Trinket Towees Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 I'm suffering my 2nd round of sumac outbreak this month thanks to those who have planted their caches in or around poison sumac in North Texas. Next time I'm taking a plant book so I can at least recongize it and turn around when I see it. Perhaps some cachers need that same book. Two out of thee people are allergic to it, and 15% of them have serious reactions, enough to close down breathing. BEWARE!!! Trinket Towees Quote Link to comment
+Jinkeez Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 Sorry to hear about your brush with sumac... Here are some links that might be helpful to you in the future, though: This Poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac FAQ seems to have some good information in it. Poison Ivy: Poison Oak: Poison Sumac: Quote Link to comment
Robereno Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 In our area, Southern Cal, it’s almost impossible to go anywhere in the rural areas without running into Poison Oak. I seem to get it once a year even though I know what it looks like. Just for fun, I put together this plant ID quiz on my site. http://www.creekbed.com/quiz.htm CreekBed.com Quote Link to comment
Robereno Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 In our area, Southern Cal, it’s almost impossible to go anywhere in the rural areas without running into Poison Oak. I seem to get it once a year even though I know what it looks like. Just for fun, I put together this plant ID quiz on my site. http://www.creekbed.com/quiz.htm CreekBed.com Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 Poison ivy, poison oak, ticks, mosquitos, I can't stop scratching just sitting here at the cpu. Alan Quote Link to comment
+mrcpu Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 When I was in the Army I worked on a base in southern Ontario for a while. The base is COVERED in poison ivy. Parts of the base are quarentine because of the PI! Apparently back in the 50's or 60's a defence experiment was done to breed the meanest strain of Posion Ivy known to mankind!!! The idea was simple: Plant PI around your base so that when the enemy attacked they would have to attack through the PI. The next day you could guarantee they were ineffective because you'd have battalions of itchy scratchy soldiers. A very unique form of BIOLOGICAL WARFARE!!!! Unfortunatly the PI spread out of control. I remember walking through FIELDS of it! One morning we were on patrol and were walking up this steep hill. The sun was coming up and as it did I noticed the morning dew glistening off the distinctive 3 leaves of PI... FOR AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE!!! I prayed to god that I wouldn't slip and fall on this steep bank!!!! Another time I really had to take care of some personal business so I grabbed a shovel and some paper and headed into the woods. I could NOT find a safe place to do my thing so finally, I had to stop where I was and pray that I didn't fall over!!! Whenever we came in off exercise we would walk through vats of chemicals to get the PI off our boots. Even then guys would get it. We had to do PI checks every day. I had a rash that they thought was PI. Every morning for 3 days I got to leave my company in the field with their field rations and take a truck into the main part of the base. I would have a nice hot shower while my cloths were washing in the PI washers. I'd then have a great breakfast and then head over to the MIR where a young female medic would rub cortezone (spelling) cream on the rash, which just happened to be on the inside of my legs just above the knees!!! Needless to say, I wasn't exactly upset about having PI. Fortunatly for me it wasn't PI and was probably a heat rash. I knew a female who had sexual relations with a fellow soldier who she didn't know had PI. She ended up in the hospital with INTERNAL PI {I'll leave that up to your imagination.} Thankfully there are no caches in Southern Ontario anywhere near this base. If there ever is one I'll be sure to visit it and I'll warn people if I see PI there!!! Remember... Leaves of Three, let it Be!!! Rob Mobile Cache Command Quote Link to comment
