Wednesday, October 03, 2007



I was going to post a joke, or something funny or interesting, but I found this fall picture and just HAD to have it. Walnut Creek is turning - the colors are amazing as they just turned red, gold, yellow ... seems like overnight. The most striking colors are what I see when I'm up at the reservior,




and I can see the poison oak snaking up the oak tree trunks, scarlet red and orange 3-lobed leaves announcing their presence.



Once I was crawling through the underbrush chasing a loose pheasant. (don't ask) As I pulled my way over the leaves and dirt, I had forgotten that since it was winter, all the leaves had dropped off the poison oak, leaving them disguised as normal twigs. My shirt hiked up, and the sap smeared over my belly as I dragged myself along.
I was blissfully unaware of anything until the next day when to my horror, I discovered my belly completely striped with long red weals of red rashes. They itched divinely… the pleasure and pain of being scratched was almost unbearable. Needless to say, I’m quite allergic to that poison oak, and I learned the lesson that all twigs are guilty until proven innocent in winter.


29 comments:

SIMON said...

Beautiful pics, no hang on beautiful post Terry!

Anonymous said...

They are all beautiful pictures terry but the first one is breathtaking.
Where do you find such awesome pics?
yv

javajazz said...

ya, i love that top one too!
is that from Walnut Creek?
you can put white clay on
those kinds of rashes.
it just sucks all the gunk
out of 'em...yummy!
beautiful photies, as usual!

Anonymous said...

The first photograph is amazing! If there is a storm brewing, run outside and take photographs of everything - it's the best time! Our leaves are already being sunburnt - before they have had their spring sprouting! Poison Oak sounds nasty!

tsduff said...

ebezp - Your piccies aren't half bad yourself!

YV, I see that you are being incognito today (good thing I saw your orange tail swishing back and forth :)) The first pic is in Nottingham. Amazing how those leaves turn red all over the world.

Mz Lizzy, you mentioned that white clay another time for a rash maybe, I can't remember. Is that another healing substance you get from the health store? Every time I go in there I end up spending a bundle. I think I'll just steer clear of those poison oak leaves on the trail. Today as I powerwalked by a bush/thicket of blazing red poisony oak - a few leaves blew off their mother and flew right at me! I ran.


annonymous - don't you have an equivalent of some kind of sappy, poison plant? Here on the west coast we have poison oak, but on the east coast of the US, we have poison ivy. Similar, but not the same. Both will irritate the skin upon contact of the sap, and the resulting rash is raised and extremely difficult to clear up. It IS nasty. One time when we were kids, my sister got some of it on her face, which promptly bloated up so big that her eyes swelled shut. The weepy rash was just horrific. She missed bunches of school because of it. Poor Tammy.

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

I love the shadows in that first picture. They give an incredible sense of the depth of field.

SOe said...

Great pictures! Fantastic colours! But your story is far from a joke. Poison oak - the nature has a lot of surprises but not always for our benefit. I will wait for the joke :-)

Ariel the Thief said...

"the pleasure and pain of being scratched was almost unbearable" - How beautifully you said! I always feel I am a perverted after a real good scratching... Hope you are better and the bird was worth it. :-)

Wonderful pictures!

Mo'a said...

Wonderful photos...made me feel that I should go out to take photos of the beautiful colors that are delighting our eyes.
Hope you are healing well.

dandjschoch said...

Dave had that experience as well. He and Timmy went on a walk with the bassetts. Dave was unaware that you can get poison oak second hand. He was really allergic to it. He suffered for about two months trying to get rid of it. I once woke up in the middle of the night and caught him at his illicit scratching. He wore just that expression of pain and bliss.

Jamie Dawn said...

Ahhh, the beuaty of autumn.
Our leaves are just now barely starting to turn.
The hills that surround me are covered solid with trees. When they turn colors, it is gorgeous.
I've never experienced the pleasure/pain of a poison oak rash. I had chicken pox as a kid, and that was enough itching for me.

javajazz said...

white clay. its cheap and really comes in handy for a pile of stuff...health food store. my "brand" is called Herbacaps...its in a little white box. or theres Neem powder too? you just take some in your hand and add the tiniest bit of water to it and mix it till it makes a put on-able texture and apply it to the rash and then watch it get on everything as it dries...
so much fun how could you resist!

G said...

"Swimming in an ocean
of calamine lotion"

Ouch, thanks for the lesson, albeit at your expense. At least I know the verse "leaves of three, stay away from thee".

Now about that pheasant...

Grundir the Implacable said...

Ah, it reminds me of the Mordor of my youth. Except greener. And without the noxious scent of sulfur in the air.

jillie said...

But is sure is pretty isn't it! That reminded me of a story from a few years ago surfing with an old boyfriend north of Santa Barbara. I wanted a fire and he was tired so he passed out in the tent after he hung his wetsuit out to dry (inside out). SO, being the little helper I am...I decided to start the fire. Little did I know that what I was digging through and burning was poison oak. Good think I am NOT allergic to it. Well, the next day, Greg went surfing and then on our way home that afternoon, he started to itch. He was VERY allergic to it and from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet...he was a MESS! OMG...it's funny now but it wasn't then. Poor guy....lol

Unknown said...

