Dreadful, Despicable and Downright Disagreeable

Sometime in the first few days of June, I took it upon myself to clear out some vines that were taking over a portion of our backyard fence. I had just bought a pair of garden loppers and was anxious to try them out on the various vines and limbs that were beginning to irritate me.

So, whack whack whack, off with the vine on the fence! Snip snip snip on some small tree limbs hanging where they shouldn't be. Stuff it all into a trash can to be hauled away by the garbage guys.

I didn't work long, probably about 15 minutes -- I am not a gardener and don't enjoy that sort of thing (although, I secretly wish I did... 'cause looking at the gorgeous flowers grown by fellow bloggers make me want to see if my black thumb would turn green...) Anyway, I went inside and considered that enough yard work for the day.

Fast forward a few days -- I wake up with a couple of raised red bumps that I thought were bug bites of some kind.... then the next morning there were more and I was getting creeped out. Off go the sheets! No bugs in sight. I vacuum around the baseboards and tell hubby I want him to spray.

Next day, more bumps. And the next. They're getting bigger. I'm freaking out! I had been using Cortizone 10 that I had on hand but needed more so when we went to Target for a few things, I showed the pharmacist the bumps and asked about something to use on them for itching. She asked if I had been working in the yard recently, because it looked like poison ivy!

Smack me upside the head! I hadn't thought of poison ivy -- only being bombarded by some creepy crawly! I was actually relieved that it was only poison ivy....

"Leaves of three, let them be"

Poison ivy even has its own special poetry

Only poison ivy....  HA!!  I'm about a week and a half into this now, and believe me, you don't want this horrible stuff. The cortizone keeps the itchiness down but there are a few places that seem to itch all the time and when the stuff wears off.... OMG!!!  Sometimes I phantom scratch.... hubby calls it "air scratching" LOL!

It's growing up the tree

I turned to my pal Mr. Google and found out all manner of things I didn't want to know... I confirmed that the vine was, in fact, poison ivy. I won't show you pics of my arms and legs lest you run away screaming in fear and disgust but suffice it to say that I did see photos of other arms and legs that looked just like mine -- and lots than were worse -- I'm the one running away in fear and disgust now!!

Way up the tree

all the way up that tree...

I swear I have never seen this stuff on the fence before now 

so apparently it's pretty fast growing.

I also learned that the urushiol oil from poison ivy (the stuff that causes the breakout) stays potent, essentially FOREVER unless deactivated!! You not only have to wash it off your body, you have to wash your clothes and garden tools too. An allergic reaction is possible for a year or more if the clothes were never washed. Can you imagine?!

"Side leaflets like mittens will itch like the dickens"

(Another little poison ivy rhyme)

Do you see the mittens?

I started thinking back and knew which shorts I had on (yeah, I know -- shorts and gardening don't mix, but it was on an impulse) and I hadn't washed them but had worn them again. Hubby calls them my "uniform" since I typically wear them a few times before washing. (Oh, quit it, you know you do the same thing...) I'm thinking, well the rash on one of my legs right at shorts level was spreading -- could this possibly be because of the shorts??

So I started washing -- hot water, hot dryer. I've washed those shorts and my gardening gloves four times now. I've also washed the sheets, just in case, although it can't be spread by anything except direct contact with the vine. So my shorts can be a carrier of the oil, but not my sheets. But I still feel better washing them. I even washed every t-shirt I own as an added precaution!
Hot hot water.

Yikes! I found some by the shed....

But I also found a homemade concoction made of Dawn dish washing liquid, vinegar and Epson salts that's supposed to get rid of it without the harsh chemicals of the store-bought stuff.

We'll see what happens, if it ever stops raining...

And we won't even speak about how much I'm itching.... and itching.... and still itching....

And so I will leave you with something much less itchy and awful...
.

Do you remember this little ditty? From The Coasters, recorded in 1959.

Measles make you bumpy
And mumps'll make you lumpy
And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch

A common cold'll fool ya
And whooping cough can cool ya
But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch

~ sharing this despicable plant over at AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter D

Don't get too close to your monitor, or you may be next!!

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The Saga of Can Openers and Cats

A couple of nights ago hubby fixed chicken and wanted oven fried potato chunks with it. And broccoli. Now, mind you, we have a pretty good system -- he cooks and I chop and clean up. Well, I just wasn't in the mood to chop much and if we had both oven fries and broccoli, I would be chopping more than I cared to chop. Besides I have a love / hate relationship with broccoli -- it's one of my favorite veggies but I get tired of it quickly (very quickly...).

So out with the broccoli and in with a can of baked beans!! Now I only had to chop one thing and open the other (which is my other kitchen job -- hubby hates to use the can opener which is a hand-held one).

