Urishiol is evil!

OK, enough of the heat and humidity already.  It's only June and it seems like it is the end of July already.  The weather is making feel like I only have a few days of summer break left.  Geesh!  As I went out to the garage this morning to get some more paint supplies, I  got hit in the face with wet, sticky air.  It settled on my like a towel that you pull from the dryer that's hot but  is nowhere near dry. I was drenched by the time I got back in the house.  But one great thing about that kind of rude awakening is that the little bit of air conditioning I had running at the time made the house feel like a meat locker. 

And this heat doesn't help my itchy skin like crazy! Apparently when I went out and sprayed all the weeds to tame the jungle out back, I must have brushed up against poison ivy.   I have that rash and bug bites on my legs, my neck, my arms, so I am wasting away in the land of Benedryl today. I hate poison ivy!  What was God thinking?

Here are a few interesting facts about these morbid plants:
*  Urishiol is the chemical that causes the rash.
*  Only one nanogram is needed to cause a reaction (I always wanted to use the words nanogram in a sentence!)
*  It is normal for urishiol oil to be to remain active (in other words able to cause you to itch) from one to five years.  No wonder I can't go outside and not get the rash!

What I have learned from this experience?  Urishiol is evil!

I have had enough of the rash to leave all outdoor work alone for a couple of days.  Maybe by then I won't look like cats before I put flea collars on them!


*  These facts came from http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/fastfacts.html and there are many more on the site if you are interested.