The Daily Firewood Picture Thread

[barbender]

 I can touch poison ivy and have the reaction start within an hour, Doc. 

 I love picking wild asparagus. In a cruel irony, asparagus and poison ivy enjoy the same habitat. Some of the thickest, nastiest patches of ivy I know of surround the good asparagus patches. I don't drink and carouse, ride snowmobiles and motorcycles too fast, or any other such foolishness anymore. So I guess picking asparagus out of a poison ivy patch is my current form of high risk behavior😁 Now, I take my asparagus pickin' fairly serious. I have a long knife to cut the stems off so I don't have to reach far in between the ivy leaves. I wear a long sleeve shirt to protect my arms, and a pair of thin gloves. One time I wasn't wearing gloves and the edge of an ivy leaf streaked the back of my hand. It wasn't half an hour later I had raised blisters in a red streak in that spot😬

 Thankfully, I've never seen the vining form of ivy up here!

[doc henderson]

I think the vines are the 20 y/o versions.  please do not use the ivy leaves for TP, butt if you do, please post pics in the did something dumb thread.  It is a contact dermatitis.  not everyone is allergic.  most of my patients come in a few days later, but that does not mean they did not, not see it, and therefore did not realize what it was.  we ask, have you been to the lake or camping lately.  It is usually a few days later.  mine can be within a day, but I am often in denial as well.

[barbender]

 Haha I think that picture would top Magic's feet!😂

I think I can honestly say I've had ivy on every part of my body, except for the soles of my feet and under my hair. It is torture!😬 Even having had it in my nether regions, I still think having it on my face is the worst. My facial skin really thickens and gets swollen from it, I end up looking like the poor guy from the movie "Mask".

I suspect when I get it all over, the first areas to appear are from the actual contact. But as it continues to spread for days after, I suspect that is a broader allergic reaction. What is the word on that, Doc?

[doc henderson]

I think it is dose related.  so the first areas to show up got the biggest dose, and often there are streaks where you brushed past a leaf.  then it "spreads" to the lower dose areas.  It is the oil that you react to, and you can get it from boots or clothing, but not usually spreading from scratching, and especially after washing ect.  you can get it in winter when there are no leaves.  so, we always use caution pulling on a big vine on a tree that has been out in the woods for years.  I am not good at it, but the best thing is to try to kill it with brush killer before it seeds.  you have to spray every month or so until all the seeds are gone or open up the area to sun and keep it mowed.  the face and the nether regions tend to be soft skin and really swell.  heat brings out the itch.  steroids and antihistamines help the symptoms.  I have never seen it on the palms.  If you are paying attention or knowingly get into to it, you wash the area with soap and water before the oil can penetrate the skin.  it should reduce or eliminate the reaction.

[barbender]

Yep I've went running for the sink or shower many times.

[cutterboy]

 So I guess picking asparagus out of a poison ivy patch is my current form of high risk behavior😁 

:D :D :D That is funny!
A poison ivy story: My father was burning brush years ago and there were poison ivy vines in the brush pile. He was not wearing a hat and got a bad case of poison ivy on his bald head. He claimed it was from the smoke but I wonder if it was from rubbing his head with his gloved hands after handling the vines. Anyway, my brothers and I teased him about that for a long time. ;D

[barbender]

I've heard of people getting it just from smoke. Nasty stuff that ivy😬

[beenthere]

My resistance to poison ivy broke down at about 25 years of age when I cleared our land for our house and yard. Burned many a pile that included PI. 
Now I have been lucky when I know I've been exposed to it, to wash within two hours with soap and be sure to put all the clothing in the laundry. And washing hands after tying my boot shoestrings every time seems to work well for me. One key is knowing when you have been exposed to the plant, the leaves and the smoke. 

Poison sumac was one that did get under the skin on the palms of my hands. Much more severe itching that was below the surface rather than PI that seems to itch at the surface blister. Just my experience, and prolly everyone reacts a bit different. 
 Before age 25 I worked a summer at the Harvard Black Rock Forest and the PI vines were thick and tall. Had to poke/push your way through it daily getting logs out. Presented no problem on the skin.

[GRANITEstateMP]

beenthere brought up boot laces, thats what gets me every dang time!

[cutterboy]

beenthere, It was the same with me. As a kid and young man I was never bothered by poison ivy but around age 30 I started to have reactions to it.

[cutterboy]

takes a few days to show up, let us know!

Day three no itching. All is well.

