Check your woodpile carefully..

[egalecki]

My woodpile has given me a lovely case of poison ivy for Christmas.

So be careful what you pick up and tuck up against your sweatshirt! Not to mention what you burn, I apparently got lucky enough not to inhale whatever poison ivy I'm sure I must have burned!

[Les]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

We don't have poison ivy or poison oak here. One of the benefits of living in altitude. How did it get into your wood pile?

les...

[egalecki]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

I'm sure it was as a vine on some of the bark of the locust or walnut that's in there. Just because it doesn't have leaves anymore doesn't mean it won't work you over!

[thebadger]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

Small rodents too.

Dick

[70chevelle]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

Years ago a neighbor was burning. My wife was having trouble breathing that night. After a 6 hour stay in the emergency room, the doc figured out that she contracted poison ivy in her throat & lungs from the neighbor burning it. Not a fun day to say the least.

[Wiley]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

Ouch! so what are you doing for it? Calamine lotion? We used to use a tea made from Madrone leaves that helped dry out the sores in conjuntion with Fels Napha Soap to neutralize the oil. It is sometimes hard to find Fels Napha soap but worth the search.

One (of many things) I don't miss about California was the prevalence of poison oak. If one didn't get it from direct contact on a hike then one got it from petting the family dog. Worst thing where I now live is stinging nettle.

Wiley

[Pannabecker]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

We have a poison ivy vine in our wood shed too but neither of us cuts it out. We just keep talking about cutting it out. Stupid, I know.

At least stinging nettle dies down in the winter. We have that too. Another thing to dodge. I'm thinking of making a nettle wine though.

[RTflorida]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

rattlesnakes, black widow, and brown recluse spiders top my list of what to look out for in my wood pile.

RT

[cangrande]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

I'll second the 'neighbors burning poison ivy' story. When I was a kid the farmer down the street burned a whole hillside of it. My brother ended up getting a terrible rash on the inside of his eyelids. That wasn't fun.

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

I have a bout with poison ivy/oak/sumac every few years whether I need it or not...but...

If it goes systemic and get's worse, go with a prednisone treatment.

[egalecki]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

6 pills yesterday, 5 today... etc. I couldn't stand not being able to sleep (well, dh couldn't stand it, either!) so I called and got the prednisone. Much better, although still a bit itchy. But it's stopped spreading.

I always wear gloves when I muck about in the pile- I HATE spiders with every fiber of my being. Not too many rattlesnakes locally, although in the woods we do have them. Any snakes locally are blacksnakes, for the most part, and not many of those in town.

I think I loaded wood into my arms, then into the wheelbarrow, and then decorated myself with secondary poison ivy when I took my sweatshirt off. The rash on my chest, neck and face doesn't have the same weeping bumps as what's on my left ear and hand. I expect I got that either directly from the wood or from my heavily exposed glove. I probably ought to get rid of those now, huh? Or I'll be infecting myself every time I use them!

I never really believed in the "systemic" thing, but I can't figure out how the little patches of bumps got in the other places I have it. And they came several days after the other showed- so there must be something to it!

[jengineer]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

Ouch! so what are you doing for it? Calamine lotion? We used to use a tea made from Madrone leaves that helped dry out the sores in conjuntion with Fels Napha Soap to neutralize the oil. It is sometimes hard to find Fels Napha soap but worth the search.

One (of many things) I don't miss about California was the prevalence of poison oak. If one didn't get it from direct contact on a hike then one got it from petting the family dog. Worst thing where I now live is stinging nettle.

Wiley

Ah Poison oak is not for the feint of heart - my sister had some 'spalinin to do when she had it on her nether regions. She and her hubyy went on a nature hike one weekend. Hubby didn't wash after shaking hands with the president. A new form of STD no doubt

As for breathing it in, my dad had a real bad case of lung poisioning when he was burning some shrubbery that had p-oak in it. Now he is super sensative to the stuff. It seems that if he just looks at it he breaks out.

I avoid it like the plague.

We used to call Fels Napha the Poison Oak Soap

http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/Fels_Nap...ap_p/d1001.htm
Recommended by the Queen of Clean. 100 years of stain fighting power is found in this heavy duty laundry soap. Used everyday for poison ivy treatment, laundry, to rid plants of pests and remedy black spot fungus in roses.

[asudavew]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

I moved into a house once that had huge maple trees.
Growing up two of them were these huge vines.
Some about an inch thick.
They had neat little berries on them.
The little berries would fall to the ground and make more vines.
I mowed them down along with the grass.
I wore my sandals.
The vines were poison ivy!

My feet were covered with weeping red splotches.
It was so bad that when I put socks on for work... I would have to peel them off.

The only thing that I found that would stop the itching... HOT Water. As hot as I could stand. Of course it was only temporary relief......... but it felt OH SO GOOD!

[Archena]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

I was immune to poison ivy/sumac/oak as a child. There is some plant that will make me break out, but I?ve never figured out which one it is.

Ivy Block works pretty well and you can find it in a drugstore. But for wood piles, I?d use gloves. In addition to poisonous vines you have your various snakes, spiders and my personal favorite, scorpions. Yes, we do have scorpions in Alabama. And of course we should include bees, wasps, hornets?

But really, just use common sense. If you haven?t been to that woodpile in a while. Check it out, make sure nothing?s laying there or buzzing around that wasn?t there before. And wear gloves.

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Check your woodpile carefully..

6 pills yesterday, 5 today... etc. !

Yup, that will do it. It works so well that I cheat and go 5/3/1 if I can! You should be feeling better for Christmas...have a good one!