Poison Ivy

Not the song by The Coasters, and not the super cool chick in the Batman comics.

I spent my entire overnight last night scratching my hands. I couldn't stop. I had no idea what was going on. Then the brilliant rays of the morning sun fell across my fingers and I saw blisters. Many, many blisters, all over both hands, but especially on the sides of my fingers and palms. It looked like poison ivy, but where the hell would I have gotten it? My plants are potted on the back and front decks. I don't go into the weeds at all. But wait! The dogs do. So I was playing the old game of Blame the Dog when Rich pointed out that I had been mulching said potted plants yesterday and it might be an allergic reaction to something in the mulch. Duh. I came inside and googled "Mulch Skin Reaction," and you know what? APPARENTLY POISON IVY FINDS ITS WAY INTO MULCH. Alllllll over Google are people who have gotten poison ivy from pine mulch. So this is my public service announcement for the week. If you're gonna mulch, wear gloves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_ivy