Railroaders' Nostalgia > Itching for the picture

I love reading these stories.All railroaders have plenty of them,as well as myself.
This is my first post on this board and I hope it will not be my last.

Back in the early 90's,my son-in-law was stationed at Travis AFB in California.
When I could, I would go out to visit my daughter (my real reason,was to take pictures
as well).
They lived not far from Martinez which was an SP hotspot with the ATSF nearby.One
of my favorite locations was Franklin Canyon.
Years before this,I took up a very bad habit of wearing shorts while out taking
pictures.
On one day while getting some great ATSF shots,nature called.I found some bushes and
relieved myself.
A few days later when I got home,my arm started itching,then my leg,then between my
legs and other parts.I became an itching fool.A rush to the doctor revealed poison ivy!
Moral? When I go out now,I am fully clothed and stay away from bushes.

Uncle Joe-Seffner,Fl.

PS ATSF/BNSF

retcsxcfm Wrote:
> A few days later when I got home,my arm started
> itching,then my leg,then between my
> legs and other parts.I became an itching fool.A
> rush to the doctor revealed poison ivy!
> Moral? When I go out now,I am fully clothed and
> stay away from bushes.
>
> Uncle Joe-Seffner,Fl.
>
> PS ATSF/BNSF


Sure it wasn't poison oak? I didn't think there is any poison ivy in the western US..

V

SLOCONDR

In the PNW, there is Poison Ivy along the rivers of the Columbia and elsewhere, V

Don't know for sure what the H-- it was,but it ITCHED!

UJ

WAF Wrote:
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> In the PNW, there is Poison Ivy along the rivers
> of the Columbia and elsewhere, V


Don't think so. It's posion oak up there too.

My rule of thumb: Poison oak west of the Continental Divide, poison ivy east of it.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Saw lots of signs in parks along the Columbia warning of the ivy.... UP side



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/12 18:21 by WAF.

There is plenty of poison oak east of the divide.

rob_l Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WAF Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In the PNW, there is Poison Ivy along the
> rivers
> > of the Columbia and elsewhere, V
>
>
> Don't think so. It's posion oak up there too.
>
> My rule of thumb: Poison oak west of the
> Continental Divide, poison ivy east of it.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob L.

Yep, in some ways we should designate poison oak as the California state bush. Regardless, oak or ivy they are nasty nasty plagues---when I was a senior in high school (native of San Jose CA)I got an incredible case of poison oak with second degree infection and spent 3 weeks out of school---the doctor said that I probably immunized myself with this horrendous case but lemme tell you, it has been 58 years since that happened and I have never gone near the 3 leaf plant since!! If leaves of three, let it be"!!!

It is all over Point Lobos State Reserve where my husband is in charge of invasive plant eradication----he does not go into those areas infested with poison oak just for fear he might bring some of it home to me------I have no idea whether my 1954 episode immunized me but I don[t want to find out!!
C.
Truth be told: Husband Carl who was then my "boyfriend" went out to get some leaf mold for his mother[s garden ( and he is now a Master Gardener who gets that stuff for our garden) and after he came home from gathering the leaf mold he decided to clean the car for our date that night. I wake up the next morning with poison oak on my arms which then went to my abdomen and then my face and hands and let me tell you it was 3 weeks of total agony----
and for reasons unclear to all of us, we are going to celebrate 55 years of marriage on June 22 (if I don't kill him first) :-)
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/12 21:24 by CarolVoss.

Poison Ivy... Don't burn it and breath the smoke! Had a whole brush pile loaded with the stuff after clearing a bit of brush from the property. Long story short, I'm still alive but wasn't in any shape to do much else!

To Carol -- Congrats on the 55 years -- my wife (of 40 yrs) says keeping a husband trained is a work in progress! When we got married she never got poison ivy and it was all over the woods where she grew up in PA. A few years ago her tolerance changed and boy was she upset! She is an avid gardener and prefers not to use pesticides and herbicides but all bets are off when she sees poison ivy!!

