Mark it down: the 2009 tick counter was started on April 4th. I picked up two while at Lake McMurtry. Both got a good taste of zombie blood, and both met an untimely death. The bite below my right nipple is still a little discolored and sore. The bite just below my left buttock still itches, but I scratch a lot anyway so nothing is new here. Check periodically on the right column of the blog and watch how high the tick counter will get this year. In 2008, I topped out at 114. My friend Earl Blewett wants to run trails at Greenleaf this weekend or the next. If I go, I might blow that 114 off the charts in one day!