mwhcrew - Howdy neighbor! Yup. No worries. It's grape vine as jeanne said. I too am affected by poison ivy. Do yourself a favor and learn how to identify poison ivy as well as grapevine and virginia creeper which are our other two vines here. Learn how to even do winter ID's - these 3 vines are very different from each other in their "tendrils." I learned how to id them when I was a kid and it has helped me to avoid many a suffering itch! FataMorgana

Thanks guys for the information. oldtimer I'm not quitting with the composting, it just won't be a pretty compost pile like some of the photos I see in this site. If I decide to house a small goat, I have a larger dog kennel that I intend to keep it when it is not outside "working" eradicating the poison oak, poison ivy and, yes, we have poison sumac too, the goat will have to stay in the dog kennel. I will be outside to make sure the goat is safe for we have seen coyatoes walk through the yard. The goat will be borrowed just for the purpose of a safe way to get rid of the poison mess. Kimmsr, I went to fire ant control site and realized that we need to fight the ants in the fall, probably all year in North Ga area. The fire ants were here when we brought the property, which surprised me for it was a vacant hill top property, but the previous owners had a tomato garden up here. I suppose the ants could have been brought in to the area in tomato plants? Anyway, thanks guys, and I will be careful when fighting the poisons out there. I have to suit up to work in the yard, complete with long sleeves, long pants with my socks over the top of the pant legs. Plus, of course gloves. Reason: Ants love me, they seem to track me down, plus I'm sensitive to poison sumac and hubby is very sensitive to the other two. The socks pulled over the top of the pant legs is to ensure no ants crawl into my clothing. We have mean fire ants in GA.

Poison Oak is only found on the Pacific Coast of the US and Canada. In full sun it is a shrub and can grow to be humongous - 25 ft tall and more! In the shade it grows as a vine, climbing up trees and other structures. Its leaves are large and rounded, with a kind of bubbly surface, closely resembling the leaves of certain species of oaks. Poison Ivy grows everywhere else in the USA. It does not grow on the West Coast. It is a vine. It can get bushier if cut back, but it is still a vine. Its leaves are pointed and smooth. Both are stoloniferous, as is Virginia Creeper. All three reproduce by stolons and berries. All three have colorful leaves in the fall. All three make berries in the fall that are toxic to humans. Poison Ivy and Poison Oak both contain 'urishiol', an oil that produces the contact dermatitis (skin rash). I am allergic to both plants. Virginia Creeper contains a substance called 'oxalate crystals' that can cause contact dermatitis on some people. It is found on the vines (I believe). We have V.C. growing on our brick house, along with English Ivy. My DH loves it and so do I. It is lovely year round - very cottagey, reminiscent of his childhood home in Scotland and mine in Southern California. The VC is quite lovely in the fall - incredible colors until hard frost. We must keep it in check by pulling it down and cutting it back twice a year, every year, else it will grow up into the attic and run amok! We don't mind the extra work. It shades the house in summer and holds in the heat in winter. Occasionally when we pull down the vines, it does make a rash on my arms. It eventually goes away after I wash with soap and water, but perhaps it might be a more severe for some people. However, I think it is very likely is that she feels jealous and/or threatened by you, your family, your home, your gardens and the influences of your education and lifestyle on her grandchild, even though you feel they are positive ones. It threatens her position with her grandson in her own family if she might be suddenly perceived as ignorant in his eyes. She may also resent your "funny California ways". We moved to this little town many years ago. We live outside of town, but we are a part of the community. I try to be active in community projects and activities, scarce as they are. However, even though it is a little Podunk town in the middle of nowhere, few people here are truly ignorant. Even the farmers have college educations. There are folks with PhD's, teachers, scientist, business people, social workers, government employees, college students, oilmen, cattlemen, horse ranchers, oilfield workers and those in oil related industries; cowboys, mechanics, welders, accountants, realtors, plumbers, electricians, bakers, carpenters, painters...doctors, lawyers and yes, even Indian chiefs! You name it. There are a number of people from other countries as well. So I found it very odd when I was told by a local farmer/businessman that I do business with on a regular basis that "We don't like people coming here from California with their funny ways of thinking and doin' things...tryin' to change the way things are done and how we live." I asked him if he was referring to me. He shuffled his feet in the dirt and grinned and said, "Well, if the shoe fits..." Well, I was taken aback. I told him that I was both a Southern California girl and an Okie. My mom's family were CA pioneers since 1853, and my dad's family made the OK Land Run in 1893! I've lived in both states (and more than ten years in Louisiana as an adult), and love all three states for different reasons. I have learned to appreciate the different cultures and ways of doing things. But I told him that I am also a "child of the 60s and 70s" and have developed some of my own ideas about life and what I feel is & is not important and that these were not necessarily a product of one state or the other. So, I asked him just what it was that I was doing that was so strange, and why he thought I was trying to change the way people here do things or live? He couldn't tell me just what it was I was doing or how he thought I threatened local or Oklahoma culture in general, but he felt that I was nonetheless! However, after we talked a bit, he simmered down. I gave him a little more background info (to vindicate me or to hang me with) about my family and of my childhood years spent on route 66 going back and forth from one state to the other. He told me he could see how I might feel about both states and all. They still see me as a bit "differ'nt", but I (think) we have become more accepted locally. We've lived in this community for 12 years now, and we like it and most of the people in it. It is important to be sensitive to other people's feelings and attitudes and we try to be, but we also hold the same right for ourselves. There may be many (other) reasons for the grandmother's attitude with you, but thought I would share my experience with you. ~ CalifOkie Annie

Willie has an excellent point Barb. I always wear latex gloves in the garden, except when I don't, and when I don't I have problems. I just wash my hands,(gloves included while I have them on), then turn them inside out and use the other side. Of course that's my choice, cos I'm so cheap, you may want to do it differently. Anyway, works like a charm! Good point Willie! :) Arum