+mrcpu Posted April 16, 2002 Share Posted April 16, 2002 When I was in the Army I worked on a base in southern Ontario for a while. The base is COVERED in poison ivy. Parts of the base are quarentine because of the PI! Apparently back in the 50's or 60's a defence experiment was done to breed the meanest strain of Posion Ivy known to mankind!!! The idea was simple: Plant PI around your base so that when the enemy attacked they would have to attack through the PI. The next day you could guarantee they were ineffective because you'd have battalions of itchy scratchy soldiers. A very unique form of BIOLOGICAL WARFARE!!!! Unfortunatly the PI spread out of control. I remember walking through FIELDS of it! One morning we were on patrol and were walking up this steep hill. The sun was coming up and as it did I noticed the morning dew glistening off the distinctive 3 leaves of PI... FOR AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE!!! I prayed to god that I wouldn't slip and fall on this steep bank!!!! Another time I really had to take care of some personal business so I grabbed a shovel and some paper and headed into the woods. I could NOT find a safe place to do my thing so finally, I had to stop where I was and pray that I didn't fall over!!! Whenever we came in off exercise we would walk through vats of chemicals to get the PI off our boots. Even then guys would get it. We had to do PI checks every day. I had a rash that they thought was PI. Every morning for 3 days I got to leave my company in the field with their field rations and take a truck into the main part of the base. I would have a nice hot shower while my cloths were washing in the PI washers. I'd then have a great breakfast and then head over to the MIR where a young female medic would rub cortezone (spelling) cream on the rash, which just happened to be on the inside of my legs just above the knees!!! Needless to say, I wasn't exactly upset about having PI. Fortunatly for me it wasn't PI and was probably a heat rash. I knew a female who had sexual relations with a fellow soldier who she didn't know had PI. She ended up in the hospital with INTERNAL PI {I'll leave that up to your imagination.} Thankfully there are no caches in Southern Ontario anywhere near this base. If there ever is one I'll be sure to visit it and I'll warn people if I see PI there!!! Remember... Leaves of Three, let it Be!!! Rob Mobile Cache Command Quote Link to comment
magellan315 Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 This is one of the reasons that I always wear long pants when going after a geocahce, I'd rather have to sweat a little than have to experience poison ivy again. I've found military fatigues in very lieghtwiehgt material and a buy kahki color to avoid the rambo look when I am caching in local parks. Quote Link to comment
RedShoesGirl Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. I am NOT allergic to those plants. Never have been. Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 quote:Originally posted by laraley: heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. I am NOT allergic to those plants. Never have been. heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. There's always the first time... Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 quote:Originally posted by laraley: heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. I am NOT allergic to those plants. Never have been. heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. There's always the first time... Quote Link to comment
jfitzpat Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 quote:Originally posted by laraley: heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. I am NOT allergic to those plants. Never have been. Unless you are almost 60, cross your fingers and don't gloat. It is quite common for people with a exceptionally low reaction to urushiol (that nasty poison oil in these plants) to suddenly develop a fairly severe reaction somewhere between their late 20's and late 50's. It might be hormonal, there is actually a binding protein involved, or it might be slight enzyme variations, but it happens. I once saw a camper learn this first hand. She attempted to show off her immunity by squating in a large poison oak bush and answering the call of nature. By Sunday night, she was a truly, and I mean truly, miserable camper. Sometimes, Fortuna smiles on us... Quote Link to comment
jfitzpat Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 quote:Originally posted by laraley: heh, heh, heh, evil wicked laugh. I am NOT allergic to those plants. Never have been. Unless you are almost 60, cross your fingers and don't gloat. It is quite common for people with a exceptionally low reaction to urushiol (that nasty poison oil in these plants) to suddenly develop a fairly severe reaction somewhere between their late 20's and late 50's. It might be hormonal, there is actually a binding protein involved, or it might be slight enzyme variations, but it happens. I once saw a camper learn this first hand. She attempted to show off her immunity by squating in a large poison oak bush and answering the call of nature. By Sunday night, she was a truly, and I mean truly, miserable camper. Sometimes, Fortuna smiles on us... Quote Link to comment
jfitzpat Posted April 17, 2002 Share Posted April 17, 2002 Oh, one more thing - NEVER go by leaf color!!! Most of these plants look dramatically different from season to season, and can have leaves of almost any color. -jjf Quote Link to comment
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