I think I've learned a lesson.
Never would have expected this to occur in December in New Hampshire. :o
I was helping a farmer friend expand the borders of one of his fields this past weekend. There was a wet area where some weedy brush had grown in and a few small trees that had to be removed. I cut the trees, limbed them out, and piled the brush and weedy stuff in the field where the dozer could push it out of the way.
Little did I know until the next day there was some thing growing in there that I had a reaction to, probably sumac or the like. Not wearing gloves what ever I touched got on my fingers, which it didn't bother but I must have rubbed my right eye because a couple of days later it swelled almost closed.
Work gloves could have saved this irritation, live and learn. ::)
Randy
It could have, but maybe not. The oils from poison ivy/oak can get on all your clothing and remain there for more than a year unless washed. You can tranfer it from your clothes to your skin by just touching it. You can get it from putting your clothes in the washer a year after you wore them in the woods. You could rub your face with your glove, or you could have just brushed the stuff on your face from any of the brush around. When I was a kid, I grew up along the river and could run through the stuff barefoot and in shorts and no shirt. Never got it untill I was in my 30's. Now I will get it if I am anywhere in the area of the stuff.
Be careful with the gloves to. Last summer we were cutting up a locust with poison Ivy on it. My son was very careful and wore his gloves, and no rash on him. About 6 months later he puts on the gloves during some snow and broke out on his face and any where the outside of the gloves touched flesh.
Good thing you didn't have to go behind a tree or you would be walking bowlegged.
Or did you? ???
That last post proves that a picture (a mental one in this case) is worth a thousand words!
:o ::) :D
Being in NH it might have been poison ivy, just because the leaves are not green and red doesn't mean the oil went away. My wife swelled up like that just from plain old ivy!
Quote from: johnjbc on December 20, 2006, 04:35:03 PM
Good thing you didn't have to go behind a tree or you would be walking bowlegged.
Or did you? ???
Well.... after several cups of coffee for breakfast I did have to visit a tree. :(
The wife was a big source of consolation, all I got from her was bent over double laughing at my plight. ::)
Thankfully modern medicine took care of the worst of it in about 48 hours, in another day I'll feel like this 8)
Clothes have been washed and that area of the field is done.
Randy
My friend in Dade City was clearing his land, had to lose some coffee. While he was standing behind a tree he noticed and pulled down some vines. He spent to next week in front of a box fan looking like a eggplant. UGLY
The oils that cause contact poisoning do offer a bit of a grace period. If you wash it off within a reasonable time, you can avoid the itch. Make it a practice to at least rinse your hands with water before stepping behind that tree, too. :D :D I try to have a large container of drinking water around whenever I'm working away from running water, and this serves to wash hands and faces as well. I also try to keep a towel handy for moppin' the ol' brow, instead of using a possibly contaminated shirt sleeve. I've found that good ol' soap and water works just as well as the expensive "Ivy Wash," and plain water is a whole lot better than nuthin'.
Years ago i bailed a haylot, one edge was solid poisen ivy - The worst bales, i kicked into the weeds & left there. Hot, sweat, if you know haying - Never got it - That winter, feeding out that hay, i got poisen ivy. It doesn't have to be the leaves either, we had a big vine in the woods the kids found, you know kids, something to swing on - One got it, one didn't.