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Summer weather brings plenty of dangers, problems
He told me he wouldn't because he can always put more clothes on, but he can't take them off without being arrested. Point made.
In mid-winter, the television will be showing storm warnings. They warn of high winds, freezing cold and blizzard conditions. In the summer, we have ozone days and heat warnings.
I was thinking about that, and decided that the summer weather causes more of a problem for people than the cold. After all, most hunters and ice fishermen wear warm clothing.
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My daughter, Kathy, is extremely allergic to poison ivy, so I understand a little about this problem. Few plants are as tenacious or troublesome as this common vine.
Everyone knows you can have a reaction from contact, but it can also be contracted from something as simple as petting a dog that has been running through it, or burning brush.
One of the worst cases of poison ivy that Kathy had came when we were burning brush and she stood in the smoke.
I have found that washing with Fels Naptha soap is a big help in preventing poison ivy problems. Of course, washing with any soap is better than just ignoring the contacted spot. I keep Fels Naptha soap on hand just for poison ivy.
It's getting a little late in the summer, but I've got scratches on my arms and hands. Why? Berry picking.
Berry bushes just don't give up pie material for free. You pay for it with blood.
There are other dangers involved with berry picking, perhaps the most important of which is coping with the heat. Berry picking and sweat go hand in hand, so carry water with you to the berry patch.
Thank heavens we live in an area with very few poisonous snakes. There are probably a few copperheads living locally, but if we lived in other areas, we'd also have to worry about rattlesnakes and cottonmouths.
I don't like snakes, but they are not a major problem.
A more serious problem are wood ticks. The tick can sit for months waiting patiently for a warm-blooded creature to pass by. He waives his sticky legs in the air and if you get too close, he transfers from his hiding place to your clothes. It then moves to a cozy spot on your body and buries its head in you to start feeding on your blood.
It's a nasty way to live and the tick is famous for carrying disease. Pull one off and the head can remain under your skin, causing an infection. I hate ticks.
You may think that poison ivy is itchy, but you haven't felt an itch until you run into chiggers. These tiny bugs are common in the hayfields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Back in the dark ages when we put in hay by hand, we would invariably catch the chiggers.
What are chiggers? They are tiny red microscopic insects that live in hot fields and bury themselves under your skin in high numbers. The tick is a loner, but chiggers believe in the buddy system.
They have a picnic around a sweaty place on your body. A favorite lunch counter for chiggers is your beltline under the elastic of your undies.
Appearing as nothing more than an itchy red rash, the chigger is easily misdiagnosed.
How do you rid chiggers? There are products that can be purchased at the local drugstore to attack them, but we used the suffocation method to get rid of them. Petroleum jelly works, but is easily wiped off. A better solution is clear finger nail polish. Cover them with the finger nail polish and they can't breath.
There are many other hazards out there as well in the summertime.
Once, my friend Gene and I went behind his house to look for groundhogs, and his young son, Billy, followed wearing only his underwear.
It was common back then for toddlers running around in their undies and we let him tag along.
Reaching a high point overlooking the field, we sat down and raised our binoculars. Suddenly, Billy was screaming and took off for home. The poor kid had sat down on a nest of yellow jackets.
Last July, my wife, Eileen, and I were in a blackberry patch and I felt an itch on the back of my neck. Thinking it was a fly, I reached up and gave it a swat. I felt it run across my shoulder and down to my wrist. It was a large yellow and black garden spider.
He wanted to fight, but I flicked him away and moved on to another berry bush. I must admit that I kept looking over my shoulder.
I think the better part of valor was to just let him have his own private berry bush.
George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter
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