OK guys try this one on . I grew up in northern California and had many a run in with that weed and soap and water and calamine lotion (that spelled right?), anyway that pink stuff -was the usual remedy and over time I usually learned to try avoid po-a very difficult thing to do because I worked in the woods. I went to work for the BLM in the Sierras and central Calif and eventually I lucked out and got transferred to the (mostly PO free ) Northern Great Basin and over time forgot about the dang bush.
Well, maybe after 15-20 years , I got a call from BLM in Redding that they needed some help to do some test excavations on an archaeological site near Shasta Lake. I showed up on a nice sweaty hot day and they said hey why don't put in a test unit over there in those bushes-oh those ones with the shinny green leaves; something sort of starts to ring a bell here
but I laid out my gear, measured in my 1x1m unit and cut down the bush(es) [sound familiar Steve] and started digging, hmmm, lots of greasy and sort of leaking roots and -----next thing I know, someone was waking me up. Don't remember to much but someone said I was singing and making noises before that. Seems like I had passed out a couple of feet or so down in my unit. Yep dug right down through a bunch of PO-roots and all, just breathing in all that good stuff in. Let the fun begin! My day was done and as was my usefulness to the project and home I went. I felt pretty bad the next day and survived but at least I was back in my wonderful Great Basin.
Here is some more to that story. We have to record every thing we do when excavate a site and every 10/20 cm we stop and record and draw what we just did or found before we dig the next level. As I sat there in my hole, trying to figure out what I was doing, someone started reading my field notes and started to laugh! I later read them myself and yep-they started out fine then
I became a stoner or a drunk or something as I drifted off into la la land. You learn something every day but you tend to forget things when you don't deal with them a regular basis like I used to. Yep, everyone knows that working on a fire line around the stuff is no fun-breathing it in and all. So,lets add another "no-no" to the act of living-or not: Know where you are going and what things you might run into when you get there, and yes why didn't my mind and past life say stop, "hey what is this stuff, it sure looks like something I should know about-why don't I ask someone". Ya live and learn I guess! Yep PO and black berry bushes-the bane of field work on the other side of the hill.
Smoke
