A PICTURE of it.  Hadn't thought of this one, but it'll help if follow-up treatment is needed.
• Wash the bite with soap & water, hand sanitizer, or similar.  Whatever you've got.

There are a few more twists and turns at the article, so go read that, but those are the basics.  I'll add two more:

• Always carry suitable tick tweezers when in the outdoors.  Way better than fingers, but if that's all you've got, get the bug off ASAP with your fingers.
• Take some form of B vitamin before heading into the woods.  Pill or a B-heavy energy drink will do.  Ticks, along with many other bugs, don't seem to like the smell.

Sorry, no pictures here.  That may come as some minor relief.

Return of the (dramatic music please) Steamroller

Surly is bringing back a limited run of their Steamroller fixie bike.  Frameset only, $699.  Drops on June 23rd at 9am CDT.  Take note of that and get your order in, because there may be a (small) run on this re-introduced classic.  Personally, my running will be more of "away" than "toward," but that's OK, you do you.  I have the greatest respect for fixie riders, but it's just not my thing.  Even the fans of fixies think the whole niche is stupid.

Here are some links: at Surly, news at Bike Radar, an old review.  Not quite sure where to order one; left as an exercise for the student, you'll figure it out.

Right now though, I'm fighting a bad jones for a fat bike.  With the relative lack of trails here in FL, having something to navigate beach sand is beginning to show its appeal.  More than anything else, it's a lack of a place to keep it that's holding me back.

And Here We Go...

TS Arthur.  Not expected to greatly affect us – or anyone else, for that matter.  Still, it is the first named storm.

source: weathernerds

"Though we don't anticipate any significant turbulence, the captain requests that you leave your seatbelt buckled."

Our Counter-Cyclical Ways

Article at The Times: Local tourism defies state decline

It's not long, so no TLDR needed.

It's always been a thing here, and I have it on good authority that bucking widespread economic trends goes back at least to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

I'd Watch It

Too bad it's not for real.  Meh, I'll be on my bike.

Take Care of Your Own Neighborhood... Dogs

Florida Woman Mauled to Death by Dogs that Had Allegedly Terrorized Neighborhood, Owner Charged in Killing

First, go read the whole thing.

OK, we all know that some individual dogs are just plain mean, and some breeds are generally more inclined so than others.  The woman who owned these dogs wasn't properly fencing them, and evidently not properly training them either.  But what ticks me off is that other neighbors had previously been attacked, but refused to cooperate with law enforcement to counter this threat.  Look people, this is Florida.  Call the cops if you can, or pepper spray or shoot the damn dog if there isn't time.  The main thing is to break the immediate assault then to get the continuing threat off the street.

A couple of years ago while riding my gravel bike I was jumped by a pit bull.  For his trouble, he ended up with a face full of pepper spray.  From then on he was always fenced, and when he'd see me passing he'd lay down turn his head as if to hide, so I guess the pepper spray counted as a form of "training."  But the part that bugs me?  I later learned that the same dog had been previously terrorizing neighbors, and they'd done nothing.  What's more, this was adjacent to a school.  What if that same dog had decided to eat up one of the kids who'd stepped out the back door?  Yes, the responsibility is on the owner, but there's also a degree of responsibility for those neighbors who'd previously turned their heads.

Anyway, returning to the case in the news item above, because of the owner's negligence and a neighbor's reluctance, a woman is dead.  Don't be that neighbor, and don't shove the problem off on someone else.  Deal with the dog problem as it comes around.  A dead 50-yo is bad enough, but you really don't want a dead kid on your conscience.

ps: 10 Internet Points if you can ID the semi-famous photo in the figure.

And So It Begins

Won't turn into anything, but on the other hand it's not nothing.  Stay tuned.