Blaine Kloppenborg

Is your scalp crawling? If not, you probably haven't spent much time outdoors in Hamilton County recently. It's been wet... very wet; it's been damp... very damp; and humid... very humid.

That's all it takes. That and one warm day. Spring rains and warmer weather have produced a bumper crop of something Iowans could do without — ticks. We seem to be seeing more ticks than normal and they seem to be starting earlier than normal. We're seeing both dogs and outdoor cats with ticks on them. Every year about this time, I get calls from people asking: "Is this the worst tick season on record?"

My view is the more often that nice weather lures people into the woods for fishing, mushroom hunting and nature hikes, the more ticks make their presence known. People find ticks, ticks don't find people. And if you have a dog, dogs are the biological vacuum sweepers. They're going to find them.