Wait! I think I have too many kitchen jobs!!

But I digress... the real subject of this post would be the bestest cat boy ever.... Oliver!

As I am chopping and can opening, in runs Oliver at a gallop...

He starts that winding around your legs thing that cats do. Around and around, in and out, tail hooking around my legs, light brushes with the fur. I'm thinking What on earth does this silly cat want? I check and there's plenty of food in his bowl... plenty of water. He only gets treats when I say "Treat!" and has never asked for them. Hmmm... what on earth?

And then it hits me. It's the can opener! Which is weird since it's a hand-held one and doesn't make noise. But noise enough for a cat apparently, because I see no reason why he would want beans! And hubby hadn't started the chicken....

So, back up a few weeks.... the only time I give Oliver any people food is when we have tuna.

I give him a little of the tuna water to lap up straight from the can (my can opener leaves the edges so they could only cut softened butter) and maybe a teeny tiny bit of tuna. Oliver always runs in when I open a tuna can so that's understandable. He doesn't run in when I open a can of green beans or black eyed peas or something. But baked beans?? Apparently so!

So all that winding around my legs stuff? My guess is that he remembered the can opener and was hoping for a tidbit of tuna!

Smart kitty.

Oliver says, Is that all there is???

and what happened to my ears??

Oh the indignity of it all...

Meowzer    >^.^<

~ sharing Oliver's can opener and the promise of canned tuna over at AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter C

~ also sharing Oliver's blue bowl, his beloved blue can of tuna (because we only get the packed in water kind), and blue Bush's Beans.... oh, and the blue chickens on his water bowl.... over on Blue Monday!


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Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds

I'm being greedy and sharing two posts on Blue Monday today!

My first one, That's a Lot of Bull! has lots of blue to see, but I think you'll agree that this post has a whole lot more!! It's a treasury that I made for one of the Etsy teams I'm on -- BBArtisans (aka Blogging Business Artisans). Just wanted to share -- I think you'll enjoy it whether you're on Etsy or not :)

If you'd like to see any of the items up close and personal, just click anywhere on the treasury and you'll be whisked away! If you're an Etsy seller and would like to leave a comment, that would be awesome!

See. What did I tell you? A mega amount of blue!

Oh, and you know what else? I know that you blog, but if you blog and are on Etsy, you might like to join up with the BBA Team -- we're small but mighty! Go here to check us out!

~ sharing on Blue Monday


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That's a Lot of Bull!

We were driving though a kinda country, kinda huge houses area.... you know the kind. Houses that I guess could be called mansions, houses costing a few million with three or so more bathrooms than bedrooms, houses with their own tennis courts and movie screening rooms....

I don't know about you, but my house is nothing like that!!

Anyway, we were driving along and look who we saw! A beauty he was, with his long curly horns....

Mr. Longhorn Bull

There were a bunch of them (aka a bunch of bulls... oh, I am so witty!) standing under some trees but I couldn't get a decent shot because of the fence, and there was no place to really stop. But this beauty was right close to the road and said he didn't mind his picture being taken.

So I took another....

(Good grief, what happened to the sky?!!)

Then I thought about this bull in Oak Cliff, south of Dallas. I had taken it one day when we had gone to the Texas Theatre. (Blue Monday folks, check out that blue check cashing place sign!)

He's a pretty hefty guy -- lots of steaks on him!!

And you probably remember this guy from a few posts back....

Blue Baseball Bull 

from Noli's softball field

So this post is just a bunch of bull!  LOL big time!

Heh Heh  ;p

~ sharing over on AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter B
~ sharing all that Blue over on Blue Monday


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A New Addition

We have a new addition in the family!! It's a boy!!

A doggie boy named Nova....

Part German Shepherd, part Corgi.... 

a cutie patootie if I've ever seen one!!

When they  have to say "No" to him, they say "Nein" (no in German)

because it would be too easy for him to confuse No and Nova

This was how Noli introduced him... heh heh!

No embarrassment there!!

Short legs and big paws

he'll be awesome when he grows up!

Chief pooper scoopers adding to the compost pile

Fortunately, Stephanie has a pretty good sized, fenced in backyard. They are housebreaking him now and later he will have other training. As you can see, Noli carries his treats everywhere she goes!

Enjoying an ice cube...

Noli has a hard time leaving him alone  :)

Ha! His chew toy is bigger than he is!

Who could resist this face....

It'll be fun when he grows into those paws!

His tail is naturally short like a Pembroke Welsh Corgi

Sleepy time for Nova

~ sharing Nova on Blue Monday -- just look at all the blue! Nova's collar, tags and lots of his toys.... Noli's top.... furniture.... even the pooper scooper!!

~ sharing Nova on AlphabeThursday for the letter A


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Zipping Through the Air!

