Eradicating Poison Ivy (and other weeds)

Today I faced the poison ivy in my yard. As soon as I realized, three weeks ago, that I had a poison ivy rash, I started wondering how to get rid of the plants. I got the rash while weeding garlic mustard from my north yard. Today I learned, from careful observation, that there were three ‘leaves of three’ species in our yard. The one I identified that fateful day was tiny wild blackberry brambles. Another plant I noticed today was small, with serrated leaves. I’m pretty sure it isn’t poison ivy, but I was taking no chances: I pulled every last one. And of course, there was actual poison ivy, which initiated the allergic reaction that sent me to urgent care after a week of toughing it out.

It took me nearly three hours to actually get out and work in the yard. Constructive procrastination, Jim's dad used to call it. I was apprehensive that I’d break out again. As I procrastinated, I improved my strategy. I prepared some poison-ivy herbicide. Even Amy, a suburban homesteader who promotes natural remedies for gardening challenges, recommends chemical herbicides for tough cases of poison ivy. She does recommend leaving the plants where they don't disturb human activity: they protect against erosion, make good boundaries for forests, and produce berries that some birds eat.

Last week, I bought two disposable Tyvek suits, complete with attached booties. The supplied black gloves were as thin and short as exam gloves, and I couldn’t keep my wrists protected, so I added a pair of long purple rubber gloves.

I’m very frugal (ask my kids) and thought of reusing the $10 Tyvek suit and $5 purple gloves.  However, the suit was nearly worn out after six and a half hours of bending, kneeling, pulling weeds and cutting brush. It was fun to peel myself out of the suit, roll it up inside out, and trash it.

After 6 1/2 hours: 4 bags full of weeds

I used my best Red Cross First Aid glove-removal technique.Sweat came streaming out of them. My finger pads were prunes. Cheap spa treatment.

I’m pretty confident that I didn't touch any poison ivy, but I’ll only be certain in three days, if I don’t develop any rash. I’ll keep you posted.

Elbows and Steroids

Two weeks ago, I did some ambitious weeding, eradicating the extremely invasive garlic mustard (such an innocuous name) from my north yard. I worked on it several hours.

I saw some wild raspberry brambles, which produce small, dryish berries, and I pulled them. There must have been some other ‘leaves of three’, but I didn’t notice them.

Two days later, driving to Charleston, South Carolina, for Spoleto Music Festival, I developed a large welt on the inside of my upper arm and a small patch of rash below my elbow. I thought it was an allergic reaction to a spider bite. Over the next six days, more and more tiny red bumps erupted on the inside of my arms, little pin-pricks, smaller than mosquito bites, developing into archipelagos surrounded by seas of hot, angry red skin. By Wednesday, I could barely bend my arms. After our last concert, a sweet usher noticed me leaving. She pointed to my arms and said, “Is that poison ivy? It looks very painful. I've had that. The only thing that works is steroids.”

We found an urgent care office and I got a steroid shot. I'm sure it didn't have an immediate effect, but I felt instantly better: the desperation of the past six days melted away. Oral prednisone promised steady recovery.

My dad, Dr. George G. Hazen, received a patent in 1963 for a process simplifying and speeding the production of steroids (particularly A-anhydrosteroids from ll-hydroxy-steroids). I'm grateful for his careful and creative research.

I hoped our vacation would include time reading and writing. However, the rashes on my arms made it painful and difficult to bend my elbows enough to use the keyboard, hold a book, or even help with a jigsaw puzzle.

I never realized what a blessing elbows are. I spent several days with my arms out straight, careful not to bump them on anything, and several nights sleeping on my back, Ziploc bags full of crushed ice tied to both arms with long black sox.

The concerts were wonderful: the Miami City Ballet, Samuel Barber's Adagio, an Australian circus troupe, Backbone, taking on gravity and other myths. But there were many uncomfortable hours of inactivity.

I understand how useful opposable thumbs are in making and handling tools. But elbows: I hope I never take them for granted again.