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The Christmas Star

Will Bullas

Combining award-winning artistic skills with a humorous point of view, Will Bullas makes fine art fun. The whimsical birds and other animals that populate many of his watercolors reflect the artist’s ebullient sense of sparkle and mischief; plus, he often titles the quirky wildlife works with zany one-liners.

Bullas has been drawing since he was a youth. His first professional pieces were pencil portraits of fellow soldiers in Vietnam sent to loved ones back home. Returning from military duty, he enrolled in the Brooks Institute of Fine Art, in Santa Barbara, California, and graduated with a degree in oil painting.

Today, Bullas is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society; in 1986 he was also elected to membership in the Knickerbocker Artists of New York. His art currently enlivens a wide range of products, including high-fashion T-shirts, note cards and coffee mugs, and his books, A Fool and His Bunny and A Fool Moon, include introductions by fans Clint Eastwood and Doris Day.

When asked about the source of his inspiration, Bullas replies, “Absolutely everything—books, music, television… even listening to friends tell stories can evoke some kind of imagery for me. Life is a bottomless well of ideas.”

View the artist’s portfolio at WillBullas.com.

Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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