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So many of you have told me how much you liked the picture of Daisy Dewdrop in the garden.

Well, there's a story there that has developed - and it is not shown in the photo.

Sometime that day, Daisy got into some poison ivy.

Now, before you ask -
dogs do not get poison ivy.

But dogs can get the oils from a poison ivy plant on their fur, and can thus transfer the oils to the skin of humans who DO get poison ivy.

Oh, Joy.

I knew, when my hands began to itch, that I had encountered the plant somehow.

And when I began to see the rash on my arms, and on my neck under my ears and under my chin - where she likes to nuzzle...

Then I knew when and how I had encountered it.

Five of ten fingers are affected, two of them around the area of my rings, which I now cannot get off.

My neck isn't so itchy, but it is red and scaley enough to wound my vanity.

And my arm has it right in the crook of the elbow, where I sweat.

Lord, help me.

So, we lathered for two minutes with Burt's Bees Poison Ivy soap.

It works best if you haven't broken out yet.

So, we went to the rather expensive "Tecnu Oak and Ivy Cleanser".

I rubbed in for two minutes and rinsed.

Very little improvement.

You know, rubbing poison ivy is like stirring a bee's nest.

The itch intensifies - swarms even.

It has been three days now with these blisters on my fingers, thumb and palms, and I am about to take drastic measures. . .

The one proceedure I know will make it stop itching and spreading.

Bleach.

Oh yes, I have been tempted, but I have not broken down yet.

First, I take the scrub brush, and just scratch and scratch and scratch to my little heart's content.

Then, I open the jug of bleach, and wait for the pain.

But it passes, and the itch is gone, and the wounds seep no longer, and the healing begins.

Of course by then I'm not recovering from poison ivy any more.

I'm recovering from chemical burns.

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Want to know more about DeLaHaye? Visit her web site at WV Travelers , or her online store at Impecunious Impressions, or read her weekly column at The Calhoun Chronicle.