The Good and the Not so Good

On Canada day last week I decided to tidy my gardens a little. As you can see by this picture I have a huge back yard! Yup! That's it folks! The total depth of my back yard is an air conditioner + small garden. It's easy to mow and although I often get ribbed about 'How do I ever find time to mow my monsterous lawn?', I tell them I take an afternoon off work and see what I can do. It is fun though to be able to mow my lawn + 2 neighbours all in the span of 1 commercial break on TV!

I have to be honest though and say that I have amazing neighbours! The couple that lives next door are a wonderful, retired couple and they love to putter. Due to our small size I'm blessed to have them putter in my garden too! They take great care of my gardens and know that they're free to do whatever they want and pull whatever they want. Works well for both of us.

Anyway, the lilac you can see was getting pretty overgrown so it was time for a trim. Len and I went at it with some big clippers and it looks so much better! We also pulled out a bunch of stuff and trimmed back some of the lower branches on the maple tree in the front yard.

Why am I sharing this? Because I forgot about an age old saying, 'Leaves of 3. Let them be.' I don't remember seeing any 'leaves of 3' but I have a feeling they must have been there. A few years back I transplanted some wild flowers into this little garden above. At the same time, Sharon and Larry transplanted some too. The following year when Sharon was working on her garden she got a nasty case of poison ivy. It didn't happen to me so I thought I was spared. Ummm...nope!

Last Friday morning I noticed a few bumps on my skin but they weren't itchy so I didn't think too much about them. Last evening and then this morning my arms have totally broken out and are red, itchy and swolen up and down all the exposed areas - exactly where I scooped up the clippings to take them to the garbage bin.

In trying to recreate the situation I think I might know what happened. Not knowing about the poison ivy, I had hung my t-shirt back in the closet. I wore that t-shirt again on Sunday for a number of hours and I have a feeling it must have had some of the poison ivy oil on it so that's where the new breakout has come from.

I'm fairly sure that's what it is but I'm going to pop into urgent care just to be on the safe side. Will keep you posted. And until then...off to apply more Aveeno lotion. How you doing Krista? We can be comrads in our bumpy, red, blotchy fashion statement! Others will be sooo jealous!

*Update* Hmmm...still a mystery. Just returned from Urgent Care and the doc says it's not poison ivy, oak or ash. He's not sure what it is nor where I got it although he believes it's some sort of contact that caused it. I'm glad I went though as it's getting itchier as the day progresses and is spreading. He gave me some cream to put on it and feels it will be gone in a few days. Yeah! It's kinda hard to wear long sleeves when it's 105o outside!