Wild West vs. Mild Midwest?

It's not that there are no hazards in the Midwest. I went to college here, and I remember two big ones: Tornadoes, and blizzards. And I experienced the first -- in warning form, at least -- on Sunday, when a tornado warning interrupted my HGTV viewing and sirens sounded in my little town. Ended up being just a few minutes of high winds and dark skies, then just some clean-up.

But overall my experience of the Midwest so far is that it's been pretty well tamed. Living in the country in California, as I have, you have rattlesnakes, mountain lions, coyotes, and foxtails (those of us who have had dogs in the West know that they belong on a list with rattlesnakes and cougars). Here, things are older, softer, with the edges gently worn away.

I'm not pretending to be an expert after three weeks, not saying you can't get caught in a leg-hold trap or shot by a hunter, nor am I stating categorically there are no coyotes or rattlesnakes in Michigan. I'm just saying, after growing up in the "Wild West," this definitely feels like the "Mild Midwest."

One danger I started to worry about when I woke up with an itching ankle: Poison ivy. I had no idea what it looks like, however adept I had became at spotting poison oak in all its season permutations. I think my ankle was afflicted by a mosquito bite, but I've thought that before and been wrong.  And in the meantime, I'm studying up on photos of poison ivy.

Comments

[H. Houlahan]

I was just giving the poison ivy lesson to one of PC's fellow firefighters. Woman has lived her whole life in the countryside here and has never learned to recognize it.

We had poison ivy and two plants often confused for it -- blackberry bramble (leaves of three, thorns) and Virginia creeper (vine, five-lobed leaves) side-by side, and she could not see the differences.

It's a good thing they wear plenty of protection during brush fires.

IME the poison oak in the Bay Area is more ubiquitous and harder to avoid.

[Anne Ritenour]

My co worker, here in Maine, Nathan has a terrible time with poison ivy...he even had an outbreak during the winter months. He is talking about finding a remedy other than prednisone.

[Anne Ritenour]

Christie
Products Nathan uses include: Tecnu, Jewelweed, Ivy Dry, Domeboro