The poison ivy tree!

So, we went attacking the oriental bittersweet again....

We have some small trees that aren't alive, having been dwarfed now by taller trees between the street and our front yard (makes for good privacy). But they give the bittersweet something to climb up to get to the live stuff up there.

We were cutting and pruning evil growth today, Erika in long pants (despite the 85 degree weather), and me with knee-high white socks to cover my legs. Groovy, eh?

So I see a hairy poison ivy root scaling one of the dead trees....I also see some leaves and berries on the tree, but they don't match the type of tree, and sure enough I see that they are GIANT poison ivy leaves. I swear, I thought they were elm tree leaves. The giant root has actually branched off the dead tree trunk, and put out its leaves just like a tree would. I almost got hit in the face with them, they were at eye level and higher.

We'll know at the end of the week whether or not we've contracted urushiol-induced contact dermatitis....if ya know what I mean.

We will have to sacrifice some privacy once the trees are taken out. My cousin's husband does that stuff for money, so he's welcome to come and grind it all up. At first I was like, hmmm....mulch made out of poison ivy. That can't be good. But really, who's going to be walking barefoot on it? Or throwing mulch at other people? Mulching up the poison ivy probably will be okay....maybe the urushiol washes away after enough rain, who knows?