Way too early in the year for this crap

[Whitespider]

Couple three weeks ago there was thread about poison ivy in which I posted that I had never found the vine type in my woodlot. Then the very next day while doing some recon in the north end (where I don’t spend much time ‘cause it’s usually wet and thick with underbrush) I found not one, but two vines. So I came back to the thread and reported that I had jinxed myself by claiming there were no vines in my woodlot.

So this last Sunday morning I went into the north end to harvest a standing dead elm. There was a small vine that had jumped from another tree onto the one I was falling… didn’t look real close, figured it to be one of the zillion grape vines, and whacked it off before falling the elm. Later, as I’m bucking and tossing into the trailer, I’m also pulling and ripping the vine away I notice the darn thing ain’t a grape vine. I was in full insulated coveralls and gloves… but guess what? Yep, three little itchy blisters on my left wrist tonight.

I ain’t never had poison ivy blisters in March… or even April… I don’t think even in May. They usually start showing up ‘round mid June or so, and then I carry a few somewhere on my body until October.

It’s gonna’ be a long summer.

 

[crowbuster]

Im afraid your right, tween the ticks n ivy we screwed

 

[geoxman]

I can look at the stuff and get it! I have not had any this year but I am due. Last year I had it so bad my Dr. had to put me on some steroid. good luck

 

[ponyexpress976]

...and the good lord said, "let the summer time shenanigans begin".

 

[jrider]

You can get poison ivy in the dead of the coldest winter...its not limited to when its warm and has leaves. That urushiol is some powerful stuff.

 

[Whitespider]

I can look at the stuff and get it!

I'm one of the lucky ones (I guess), I never get it "bad". Normally just patchy rash-like areas that don't itch all that bad (mostly at night) and a few small blisters here-and-there. They start showing up shortly after the weed-whip first run around the yard perimeter. I often do yard work shirtless and in shorts, I'll wear jeans working in the woodlot, but often I'm shirtless... so it-is-what-it-is.

I've been warned to be more careful... been told that my tolerance to poison ivy can suddenly reverse... told that every time I get the stuff it may be moving me closer to that "point". The thing is, because I don't get it "bad" I'm not careful (don't even watch-out for the stuff), so I've worn a bit of rash all summer, every summer, for as long as I can remember... I'll probably pay for my carelessness sometime... somethings a fells just needs to learn the hard way I guess.

Now dad is a different story... If he walks a mile down-wind of the stuff he breaks-out horribly. He makes at least one, sometimes multiple trips to the doctor every summer because of poison ivy. Funny thing about that is he had no idea poison ivy grew as a vine (he thought it was only a ground cover plant)... I took him back in the woodlot this past weekend and "educated" him.

 

[Marc]

...and the good lord said, "let the summer time shenanigans begin".

Seconded. Just took the studded tires of my mountain bike. w00t.

 

[SPDRMNKY]

picked a few spots up on my arms back at the beginning of February...jewelweed

 

[v8titan]

I'm one of the lucky few who can eat the stuff for breakfast and not worry about it. I'm just plain not allergic to poison ivy or poison oak. Oak pollen, now that's another story. I'm wondering if this year is going to be a bad one for pollen in general with the mild winter.

 

[cheeves]

You can get poison ivy in the dead of the coldest winter...its not limited to when its warm and has leaves. That urushiol is some powerful stuff.

I got it this Jan. a first this late in the season cutting some blow down locust!

 

[jrider]

My first winter experience with it was about 15 years ago. I have always known I am highly allergic to it but never gave it any thought in the winter time until one morning after cutting wood the day before I woke up to an eye completely swelled shut and lips that were so swollen I had to drink out of a straw. Even my doctor was new to this in the winter time. Since then, all vines -especially the ones with the little hairs on them - scare the hell out of me in the winter time because I can't truly identify them without their leaves.

