Nuisance #5 - ticks

So far I've mentioned slugs, weeds, biting flies and hayfever. Another nuisance I can mention is the tick. Unless you are rigorous in inspecting every nook, cranny and crevice on your body then the only way you'll know you have a tick is when you see its blood filled body hanging off your skin.

Ticks are parasites from the arachnid family (includes spiders) that live through hematophagy, the blood of other animals. If you walk through long grass then you are at risk of brushing off some grass that has a tick on it. The tick then transfers to your body and looks for somewhere warm and moist to settle down for a meal. I prefer to have pasture on my land as it attracts nature but as ticks are as much a part of nature as anything else then this is a hazard I must expect.

Often a dog or cat visiting my land will have a few ticks on it. They spend most of their day rolling around in the grass so it is to be expected. If humans are working outside in long grass then there is a good chase of having a tick attach itself to you.

Ticks have a harpoon like mouth, which allows them to firmly attach whilst feeding on your blood. Some also carry Lyme disease, which gives symptoms of fever and fatigue leading to a host of other complications that are too numerous to mention. See Lyme Disease.

So far, this year, I've removed three of the chaps crawling around my body and one that had attached to my stomach but had not yet started to feed. Last year it was one attached and one that had burrowed into my body for some reason. Two years ago I found one behind my knee but it was too late as it was full of my blood.

Some people say that covering the feeding tick with Vaseline cuts off its oxygen supply and it falls off. I tried this but after ten minutes I saw no change and just scraped it off in the usual way. Prevention is always better than cure so I give my self a good inspection when I return from the field. Being fully covered in clothes does not guarantee that you won't get a tick. Some will brush off onto your clothes and be brought into the house where it can attach later. Especially, if it falls onto a bed and can wait for night fall.

Busy week

I finally finished the stone drain after moving 40 tonnes of stone by hand. Stiff all over from my exertions, I took today off and went into town to buy some paint with which to paint the exterior of the house. We couldn't agree on a colour so we decided to paint it the same colour as the concrete. It won't look any different to the way it is now (we have gotten used to it) but it will be sealed against the weather.

The vegetable garden is providing a regular supply of vegetables. Potatoes, lettuces and pak choi (Chinese cabbage) inside the polytunnel. Onions and shallots outside.

Last weekend we went sailing on a friend's yacht. That was fun. I did a good enough job of crewing that I've been invited to be a regular. Afterwards, we went to my friend's farm. Jealous is the word for it. It has me thinking that it's time to pass this acre on to someone else and upgrade to something bigger. We shall see, after I have finished the renovations.

Nukes are good for you

On the BBC last night the Horizon programme showed startling results from studies following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown.

When the disaster occurred the Soviet authorities put into practice their recovery plan. As with other plans such as on Three Mile Island in the US and elsewhere the plan regarded any radiation as bad for people and the environment. The miles around Chernobyl people were evacuated and none returned.

It was said that thousands would die from radiation sickness. This was based on studies carried out by US scientists following the atomic bomb blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The scientists drew a graph of increased risk from cancer against radiation dose. They were unable to find results for low doses so they extrapolated the graph back to the origin.

This meant that as far as radiation is concerned, any amount of radiation is bad for humans, animals and the environment in general so Chernobyl had to be evacuated. However, results from studies in Chernobyl show this need not have happened.

The fact is only 56 deaths can now be attributed to the disaster. Forty seven of the hundred or so men sent into mop up inside the reactor facility have died of cancer. Nine children have died of thyroid cancer. There have been no increased numbers of cancers further afield. Animals that remained in the area though receiving the equivalent radiation does of thousands of X-Ray photographs per day are living normal lives and are not giving birth to many headed mutants.

Studies elsewhere have shown that Americans living in the Rocky Mountains get twice the background radiation dose (Gamma Rays from space) than people in the lower lying states of the US but suffer far fewer cancers. People living in a region of Iran where the natural background radiation is many times higher than normal also suffer fewer cancers.

The reason is now believed to be that low doses of radiation are in some way good for you. Certain genes in the body that fight radiation are switched on by these low doses and help the body to fight the associated cancers. People living around Chernobyl were receiving low doses of radiation from the operation of reactor and their radiation fighting genes had been switched on to combat this.