[thecfarm]

That is good!!!
I have it on my land. I do spray it when I see it. I never really get rid of it. Well along the edge of the field in the woods.
I got rid of some when we bought back some of The Farm.
There was a stone wall covered with it. I kept that wall barren for 3 years. If it was green I sprayed it!!!  I hauled off the stone wall and we mow it now.

[RetiredTech]

As a kid and young man I was never bothered by poison ivy

 Same here. After climbing a tree to retrieve a remote control model airplane the tree had snatched out of the  sky. Only one vine of poison ivy in the tree, but boy it found me. Ever since then I have to be careful around it. It wasn't even my plane.

[barbender]

I've heard that story more than once. People think they are immune to it, but it catches up with them eventually. Same thing with bee stings.

[SwampDonkey]

We don't have it around here. But once in awhile you can get into stinging nettles. The natural antidote is jewel weed/spotted touch-me-not- juice. The stems are succulent and full of juice. It works, I've used it. The two plants usually grow together here, on wet seepage areas and banks of streams. There's more jewel weed around here than nettles. Nettles aren't that common here. Jewel weed is kind of interesting in itself, when the seeds are ripe in the pod, they will burst open when the pod is touched. ;D

We have wild cucumber as well, it only grows around the creeks here. But I have never seen it north of here or east of here. Used to grow around the old school yard on the fence. Kids and wild cucumber tag. :D

[RetiredTech]

I never really get rid of it.

  I don't think you can get rid of it completely. The vines are just the tip of the iceberg. The roots spread like crazy just under the ground. It's probably kin to sweetgum or popcorn trees.:D

[doc henderson]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_radicans

[btulloh]

Applying something containing triclopyr to the end of a fresh cut vine near the ground will totally eliminate that particular plant. There can be several individual plants around the base of the tree though, so each will need to be cut and treated. There will be dropped berries in the area also, so you will probably get some regen the following year even if you kill all existing vines so you need to monitor for a couple years.  Just cutting vines near the base in spring will help mitigate for one season and limit the berry production. Birds eat the berries and help spread it around, so anything you do to limit berry production limits the spread. 

[RetiredTech]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_radicans

Oh my, a member of the cashew and pistachio family? Say it ain't so! Roasted cashews are my favorite.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, I have to avoid that poison stuff at all costs, seem to be pretty sensitive these days.
 As for my wood, I keep plugging along as I can find the energy. I had this pile of rounds:



 

Not a lot, but more than  trailer load. Still I managed to fit it all on the trailer, probably the largest load I have put on, so more than 1/3 cord.


 

Probably closer to 1/2 cord. I am out of logs...again... and will have to go a-foraging. ;D

[RetiredTech]

As for my wood, I keep plugging along as I can find the energy.

I'm in the same boat. I wasn't able to get the wood cut during cool weather. Trying to feed wood heaters for my uncle and mom's houses and my fireplace. Just my uncle and I to work on it. I hope your weather is cooler than ours. It's pretty hot here and getting hotter.

[Old Greenhorn]

Cooler? Oh heck yeah! In fact I was splitting with a jacket on today for a while. The smoke has kept the sunlight off the ground here for 3 days now that I have noticed. Actually we had 8 minutes of sunshine today. High today was 62° and it's a bit depressing and damp. Kind of like October. I should have run a junk fire in the shop today. My wife and I were both moaning about it at dinner time, wearing an extra layer each, or more. Tonight after dinner I finally said "enough' and I started a fire in the stove. ;D It's 71 at my desk now and I still have that extra layer on. Just burning all those little splits and stuff that fall off the splitter and the short blocks that are a pain to stack.
 Tomorrow should be a little better, I hope.

[SwampDonkey]

11-1/2 cord stacked here since April. Will cut wood this fall for the next year sometime after Canadian Thanksgiving. Nice cool weather and no bugs in my face. :D

[petefrom bearswamp]

My son and I used to keep a year ahead, but life got  in the way eventually.
I sold most of my Ash in 2008 fearing the coming EAB infestation.
The woods here is now his and the EAB finally got here in earnest, so we harvested the remaining marketable 144 Ash last year for saw logs and sold them.
Skidded just under half of the tops out this spring and the wood will be for this year and subsequent heating seasons.
Not as dry as we would like but as the poem says "Ashwood green or Ashwood dry" etc.
So far working just half days as this is all I can do anymore we have his wood bucked up and mostly split, Mine about 25 percent bucked up.
We do 23 inch wood.
He burns in a wood stove in his basement and I have an older Classic OWB which is pretty hungry.
one of these days I'll post pics.

[jimbarry]

 

 

Some wavy birch.