Poison Ivy

Let's talk about the dreads of Poison Ivy. If you have not had the blessed rash from H**L you are not missing anything pleasant. Poison Ivy is a plant that, upon touching your skin, 12-48hrs later, starts to swell up with itchy blisters that can last for weeks. One often gets Poison Ivy from hiking, hunting, yard work, or even a pet.

Poison Ivy is an oil, urushiol, with incredible resilience and sticktoitiveness on one's body. Since it is an oil, typical soap and water often will NOT get the oil off and can stay on clothes and items for days continuing to transmit the oil onto its victims.

Growing up in Nebraska, I never got Poison Ivy, and it's not because I wasn't running around in the woods. In my senior year of college, I was helping an older couple clear timber from their property in Arkansas. I didn't know that the logs I was carrying were wrapped in the Poison Ivy plant. I wore long sleeves, gloves, and pants, but the devil oil seeped onto my skin due to the sweat-soaked clothes, giving me a rash from my knees to the top of my chest. What made the whole thing even worse was that I was getting married in a little over a month, and there were some significant events that the rash must not have hindered.

To help with relief and faster healing, I was told by some guy I met while working at the Walmart in Cabot, Arkansas, that hot water and bleach helped kill the itch and rash sooner.

....side story...

I lived with my brother, Adam, and his wife for a summer while I took classes and worked in the frozen foods section at Walmart. Great job!

So, since the rash was from my knees to my nipples, I decided to take a hot bath with a few cups of bleach while using a washcloth to scratch open the blisters.

While the activity was slightly sadistic, It felt like I was beating the Poison Ivy.

But it wasn't....I went to the doctor to get a shot to help speed up the healing process.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE

Since that traumatic experience in the summer of 2004, I have only had Poison Ivy on a few occasions, with the rash being relatively small.

When I started trail running a lot, I would shave my legs and wash them with Dawn Dish Soap after every run to ensure I didn't get the ivy. It worked great!

That was until the hunting season of 2022.

I love deer hunting and spend as much time as my current life allows in the deer woods with my bow.

I often use a portable climbing stand that allows me to shimmy up a tree and be in the best spot possible to harvest a deer. Using the climbing stand, I have to wrap my arms around a tree to attach straps to the tree as I use the frame to climb up using leverage.

Little did I know that the tree I was climbing was wrapped in the vines of Ivy! Devil vines!

While the rash is less severe on my arms and some of my stomach, the discomfort still carries on.

Lessons for the day.

1. Pay closer attention to where you put your treestand.

2. Never assume you are safe!

3. Sometimes the things that catch you are the unseen and least noticed. Be on guard.

As Peter shared with Christians in 1st Peter...

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.