Rocky Mountain Spotted Woes

So Jen and & ran into our nice neighbor J. while procuring coffee at his place of employment the other day (OK, it's the Co-op) and he shared a tale of "woe and sorrow" with us:

While at our first-night backyard BBQ a few weeks back, he was bitten by a tick that was carrying the dread Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a fact he was unaware of until he started feeling really sick a couple of days later.

"I had to leave work because I thought I was getting the flu," he explained. "It was so bad I had to puke on the side of the road on the way home, like a god-damned hobo!"

Indeed, with his dense beard, the hobo comparison is not inappropriate... thankfully J. tramped his way to a doctor who prescribed him some heavy-duty antibiotics in the nick of time. Apparently people can die from this- and since C. very recently found a tick lurking its way into our porch relaxation time we've been especially mindful of these beastly critters. Watch your back (or ear).

Thank the lord our friends at Wikipedia can tell us all about this cheerful affliction.