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Curse of the berries!

Posted By margaret on February 19, 2011

When I think of berries the first thing that comes to mind are strawberries. Ah, blackberries are wonderful too. My mother and father had several blackberry bushes and I would go out to their place and pick and eat them right off the vine.

Today I’m thinking of another kind of berry, a different one that grows wild on vines climbing high into trees.

As the cold weather turns warmer during the month of February in Texas (ok, not all month is warm) our minds turn to working outdoors. We have hundreds of trees that need the lower branches trimmed so when you ride beneath the tree to cut the grass you don’t get hit or thrown off. Sitting atop a large tractor means one is very high; therefore the branches need to be cut up to accommodate the driver not being thrown into the brush hog.

The brush hog is a very large implement that is dragged along behind the tractor to cut the grass. It has a huge blade beneath it and I learned, from experience, not to put anything beneath it while the blades are twirling. My broken finger has healed.

Because it is impossible to get to all of the trees during the spring months before the temps reach 95 by 10 am, we can’t trim all the trees in one season. Think of it as spring cleaning outdoors. Some of the trees have vines with thorns growing from the ground extending high into the trees. Those are the ones we haven’t cut in a while. We put on gloves and pull the vines from the branches and cut them along the ground knowing they will grow again. But for the time being the trees look trimmed and well groomed.

The temperature has been in the 80s, and we’ve been in t-shirts out trimming trees every day for about a week now. We noticed some of the vines had small dark berries on them, but mostly sharp thorns that have cut our arms to pieces. Because we were in the heat of getting the limbs and vines down we didn’t think too much about the berries.

I didn’t see any leaves around the berries and we do have wild mustang grapes on the property, so were they just left over grapes?

The blisters have started to appear and no amount of lotion can stop the irritation and itching. Hmmm…perhaps a little research prior to tree trimming should have been in order.

I have always heard about, “leaves of three, leave them be” so I wasn’t concerned. Oops!

Now I know…even without leaves poison ivy is available. It doesn’t go dormant, it is there to greet you 24/7. Those little berries?…right!

Categories: General
Tags: just for fun

Comments

2 Responses to “Curse of the berries!”

Margaret says:

February 20, 2011 at 5:56 am

Dee thanks for the suggestions. Your son and I have something in common. I can just type the words and the blisters appear! I usually have to get an injection as it really does a number on my skin. I’ve thrown away so many socks I can’t count because it stays on them and when you put them back on after laundering them…its on your ankles again.

This time my ankles are fine, but it is on both arms growing and expanding. Yesterday, DH suggested I just go ahead and make the dr. appt.

I’ll give the bar soap a try, thanks!
Dee S. says:

February 19, 2011 at 3:27 pm

For the blisters and itch try bar soap.. Ivy jumps on my son if he gets anywhere near it! Wet the bar soap and rub on the affected area. Let dry. Rinse when you’ve had some relief. You may have to reapply. Warning! If you scratch it can get under your fingernails and anywhere you touch it can spread. The juice from the ivy or the blisters seems to transfer. The soap seems to seal it up. Hope it helps. Worked for us… Berries? I’d forgotten about those berries.. I’ll stick with cherries… I enjoyed your story, Dee S