I swear that I seriously never meant for the premise of my blog to focus on the neverending battles of yard ownership. It's just sort of happened that way.
See, the weather has just been so incredible lately and I've thusly felt motivated to get out there and clean a few things up. Namely my flower beds, which seem to year after year sprout up some other odd new something or other. This year it's been these long leafy vines...
So yesterday, beautiful as it, was I got out there bright and early, did a few push ups to limber up my arms and then started wrapping these buggers around my wrists so I could yank 'em up with everything I had. And trust me, it took about everything I had!
Anyway... the flower beds look great now!
But there's more...
This morning I woke up (after dreaming all night that my kitties had been scratching the dickens out of my arms)... and lo and behold? Well, I'll spare you the grisly details...
I really don't know exactly what power it was that manifested itself in giving me such hindsighted intuition, but I was suddenly prompted to Google Poison Ivy.
And there it was in black and white... whaddyaknow... a crucial nursery rhyme I never learned!
If There's Three... Let It Be...
So I took a walk out to my property line where my yard meets the woods, just due to the fact that I was yet again being hindsightedly intuitive... and well just shoot!
Because this was for all intents and purposes is and has always been the only navigatable entrance way into my woods, which for 15 Falls and Summers has been my saving grace as the final resting place for all my exorbitant amounts of yard waste.
And I can see now that this is basically the horticultural landscape of my entire woods... (now that I'm educated.) And to think that all this time I've been appreciating it as just lovely green foilage...
So I am in a bit of an overwhelming state of shock and disbelief right now... remembering all those gazillions of times I've treked through this patch wearing nothing but shorts!... and most recently only Crocs! (or well, you know what I mean...)
They say that some people can be immune to this stuff for years and years and then suddenly have a reaction to it. And once it affects you, you only become more and more sensitive.
Tonight I scrubbed down the lawn mower handle before mowing my lawn, after washing every imaginable thing in my house. My hands and arms have been scrubbed to the point of obliteration. The final task on my list is to douse down this keyboard with extremely hot and soapy water just as soon as I'm done here.
**Note to self: At least use the weedwacker in the flower beds next time!!!
But still, what's a yard-ho like me suppose to do now?
This just majorly sucks.
UPDATE:
But this just in!!! Oh my gosh! I gotta buy stock in this stuff! It really, really works!!!
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Poison Ivy, Zanfel
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3 years ago
Oh man, I'm in a little bit of shock now too. I had no idea! And even now with your pictures to guide me, I don't think I would recognize it if I saw it. Also, did you really warm up by doing pushups?? I've never seen you do a push up. Way to go! :) I hope your arms get better soon.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the poison ivy invaders. That's just plain nasty to! have them it your own property, eeeewwww! I was once a victim of it's incredible itch while out camping...once was enough! It was the one time I was happy to leave the forest and return to the prairie home where this creepy stuff is unheard of!
ReplyDeleteUnless of course, someone thinks its a pretty ground cover and actually plants it in their flower garden, LOL. Yes, someone really did this--guess they were immune at first!
UPdated 2012... BTW... All of that turned out not to be poison ivy afterall. The only poison ivy in my yard happened to be the only twig that I chose to pull up. lol :)
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