Beware of the Zecken

I learned a new German word today. Ticks are called Zecken. I learned this because the woman who lets me through the security check when I go to the gym (it's in the basement of Kirk's office building) told me to be careful of the Zecken when I go walking in the woods with my dog. (She knows I have a dog) Apparently, just this morning she noticed new signs posted on the trees in the woods where she goes running that were warning of the coming of the Zecken. She said they don't always have them here in Basel, but because it's been so wet and humid it's predicted to be a bad season for them. I had to ask her to describe Zecken because she wasn't able to translate it and I wasn't sure what she was talking about at first. Her description (in a heavily Swiss-German accented English) was something like this: "They're a very little animal. Smaller than a fly. But also black. They get onto your skin and they make you very sick." Somehow I figured out she was talking about ticks. The ironic thing was that I had just finished "reading" an article (as much as I can read an article written in German) in one of the local newspapers about the upcoming Zecken season. The headline was "Bald kommen Zecken", meaning "The ticks are coming soon!" Just so you know, I hate ticks! We had them in Wisconsin, and I guess in Virginia as well, but I especially remember them when we went up north in Wisconsin. We spent summers at our cabin, which is on a lake and in the woods, and when I was a kid my Mom would often have to do a "tick check" before we went to bed. This meant she would scour our bodies (me and my sister) looking for any sign of ticks that were hiding in inconspicous places-- I especially remember her concern for behind the ears and in the armpits. Ticks are gross.