High Summer

[Andrea B.]

The shade is deep, the pollen is bursting off the Rudbeckias, the crickets are in a frenzy of chirping, the tree frogs are singing maniacally, the birds are hiding while they change into new flight feathers. It is High Summer in my part of the Northern Hemisphere, that last wave just before Autumn begins to creep in. A glorious time!

 

And so I suit up, covered completely from the neck down - two pairs of gloves, washable shoes, long socks over jeans hems, long sleeves rubber-banded to my wrists and tucked inside the gloves - to go out and do battle with the hordes of Toxicodendron radicans which has invaded every plant bed during my neglect since the end of April when all the travels began. If you live in a hemisphere or on a continent or in a country which lacks this evil blistering menace commonly known as Poison Ivy, then do be grateful.

 

The first casualty is my glasses which sweat off the end of my nose because it is rather warm inside all this protection I have donned. Then one sleeve comes untucked exposing a tender inner wrist. But I persevere and gather up a grocery bag full of poison ivy and other weedy thugs. After securing the bag in an additional plastic sack tied tightly, I proudly deposit it in the ridiculously overlarge bin supplied by our New Jersey "waste management firm" - no doubt owned by Tony Soprano's cousin's brother-in-law. That bin could hold at least 3 bodies. Or maybe 1 governor⁽¹⁾. I'm sure these guys can handle this particular weed collection which I have left for them.

 

I must say, it was rather tricky unsuiting. I tried to peel everything off so the resulting pile was all inside-out when I tossed it, shoes and all, into the washing machine. But I headed immediately for the shower anyway just in case even one little molecule of urushiol had made contact with my skin. The stuff is that bad.

 

I think I the rubber bands went into the washer too. Oh well. It was a job well done.

 

 

 

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(1) Sorry, that is a New Jersey "in" joke. There's no way around it, our governor is a tub⁽²⁾.

 

(2) Sorry, I meant to write 'thug'.

[nfoto]

Hopefully, you recorded its UV signature before the eradication of it?

[Damon]

Yes the woods are rampant around here in Jersey with that gem.

I am glad I do not feel your pain...I can pick it by hand and nothing happens. I cleared a load of it at our Maurice River Bluffs Preserve and no problems. I have been told repeatedly I will get it if I keep exposing myself but not yet apparently. Flowers are crazy small.

[Andrea B.]

I've never seen the flowers. But then I've never looked too closely either. :D

 

Good to hear that one NJ preserve clears some of it. Up this way Sandy Hook does nothing about it so some of the nice trails are impossible in the summer.