Summertime Adventures!

It's only been 2 months since my last post - I'm obviously doing a great job of keeping up with this over the summer.  Sadly, without being in school 24/7, my motivation to do anything (and I mean anything) has completely disappeared.

So far, my summer has been nothing but a big adventure!  I am working for the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory as a research assistant and love my job (for the most part).  A "typical" work week for me includes collecting ticks for a few mornings around Manhattan and a night or two (or three) in SE Kansas - working both in the morning and evening.  However, the thing about this job is - there really is no "typical" day.  Here's the rundown:

The tick girls and our boss

Ticks are known carriers for many diseases.  The disease our professor/boss has a grant to research is anaplasmosis.  Anaplasmosis is a disease that affects the blood of cattle and can lead to anorexia and cardiovascular problems.  Our goal is to collect as many ticks as possible this summer in SE Kansas - an area known to have problems with anaplasmosis.  We just passed the 2,000 mark last week!

typical morning

There are three of us girls working on the project this summer.  Our "uniform" is white, disposable coveralls, rubber boots, and latex gloves.  (Talk about being ridiculously hot).  Did I mention we have to duct tape our boots to our coveralls to prevent any creepy crawlies from sneaking in?  We drag a square meter of fleece/flannel around through pastures, woods, fields, etc and the ticks attach to them in the same manner than they attach to humans and animals.  The way the ticks attach to a host is through a process called "questing" in which they climb to the top of grass or a bush and stand on one set of legs while sticking all the others up in the air - waiting for an unsuspecting host to walk by so they can latch on.

Garnett, KS

St. Paul, KS

The best part about this job is the schedule - when we aren't out traveling.  Because ticks can't handle the heat (and neither can I), we only collect for a few hours, usually around 6-9 AM and then have the rest of the day off.  It's not so bad getting up in the morning when you know you can come home in a few hours and nap!  Our boss is also quite possibly one of the best professors to work for - which makes the job so much better than it could be.

Arcadia, KS

Tick larvae

The downside to this job?  Nasty hotels in tiny towns that give you a fly swatter with your room; crawling over, under, and through barbed wire fences; poison ivy (enough said); angry cows; grasshoppers getting trapped inside your coveralls; dragging for 3 hours in 100 degree weather and getting one tick all morning; burrs, brambles, and basically every sharp plant in SE Kansas; and lastly, walking through a "nest" of sorts and discovering you have hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of teeny, tiny tick larvae crawling all over your coveralls.

Outside of collecting ticks, I'm making the most of having so much free time this summer.  Cole and I've spent almost every weekend this summer at a wedding.   Outside of that, we've also spent quite a bit of time shooting - I'm moving up from handguns to shotguns and rifles.  He's convinced me to take hunters safety with him in August, although I don't plan on shooting any animals any time soon :)  Best of all, I've had plenty of time to hang out with my favorite boys - Little Bear, my nephew Eli, and Cole.

And the LB photoshoot begins...

Happy Thursday!