Progression of springtime in Astana

Over the course of a 7-day spring break trip, all of the snow in Astana disappeared. No more snow bar, no more gravy colored snow piles, and no more rutty ice streets. No more shoveling! Outdoor activity has now evolved to pot-hole repairing, bike commuting, and enjoying longer periods of daylight. It's only April and we have over 14 hours worth of it! Hello 5am sunshine!

Green color is exploding everywhere. Except, for our yard. Our grass looks like it’s going through detox from waterlogged soil, embedded stuffed animal fluff, unsupervised dog mischief, and her spring-is-here zoomies. Mark has faith our yard will recover and wants to plant a sea of mint, green beans, and pumpkins. Considering my skills in gardening and keeping-the-dog-out-of-the-theoretical-garden are subpar, I don't share his positivity.

Ticks are also exploding everywhere. This week alone we've picked 7 off the dog, even with routine application of Frontline, so you can imagine how much fun I'm not having. Our previous dog got sick a couple of times from probable tick infections, once in Brazil and once in Namibia. Watching him malinger and fight off infection was hard on everyone. Then there's the human side of the family, all of whom enjoy wrestling our current dog, Ginsburg, and exploring the great outdoors, preferably in shorts and going barefoot. Tick checks just might end up being an awkward family affair because I'm not cool with anyone getting sick. 

I don’t have time for anyone getting things like tick borne encephalitis (TBE), Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (ominous right?!), tularemia (rabbit fever, cute but no thx), or Lyme - all of which have similar initial symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches. Later symptoms make each individual illness shine… 

Entomologists think three of the 30 known tick species in KZ carry these diseases, and about 50 cases per year are reported according to Parasites & Vectors. On paper, prevalence isn't super high but with TBE, infection is immediate so we recommend KZ long-timers to get vaccinated for it. Plus the full vaccine course is like 90% effective. It’s kind of a no-brainer. (For clarification, CCHF infected ticks give you about a1-7 day window after the tick bite, tularemia is about 3-5, Lyme disease is 48-72 hours.)

At any rate, I’m super glad spring is here. I look forward to see what the city does for its vast amounts of garden beds and pedestrian walkways. I look forward to trees and plants blooming, even though I might end up quadrupling my citirizine to get through it, and seeing pale, wan faces turn into the warming sun. In conclusion, ticks are gross.

My favoirite is the team of 3 standing in the back of the truck
Which is full of hot asphalt.

First commute of the season!
Ishim River

Puppy taking in the sun along a 6-lane street.

No idea what these are in our yard, but they are GREEN.

The a-hole that was in Ginsburg’s fur but I panicked  And flung my arms in despair, resulting in whipping my pants off looking for it, but I couldn’t find it, until it crawled down my shoulder 15 minutes later in the kitchen and I freaked, taking a meat hammer to it. but not before taking this picture of course.

Freshly shaved giant schnauzer and hubby on the weird colored lawn.