 

[Bushmans]

I was out in the yard today in the shed and when I came out a mosquito came flying right at me. Of course I killed it but March seems a bit early to be swatting skeeters in Michigan. If that is an indicator I think were screwed this year. Last year was just awful. You couldn't even go outside and worse than that you couldn't find skeeter spray anywhere.
I have busted some poison ivy vines off the trees out in the woods this year but no itching yet. Won't be long though. Pretty soon the turkeys will be gobbling and the trillium will show up. Spring in the woods can be so awesome.

 

[Chris-PA]

Yeah, I'm not very sensitive and it's usually just a couple of spots where it gets ground in by the cuffs of my gloves. But I pushed my luck hard last summer and got it systemically - there's no way it got on some of those places directly & it kept popping up for quite some time. It was still not much of a reaction and it and I knew I darn well deserved it - cutting big juicy vines and burning lots of older ones (and probably some of the fresh ones too) for two days straight. I'll probably not be that cocky again.

It's the ticks that are worrying me. Our whole family has fought with Lyme for 12 years, and a warm wet winter is bad news. The horses and dogs will probably on antibiotics all summer. Again.

 

[Whitespider]

We had bugs flying around today... 66-degrees, but didn't see any mosquitoes. Swatting one of those bloodsuckers in March is flat unreal. We didn't have squat for mosquitoes 'round here last year; way too dry, so maybe they won't be bad this year... We had boat-loads of wood ticks though. A few years ago we had mosquitoes as bad as I ever remember... absolutely horrible, it was like looking through a fog 'round dusk. Mosquitoes, biting flies, ticks, poison weeds, garden varmints, thunder storms and tornadoes, heat, humidity, rabid skunks, crab grass, and all the complaining that follows is just around the corner... just gotta' love it!!!!

Oh... and now the rash is on both arms and the right side of my head...
It's gonna' be a long summer!

 

[AIM]

Pretty soon the turkeys will be gobbling

And with a bit of luck my shotgun will be making a little noise as well!:msp_thumbup:

 

[Bushmans]

I've been lucky to never have a tick on me. I get poison ivy every year though. Usually on my wrists and between my fingers. It hit over 60 today and it felt amazing. The sun was shining (well on its way to the north side of the world) Sure did lift the spirits. I'll take the poison ivy if you take the skeeters. I can sip Margaritas in my shorts on the back deck and itch all summer just as long as I'm not swatting. Viva La Summer!

 

[Steve2910]

Poison (ivy or Oak) doesn't bother me. Seems that the long slender tan colored things that we called Mosquitoes as a kid are gone... now we have these EVIL little bugs (chiggers my grandma called them). They run rampant all summer. I can't be outside w/o bug spray w/o being eaten alive! Also, we've had stink bugs in the shop & the house from time to time all winter... maybe the world's coming to an end??

 

[esshup]

Throw me in with the crowd that Poison Ivy/Oak doesn't bother. Never has.

65°F here today, but the wind was a kicking!

 

[Fred Wright]

The vine stuff grows here, the woods is swampy and rife with it. It doesn't affect me, guess I inherited our father's immunity. Never bothered him either. But Mom, she couldn't go near it. Darn cat would rub around her legs and she'd break out in big, red blisters.

Funny you mention ticks... was out walking the woodlot a couple weeks ago and found a deer tick crawling on my arm. I'm like what da heck... this time of year?? I agree it's been a mild winter but I never expected to see ticks already. This ain't a good sign. Guess we'll have to pick up a sack of lawn treatment and spread it around the dog run this year.

Haven't seen the skeeters yet but they're on the way. Standing water in the woods and warm temps to come.

 

[haveawoody]

Bushmans,
Same here in ontario for the mosquitos.
Have seen 2 of them flying around already.
Sure sign of an early spring though and lots of mosquitos.

As for the PI no worry here for me, i have all the versions even the spindle vine one.
Not alergic at all but i always take precautions anyway.
PI is such a stinker for alergic reactions in people that could sleep on it for life then one day they can't even go near it.