Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sunny Monday


I know, it's past Monday, but I have to tell you, it WAS sunny, and we played hookey from all our urban responsibilities...to stay on the farm. I've simply been catching up, and had no time to post!



Monday was MY day to hang with the sheep on the front lawn - this is my dear Hattie (I can barely remember chasing her for two hours up the mountain in the dead of February in my pajamas...she looks like my best friend in the world, no?)


And there were eggs to gather...



And potatoes to plant...and that's when I got into trouble. POISON IVY-(my arch nemesis!) Now I know, it's a hazard of farming. And I know we have plenty of it on the lower lot. And, yes, I know what it looks like, thanks for asking.

But the truth remains, if we don't pull it up, or have the critters eat it, it will continue to exist. (Round Up is out, Mother - organic farm, remember?) So I'm just doing my little part. Besides, there are no leaves to speak of on anything around here, so good luck telling that viney root apart from the other viney roots I was pulling out of the potato patch.

So, yeah, the first (of many) bouts with poison ivy. On my face-all around my left eye and cheek, a smattering on my hands, all across the back of my neck and down the left side, on my right elbow, a stripe across my belly (don't ask - it seems to find it's way there every time...) and on my knees. Yep, despite the spread, it's not a major outbreak. Let's just be thankful it's not on the boobs...this time.

The only comfort - (besides covert scratching when nobody is looking) the DH has it too! No more of that superior "We men of color don't get poison ivy" bullsh**. Hah!

6 comments:

Michelle said...

I don't know, your DH looks pretty pale to me....

Lauren Dorsee Dillon said...

David the Husband is deathly allergic to poison ivy, avoids it like the plague which is the way it hits him, and inevitably gets it anyway so we rush to emergency and get a steroid shot. Oddly enough, it doesn't affect me, me who is allergic to just about everything on God's green earth.

I'm glad you're finally getting some sunshine; you deserve it (but not the poison ivy).

melanie said...

Yeah, well, it's the source of a lot of funny looks, and tentative questions, but he is bi-racial. Often confused for Italian, Mexican, Indian, Samoan and various other interesting choices. Both his parents are/were bi-racial also.

He'll "brown up" once I get him out doing more chores...

But it makes for interesting family outings when we all get together. His first two sons are with a much darker woman, so they are light brown. One of them has boys who are also light brown. That makes them my "grandchildren" and my 10-year-old pale child their aunt. I am 13 years his junior, so when the boys call me Grandma, my daughter calls me Mom, and my DH with very silver/gray hair calls me Honey...well, you should see the quizzical looks we get.

Ahhh...diversity.

Michelle said...

Aaaah, a family with lots of colors just like Shetland sheep - perfect! :-)

Kathy said...

It'd be so dull if we all were alike, wouldn't it? Our daughter used to be able to walk 50 yeards away from Poison Ivy and still get it! When I was a kid I used to get it on the palms of my hands and we couldn't figure out how - just in that area. It was from petting my father's Irish Setter who had run through it. Makes me itch just to think aobut what you've had to endure.

Glad to hear you had a really nice day!

AlisonH said...

I came over from Karin Maag-Tanchak's blog, and have been reading through for a goodly while now. The poison ivy, though, got me to finally hit the comment button: my mom is deathly allergic to the stuff. But there is now a cream on the market that you can apply that she totally swears by. I don't remember the name of it--I'm in California these days rather than back in Maryland, where I grew up, and the stuff doesn't grow here--but it's something worth looking into. I'm sure if you call a pharmacist or google it I imagine it could really help.