Mother Nature can be a bitch at times, or, Why it's a good idea to wear long-sleeves when foraging in the Pacific Northwest

The first two are from last night, of my left arm in various places.

 

 

These two are from tonight, left arm in various places again.

This is my right arm, last night.

Don't have any others of the right arm since they are all craptastic, and it's actually getting better now.

Anywho, can you guess what caused this?
The lovely little plant called... Toxicodendron diversilobum.

That's right! I have urushiol rashes again. Last year I rashes right after the other in, September I believe. It's not as bad as it was on either of those occasions, but it's in very inconvenient places. I can't comfortably rest my arms on anything (especially when driving and sleeping) and ARGH ANTS ON MY KEYBOARD!!!

Well, it's obnoxious,  but not anywhere as painful or itchy as the last year. Probably because the rashes aren't as expansive as they were then.

 I think I got it when I first foraged for blackberries along the creek with Conker about a week ago (undocumented on the blog) since the "timing" for the rash's development fits that scenario. If not, then I can't explain where I got it, since it's not on my legs, just my arms, which were groping around in bushes for tasty little fruits rubbing up against who knows what sort of plants.

Did you know that ants have a distinct smell when you smash them?

So how do I cope with this? Last year, I dabbed rubbing alcohol on the rashes every few hours. Sounds harsh, but it really helped cut down on the burning and itching and shortened the general length of the rash. This time however, I haven't done anything, because I am partly curious as to how it "naturally" progresses since I augmented it last time and, you could say, ruined the experience.

Every now and then I get annoyed with the dried popped blister ooze (which, I think, is a very beautiful deep golden orange color in full sunlight) and pick it off. More fresh ooze appears and sometimes I dab it off, or I'll let it dry, which can take a while. There are some unpopped blisters still.

Other people get, I could say, disturbed, when they see the rash. They must think it looks terrible. I don't, but that's because I've had a terrible urushiol rash before, and this certainly does not stand up to it.

I plan on doing some more foraging soon, my 2 pounds of blackberries that I gathered recently lasted half a day. This time, I think I'll be wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Just in case.


Edit: 3 days later...

Cruddy cellular phone picture

 It's a bit angrier now.