It would be good to use as much renewable sources for electricity generation but the belief that any nuclear reactor is inherently bad can be discounted so long as the reactor is properly maintained. Even a badly maintained reactor has been shown not to pose a threat to human survival.

Remember this, gene mutation and not gene crossover is the main driver of evolution. Humans evolved through a combination of environment and successful gene mutation. The cause of these mutations over the millennia? Natural radiation that has always been around since time began.

BBC - Nuclear Nightmares

No standby

The UK government is outlaw standby switches on electrical goods. Off really will mean off. Gadgets will stop using power when you are not using them. For example, a television in standby mode will use 20% of the power it uses when switched on. Leave it on over night and you use as much power as you did whilst watching a football game.

All this power wastage adds up to many Gigawatts of power lost each year by the population as a whole. By ridding ourselves of standby mode we may need to build fewer (and hopefully no) new nuclear power stations.

In addition electrical items will have to be more energy efficient whilst switched on. Lighting that is not efficient enough will be phased out, which may well see the end of the incandescent light bulb.

The Times - TV standby buttons will be outlawed

Money doesn't buy a good life

"People can live long, happy lives without consuming large amounts of the Earth's resources, a survey suggests."

Vanuatu, the happiest country on the planet, sustains itself relatively simply. The UK on the other hand with its consummer lifestyle is supposedly 108th in happiness.

BBC - Happiness doesn't cost the Earth

Rocky VI, The Final Vertebra

The stone drain nears completion. I moved about two tonnes of rock today. All of it by hand. A digging machine is only so good. If you want a gaping hole in the ground then a digger will do it quickly. The trench was cut with a digging machine. If you want a stone drain, built in the traditional manner, with care and years of flawless operation ahead of it, then it has to be made by hand. I'll take a few photos of it when the sun shows itself.

I'm riddling the earth from the trench too. There is a lot of valuable soil that would clog up a stone drain but would do very well in my vegetable garden. The soil is separated from stones which cover the large stones already in the trench.

A whale story that made me think

Here's a distasteful story about whale hunters killing a whale in front of tourists.

Whalers kill prey in front of shocked tourists

This made me think of the recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission and the figures for permitted killing of whales for scientific research.

I couldn't help think that maybe whale science needs a lot more investment. After all, when I was a scientist I performed an experiment, wrote it up and moved on to new work. Apparently whale scientists aren't that good. They have to kill thousands of whales every year and still not find out what they are looking for. Some of these whales even get mislaid and end up in restaurants.

I guess there aren't too many clever people in whaling.

From bad to good to worse than bad

It looks like people are trying to outdo each other in the Kill the Planet stakes.

Well, if you are going to poison the planet then please get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

New airline launches £75 flights to Hong Kong

Air fares update

"Air passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday."

That's excellent! I chucked my passport in the bin last year with the intention of living life locally forever more.

I hope this can be extended to travel from Europe to elsewhere. If you want to travel to Bali and force your ways on the locals then don't. Look Bali up on the Internet and keep yourself at home.

The Times - Air fares 'to double' as Europe votes for green tax

In the news

British Sugar Shuts Refineries

Why not keep them open and use them in ethanol production? This denotes a certain lack of forethought.

Guardian - British Sugar to shut two refineries

New Wetland to Save London from Disappearing Underwater

The Thames Barrier was opened less than 30 years ago but is soon to be redundant thanks to global warming.

Thankfully, this is understood and ancient flood plains in Essex are being rebuilt to reduce pressure on the Thames should there be a tidal surge.

This wouldn't be a problem but coastal defence construction along the English east coast since the 1950s mean that any surge in the North Sea will be focused on the Thames Estuary.

You can't battle with nature and expect to win.

BBC - Huge marine wetland starts life

Time for Air Travellers to Pay the True Cost

It sounds great, travelling to another European country for little more than a pound. For too long air travel has been subsidised by tax free aviation fuel. The result is the fastest growing cause of green house gas. The EU is now discussing ways to cut down on air travel.

BBC - Euro MPs push for air fuel taxes