And as far as inhaling the da** smoke -- my father nearly died from that in the 1950s.

Bruce



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/12 05:28 by BCutter.

And a follow-up to the range of poison ivy. Toxicodendron radicans aka eastern poison ivy (foresters and botanists love Latin names) is found primarily east of the Rockies. T. rydbergii aka western poison ivy is found in many of the states west of the Rockies as well as the mid-west. There is both a Pacific poison oak (T. diversilobum) and an Atlantic poison oak (T. pubescens)! Poison sumac (T. vernix) is pretty much restricted to the eastern US but does make it into the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas and Louisiana. By the way, my skin doesn't give a hoot whether it is eastern or western poison ivy -- all species of Toxicodendron contain urushiol, the toxic oily substance. There are some soaps that do a pretty good job of washing the oil away as well as some barrier products you can apply before rambling through the woods.

Bruce (purveyor of way too much information!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/12 09:28 by BCutter.

Railtrekker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Poison Ivy... Don't burn it and breath the smoke!
> Had a whole brush pile loaded with the stuff after
> clearing a bit of brush from the property. Long
> story short, I'm still alive but wasn't in any
> shape to do much else!


You've got that right. When I was on the BAK-RSVL pool, before the UP started putting us up in a motel, we'd stay in the mods at the main line to Dunsmuir. The area was "Old Roseville" and had a great little restaurant owned by a Chinese couple. The husband was burning branches in his back yard and ingested quite a bit of the smoke. The problem was the branches had a lot of poison oak on it. Since they were Chinese she took him to San Francisco to a Chinese Herbalist and that person gave him an old Chinese remedy. He passed away about two weeks later.

V

SLOCONDR

Wrong remedy...

While gold dredging on the Yuba River during the 80's, I got into some poison oak and it was miserable! My eyes and nose swelled shut, and it was EVERYWHERE on me, and I mean EVERYWHERE! (if you get my drift). An old miner I knew, told me to go to the general store, get a bar of Fels-Naptha soap, make a thick lather, apply it everywhere I had it, let it dry and keep it on for a day or so. Rinse it off and repeat 2 or 3 times and it should be gone in a few days. You know what!...IT WORKED GREAT!!! It was all gone in 3 days! I swear to this day that Fels-Naptha soap is a perfect cure for getting rid of the nasty stuff!

CarolVoss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> it was 3 weeks of total
> agony----
> and for reasons unclear to all of us, we are going
> to celebrate 55 years of marriage on June 22 (if I
> don't kill him first) :-)
> C.

Carol, 55 years is a long time. Some people get less for committing Murder.

:-)

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wrong remedy...


Shouldn't that be, "wong wemedy"? :) B

ns2557 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WAF Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Wrong remedy...
>
>
> Shouldn't that be, "wong wemedy"? :) B

Yup!

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the PNW, there is Poison Ivy along the rivers
> of the Columbia and elsewhere, V

It's Poison Oak. I should know, it's been a bane of my exsistance for a long time! I can't even count the number of times I've developed serious rashes because I didn't realize I got into a patch of Poison Oak. And It's very common in the middle Gorge around Hood River and Mosier.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WAF Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In the PNW, there is Poison Ivy along the
> rivers
> > of the Columbia and elsewhere, V
>
> It's Poison Oak. I should know, it's been a bane
> of my exsistance for a long time! I can't even
> count the number of times I've developed serious
> rashes because I didn't realize I got into a patch
> of Poison Oak. And It's very common in the middle
> Gorge around Hood River and Mosier.

Then why are there signs saying.. Watch out for Poison Ivy?

patd3985 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was all gone in 3 days! I swear to
> this day that Fels-Naptha soap is a perfect cure
> for getting rid of the nasty stuff!

I can personally attest to this remedy as well - too many years on Scout camp staff and I am very prone to poison oak.

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA