Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The Plague Returns...
...actually it has never left us.
The Plague, that monstrous sickness that swept Europe and beyond (actually it apparently came from China), during the 1300's has actually never gone away. There are three different types of plague, the most well known being 'Bubonic'. The plague is prevalent in rats, who were carries, and fleas from rats injested the bacteria and then transfered it to humans, which killed many, many people.
Why am I bothering with this deadly topic? Yesterday, at work, we discovered that we had a rat carrying the plague. Talk about an eye openner!! In typical defensive behaviour the jokes starting flying. Jim had the plague, I had the plague Rachael had the plague, everyone had the plague. It was actually pretty fun.
How can we get the plague in the 21st century? Basically because it's still out there, particularly in North America, in the American South West. More locally to me, rodents in Eastern Oregon do carry it. The upside is, is that Eastern Oregon is high elevation country, which means it's not a viable playground for fleas. This leads to the disease being relatively contained and not a huge threat. Every once in a while, though, campers and hikers may take a flea-ridden dog to the mountains for some R+R. Fleas may jump to a Plague carrying squirrel, which then may make its way back to the same, or another, dog, and then back down the mountain and into the valley; which is where I live.
Our vet was pretty excited by the plague filled rat: A curious man.
Personally, I had dreams all night that long strings of bacteria were growing from my fingers and I had to keep brushing them off.
Alright, this had nothing to do with divorce or life after divorce, but I thought it was an interesting experience.
As to that end, life has been stagnent for me lately, which I think is actually a good thing. I've been allowing both my consciousness and sub-conscious levels to delve into what my heart truely wants from life. My leanings continue towards moving back east, away from the bubonic hell that is Oregon, but I'm not absolutely positive yet that it's the best move. So, I'm taking it easy, living day to day, and allowing myself this time to build up my resources and get ready for the big leap that, I hope, is to come.
The Plague, that monstrous sickness that swept Europe and beyond (actually it apparently came from China), during the 1300's has actually never gone away. There are three different types of plague, the most well known being 'Bubonic'. The plague is prevalent in rats, who were carries, and fleas from rats injested the bacteria and then transfered it to humans, which killed many, many people.
Why am I bothering with this deadly topic? Yesterday, at work, we discovered that we had a rat carrying the plague. Talk about an eye openner!! In typical defensive behaviour the jokes starting flying. Jim had the plague, I had the plague Rachael had the plague, everyone had the plague. It was actually pretty fun.
How can we get the plague in the 21st century? Basically because it's still out there, particularly in North America, in the American South West. More locally to me, rodents in Eastern Oregon do carry it. The upside is, is that Eastern Oregon is high elevation country, which means it's not a viable playground for fleas. This leads to the disease being relatively contained and not a huge threat. Every once in a while, though, campers and hikers may take a flea-ridden dog to the mountains for some R+R. Fleas may jump to a Plague carrying squirrel, which then may make its way back to the same, or another, dog, and then back down the mountain and into the valley; which is where I live.
Our vet was pretty excited by the plague filled rat: A curious man.
Personally, I had dreams all night that long strings of bacteria were growing from my fingers and I had to keep brushing them off.
Alright, this had nothing to do with divorce or life after divorce, but I thought it was an interesting experience.
As to that end, life has been stagnent for me lately, which I think is actually a good thing. I've been allowing both my consciousness and sub-conscious levels to delve into what my heart truely wants from life. My leanings continue towards moving back east, away from the bubonic hell that is Oregon, but I'm not absolutely positive yet that it's the best move. So, I'm taking it easy, living day to day, and allowing myself this time to build up my resources and get ready for the big leap that, I hope, is to come.
