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Out of context: Reply #75098
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- imbecile29
Quite an interesting day today.
I was in the backyard pulling weeds, collecting strewn about landscaping stones, and organizing an also strewn about selection of firewood into a proper pile when I unearthed a healthy network of poison ivy vines. I went next door to ask if they minded if I cleaned up their side as well to prevent them coming back to my side through the privacy fence.
Holy vines, Batman!
Two hours and three 42 gallon contractor bags later, I had ripped up, clipped as many as I could, and raked up leaves that were covering more landscaping stones as well as more firewood. (I came to the conclusion that this was all a poorly executed idea to keep a digging dog confined to their yard by the previous owner.)
Here’s the interesting part, the woman I spoke with is from Nepal, her mother is visiting her from Nepal, and her daughter was born here. The daughter is non-verbal autistic who’s able to attend a nearby school, but suffers from seizures. She was enjoying the swing and trampoline as I worked and her mother and I struggled to communicate. Google translate worked for me to her, but the iPhone couldn’t decipher her accent with any reliability. We did have a few laughs though.
Here’s the best part. She offered me food. I would usually say no and stay to myself, but enjoying trying to communicate really made me appreciate the offer of food, a yummy language, as I was meeting my next door neighbor. As I was now cleaning a significant portion of their backyard, and had only drank a Red Bull earlier, the tea and bread offer was awesome. Since it’s hot out, I thought iced tea. Um, no. It was the richest most complex hot tea / coffee hybrid tasting thing I’ve ever tried, and I hate coffee. The bread was sweet and buttered, the two went together great.
A little later, I wanted more water and needed to get a new bag. I stayed inside for a while playing with my dog before going back out. She and her mother were out there with a bag and take like they were going to keep going. I laughed, showed them my bag and told them no. They laughed and left their rake out as they went back inside. I finished raking, pulling assorted weeds, and bagging whatever debris I could.
Fucking awesome.
But we’re not done. Now that the detour on the other side of the fence is over, I go back to working on my own yard. An hour or so goes by and I hear them chatting in the back. It goes quiet and I keep working. A little later I hear a knocking that I think is them working again, then my dog starts barking a little bit. And look back and it’s her looking over the fence inviting me over.
I get over there and there is no one outside, but I see they have cut a lot of overgrowth off of their tree. I instinctively think I need to get another bag and help these two finish the job. As I go to walk back over, I hear “No no no!” and look up. Mom and grandma are walking out with plates.
They made me more food!
They brought me out 10 delicious! chicken dumplings with a spicy sauce accompanied by a bean dish with a different spice with onions and peas in it. It was so good!
Pretty sure they tried telling me not to bag up the stuff they cut, but I did anyway, to much gratitude. My roll off will be here tomorrow and there will be plenty of space for their four bags.
Great day. Great neighbors!
- This is awesome.garbage
- That is an insane amount of poison ivy. Holy crapGnash
- It was entirely too much poison ivy, but half of it was leaves collected at the fence shading the vines feeding the leaves on my side. Luckily I’m not allergic.imbecile
- Great post! Feeling good by helping people AND getting bonus food? Way to go!stoplying
- "I'm not allergic". I retract my previous compliment out of sheer jealousy.garbage
- I have never heard of poison ivy not affecting humans ! Lucky youGnash
- I've never had good neighbors. Good for you for helping them. Friendships all around and meals shared. Feels good man.cannonball1978
- That’s some heartwarming stuff right therescarabin
- lovely :)sted
- awwwNutter
- @gnash Some people are non-reactive, and I hate them because they won't let me in the club. If my dog even brushes by some on a hike, I'm getting painted with igarbage
- *itch.garbage
- I had no idea. Same, lots of poison ivy in park near me so can’t let dog off leashGnash
- If it has long fur, it will soak up the oils. Other fun poison ivy facts: Its worse if you live in a hot location.garbage
- The bastard oil in most plants is called "urushiol", and if you get a painting, your body will also spread it when you sweat.garbage
- That's what's found in ivy, spruce and sumac. They are nothing compared to hogweed, which essentially has a skin cancer attack.garbage
- If you get their oils on your skin, they make your body ultra-susceptible to UV rays, and the jury is out as to whether or not that is permanent.garbage
- Google them if you're curious, but not if you plan on eating anytime soon.garbage
- I think I'd rather live in ignorance :)Gnash