Safety First

[pdub]

Last week one day it was time to weed-eat the perimeter. I've given up on Round Up, it can't do everything. Can't stay ahead. And a few years ago I finally got so mad at the gas-powered weed eater I put it out by the curb and the local dumpster divers got it. I love to hate a weed eater.

Now I've got a pansy-assed re-chargable electric one. It's light, real easy to handle. I takes 8 hours to charge and it runs for about 10 minutes. But it's light. Real easy to handle. So I charged it for 8 hours and got ready for the ten minutes.

I had on my earplugs. I put on my gloves. I had the safety glasses. I even had on the cool vest (it was about 100 degrees that day). I was ready. Safety First.

I zinged that battery powered weed eater up to speed and hit one weed with it and the last foot and a half of the string came flying out of the cutting head and cut the piss out of my leg. I forgot to put on long pants to weed eat. It was a judgement call - emergency room visit and stitches or a real large Band-Aid. Let's go with the Band-Aid, I need another ugly scar anyhow. Safety Guy scores again.

Gyad I hate a weed eater.

[studemax]

I feel your pain. Been there, done that, got the scar to prove it.

[Gary 351C]

I hate weed whackers! In fact, I hate yard work in general. When we had our house up in the desert our yard was 95% dirt and I happily paid some kid $25 a month to pull weeds and rake our dirt.

[Dan Barlow]

Guy at work had on shorts. Was weed eating for his buddies mowing business. Got into some poison ivy . Spryed it all over his legs. He's a mess .

[yellomalibu]

Interesting stuff about poison Ivy

http://extremedeerhabitat.com/how-to-never-have-a-serious-poison-ivy-rash-again/

[pdub]

Way back when I was even littler than I am now, my mama decided to burn a pile of poison ivy. She stood there and breathed it in. No, don't do that. She was hospitalized for a few weeks. Back then, all the doctors sort of stood around her bed wondering what to do. They didn't know what to do. She lived through that, somehow. I'll never understand how.

[studemax]

When I was kid I learned that little rhyme - "Leaves of three, leave them be". Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. Grandma used to slather me with calamine lotion if I got into it. That stuff is bad juju.

A decade ago my neighbor used a weed whacker on some that was growing through his privacy fence. He didn't know what it was, and turned out he was allergic. Every inch of exposed skin turned bright red, plus he was breathing in the oil. Damn near died. Spent a week in the hospital.

[STINEY]

I hate weedeaters too, simply because they make such a mess.

There are too many good products out there to ever fire up a weedeater, even an electric one. The RoundUp you buy premixed at the hardware store or TSC is next to worthless......either buy the concentrate from an Ag chemical place or forget it.

PeeWee, order up some of this stuff, follow the mixing directions, spray on and enjoy. Repeat applications twice a year or so, depending on how out of control the stuff you want dead is.

Seriously. Try it. It is a salt base product so you don't have to worry about killing the planet either. Or your cat.

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/killzall-weed-and-grass-killer-41-glyphosate-p-1587.html

[Barry Donovan]

When I was kid I learned that little rhyme - "Leaves of three, leave them be". Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. Grandma used to slather me with calamine lotion if I got into it. That stuff is bad juju.

A decade ago my neighbor used a weed whacker on some that was growing through his privacy fence. He didn't know what it was, and turned out he was allergic. Every inch of exposed skin turned bright red, plus he was breathing in the oil. Damn near died. Spent a week in the hospital.

same here.
I had all three. Immunity just simply went with me, very lucky.
I remember finding a tick more than once, on a leg or whatever..already getting fat...
caught nothing. No ills at all.
I must be an O+ they said.

Moving to maine.. can't even breathe the air trees give off, but hey. We all end up in the wrong place sometime.

a weed eater trick is the 64cc generator for 90 bucks at harbor freight, and then use the lightwegiht corded electric version of weed eater. Get the smeely 2 stroke motor and electric length away from the weed eater...and no battery. They still suck at it. As if lawn is not alkaline. The theories on some of the items out there... ridiculous. Looking for fairy tales for the big sale.

[pdub]

This is where my gas-powered weed eater went:

[yellomalibu]

Yup. I use weed killer (round-up type of stuff) on most things a weed wacker would be used for. Edging my walkway and patio, once or twice a year I break out the shovel.
I don't live in a super manicured sort of neighborhood. I don't even water my grass. I layed down bahia sod in my front yard several years back... if watered, it looks just fine. It's drought tolerant, doesn't get a bunch of bugs and stuff, it's easy. I can think of dozens of things I'd rather be doing than maintaining my lawn/ yard.

[corvettedad]

Long pants for sure and I can live with the poison weeds it them gosh darn YELLOW JACKETS, got me 3 times yesterday before I could blink then fell down trying to get away and either bruised real BAD or cracked a rib. Death to them when I feel better and find their nest!