How Does This Happen? It Strikes Again!

You know, I take precautions.  I wore long sleeves. Heavy gloves were on my hands.  I didn't touch anything that looked like it had three leaves on it.

But it happened.  

Poison ivy.

When I showered on Sunday, I noticed that there were a couple of bumps on my right arm, just above my wrist.  A couple more appeared a few inches from that first bump. I was hoping that something had bitten me when I was outside on Saturday.  However, by Sunday evening, I knew I was wrong.

Those bumps had spread and little pustules appeared.  

No mistaking it.  Poison ivy had found me again.  And it was just the first day of my outdoor work!

I re-traced what I had done.   I pulled weeks around the hostas behind the house.  I used the rake to pull out leaves and old stems.  

I cleaned out around the patio.
 
I moved to the area behind the kitchen and dining room and removed a few leaves and raked out dropped pine needles.

Then the area on the north side of the deck.  More leaves.  More weeds.  

All of this I picked up and threw into the trash can that Gary brought out from the garage.  It was filled to the top and we had to force the lid onto it.

Earlier I had pulled some weeds in the flower bed to the east of the deck.  Those piles I carried to the ditch and threw them into it. 

To top it off....I didn't see anything that even looked like it might be poison ivy.  

It might be a long spring.