Lurking in the water

With summer upon us and visiting area lakes and waterways many of us will undoubtly find things lurking in those waters. One of the most common lurkers that often hitch a ride out of the water with you are leeches. I get all girly at the thought of touching one but what must be done must be done when a child comes to you with an uninvited friend tagging along on their leg. I have found through my own experience that what I was taught was the correct way to remove a leech is actually not the safest way! So leave the salt in the cupboard and read on to find out the safest way to send the uninvited friend home.

 Here is what the experts from PBS NOVA have to say. It can be found here.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/siddall-leeches.html

Q: What is the best way to remove a leech (not being used medically) from the body? Chris Bonneu, Snohomish, Washington Siddall: Dear Chris, I get this question a lot. In fact, I described this in some detail for the "Worst-Case Scenarios: Travel Edition" pocket guide! The problem is not the leech, it's the bacteria in the leech's gut. Leaving aside the fact that salting a leech puts salt in the wound (generally considered a bad idea), or that burning a leech risks burning yourself (also suboptimal), salting, burning, or just plain pulling on a leech risks causing the leech to regurgitate into the wound it is feeding from. Leeches have bacteria growing in their gut. We're not sure why, but Professor Joerg Graf at the University of Connecticut has an incredible research program investigating this symbiosis. What's unusual is not that they have culturable bacteria—even you have bacteria in your gut—but that they have only one! Dr. Graf showed more than a decade ago that the bacterium Aeromonas veronii forms a nearly exclusive relationship with European medicinal leeches, apparently killing or excluding other bacteria. Our collaborative work has since shown that different medicinal leeches from Europe, North America, and Africa harbor just-as-specific symbionts, but of different species. For example, Aeromonas jandei is in Macrobdella decora, the leech you saw in the NOVA scienceNOW segment. So why does this matter? Well, various Aeromonas species are awfully good at living in blood—as you might expect given that's what they're doing in the leech gut—and if they get spit up into the wound, they'll live just fine in your blood. In fact, they have a huge temperature tolerance, growing just fine from fridge temperature to body temperature. Typically, in cases of leech therapy for venous congestion, it's important to give the patient the right antibiotic to prevent accidental infection. Knowing what bacterium is in which species could be critical in knowing what antibiotic is useful, so we're now frantically trying to understand how the diversity of leeches relates to the diversity of microbes. Most infections are local, but there's at least one case of extremely serious meningitis from leech therapy. The same risk comes from removing a leech improperly. Thankfully, there are two proven ways to remove a leech without risk of infection. The first is to relax, watch the leech, and admire its color patterns, and its biology while it finishes its meal. This should take less than half an hour. Thirty minutes well spent contemplating the complexities of life! If you're in a hurry, though, the other method is simply finding the head end and pushing it sideways until it releases the suction. Careful, though: The head end is the smaller end. Most people think the business end of the leech is the fat end, but that sucker is just used for holding on (even Dr. Tyson made this mistake in the NOVA scienceNOW segment). Find the skinny end and use your finger or fingernail to push it sideways off the bite point. Once it's released, you will bleed from the wound. That's okay. The bleeding is normal and is caused by the anticoagulants the leech puts in the wound. Then, just get it to release from the fat end the same way. And for Pete's sake, put it back in the water so it can lead a normal happy leech life!

HANDS

Photo a Day
Day #3
Hands

Here are two of the most precious little hands God has given to me to guide and cherish throughout thier lives. It melts my heart we I turn around to see them standing holding hands all on their own accord. The twin bond certainly is real.

Hoar Frost in the Northland

Again today we awoke to the trees painted with Hoar Frost. It was not a day where we were pleasently surprised with this beautiful display of God's handy work, as yesterday we awoke to dense fog and hoar frost that never lifted. Yes we had dense fog for well over 24 hours yesterday. But even if it had been foggy for a week I would not tire of the beauty achieved on bare, sleepy branches by a cloud that chooses to touch the ground on a cold day.

Our back yard looking toward the highway and a field of Poplar trees on the other side of the road.

The Spruce trees out back. I really enjoyed the beauty of these evergreens painted white. They look like they had been turned to stone by the Mouse King in the Nutcracker.

Trees in the horse pasture. It looked like a tunnel to walk down.

Again the back of our horse pasture looking towards the highway. It has been a very white scene the last few days.

I just LOVE the blue of the sky in these pictures. The contrast is completely untouch by editting. It was just that blue. I kept taking pictures of it because it just seemed so pure.

These pictures are of the Christmas lights hanging on the house still. I just wanted a couple pictures to show how much frost there is on everything.

WORDS

Photo a Day #2
WORDS

From the time I was 14 years old and read these words from Revelation 21:4
I have been comforted by them.
They have brought me peace knowing that this world is not all there is or will be.
One day all our troubles, pains, sorrows, and even death will be removed from our lives!

February Photo a Day Challenge

I have never atempted a Photo a Day Challenge before but I am going to this month. It is the shortest month of the year, I figure I have the best chance at finishing it with fewer days, right?

 So here is a list for the days of February.

And now today February 1st's photo.

I had intentions of getting my nice camera out to reshoot this picture when I took it on my ipod touch to send to a friend in Canada but, when I had a chance to go out and do it the sun had come out and the hoar frost had dropped from the trees. So today's photo will have to come off the ipod. It was such a beautiful morning and the view out the front door was beautiful with wide open spaces colored white and stretching before me.