Yikes! I'm going out and look again on the side of the house I call "no man's land." When I looked it up the other day, it looked different than your pic. Yours' is what I thought it would look like before I googled it. The pic I found was not what I expected.
As for grandbabies, there's only one....and won't be anymore...so we tend to spoil him. They live about 3 miles from us and I'm very grateful for that. He's over here a lot. Guess we're spoiled too!
Just get in the car and go visit your kiddos! They grow up, get busy, and get away to quickly....

Power of suggestion....that picture is making me itchy

Heard this on the radio today and thought of you.
http://www.npr.org/templates/p...
There is a short 15 sec commercial before the piece.

NOW you tell me!!!! Amazing! 'Both the clip, and that I can get NPR on computer. We always listen on trips, but for some reason, I forget it at home....since I'm not tethered to the kitchen for long stretches anymore!
I still haven't found the source of the PI in the yard. After listening to the clip, I'm more determined to find it. Thanks for sending it.

Interesting news, Anna. We have a gate at the back our property that we don't use and it is covered with poison ivy!! It definitely spread like crazy since last year!! I'll have to wait till it dies back this winter to do anything about it though.

Our property fits in with what that person was saying because the poison ivy is growing on disturbed land (where we put a gate-installed in 2006). Much of our property is undisturbed natural forest, where I see no invasions.


But Bubbles, maybe you are alergic to something else, like poison oak.... or although not as common, some people have a reaction to Virginia Creeper.

Picture of Virginia Creeper:

I have lots of Virginia Creeper...and I do pull it out without gloves... I'll have to look into that. But you'd think I'd have it in more spots on arms and hands if I was allergic to it. Thanks, I'm going to go read up on it.

I hadn't been to the back gate in awhile so decided to go take a look.

It's still there!

The leaves of poison ivy have a distinct shape.

No doubt about it! Did you know that when the vine grows very large (say 3-4" in dia or larger) ....it will produce limb-like growth laterally from the vine....with the leaves held out on the end....especially when it is growing along side or within the foliage of a "support" host...usually a tree?

One of the worst cases of PI blistering I've ever had... happened when I was working with my 3 BIL's ...making an addition to my MIL's wood frame house which had a large oak growing adjacent to her house....the addition extended along side of this tree....and as we built vertically....the roof peak was very close to the limbs of the oak tree......but unnoticed by me.....were limbs/leaves of a PI mixed in among the oak....needless to say,.....since we each were pushing the limbs aside as we were working.....each were exposed.
Would you believe only one person out of 4 was affected.....I mean covered at least 80% of both arms/hands and a lot of "patches"
of blistering on my neck & face....even my ears......had to get a steroid shot for that time.....it was terrible....felt like I was becoming one of the "fungus people" I described earlier.

I am not exxagerating when I tell you that the main trunk of the PI vine was at least 3 1/2" - 4" in diameter.....largest I've ever seen....it must have been there a long time! As luck would have it ,....it grew up the opposite side of the oak tree.....without any limbs or leaves in view until about 10 -12 feet up (in the vicinity of our work area)....severed the trunk with an axe....some revenge at least.

This poison ivy vine has been growing awhile, growing probably thirty feet high; and it's probably only two and a half inches around.... man that must have been a huge plant!!

That sounds terribly painful, Lee.

How awful!

PI is one plant I don't mind spraying with Round Up....I try not to us chemicals at all.....but this is one exception

I'm thinking about that also. There is just one patch on the property that is problematic...and that is near the shed where I do go near it. I have not been able to get rid of it yet. The other PI patches are in areas that I can live with...I know they're there and I don't go near it often. It doesn't get as aggressive here because of the lack of soil and less rainfall, but still hard to remove.

