Itchy Scratchy

This happens every year around this time. I go out and weed flower beds, weed eat around trees, mulch gardens and inevitably a few days later start scratching every inch of my body. The poison ivy has made its appearance yet again this year and I'm so sick and tired of it. It's bad this year. It's popping up in places it's never popped up in before. I'm finding it around the koi pond and right next to Wesley's sandbox. The walnut grove is absolutely covered in poison ivy and has been since we moved in. We keep it under control by regular mowings and twice a year I go out with my green "ivy" scissors and snip the vines at the base of all the trees. If left to its own devices it would trail its way up each tree and spread into the upper canopy of the trees. It's truly nasty stuff.

Sean seems to have a tolerance to it which allows him to go out there every weekend like he has been the past month and chip up all the trimmed limbs. He'll come in with not so much as one itchy bump on him. Oh how I envy him. I, on the other hand, have an extremely high sensitivity to the plant and it seems all I have to do is be down wind from a leaf and will break out. I currently have big boils on my right hand fingers that rub and bump into each other when I hold a pen. It's disgusting. I also have a fun patch right under my left eye. Never had it on my face before. I've never wanted to itch something so bad in my life. Not to mention the large patch behind my knee and just this morning I've found new bumps on my thigh. It really sucks. I just hope Wesley gets Sean's skin rather than mine, so far so good. Thank your lucky stars if you've never had the pleasure of having poison ivy on your property.