We Can Run from Nature But We Can't Hide

In the Northeast United States, we now have another consequence of climate to deal with.

We try to insulate ourselves against Nature.  But we can't.  Try as we might, we are still a part of the natural world, even as we hunker down for winter in our (hopefully) well-heated homes.

Something that seems so insignificant to us - a terrible acorn crop - actually may end up having some pretty dire consequences to us living in the Northeast U.S. - and the newspaper sounding the alarm is the newspaper of the most urban city of the Northeast, the New York Times.

Get ready for an epidemic of Lyme Disease.

I've met two people (and the husband of another person) who have battled Lyme Disease.  It is amazing (and extremely frightening) to consider the havoc one tiny tick bite can cause.  One of these people, a former nurse, had to give up her profession and go on disability because of Lyme Disease.  Lyme Disease is no joke.

And if you think you are immune to ticks because you live in an urban environment - well, those people did, too.  If you are in the suburbs, or small cities like we are here in upstate NY, you are even in more danger.

My mother in law's lawn, in suburban NYC, is visited all the time by deer, as their visible droppings show.  And your yard may be, too.

Deer, hungry for food, may wander close to roads.  Some experts are fearful of increased deer/car collisions.  This is a concern for us when we travel NY 17 to and from my mother in law.  As winter draws to an end, we always see fair number of deer up on hillsides, trying to browse on what is left from the winter.  This year, it will be worse.   Hopefully we won't have to go down there too often, or at night.

Danger does not mean panic.  But, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Everything is interconnected in nature.  Even the human beings who try to insulate themselves from her.