Home Remedy: How to Treat a Rash from Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac

Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron). Photo by Martin Labar

If you are allergic to poison ivy, oak, or sumac, and you acquire a rash after being exposed to one of these wicked plants, there are a variety of home remedies and doctor-prescribed treatments that claim to help you through these itchy times.

As a regular victim of poison ivy (east coast) and oak (west coast) I rely on the good old-fashioned pink stuff, Calomine lotion, to reduce the itch and dry out the rash as it heals. I only wish the marketing wizards at Calomine would come out with a tan-skin-colored version. When seriously exposed, I’ve used a doctor-prescribed steroid ointment. And I’ve tried countless home remedies including but not limited to: washing with gasoline or bleach, and smothering with over-the-counter natural ointments.

Aside from high-powered drugs, which have their side effects, none of these treatments prevent an itchy ride. Here’s what you can expect if you’ve been recently exposed.

Day 1: Exposure to plant.
Day 3: Rash begins to appear in highly exposed areas of your skin
Day 5: Rash has spread to all exposed areas and beyond. The itchiness really intensifies around this point so be prepared for some sleepless nights. And DON’T Scratch!
Day 7: Just as a fever breaks so does the itchiness of an allergic rash from poison ivy, oak, or sumac. About now the itching will retreat and your wounds will begin to heal.
Day 12: Unless you developed serious blisters, your new skin should be grown in by now and looks as good as new. Oozing blisters may leave some lingering scars.

Five Ways To Prevent Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac
The best treatment for poison oak, poison ivy, or poison sumac is prevention. If you can repel the oils of these irritating plants before they penetrate your skin you’ll never find yourself scratching an itchy rash.

1. Know how to identify the plants that are native to your area. Look here to see which plants grow in your area and to find pictures of their leaves. Once you can identify these plants you can begin avoiding them.
2. Apply Tecnu to your skin BEFORE going out into an area that may have poison ivy, oak, or sumac. I try to do this whenever I work in my backyard since I know very well that poison ivy lurks about.
3. Walk on open trails. Avoid underbrush and overgrown paths.
4. Wear boots, socks, pants, long sleeves, and gloves when trouncing through areas that may have these plants.
5. After exposure to these plants, remove the above listed clothes in an orderly fashion and immediately place them in a plastic garbage bag for washing.

How to Raise Tadpoles Into Frogs

We’ve been running a home biology project on our back deck over the past few weeks. The kids scooped up a cup of tiny tadpoles from a small pond at their friends’ house and they’ve been living in a glass goldfish bowl outside night and day, rain or shine.

We captured some tadpoles a few weeks ago and have been watching them grow from tiny-tailed dots to four-legged froggies.

Their transformation from tiny-tailed dots into four-legged froggies is near short of amazing, and something that I’ve never really witnessed before. Weeks after we found them, the two taddies photographed above each have a tail, and one also has two hind legs and two front arms.

Mrs. Weekndr has been doing all the hard work to keep these little guys fed and watered. They started out eating lettuce scraps and whatever other organic matter that fell into the bowl. Now that they’re getting more frog-like we’re introducing goldfish flake food to their diets. As for water, we mix in clean water every few days, replacing about 20 percent of the tank water.

There used to be three tadpoles in our tank, an even bigger one, but he went MIA while we were away on our 10-day trip out West. We like to think he grew his legs and jumped off during the monsoon rainstorms and is living happily in our backyard puddles.

Reflections on Las Vegas

Donald Trump provided us with a nice photo op from our hotel window while staying at the Treasure Island hotel and casino earlier this month. The Donald’s casino high-rise features a subtle design trick of the eye thanks to its shiny mirror skin. The reflection of the Las Vegas strip on the lower section of the building blends right in with the horizon line behind it, while the cloud reflections above that transition seamlessly with the  surrounding sky.

Urban-Suburban Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

The houses are lined up in perfect rows like cars on a factory lot, some with manicured lawns and colorful landscaping, others with chain-link fence, beware of dog signs and weeds in the sidewalk cracks. This is a well-lived-in neighborhood on the east side of the San Francisco Bay Area where neighbors span the economic spectrum depending on street address. There are gangs of neighborhood kids riding bikes and playing with sidewalk chalk. And there are neighborhood gangs of kids carrying dangerous weapons.

But you can grow lots of fruits and vegetables here. 

Raised-beds of all sizes and filled with fruits and veggies.

 While traveling up and down the West coast this month on the annual Weekndr family vacation, we made a stop in the East Bay and witnessed an agrarian science project in full swing. A collection of raised bed gardens, cobbled together with scrap lumber, discarded containers, and other creative solutions, was alive with fruits and vegetables blooms.

lettuce.

 There were tomatoes planted in a soil bag, peppers of several variety lined up in rows. The heads of lettuce that hadn’t yet been clipped were thick and bushy. Even shoots of corn sprung from two planters after the resident amateur gardener discovered how to start a plant from seed (in this case a corn kernel).

lemon tree.

strawberries.

artichoke gone wild.

cucumber.

corn.

hot peppers.

Weeknd Project: Building a Small Fence and Deck

This weekend brought sunny summer weather and a few outdoor projects around the house. There was the moldy old white picket fence, which has needed replacing since we moved here six years ago. And there was the small deck extension I started last month, which was badly in need of a railing to prevent free-falling children.

I picked up a stack of 1×6x10 cedar boards on sale for $9.50 a pop at Lowes. It took six of them to build the short run of fence in the photo above.

The fence is constructed by nailing the boards upright to a pressure-treated 2×4 frame. That framing was already in place so after cutting the cedar to length I nailed each one successively using a nail head as a spacer. Next I capped the fence with a cedar board and nailed another two more lengths of cedar across the top and bottom of the fence.

The deck, photographed above, is simply two platforms made from pressure-treated construction lumber. I built each on a flat level surface and then arranged them as steps. Once the platforms were level and supported on blocks and 4×4 posts, I attached a pre-built pressure-treated railing, also on sale at Lowes. I had some left over cedar so I used it to box in the top of the fence posts. I’m not exactly sure what for, but I suspect we’ll find a use for it.