Itchy...but painful looking

My leg looks bad. Real bad. Really really bad.

Ok, not quite that bad actually, but every time I show my leg to people they gasp.

I've got a case of poison ivy.

I'm shocked. I thought I was immune. I've had poison ivy once before in my life, and it was bad, but I thought it was because I'd been exposed to poison sumac (which is rarer, but apparently worse). I've gotten poison ivy on myself so often since then, without any ill effects, that I just assumed I was not really at risk.

So this comes as a surprise.

Last night, in my sister's living room while watching Harry Potter 3 on DVD, I gave in. I started scratching...like crazy. It felt good. Really good. But by the time I had gotten control of myself again I was bleeding all over the place. I haven't scratched today, but I can feel it building up.

Other news:

- I know I'm a weirdo, but I love the heat. This 105 degree heat wave that has been baking Kansas has been great. I do find it a little awkward, because I sweat like nobody's business, but I love being out in the heat. I love feeling that righteous exhaustion at the end of the day that comes from having tramped through 30 thousand feet of stream, underbrush, rocks and prairie in a hundred degrees of heat. The fact that I get to see snakes, turtles, fish, 80 foot tall trees, and limestone caves is great, but it is best on a miserably hot summer day. I look forward to enjoying it in the fall, though, and in the early spring, but damn. I love the heat of the summer.

- Actually, I was going to write more, but I gotta go put on some anti-itch medicine.