What's old is new again!

Head lice and eggs

​I've been working in a rural practice here in Western Australia for the past week where the locals are gearing up for a great harvest. "Best start in 50 years" one farm worker said. "All we need is one frost and the whole crop's ruined" said another, which in my experience is more typical response of our men on the land. But farmers tend to expect the worst and even when it doesn't come "What with the price of wheat/wool/milk/beef being so low..." they rarely crack a smile until the cash is in the bank!
But it was another kind of creature that was roaming in its native habitat that was worrying the young Mums of the area.  This particular, tiny  critter is found in both city and country - in fact wherever little children get together. It's usual hunting ground is the forest of hairs that exist on our heads, or on our eyelids or any hairy part of our bodies. Head lice or "Nits" love living on our heads, and if they didn't itch so much, or produce such a "Yuk" factor with most Mums, we might even leave them alone as they do no harm to us. But a couple of young Mums came in to see me who were  tearing their hair out (excuse the pun) at not being able to clear up their kids hair with the usual OTC remedies.
Of course, the usual reason for difficulty in exterminating the little irritants is re-infection, but the cornerstone to any management is repeated fine combing. It did reminded me that I had written a blog on the subject a few years back, and so here's the link to it. http://duncanjefferson.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/new-nemesis-for-nits.html Hopefully you'll find it useful.

​​Talking of What's Old is New , I read an interesting article in todays Australian Newspaper about Tom Wolfe's new book - The Kingdom of Speech. The book is due to be released in Australia early next week and promises to challenge some deeply entrenched ideas. Ideas such as Evolution, The Big Bang theory which on first impressions would appear to be well outside the range of a normal novelist. But young Mr Wolfe is no ordinary novelist and taking on the "Big Boys" in town has never seemed to worry him. I for one, will be fascinated to  see what he has written.

Talking of writing, my short story is growing into a thicker tome. So it's either some tough editing or I'll have to have another crack at short story writing  after I've completed How Davy Field from Cincinnati Ohio met Charles Dickens!

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Tom Wolfe