21.   The deer tick, about the size of a poppy seed when it first attaches, enlarges as it feeds.

22.   The high grass also hides deer ticks, many of which carry Lyme disease.

23.   These birds feed on small rodents, which are essential in perpetuating the life cycle of a deer tick.

24.   They present a danger to drivers, drop deer ticks in backyards where they browse on pumpkins and select out their favorite shrubs to eat.

25.   This same deer tick is responsible for two other emerging tick-borne diseases, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis.

26.   Typically, it is passed to people by deer ticks that pick it up when they feed on infected animals.

27.   Warm weather ushers in warnings about deer ticks, poison ivy, sunburn and a host of other seasonal hazards.

28.   White-footed mice carry the deer ticks that spread Lyme disease.

29.   While deer ticks are most troublesome in the spring, I remind myself to enlist my wife for a post-ride inspection.

30.   A lot more cases could result this summer -- the prime Lyme season -- because of a bumper crop of the deer ticks that spread the disease.