Okay, this has to be...significant. Great white egrets reproducing.

[magical thyme]

3. there is no global climate change

my sister told me so. She said if I continue to believe that, I will lose everything and never have a nice life. So there.

Seriously, when I moved to Maine 10 years ago ticks were rare. Now my dogs' vet gives tick lectures every spring, complete with pics.

I could set my calendar by the Mayflies. They appeared on May 1 and were gone on June 1. Last year we hardly had any. This year they re-appeared....in early April.

Plants grow up here that never used to. We can grow some species of sweet potato now. We used to plant Memorial weekend, in case of frost. This year, I started planting in early May. I could have safely planted earlier, but wasn't ready.

Lyme disease is prevalent. Moose are struggling. They get so many ticks, it seriously weakens their young.

Babebiosis (a tick-borne disease similar to malaria) was endemic to the southern coast of Massachusetts, mostly Martha's Vinyard and the islands, appeared in midcoast Maine last summer. We had 2 confirmed cases at our hospital, and don't know how many may have been missed before that.

Rabies was rare because healthy animals were denned up over winter, so not exposed. Now it's endemic.

Polar bears are eating their babies to keep from starving, as their habitat disappears.