Great pics. Walnut Creek is a beautiful area. Have you tried using jewel weed for the rash? I think you can get a soap made with it that you could use everytime you have been out in the woods. I am lucky that it does not effect me.

Tom & Icy said...

I feel so itchy after laying in the bushes.

tsduff said...

UTMG - Hello, and welcome to this side of the pond. Take a stroll up to Nottingham, and you can see the shadows in person.

Soe - you are right. PO is no joke. But it is so very beautiful - and innocent in its amazing colors.

Ariel - LOL. The pheasant got away. No, it wasn't worth it at all. All I got for my trouble was misery.

Mo'a - I bet the berry bushes in Island are providing a lovely color to the lava landscape about now.

Minka said...

I just took a picture this mornign of the fall outside our kitchen window. It is an amazing season...a natural canvas of fiery paint!
I love it!

Autumn Storm said...

Top picture is seriously gorgeous! Happy Friday and weekend, G&T. :-)

tsduff said...

Julee, poor Dave! Yes, I can picture that expression... ahhhh. Nothing works too well other than steroids. That time I got my bad case of poision oak (sometime around 1984, I actually saved the leftover medicine until just a few years ago because I knew how much it saved me from that horrendous itching.

Jamie Dawn - you are fortunate to live surrounded by beautiful trees. I too have trees in my immediate view, but most of them aren't turning colors.

I came down with the chicken pox too - when I was 7. My arm was in a cast after I was hit by a car. I found out how to reach under my cast to scratch with a hanger.

Lisa - Having fun with clay - playing with your medicine... ooooh boy! I like how you are lining my medicine cabinet with new and exciting things.

G - ha ha - very good.
"You're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion
You'll be scratchin' like a hound
The minute you start to mess around
"
My Mom used to say that line "leaves of three..." I believe she learned that in Arkansas where they have poison ivy.

Damn bird...

Grundir the Implacable: Are you sure you're not mixing Mordor up with Iceland?

Jillie - I've known of a case where some folks were burning brush... turns out quite a bit of the smoke got into their lungs and they were really messed up.

Seventh Sister - I've never heard of jewel weed - I'll have to check it out. Hopefully I won't ever ever need to use it - I give leaves of three a very WIDE berth :)

Icy - maybe you've found a solution for all those cats that hang around your bed...

Monika - Nobody paints better than Mother Nature. When I was a child, my Mom had this book about how Mr. Sunshine took his tiny paintbrush every day and walked about the garden, just putting a dab of red on the strawberries, and purple on the eggplants.... just a little bit each day. It wasn't so far off.

Thanks Autumn! G is in Florida, getting wet in the tropical storms at the moment. I'm slummin it. :)
Happy Friday to you! YAY - it's finally here again.

SOe said...

Because it´s Friday and you didn´t tell the joke I got a very good one from my collegue:
Actually, it´s a very serious ;-) virus warning:
There is a dangerous virus being passed around electronically, orally and by hand.

This virus is called Weary-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss, or anyone else by any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely. If you should come into contact with WORK, put your jacket on and take two good friends to the nearest grocery store. Purchase the
antidote known as Work-Isolating-Neutralizer-Extract (WINE) or Bothersome-Employer-Elimination-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should forward this warning to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Crabby said...

That fall photo is the best I've seen in a loooong, long time. The sky and lighting sell it.

btw. I'm linking you so I can find you faster. LOL! I'm a lazy bum.

weatherchazer said...

Love that first photo...had to swipe it myself.

Gledwood said...

Those colours up top are AMAZING... SURELY they are photo-enhanced..??

jillie said...

Ahhh...yes, I was VERY fortunate NOT to have had a reaction being in the middle of "nowhere"!

Have a great wknd Terry. Is it as windy up there as it is down here? I am actually kind of digging it. Smells like fall to me....mmmmm...big deep breath now!!!

xo

tsduff said...

SOe LOL! I'm around that virus every day... thanks for passing on the antidotes. Help, I don't want to be infected... wanna join me at the grocery store for some of those cures? (I know VIKING costs an arm and both legs, but ahhh, isn't it worth it?)

Hey Crabby - thanks! I got the picture from Wunderblog - but it wasn't signed. I was looking for fall color - a bit more vivid than the natural offerings around my town :) I'm a lazy bum too, LOL!

Weatherchazer - you would ;) Your pics are always spectacular and wild.

Gledwood - I rather doubt that the picture was enhanced in any way... mother nature outdid herself.

Jillie - it is not too terribly windy, but it is cold. Big puffy clouds, blue sky and a drop of rain here and there. Beautiful! I'll wait to take my deep breath until I step outside as I'm AT WORK! Happy finally weekend to you. Say, when IS your breast cancer walk?

Anonymous said...

We get stinging thistles in the country, but I got used to their sting when living there. Even boiled them up and ate them! Heehee. There are probably sappy poison plants somwhere in Australia but many of our natives have leaves with prickles or spikes on them, so have to be careful when bird stalking anyway :)

Anonymous said...

Your surroundings are stunning, you must feel so at peace there. I am truly jealous.

"all twigs are guilty until proven innocent" that is a very good motto to live by.

peace

Miz Nix