Nature scratches back

I recently had my 2008 blog posts published. I know I am way behind. But it is expensive and time consuming to have it done so I just haven't gotten around to it. 2008 was the year I posted the most, just over 200 posts for that year while all the other years I have been keeping this blog I have a bit over a hundred.  A lot of the posts for 2008 dealt with our outdoor nature challenges. We did a lot of nature study that year and learned a lot about the plants and trees and such that we have in out neighborhood and area. I noticed that these posts somewhat diminished after one hike left me with Poison Oak. I had it really bad and had to go to the doctor for some prescribed steroids to help me get rid of it.  I had never had it this rash so bad and was miserable. I have somewhat avoided nature ever since. When we take walks up at my parents house part of the road is bordered by lots of greenery and in that greenery is poison oak. It screams out to me and I can't help but cringe when I see it.

Wednesday park day was at one of our favorite parks. It is great for a hot Summer day. It is shady and breezy and tucked away in a nice little neighborhood so isn't too crowded. In fact it is almost just our group of kids there. This park is bordered by a little creek and there is all sorts of brush and trees all along it.  Every time we go to this park, before we even get out of the car, I tell the kids that they are not to go down to the creek to play because of the poison oak. They always act put out by this rule because other kid's parents don't have such a rule and would let them play there.  I have taken my kids and left the park because they disobeyed my rule.  We have been lucky so far. We hadn't had poison oak in a long time.

Well after a fun day at a park and a walk along to trail to see if there were cattails we went home and took our usual after park baths. All the clothes went to the laundry and we had some dinner then went to bed.

Yesterday I woke up with a tingling around my mouth. I thought it might be a cold sore starting or something. But later my eye started to really itch and began to swell up. I knew I was having an allergic reaction. I took some antihistamine to help deal with the swelling. Last night while helping Henry dress for bed I noticed that his belly had a big red rash all over it. Then a few hours later he woke up and said his legs were hurting. I knew we were dealing with poison oak. Henry spent a miserable night waking us up to tell us new places where he was hurting asking us to slather on more lotion. The poor guy has it just about everywhere.  He has the little hive like bumps in many places around his body. You would almost think he rolled around in it. I know he didn't go down to the creek and I don't remember him playing in the bushes at all. But he did collect sticks. He must have taken a "nature potty" break because he even has it down in the underwear area.  He too is taking antihistamines and we have been icing and using a lot of calamine lotion. I feel pretty lucky to only have a small bit on my face. I must have touched Henry and then rubbed my eye or something.

I talked to my husband a little while ago and he has found a patch of it on his neck and cheek. He wasn't at the park with us but he did help the boys strip down for their baths when we came home. There must have been a bit of the oils on Henry's clothes. So far Ian, Sophie and Molly show no signs of the rash and I really hope that they don't. Sophie is supposed to have surgery next week and I would think a rash of poison oak would stop that from proceeding.

It is said that each time you get poison oak it is worse than the time before. I guess my body is less and less resistant to it.

Nature has not been our friend this week.