Tick Magnet

This is getting ridiculous. I just picked yet another tick off the dog, bringing her grand total for the day to 4 (plus the one I found crawling in my bag, which most certainly originated with the dog), and for the last 2 days to 8 (including the one just hanging out on the carpet, and the other one in her ear), and for the last week to something around 127. The pooch has always been especially tasty to ticks, which I noticed when we went on hikes in the hills above Berkeley or when she joins me in Northern Wisconsin. But here in the wilds of Massachusetts, things have gotten out of control: since the thaw (which happened on Friday, by my reckoning), all Addison has to do is step outside and she's covered in ticks. Despite the tick treatment she gets once a month (er, every 6 weeks, when I'm paying attention), this has become our daily routine:

1) Scour the dog for ticks, which she clearly interprets as a massage, given the immediacy with which she rolls over, exposed for belly-scratching.
2) Find 1-127 ticks.
3) Remove tick by prying it off with fingernails (we don't have time for tweezers, people!)
4) Burn tick in commemorative ash tray from the Hotel Tropicana in Las Vegas (finder's burners!)
5) Call dog "Tickacus"
6) Repeat three times daily until the snow falls again (by my calculations: next week)