Thursday, June 07, 2007

It's not murder if it's self-defense

Pam, maybe you shouldn't look at this one. You might have a cyber-reaction.
Yesterday, I was walking the yard and saw some suspicious plants, nestled in with some honeysuckle run amok.
I took some pictures and came in to compare to a very nice poison ivy site.
Yep, it's poison ivy. And we have a very healthy amount of it:



A PI Party
And I have a rash on my right hand just from poking around last night.
I wonder what tomorrow or the next day will bring.
I cut all of this down tonight.



Bad drupe pic
Not a great pic, but you can see the drupes along the stem behind the leaves.
Hairy PI vine
This poison ivy has been here awhile. It was mixed in with honeysuckle, and I had to remove a bunch of the honeysuckle just to get to the PI vine.
HAIRY PI vine. Eeew.
Oh Hell.  There's some more!
About 6 feet down along the fence...Oh Hell, there's more!
Virginia creeper
Weaved in with the PI was this....Virginia Creeper, as far as I can tell. I left that alone....it's not bothering anyone.
After the party crashed
This is the aftermath: All of the vine that I could safely lift with my clippers got thrown over the fence to shrivel up. The girls never go out there, since it's right by a state route.
Nellie has been running through this stuff. I just emailed Kathi to ask what kind of resistance dogs have to poison ivy.
The girls and Geoff are banned from this part of the yard until I can get back out there and rake up any fallen leaves.
I don't know why I chose to be the one to do all the chopping. I usually get a fairly nasty reaction to PI, and I have had it bad enough to get fevers.
But I fell on my sword. For the family.
*******
I don't know about you, but I could use some cleansing photos:


How about a cute kitty nose?
IMG_4022


Or a confused red-bellied woodpecker?
(I moved the suet to keep it away from the f***ing squirrels)
Hey!  You moved the suet


Or a cardinal who just wants a ride?
Can we take a ride


Or a messy mocker face?
Wipe your face


Here. This will help...little girls with puppies:
Lorelei and Callie

Isabelle and Hudson
Ah...that's better.

11 comments:

entoto said...

Ohhh...YOUR little girls with puppies. Now that is a lift.

John B. said...

For poison ivy, I think you need to get that stuff out by the roots. Supposedly washing with soap and water right after exposure will help mitigate the reaction. For whatever reason, poison ivy seems not to affect other animals. Birds love the berries in the fall and winter. I have watched yellow-rumped warblers chowing down on vines that I would not dare to touch.

Susan Gets Native said...

Trixie:
Yeah. My girls can cure anything.
: )

John:
Oh, I know that it needs to be pulled out. But I am going to wait until maybe fall or early winter when it has died back and then go massacre the roots.
I came in tonight and rubbed down with alcohol then soap and water. But I am itchy anyway, just from thinking about it.
;)

entoto said...

I recommend drinking beer to mitigate the immediate effects of the itchies.

Who knows, it might work?!

LauraHinNJ said...

The birds do love the berries!

I didn't get poison ivy for years and then I got it really bad. I'm a bit more careful about it now. They say that your reaction to it is worse with each exposure.

Is that puppy yours?

;-0

Susan Gets Native said...

Laura:
NO. NOT OURS!
(Just two puppies we met at the dog park the other day)

Jayne said...

ACK! Those photos made me cringe. My sister got tangled up with some poison oak around her daylilies a couple of years back, and had a systemic reaction. It was frightful how long it took to resolve, even with high doses of steriods and she was so very miserable. I steer clear of it completely. You are one brave woman for falling on that sword!

Beth said...

Little girls with puppies! Yay!

This made me feel guilty; we have PI out back behind the shed, and the kids run round and round, and I told them to stay away, but I really ought to get out there and clear that mess out.

I gotta finish the laundry first, though. And then clean the kitchen. And wash the car. And paint the house. And dig a new well. And...well, you know...

Mary said...

I walk through loads of it on campus and sometimes I wonder if you can get infected without actually touching it.

You answered my question. I thought, "Oh, boy, Susan got another puppy..."

Great birds, sweet kitty nose, and cute kids.

I hope you aren't scratching too much.

NatureWoman said...

Ohhhh freakin' NOOOOOOOO Susan!!! I hope you're okay!! I can't believe you actually cleaned that stuff out.
I found some in my backyard as I was taking photos of dame's rocket so I have to get a friend to come get it out for me. I *will* not get it again this summer, and I hope you're okay.
I *love* your daughters holding the puppy photos, sooo sweet!

Anonymous said...

Poison Ivy, uggg!