~HAZARDS OF GARDENING~

It's snowing again at 5000 feet (note the date at top of post) and I am not all that upset about it. I have had one of the longest weeks in history in OR's 1-5 and I really needed to spend the weekend in a recliner with my feet up reading a good book and a heating pad on my sore back! Instead, I have been battling this rash on my arms and legs that just won't go away and itches like CRAZY! I found out that when I was pulling out all of the "stuff" in my flowerbeds that some of that "stuff" just happened to be Poison Oak. l now know what Poison Oak looks like and what it can do to you...STAY AWAY FROM IT...LEAVES OF THREE, LEAVE THEM BE!!! I considered leaving it there because it is a rather nice looking vine/bush sort of thing that the deer seemed to stay away from all together (there's a clue there) and, in September/October it's leaves turn this awesome color of reddish-orange that is very "fallish". Well, I found out that my arms and legs can turn that very same color of reddish-orange from the contact dermatitis that is inflicts after you have brushed up against it or, in my case grabbed it by it's innocent looking leaves and yanked it from the earth! Seems it will take about 3-4 weeks for it to finish it's cycle of itch, burn, blister, and swell...Oh, I almost forgot, and SPREAD!