Our neighbors moved and left us a box of chemicals, paints, and fertilizers to take away when we take our stuff to the city's Hazardous Waste Disposal center. I fished out the Round-Up this morning and sprayed it on some weeds out by our mailbox. I just want to see how long it takes to kill 'em. We still can't find PI in the yard. but I'm ready for it when I find it. This RU stuff is in a huge container with a pump on the sprayer.
I do have another place on my arm. I'm thinking maybe it's from my gloves, so I'm washing them all ....again.... I read about the Virginia Creeper being a possibility. I googled it and I couldn't quite get any definitive info...but I have messed with it a lot out front. It's trying to take over a couple of beds.

I've never been affected by VCreeper....didn't know that some are adversely affected.

Depending on the concentration/percentage....the RU-sprayed plant will start to wilt,... usually the next day,....especially if it is exposed to heat/direct sunlight....depends on the type of plant too.....some are more sensitive....some are tougher and reaction is delayed.

Here's a cute little article about Virginia Creeper. This gal has an alergic reaction to it.

http://coverockfarm.blogspot.c...

Been raining a little every day. Guess I'll have to wait till the weekend to re-spray. It doesn't look like anything has shriveled that I sprayed.
Enjoyed the blog about Va. Creeper. I never itched much...my skin just bubbled up and oozed when I got in the sun a day later... I was out this morning checking the side yard where I thought we had had PI before. Never saw it, but I didn't have long to look. We had a quick down pour that chased me inside.

Thought I'd offer an unsolicited product endorsement for.....Tecnu, outdoor skin cleanser. I got into poison ivy Tuesday along with my daughter and grandson. We were clearing and planting a bed for someone and didn't know we were clearing the wrong bed. "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!" It was full of poison ivy, and we had chopped it, walked on it, pulled it, and hauled it to a pile. We were at guitar teacher's studio and figured we'd plant a small bed with extra plants I had during grandson's 30 minute lesson. The instructor told us we could cut down anything in the bed. The next student showed up, so grandson helped us move brush pile. It wasn't until that lesson was over and instructor came outside that he realized we were one bed over from where he thought we were....and it was full of poison ivy. We'd been in the bed an hour. I had to walk back with him (we were already in the car and pulling out) and have him point it out to me. It was everywhere...popping up from the ground, growing up the trees, some hanging down from trees. I guess I just never expected it to be in a "garden bed," so I wasn't looking for it. Thought it was just "weedy stuff."
Daughter and I were stunned! We took a detour to a drugstore in 5:00 traffic, she ran in to talk to a pharmacist, and I stayed in the car trying to explain to a 5 yr old why he couldn't have a snack just yet. The pharmacist said we had a 2 hour window before the oil seeped in and to scrub with soap. Daughter said we wanted something more than soap! She showed him the Tecnu product and he said it was good, but expensive. He gave her an extra empty bottle so we could share the Tecnu once we got to my house. I scrubbed my arms and ankles, left it on two minutes before I washed it off. I had some spots on my arms that looked like a rash, so I was pretty sure I was done for! I checked my arms during the night, and nothing seemed more bumpy or itchy. I waited until today to report....just in case it popped up later. Daughter and grandson have no ill effects either.

I have to assume the Tecnu product worked, as there's no way we weren't exposed. Of course, I remember that the first time I got PI, it took more than a week for it to show up....so I'm still watching. The box says it was developed during the cold war by a chemical engineer to remove radioactive dust from skin and clothing. His wife accidently discovered it would work on poison ivy oils after she was exposed to it.

I re-read this thread and attachments Tuesday night. Lots of good info. Can't tell you how awful I felt, letting grandson carry arm loads of PI to the trash pile......

I've used Technu and it's in my bathroom cabinet. It's great! It's also important to get all clothes washed, shoes cleaned, etc. In your case, maybe do something with the car seats.

I soaked our gloves and my new jeans in Tecnu for a few hours in washer, then put them thru full cycle. I threw my shoes away. Still trying to decide about the shirt! Never thought about the car seats....need to tell daughter....we were in her car.