So, would you ride a zip line? Way up in the air, suspended from a wire? Just a harness between you and certain death?

Um, not me! But that's what popped into my mind when thinking of a Z letter! Hard to believe we're at the alphabet's end and will start a new round of AlphabeThursday next week!

I knew my son had ziplined (zip lined? zipped? Not sure what's the correct terminology in the world of flying through the air...) so I went thumbing through his FB pics and found a couple and lifted them! (He won't care!)

Back in 2007, Adam went on his first out-of-the-country trip which was also his first by-himself-on-his-own vacation. And what a trip it was! A trek starting and ending in Cancun, Mexico and visiting various places in Central America -- camping, hiking, horseback riding, snorkeling, visiting Mayan ruins, meeting other trekkers from around the world, seeing places he might never have, eating exotic food -- what a great trip for a young man! He was in his late 20's and I was so excited for him to be a part of this trek! 

looks like a trekker....

So, out of his zillion and one photos, I found the zip line ones...

Yikes!

note that blue sign with the Mayan temple!

over the tops of trees

after the zip

Adam's in the center back

 Where they were...

Tikal, in Northern Guatemala

Adam said these was one of his favorite Mayan cities with its "beautiful sunsets and sunrises, Howler monkeys and.... terrible food" 

The Grand Plaza

Temple of the Great Jaguar

more temples

This is just a tiny part of his trip -- he was gone for a couple of weeks or so and visited Mexico and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and Belize.


However, this post is supposed to be about zip lining, soooo.....

Wired Zip Line Course

Have fun on the longest zip line in Texas!! (about an hour from Dallas) 

Hmmm, I'm thinking I won't be doing this anytime soon!

How about you?

~ sharing for AlphabeThursday where we are studying the zippy zip-lining letter Z
~ sharing those blue skies (and the blue Mayan Temple road sign) for Blue Monday


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Blue Jay Steals Cat Food!

I noticed a blue jay swooping around the yard and he landed on the outside kitties food bowl and helped himself!

I grabbed my camera but, naturally, he zoomed off before I could get a shot. I guess he had eaten enough kibble! I was able to get a few sketchy shots of him as he flew from bowl to lawn mower to tree to more tree to back fence....

I would gladly pay him in worms and kitty food if he'd make use of that lawnmower on the grass!

Hiding in the tree...

He was fun to watch as he kinda leaped, kinda flew from branch to branch!

Flew to the back fence and then took off

Patio says she was not very thrilled to share her food....

but wouldn't mind sharing a meal with Mr. Blue Jay...

if you know what I mean.... 

sharing over at Blue Monday


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Eli Young Band

I just found out something pretty exciting... in the How Cool is This category....

My son, Adam, was Production Manager on a music video for the Eli Young Band -- and it's been nominated for the CMT Music Awards in the Group Video of the Year category!! (In case you don't know, CMT = Country Music Television.)

Of course, Adam downplays everything but I know he's pretty stoked to have been involved in this project! He has produced a number of Indie films and also has been production manager on various others -- this in addition to traveling the globe in pursuit of music festivals (actually promoting films) -- it's a hard job but someone has to do it :D

Anyway, it's a cool video for a very cool song -- "Drunk Last Night" -- and no, it's not a crazy drinking song, but a very thoughtful and low key one. I like it!

The video was shot in several locations, all in Oak Cliff, Texas which is a historic neighborhood south of downtown Dallas. Adam is heavily involved in the arts scene there, including being a partner in the Texas Theatre. (Get out your history books, it's where Lee Harvey Oswald was captured!) Adam and his partners have restored it and it's now become a local hangout for classic and indi films, as well as a neighborhood tavern and art gallery. 

And if you'd like to vote for this video, go right here! The show airs on June 4th!

~ sharing on AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter Y, and on GRAND Social


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A Blue Bull and a Little Slugger

Saturday was another day at the ballpark watching Noli's team play. She is turning into quite the slugger!

While walking to the concession stand, I came across this.... only in Texas!

What're those yellow circle things? Planets?

Yeah, baseball planets!

Poor Longhorn, lost his ear

(Note that the fire hydrant has a blue top!)

But he has some mighty pretty eyelashes!

The highlight of the day was that Noli was awarded the game ball! She had two base hits and two RBI's -- the second of which was the run that won the game!! Pretty good for a little kid! 

She came running into the dugout, poked her head out and yelled to us, "I won the game!"  I think she knows about the whole team working together, but she was a pretty excited ballplayer at the time! We were pretty excited too!

Here's a video of her famous run, taken by her mama! I swear she's been watching the Rangers play -- just look at those MLB moves!

Little Slugger

A proud Noli with the game ball :)

~ sharing over at Blue Monday and GRAND Social


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