One of the big advantages of working outdoors is the people you get to see and meet.
While replacing centerline monuments after a paving job today Jay Leno drove up in one of his crazy cars and handed us ice cold bottles of water.?ÿ I didn't realize we were working in the street just outside his garage.
It's the fourth time I've encountered him while working in the streets of Burbank.
I enjoy the serenity of the woods.
Wetting down dry spots when you have the urge and fertilizing tree roots while backed up to the tree for a brace.?ÿ Preferably one with large, soft leaves.?ÿ Catalpa is good.
Preferably one with large, soft leaves.
I would recommend carrying supplies unless your botanical knowledge is quite reliable.
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It's the fourth time I've encountered him while working in the streets of Burbank.
STALKER!!!!!!
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@jitterboogie:?ÿ That's OK.?ÿ He can stalk me all he wants to.
I think the only TV actor I've had stop to chat with me while I was surveying is this Barry McGuire.
If the fertilizing urge takes place in the woods search for and use these nice fresh green leaves for emergency TP. Very helpful. ?????ÿ
@flga-2-2
Nothing wrong with Virginia Creeper, right? ???? ?????ÿ
@flga-2-2
Not familiar with that, but it's not the poison ivy that grows in NE
It??s poison sumac. One of the most prolific nuisance??s in FL. ?????ÿ
@flga-2-2
Ahhhh, I see
Beware leaves of three up this way
It??s poison sumac. One of the most prolific nuisance??s in FL. ?????ÿ
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Here's what that stuff looks like in OK.
fresh green leaves for emergency TP
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might give you the nickname, "itchy-butt.?
I wade right through poison sumac and poison ivy at least eight months out of the year.?ÿ I am one of those rare souls who does not get it.?ÿ Others get it by looking at a picture of it.?ÿ Meanwhile, I'll poke around a corner post covered with it in order to find the reference nail that was put there before the ivy arrived.
Others get it by looking at a picture of it.
That's me. I believe that the sensitivity has been acquired by repeated exposure. A couple years ago I drove down a dirt driveway that had poison oak growing on the fences on either side. By the time I got home I had the itch.?ÿ
Many people have been immune to it until they got a big dose and suddenly were sensitive.
I grew up not knowing exactly what it looked like and I know I've waded through shin-deep poison ivy with no bad effects. I eventually learned what it usually looked like and started trying to avoid it just in case.?ÿ
Then one day my brother and I were looking for a bench mark and there were these 6-ft tall weeds in the way.?ÿ I broke some off and, in hindsight, probably got sap on my shirt.?ÿ When we were done I took my shirt off and mopped my sweaty back with it.?ÿ The next day I had an itchy streak on my back that lasted for a couple weeks.?ÿ I thus learned that PI can grow quite tall.?ÿ I try even harder now to avoid it now, and have had some minor breakouts after being around it, probably from shoe contamination.
A former high school science teacher told me her story involving poison ivy.?ÿ When she was little and dressed in nothing but a cotton dress and underwear she would frolic all around her parents' farm.?ÿ One day she discovered a large area that was covered with pretty green vines.?ÿ She sat down and began to play with them for a long time until she finally heard her mother calling her in to eat lunch.?ÿ The next day came and she was covered from head to toe and EVERYWHERE in between with poison ivy.?ÿ She had to visit the doctor it was so bad.?ÿ She said that was her first motivation to learn all about plants and nature, leading her to become a science teacher.
I worked with an engineer that had a super serious allergy to poison ivy (he had been hospitalize with a reaction).?ÿ This was back in the day we handed field books over to the office staff.?ÿ I handed this engineer a field book in which I had pressed box elder leaves at the current project's pages.?ÿ Off and back to the field I went.?ÿ
When I got back in the office I was in some serious trouble.?ÿ The engineer apparently had swelled up and had blotchy red spots all over.?ÿ His wife had transported him to the ER.?ÿ I felt vindicated once I had a chance to explain they were box elder leaves and it was a joke.?ÿ But I was still in the dog house for sure.
The engineer's psychosomatic reaction waned after a few hours and a antihistamine injection.?ÿ He was back at work the next day.?ÿ I was still in trouble and he refused to handle field books ever again.
I guess it was a poor choice on my part for a practical joke.?ÿ I still wish I could have seen his face when he opened the book.
Box Elder leaves:
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Basswood leaves make good mountain money?ÿ
